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vine judgment! So sudden and unexpected shall that day come, as Luke says, ch. xvii. 26. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. How awful was the judgment in the days of Noah; to be surprised by death in so carnal and secure a state; in the midst of peace and safety, perhaps of mirth and riot. Alas! What became of their sumptuous buildings, of the tyrants of the earth, of their giants and oppressors !

Uplifted,

the floating vessel swum

-all dwellings else

Flood overwhelm'd, and them with all their pomp
Deep under water roll'd.

Milton.

No doubt they tried all means to escape; in vain they fled to trees and mountains; perhaps clung about the ark, and believed what Noah had spoken; but too late. Thousands might be waiting round the ark, and crying for admittance before it was borne upon the waters, but in vain; God had shut the door, and man could not open it again. They saw that ark with envy, which before they ridiculed and scorned. When God judges he will overcome. Noah is safe in his vessel amidst the gushing torrents, the roar of beasts, and the shrieks and cries of his drowning neighbours. So shall the coming of the Son of Man be, sudden and unexpected. Sinners shall have no way of escaping; none but those who are in Christ, of whose salvation the ark was a type, shall be safe; all the rest shall perish. The Saviour, the Ark, whom they despised, will not take them in. Be sober, lest that day come upon you unawares. Seeing we look for such things as these, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conver sation and godliness.

CHAP. VIII.

This chapter presents a new scene; the former was dark, and judgment was over the earth; but in the midst of judgment God remembers mercy. The waters assuage. Noah comes out of the ark; offers an acceptable sacrifice; and God promises to drown the world no more.

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ND God kindly remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that [was] with him in the ark and as soon as the end was answered for which the flood was sent, God made a sharp drying wind which he brought out of his treasures, to pass over the earth, and the waters 2 were assuaged; The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven 3 was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually; gradually gathering into seas, or sinking into the

bowels of the earth: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days in which they continued in their strength, the waters were abated, or began to abate.

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon one of the mountains of Ararat.* 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month : in the tenth [month,] on the first [day] of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen; about the beginning of May, when the heat of the sun would contribute much to dry the ground,

6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days after the tops of the mountains were first seen, that is, about the end of our July, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had 7 made: And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro about the ark, until the waters were dried up from off the 8.earth, Also seven days after, the air probably being still foggy, and Noah incapable of making observations, he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from the 9 face of the ground; But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, the ground being still muddy, and she returned unto him in the ark, for the waters [were] on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pull, 10 ed her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark, probably on the evening of the sabbath, after some peculiar so◄ 1 lemnities of devotion, in order to strengthen his faith; And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth [was] an olive leaf plucked off so Noah knew that the waters were greatly abated from off the earth, though not quite 12 gone. And he stayed yet other seven days, that is, till the next sabbath; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more, finding rest and food sufficient,

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And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year of Noah's life, in the first [month,] the first [day] of the month, the waters were entirely dried up from off the earth and Noah removed part of the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry, free from waters, 14 yet soft and muddy, And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried, grown hard and fit for use; so that it was a complete solar year, or three hundred and seventy five days, from the beginning of the flood to the drying up of the waters. See ch. vii. 11. 15 16 And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives 17 with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that [is] with thee, of all flesh, [both] of fowl, and of cattle, and of every

A long chain of mountains like the Alps. The Syriac renders it Armenia, so docs the Vulgate.

↑ An intimation of their early measuring time by weeks.

creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply 18 upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his 19 wife, and his sons' wives with him: Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, [and] whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. 20 And Noah, full of gratitude, builded an altar unto the LORD, before he built a house for himself; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offer ings on the altar, as an acknowledgment for his remarkable 21 preservation. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; this was pleasant and acceptable to him; and the LORD said in his heart, resolved in himself, and made known his purposes to Noah, saying, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake with such a deluge; for, or rather, though the imagination of man's heart [is] evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every living thing, as I have 22 done. For While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. God here obliges himself not to overthrow the general course of nature all the world over any more, though particular places may suffer; and, blessed be God, his promise hath never failed.

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REFLECTIONS.

ET us adore the mercy of God to Noah and his posterity. He kindly remembered him, watched over the ark, and took care that it should be settled upon a mountain, while the vallies were like a quagmire. He also remembered the beasts, to whom such a confinement must have been very disagreeable. It gives us an amiable idea of the goodness of God to other creatures, as well as to man. O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.

2. Let us wait God's time for coming out of the most confined and uneasy circumstances. In trouble the heart is ready to fret against him; but it is good to hope and quietly wait for God's salvation: so Noah waited for God's command; he would not venture to come out of himself. Let us learn in all our ways to acknowledge him and he will direct our paths; to eye his providence and follow his leadings, then we shall be safe and happy. He that believeth, shall not make haste, but wait God's time. Had Noah gone out sooner, the earth would have been damp, provisions would have been wanting for the beasts, and all might have perished together; there is nothing like having a commission from God.

to God for all his Thus Noah did, and When he brings our If God hath pre

3. Let us learn to pay cheerful sacrifices mercies, especially for signal deliverances. it was pleasing and acceptable to God. souls out of prison, let us praise his name.

served us in deep waters, when the waves and billows were ready to go over us, let us bless him; for this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee. Of the few creatures that Noah had left, he is willing to sacrifice some. Let us not grudge our tribute of praise to God, who in six and seven troubles hath delivered us. The offerings of a devout and grateful heart are still acceptable to him; and if they are presented in the name of Christ, they will be a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour.

4. We should thankfully acknowledge the divine patience in bearing with the provocations of men, and cóntinuing his mercy to the earth. Let us be thankful that he does not turn a fruitful world into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwell therein; but giveth rain from heaven, and the appointed weeks of harvest. He crowneth every day with loving kindness and tender mercy; he crowneth the year with goodness, and the whole earth is full of it. He hath fulfilled his promise to this day; seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, have not ceased. And this should also confirm our faith in the fulfilment of those promises which are yet to come, of spiritual and eternal blessings. So God himself teacheth us to conclude in Isa. liv. 9, 10. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee,

CHAP. IX. 1-17.

In the two preceding chapters we had an account of the world being drowned, and restored to its original state of one family. In this, we have God's covenant with them, and the seal of it.

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N D'God blessed Noah and his sons, on their coming out of the ark, and said unto them, as he had said to Adam and Eve, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2 And he renewed to him the dominion originally given to Adam, saying, the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth [upon] the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered, and for your 3 use are they intended. Therefore Every moving thing that liveth, which is fit for food, shall be meat for you; even as freely as the green herb have I given you all things; there4fore it is lawful to kill and eat. But flesh with the life thereof, [which is] the blood thereof, that is, raw blood, and raw flesh,

5 shall ye not eat.* And surely your blood of your lives will I require, that is, take vengeance for the shedding of it; at the hand of every beast will I require it, the beast that kills a man shall be slain, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. 6 Whoso wilfully and unjustly sheddeth man's blood, by man, by the magistrate, shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man, and therefore such an injury to man is a 7 high affront to God, whose image he bears. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

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And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, say9 ing, And I, behold, I, the almighty and unchangeable Jehovah, establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you, 10 to the latest posterity; And with every living creature that [is] with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, and to 11 every beast of the earth which shall hereafter inhabit it.† And I will establish my covenant with you, this my decree shall never be revoked; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a 12 flood to destroy the earth. And, to give Noah and his posterity the fullest satisfaction, God said, This [is] the token, the sensible sign or seal, of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that [is] with you, for per13 petual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, I now appoint it for this end,|| and it shall be for a token of a covenant 14 between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when

I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in 15 the cloud: And, to speak after the manner of men, I will remember my covenant, which [is] between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no 16 more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living

*This is a positive precept, intended for their health and preservation, to prevent unnecessary cruelty in the use of the creatures, and because blood was to be offered as a ransom for man's life and instead thereof, which he had forfeited to God's justice; and to make them more fearful of shedding man's blood, as the next words show.

This shows that creatures are capable of being parties in a covenant and receiving benefit from it, who are not capable of understanding any thing about it.

There was a peculiar propriety in appointing the rainbow to be the token, as it appeared at a time when their fears would be naturally most apt to rise. The Greeks call it Javasos, to intimate its being a wonderful work of God. As the rainbow is a natural appearance, occasioned by the refraction of the sun's light in drops of falling rain, most interpreters supposed that it appeared before the flood, and was now only appointed as a voluntary sign. But others, thinking this would not have been satisfactory to Noah, are of opinion, that there was no rainbow before the deluge, and that either there were no clouds, or they had not that quality, which is requisite to produce this appearance. In this partic ular those two different theorists, Whiston and Burnet, are fully agreed. Homer seems to have had a notion that the rainbow was at first set in the clouds to be a sign to men. Iliad xi. v. 28.

Jove's wondrous bow, of three celestial dyes,
Plac'd as a sign to man amid the skies.

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