of man's life and business on this earth.

"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful
and multiply, and replenish the earth; and the fear of you and the
dread of you shall be upon every living creature. Into your hand
they are delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat
for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things. But
flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof shall ye not
eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the
hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of men; at
the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in
the image of God made He man."

Now, to understand this covenant, consider what thoughts would have
been likely to grow up in the mind of Noah's children after the
flood. Would they not have been something of this kind: 'God does
not love men; He has drowned all but us, and we are men of like
passions with the world who perished, may we not expect the like
ruin at any moment? Then what use to plough and sow, and build and
plant, and work for those who shall come after us?' 'Let us eat and
drink, for to-morrow we die.'

And again, they would have been ready to say, 'This God, whom our
forefather Noah said sent floods, we cannot see Him; but the floods
themselves we can see. All these clouds and tempests, lightning,
sun, and stars, are we STRONGER than them? No! They may crush us,
drown us, strike us dead at any moment. They seem, too, to go by
certain wonderful rules and laws; perhaps they have a will and
understanding in them. Instead of praying to a God whom we never