it is a bird that eats flesh, and it found plenty of dead bodies to feed upon.  Then Noe sent out a dove, and the dove came back with the bough of an olive tree in its mouth.  From this Noe knew that the earth was becoming dry again.  After some days, the ark rested on the top of a mountain named Ararat.  When all the waters had dried up, Noe and his family and all the animals passed out of the ark.  He offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and he and his family settled once more upon the earth.  For a while, the descendants of Noe were good, but when they became numerous they soon forgot the deluge and its punishments, and became very wicked.  Many forgot the true God altogether, and began to worship the sun, moon, and stars.  Some worshipped animals, and others idols of wood or stone.  They offered up human victims and committed all kinds of sins most displeasing to God.  Many were in slavery; masters were cruel; and things were becoming daily worse, till just before the coming of Our Lord the world was in a terrible condition of misery and sin.  The lawmakers tried to remedy these evils by their laws, and the teachers and professors by their teaching; but all was of no avail.  God Himself must save the world.

God gave many promises of the Redeemer.  The first one was given in the garden to our first parents.  God said (Gen. 3:15) to the serpent:  I will put enmities, that is hatred, between thee and the woman; that is, between the devil and the Blessed Virgin—­whom the holy writers call the second Eve; because as the first Eve caused our fall, the second Eve helped us to rise again.  I will put also a great hatred between the devil and your Redeemer.  The next promise of the Redeemer was made to Abraham. (Gen. 15).  Another was made to Isaac, and another to Jacob; and later these promises were frequently renewed through the prophets; so that during the four thousand years God encouraged the good people, by promising from time to time the Redeemer.

Some of the prophets foretold to what family He would belong, and when He would be born, and when and what He would suffer, and how He would die.  They also foretold signs or things that would come to pass just before the advent or coming of the Messias (Gen. 49:10); so that when the people saw these things coming to pass, they could know that the time of the Messias was at hand.  Thus when Our Lord came, the whole world was waiting and looking for the promised Redeemer, because the signs foretold had appeared or were taking place.  But the majority did not recognize Our Lord when He came, on account of the quiet, humble, and poor way in which He came.  They were expecting to see the Redeemer come as a great and powerful king, with mighty armies conquering the world; and in this they were mistaken.  If they had studied the Holy Scriptures they would have learned how He was to come—­poor and humble.

73 Q. How could they be saved who lived before the Son of God became man?  A. They who lived before the Son of God became man could be saved by believing in the Redeemer to come, and by keeping the Commandments.