Like Noah's weary dove,
That soar'd the earth around,
But not a resting place above
The cheerless waters found;

O cease, my wandering soul,
On restless wings to roam;
All the wide world, to either pole,
Has not for thee a home.

Behold the Ark of God,
Behold the open door;
Hasten to gain that dear abode,
And rove, my soul, no more.

There, safe thou shalt abide,
There, sweet shall be thy rest,
And every longing satisfied,
With full salvation blest.

And, when the waves of ire
Again the earth shall fill,
The Ark shall ride the sea of fire,
Then rest on Sion's hill.
      William Augustus Muhlenberg


And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off 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 into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.  Gen 8:7-9


     "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 off the earth."  The unclean bird made its escape, and found, no doubt, a resting-place on some floating carcass.  It sought not the ark again.  Not so the dove, "She found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto
him into the ark - and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark:  and the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf, plucked off."  Sweet emblem of the renewed mind, which, amid the surrounding desolation, seeks and finds its rest and portion in Christ; and not only so, but also lays hold of the earnest of the inheritance, and furnishes the blessed proof that judgment has passed away, and that a renewed earth is coming fully into view.  The carnal mind, on the contrary, can rest in anything and everything but Christ.  It can feed upon all uncleanness.  "The olive leaf" has no attraction for it.  It can find all it needs in a scene of death, and hence is not occupied with the thought of a new world and its glories; but the heart that is taught and exercised by the Spirit of God, can only rest and rejoice in that in which He rests and rejoices.  It rests in the Ark of His salvation "until the times of the restitution of all things."  May it be thus with you and me, beloved reader, may Jesus be the abiding rest and portion of our hearts, that so we may not seek them in a world which is under the judgment of God.  The dove went back to Noah, and waited for his time of rest:  and we should ever find our place with Christ, until the time of His exaltation and glory in the ages to come.  "He that shall come will come, and will not tarry."  All we want, as to this, is a little patience.  May God direct our hearts into His love, and into "the patience of Christ."                                           
                                                                                                                                       C. H. Mackintosh