GEN, ix. 8, 9.

"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."

In my last sermon on Noah I spoke of the flood and of Noah's faith
before the flood; I now go on to speak of the covenant which God
made with Noah after the flood. Now, Noah stood on that newly-dried
earth as the head of mankind; he and his family, in all eight souls,
saved by God's mercy from the general ruin, were the only human
beings left alive, and had laid on them the wonderful and glorious
duty of renewing the race of man, and replenishing the vast world
around them. From that little knot of human beings were to spring
all the nations of the earth.

And because this calling and destiny of theirs was a great and all-
important one--because so much of the happiness or misery of the new
race of mankind depended on the teaching which they would get from
their forefathers, the sons of Noah, therefore God thought fit to
make with Noah and his sons a solemn covenant, as soon as they came
out of the ark.

Let us solemnly consider this covenant, for it stands good now as
much as ever. God made it "with Noah, and his seed after him," for
perpetual generations. And WE are the seed of Noah; every man,
woman, and child of us here were in the loins of Noah when the great
absolute God gave him that pledge and promise. We must earnestly
consider that covenant, for in it lies the very ground and meaning