CHAPTER 1. 3$1 ofGod, and the settlement of the affairs of the church and state byEzra and Nehemiah, which is the end of the historical part of the Old Testament. During all this time there is an account of the several prophets and messengers which were sent from God on spe- cial occasions to reveal his mind and will to men : and there is also a larger and more particular narrative of the lives'or trans- actions of some extraordinary persons, several of which are much interwoven with the series of the history : but there are others which seem to stand separate and distinct; such are the affairs relating to Job a rich man of the east, Jonah a prophet in Israel, and Esther the queen of Persia, to which I have added some account of Jeremiah and Daniel the prophets, in distinct chapters. At the end of these I have put in two chapters before the beginning of the New Testament, which contains an historical and prophetical connexion between the Old Testament and the New, of which I have given an account in the introduction to those particular chapters, as well as in the general preface. CHAPTER I.-The History of Mankind b fore the Flood. I. QUESTION. HOW came this world into being ? Answer. In the bè- ginning the great God made heaven and earth, and all things that are in them ; Gen. i. 1. Exod. xx. 11. 2. Q. How did God make all things ? A. By his powerful word ; for he commanded, and it was done ; Gen. i. 3, 6, 9, &c. Heb. xi. 3. Ps. xxxiii. 9. Note, We are also informed in the New Testament that God created all things by his on Jesus Christ ; Eph. iii. 9. and that his naine is the word of God ; John i. 3. Rev. xix. 13. 3. Q. What time did God spend in making the world ? A. God, whe còuld have made all things at once by his per- fect wisdom and almighty power, chose rather to do it by de- grees, and spent six days in making the world with; the crea- tures that are in it; Gen. i. 31. Exod. xx. 11. 4. Q. What was his work on the first day ? A. He made light, and divided it from the darkness, and the evening and the morning were the first day ; Gen. i. 3, 5. 5. Q. What did God make the second day ? A. The air or the lower heavens, which are Mere called the firma- ment, and the clouds which are the waters above the firmament ; verse 6. 6. Q. What did he do on the third day ? A. He separated nb3
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