thereof; with lower, second, and third sto- | age; and on the seventeenth day of the ries shalt thou make it."* second month (which was seven days after Having received these instructions from his entrance) the whole face of nature began God, Noah, in obedience to the divine command, immediately set about the arduous work, which he finished, according to God's direction, seven days before the rain began to fall, having been encouraged so to do by an assurance from his Maker, that though he meant to destroy the world in general, yet he would establish his covenant with him.

to wear a gloomy aspect, and to appear as if the earth was to be finally dissolved, and all things return to their primitive chaos. The windows or cataracts of heaven were opened, and the earth was overspread with a dreadful inundation. In vain did sinful mortals seek for protection, or endeavor to shelter themselves from the common destruction; for mountains and valleys were soon The ark being finished, the Almighty alike, and every refuge was banished their commanded Noah to take into it "every every sight. For forty days and nights did the living thing of all flesh, both cattle and rain continue to fall, without the least interbeasts of the field," birds and fowls of the air, and reptiles of all kinds; of the unclean only one pair each, but of the clean, seven pair. That he should likewise make a make a proper provision of food for the different animals; and, having placed them in their respective apartments, should then enter the ark himself, taking with him his wife, together with his sons and their wives.

All things being adjusted agreeably to the divine direction, Noah entered the ark, with his family, in the six hundredth year of his

mission; when at length the ark began to float, and, in process of time, was elevated above the highest mountains. A dismal scene now presented itself! the earth, with all its beautiful variety of nature and art, was no more! nothing appeared to the sight but a watery desert, abounding with wrecks of the once lovely creation.†

The Almighty having thus avenged himself of a sinful world, and reflecting upon Noah, and the poor remains of his creatures in the ark, caused a drying north wind to such ships, the largest in present use, and might carry 22,000 men, with provisions for six months, besides the weight of 1,800 cannon and all military stores. It was then by much the largest ship ever built.'

In Is.

†The word specially used to designate the flood of Noah (hammabbûl) occurs in only one other passage of Scripture, Ps. xxix. 10. liv. 9, the Flood is spoken of as "the waters of Noah." In the N. T. our Lord gives the sanction of his own authority to the historical truth of the narrative, Matt. xxiv. 37 (cf. Luke xvii. 26). St. Peter speaks of the "long-suffering of God,' And again, which "waited in the days of Noah.' in his Second Epistle (ii. 5), he cites it as an instance of the righteous judgment of God who The traditions of spared not the old world, &c. many nations have preserved the memory of a great and destructive flood from which but a small The traditions which part of mankind escaped. come nearest to the biblical account are those of Foremost amongst the nations of Western Asia. It is preserved in a fragthese is the Chaldæan. ment of Berosus. Other notices of a flood may be found in the Phoenician mythology, in the Sibylline oracles, and in the Phrygian legend of a king who foretold the flood, and prayed for the doomed people.

* There is much difference of opinion about the form of the ark. The common figures are The common figures are given under the impression that it was intended to be adapted to progressive motion: whereas no other object was sought than to construct a vessel which should flout for a given time upon the water. For this purpose it was not necessary to place the ark in a sort of boat, as in the common figures; and we may be content with the simple idea which the text gives, which is that of an enormous oblong box, or wooden house, divided into three stories, and apparently with a sloping roof. The most moderate statement of its dimensions makes the ark by far the largest of vessels ever made to float upon the water. As the measurements are given, the only doubt is as to which of the cubit measures used by the Hebrews is here intended. It seems that the standard of the original cubit was the length of a man's arm from the elbow to the end of the middle finger, or about eighteen inches. This was the common cubit; but there was also a sacred cubit, which some call a hand's breadth (three inches) larger than the common one; while others make the sacred cubit twice the length of the common. The probability is, that there were two cubit measures beside the common; one being of twenty-one inches, and the other of three feet. Some writers add the geometrical cubit of nine feet. Shackford says we must take the common or shortest cubit as that for the ark; and Dr. Hales, taking this advice, obtained the following result: "It must have been of the burden of 42,413 tons. A first-rate man-of-war is between 2,200 and 2,300 tons; and, consequently, the ark was of the capacity or stowage of eighteen 'historian.

The pictorial illustration of this all-ingulfing catastrophe is taken from G. Doré's edition of the Bible. The foaming waves rolling in irresistible volumes against a mountain side, frightened animals seking a refuge on its summit, and drowning men struggling to reach it exhibit the terrific scene of desolation, as described by the sacred

A. B.

arise, the flood-gates of heaven to be stopped, and the falling of the waters to cease; by which means the deluge began to abate, and the waters gradually subsiding, in process of time the earth again appeared.

turning, he concluded that the waters were
entirely withdrawn. In consequence of this
he made the necessary preparations for
leaving the ark; but, mindful of God's
directions, ventured not forth till fifty-five
days after, in order that the earth might be
properly dry for his reception. Having, at
the expiration of that period, received God's
positive command to leave the ark, he ac-
cordingly came out of it on the twenty-
seventh day of the second month, bringing
with him every creature that had been re-
tained for replenishing the earth.
ended Noah's long and melancholy confine-
ment, which, from the time of his entering
the ark to that of his leaving it, amounted
exactly to one solar year.

Thus

The first discovery Noah made of the cessation of the flood was, from the ark resting on the mountains of Ararat.* This was about the beginning of May, and about the middle of the following month the tops of the mountains appeared. But Noah (who, no doubt, was glad to see the appearance of any thing substantial after so long a confinement), wisely considering, that though the mountains were visible, the valleys might be yet overflowed, waited forty days longer before he attempted any further discovery. At the expiration of that time, opening the The first thing Noah did, after quitting the window of the ark, he let go a raven, sup-ark, was to erect an altar, on which he offered. posing that the scent of dead bodies would sacrifices to God, for his great goodness in allure him to fly a considerable distance. preserving him and his family from the genEncouraged by the absence of the raven for eral destruction. The Almighty, knowing seven days, he let fly a dove, which, finding the purity of Noah's intentions, was so well no resting-place, returned to its old habita- pleased with his conduct, that he gave him tion. Seven days after he sent out the his divine assurance that he would never same bird, which then returned with an more curse the ground for man's sake," olive-branch in its mouth, a happy certainty nor should the earth ever be again destroyed that the waters were removed from the place by a general deluge. In confirmation of where the olive-tree stood. Still, however, this, he appointed a bow† to appear in the determined not to be too hasty, he remained heavens as a token, and which was now to in the ark seven days more, when sending be the ratification of the truth of his promise. out the dove a third time, and she not re- Having, by this divine promise, eased the

* It is generally admitted that the mountain on which the ark rested lies in Armenia; although there are some who contend that it must be sought in Cashgar, on the extension eastward of the great Caucasian chain. The investigations of recent Biblical critics have, however, tended to strengthen the original conviction in favor of the Armenian mountain. The particular mountain to which people of different nations and religions concur in awarding this distinction is situated in N. lat. 39o 30', and E. long. 44° 30', in the vast chain of Taurus, and nearly in the center between the southern extremities of the Black and the Caspian seas. Its summit is elevated 17,260 feet above the level of the sea, and is always covered with snow, as indeed is the whole mountain, for three or four months in the year. It is a very grand object, being not merely a high summit in a chain of elevated mountains, but stand ing as it were apart and alone; the minor mountains, which seem to branch out from it and decline away in the distance, being so perfectly insignificant in comparison, that the sublime effect of this most magnificent mountain is not at all impaired, or its proportions hidden by them. This great mountain is separated into two heads, distinguished as the Great and Little Ararat, which perhaps accounts for the plural expression,

"mountains," of the text. The heads form distinct cones, separated by a wide chasm or glen, which renders the distance between the two peaks. 12,000 yards. One of them is much smaller than the other, and forms a more regular and pointed cone; it is also much lower, and its summit is clear of snow in summer. The Armenians, who have many religious establishments in its vicinity, regard the mountain with intense veneration, and are firmly persuaded that the ark is still preserved on its summit.

The rather

"I do set my bow in the cloud." equivocal sense of the word " set" in English has occasioned a very mistaken impression, which has led to some cavils, which the use of the more proper word "appoint" would have prevented. As it stands, it has been understood to say that the rainbow was at this time first produced : whereas, as its appearance is occasioned by the immutable laws of refraction and reflection, as applied to the rays of the sun striking on drops of falling rain, we know that the phenomenon must have been occasionally exhibited from the beginning of the world, as at present constituted. Accordingly, the text says no more than that the rainbow was then appointed to be a token of the covenant between God and man.

mind of Noah, who was fearful of a second over the creation as he had done Adam, deluge, the Almighty, after blessing him and permitted them to kill any creatures they his sons, granted them many singular priv- thought proper for food, only with this reileges, such as far exceeded those he had striction, that they should not eat the blood bestowed on our primitive parents. Before thereof.” This restraint was certainly laid by the flood, mankind had no other food than God to prevent the shedding of human blood, vegetables; but now the Almighty, after against which he denounces the following giving Noah and his sons the same dominion sentence : Whoso sheddeth man's blood,

by man shall his blood be shed." With these grants and promises, God gave the same encouragement to Noah and his family that he did to our first progenitors, by telling them to "be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth.”

Though the deluge had destroyed all the inhabitants of the earth (except what were retained in the ark for forming the new world), yet the vegetable part of the creation still existed, and, in a short time, by the genial warmth of the sun, again appeared in all its glory.

Previous to the flood, Noah had directed his attention to husbandry, and the earth having now resumed its former appearance, he betook himself to the same employment. Among other improvements, he planted a vineyard, and, prompted by natural curiosity to taste the fruit of his own labor, invented a machine for extracting the juice from the grape. Pleased with the taste of the liquor, and being unacquainted with the strength of it, he unwisely gave a loose to indulgence, and, by drinking too freely, became quite intoxicated. In consequence of this, he

laid himself down to sleep in his tent, where, | The old world was destroyed for the wickedeither from the rustling of the wind, or the discomposure of his body, he was uncovered on that part which natural modesty teaches us to conceal.

This circumstance produced the first instance of human degeneracy after the flood.

ness of its inhabitants, and therefore it might have been expected that the new world would have been filled with people of a better disposition: but, as in the ark there were unclean as well as clean beasts, so in the family of Noah there were two good sons

and one naturally wicked, the two former | faction into which the wine had thrown him, being Shem and Japheth, and the latter and was informed of the unworthy manner Ham. in which his son Ham had treated him, he cursed his race, in the person of Canaan, his grandson: Cursed," said he, "be Canaan: a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren." On the contrary, reflecting how respectfully his other two sons behaved, he rewarded their pious care with giving each his blessing; all which, in process of time, was fulfilled in their posterity.

The unseemly situation of Noah, from his intoxication, was first discovered by this wicked son, who, instead of covering his father's nakedness and concealing his shame, exposed his weakness, and made him the subject of his scorn and derision. But his brothers were far from being pleased with his conduct possessed of filial piety, and moved at the indecent posture of their aged parent, they no sooner saw him than they ran and fetched a garment, and immediately covered that nakedness which their pious modesty would not permit them to behold. When Noah recovered from the stupe

These are all the particulars given us by the sacred historian relative to Noah, except that he lived three hundred and fifty years after the deluge, and paid the debt of natu at the age of nine hundred and fifty.

CHAPTER III.

SETTLEMENT AND GENEALOGY OF NOAH'S DESCENDANTS.

Ir is not in the least to be doubted but that Noah and his family, for some years after the flood, continued to reside in the neighborhood of the mountains of Armenia, where the ark had rested. But his descendants, in the course of time, having a numerous progeny, the greater part of them quitted their primitive spot, and directing their course eastward, came at length to the

plain of Shinar, on the banks of the river Euphrates. Attracted by the beauty of the place, the convenience of its situation, and the natural fertility of the soil, they resolved. not to proceed any further but to make this their fixed place of residence.

Having formed this resolution, in order to render themselves conspicuous to future generations, they determined to erect a city,* * BABYLON. This city arose from the a row of houses, with a street between, of 200 building of Babel, and became the famous capi- feet wide; and the city was divided into equal tal of Chaldæa. This most celebrated metropolis parts by the river Euphrates, over which was a of the East, enlarged by Belus, and further ex-bridge, and at each end of it a palace, communitended by Queen Semiramis, about the year 1200 B. C., reached its summit of magnificence under Nebuchadnezzar, about the year 570 B. C., or when further embellished by his daughter-in-law Nitocris. Its magnitude was 480 furlongs, or 60 miles in compass, being an exact square of 15 miles on each side. Its walls were built of brick laid in bitumen, 87 feet thick, and 350 feet high, on which were 250 towers, or, according to some, The materials for building the wall were dug from a vast ditch or moat, which was lined with brickwork, and, being filled with water from the river Euphrates, surrounded the city as a defence. The city had 100 gates of solid brass, one at each end of its 50 streets, 150 feet wide: these crossed the city; so that the whole was divided into 676 squares, four and a half furlongs on each side, around which were houses, the inner parts being reserved for gardens, pleasure-grounds, and fields. Facing the wall, on every side, was

316.

cating with each other under the river by a subterraneous passage. Near to the old palace stood the tower of Babel: this prodigious pile, being completed, consisted of eight towers, each 75 feet high, rising one upon another, with an outside winding staircase, to its summit, which, with its chapel on the top, reached an elevation of 660 feet. In this chapel was a golden image 40 feet high, valued at $17,500,000, and the whole of the sacred utensils were reckoned worth $200,000000! Besides these wonders, were the hanging gardens, on a series of elevated terraces, the uppermost equalling the height of the city walls, and having a reservoir, supplied by a machine with water from the river. This great work was designed by Nebuchadnezzar to represent a hilly country, for the gratification of his wife Amytis, a native of Media. Babylon flourished for nearly 200 years in this scale of grandeur; during which idolatry, pride, cruelty, and every abomina

a short time the walls were raised to a great | satisfied with their proceedings, thought height. But the Almighty, being dis