first, that "all flesh shall not again be cut off by the waters of a flood;" and then, secondly, that no universal flood shall again take place. Here is the double assurance of safety. No second ark shall be needed in ages to come, for no second deluge shall overflow the globe.

If God has to vindicate his righteousness and judge the earth again, he will do it in some other way, and by some other agent; and even then the destruction of the race shall not be so sweeping. There may be wasting and desolation in that day when God arises to shake terribly the earth, and to purge it with fire, but not such extermination of all flesh as in the days of Noah. It shall never again be said—“The end of all flesh is come before me."

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3. The length of time that this covenant is to lastperpetual generations." The expression is a strong one, and is the same used in those passages which denote the perpetuity of God's covenant with Messiah (Ps. lxxxix. 2, 4, 28). The transaction is not to be some mere temporary one, which after ages may cancel. It is unchangeable and unconditional. As long as the earth remains, as long as the race of man inhabits it, there shall be no such flood again. Such is Jehovah's purpose, and such is his covenant with man, which is the expression or revelation of that purpose. Thus all coming generations are secured against a second overflow of waters.

4. The token of the covenant-the bow. This is the ensign which God hangs out to man as the pledge of safety, the intimation of grace and loving-kindness. Whether the rainbow now appeared for the first time, or whether it was merely fixed upon as the sign, just as Israel set up the twelve stones in Jordan in token of their remembrance of the grace that had delivered them, has been much disputed. Perhaps the passage does not necessarily require more than the latter. God might have pointed to Ararat, with its towering peaks, and said—As surely as this mountain stands immovable, so surely shall my covenant be with man, and with his earth. And it has been argued that the words "I set "-meaning, I appoint-implies its previous existence, as also the expression, My bow, as if it were a well-known thing.' Also, it is maintained that the rainbow must have existed from the beginning, wherever there was a thin cloud opposite the sun. Now, in answer to this

*

* De Sola argues thus. But the latter expression (My bow) really proves nothing; and, as to the former, the words "I set" is simply "I give," and applies as much to something new as to something previously known; Isa. vii. 14-" The Lord shall give (set) you a sign." See also 1 Kings xiii. 3; 2 Chron. xxxii. 24.

last argument from the laws of nature, and the likelihood that all was the same in this respect before as after the flood, we remark, that, whatever the laws of nature may have been, the condition of the globe itself was certainly different; and it seems probable that the physical change in the atmosphere which helped to bring about the deluge, did so alter the composition of that atmosphere, that phenomena might be witnessed after the flood, which could not have taken place in the drier, rarer atmosphere which existed before. The electrical

change can easily be supposed to be of such a kind as to produce new atmospheric appearances, and among these might be the rainbow. Before the electrical change took place (if there were clouds at all, and not simply a mist going up to water the ground), the clouds might be of such rarity as not to admit of the rainbow. During the deluge, they were of such density that it was impossible. But now God restores the balance, and fixes the exact proportion of the elements in the composition of the air. That proportion, doubtless, made rain a more frequent thing than it had been, and yet prevented the recurrence of such an overflow as the deluge. The rainbow was the result of this balancing of atmospherical elements; and hence, while it was the indication of a greater amount of moisture in the air than had hitherto existed, it was the intimation also that that amount was not so great as to produce a second deluge. And if to the alteration in the air, or its electricity, we add that the ocean now occupies a far greater breadth of territory than before, we can easily see how the rainbow might now for the first time have been called into existence, and made the sign of God's covenant with the earth.

But while there is, even naturally, no unlikelihood that the rainbow was now for the first time braided on the disappearing clouds of the late gloomy firmament, whilst our ignorance of many a hidden law of creation renders it presumption in us to say it must have been seen before, we do not need to lay any stress on this, as if the text positively affirmed it. God's bow might truly be a sign of his covenant, even though known before; and if he now chose to select it as such, and to point it out to man as such, did it not answer the end in view?

At the same time, we feel not a little inclined to the belief that this was its first appearance, and that, just as God at first placed the sand as the boundary of the waters beneath (Jer. v. 22), so did he set the iris as the bound of the waters above. God bent that fair bow over earth, encompassing the hills and valleys of earth, stretching over the abodes of man and beast,

as the pledge of his renewed favour, the token that the light of his countenance was not withdrawn from earth; that, though interrupted and clouded for a season, it was still to go forth again, and that no longer in its one undivided lustre, but spreading itself out in all the sevenfold glory of his undimmed perfections, in all the mild and gladdening beauty of his manifold and unchanging love-love that many waters could not quench-nay, instead of quenching, only unfolded,-love that delighted, even in the unworthiness of men, to find opportunity for expanding itself, occasion for giving forth redoubled brilliance from the very gloom that seemed to quench it.

Nor does it seem unlikely that some such new token should be given. For never were men placed in circumstances in which they more needed a pledge of security-a pledge to cheer and to re-assure them against similar disaster. They could not forget how the windows of heaven had been opened; and what was to hinder their being re-opened, and a like deluge poured down? Without some pledge they would be under continual aların. Whenever a cloud rose up and spread itself across the firmament, they would be in terror lest it should be the precursor of a second deluge. And when their children learned, as they grew up, what a calamity had once come forth from the bosom of a cloud, with what dismay would they mark the appearance of each dark spot on the heavens, as if it were the herald of doom! Whatever might be the feelings of believing men, such as Noah, and however much faith might overcome fear, yet unbelieving men would have no such refuge; and God evidently meant this token as much for them as for his saints. For this covenant with Noah is not, like Abraham's, the Church's covenant-it is the world's; it is for the earth and the men of the earth. And thus even to them he gives a pledge such as should dispel terror. He gives both his word and his sign that, by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, this world, with all its inhabitants, might have the assurance of safety.*

But let us look again at the passage, and consider the suitableness of the sign, and the striking way in which God points it out, and makes known its meaning.

1. It was a sign which would always appear just when the danger threatened. No sooner did the symptoms of a returning flood shew themselves, than this pledge of safety shewed itself, this divine messenger of love came forth in its heavenly beauty. How suitable, how opportune the token!

* Is not the "faithful witness in heaven," the rainbow? Ps. lxxxix. 37.

2. It came forth from the cloud itself. It did not merely shew itself at the exact moment, but it came out of the very object that threatened the danger. No sooner did the cloud appear, than the bow burst forth from it. From the region out of which the calamity threatened to come, the sign of forgiving love broke forth. As the waters from the rock, so the bow sprang from the cloud.

3. It was above the earth. It was so far above the earth that nothing on earth could touch it. It was for the earth, but not of the earth. It was a sign from heaven. And being above the earth, it was visible to all. Its brilliance could not be intercepted by hill or forest, far less by any work of man. It was visible from the lowest valley as much as from the hill-top. Every eye could see it, and on seeing it be cheered by the grace which it revealed.

4. It belongs to all ages and lands. It is suited for the world at large, and so is truly a "perpetual" sign; the sign of a covenant in which all centuries and all climes have an equal interest-like the everlasting gospel, proclaiming goodwill to man.

5. It is produced by the sun. It points to the sun, and says-Lo, yonder is the orb of day, though perhaps hidden from your eyes; it is still in the firmament, as radiant as ever. It owes all its glory to the sun, even as the Church owes all her glory to the Sun of Righteousness. And yet, though the offspring of the sun, it is a mixture of light and darkness. It is sunshine braided upon cloud-brightness woven into gloom -proclaiming mingled joy and sorrow for the world over which it is hung-reminding us that the curse is still here, that it is not the new heavens nor the new earth.

6. It is unfading; as bright this day as when it wove its wreath around the ark. It never dims nor pales; for it is the sign of an everlasting covenant, the symbol of an unchanging God and Saviour-the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. The flowers of Paradise have faded, but the hues of the rainbow have not lost their brilliance, nor suffered from the polluted atmosphere of earth. True witness of the coming inheritance of the saints an inheritance "in light," an inheritance that fadeth not away!

7. It is fair and pure. It is one of the loveliest objects that the eye can rest on; a thing of airy beauty; very glorious and magnificent in the span of its wondrous curve, as it bridges some mighty valley, or links together some vast chain of far distant mountains; and at the same time most beautiful in its many-hued tracery. It is not, like the sun, too bright to look

upon, but softened and mellowed in its radiance, cheering and gladdening us with its joyous loveliness, as if God would thereby teach us that the beautiful is his creation, and that he would have us admire it and delight in it. In its beauty there is no flaw, no stain, no earthly tinge. There is no mortality, no corruption yonder, no sickliness in its colours, no soil in its texture;-fit emblem of the holy covenant and the holy God. In it we see the very heart and core of light-the sunbeam turned inside out-and yet there is no flaw in it; nay, it seems to become more perfect the more it is scrutinised. How like the Holy Child! The Prince of this world came, but found nothing in him!

8. It comes forth without effort. It does not indicate such vastness of labour as we discern in the rocks or mountains or rolling billows. It does not, like the flowers, gradually shoot up, as the result of some long process; it is laid gently upon the firmament in its full maturity of size and hue. moment before, and it was not! And now, there it is! What an amount of beauty brought forth in a moment, with such ease and simplicity, without the forth-putting of the slightest effort! How like God, whose great things are all so simple and unlaboured!

9. It is transient. It is not, indeed, so momentary as the lightning, yet it does not last. It comes and goes thereby forming a better and more suitable sign of the covenant. Had it been stationary, or had it come at fixed seasons, brightening and dissolving at set times, it would not have been so striking; but God in his love renews, again and again, at uncertain intervals, this token of faithful love, that we may not grow too familiar with it, as we are with the rising and setting sun, but be more impressed with it, and recalled to the scene which it commemorates, and the covenant which it pledges.

10. It is formed by the separation and spreading out of the pure light's manifold colours. Thus it points us to Jehovah's manifested fulness. As in the rainbow light is unfolded, so in the everlasting covenant God's character is revealed. Were it not for the dark cloud, there would be no unfolding of these secrets of light; so, had it not been for man's fall, there would have been no revelation of the manifold fulness of Jehovah's character. "God is light;" that was known before man sinned; but it needed the fall to separate that light into its component parts, and shew Jehovah to us as the "God of all grace." Earth has been spared, that God might reveal himself. The curse has fallen on it, that God might have a cloud on which to paint the hues of his wondrous grace.