with each one a blessing, which, in process of time, was fulfilled in their posterity. 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. we showed before) were of Divine institution, and prefigurative of that great propitiation, which God, in due time, would exhibit in the death of his Son. Whatever merit they have, they derive from Christ, 5 who gave himself for us, as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.' It was in the sense of this, therefore, that Noah approached the altar which he had erected, and while he was offering his appointed sacrifices, failed not to commemorate this Lamb of God which was slain from the foundation of the world,' and so found his acceptance in the Beloved; for he is the Angel which comes and stands at the altar, having a golden censer, and to whom is given much incense, that he may offer it with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne.' a This is all that the Scripture informs us of concerning Noah, only we are given to understand, that he lived 350 years after the deluge, in all 950; and, if we will believe the tradition of the orientals, he was buried in Mesopotamia, where, not far from a monastery, called Dair-Abunah, that is, the monastery of our father, they show us in a castle a large sepulchre, which they say belonged to him; but as for the common opinion of his dividing the world among his three sons before his death, giving to Shem, Asia,-to Ham, Africa,-and to Japhet, Europe, there is no manner of foundation for it either in Scripture or tradition. CHAP. III.-Difficulties Obviated, and Objections Answered. altar. 5 Eph. v. 2. * Rev. viii. 3. a At the command of God, Noah, and all who were with him in the ark came out of it, when the earth again became habitable. He first employed himself in an act of worship, expressive of his thankfulness to God for his preservation, and of his dependence It is a sad perversion of the use of human understanding, for life and acceptance, on the atonement of the promised Deliverand no small token of a secret inclination to infidelity, er. 'He built an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean when men make the condescensions of Scripture an beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the argument against its Divine authority; and from the in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said figures and allusions which it employs in accommoda-man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his tion to their capacities, draw conclusions unworthy of its youth.' It is evident from these words, sacred penmen, and unbecoming the nature of God. In relation to sacrifices, we find God declaring himself very fully in these words: Hear, O my people, and I will speak; I will testify against thee, O Israel, for I am God, even thy God. I will not reprove thee, because of thy sacrifices, or for thy burnt-offerings, because they were not always before me. I will take no bullock out of thine house, or he-goats out of thy fold; for thinkest thou that I will eat bull's flesh, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the most High, and call upon me in the time of trouble, so will I hear thee, and thou shalt praise me." So that it is not the oblation itself, but the grateful sense and affections of the offerer, that are acceptable to God, and which, by an easy metaphor, may be said to be as grateful to him as perfumes or sweet odours are to us. First, that Noah had received the institution of sacrifice from ordinance in use in the worship of God with which he appears to his ancestors, and not from immediate revelation. This was an have been familiar: and though its observance is not expressly mentioned in the period that intervened between the time of Abel and the flood, we cannot doubt that it was used by the promise. Noah erected an altar, on which he presented to God faithful as the expression of their belief in the truth of the great the divinely appointed typical sacrifice of propitiation. 3 2 vengeance; And indeed, if either the sense of gratitude or fear, if either the apprehension of God's peculiar kindness, or of his wrathful indignation against sin, did ever produce a sincere homage, it must have been upon this occasion when the patriarch called to remembrance the many vows he had made to God in the bitterness of his soul, and in the midst of his distress; when, coming out of the ark, he had before his eyes the ruins of the old world, so many dreadful objects of the divine and at the same time saw himself safe amidst his little family, which must have all likewise perished, had they not been preserved by a miraculous interposition. And with such affections of mind as this scene could not but excite, it would be injurious not to think that his prayers and oblations were auswerably fervent, and his joy and thanksgiving such as became so signal a deliverance. But it was not upon account of these only that his service found so favourable a reception. Sacrifices, (as 4 Secondly, the typical sacrifice was acceptable to God. 'The Lord smelled a sweet savour.' But how could the slaughter of animals in honour of the Deity be pleasing in his sight? Has he not said, 'every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills? I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?' We must therefore consider the burnt-offerings of Noah as acceptable to God only as they were designed to testify and show forth the Noah when he practised them in the worship of his Maker, as the Thirdly, by a consideration of the nature of the covenant which was founded upon, and connected with, the sacrifice of of presenting his sacrifice, was a positive engagement without Noah. The covenant established with this patriarch, on occasion any re-stipulation, the absolute promise of good to himself and to his posterity. He gave to Noah a new grant of the earth and of the inferior animals, different from that which had been originally conveyed to Adam, inasmuch as this was founded upon the covenant of grace, or upon the great atonement by which the provisions of that covenant are secured. To this grant was annexed a promise, that the earth should no more be visited with such an overwhelming calamity, but should be preserved till the consummation of all things. There was included in the covenant made with Noah, an express grant of animal food to man. While to Adam was given for meat, every herb upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree, to Noah it was said, 'Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you: even as the green herb have I given you all things.' But while animal food was permitted, the eating of blood was prohibited, chiefly, I appre hend, on account of its being used by divine appointment to make atonement. Fourthly, the distinction of animals into clean and unclean, N This meteor (as the Scripture informs us) was appoint 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. We mistake the matter however very much, if we from the superficies of those parts, which constitute a imagine that the merit of Noah's sacrifice, (even when cloud, when the rays of the sun from the adverse part of purified with the blood of Christ) was the procuring cause the hemisphere are darted upon it; and for this reason,' of the covenant here mentioned. The covenant was in whenever there is the like disposition of the sun to the the divine counsel from everlasting, and God only here cloud, it may be imagined that the same phenomenon takes an occasion to acquaint Noah with it: but then we may be seen, and consequently at certain times has been may observe, that he expresses himself in such terms as seen, not from the deluge only, but from the first founlay no restraint upon him from sending a judgment of dation of the world. But as this opinion has nothing waters, or from bringing a general conflagration upon in Scripture to enforce it, so are there no grounds in the world at the last day. He binds himself only "never nature to give it any sanction, unless we will assert this to smite any more every living thing in the manner he manifest untruth,―That every disposition of the air, and had done," that is, with an universal deluge; but every density of a cloud, is fitly qualified to produce a if any nation deserves such a punishment, and the rainbow. situation of their country well adınits of it, he may, if he pleases, without breach of this covenant, bring a local inundation upon them; though it must be acknowledged, 5 See Brown's Pseudodoxia Epidemica. that whenever we find him threatening any people with Dr Jackson upon the Creed, b. 1. c. 16. his " sore judgments," he never makes mention of this. reflects it back on the retina of the eye;-so that in a rainbow It was a general tradition among the heathens, that there is partly anaklasis, or the refraction of a ray of light in the massy depth of the vapour, and partly diaklasis, or the reflection the world was to undergo a double destruction, one by of that ray on the eye, which circumstances cannot be found water and the other by fire. The destruction by fire St united unless in a cloud that is dewy and just about to dissolve Peter has given us a very lively description of. 2 The itself into rain,-for it must be only so rare as that a solar ray heavens and the earth which are now,' says he, are kept when the ray hath sunk in it a little, the cloud may repel it.can somewhat penetrate it, and at the same time so dense, that in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment; Its form is circular and bent, by reason of the sun's form; for a for then shall the heavens pass away with a great noise, rainbow always appears in the quarter of the heavens right opposite and the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth to that luminary, formed by some cloud reflecting back its rays. also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. of light and shade, are three in number, phoinikeos, or purple -The colours of the rainbow arising from the various mixture But all this is no infraction upon the covenant made with and red-prasinos, leek-green or green, and alourgos, blue, Noah, which relates to the judgment of a flood: and, sea-coloured;-for when the solar rays first enter the cloud, though this catastrophe will certainly be more terrible because less of the opaque is passed through, the colour shown than the other, yet it has this great difference in it, that is red or purple; when it hath entered somewhat farther, the glow of the colour is diminished, and thus arises green; but having it is not sent as a curse, but as a blessing upon the earth, sunk into the mass of the vapour as far as the lowest bend of the not as a means to deface and destroy, but to renew and arch, the colour from want of transparency is blue.-Essay 19th. refine it; and therefore the same apostle adds. Never-This description is pretty lively, and gives us some idea of this theless we, according to his promise, look for new hea-strange phenomenon; and yet we must own, that the nature of refraction, on which the colours of the rainbow do depend, is one vens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.' of the abstrusest things that we meet with in the philosophy of Thus the covenant of God standeth sure: but then, in nature. Our renowned Boyle, who wrote a treatise on the subrelation to the sign or sacrament of it, whether it was ject of colours, after a long and indefatigable search into their previous or subsequent to the deluge, this has been a natures and properties, was not able so much as to satisfy himself what light is, or (if it be a body) what kind of corpuscles, for matter much debated among the learned. It cannot be size and shape, it consists of, or how these insensible corpuscles denied indeed, but that a this curious mixture of light could be so differently, and yet withal so regularly refracted; and and shade discernible in the rainbow, arises naturally he freely acknowledges, that however some colours might be plausibly enough explained, in the general, from experiments he had made, yet whensoever he would descend to the minute and accurate explication of particulars, he found himself very sensible of the great obscurity of things. Dr Halley, the great ornament of his profession, makes the same acknowledgment; and, after having, from the given proportion of refraction, accounted both for the colours and diameter of the rainbow, with its several appearances, he could hence discern (as he tells us) farther difficulties lying before him: particularly, from whence arose the refractive force of fluids, which is a problem of no small moment, and yet deservedly to be placed among the mysteries of nature, nor yet subject to our senses or reasoning. And the noble theorist of light himself, after his many surprising discoveries, built even upon vulgar experiments, found it too hard for him to resolve himself in some particulars about it; and, notwithstanding all his prodigious skill in mathematics, and his dexterous management of the most obvious experiments, he concludes it at last to be a work too arduous for human understanding, absolutely to determine what light is, after what manner refracted, and by what modes and actions it produceth in our minds the phantasies of colours.-Bibliotheca Biblica, vol. 2. Occasional Annotations 2. in the Appendix. See Ezek. xiv. 21. 46 22 Pet. iii. 7, 10. 3 Heidegger's History of the Patriarchs, vol. i. Essay 19. 2 Pet. iii. 13. recognised by Noah, tends to prove the divine institution of sacrifice. For, since animal food was not in use, at least by divine permission, before the deluge, such distinction can be conceived only in reference to sacrifice. Accordingly, we find the first use to which this distinction is applied in Scripture, is that of sacrifice: Noah having taken of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings. The question is, how was this difference first made? Was it by the common reason of mankind which led them to determine that ravenous creatures were unfit for sacrifice? Are we not rather warranted to believe that it was introduced by God at the same time that he instituted sacrifice. "Whoever considers carefully," says Dr Kennicott, "will find, that the law is part a republication of antecedent revelations and commands, long before given to mankind."-Dewar on the Atonement. pp. 40-45. a The learned Heidegger has given an account of the nature and colours of the rainbow, and by what different causes they are produced, in these very expressive words, "The chief cause of the rainbow is the sun, or the solar ray received into a vapoury cloud, and in it refracted by the various mediums composing the mass-one of which, the more rare, is the air itself; another, more dense, is the vapour which both receives the solar ray and 6 That this rainbow was thought to be of somewhat more than mere natural extraction, the physical mythology of the ancie heathens seems to testify, and it is not improbable, that, from the tenor of God's covenant, here made with Noah, which might be communicated to them by tradition, Homer, the great 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. ed by God to be a witness of his covenant with the new sign; and as it appeared first after the deluge, and was world, and a messenger to secure mankind from destruc- formed in a thin watery cloud, there is, methinks, a great tion by deluges; so that, had it appeared before the easiness and propriety of its application for such a purflood, the sight of it afterwards would have been but a pose. For if we suppose, that while God Almighty was poor comfort to Noah and his posterity, whose fear of declaring his promise to Noah, and what he intended for an inundation was too violent ever to be taken away by the sign of it, there appeared at the same time in the a common and ordinary sign. clouds ca fair rainbow, that marvellous and beautiful meteor which Noah had never seen before, it could not but make a most lively impression upon him, quickening his faith, and giving him comfort and assurance that God would be stedfast to his purpose. For, suppose that God Almighty had said to Noah, "I make a promise to you, and to all living creatures, that the world shall never be destroyed by water again; and for confirmation of this, behold I set the sun in the firmament;" would this have been any strengthening of Noah's faith, or any satisfaction to his mind? "Why," says Noah, "the sun was in the firmament when the deluge came, and was a spectator of that sad tragedy; and as it may be so again, a what sign or assurance is this against a second deluge?" But now, if we suppose, on the other hand, that the rainbow first appeared to the inhabitants of the earth after the deluge, nothing could be a more proper and apposite sign for Providence to pitch upon, in order to confirm the promise made to Noah and his posterity, that the world should no more be destroyed by water. The rainbow had a secret connexion with the effect itself, and so far was a natural Burnet's Theory. father of Epic poetry, does by an easy and lively fiction, bring in Jupiter, the king of heaven, sending Iris, his messenger, with a peremptory command to Neptune, the prince of waters, to desist from any farther assisting the Grecians, and annoying the Trojans; and, at the same time, that Iris is sent with this mesage to the watery deity, the poet has so contrived the matter, that Apollo, or the sun, which is the parent and efficient cause of the rainbow, be sent with another message to Hector, and the Trojans, in order to encourage them to take the field again, and renew their attack. The meaning of all which fine machinery, is no more than this,-that, after a great deal of rain, which had caused an innundation, and thereby made the Trojan horse useless, the sun began to appear again, and the rainbow in a cloud opposite to the sun, which was a sure prognostie of fair weather.-Bibliotheca Biblica, vol. 1.; Occasional Annotations, 2. in the Appendix. a When God gives a sign in the heavens, or on the earth, of any prophecy or promise to be fulfilled, it must be by something new, or by some change wrought in nature, whereby he testifies to us that he is able and willing to stand to his promise. Thus God puts the matter to Ahaz, Ask a sign of the Lord, ask it either in the depth, or in the height above; and when Ahaz would ask no sign, God gives him one unasked; Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.' Thus when Abraham asked a sign, whereby he might be assured of God's promise, that his seed should inherit the land of Canaan, it is said, that when the sim went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between the pieces' of the beasts, which be had cut asunder, Gen. xv. 17. And, in like manner, in the sign given to Hezekiah for his recovery, and to Gideon for his virtory, in the former case, the shadow went back ten degrees în Ahaz's dial, Isa, xxxviii. 8. and, in the latter, 'the fleece was wet, and all the ground about it dry;' and then, to change the trial, it was dry, and all the ground about it wet,' Judges vi. 3, 39. These were all signs, proper, significant, and satisfactory, having something new, surprising, and extraordinary in them, denoting the hand and interposition of God: but where every thing continues to be as it was before, and the face of nature, in all its parts, the very same, it cannot signify anything new, nor any new intention of the author of nature; and, consequently, cannot be a sign or pledge, a token or assurance of the accomplishment of any new covenant, or promise made by him.— Burnet's Theory, b. 2. c. 5. 6 Common philosophy teaches us, that the rainbow is a natural sign, that there will not be much rain after it appears, but that the clouds begin to disperse: for, as it never appears in a thick cloud, but only in a thin, whenever it appears after showers which For God did not "set this bow in the clouds for his own sake," to engage his attention and revive his memory, whenever he looked on it (though that be the expression which the Holy Spirit, speaking after the manner of men, has thought fit to make use of), but for our sakes was it placed there, as an illustrious symbol of the Divine mercy and goodness, and to confirm our belief and confidence in God: and therefore, whenever 2' we look upon the rainbow, we should do well to praise him who made it; for very beautiful is it in the brightness thereof. It compasseth the heavens with a glorious circle, and the hands of the Most High have bended it.' And as the goodness of God was very conspicuous to Noah and his posterity, in giving them a new sign for the confirmation of his promises; so it was no less remarkable in the new charter which he granted them, for the enlargement of their diet. That our first parents, a in their state of integrity, had not the liberty of eating flesh is very evident, because they were limited by that injunetion which appoints herbs and fruits for their food: 'Behold I have given you every herb, bearing seed, Gen. i. 29, 30. 3 Ecclus. xliii. 11, 12. come from thick clouds, it is a token that they now grow thin; and therefore the God of nature made choice of this sign, rather than any other, to satisfy us, that he would never suffer the clouds to thicken again to such a degree as to bring another deluge upon the earth.-Patrick's Comment. A rainbow is formed from the opposite sun darting its rays on a cloud that is not thick; it therefore naturally signifies, that by the command of God the rain will no more overwhelm the world; for how can it take place, since neither is the heaven totally overspread with clouds, nor are those clouds which exist exceedingly dense.— Valesius on Sacred Philosophy, c. 9. c The ingenious Marcus Marci is of opinion, that the rainbow which first appeared to Noah after the flood, and was so particularly dignified by God, as to be consecrated for a divine sign, was not the common one, but a great and universal iris, inimitable by art, which he has defined by a segment of a circle, dissected into several gyrations (or rounds) by the diversity of the colours, differing one from another, begotten by the sunbeams refracted in the atmosphere, and terminated with an opaque superficies. But whether this serves to explain the matter any better, or whether the common rainbow be not an appearance illustrious enough to answer the purposes for which it was intended, we leave the curious to inquire; and shall only observe farther, that, whether it was an ordinary or extraordinary bow which appeared to Noah, it is the opinion of some, that the time of its first appearing, was not immediately after he had sacrificed, (as is generally supposed,) but on the 150th day of the flood, when God remembered Noah, upon which very day of the year they likewise calculate the birth of Christ (as pretypified thereby) to have exactly fallen out, and that even the glory of the Lord, which shone round about the shepherds, was a gracious phenomenon, corresponding with this sign of the covenant.-Bibliotheca Biblica, ibid. d This notion the Pagan poets and philosophers had received. For Ovid in his description of these times, gives us to understand that they fed on no flesh, but lived altogether on herbs and 3 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. which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in the earth was corrupted by the deluge, and the virtue of the which is the fruit of a tree, yielding seed; to you it its herbs, and plants, and other vegetables, sadly impairshall be for meat.' Nay, so far was mankind from being ed by the saltness and long continuance of the waters, indulged the liberty of eating flesh at that time, that we so that they could not yield that wholesome and solid find the beasts of the field,' creatures that in their nutriment which they did before: Though others rather nature are voracious, and the fowl of the air, and every think, that God indulged them in this, because of the thing that creeped upon the earth,' under the same hardness of their hearts;' and that, perceiving the eagerrestraint, as having nothing allowed them for their food ness of their appetites towards carnal food, and designbut the herbage of the ground; because it was the ing withal to abbreviate the term of human life, he gave Almighty's will that, in the state of innocence, no them a free license to eat it; but knowing at the same violence should be committed, nor any life maintained time that it was less salutary than the natural products at the loss and forfeiture of another's. of the earth, he thence took occasion to accomplish his will and determination of having the period of human life made much shorter. Nor is the reason which Theodoret assigns for God's changing the diet of men from the fruits of the earth to the flesh of animals much amiss, viz., "That foreknowing, in future ages, they would idolize his creatures, he might aggravate the absurdity, and make it more ridiculous so to do, by their consuming at their tables that to which they sacrificed at their altars; since nothing is more absurd than to worship what we eat." 6 This was the original order and appointment, and so it continued after the fall; for we can hardly suppose that God would allow a greater privilege to man, after | his transgression, than he did before. On the contrary, we find him cursing the ground for man's sake, and telling him expressly, that in sorrow he should eat of it all the days of his life;' and though it should bring forth | thorns and thistles to him, yet here the restriction is still continued, Of the herbs of the field thou shalt eat,' which is far from implying a permission to make use of living creatures for that purpose. Nay, farther, we may observe, that such a permission had been inconsistent with God's intention of punishing him by impoverishing the earth; since, had God indulged him the liberty of making use of what creatures he pleased for his food, he might easily have made himself an amends for the unfruitfulness of the earth, by the many good things which nature had provided for him. The dominion, therefore, which God at first gave mankind over brute animals could not extend to their slaying them for food, since another kind of diet was enjoined them; nor could the distinction of clean and unclean respect them as things to be eaten, but as things to be sacrificed. The first permission to eat them was given to Noah and his sons, and is plainly a distinct branch of power, from what God grants when he tells them, 2 The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth,' &c. If it be asked, For what reason God should indulge Noah and his posterity in the eating of flesh after the flood, which he had never permitted before it? the most probable answer is-That he therefore did it, because 2 Gen. ix. 2. 1 Gen. iii. 17, 18. fruits, when he introduces Pythagoras, a great inquirer into the But that old time which we the golden call, Met. 50. 15. Porphyry, in his book on Abstinence, asserts the same thing, namely, that in the golden age no flesh of beasts was eaten, and he is to be pardoned in what he adds afterwards, namely, that war and famine introduced this practice. He was not acquainted with Genesis; he knew not that God's order to Noah after the flood was, 'that every living creature should be meat for him.'Edwards' Survey of Religion, vol. 1. p. 117. It cannot be denied, indeed, but that the grant of dominion which God gave Adam in his state of innocence is now much impaired; and that the creatures, which to him were submissive through love, by us must be used with severity, and subjected by fear. But still it is no small happiness to us that we know how to subdue them; that the horse and the ox patiently submit to the bridle and the yoke; and such creatures as are less governable, we have found out expedients to reclaim. For though man's strength be comparatively small, yet is there no creature in the earth, sea, or air, but what, a by some stratagem or other, he can put in subjection under him. But canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a spear? Will he make many supplications unto thee? Will he speak soft words unto thee? Wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?' All these questions, how expressive soever of the several qualities of this portentous creature, may nevertheless be answered in the affirmative, viz. That how large soever in bulk, and how tremendous soever in strength this animal may be, yet the Greenland fishermen, who every year return with 56 There is not in the universe a nobler thing than man. Ensure it freedom from his grasp; the strongest feel his chain, B. 5. Halieuticon. 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. its spoils, do literally perform what our author seems to | Armenia, did not remove from thence, nor had any conaccount impossible; they fill his skin with barbed irons, and his head with fish-spears, and so they play with him as with a bird; they bind him for their maidens, part him among their merchants.' and In short, God has implanted in all creatures a fear and dread of man. 2 This is the thing which keeps wolves out of our towns and lions out of our streets; and though the sharpness of hunger, or violence of rage, may at certain times make them forget their natural instinct (as the like causes have sometimes divested man of his reason), yet no sooner are these causes removed, but they return to their ordinary temper again, without pursuing their advantage, or combining with their fellowbrutes to rise up in rebellion against man, their lord and master. Some modern writers of no small note are clearly of opinion, that the Ararat where the ark rested was mount Caucasus, not far from China, where Noah and some part of his family settled, without travelling to Shinar, or having any hand in the building of Babel; and the arguments they alleged for the support of this opinion are such as these:-That the Mosaic history is altogether silent as to the peopling of China at the dispersion, and wholly 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; and that (taking their first king Fohi and Noah to be the same person) there are several traditions relating to them, wherein they seem to agree, that the reign of Fohi coincides with the times of Noah, and the lives of his surcessors correspond with the men of the same ages recorded in Scripture; and from hence they infer, that the true reason why Moses makes so little mention of Noah, in the times subsequent to the flood, is this, That he lived at too 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 confine his history. This indeed is solving the difficulty at once: but then, as this opinion is only conjectural, the histories and records of China are 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 the learned world has supposed, either that Noah, settled in the country of Jub xii. 5, &c. C * Miller's History of the Church, b. 1. c. 1. a Dr Alix, in his Reflections on the Books of the Holy Scriptries. Mr Whiston, in his Chronology of the Old Testament. Stuckford in his Connection, and Bedford, in his Scripture Chronology. Thus, in the Chinese history, Fohi is said to have had no father, which agrees well enough with Noah, because the memory f his father might be lost in the deluge; that Fohi's mother conceived him as she was encompassed with a rainbow, which ems to allude to the rainbow's first appearing to Noah after the food; and that Fohi carefully bred up seven sorts of creatures which he used to sacrifice to the supreme Spirit of heaven and earth, which is an imperfect tradition of Noah's taking into the ark of every clean beast by sevens, and of his making use of none but these in all his burnt-offerings.-Shuckford's Connect, b. 2. e There seems to be no foundation whatever for the hypothesis that Noah was the founder of the Chinese monarchy, or indeed that he ever saw the country known by that name. Sir William cern in the work of Babel, and so falls not under the historian's consideration; or that, if he did remove with the rest into the plains of Shinar, being now superannuated and unfit for action, the administration of things was committed to other hands, which made his name and authority the less taken notice of. It must be acknowledged, however, that the design of the sacred penman 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, and whose life and adventures he thinks himself concerned, upon that account, to relate more at large. However this be, it is certain, from the tenor of his writing, that he is far from leading us into any suspicion of his having a private malignity to Noah's character. He informs us, that, amidst the corruption of the antediluvian world, he preserved himself immaculate, and did therefore find favour in the sight of God,' and was admitted to the honour of his immediate converse: that, to preserve him from the general destruction, God instructed him how to build a vessel of security, undertook the care and conduct of it himself, and, amidst the ruins of a sinking world, landed it safe on one of the mountains of Armenia; that, as soon as the deluge was over, God accepted of his homage and sacrifice, and not only renewed to him the same charter which he had originally granted to our first progenitor, but over and above that, gave him an enlargement of his diet which he had not granted to any before; and with him made an everlasting covenant, never to destroy the world by water any more, whereof he constituted his bow in the clouds to be a glorious symbol. In this point of light it is that Moses has all along placed the patriarch's character; and therefore, if in the conclusion of it he was forced to shade it with one act of intemperance, this, we may reasonably conclude, proceeded from no other passion but his love of truth; and to every impartial reader must bed a strong argument of his veracity, in that he has Chinese empire was not founded at an earlier period than the Jones has shown it to be in the highest degree probable that the 12th century before the Christian era; and that the people themselves, far from being aborigines, are a mixed race descended from Hindoos and Tartars. During the life of Noah, he and his family, are supposed to have lived agricultural lives, in the fertile plain of Armenia, at the foot of mount Ararat, which according to Tournefort, is a most delightful region-still famous for its vines; and there the venerable patriarch died 350 years after the deluge, but long before the impious rebellion of part of his descendants in the plain Shinar, which introduced into the world the confusion of tongues. Where Dr Shuckford met with the Chinese history which he quotes I know not; but Sir William Jones has proved, by the testimony of Confucius himself, that no historical monument then existed in China of events of an earlier date than 1100 years before our era. The stories of Fohi's conception by the rainbow, and his having reared seven sorts of animals for sacrifice, certainly do not appear to have been derived by tradition from Noah's preservation in the ark; but that tradition passed into China from Hindostan, where, in the most ancient writings, many accounts of the deluge are still preserved. -See Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. mem. 25. and Hales's Analysis, &c. vol. 1.- ED. d To confirm in some measure, the truth of this account of Moses, we have an heathen story, which seems to have sprung from some tradition concerning it; for it tells us, that on a certain day, Myrrha, wife, or (as others say) nurse to Hammon, and mother of Adonis, having her son in her company, found Cynistas sleeping in his tent, all uncovered, and in an |