<< Genesis 6: The Ark >>

 14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15 And this is the fashion  which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. 21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. 22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. 21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. 22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. GENESIS VI

We come now to another important portion of our subject, in considering the meaning and the circumstances of the flood. If we have given satisfactory reasons for considering the flood itself to have been such a deluge as threatens the soul of every man at some part of his spirit's history, and was peculiarly terrible at the end of the best and earliest church which prevailed among mankind, we shall find still further confirmation in pursuing the other portions of the divine narrative. We are now also very favourably situated for our present ailment, for we are able to compare the capabilities of the ark to afford comfortable accommodation for its human and bestial inhabitants, as illustrated by the great ship, the Great Eastern. This vessel is nearly a fourth larger than the ark, its tonnage being 22,500, and that of the ark 18,000 tons.

One general principle, which we think will hardly be disputed, we venture to assume; which is this, That if God provided a refuge from the flood, it would be a proper and satisfactory one. He does all things well. If the ark was a natural ship, it would be constructed on the best principle: there would be size enough, light enough, and air enough to accommodate all whom it was designed to contain. If it does not answer these requirements, when the history is literally understood, is it not wiser to ask if the sacred writing has not some other meaning, rather than either reject it as the word of God, or to reject our reason in matters of religion, and thus lay ourselves open to any absurdity, however wild?

It is true a person may say, that God, being all-powerful, could put any number of animals and their food into the ark, whether it was large enough or not. But with such reasoning it would be impossible to show that there was any need of an ark at all. The animals might have been kept safe and snug at the bottom of the sea as well as in an ark that would not hold them. A gentleman who had overlooked the Divine invitation, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord," — Isa. i. 18, once remarked in a sermon: "God could have put all the animals of the earth in a thimble if he had thought fit;'' but such a person would find it very difficult to object when a priest of another faith told him that God the Saviour puts Himself, soul, body, and divinity, into the wafer that lies on the communicant's tongue. Such persons affect to disdain reason, and yet it is remarkable how readily they hold with it when they suppose they can use it in their own favour. In fact, religion is not only the best, but the most reasonable thing in the world. It is light for the mind. And when any one proves his doctrine or view of Holy Writ is not reasonable, he proves it to be not true, not from God. When a reader, who thinks only naturally, reads that God commanded Noah to make an ark to save him when the flood came, he mentally says, Yes, that was very right, very proper, very reasonable; and he is satisfied. But if he finds on further examination that the ark would not hold the animals, or was totally unfit to sustain life, would he not be impelled to think there must be some other way of understanding the narrative rather than that he ought to attribute anything absurd to the All-wise Creator? This, then, is precisely the view we wish to enforce. Let not any one imagine, that in proposing difficulties in regard to the letter of the Word, if naturally understood, we in the slightest degree wish to lessen his esteem for it as a revelation from God. We only say as the apostle did. Here, " The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." — 2 Cor. iii. 6. When we rise from the letter to the spirit we shall rise to a perception of the true wisdom of the Word, as we have never seen it before. We shall see that the thoughts of God are as much higher than our thoughts, as heaven is higher than the earth.

We have mentioned in our discourse on the flood, that to suppose it took place literally, we must not only admit that one miracle was wrought, but such a crowd of miracles that the mind staggers at their number and character. And when we see, after all, that the literal arrangement would have been so thoroughly absurd as would have rendered such an attempt at this day absolutely ridiculous, it becomes inconceivable. According to the letter, seven days (chap. vii. 4.) before the entry into the ark, the command was given that a male and a female of all animals should be taken into the ark, with some modifications which we shall notice later. The ark would be situated in a district between the Tigris and the Euphrates. The animals would have to come from all the regions of the earth, however varied, and however distant. The polar bear, the arctic fox, and the other tribes of the cold regions must make their way over the sea at Behring's Straits, and down the wild steppes of Asia, contrary to their instincts, and to all the laws of their being; over thousands of miles they must go in a week. The lama of Peru, the black tiger of Java, the elephant of India, the monkeys which are peculiar to the great islands of the Indian seas, the kangaroos of Australia, and the great brown bear of Russia must wend their ways, some over seas many hundreds or thousands of miles wide, at far more than railway express speed, to reach the ark of safety. The sloth of Surinam, poor fellow, who with pain gets over a few yards on the ground, would have a hard time of it. The tortoises, too, would be hurried, and even the alligators of Africa would be much moved from their usual habits. Let any one imagine the number of miracles involved in this collection of the animals, and he will doubtless find this portion of the subject a startling one to begin with: the distance to be travelled, the obstacles to be overcome, the short time to accomplish so Herculean a task, and the total contrariety to the natures of the great part of them involved in their coming to one spot, and all being placed in one confined vessel in a warm region of the earth.

Next, we must not forget that there was no ventilation provided for in the ark. There was only one opening for a door, and the door was shut after Noah entered. Now, fresh air is as essential to life as food or water. In one night, a few hundreds, in the Black-hole at Calcutta, shut up in a close room, but having one small window open, were so affected that only a few were found alive the next morning. And if you go to see the Great Eastern, you will find openings made all round her to admit the fresh air, so necessary to life and health to every part of her; but we are to believe, if the narrative of the flood be literally taken, that many thousands of creatures were shut up with no air at all let in to them for twelve months. A person may say they could live without air, but so he might as readily say they could have lived at the bottom of the sea without harm, or perched upon clouds for the twelve months, but all that goes to make the ark, which Noah was a hundred years in building, quite a superfluous thing. We have such a view of the perfections of God, that we are persuaded that if he made a vessel to save his creatures from drowning, it would not be to subject them to the horrors of suffocation; it would be in all respects a model of ventilation and salubrity. Since this was not attended to at all, if the history of the ark is to be literally construed, we are persuaded that the literal sense is not the true one.

But, there was also to be only one narrow window, eighteen inches wide, and that at the top (chap. vi. 16). There could, then, only be a little light in the upper story, and the two lower ones would be absolutely dark. Let any one picture to himself these two stories, filled with thousands of creatures, all in darkness, and without air for twelve months, and ask, what would be their sanitory condition? Had it been stated they had been all subjected to hydraulic pressure, and hermetically sealed for the time, the defenders of the letter, and nothing but the letter, would have had a better case. But to keep them with their faculties awake, and to give them food, (chap. vi. 21); to confine them in the dark, to feed them, but without air, or any provision for purification, is so utterly absurd that no rational thought can admit it for a moment. Only let any one now suppose that the Great Eastern were only furnished with one window, eighteen inches wide, and not furnished with any other light or opening, and ask himself, Would it be possible for any person to sail in her for a single day ? and then put the matter home to himself, Can I persist in attributing to the All-wise what would be unutterably absurd for man ?

We come, now, to consider the size of the ark, as proportioned to the multitude of her inhabitants. The Great Eastern for a short voyage, it is said, could take ten thousand men: for the voyage across to India she is fitted for four thousand. But the ark would be required to carry her passengers for a year, and food, it would seem, for two, for there could be no subsistence until after a new harvest had been grown subsequent to their leaving the ark. This food would take up more room than the absolute cubical measurement of the animals themselves, for in twelve months any living creature will consume more food than is equal to its own bulk. The whole space for anything to stand on in the ark would be the length multiplied by the breadth, and that by three; thus 450 feet by 75, and that by 3, equal to 11,650 yards, not quite three acres. Half of this would be taken up by stowage for food, so that one and a half acres would be the whole available capacity nothing of space for exercise. Now, for comfortable living, the Zoological society does not deem their gardens in Regent's park too large, and they are forty acres, and the number of animals 1400 only. These are a very small proportion of the species known to exist in the whole earth, and every year adds to the list of those previously ascertained to be in existence. The mammalia alone are 1700 in number; but, deducting the ruminants, because of these fourteen of each kind were to go in, (Gen. vii. 2 ; Lev, 3)this would give us 3016 individuals at once. Then of the clean beasts, fourteen of each kind, there are 194 species, but omitting the camels, 192, which would yield 2688 additional. Of reptiles there are 1000 species, from the fearful anaconda and boa-constrictor to the meanest worm, giving 2000 individuals. Of amphibia, including the mighty alligators down to the tiniest lizard, 400 species, that is, 800 individuals. The birds were to be fourteen of each kind, and there are of them 7000 species, that would be 98,000 individuals. Of insects there are 25,000 known species, and the discoveries of fresh kinds are constantly being made: their name is legion. Now, what have we got? We say nothing of fish, although it is written that " two of every living thing of all flesh shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee." — Chap. vi. 19.

There are of mammalia, without ruminants ...... 3016
Of ruminants ….................................................2688
Of reptiles ….....................................................2000
Of amphibia …....................................................800
Of birds …......................................................98,000

Total                                                     ........106,504

Then come the 50,000 insects, and we may well say myriads more undiscovered.

The flesh-eating animals create an additional difficulty, for there was no food provided for them. They must be without or eat the other animals which were to be preserved, or natures changed. But let us look at the numbers as we have them, and endeavour to realize them. We have mentioned at at Regent's Park there are forty acres used for 1400 animals, but in the ark we have only an acre and a half 106,504, that is, for nearly eighty times that number. Again:at New Smithfield market the area is fifteen acres. On a full day, when the market is crowded, there are 5000 large cattle and 30, 000 small. The animals stand close to one another and have no space for exercise. In the ark we have many more animals, and a large proportion of them very unpleasant companions, and only one-tenth part of the room. We must not forget, too, that the way animals can stand in a market is not the way they can remain for a year. We may safely say, they could not in any possible way have been packed in. When, then, we consider the circumstances in which these creatures must have been brought together from their abodes in all parts of the world; over seas, over mountains, over thousands of miles, the manner in which they must again pass over the desolated earth, in addition to the former obstacles to their several proper climates and abodes, involving thousands of miracles: when we consider the suspension of the proper laws of life, and the geographical requirements in the case of every animal during its abode in the ark: when we consider the want of room for a tenth part of them in the ark itself; the want of air, want of light, and want of cleanliness, which must all have to be met by additional miracles: when we consider even the descent of this strange crowd from a region far above that of perpetual snow, we shall certainly be startled, not at one stupendous miracle like that of the flood, considered by itself, but at the thousands of miracles involved, all to be accepted, because the natural man will not receive the Word spiritually, and ponder over its spiritual wisdom. To those who feel these difficulties, we would affectionately advise the adoption of the Psalmist's prayer: " Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."

One law which pervades all divine works is this. They are accomplished in the simplest manner, with the least expenditure of means. How very simple is the human throat! but in its power of harmony it surpasses all musical instruments put together. It is also the passage for food to the stomach, to build up the system, of air to the lungs to purify the blood, and it is likewise a chimney for the rejection of used material from the lungs. Nowhere can we find in human art so splendid an instance of great ends accomplished from small means. In divine works this law constantly prevails. In the flood, however, understood literally, we find the exact contrary. We have enormous means to accomplish a small result. There is not one miracle only, but a crowd of miracles. We have not the destruction of human beings only, which could have been effected in a few minutes by tainting the air, but the destruction of all the animals, and for what purpose was this ? They had done nothing amiss. Then, again, if there must be a creation of water supposed, which men must he destroyed, why have the water on the earth for twelve months? Less than an hour's immersion under water is enough to destroy the man most tenacious of life; why create such vast masses of fluid to encircle the earth, and continue it there for a whole year? In the seventeenth day of the second month the flood began, (chap. vii. 11), and on the seven-and-twentieth day of the second month, in the following year, it ended.(Gen. viii. 14.) Here, then, there would be, if literally understood, a contradiction to all we know of the perfection of Divine wisdom. Then, again, by lying twelve months under water, in violent agitation, what would be the condition of the vegetable world ? Yet there are trees growing in the primeval forests of America that must have been growing before the flood, from being, as is known to botanists, much older than the supposed date of the deluge? They must have been destroyed by such an occurrence had it happened. Then, again, it is well known that both animals and plants are governed by geographical laws of distribution. An animal can live in one climate, under some circumstances, but dies speedily if removed. Some fish, whose abode is fresh water, die if they are touched by salt and and vice versa.

But these laws, so exact and so beautiful, must all have been suspended, and a multitude of miracles have been produced, to make one wild chaos. And for what end ? To show God's power? That is a poor display of power which is done at the expense of wisdom and order. God displays His power tn the wonderful operations of every day; but it is in manifestations of goodness, beauty, and perfection. Why attribute a proceeding to God which is the reverse of all this ?

On the contrary, by viewing the account of the flood as a description of a great spiritual catastrophe, such as happens at the end of every church, we can interpret all its particulars in a manner to supply the spirit with instruction and warnings which, which will preserve us when assailed ourselves by the floods of temptation.

The Lord is said to bring this flood, because when men make evil, falsehood, and hypocrisy, their own ; when deep lusts, horrid passions, polluted imaginations, and gross perversions of truth have reduced human minds into bondage, the divine effort to save the few good who remain produces a violent explosion. Truth, uttered in such a valley of darkness, will act like a spark to gunpowder. Every engine of offense will be brought into play to destroy the unwelcome light. Deep malignant falsehoods will gush forth from the hidden impurities of the soul: false reasonings from those intellectual faculties, which, when in order, are the very windows of heaven, and the constant reiteration of error, like the descent of rain, all bring on a deluge, and will sweep away every soul which has not sought refuge in the divine ark of a true and new church. This ark we shall now endeavour to describe. In it the spirit is safe, and will assuredly learn '' that the Lord sitteth upon the floods, the Lord sitteth King for ever."

In considering the subject in a spiritual point of view, we would observe, first, that the ark is a prominent object in Divine Revelation. We have the ark here, the ark of bulrushes, in which Moses lay hid; the golden ark in the tabernacle, and the ark seen by St. John in heaven, Rev. xi. 19. Hence, we may be led to notice, that the ark is a type of the church. It is the church which saves man in all spiritual floods. If he is like Noah, just, upright, and walking with God, so far as he knows the Divine will, the mercy of the Lord ever points out to him how he is to make an ark. "Make thee an ark of gopher wood." This wood is a species of turpentine wood, very inflammable. It is the representative of religion, such as it is at first, only a modified selfishness; the religion of hope and fear. We fear the pains of hell; we hope for the rewards of heaven. We fly from outward sin with an energy derived partly from self-love. We fear to be crushed by punishment in the future. We love ourselves too well to remain in danger and in death. We make our ark in terror, to save us from the coming ruin, but we do not make it of heavenly gold, like the ark of the testimony made by Aaron; we make it of gopher wood. That is suited to our state, and it answers the Divine end. It bridges the gulf between us and heaven. We shall make, by divine help, a better ark in time, a golden ark of love. Meantime, it is a blessed thing when we see the wild waves of temptation and sorrow coming, to have an ark into which we can retire, and let the Lord shut us in. "Come, O my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation, then, is an ark, a refuge sometimes for a generation, sometimes for an individual: and happy is he who enters its protecting bosom.

The wood of which the ark was made corresponds to the low degree of goodness which we are able to enter upon at the beginning of the regenerate life. We resolve to obey the Lord, but in great imperfection, and from very external grounds. We form the best resolution we can to live for heaven, and it is accepted. The gopher tree was a species of fir which readily took fire. And from this circumstance we have imaged the very inferior character of our early spiritual determinations. From the representative character of wood it was, that when the waters of Marah were too bitter for the Israelites to drink, on Moses casting wood therein, they became sweet. Yet, that wood represents good of a comparatively external description, will appear if we ponder over the words used by the prophet Isaiah concerning the Lord's coming to form a spiritual church. "For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thine officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness” — Isa. lx. 17. Again: " The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.'' — Hab. ii. 11. The stone cries out of the wall when truth speaks, the beam answers when goodness, however imperfect, responds. The ark, then, was to be made of gopher wood, and though it is only a temporary and frail abode while peril is around, yet, by divine mercy, it will preserve the threatened soul until a more perfect and free state can be attained. " Thou shalt pitch it within and without with pitch." This covering is indicative of the earnest affection with which man must regard the church, both in love and life, that the Divine protection may be with him. His affections, compared with what they will become, are only as pitch compared to gold; yet the Lord will protect if the heart is set on fleeing to a purer state. If, with our affections, dark and impure as they are, we repent and follow the Lord, He will accept us, and wash us again and again, until "our sins, which were as scarlet, shall be white as snow: "and those which were red, like crimson, "shall be as wool." A similar lesson of divine goodness and condescension to our imperfections, is taught by the black horses mentioned by the prophet Zechariah. The black horses which went into the north country "have quieted my spirit in the north country." — Chap. vi. 6, 8.

The dimensions of the ark, which are drawn from the numbers three and five, for it was to be three hundred cubits in length, thirty in height, and fifty in breadth, imply, in the spiritual sense, that we are saved and restored by truth, for three is used in the Word where truth is chiefly treated of, and seven where goodness is the leading feature. The goodness which truth insists upon is implied by the length; the holiness which truth teaches, by the height; and the small expansion which the mind has in truth, when just escaping from the torrents of iniquity, is taught hy the breadth being expressed by fifty, a number derived from five. It is only after the struggle of temptation is over that we can say, "I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large (broad) place." — Ps. cxviii. 5. It is only when regeneration has had its perfect work, that the glorious Lord becomes a place of broad rivers and streams (Isa. xxxiii. 21). Until then our spirits are straitened, and it is enough if we can hold ourselves close under the Divine wing until the awful inundation has passed by, and we can take up the expressive words, '' Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads: we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place." — Ps. lxvi. 12.

The ark had three stories; ''with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.'' — Chap. vi. 16. Real religion has always three degrees, both as to its virtues and its truths. Here, the three stories represent the three degrees of truth which have place in the Lord's church. There are the truths of faith, those intellectual convictions within, which raise the soul to an interior confidence in the Lord and His heavenly kingdom, these are in the upper story: there are rational truths, or those which come in to show that the determination to live for heaven is justified by every consideration of the laws of the soul, and all divine laws in time and in eternity, these are in the second story: and there are scientific truths, which show that outward fact and well-being are equally the attendants of religion, with interior purity and the sublime lessons of faith. No heavenly mansion is of one story alone, nor outward alone. '' Behold," says the Psalmist, " Thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom." The ark of the Lord has three stories. The window which was to be made in the ark, and which seemed so inadequate when we were considering the ark as a literal structure, becomes a beautiful symbol in the spiritual sense. It is expressive of the intellect open to the light of heaven, and to that alone. “Let thine eye be single,” the Lord says in the Gospel, “and thy whole body shall be full of light.” The single window, like the single eye, is the mind looking simply to the divine light, desiring to be led from heaven. It was to be placed at the top of the ark. The light from above is the only sure source of interior consolation, and true guidance. " In Thy light shall we see light." In all the storms of spiritual trouble, happy are they who have ever a window looking upwards. " thou afflicted," says the Lord in Isaiah, "tossed with tempest, and not comforted, I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones." — Chap. liv. 11.

"A door shalt thou make in the side thereof," continues the sacred narrative, for this door represents a communication between the church within, and the world without. It is like the ear, which readily takes in impressions when there is the will to listen, but closes itself against them when there is a disinclination to attend; this door, too, like the ear, was at the side. The window, then, is the type of the intellect, to admit the light, and the door, of the obedience which should govern us, both as to what we receive, and what we reject. "Behold," the Lord said, "I stand at the door and knock; if any man will open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me." While we are mindful of the window, let us never forget the door.

But what is meant hy the animals which went into the ark? and what by the unclean going in as well as the clean? To those who are not familiar with the fact that animals are the corresponding forms which express and shadow before the mind the affections and thoughts of the mental world, these questions would be difficult of solution. But to one who has felt in himself principles which are embodied in the animals, the explanation is easy. All the principles of the lower degree of his mind are like all the animals of the earth. Hence it is that we read of the Lord making a covenant with animals. "In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the earth." — Hosea li. 18. Each animal is expressive of some especial principle which we may recognize within ourselves, and the whole put together would make one great mind. Those persons who suffer some one principle, good or evil, to take the lead, are often called in Scripture by the name of the animal which corresponds to it. Thus the kind and obedient are called sheep: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." — John X. 27. The soaring are called eagles. " They shall mount up with wings like eagles." — Isa. xl. 31. The cunning are styled foxes. " Go, tell that fox," said the Lord Jesus respecting Herod, "I cast out devils and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." — Luke xiii. 32. The animals which were taken into the ark, then, represent all the principles of the mind which are taken under the divine protection. But it will be asked, Why take in the unclean, as well as the clean ? Why not suffer them to perish? And here a most important consideration is opened to our view. It is supposed by the unreflecting that when the soul becomes converted, and is received into the Lord's church, it becomes at once altogether pure in the divine sight. It is thought that there is an entire instantaneous change in the whole structure of the mind, and from having been entirely like a world in disorder, it becomes transformed into a paradise of complete order and beauty. There is, however, no greater mistake. Conversion is only a turning to the Lord, to ask his protection, help, and blessing, and a determination to labour in the work of bringing the soul and the life into order. It is at first only fleeing for refuge to Him who can save with all that you have and are. They who suppose that all evil can be cut off at once, know little of the soul, and little of themselves. Evil is so entwined with all the processes of the natural mind, that there is not a spot untouched; that mind is radically diseased, from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head. To cut off all evil would be to cut off all the active man; there would be nothing left. It is not so the Divine Physician acts. He takes the case in hand just as it is, gives His safeguard and defense to all who in sincerity apply, and then proceeds to heal as the patient can bear it. The joy of conscious reception is so great, and the welcome given to the returning penitent by the Lord and His angels is so joyous, that the delivered soul itself imagines that it is altogether transformed and pure, but this is a mistake. The unregenerated spirit is wounded, bruised, fettered, and imprisoned. When it sincerely calls upon the Saviour, He appears and sets the captive free, and in the joy of his new liberty he overlooks his own many defects. He has got on the side of the Healer, and in due time his flesh will come as a little child. At present, however, he must go such as he is, with his wild beasts as well as his tame ones ; but his wild ones for the time so hushed that not one dares bark or howl. The heart and mind of immortal man are wonderful things. The building which is to endure for ever cannot be destroyed and reconstructed in a day.

"Nor will I dream that heart and life
Are in a moment clean;
But long and painful is the strife
That must be felt within.”

Such, then, is the meaning of that apparently strange spiritual fact implied in the taking into the ark of two of every east, as well as two sevens of such as were dean and useful. How merciful is our heavenly Father that it is so. Without that salvation would be impossible. The health of the soul, like the health of the body, comes gradually. To throw down is easy, and may be sudden, but new growth is slow. We may make a strong resolution at the beginning of our religious life; at every temper and every act of ours shall be heavenly, but we shall find as we progress, the old temper will now and then appear and press in to be admitted. By patient perseverance in well-doing we can at length effect a complete change, or rather the Lord will make it in us, but by the operation of His Divine order, not by any sudden change. The garden of the soul, like a garden of earth, can only with time and perseverance be cleared from weeds and transformed into a spiritual paradise. Let us attend, now, to some of the minor particulars of the Divine narrative before us.

The flood increased until, we are told, "the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upwards the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered."

By mountains and hills, we have repeatedly shown, are represented the higher affections of the soul. The mountains, the affections of love to the Lord, the high hills representing those of charity towards the neighbour. The righteousness of the Lord is said to be like the great mountains, Ps. xxxvi. 6. And it is only of such mountains that it could be said, " I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills (mountains), from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." — Ps. cxxl. 1, 2. When, therefore, malignant false principles abounded, until there was no perception or acknowledgment of love to God or charity to men as religious duties, the mountains and hills were covered. There is also a remarkable addition made to the statement in verse twenty. " Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered." For, if the former part of the verse meant that the waters were fifteen cubits above the highest mountains, it seems quite unnecessary to add that the mountains were covered. In the spiritual sense, fifteen, like five, refers to what is small; and as it includes the number ten, which is used when the first remains of goodness and truth in the soul are signified, the statement assures us that the streams of iniquity had so far increased that the early germs of goodness were obliterated, and every profession of love to the Supreme was extinguished in contempt.

At a later period we find mountains referred to again. ''And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeeth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat."

There used to prevail the impression in Armenia that on the summit of the mountain, far above the region of eternal snow, known by the name of Ararat in that country, and deemed inaccessible, the remains of the ark still were preserved; but in 1829 its peaks were scaled, and several times since, but no such remains have been found. How beautiful, however, is the instruction in the spiritual sense! The gradual cessation of the inundation is the subject. The temptation is drawing to a close. The soul has clung closely to its Saviour in all its troubles, until a state of holy rest has been attained. A calm but perfect faith in the Divine Love is the seventh month, and this as to every particular is the seventeenth day of the month. The term Ararat in Hebrew means "lights," and the mountains of Ararat mean the interior lights of divine wisdom flowing into the soul while it is glowing with holy love. Rest always comes when love and light are conjoined within. When mercy and truth meet 'together, righteousness and peace kiss each other (Ps. lxxxv. 10.)

If there be any of my hearers who have been suffering from the fearful floods which come in upon the soul, the terrible storms which threaten utter spiritual desolation, cling closely, my beloved brethren, to the ark of Him who sitteth upon the floods; heed not the threats nor the howlings of the storm, how ever wild and fearful; your Redeemer can and will say to the fearful waves, Thus far shall ye go, and no farther, and in a little time ye shall calmly rest on the mountains of interior light and love.

We are next informed, that Noah opened the window of the ark, and sent forth a raven (chap. viii. 7). He sent forth two birds, a raven and a dove, but the dove is dispatched to see if the earth is restored sufficiently to give her a home, and was taken in again when she found no rest, but the raven was simply dismissed. It is interesting to remember this dismissal of the raven. He is a croaking, voracious black bird, and corresponds to those distrustful, melancholy forebodings of evil, which sometimes lead down to despair. Birds correspond to thoughts, because thoughts, like birds, can soar upwards, and look widely round and forward. Thoughts, elevated by living faith, help us to realize the language of the prophet. ''They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles: they shall run and not be weary : and they shall walk, and not faint." — Isa. xl. 31. But we noticed that all sorts of animals were taken into the ark: hence, the croaking raven was there as well as the cooing dove. And is it not so with us ? Although we have had fresh mercies unfolded to us every day since our birth, and the Divine Providence has illustriously displayed itself for us, again and again, yet how often do we let the raven croak afresh, and devour the very vitals of our comfort and peace. It is a dismal bird, black in colour, and its voice seems to forebode misfortune, yet too often we allow it to remain and poison all our hours. We believe the raven instead of believing God. Oh, why do we forget that discipline, and purification, need sorrow, but are dealt out by a hand all mercy. Well is it for us when we determine, like Noah, to turn the raven out. Our trust is now turned into sight, and we discard for ever the dark forebodings of doubt which sometimes lead down to despair, and resolve never more to forget the blessed assurance, " The Lord will provide." Some time since, on looking over the Bethlehem Asylum for the Insane, I noticed particularly, amongst the inmates, one poor man who had lost a small business, and sunk into utter hopelessness. There he sat, with his hands on his knees, moaning and shuddering, from morning till night,— all raven: no sound came but the wail of despair. He had, probably, too fondly loved his little shop; made, as many are prone to do, an idol of it. The idol broke in his hands, and there he sat, the wan spectacle of hopeless grief. He was comfortably cared for even then, and surely the same Divine love would have provided for him when his senses were all unimpaired. Food, clothing, house, were provided for him even then, and a bright sun wooed him to turn from his sorrows, but the dull monotonous raven-note of misery was all he uttered. Oh, how sad is this untrusting spirit! Never forget, my beloved hearers, that " The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever." Turn out the raven.

We read, next, that Noah sent forth a dove to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground (ver. 8). The dove corresponds to wisdom united to love. It is the bird of union. Its soft coo breathes hope and tenderness. Our Lord said, " Be ye wise as serpents, but harmless as doves.” “Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." — Ps. lxviii. 13. The dove-spirit is the soft and peaceful spirit of heaven. Noah's sending this out to see if the water had abated, represents the effort of the soul to bring its inner thought into life. It finds no place for the sole of its foot. The first time we endeavour to bring out our yearning for heavenly life into actual conduct, we fail. We are weak, and we find too much opposition around, we must nourish it longer. Still we are assured it is right, and we cherish it in our hearts. We put out our hand and pull it into us into the ark. We stay yet other seven days. In other words, we wait until we are advanced to a more perfect and holy state, and then we try again. This time we succeed a little. We find some sympathy. The dove returns with an olive leaf plucked off, in her mouth. We can do somewhat towards bringing out the heavenly glow we feel within. We wait other seven days. That is, we advance to a still holier and more perfect state, and then we succeed at last — the dove goes forth. We can act freely, in the outer man, the dove-like sentiments of the inner man, and the religion of freedom and love takes the place of the spirit of bondage and fear.

Noah, lastly, built an altar, and offered sacrifices of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings upon the altar. The soul, delivered from the peril of spiritual death, feels grateful, and from gratitude worships the Lord. The heart is the altar, the good affections are the clean beasts, the good thoughts are the clean fowls. They are entirely offered up to the Lord, dedicated to His service from the warmest love, which makes them burnt offerings. This is a sweet savour unto the Lord.

Where this is the experience of the mind there will be no more cursing of the ground. The spirit of the Lord will be felt as an aura of peace and blessing. There will be no more need of the ark of Noah, but we shall have within the golden ark of a spirit loving in intention and loving in act, gold within and gold without (Ex. XXV. 11), a heaven in miniature. Then may we bid adieu to all the agitations of the ocean of life, and rest for ever on the mountains of celestial light.

Author: JONATHAN BAYLEY --From The Divine Word Opened (1887)