e meaning, accordingly, is simply that God here promises Noah
the imminent restoration of the earth, so that the fields might again
be sowed; that the desolation caused by the flood should be no more;
that the seasons might run their course in accordance with regular
law: harvest following seedtime, winter following summer, cold
following heat in due order.

95. This text should be carefully remembered in view of the common
notions concerning the signs before the last day. Then, some declare,
there will be eclipses of I know not how many days duration. They say
foolishly that for seven years not a single woman will bring forth a
child, and the like. But this text declares that neither day nor
night, neither summer nor winter, shall cease; therefore these natural
changes will go on, and there will never be an eclipse which will rob
human eyes of an entire day.

96. Nor is it a phrase devoid of meaning when he says, "While the
earth remaineth," for he gives us to understand that the days of this
earth shall sometime be numbered, and other days, days of heaven,
shall follow. As long, therefore, as the days of the earth endure, so
long shall the earth abide, and with it the rotation of seasons. But
when these days of the earth shall pass, then all these things shall
cease, and there shall follow days of heaven, that is, eternal days.
There shall be one Sabbath after the other, when we shall not be
engrossed with bodily labor for the purpose of gaining a livelihood;
for we shall be as the angels of God, Mk 12, 25. Our life will be to
know God, to delight in God's wisdom and to enjoy the presence of God.
This life we attain through faith in Christ, in which the eternal
Father may mercifully keep us, through the merit of his son, our
Savior, Jesus Christ, by the ruling and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Amen. Amen.

CHAPTER IX.

I. GOD BLESSES NOAH AND THE RACE.

A. MARRIAGE STATE BLESSED 1-5.

1. Why this blessing necessary 1.

2. Wedlock established twice 2.

3. Evidence of God's love to the human race 3.

4. Did this blessing pertain to Noah 4.

* Bearing of children a special blessing of God unknown to the
heathen 5.

I. GOD BLESSES NOAH AND THE RACE.

A. Marriage State Blessed.

V. 1. _And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth._

1. This consolation was indeed needed after the whole human r