THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



constantly kept up between the animals that contaminate 

 the air and the plants that purify it ; the refuse of the 

 one kingdom being the food of the other. Were even 

 so small a proportion as ten per cent, of carbonic acid 

 gas allowed to accumulate in the atmosphere, it would 

 destroy every living animal that breathed it. And yet 

 out of a much smaller proportion of this noxious sub- 

 stance in the atmosphere, the green leaf builds up all 

 the immense and varied mass of the vegetation that 

 covers the surface of the earth ; while by the very same 

 act it restores to man and the other animals the atmos- 

 phere in healthy purity. 



These considerations will show us how significant it 

 was, that the first object of the new world that was 

 about to emerge from the flood should be a green leaf. 

 It was a symbol, a token to Noah that the world would 

 be purified from the pollution of those unnatural sins 

 which had brought death and destruction upon it, and 

 would once more be fitted to be the home of a peculiar 

 people zealous of good works. What the green leaf is 

 in nature, the leaves of the tree of life are in the spiritual 

 sphere. The gospel of Jesus Christ which the Heavenly 

 Dove carries to the homes and the hearts of men, is the 

 great purifier of the world. The moral atmosphere is 

 being constantly contaminated by the noxious exhal- 

 ations of human sins and follies. Blessings are abused, 

 and in their abuse turn into evils. It was necessary 

 therefore that some counteraction should be provided. 

 And He who has so wonderfully balanced the natural 

 world by the ministry of the green leaf has also balanced, 



