A DESCRIPTION OF NOAH'S ARK. Taken from the Hiftorical, Critical, Lorrain. "NOAH'S ARK, a floating veffel, built by Noah, for the prefervation of his family, and the feveral fpecies of animals during the deluge. See Genefis vi. 14. The word thebat, which we render ark, is only read here, and in another place, where Mofes, when an infant, is faid to have been put into one made of bulrushes, Exodus ii. 3. it is fuppofed to come from a root which fignifies to dwell or inhabit, and may therefore here denote a houfe or place of abode; and indeed if we confider the ufe and defign as well as the form and figure of this building, we can fcarcely fuppofe it to be like an ark or cheft, wherein we ufually ftore lumber and put things out of the way, but rather like a farm-houfe, fuch as are in feveral countries, where the cattle and people live all under one roof. LeClerc's Comment "The ark has afforded feveral points of curious inquiry among the critics and naturalifts, relating to the form, capacity, materials, time of building, place of refting after the flood, &c. Interpreters generally agree that the ark was 120 years building, tho' fome allow no more than 78 years, and fome but 52 years; and others much less time for this building.Orig. contra Celfum Lib. 4. Auguft. de Civitate Dei, Lib. 15. The Rev. Father Fournier, a Jefuit, a native of Caen, in Normandy, in his Hydrography, gives in to the opinion of the Fathers; noting that the hands employed in it were only Noah and his three fons, to this purpose he álledges the inftance of Archias of Corinth, who with the help of three hundred workmen, built Hiero's Noah's eldeft fon was not born, till great hip in one year. Add that about the time when the ark was begun, and the younger fome time after, fo that it was a long time before they could be any service to their father in this work; however for fo large' a building, a prodigious number of trees must have been required, which could employ a great number of workmen to hew, were it poffible for three men to have fain them? The wood whereof the ark was built is called in the Hebrew gopher wood; and in the Septuagint Square timbers. Some tranflate it cedar, others pine, others box, &c. Pelletier prefers cedar, on account of its incorruptibility, and the great plenty of it in Afia. Whence Herodotus and Theophraftus relate that the kings of Egypt and Syria, built whole fleets thereof instead of deal; and the common tradition throughout the Eaft, imports that the ark is preferved intire to this day on Mount Ararat. The learned Mr, Fuller, in his Mifcellanies, has obferved, that the wood whereof the ark was built, was nothing else but what the Greeks call kuparios, or the cyprefs tree, for, taking away the termination, cuphar and gophar differ very little in found. This obfervation the great Bochart has confirmed, and thewn very plainly that no country abounds fo much with this wood as that of Ally. part ria which lies about Babylon. In what place Noah built and finished his ark is no less made a matter of difputation. One fuppofes that he built it in Palestine, and planted the cedars whereof he made it in the plains of Sodom; another take it to have been built near Mount Caucafus on the - confines cies of animals will be found much lefs than is generally imagined, not amounting to an hundred fpecies of quadrupeds, nor to two hundred of birds; out of which in this cafe, are excepted fuch animals as can live in the water. Zoologifts ufually reckon but an hundred and feventy fpecies in all: and Bishop Wilkins fhews, that only feventy-two of the quadruped kind needed a place in the ark. By the defcription Mofes gives of the ark, it appears to have been divided into three ftories, each ten cubits or fifteen feet high; and it is agreed on, as moft probable, that the lowelt confines of India; and a third, in China, where he imagines Noah had dwelt before the flood. But the most probable opinion is, that it was built in Chaldæa, in the territories of Babylon, where there was fo great a quantity of cyprefs in the groves and gar'dens in Alexander's time, that that prince built a whole fleet out of it for want of timber; and this conjecture is confirmed by the Chaldæan tradition which makes Zithurus (another name for Noah) fet fail from that country. Univerfal Hiftory, Book I. Chap. I. The dimenfion of the ark, as given by Moles, are 300 eubits in length, 50 in breadth, and 30 in heighth, ftory was for the beafts, the middle which fome have thought too fcanty, confidering the number of things it was to contain; and hence an argument has been drawn against the authority of the relation. To folve this 'difficulty, many have been put to very miferable fhifts; but Buteo and Kir. cher have proved geometrically, that taking the common cubit of a foot and a half, the ark was abundantly fufficient for all the animals fuppofed to be lodged in it. Snellius computes the ark to have been half an acre in area, and the learned Father Lamy, an Oratorian, fhews that it was 110 feet longer than the church of St. Mary, at Paris, and 64 feet narrower; and if fo, it must have been longer than St. Paul's church, in London, from west to eaft; and broader than that church is high in the infide, and 54 feet of our measure in height ;and Dr. Arbuthnot computes it to have been 81,052 tuns. - The things contained in it werebefides eight perfons of Noah's family, one pair of every fpecies of unclean animals, and feven pair of every fpecies of clean animals, with provifions for them all during the whole year. The former appears at the first view, almost infinite; but if we come to a calculation, the number of fpe for the food, and the upper for the birds, with Noah and his family'; each story being fubdivided into dif ferent apartments, ftalls, &c. though Jofephus, Philo, and other commentators add a kind of fourth ftory under all the reft; being, as it were, the hold of the vessel, to contain the ballaft, and receive the filth and fœcés of fo'many animals; but F. Calmet thinks, that what is here reckoned a flory, was no more than what is called the keel of thips, and ferved only for a confervatory of fresh water. Drexelius makes three hundred apartments; F. Fournier three hundred and thirty-three; the anonymous author of the " Queltions on Genefis," four hundred; Buteo, Temporarius, Arias Montanus, Hoftus, Wilkins, Lamy, and others fuppofe as many partitions as there were different forts of animals. Pelletier only makes feventy two, viz. thirty-fix for the birds and as many for the beafts :- his reafon is, that if we fuppofe a greater number, as three hundred and thirty-three, or four hundred, each of the eight perfons in the ark must have had thirtyfeven, forty-one or fifty ftalls to attend and cleanfe daily, which he thinks impoffible to have been done'; but but it is obferved, that there is not much in this; to diminish the number of ftalls, without a diminution of animals is vain; it being perhaps more difficult to take care of three hundred animals in feventy two ftalls, than in three hundred. As to the number of animals contained in the ark, Buteo computes that it could not be equal to five hundred horfes; he even reduces the whole to the dimenfions of fifty fix pair of oxen; F. Lamy enlarges it to fixty-four pair of oxen ; or an hundred and twenty-eight oxen -fo that fuppofing one ox equal to two horfes, if the ark had room for two hundred and fifty-fix horfes, there must have been room for all the animals but the fame author demonftrates that one floor of it would fuf fice for five hundred horfes, allowing pine fquare feet to every horse. As to the food in the second story it is obferved by Buteo, from Columella, that thirty or forty pounds of hay ordinarily fuffices for an ox one day, and that a folid cubit of hay, as ufually preffed down in our hay ricks, weighs about forty pounds; fo that a fquare cubit of hay is more than enough for one ox in one day; now it appears that the fecond ftory contained 150,000 folid cubits, which divided between two hundred and fix oxen, will afford each more hay by two thirds, than he can eat in a year. Bishop Wilkins computes all the carnivorous animals, equivalent as to the bulk of their bodies, and their food to twenty feven wolves; and all the rest to two hundred and eighty beeves for the former he allows 1825 fheep, and for the latter 109500 cubits of hay, all which will be eafily contained in the two firft ftories, and a deal of room to pare. As to the third ftory, no body doubts of its being fufficient for the fowls; with Noah, his fons and daughters. Upon the whole, the learned Bishop remarks, that of the two, it appears much more difficult to affign a number and bulk of neceffary things to answer the ca pacity of the ark, than to find sufficient room for the feveral fpecies of animals already known to have been there this he attributes to the imperfection of our lift of animals, ef pecially thofe of the unknown parts of the earth, adding that the most expert mathematician at this day could not affign the proportion of a veffel, better accommodated to the purpose than is here done, and hence finally concludes, that the capacity of the ark, what has been made an objection against fcripture, ought to be efteemed a confirmation of its divine authority, fince in those ruder ages, men being lefs verfed in arts and philofophy, were more obnoxious to vulgar prejudices than now: fo that had it been an human invention, it would have been contrived according to those wild apprehenfions which arife from comprehenfions fuggefted by a confufed and general view of things, as much too big, as it had been reprefented too little. But it must be obferved, that befides the places requifite for the beafts and birds, and their provifions, there was room required for Noah to lock up household utenfils, the inftruments of husbandry, grains and feeds to few the earth with after the deluge; for which purpose it is thought that he might fpare room in the third flory for fix and thirty cabins, befide a kitchen, a hall, four chambers, and a space about eight and forty cubits in length to walk in. The Mahometans fay, that Noah had but two years al lowed him for building the ark; they add, that God fhewed him the tree he was to build it of, which in twenty years time became large enough for that purpofe; they also add, that Noah climbing up to the top of the ark, ark, cried out to the incredulous, in the name of God, to embark; that the ark was then moving forward but topped at the invocation of the name of God:- the Mahometans believe, that, befides the eight perfons whom we fuppofe to have been faved in the ark, there were feventy-two more, who entered; and that of all Noah's family, his grandson Canaan was the only one who refufed to go into the ark, and that he perished in the flood. Some Rabbins inform us, that a certain king of Bafan was preferved from the waters of the deluge, by getting upon horse-back on the top of the ark. Others affirm that Philemon, an Egyptian priest, and his family, retired thither with Noah. The Para phrafts, Onkelos, and Jonathan, fay, that Noah embarked near the place where Babylon was afterwards built; others will have it, that he embarked in the Indies; and that during the continuance of the flood he failed quite round the world. The ark refted on the mountains of Ararat when the deluge was over; but geographers are not agreed in what the fcriptures mean by the mountains of Ararat, as may be seen under the article Ara rat. ARARAT, a famous mountain in Armenia, on which Noah's Ark is faid to have rested after the Deluge, Genefis viii. 4. It is affirmed, but with out any good proof, that fome remains of Noah's ark are still to be feen on the top of this mountain. John Struis, in his Voyages, affure us that he went up to the highest part of it, and that an hermit who abode there, declared to him, that fome broken pieces of the ark were to be feen there and at the fame time prefented him with a crofs made out of the wood belonging to this famous veffel: but, Monfieur De Tournefort, who was upon the fpot, affures us, that there was nothing of the kind to be feen there, that the top of Mount Ararat is inacceffible, both by reafon of its great height, and of the fnow which perpetually covers it. This mountain is fituated twelve leagues east of Erivan, in a valt plain, having no other mountain near it on any fide. Jofephus (Antiq. Lib. 10. c. 2) fays, that the rem ins of Noah's ark were still to be feen in his time, in the canton of Adiabene, called Caron, a country remarkable for producing a great quantity of cinnamon. up; That part of the mountains of Ararat, where on the ark refted, is called by many of the Eastern nations Ardag, or Parmak-dag, the finger mountain; because it ftands upright by itself, like a finger, when held it is fo high as to be feen at the dif tance of ten days journey, according to the ftages of the caravans, The city of Tauris is near this mount.—. Tavernier fays, that there are many monafteries on Mount Ararat; that the Armenians call it Merefoufar, becaufe the ark ftopped there. It is as it were, taken off from the other mountains of Armenia, which make a long chain, and from the middle to the top of it is often covered with fnow for three or four months of the year. There are fome authors, how, ever, that are of opinion, that the ark refted on a mountain near Apamea, in Phrygia, ARMENIA, a province of Afia, confifting of the modern Turcoma nia, and part of Perfia; having Georgia on the north, Curdiftan, the ancient Affyria, on the fouth, and Natalia, the leffer Afia, on the welt.This province includes the fources of the Tigris and Euphrates, the Araxes and Phalis; and here alfo the province of Eden, where Paradife was fituated, is fuppofed to lie. The name Armenia, is thought to be derived either from Aram, the father of the Syrians, or fiom Harmenni, the the Mountain of the Mineans. Mofes fays, (Genesis viii. 4.) that the ark relled upon the mountains of Armenia. Requievitque Arca Mense Septimo, Vigesimo Septimo die Mensis Super Montes Armenia, according to the Vulgate, but it is the mountains of Ararat by the Septuagint and Hebrew readings. In the fourth book of Kings, xxiv. 37. and Isaiah xxxvii. 38. it is faid, that the two fons of Sennacherib, Adrammelech and Sharezer maffacreed their father while he was paying his adorations to his god Nifroch, in his temple, and then fled into Armenia. ACCOUNT OF NOAH. (Tranflated from the French.) NOAH, or NAE, the fon of Lamech, was born 2944 years before Jefus Chrift. He was just and found grace before God, who, feeing the depravity, corruption, and malice of men, refolved that every thing that had life on earth fhould perifh by an univerfal deluge, ordered Noah to build an ark for the prefervation of himself and family, with beafts and birds of every fpecies both male and female. He marked out the plan, the form, measure, and proportion of this great veffel that was to be the figure of a large cheft, 300 cubits long, 50 broad and 30 high, plastered with biLumen and divided into three stories, each of which had feveral apartments; the first for the quadrupeds, the fecond for the provifions, and the third for the birds and the family of Noah. There was a door to every ftory, and a large window to the third, befides a number of fmall ones to give light to each story. According to the opinion of fome there were four ftories: the lowelt was for receiving the filth of the ark, in each of thefe stories there were different apartments, fepsrated by partitions for the different animals, and their food. The most accurate, exact, demonftrative and convincing defcrip tion of the ark is that of Monfieur Jean Le Pelletier, who in a most elaborate differtation explains the pollbility of the univerfal deluge, and how all fpecies of animals could be contained in the ark, with the provi fions neceffary for a year, and how they could be attended every day.― Noah believed the word of God and executed his commands, entered the ark with his wife, his three fons and their wives, and the animals of every fpecies, feven days before the deluge. He was then 600 years old; being all entered, and the door of the ark being fhut upon the outside, the wa ters of the deluge began to fall upon the earth, and increafed in fuch a manner that they were fifteen cubits above the tops of the highest mountains, and continued thus upon the earth for one hundred and fifty days, fo that whatever had life upon the earth, or in the air was destroyed, except fuch as were with Noah in the ark; but the Lord remembring Noab fent a wind upon the earth, which caufed the waters to fubfide, so that upon the feventeenth day of the fe venth month, the ark refted on the mountains of Ararat. The tenth day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were visible, and in forty days after they began to be percepti ble, Noah opened the window of the ark, and let fly a crow that did not return; fhortly after he let fly a dove but not finding a place to perch upon came back to the ark; feven days after he let it fly again and it came back with a branch of olive quite green. Noah left the ark a year after he entered it; then he offered as a burnt facrifice to the Lord one of all the pure animals that were in the ark ; and the Lord accepted his facrifice, and |