persuaded to cast it from him. The language of the first three chapters of the Book of Genesis are as much above us as Heaven is above Earth. It is pure Revelation. There is profoundest wisdom in the method of the inspired writer, as well as the very loftiest meaning in all he says. What he omits to tell us, is with as great design omitted, as what he declares to us it concerns us all to know. I entreat you to bow with an absolute prostration of the heart and understanding before every word,-yes every word of the sacred Oracles of God.

The Sunday called Quinquagesima :

Or, the next Sunday before Lent.

THE RAINBOW.

GEN. ix. 13.

I do set My Bow in the cloud and it shall be for a token of a Covenant between Me and the Earth.

THE rapid glance which, in her Proper Lessons, the Church takes, during this season of the sacred year, at the early History of Mankind, compels her to pass at once from the wickedness of Man which brought in the Flood, to the Covenant which GOD made with Man when the Flood was ended. Last Sunday evening, we heard of God's wrath: this morning, we read of GOD's mercy. Then, the clouds were gathering in the sky and darkening the face of Heaven: already they are dispersed, and we are presented instead with the glorious token of the Covenant which, when Divine justice had been appeased, Divine Love made with His creatures. "The

appearance of the Bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain" already spans the horizon from side to side, and the Finger of the Most High points intently towards it; inviting Man to behold therein the unalterable token of a promise which can never fail.

I propose that we dwell for a few moments on the beautiful spectacle thus presented to our contemplation. If it had only been recorded in passing that the Rainbow appeared when the waters of the Flood subsided, and the Sun, long veiled by the rain-clouds, at last broke forth in glory, such an allusion to one of the most exquisite phenomena in Nature might well have attracted our notice sufficiently to have been made the subject of special comment. But when, through nine successive verses of Scripture, the Heavenly Bow is dwelt upon by Him whose Hands in the beginning "bended it :"— when we hear Him claim it for His own, ("I do set My Bow in the cloud,") and invite attention to it as the perpetual token of His Covenant with Man, we are constrained to give heed to the matter. Like Moses on another occasion, we gladly turn aside to "see this great sight," and to attend to what it signifies.

I. I will not stay to inquire whether there was

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ever a Rainbow seen by Man before that glorious one which hung so brightly over the wreck of a ruined World. Such questions are altogether external to the Theologian's province. No doubt, if it ever rained before the Flood,-and if the Sun shone out on the rain-drops,-the processes of refraction and reflection took place, and a Rainbow infallibly was the consequence. About this, there can be no doubt. And I am aware of no sufficient reason for supposing that the system by which the Earth was watered before the days of Noah differed so entirely from that which has since prevailed: nor why a perpetual miracle should have been wrought to interfere with the necessary sequence of God's Law in Nature. Neither does the language of the text at all require that we should assume that the Rainbow now for the first time came to view. As Sun, Moon, and Stars had certainly existed for long cycles of ages before the Six Days of the Mosaic Creation, but were then consecrated to a fresh purpose; recognized anew by their Creator, and appointed to discharge a fresh office in relation to Man;-so may it well have been in respect to the Rainbow. That beautiful arch may have been from the beginning: but now, with quite a new purpose GOD may have

said, "I do set My Bow in the cloud:" for never before had it been to Him "a token of a Covenant between Him and the Earth."

II. And here, the first thing which strikes us with interest, is also the last: viz. the wonderful spectacle of the Creator entering into solemn Covenant with His creatures. For you are invited to observe that it is with more than Man that God makes this Covenant. The Animals (singular to relate) are associated with him, and taken into mysterious partnership. "Behold, I establish My Covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living Creature that is with you; of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the Earth with you; from all that go out of the Ark to every beast of the Earth."... The terms of the Covenant we are familiar with:-"I will remember My Covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh: and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the Bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the Everlasting Covenant between GOD and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the Earth." So minutely and particularly does GoD pledge Himself to behold in the Rainbow the symbol of His

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