Like Unto Adam.--It devolved upon Noah to recommence, after the Flood, the work begun by the great sire of the race under God's original command--the command to "multiply and replenish the earth." Noah's time, therefore, typified the period of the Creation. He, like Adam, "was the father of all living in his day, and to him was given the dominion." [4] The Flood Foretold.--Blest and ordained by Methusaleh when but ten years old, Noah, like his predecessors in the patriarchal line, was a prophet and a preacher of righteousness. The word of the Lord came to him, saying: "My spirit shall not always strive with man; . . . . yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years; and if men do not repent, I will send in the floods upon them." They hearkened not, and God then decreed: "The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence, and behold I will destroy all flesh from off the earth." [5] Shem, Ham and Japheth.--Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth--naming them in the order usually given. Japheth, however, was the eldest, and Ham the youngest, of these brothers. [6] They were among the eight survivors of the Deluge; [7] "and of them was the whole earth overspread." [8] Japheth peopled Europe, Shem Asia, and Ham Africa. Noah's blessing upon Shem and Japheth, and his curse upon Canaan, son of Ham, are thus recorded: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. "God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant." [9] The Curse upon Canaan.--Part of the curse upon Canaan was "a blackness," similar to that which had been placed upon "the seed of Cain." [10] The curse also deprived the Canaanites of the Priesthood; though they were blessed "with the blessings of the earth and with the blessings of wisdom." [11] Ham's sin, which brought the curse upon Canaan--a sin vaguely hinted at in the sacred narrative--may not be fully known; but even if it were, there would still remain the unsolved problem of the punishment of a whole race for an offense committed by one of its ancestors. It seems reasonable to infer that there was a larger cause, that the sin in question was not the main issue. Tradition has handed down something to that effect, but nothing conclusive of the question is to be found in the standard works of the Church. Of one thing we may rest assured: Canaan was not unjustly cursed, nor were the spirits who came through his lineage wrongly assigned. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Or, putting it inversely: Whatsoever a man reaps, that hath he sown. This rule applies to spirit life, as well as to life in the flesh.