those that love him. Prov. viii. 17. So also doth he bless those that bless him. Man blesses God by speaking good of him. God blesses man by doing good to him. Thankfulness for past mercies is a good way of begging future mercies. God, like the husbandman, loves to sow his seed upon fruitful ground.

Be fruitful and multiply. This is not a command, of which they are transgressors that never marry, or that have no children; but a promise that they should be fruitful. The same is said to the fishes, (chap. i. 22,) which are not under any law. Fruitfulness is the effect of God's blessing. The fruitfulness of the body is so, for the fruit of the womb is his reward; Psa. cxxvii. 3: the fruitfulness of the estate is so; for the blessing of the Lord maketh rich; Prov. x. 22: the fruitfulness of the soul is so; for from me is thy fruit found. Hos. xiv. 8. Replenish the earth. This promise we see accomplished: the earth is filled and replenished, and probably was so in a short time after the promise was made. The blessing of God is an operative blessing.

2 And 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.

Adam, in innocency, seems to have ruled the creatures by love; but Noah and his sons must rule them by fear. That difference sin has made. Man did not get this power himself, but he had it from God; and therefore God is to be acknowledged in it. But how is this promise fulfilled, when we see many of the creatures without any fear of man at all? 1. Some of the creatures are totally subdued to man's yoke; and that is the fruit and effect of this promise. Is not the fear of man upon the horse; else would he not scorn to be saddled, and bridled, and ridden by a child that has not a tenth part of his strength? 2. Some of the wildest have been tamed and subdued. So saith the apostle. Jam. iii. 7. 3. Those that are most fierce and irreclaimable have, notwithstanding, some restraint upon them. Now what is that bridle of restraint, but the fear and the dread of man? What is it that keeps wolves out of our houses, and lions out of our streets, and makes them to abide in the wilderness, but this fear and dread? When we see the effects of this fear upon the creatures, we should remember to give God the glory; whose powerful, wise, and gracious hand hath made such a hedge of protection and wall of defence around mankind.

3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

'Tis doubted whether, before this, flesh was eaten or not. 1. Some think it was. They say we are not to suppose that what is given here, was not given before; for that fruitfulness and dominion over the creatures is here not first given, but only renewed; that beasts were before killed for sacrifice, and what should hinder but that they might be eaten? 2. Most interpreters think that, before the flood, they did not eat flesh, but only herbs and the fruits of the earth. Gen. i. 29. The reason why this liberty was granted now and not before, is supposed to be because the flood had taken away much of the strength and virtue of the earth, and had perhaps some influence upon the bodies of men, making them to stand in need of more nourishing food than herbs and roots. "Tis supposed that the difference was not now made which was afterwards put between the creatures by the ceremonial law, making some clean, and others unclean. Lev. xi. Noah and his sons might eat of any, asking no question for conscience sake. This liberty, which was afterwards straitened by the yoke of ceremonies, is enlarged to us by the gospel of freedom; for to us every creature of God is good,

man.

and nothing to be refused. 1 Tim. iv. 4. It is a great mercy that we have this liberty. How liberal is God in administering to the benefit and comfort of Other creatures die that we may live; they are destroyed that we may be maintained. It would be good sometimes to think what abundance of creatures we have lived upon the ruins of, that we may study what we shall render unto God, (Psa. cxvi. 12,) who doth not only hold our souls in life by daily preservation, (Psa. lxvi. 9,) but doth also maintain our souls in life by daily supplies. Psa. cxlv. 15. This grant was a recompence to Noah for his care of the creatures in the ark. He had kept them safe; and now God gave them to him for his labour. He had fed them; and now, to make him amends, they shall feed him. Obedience will certainly redound to our own comfort, first or last.

4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not

eat.

God had now enlarged man's liberty as to his food; but, lest man should turn the grace of God into wantonness, and that liberty into licentiousness, (1 Pet. ii. 16,) here is a restraint aid upon him. "Though I give you a dominion over the creatures, yet you must not turn that dominion into cruelty.

You may be kings, but you must not be tyrants." This prohibition forbad the eating the flesh of a creature whilst it was alive,-the tearing away the member of a living creature, and eating it,—and the eating of raw flesh. They were not to eat the flesh with the blood thereof, as the soldiers did in haste. 1 Sam. xiv. 32. Blood is called the life, not here only, but in Lev. xvii. 14, and in Deut. xii. 23; and it is so called, perhaps, because it is the general nourishment of the whole body. The blood is, as it were, the vehicle of nutriment; conducting and carrying to the several parts that which keeps them alive. But what reasons were there for this command? It was to show them that, though they were lords over the creatures, yet they were subjects of the great Creator,-who had therefore power to forbid and command what pleased him. It was to convince them that though they were princes, yet they were not sovereigns; though they were governors, yet they were not supreme. This law was a hedge about the law that forbids murder. God forbad them to eat blood, lest they should thereby get a habit of cruelty. To prevent their shedding the blood of men, they must not even eat the blood of beasts. The unparalleled cruelty of the emperor Caligula was, by some, imputed to his nurse; who, they say, was wont to rub her breast