ultiply. Plainly he is
more inclined to give life and to do good than to be angry and to
kill. If it were otherwise, why should he forbid the taking of human
life? Why should pestilence be of rare occurrence? Pestilence and
general epidemics occur scarce once in ten years. Men are born,
animals grow, and crops without end are growing continually.

46. All these facts go to show that God loves, not death, but life. He
created man, not that he should die, but that he should live; "but
through the envy of the devil did death enter the world," Sap 2, 24.
But even after the fall, the blessings which remain are so guarded as
to render the conclusion inevitable that God loves life rather than
death.

It is well for us to ponder these matters very often; thus, as Solomon
has truly said, Jehovah shall be to us a fountain of blessings. Prov
18, 22.

B. GOD'S COVENANT WITH NOAH 47-55.

* Why the same thing is repeated 47.

1. Whether this covenant applies to man alone or also to the
animals 48.

2. Whether this covenant applies to the men and animals of that day
only 49.

* God always connected signs with his promises 49.

* The significance of these to our first parents 49-50.

3. Nature of this covenant 51.

* Characteristics of a humble heart and God's dealings with it
52-54.

4. This covenant given for man's comfort and as a proof of God's
love 53-54.

5. It is a comfort to us at present 55.

B. GOD'S COVENANT WITH NOAH.

Vs. 8-11. _And God spake unto Noah, and his sons with him, saying, And
I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after
you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the
cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that go out of
the ark, even every beast of the earth. And I will establish my
covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the
waters of the flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to
destroy the earth._

47. Previously we at various times explained this massing of words.
When the Holy Spirit is prolix, there is a cause for it. Let us
therefore, consider what fear, dread and peril Noah and his family
endured and it will be easily understood why it was necessary for God
to say and to emphasize the same things with such frequency.

48. When, in addition it is remembered that the covenant here spoken
of does not pertain to man alone but embraces e