&. M. 1656. A. C. 2349; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 2256. A. C. 3155. GEN. vi. 12. TO ix. 20.

accordingly went on sinking by degrees, until a little before David's time, it came to be fixed at what has been the common standard ever since. The days of our age are threescore years and ten: and though some men be so strong, that they come to fourscore years, yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow, so soon passeth it away, and we are gone.' This is our stated period; and therefore for us, who live in this postdiluvian world, and have the term of our trial so much shortened, the subsequent prayer of the devout Psalmist will always be necessary, always seasonable; So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.'

His reasoning, upon this point, is very elegant. | to send into the world before the consummation of all "There is no question," says he, "but every thing upon things, might have a speedier probation. Man's age earth, and especially the animate world, would be much more permanent, if the general course of nature was more steady, and more uniform. A stability in the heavens makes a stability in all things below; and that change, and contrariety of qualities which we have in these regions, is the fountain of corruption-the ether in their little pores, the air in their greater, and the vapours and atmosphere that surround them, shake, and unsettle their texture and continuity; whereas, in a fixed state of nature, where these principles have always the same constant and uniform motion, a long and lasting peace ensues, without any violence, either within, or without to discompose them. We see, by daily experience," continues he, "that bodies are kept better in the same medium, (as we call it,) than when they are sometimes in the air, and sometimes in the water, moist and dry, hot and cold, by turns; because these different states weaken the contexture of their parts. But our bodies, in the present state of nature, are put in an hundred different mediums, in the course of a year; the winds are of a different nature, and the air of a different weight and pressure, according as the weather and seasons affect them. All these things are enough to wear out our bodies soon, very soon, in comparison of what they would last, if they were always encompassed with one and the same medium, and that medium were always of one and the same temper."

6

This is all very pretty but the author's grand mistake is, that it was not so in the primitive earth. He has no authority to show, that how high soever the waters might swell at the deluge, the centre of the earth gave way or the foundations of the round world were shaken.' The earth, no doubt, had, before, as well as after the flood, an annual as well as diurnal motion. It stood to the sun in the same oblique posture and situation, and was consequently subject to the same seasons and vicissitudes that the present earth is; and if the air was more mild, and the elements more favourable at that time, this we may account the peculiar blessing of God, and not the result of the earth's position to the sun, or any fancied stability in the weather. The truth is, whatever we may attribute to second causes, why bodies that are naturally mortal and corruptible should subsist so long in the primitive ages of the world; yet the true cause of all is to be ascribed to the will of God, who impregnated our first parents with such vigour, and gave their posterity for some time such robust constitutions, as depended not upon the nature of their diet, the stability of the seasons, or the temperature of the air. After the flood, God soon made a sensible change in the length of man's days. For, perceiving the general iniquity to increase again, and thereupon designing to make an alteration in the world's continuance, he hastened the period of human life, that the number of souls he intended

1 See Keill's Examination of Burnet's Theory. as it had done before, and that the same vicissitude of seasons should prevail as of day and night; how is it possible to represent, that God found it necessary to forewarn Noah that he must expect successive changes of seasons, and vicissitudes of heat and cold, such as he had never yet experienced!"—Hales's Analysis, 8vo, vol. 1. p. 324.-Ed.

SECT. V I.

CHAP. I.-Of the Deluge.

THE HISTORY.

GOD (as we said before) had given mankiud a reprival for an hundred and twenty years; but when he saw that all his lenity and forbearance tended to no purpose, except it was to make them more bold and licentious in their sins, he declared to his servant Noah, that within a short time his resolution was to destroy them, and with them all other creatures upon the face of the earth, by a flood of waters; but a assured him, at the same time, that since he had comported himself better, and approved his fidelity to his Maker, he would take care to preserve him and his family, and whatever other creatures were necessary for the restoration of their species from the general calamity.

To this purpose he gave him orders to build a kind of vessel, not in the form of ships now in use, but rather

Ps. xc. 10.

a The words in our translation are, With thee will I establish my covenant: but 1st, by the word covenant, we are not here to understand a mutual compact or agreement, but only a simple and gracious promise, as it is likewise used, Numb. xviii. 19, XXV. 12, and in several other places; which promise, though only mentioned here, was doubtless made before, as may easily be gathered from these words, and some foregoing passages, and from the necessity that Noah should have some such support and encouragement during all the time of his ministry. 2dly. This covenant of God might relate to his sending the promised seed, and redemption of mankind by the Messias; and in this sense will import, that as the Messias was to come out of Noah's loins, so the divine providence would take care to preserve him alive. But, 3dly. A learned and right reverend author is of opinion, its primitive fertility in Noah's lifetime. To which purpose he that this covenant of God relates to his reinstating the earth in observes, that as soon as the flood was over, God declares, I will not again curse the ground for man's sake;' from which de claration it appears, (says he) 1st, That the flood was the effect of that curse which was denounced against the earth for man's sake; and 2dly, That the old curse was fully executed and accomplished in the flood; in consequence of which, a new blessing is immediately pronounced upon the earth, Gen. xiii. 22. 'While the earth remaineth, seed-time, and harvest, and cold, and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.'— Poole's Annotations, and Bishop Sherlock's Use and Intent of Prophecy.

小

A. M. 1656. A. C. 2349; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 2256. A. C. 3155. GEN. CH. vi. 12. TO 1x. 20.

b

| height each, and each divided into stalls and apartaments proper for the things that were to be put into it; that for turning off the rain, the roof was to be made sloping; that for letting in of light e there were windows to be so and so disposed, or some other conveniency answerable to them; and that, for the more easy induction of the many things it was to contain, a door or entry-port was to be made in its side.

inclining to the fashion of a large chest or ark, and himself prescribed the plan whereby he was to proceed. -That to make the vessel firm and strong, and able to endure the pressure of the waves, the wood most proper for that purpose should be cypress; and that to prevent the waves from penetrating, or the sun from cracking it, as well as to secure it from worms, and make it glide more easy upon the water, his business would be, as soon l as it was finished, to pitch it, or rather smear it all over with bitumen, (whereof there was plenty in the country), both within and without; that to make its proportion regular, its length should be six times more than its breadth, and ten times more than its height; and to give it capacity enough, the first of these should be d 300 e There are various translations of the word zohar which cubits, that is, in our measure, 450 feet; the second 50 occurs but once in the whole Bible in this sense. It seems to be cubits, or 75 feet; and the third 30 cubits, or 45 feet; derived from a root in the Chaldee, which signifies to shine,' that to make it commodious for the reception of every-orgive light; and therefore our version renders it a window; thing, it was to consist of three stories or decks, of equal but if so, it must be collective, and mean several windows,

a The word thebath, which we render ark, is only read here, and in another place, where Moses, when an infant, is said to have been put into one made of bulrushes, Exod. ii. 3. It is supposed to come from a root which signifies to dwell or inhabit; and may therefore here denote a house, or place of abode.' And indeed, if we consider the use and design, as well as the form and figure of this building, we can hardly suppose it to be like an ark or chest, wherein we usually store lumber, and put things out of the way; but rather like a farm house, such as are in several countries, where the cattle and people live all under one roof. As soon as men began to hew down timber, and to join it together, for the purpose of making houses, nothing can be supposed a more simple kind of edifice than what was made rectangular, with a bottom or floor, to prevent the dampness of the ground; a sloping cover or roof to carry off the rain that should fall; stalls and cabins for the lodgment of man and beast; and to keep out wind and weather effectually, a coat of bitumen or pitch. Of this kind was this building of Noah's, and may therefore rather be termed a place of abode, than an ark or chest, properly so called.-Le Clerc's Commentary on the Passage.

The timber whereof the ark was framed Moses calls gopherwood; but what tree this gopher was, is not a little controverted. Some will have it to be cedar, others the pine, others the box, and others (particularly the Mahometans) the Indian plane-tree; but our learned Fuller in his Miscellanies, has observed, that it was nothing else but that which the Greeks call Kvæágicos, or the cypress-tree; for taking away the termination, cupar, and gopher differ very little in the sound. This observation the great Bochart has confirmed, and shown very plainly, that no country abounds so much with this wood as that part of Assyria which lies about Babylon. And to this we may add the observation of Theophrastus, who, speaking of trees that are least subject to decay, makes the cypress-tree the most durable of all; for which Vitruvius gives us this reason, viz. that the sap, which is in every part of the wood has a peculiar bitter taste, and is so very offensive that no worm or other corroding animal will touch it: so that such works as are made of this wood will in a manner last for ever.-See Universal History; Patrick's Commentary; Bochart's Annotations, b. 1. c. 4; and Bedford's Scripture Chronology, b. 1. c. 9.

e The Arabic translation says expressly pitch it with pitch, but the bitumen (which was plentiful in that country, and as others think intended here) was of the same nature, and served to the same use as pitch, being glutinous and tenacious, and proper to keep things together.-Patrick's Commentary.

d A cubit is the measure from the elbow to the finger's end, containing six hand-breadths, or a foot and a half: so that 300 cubits make exactly 450 feet. There are some, however, who tak these for geometrical cubits, every one of which contain six of the common; but there is no need for any such computation, since, taking them for common cubits, it is demonstrable (as will appear hereafter) that there might be room enough in the ark for all sorts of beasts and birds, together with Noah's family and their necessary provision.--Ainsworth's Annotations; and Patrick's Commentary.

These were the instructions which God gave Noah who accordingly went to work, and being assisted with the hands of his family, (for 5 the rest of the world doubtless derided him,) in the time that was appointed him, and seven days before the rain began to fall, he had com

because it is not likely that there should be but one in so vast a

building, and from the following words, 'in a cubit shalt thou finish it above,' some have supposed, that the window was to be a cubit square, or but a cubit high, which would have been much too small. But the relative it' being, in the Hebrew, of the feminine gender, and zohar of the masculine, these two words cannot agree; and therefore the proper antecedent seems to be the ark,' which was covered with a roof raised a cubit high in the middle. This, however, in the original, may signify no more than an injunction to build the ark by the cubit, as the common measure, by which the work was to be marked out and directed.-See Universal History; Saurin's Dissertation; and Lamy's Introduction,

What that other conveniency was, we shall have occasion to show when we come to treat of the word zohar, (which we here render window,') in answer to the subsequent objection. g The Apostle to the Hebrews (xi. 7.) mentions Noah's building the ark as an heroic act of faith; By faith Noah,' says he, 'being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark, to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith:' for we may well imagine, that this work of his was not only costly and laborious, but esteemed by the generality very foolish and ridiculous; especially when they saw all things continue in the same posture and safety for so many scores of years together; whereby Noah, without doubt, became all that while the song of drunkards, and the sport of the wits of the age.Poole's Annotations. The Mahometans have a tradition, that when he began to work upon this famous vessel, all that saw him derided him, and said, "You are building a ship; if you can bring water to it, you will be a prophet, as well as a carpenter;" but he made answer to these insults, "You laugh at me now, but I shall have my turn to laugh at you: for at your own cost you will learn, that there is a God in heaven who punishes the wicked.” - Calmet's Dictionary on the word Noah.

h It is somewhat strange, that the torrent of interpreters should suppose, that Noah was 120 years about this work, when he gives no intimation to that purpose, but sufficient reasons to believe, that he was not near so long as is imagined. It is plain from Scripture that he was 500 years old when he begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth,' (Gen. v. 32), and that when he received the command for building the ark, the same sons were married; for the text says expressly, Thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee,' (Gen. vi. 18.) So that all the time between the birth and marriage of the said sons must at least be supposed to intervene before the command to build the ark was given; and between the command and the execution of it, must not be so long as is imagined, without a concurrence of miracles, to prevent that part of it which was first built from being rotten and decayed before the last part of it was finished.-Saurin & Dissertation. If the wood was of the nature described in a preceding note, no miracle would be necessary to preserve it during the period, 120 years, employed in building it; and from its immense size, and great tonnage, as shown before, it is not wonderful that so much time should be occupied in its construction. If this was the case, Noah began it in his 480th year; while he was childless; a striking proof of his

A. M. 1656. A. C. 2349; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 2256. A. C. 3155. GEN. CH. vi. 12. TO 1x. 20.

pleted the whole. Whereupon God gave him instructions that he should take into the ark every living thing of all flesh, both cattle, and beasts of the field, birds and fowls of the air, and reptiles of all kinds; a of the unclean, one pair only, but of the clean seven pair; that when the general desolation was over, they might increase again, and replenish the earth; and that when every thing was thus settled and disposed of, himself and his family should likewise go into the ark, and take up their apartments.

Pursuant to these directions, Noah and his family went into the ark, leaving the rest of the world in their security and sensuality, in the 600th year of his age, much about the middle of September; when in a few days after, the whole face of nature began to put on a dismal aspect, as if the earth were to suffer a final dissolution, and all

A. M. 1656. A. C. 2349; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 2256. A. C. 3155. GEN. CII. vi. 12. TO ix. 20.

raise its surface fifteen cubits (above twenty-two feet of our measure) higher than the tops of the highest of them. In this elevation the flood continued until the latter end of March: when, as one friend is apt to remember another in distress, (the Scripture here speaks in the style of men, so God,) reflecting upon Noah, and the poor remains of his creation, floating in the ark, caused a drying north wind to arise, the floodgates of heaven to be stopped, and the eruption of the waters out of the womb of the earth to cease; by which means the deluge began to abate, and the waters subside, so that in a short time, the ark, which must have drawn great depth of water, stuck on a mountain, named Ararat, and there rested; and not long after the tops of other mountains began to appear.

a

This happened in the beginning of May, when the summer was coming on apace: but Noah, wisely considering, that although the mountains were bare, the valleys might still be overflowed, waited forty days longer before he attempted any farther discovery; and then opening the window, he let go a raven, as supposing that the smell of dead bodies would allure him to fly a good distance from the vessel; but the experiment did not do; the raven, after several unsuccessful flights, finding nothing but water, returned to the ark again. Seven days after this, he let fly a dove, a bird of a strong pinion, and, from the remotest places always accustomed to come home, and therefore proper to make farther discoveries. But she finding nothing but water likewise, immediately returned to the ark, and was taken in.

After this he waited seven days more, and then

sent her forth again; and she, in the evening, brought in her mouth an olive branch, the emblem of peace, and a token to Noah that the waters were abated much. Whereupon he waited seven days more, and then let her fly the third time; but she finding the waters gone, and the earth dry, returned no more; so that he was now thinking of uncovering the roof, and going out of the ark himself; but having a pious regard to the divine providence and direction in all things, he waited 55 days longer, and then received orders from God for him and his family to quit the vessel, but to take care at the same time that every other creature should be brought forth with him.

Thus ended Noah's long and melancholy confinement; which, by a due computation from the time of his going into the ark, to that of his coming out, was exactly the space of a solar year.

CHAP. II.-Difficulties Obviated, and Objections

Answered.

How many wise ends the providence of God might have in bringing this destruction upon the earth, it is impossible for us to find out: but even supposing that he had but this one, namely, to rid himself of a generation that was become profligate, and past all hopes of amendment; yet the number of mankind, which, before the

b Mr Basnage (in his Jewish Antiquities, vol. 2. p. 299.) has given us the calendar of this melancholy year of Noah's confine

ment.

The Year of the World's Creation, 1656.

I. September. Methuselah died at the age of 969 years.
II. October. Noah and his family entered the ark.
III. November the 17th. The fountains of the great deep
were broken open.'

IV. December the 26th. The rain began, and continued forty days and forty nights.

V. January. All the men and beasts that were upon the earth were buried under the waters.

VI. February. The rain continued.

VII. March. The waters remained in their elevation till thei 27th, when they began to abate.

VIII. April the 17th. The ark rested on Mount Ararat. IX. May. They did nothing while the waters were retreating.

X. June the 1st. The tops of the mountains appeared. XI. July the 11th. Noah let go a raven, which (as Basnage thinks) returned to him no more.

a It is very observable, that the words which we render window' in vi. 16., and viii. 6. of Genesis, are far from being the same: in the former place, the word is zohar, (the nature of which we shall have a proper occasion to explain) in the latter, it is hhalon, which signifies indeed an oval hole' or 'window' in any building, but here is a window of a peculiar denomination. That it was customary among the Jews to have a room in the upper part of their houses set apart for divine worship, in Hebrew called Beth-alijah, or simply alijah, in Greek brigov, and in Latin oratorium; and that, in this place of prayer, there was always an hhalon, an hole or window, which pointed to the kibla, or place whereunto they directed their worship, is evident from several passages in Scripture. Among the Jewish constitutions, in the code, called Beracoth, there is a certain canon grounded upon this custom, namely, That no man shall pray, but in a room where there is an hhalon opening towards the holy city:' and of Daniel it is particularly related, that when he knew that the decree for his destruction was signed, he went into the house, and his' hhalon, his window being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, as he did aforetime,' Dan. vi. 10. for that this was not a common window, but one dedicated to religious worship, is plain from the people's discerning, by its being open, that he was at prayers. Nor is it improbable that this window might I. September the 1st. have some visible sign, either of the name of God, or of the holy II. October the 27th. Noah went out of the ark with his city, or of the sanctuary, or the like, inscribed on it; because it family. During this long continuance in the ark, the form of is a constant tradition, that these oratories or rooms for prayer prayer, which some oriental writers make Noah to have offered were always so made as to have their angles answer to such cer- unto God, runs in this manner: "O Lord, thou art truly great, tain points of the heaven, and to have the mark of adoration so and there is nothing so great as that it can be compared to thee; evidently distinguished, that none might mistake it, if they cast look upon us with an eye of mercy, and deliver us from the but their eye upon the wall. Now, as the practice among the deluge of waters. I entreat this of thee for the love of Adam, Jews of worshipping in upper rooms, with their faces towards a thy first man; for the love of Abel, thy saint; for the righteousEole or window in the wall, was never introduced by any positiveness of Seth, whom thou hast loved. Let us not be reckoned in law, and yet universally prevailed, it is reasonable to believe, the number of those, who have disobeyed thy commandments; that at first it was derived from Noah, and that the windows in but still extend thy merciful care to us, because thou hast hitherto their oratories were made in imitation of this hhalon, or point of been our deliverer, and all thy creatures shall declare thy praise adoration in the ark.-Bibliotheca Biblica, vol. 2.; Occasional —Amen.”—Calmet's Dictionary on the words Deluge and Annotations in the Appendix.

The 18th. He let go a dove, which returned. The 25th. He let go the dove again, which returned with an olive branch.

XII. August the 2d. returned no more.

Noah.

The dove went out the third time, and

The dry land appeared.

A. M. 1656. A. C. 2349; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 2256. A. C. 3155. GEN. CH. vi. 12. TO ix. 20.

flood, was vastly superior to what the present earth perhaps is capable of sustaining, caused every place to be inhabited, and that none might escape the avenging hand, caused every place to be overflowed. And in deed, if we consider the longevity of the first inhabitants of the earth, and the pretty near equality of their ages (which seem to have been providentially designed for the quick propagation of mankind) we shall soon perceive, that, in the space of 1600 years, mankind would become so numerous, that the chief difficulty would be where we should find countries to receive them. For if, in the space of about 266 years (as the sacred history acquaints us) the posterity of Jacob, by his sons only, (without the consideration of Dinah his daughter) amounted to 600,000 males above the age of twenty, all able to bear arms, what increase may not be expected from a race of patriarchs, living six, seven, eight, or nine hundred years apiece, and some to the 500th year of their lives begetting sons and daughters. For, if we suppose the increase of the children of Israel to have been gradual, and proportionate through the whole 266 years, it will appear, that they doubled themselves every fourteen years at least; and if we should continue the like proportion through the entire 114 periods (which the space from the creation to the deluge admits) the product, or number of people on the face of the earth at the deluge, would at least be the 100th in a geometric double proportion, or series of numbers, two, four, eight, sixteen, &c., where every succeeding one is double to that before it and to how an immense sum this proportion would arise, those who know any thing of the nature of geometric progressions, will soon perceive. So that had

'Whiston's Theory of the Earth, b. 3. c. 3.

a The ingenious Dr Burnet (in his Theory of the Earth, b. 1.) has computed the multiplication of mankind in this method. "If we allow the first couple," says he, "at the end of 100 years, or of the first century, to have left ten pair of breeders (which is no hard supposition) there would arise from these, in 1500 years, a greater number than the earth was capable of containing, allowing every pair to multiply in the same decuple proportion, that the first pair did. But, because this would rise far beyond the capacity of the earth, let us suppose them to increase, in the following centuries, in a quintuple proportion only, or, if you will, only in a quadruple, and then the table of the multiplication of mankind, from the creation to the flood, would stand thus:

Century 1-10

2-40

3-160

4-640

5-2560

6-10240

7-40960

8-163840

Century 9-655360

10-2621440

11-10485760

12-41943040
13-167772160
14-671088640
15-2684354560
16-10737418240

This product is excessively too high, if compared with the present number of men upon the face of the earth, which I think is commonly estimated to between three and four hundred millions; and yet this proportion of their increase seems to be low enough, if we take one proportion for all the centuries. For though in reality the same measure cannot run equally through all the ages, yet we have taken this as moderate and reasonable between the highest and the lowest; but if we had only taken a triple proportion, it would have been sufficient (all things considered) for our purpose.-These calculations, however, are founded on the Hebrew computation, which represents the patriarchs before the flood as having children at an age by much too early. All animals whose lives are of long duration appear not to arrive at puberty till an age of proportional length; something similar or at least analogous is observable in the vegetable kingdom; and

the antediluvians only multiplied as fast before, as it is certain the Israelites did since the flood, the number of mankind actually alive and existing at the deluge must have been not only more than what the present earth does contain, but prodigiously more than what the whole number of mankind can be justly supposed, ever since the deluge; nay indeed, with any degree of likelihood, ever since the first creation of the world. Upon which account, though this calculation must not at all be esteemed real, or to exhibit in any measure the just number of the posterity of Adam alive at the time of the deluge, yet it certainly shows us how vastly numerous (according to the regular method of human propagation) the offspring of one single person may be; how plentifully each quarter of the world must then have been stocked with inhabitants; and that consequently, to destroy its inhabitants, the inundation must have fallen upon every quarter, and encompassed the whole globe.

And accordingly, if we take the circuit of the globe, and inquire of the inhabitants of every climate, we shall find, 2 that the fame of this deluge is gone through the earth, and that in every part of the known world there are certain records or traditions of it; that the Americans acknowledge, and speak of it in their continent; that the Chinese (who are the most distant people in Asia) have the tradition of it; that the several nations of Africa tell various stories concerning it; and that, in the European parts, the flood of Deucalion is the same with that of Noah, only related with some disguise. that we may trace the deluge quite round the globe, and (what is more remarkable still) every one of these people have a tale to tell, some one way, some another, concerning the restoration of mankind, which is a full proof that they thought all mankind were once destroyed in that deluge.c

'Burnet's Theory.

So

according to the computation of the Septuagint version and of the annals of Josephus, the same law regulated the generations of mankind before and after the flood. It was chiefly this consideration that influenced Eusebius to prefer the computation of the Septuagint version to that of the Hebrew text: and it is one of the many cogent reasons which induced Dr Hales to reject the Hebrew chronology as it appears in the present text of the Masorites.

"Dividing human life," says this learned author, "into three periods, it appears from observation and experience, that the generative powers continue in full vigour during the second period. It is not probable, therefore, that the age of puberty among the antediluvians, who lived to 900 years and upwards, began sooner than at the age of 160 or 170 years, corresponding to 14 or 15 years at present." If, as is probable, there was likewise a longer period, in that age, between the births of children in the same family than is common in the present contracted span of human life, though the earth might have been fully peopled before the deluge, there would be no danger of its being overstocked with inhabitants, as it must have been, according to the calculations of our author, and Dr Burnet from the present Hebrew genealogies.-Bishop Gleig's edition.

b The Hindoo mythology is in a great measure founded on it; and it is the commencement of their present era or caliyug. Sir William Jones says expressly that, in Hindoo mythology, "the three first avatars, or descents of Veeshnu, relate to an universa! deluge, in which only eight persons were saved."-See Works of Sir W. Jones, vol. 1. p. 29. 4to, 1799.

c For the truth of all this, see Bryant's Mythology, Maurice's Indian Antiquities, and Howard's Thoughts on the Structure of the Globe. On the whole controversy concerning the deluge, nothing superior to this last work or more satisfactory is to be found in any language.

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