imagination, and suggests the majestic slowness of the divine
working, and how He uses natural processes for His purposes of moral
government, and rules the wildest outbursts of physical agents. The
Lord as king 'sitteth upon the flood,' and opens or seals the
fountains of the great deep as He will. Scripture does not tell of
the links between the First Cause and the physical effect. It brings
the latter close up to the former. The last link touches the fixed
staple, and all between may be ignored.

But the patient expectance of Noah comes out strongly in the story,
as well as the gradualness of God's working. Not till 'forty days'--a
round number--after the land appeared, did He do anything. He
waited quietly till the path was plain. Eager impatience does not
become those who trust in God. It is not said that the raven was
sent out to see if the waters were abated. No purpose is named, nor
is it said that it returned at all. 'To and fro' may mean over the
waste of waters, not back and forward to and from the ark. The
raven, from its blackness, its habit of feeding on carrion, its
fierceness, was a bird of ill-omen, and sending it forth has a grim
suggestion that it would find food enough, and 'rest for the sole of
its foot,' among the swollen corpses floating on the dark waters.
The dove, on the other hand, is the emblem of gentleness, purity,
and tenderness. She went forth, the very embodiment of meek hope
that wings its way over dark and desolate scenes of calamity and
judgment, and, though disappointed at first, patiently waits till
the waters sink further, discerns the earliest signs of their drying
up, and comes back to the sender with a report which is a prophecy:
'Your peace shall return to you again.' Happy they who send forth,
not the raven, but the dove, from their patient hearts. Their gentle
wishes come back with confirmation of their hopes, 'as doves to