"He looked, and behold the earth was
dry."
God doth not let us see the hills for our help before we have first
of all seen them drowned. Look not to them, therefore, while the
water is at the rising; but if they begin to cease their raging, if
they begin to fall, and with that the tops of the mountains be seen,
you may look upon them with comfort; they are tokens of God's
deliverance. Gen. 8.
It was requisite that the hills, Gen. 7:19, should be covered, that
Noah might not have confidence in them; but surely this dispensation
of God was a heart-shaking providence to Noah and them that were
with him; for here indeed was his faith tried, there was no hill
left in all the world; now were his carnal helpers gone, there was
none shut up or left. Now therefore, if they could rejoice, it must
be only in the power of God.
Noah was to have respect in his deliverance not only to himself and
family, but to the good of all the world. Men's spirits are too
narrow for the mind of God, when their chief end, or their only
design in their enjoying this or the other mercy, is for the sake of
their own selves only. It cannot be according to God, that such
desires should be encouraged. "None of us liveth unto himself;" why,
then, should we desire life only for ourselves?
The church cries out thus: "God be merciful to us and bless us, and
cause his face to shine upon us.
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