Divine appointment. But original purity was soon departed from; lawless
passion was allowed to mar the beautiful completeness and concord of the
marriage relation as instituted by God; and, in time, many even of those
who were nominal worshipers of the true God, fell into polygamy. The
true idea and design of marriage, and the rights of woman, with the
respect due to her, was lost sight of, and the requirements of the
Divine law set at nought. Men became the slaves of their own lusts. God
was not in all their thoughts. Iniquity prevailed to such a frightful
extent that "it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth,
and it grieved him at his heart."[I]

At this time of general apostasy, Noah--and, it would seem, he
alone--was seen righteous before God. Him, therefore, with his family,
the Almighty preserved in the ark, when in his fierce wrath he caused
the deluge to sweep away the corrupt inhabitants from the face of the
earth they had polluted. Notwithstanding the wide-spread corruption of
the times, it does not appear that either Noah or his sons were
polygamists. Certainly, if any one of them had been such prior to the
building of the ark, he was not permitted to bring his harem into it for
protection from the fearful storm. Only "eight persons," we are
informed, were preserved alive; namely, Noah and his wife, with his
three sons and their wives. Then, at what may be termed the second
starting-point of the human race, there was again an equal number of men
and women upon the earth; clearly pointing out that the design of the
Almighty in this matter was the marriage of _one_ man with _one_ woman.
God made no provision for the marriage of either man or woman after the
obtaining of a divorce.

It might have been supposed that so fearful a display of the wrath of
God would have made a lasting impression upon the descendants of Noah;