2 THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP 



of vegetable, animal, and human life. At the second 

 creation, the dove's wings hovered over the waters of 

 the deluge, announcing the termination of the divine 

 judgment, and the preparation of a new green world, 

 that should emerge purified from its baptism and be 

 to Noah what Eden had been to Adam. At the 

 new creation of God, the Holy Spirit, in the form of 

 a dove, appeared over the waters of our Lord's bap- 

 tism, as a symbol of the better covenant which, 

 under the Prince of Peace, should restore the order 

 and harmony of the world, and terminate the evil 

 and confusion which sin had made in human hearts 

 and lives. 



i. Let us look at the profound, far-reaching sig- 

 nificance of the green leaf in the mouth of the dove, as 

 the first production of a new and regenerated world. 

 In the first place, the green leaf is the great purifier of 

 nature. This is one of the most important offices which 

 it was created to fulfil. In the early ages of the earth, 

 long before man came upon the scene, the atmosphere 

 was foul with carbonic acid gases, so poisonous that a 

 few inspirations of them would be sufficient to destroy 

 life. These formed a dense covering which kept in the 

 steaming warmth of the earth, and nourished a rank and 

 luxuriant vegetation. Gigantic ferns, tree-mosses, and 

 reeds grew with extraordinary rapidity and absorbed 

 these noxious gases into their own structures, consoli- 

 dating them into leaves, stems, and branches, which in 

 the course of long ages grew and decayed, and by subtle 

 chemical processes and mechanical arrangements were 



