“_Host._ Why, yes; we think he is crazy a little; but you cannot discover it in anything else but his building that great ark, and neglecting his farm and other worldly matters. But what he has lost I have gained. “_Guest._ A farmer, say you?—a farmer! Why did not God tell some of our ‘mighty men, which are men of renown’? (Gen. 6:4.) A farmer, too! There is no truth in it. But do any believe him? “_Host._ Believe him! No. We have other things to attend to, and cannot spend time to hear the old farmer. But we were all very much startled, no longer ago than yesterday; for the old man has been telling some that he had prepared rooms for the beasts of the field, and for the fowls of the air, and every creeping thing; and yesterday they came, two and two of every sort, and entered the ark, apparently of their own accord. (Gen. 7:8, 9.) This, you may be sure, startled us some; but the banquets and feasts of last night have dissipated the fears of all, and to-day things are as they should be. “_Guest._ It is rather strange; yet it cannot be true. God will not destroy the world in the midst of this hilarity and glee, and in the hight of all these improvements at the present day. Much, much of the earth remains yet to be cultivated and inhabited. Our western wilderness is yet to be explored and settled. Then the world is yet in its infancy—not two thousand years old yet; and you know we have a tradition that the earth is to wax old like a garment. It cannot be true, what the old man tells you. I will warrant you the earth will stand many thousand years yet. “_Host._ Look! look! there goes the old fool and his family now, I dare say, into the ark. I remember me now, the old man told us, four days ago, that, in seven days (Gen. 7:4-10), God would cause it to rain sufficient to destroy every living thing from the face of the earth. I shall have a chance to laugh at the old man four days hence. I told him to his face that, after his seven days were ended, he would be ashamed to preach any more, and we should have some quiet then. “_Guest._ But do your priests let him preach in their congregations and societies? “_Host._ Oh, no! by no means; that is, none that are called respectable, or of the higher class. Why, sir, they held a meeting last night at my banqueting house. After the cloth was removed, and while the wine was circulating freely, old Noah was the subject of the toast. And it would have done you good to have heard their sharp cuts and squibs; it caused a roar of laughter among the guests. See, yonder come some of them now. Let us go in, and enjoy another treat. (_They go in._) “Ah, said I, were these scenes acted before the flood, and will it be so in the end of the world? And will the generation of the righteous not pass off until they behold these things acted over again? So says our blessed Saviour, _and so I believe_.