ace had
been destroyed by the flood and only eight souls were saved. Now Noah
knew that God was truly merciful, since, not content with that first
blessing which he had bestowed upon mankind in the creation of the
world, he added this new blessing, that Noah might have no misgivings
whatever in regard to the future increase of his posterity. And the
joy brought by this promise was all the greater for God's emphatic
promise on a previous occasion, that he would never again visit
mankind with such severe punishment.

2. In the first place, then, this chapter renews the establishment of
marriage. God, by his Word and command, joins male and female for the
purpose of repopulating the earth. Inasmuch as God had been roused to
anger before the flood by the sin of lust, it was now needful, by
reason of that fearful proof of wrath, to show that God does not abhor
the lawful cohabitation of man and woman, but that it is his will to
increase mankind by this means.

3. The fact that God had expressed it as his will that the human race
should be propagated through a union between man and woman, an end
which could have been attained from stones had he failed to approve
such union as lawful, after the manner of Deucalion of whom the poets
fable--this fact tended to furnish Noah sure evidence that God loved
man, and desired his welfare, and that now all anger was at an end.
Therefore this passage illustrates the dignity of wedlock, which is
the foundation of the family and State, and the nursery of the Church.

4. The objection is here raised that Noah had already reached an age
no longer fit for procreation in view of the fact that the Bible
records no instance of children being born to him afterwards, and
therefore this promise was valueless. To this I reply that this
promise was given, not to Noah alone, but also to his sons, even to
all mankind; so that the expectation of offspring was entertained even
by the grandsire Noah.

5. This passage, furthermore, tends to convince us that children are a
gift of God and a result of his blessing, as is shown in Psalms 127,
3. The heathen, who know nothing of God's Word, ascribe the increase
of mankind partly to nature and partly to chance, in view of the fact
that those who are evidently most fit for procreation often remain
without offspring. Hence, they do not thank God for this gift, nor do
they receive their children as a blessing from God.

B. MAN'S USE OF AND DOMINION OVER ANI