living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters were assuaged." Here was an operation of the Spirit moving upon the waters again, or, a return of that portion of the Spirit which he had previously withdrawn from the atmosphere, which was requisite to keep up the balance of nature, and restrain the waters within their bounds. And thus we plainly see, that when God, contrary to the laws of nature, miraculously executes judgment upon man, he can in his own time as miraculously remove those judgments again. Therefore, no poor sinner, though he feel his heart ever so hard, and his corruptions ever so strong, if he desires to be delivered from and hates those corruptions, need despair; for, as God by his Spirit, set the whole creation in order, notwithstanding it was all darkness and confusion, so can he make all the rough places of our souls plain, and the crooked straight, and reveal his glory in us by Christ Jesus his Son, who hath "tasted death for every man, that he might thereby destroy the power of death in us"—and that is the subject I wish to keep in view as I proceed with this work, and now shall proceed from the sixth verse- And it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: and he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from the earth; also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him in the ark; for the waters were on the face of the earth." Then he put forth his hand,

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rnd took her, and pulled her in unto him in the ark."

There is something worthy of particular observation in the peculiar characters of these two birds, conveying to the spiritual reader a most instructive lesson. The raven is an unclean bird, that lives upon carrion; therefore, when Noah sent the raven forth, it had no difficulty in finding a resting place for the sole of its foot, because it could find plenty of resting places upon the dead carcasses which floated upon the waters, which served it for food likewise. And so is it the case with vile wicked men, that fear not God-of which this unclean bird was a true symbol-who can prosper for a while, temporally, upon the ruin of their fellow-creatures, and the more depraved the state of society is, the more congenial is it with their vitiated nature: and so the raven which Noah sent forth could feed upon the carrion carcasses. But the dove being a clean bird, was forced to return. Thus the dove truly symbolized the child of God: he cannot feed upon the filthy carrion of worldly pleasures; he finds no happiness out of Christ; therefore he is glad when he can lawfully lay by the business of this world, retire from its vain baubles, to assemble together with the people of God in his sanctuary; he likes to be always dwelling in Christ, of whom the ark was a striking type, for he knows well, that as all who were out of the ark perished, so all who are out of Christ must perish also. Therefore, as the dove found no resting place until she returned again to the ark, so the Christian, if he attempts to seek rest in the pleasures and pursuits of the world, can find none until he returns again to

Christ, for Christ alone is his beginning, middle, and end. Thus we may learn important lessons from every portion of the word of God.

THE DRYING UP OF THE WATERS.

Verse 13. "And it came to pass, in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth; and Noah removed the covering from the ark, and, behold, the face of the earth was dry. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried." After which God commanded Noah to go forth from the ark, and every living thing with him; which Noah did, and built an altar, upon which he offered sacrifices to the Lord, of every clean beast, and every clean fowl.

Verse 21. "And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease."

Thus endeth the eighth chapter; after which the ninth contains God's blessing to Noah and his family the same blessing as that with which he blessed Adam and Eve.

THE RAINBOW.

From the 13th to the 17th verses, is the account of the rainbow being appointed as a token to confirm the covenant.

Verse 16. " 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."

But the

The opponents of scripture, I am aware, have raised an objection to the recorded fact, of the rainbow being given as a token of the covenant. They assert, that the rainbow at that time was no new phenomenon. Grant that; yet it might be given as a confirmation of the covenant, although it had appeared thousands of times before. But if men can be found to boldly assert, nature was the spontaneous production of chance, I do not feel bound to give them credit for, or believe their mere assertions, that the phenomenon of the rainbow was ever seen before: and for this reason, there could be no rainbow unless there was rain. Ah, but they will reply, Is not the rainbow occasioned by the refraction of the sun's rays upon the falling rain? To which I answer, yes. scripture is consistent with itself still; for it gives no account of its ever raining until the deluge: consequently, the first time it rained it drowned the world, and, according to the sixth verse of the second chapter, that, prior to the deluge, "There went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.' But my opponents will reply, If it was the case, that prior to the deluge, there was a mist which ascended from the ground that would refract the rays of the sun, and so produce the phenomenon-now what becomes of your argument? To which I reply, do not exult too soon; for the "words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times:" and, as by the

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word of God the heavens and earth were made, I am not afraid of depending upon the same word to support my argument against their objections. I am ready to admit the fact, that halos must have been seen prior to the deluge, in the mist which went up from the earth, to water the whole face of the ground," and the refraction of the rays from the solar orb, might have been witnessed in the sparkling spray arising from a tempestuous ocean, as the boisterous wind dispersed the tops of the waves into the air, or in the spray arising from the violent descent of watery cataracts: I admit that bows might have been seen under such circumstances, but they could not be rainbows, according to the sense of the text, because the rainbow was to be seen in the cloud. Therefore, as the scriptures speak not of rain until the deluge, the man who believes them, concludes, that, until that awful catastrophe, there never was any rain-consequently there could be no rainbow so that the scripture is consistent with itself. And most remarkably particular is it respecting the time when the rainbow first appeared, namely, the breaking up of the deluge, the clearing up of the storm-the very season in which that phenomenon appears; and it is a fact which every one is acquainted with, that, after a long rainy season, the weather generally clears up with partial showers, when rain and sunshine occur together; which would be the case at the clearing up of the deluge, the very season in which the rainbow was first appointed, for a confirmation of God's covenant with Noah, and all flesh living.

Thus much concerning the rainbow; after