A. M. 1656. A. C. 2319; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 2256. A. C. 3155. GEN. CH. vi. 12. TO ix. 20. easy, especially from the latter, into the plains of Meso- | midst of the continent, might serve, as it were, for alempotamia, whereof Shinar is a part. Nor should we for - | bics, to distil fresh water for the use of man and beast; get, that the neighbourhood, which the sacred history, by this means, preserves between the land of Eden, where man was created; that of Ararat, where the remains of mankind were saved; and that of Shinar, where they fixed the centre of their plantations, is much more natu- | ral, and seems to have a better face and appearance of truth, than to place these scenes at so vast a distance, as some commentators have done. 26 One inquiry more, not concerning mount Ararat only, but every other mountain that is dispersed over the whole earth, is this,-Whether they were in being before the induction of the flood? The ingenious author of the Theory, so often quoted, is clearly of opinion, that the face of the earth, before the deluge, was smooth, regular, and uniform, without mountains, and without a sea; and that the rocks and mountains which every where now appear, were made by the violent concussions which then happened, and are indeed nothing else but the ruins and fragments of the old world. But all this is confuted by the testimony of Divine Wisdom, who declaring her own pre-existence, I was set up from everlasting,' says she, from the beginning, or ever the earth was; when there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet God had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. So that, according to this declaration, not only the foun tains of waters which we see upon the face of the earth, but even mountains (which some have accounted its greatest deformities) and all hills, were part of the original creation, and contemporary with the first foundations of the earth; and though a deluge can scarce be supposed to overspread the globe, without making some transmutation in it, yet that it could not shock the pillars of the round world, or cause a total dissolution in nature, we have the same divine testimony assuring us, that at the time of the first creation, 3 God laid the foundation of the earth so sure, that it should not be removed for ever.' ، It is a groundless imagination, then, to ascribe the origin of mountains and other lofty eminences to a certain disruption of the earth in the time of the deluge; when God, from the very first beginning, designed them for such excellent purposes. For, besides that several of these rocks and mountains (as well as the broad sea) are really an awful sight, and fill the mind with just notions of God's tremendous majesty, which a small river or a smooth surface does not do so well; and besides, that they yield food for several animals formed by nature to live upon them, and supply us from without | with many wholesome plants, and from within with many useful metals; by condensing the vapours, and so pro ducing rain, fountains, and rivers, they give the very plains and valleys themselves the fertility which they boast of. For this seems to be the design of hills, (says a learned inquirer into the original of springs and fountains,) "That their ridges, being placed through the | | and their heights to give a descent to those streams which run gently, like so many veins of the microcosm, to be more beneficial to the creation." 5 Nay, we may appeal to the sense of mankind, whether a land of hills and dales has not more pleasure and beauty both, than any uniform flat, which then only affords delight when it is viewed from the top of an hill. For what were the Tempe of Thessaly, so celebrated in ancient story for their unparalleled pleasantness, but a vale divided by a river, and terminated with hills? are not all the descriptions of poets embellished with such ideas, when they would represent any places of superlative delight, any blissful seats of the muses and nymphs, any sacred habitations of gods and goddesses ? They will never admit that a wild flat can be pleasant, no not in the a Elysian fields: they too must be diversified. Swelling descents and declining valleys are their chief beauties; nor can they imagine even paradise a place of pleasure, or heaven itself to be heaven without them. So that such a place as our present earth is, distinguished into mountains, rivers, vales, and hills, must, even in point of pleasure, claim a pre-eminence before any other, that, presenting us with no more than a single scene, and, in one continued plain superficies, must of necessity pall the prospect. But then, if we consider farther the riches that are reposited in these mountains, the gold and precious stones, the coal, the lead, the tin, and other valuable minerals that are dug out of their bowels, all useful in their kinds, and fitted for the accommodation of human life, we shall be apt to overlook the fantastical pleasantness of a smooth outside, and to think with Moses, the man of God, that 6 Blessed of the Lord is any land for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills. ' CHAP. V.-Of Mount Ararat. (CONTINUED BY THE EDITOR. THE following interesting account of Mount Ararat is taken from the description of the recent journey of Professor Parrot to that mountain. "Ararat has borne this name for 3300 years: we find it mentioned in the most ancient of books, the History of the Creation, by Moses, who says, 'the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day ofthe month, upon the mountains of Ararat.' In other passages of the Old Testament, written several centuries later, in Isaiah xxxvii. 38., 2 Kings xix. 37., we find mention of a land of Ararat, but in Jeremiah li. 27., of a kingdom of Ararat; and the very credible Armenian writer, Moses of Chorene, states that this name was borne by a A. M. 1656. A. C. 2349; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 2256. A. C. 3155. GEN. CH. vi. 12. TO ix. 20. whole country, and that it was so called after an old Armenian king, Arai the Fair, who lived about 1750 years before Christ, and fell in a bloody battle against the Babylonians on a plain of Armenia, which is hence called Arai-Arat, that is, the ruin of Arai. It was formerly called Amasia, after the ruler Amassis, the sixth descendant from Japhet, and from him Mount Massis also derives its name. This is the only name by which it is now called among the Armenians, for though the Armenian translation of the Old Testament always calls it Mount Ararat, yet the people (to whom the Bible can be no authority, since they do not read it) have retained the name of Massis, and do not know it by the other; so that if we were to ask an Armenian, even if he came from the Holy Mountain itself, respecting Mount Ararat, he would be as ignorant as if we were to ask a European respecting Mount Massis as a place of note. To the Turks and Persians, the name of Ararat is of course unknown. By the first it is called by the Arabic name Agridagh, that is, Steep Mountain, and as the Arabic is almost a universal language in those parts, it is known to the Koords, Persians, and even the Armenians, by It is said that some of the Persians call it Kuhi-Nuh, that is, Noah's Mountain, but on this I am not competent to decide, as I spoke to only a few Persians, and these invariably called it Agridagh. this name. "The mountains of Ararat rise at the southern extremity of a plain, which the Araxes traverses in a considerable bend, and which is about 50 wersts in breadth, and more than 100 in length. Ararat consists of two mountains, namely, the Great Ararat, and its immediate neighbour, the Little Ararat, the former lying to the north-west, the latter to the south-east, their summits ten wersts and a half apart from each other in a right line, and the base of both mountains united by a broad level valley. This is occupied by the herdsmen for the pasturage of their flocks, and was formerly used as a safe retreat by the predatory Koords, by which they were enabled to keep up an easy and safe communication between the northern and southern provinces. "The summit of the Great Ararat is situated in 39° 42 north latitude, and 61° 55′ east longitude from Ferro; its perpendicular height is 16,254 Paris feet, or nearly five wersts above the level of the sea, and 13,530 Paris feet, or rather more than four wersts, above the plain of the Araxes. The north-eastern declivity of the mountain may be estimated at twenty, its north-western at thirty wersts in length. In the former we recognise, at some distance, the deep black chasm, which many have compared to an extinct crater, but which has always appeared to me to resemble a cleft, as if the mountains had once been split from above. From the summit, for about one werst in a perpendicular, or four wersts in an oblique direction, it is covered with a mantle of eternal snow and ice, the lower edge of which is indented according to the elevation or depression of the ground. This is the hoary head of Ararat. The Little Ararat lies in 39° 39' north latitude, 62° 2′ east longitude from Ferro. Its summit is elevated 12,284 Paris feet, above the level of the sea. “The impression which the sight of Ararat makes on every one whose mind is capable of comprehending the stupendous works of the Creator, is awful and mysteri ous, and many a sensitive and intelligent traveller has endeavoured, with glowing pen and skilful pencil, to describe this impression; and in the feeling, that no description, no delineation, can come up to the sublime object before him, every one who has made such an attempt, must certainly have experienced how difficult it is to avoid, both in language and in sketching, everything that is poetical in expression or exaggerated in form, and to keep strictly within the bounds of the truth. "All the Armenians are firmly persuaded that Noah's ark exists to the present day on the summit of Mount Ararat, and that in order to preserve it, no person is permitted to approach it. We learn the grounds of this tradition from the Armenian chronicles in the legend of a monk of the name of James, who was afterwards patriarch of Nisibis, and a contemporary and relative of St Gregory. It is said that this monk, in order to settle the disputes which had arisen respecting the credibility of the sacred books, especially with reference to their account of Noah, resolved to ascend to the top of Ararat to convince himself of the existence of the ark. At the declivity of the mountain, however, he had several times fallen asleep from exhaustion, and found on awaking that he had been unconsciously carried down to the point from which he first set out. God at length had compassion on his unwearied though fruitless exertions, and during his sleep sent an angel with the message, that his exertions were unavailing, as the summit was inaccessible, but as a reward for his indefatigable zeal, he sent him a piece of the ark, the very same which is now preserved as the most valuable relic in the cathedral of Etschmiadsin. The belief in the impossibility of ascending Mount Ararat has, in consequence of this tradition, which is sanctioned by the church, almost become an article of faith, which an Armenian would not renounce even if he were placed in his own proper person upon the summit of the mountain." On the 27th of September, O. S., 1829, this intrepid traveller stood on the summit of Mount Ararat. We have lately received an account of an ascent of Mount Ararat, in the middle of August, 1834, accomplished by a Mr Antonomoff, a young man holding an office in Armenia, who was induced to make the attempt partly to satisfy his own curiosity, and partly out of regard for the reputation of professor Parrot; whose having actually reached the summit of the mountain is still obstinately denied, particularly by the inmates of the convent, who fancy that the truth would lower the opinion of the people with regard to the sanctity of their mountain. Mr Antonomoff succeeded in reaching the summit; the large cross set up by Mr Parrot was nearly covered with snow; the smaller cross planted on the suminit was not to be found, and was probably buried in the snow. One of his guides, who had also accompanied Mr Parrot, showed him the spot where it had been set up. He asked some persons to look while he was at the top, and try if they could see him. On his coming down, however, nobody would admit having seen him there; they all affirmed that to reach the summit was impossible; and though he and his guides agreed, the magistrates of the village refused not only to give him a certificate of his having ascended the mountain, but even of his guides having declared that he had done so. THE HISTORY OF THE BIBLE. BOOK II. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THINGS FROM THE FLOOD TO THE CALL OF ABRAHAM, IN ALL 426 YEARS AND 6 MONTHS.-ACCORDING TO DR HALES 1007 YEARS. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. it was like the light of the moon and stars, a dim light in comparison of the light of the sun: It had no glory 6 THE great object of the Sacred Historian, is to fur-by reason of the glory that excelleth.' With these views, we proceed to the interesting details recorded in the following book. SECT. I. Noah to his death. A. M. 1657, A. C. 2347; or, according to Hales, A. M. 2257. A. C. 3154. Ir may perhaps be thought a little strange, that Noah, By many successive works and dispensations of God, CHAP. I.-The Remainder of what is recorded of all tending to one great end and effect, all united as the several parts of a scheme, and altogether making up one great work,—was the most High unfolding the plan of redemption, and preparing the way for its full accomplishment by the atoning sacrifice of the Redeemer. Like a house or temple that is building; first the workmen are sent forth, then the materials are gathered, then the ground fitted, then the foundation is laid, then the superstructure is erected, one part after another, till at length the top stone is laid, and all is finished. The great works of God in the world during the whole space of time from the fall to the coming of Christ, were all preparatory to this. There were many great changes and revolutions in the world, and they were all, only the turning of the wheels of Providence in order to this, to make way for the coming of Christ, and what he was to do in the world. They all pointed hither, and all issued here. Hither tended especially all God's great works towards his church. The various dispensations under which the church was placed, were to prepare the way for his coming. God wrought many lesser saluta-out mount Ararat in another place. They suppose, that it tions and deliverances for his people before the coming of the Great Deliverer. These salvations were all but so many images and forerunners of the great salvation which Christ was to work out for his people. All anterior revelations were only so many forerunners and comets of the great light that he should bring, who came to be the light of the world. That whole space of time, was, as it were, the time of night, wherein the church of God was not indeed wholly without light; but was Caucasus, not far from China, where the Ark rested, and near which Noah settled, when he came out of it; that only part of his descendants travelled into Shinar, the remainder continued with him; and that the reason, why Moses mentions neither him, nor them, is, because 1 Dr Alix's Reflect, on the Books of the Holy Scripture: Whiston's Chronology of the Old Testament; Shuckford's Connection, and Bedford's Scripture Chronology. A. M. 1657. A. C. 2347; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 2257. A. C. 3154. GEN. CH. viii. 20. TO THE END OF CH. ix. they lived at so great a distance, and had no share in the transactions of the nations round about Shinar, to whom alone (after the dispersion of mankind) he is known to contine his history. This opinion, which seems to solve the difficulty at once, is supported by some such arguments as these: that the Mosaic history is altogether silent, as to the peopling of China at the dispersion, and confines itself within the bounds of the then known world; that the Chinese language and writing are so entirely different from those among us, introduced by the confusion at Babel, that it cannot well be supposed they were ever derived from them; that the learned sciences seem anciently to have been better known in China, than in these parts of the world, their government and constitution much firmer, and better settled, and their histories more certain and authentic than ours; that (taking the first king Fohi and Noah to be the same person) Fohi is said to have had no father, which agrees well enough with Noah, because the memory of his father might be lost in the deluge? that Fohi's mother conceived him as she was encompassed with a rainbow, which seems to be an imperfect tradition of the rainbow's first appearance to Noah after the flood; and that the reign of Fohi is coincident with the times of Noah, and the lives of his successors correspondent with the lives of the men of the same ages, recorded in Scripture. But as this opinion is conjectural only, the histories and records of China of a very uncertain and precarious authority, and such as are reputed genuine, of no older date than some few centuries before the birth of Christ, the major part of interpreters have thought fit to reject this account of things as fabulous, and have thereupon supposed either that Noah, settling in the plains of Armenia, did not remove from thence, and had, consequently, no hand in the building of Babel; or that, if he did remove with the rest into the plains of Shinar, being now superarnuated and unfit for action, the administration of things was committed to other hands, which made his name and thority the less taken notice of. It must be acknowledged however, that the design of the sacred historian is to be very succinct in his account of the affairs of this period, because he is hastening to the history of Abraham, the great founder of the Jewish nation, whose life and adventures, upon that account, he thinks himself concerned to relate more at large: for what he has farther told us of the patriarch Noah, amounts to no more than this. thereon. And this he did with so grateful a sense of the Divine goodness, and so reverential a fear of the Divine Majesty, as procured him a gracious acceptance, and, in testimony of that acceptance, several grants and promises. God's promises were, that, though mankind were naturally wicked and apt to go astray from the very womb, yet, be their iniquities ever so great, he would not any more destroy the earth by a general deluge, or disturb the order of nature, and the several seasons of the year, and their regular vicissitudes: and in confirmation of this, he appointed the rainbow for a token, which, (whether it used to appear before the flood or no) was now to be the ratification of the truth of his promise and his faithful witness in heaven. The grants which God gave Noah and his sons were, away in mercy, to preserve the order of the world in its frame; to punish the guilty, and spare the lives of the innocent; and not to proceed with rigour, for the wickedness of some particulars, to the destruction of the whole; otherwise, the survivors of this calamity would be more wretched, than those that were washed in the common ruin. If, after having suffered horror of thought, and the terror of so dismal a spectacle, they should only be delivered from one calamity to be consumed by another." Antiq. b. 1. c. 4. But that this should be the purport of his prayer, is not very likely, because we find no such indications of terror in Noah, who knew the great and criminal causes of the deluge to be such as could not happen every year, and who, having found favour in the eyes of God, and a miraculous preservation from a general destruction, can hardly be supposed to have be possessed with an abject and servile fear: and therefore we cast away his confidence in him so soon, and, instead thereof, to may conclude, that the nature of his prayer and sacrifice was eucharistical, and not deprecatory.—Heidegger's History of the Patriarchs, Essay 19. The words, in our translation are, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake,' for the imagination of man's heart is evil;' which is certainly very injuriously rendered, because it makes the sacred author speak quite contrary to what he designed, and is an affront to the justice, goodness, and wisdom of God, who, by this translation of 'for,' instead of though,' might seem to bless man for his evil imaginations.-Essay for a New Translation. e For particular inundations there have been at several times, in divers places, whereby towns and countries have been overwhelmed with all their inhabitants.-Poole's Annotations. four seasons of the year, which Moses exactly distinguishes. d All the versions do manifestly, in this place, confound the For the Hebrew word kor, which they render cold, signifies the winter, because of the cold that then reigns. The word chom, which they render heat, signifies the spring, because of the heat which abounds in Judea about the end of the spring, in the months of May and June, which is the harvest time in that country. The word hajts, which they render summer, does indeed signify so; but when the word coroph, which they term the winter, should be rendered autumn, which is the time of ploughing, and cultivating the ground, as may be seen, Prov. xx. 4. So that the whole sentence, which contains the promise of God, Gen. viii. 22. if rendered justly, should run thusWhile the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, winter and spring, summer and autumn, day and night, shall not cease.'An Essay for a New Translation. We cannot but observe however, that this vicissitude of times and seasons, which is here promised as a blessing to mankind, is a full confutation of the dreams of such writers as are apt to fancy, "That in the primordial earth there was every where a perpetual spring and equinox; that all the parts of the year had one and the same tenor, face, and temper; and that there was no winter or summer, seed-time or harvest, but a continual temperature of the air, and verdure of the earth;" which, if it were true, would make this promise of God a punishment, rather than a blessing to mankind.-See Burnet's Theory, b. 2. c. 3. and Heidegger's History of the Patriarchs, Essay 19. A. M. 1657. A. C. 2317; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 2237. A. C. 3154. GEN. CH. viii. 20. TO THE END OF CH. ix. not only a the same dominion which our first parents, | tion, was appointed by the magistrate to be put to death: before the fall, had over the animal creation, and a full and, with these grants and promises, he gave them power to keep them in submission and subjection, but a encouragement (as he did our first progenitors) to “be privilege likewise to kill any of these creatures for food; fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth," which only with this restriction, that they were not to put was now left almost destitute of inhabitants. them to unnecessary torture, or to eat any part of their blood, which might be a means to introduce the shedding of human blood. The human kind, notwithstanding their apostasy, did still retain some lineaments of the Divine similitude; and, therefore, whosoever murdered any of them did thereby deface the image of God; and whether it were mane or beast, stranger or near rela a A learned, and right reverend author, to show the renovation of the earth after the deluge, and its deliverance from the curse inflicted upon it by reason of Adam's transgression, runs the parallel between the blessings and privileges, granted to Adam, soon after his creation, and those restored to Noah and his posterity, soon after the flood. To our first parents it is said, Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth on the earth,' Gen. i. 28. To Noah and his sons it is said, The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, and upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea, into your hand are they delivered,' Gen. ix. 2. To Adam and Eve are granted for food every herb bearing seed; and every tree, in the which is the fruit of the tree, yielding seed,' Gen. i. 29. But Noah and his sons have a large charter, Every moving thing that liveth, shall be meat to you, even, as the green herb, have I given you all things,' Gen. ix. 3. The blessing upon the earth, at the creation, was, 'Let the earth bring forth grass, and herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind,' Gen. i. 11. The blessing after the flood is, While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest shall not cease,' Gen. viii. 22. In the beginning, the lights in the firmament were appointed to divide the day from the night, and to be for seasons, and for days, and years,' Gen. i. 14. After the flood, the new blessing is, That spring and autumn, summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease,' Gen. viii. 22. Whereupon our author asks, what is bestowed in the first blessings, that is wanted in the second? What more did Adam enjoy in his happiest days? What more did he forfeit in his worst, with respect to this life, than that which is contained in these blessings? If he neither had more, nor lost more, all these blessings you see expressly restored to Noah and his posterity: and, from all this, laid together, he concludes, that the old curse upon the ground was, after the deluge, finished and completed.Sherlock's Use and Intent of Prophecy. But how much soever the deluge might deprive the earth of its inhabitants, it had not so totally destroyed the trees, and plants, and other vegetables, but that in a short time they began to appear again; and being encouraged by the kindly warmth of the sun, discovered their several species by the several fruits they bore. Noah before the flood d had applied himself to husbandry, and now, upon the recovery of the earth again, betook himself to the same occupation. Among his other improvements of the ground he had planted a vineyard, and perhaps was the first man who invented a press to squeeze the juice out of the grape, and so make wine. Natural curiosity might tempt him to taste the fruit of his own labour; but, being either unacquainted with the strength of this liquor, or through age and infirmity unable to bear it, so it was, that, drinking a little too freely, he became quite intoxicated with it; and so falling asleep in his tent, lay with his body uncovered, and, in a very indecent posture, was exposed to the eyes of his children. Ham, who espied his father in this condition, instead of concealing his weakness proclaimed it aloud; and to his other two brothers, Shem and Japhet, made him the subject of his scorn and derision. But so far were they from being pleased with his behaviour in this respect, that taking a garment, and laying it upon both their shoulders, they went backward till, coming to their father, they dropt the garment upon him, and so covered the nakedness which their pious modesty would not Nor is it improbable that, to permit them to behold. prevent the like indecency, they watched him during the remaining time of his sleep, and might possibly, upon his awaking, acquaint him with what had happened: whereupon, perceiving how unworthily his son Ham had served him, he cursed his race in the person of Canaan his grandson; and reflecting how respectfully his other two sons had behaved, he rewarded their pious care e punishment extended even to beasts; and 4thly, the lives of men were hereby much secured, when such beasts, as might do the like mischief another time, were immediately dispatched, and taken out of the way.—Patrick's Commentary. d Anciently the greatest men esteemed nothing more honourable, and worthy their study, than the art of agriculture, Nihi homine libero dignius, nothing more becoming a gentleman, was the saying of the Roman orator; and for the truth of this the Fabii, the Catos, the Varros, the Virgils, the Plinys, and other great names are sufficient witnesses.-Bibliotheca Biblica, vol. b The words in the text are,-“ But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat.' This the Hebrew doctors generally understand to be a prohibition to cut off any limb of a living creature, and to eat it while the life, that is, the blood was in it; whilst yet it lives and palpitates, or trembles, as a modern interpreter has truly explained their sense: and in this they are followed by several Christians, who think (as Maimonides did) that there were some people in the old world, so savage and barbarous, that they did eat raw flesh, while it was yet warm from the beast, out of whose body it was cut piecemeal. Plutarch tells us, that it was customary, in his time, to run red hot spits through the bellies of live swine, to make their flesh more delicious; and I believe some among us have heard of whipping|i. p. 251. pigs, and torturing other creatures to death, for the same purpose. Now these things could not be committed, if such men thought themselves bound in conscience, to abstain from all unnecessary cruelties to the creatures, and to bleed them to death, with all the dispatch they could, before they touched them for food.-Seeden, the colour of their skin became black; for they maintain, that Patrick's Commentary, and Revelation Examined, vol. ii. p. 20. c If it here should be asked, how any beast that is neither capable of virtue nor vice, can be deemed culpable, in case it should chance to kill any man? the answer is,―That this law was ordained for the benefit of men, for whose use all beasts were created. For, 1st, such owners, as were not careful to prevent such mischiefs, were hereby punished. 2dly, Others were admonished by their example to be cautious. 3dly, God thereby instructed them, that murder was a most grievous crime, whose e It is a tradition among the eastern writers, that Noah, having cursed Ham and Canaan, the effect of his curse, was, that not only their posterity were made subject to their brethren, and born, as we may say, in slavery; but that likewise, all on a sud all the blacks descended from Ham and Canaan; that Noah seeing so surprising a change, was deeply affected with it, and begged of God, that he would be pleased to inspire Canaan's masters with a tender and compassionate love for him; and that his prayer was heard. For, notwithstanding we may still, at this day, observe the effect of Noah's curse, in the servitude of Ham's posterity; yet we may remark likewise the effect of his prayer, in that this sort of black slaves is sought for, and made much of in most places.-Calmet's Dictionary on the word Ham. |