distant vapours of the plain.' The Rev. | ists to the present day on the summit race. E. Smith, American Missionary to Palestine, as will be seen from the following extract, coincides with the popular belief on this subject. And certainly not among the mountains of Ararat or of Armenia generally, nor those of any part of the world where I have been, have I ever seen one whose majesty could plead half so powerfully its claims to the honour of having once been the stepping stone between the old world and the new. I gave myself up to the feeling, that on its summit were once congregated all the inhabitants of the earth, and that, while in the valley of the Araxes, I was paying a visit to the second cradle of the human Nor can I allow my opinion to be at all shaken by the Chaldee paraphrasts, the Syrian translators and commentators, and the traditions of the whole family of Syrian churches, which translate the passage in question mountains of the Kurds.' Robinson's Calmet, art. Ararat. At the time when Sir Robert Porter published his travels, and indeed till very recently, the summit of this lofty mountain was considered absolutely inaccessible. Several attempts had at different times been made to reach its top, but few persons ever succeeded in getting beyond the limit of perpetual snow. The French traveller Tournefoot, in the year 1700, persevered long in the face of many difficulties, but was foiled in the end. Nearly thirty years since the Pacha of Bayazeed undertook the ascent, but with no better success. The honour was reserved to Dr. Parrot, a German traveller, who in 1829 was the first to tread this towering eminence. For a detailed and interesting account of his ascent see my 'Illustrations of the Scriptures,' p. 14. The fact of such an ascent is however still doubted by the Armenians, but their incredulity is based upon their superstition. They are firmly persuaded that Noah's ark ex 1 of the mountain, and that, in order to preserve it, no person is permitted to approach it. This tradition, founded upon some monkish legend, has receiv ed the sanction of the church, and become in effect an article of faith which an Armenian would scarcely renounce, even if he were placed in his own prop er person on the very top of the moun tain.-But to the opinion that the Agridagh was the resting-place of the ark there are very strong objections both philological and physical; for (1.) The words of the text, 'upon the mountains of Ararat,' are not, in their obvious sense, applicable to a single isolated eminence, like that so denominated. It may indeed be contended that the double peak of Agridagh makes the words pertinent, and that the ark, as Sir R. K. Porter thinks, may have rested in the valley between the two peaks, and thus, as it were, on the two mountains; but to this it may be replied, that since we are told v. 5, that it was not until the tenth month, in the first day of the month, after the waters had decreased continually, that the top of the mountains were seen, it is not possible that the ark should have rested in the valley between the two peaks, and far below their tops, more than two months previously to that period, on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, v. 4. The only fair way of understanding the words 'upon the mountains of Ararat,' is in their plain grammatical sense as meaning a mountainous district within a country or province called Ararat, just as we construe the expressions, 'the mountains of Israel,' 'the mountains of Samaria,' 'the mountains of Abarim,' &c. i. e. the mountainous districts of those countries. Compared with general scriptural usage, the phrase, mountains of Ararat,' as popularly understood, is as great a violation of correct language as it would be to say in English, 'mountains of 5 And the waters decreased day of the month, were the tops continually, until the tenth month: of the mountains seen. in the tenth month, on the first Alps-of Appenines-of Andes-of Alleganies,' &c. But the phraseology 'mountains of Switzerland-of Spain -of South America, &c. every one recognises as perfectly proper. (2.) From the account given by all travelers of this double-peaked mountain in Armenia, it is in our view clear that without a positive miracle a large portion of the inmates of the ark could never have descended from the highest of the two summits, and the highest it must have been, if either, for the reasons just stated drawn from a comparison of the two texts, ch. 8. 4 and 5. If to ascend the mountain now is an achievement all but actually transcending human power, and never known to have been accomplished but in a single instance, how can it be believed that camels, horses, elephants, oxen, and other quadrupeds should have been able to make their way down the steep declivities of a precipitous pile of rocks thousands of feet in height? True, indeed, omnipotence could have effected it, and so too it could have saved Noah and his family and the animals without an ark by hemming them all in on dry land by a wall of waters, like that which stood upon the bed of the Red sea when the Israelites were crossing; but as God did not see fit to have recourse to miracles in the first instance, we see not why he should in the second. We know of no reason for resorting to the hypothesis of a miracle, when such an alternative is not necessary; and necessary it certainly is not in the present case, as the Most High, whose counsels guided the motions of the ark, could easily have selected such a spot for its resting as would have afforded a safe and convenient descent to the plain below. And if he could have done this, shall we not suppose that he would have done it?-On the whole, therefore, we cannot but be conscious that the opinion or tradition which assigns the particular mountain in question as the locality designed by the sacred writer, is liable to very serious objections. In fact, we deem it extremely problematical whether Moses had the least intention of pointing out the particular lodgement of the ark, after the waters began to abate. If we mistake not his object was simply to say in general terms, that this took place in some part of the mountain range which distinguishes the country of Ararat; and that this was either in or very near to the modern Armenia there is good reason to believe. It is easy to imagine, however, that the tradition of the country became attached to this mountain, in preference to the true locality, on account of its conspicuous situation and remarkable appearance. As to the actual spot, the probability is, that although some of the ancient versions seem to point to the Gordiæan mountains, or some part of the chain of Mount Taurus, as the genuine locality, yet that it can only be approximately determined by ascertaining, as nearly as possible, the situation best suited to accomplish the ends which infinite wisdom had in view in reference to the future peopling of the earth, in the selection of the spot for the resting of the ark. As it is quite impossible to lay down in a map any point which can be claimed as the true one, the only means of investigation which can be pursued will be to consider the characters required to be possessed by such a spot, and as this will come in more appropriately in connection with the journeyings of the Noachida from the east to the plains of Shinar, ch. 11. 1, 2, the reader 6 And it came to pass at the | were abated from off the face of end of forty days, that Noah the ground; opened the window of the ark which he had made: f 7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. 8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters f ch. 6. 16. 9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark; for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. Then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. is referred to that place for a further patience.' discussion of the question. 5. The waters decreased continually. Heb. 7707737 were going (or walking) and 'abating.- - Were the tops of the mountains seen. That is, to be seen, visible; for it does not appear that they were actually seen by the inmates of the ark, and there was nobody else of whom the act of seeing could be affirmed. 6. At the end of forty days. Forty days from the date above mentioned, or the time that the mountain tops became visible.-T Noah opened the window of the ark. Heb. 13 hallow, generally interpreted window,' but a different word from that occurring ch. 6. 16, and denoting any aperture in the upper part of a building. But what was its precise form or position in the present instance it is impossible to say. T Which he had made. The 'which' in this case, according to the Heb. accents, refers not to 'ark' but to 'window.' 7. Sent forth a raven. In order to learn whether the waters were abated, as in the case of the sending forth of the dove; for if they were, the raven would have stayed away to feed on dead bodies, according to its natural instincts, Prov. 30. 17. Henry.- -T Which went forth to and fro. Heb. 1727 17 which went forth going and returning; i. e. often flying away from the ark and again returning to it, and resting doubtless on its top. This is rendered both by the Gr. and the Vulg. 'returned not again;' but the meaning of the sacred writer probably is simply that he did not again re-enter the ark, as did the dove, v. 9. From the raven's emission and return Noah could of course learn nothing favourable, and from this circumstance, the raven has ever been considered as a bird of ill omen; while the dove, on the other hand, which brought back an oliveleaf in its beak, is regarded as the significant emblem of peace. 8. Also he sent forth a dove. A bird tenderly attached to its mate, and therefore more likely to return. From its being said, v. 10, that he waited 'other seven days,' the inference is natural that the dove was sent out seven days after the raven. In this fact there is a plain intimation, that the weekly sabbath was observed by Noah in the ark. -T To see if the waters were abated. Heb. p were lightened; a different word from that before rendered 'abated.' 9. Found no rest for the sole of her 'Desires of re-foot. For though some of the mounlease out of trouble, earnest expecta-tain tops were bare, yet they were eitions of it, and inquiries concerning its advances towards us, will very well consist with the sincerity of faith and ther at so great a distance, or so far out of the course she took, that she did not now alight upon them. Besides, it is 10 And he stayed yet other dove; which returned not again seven days, and again he sent unto him any more. forth the dove out of the ark. 13 And it came to pass in the 11 And the dove came in to six hundredth and first year, in him in the evening, and lo, in her the first month, the first day of mouth was an olive-leaf pluckt | the month, the waters were dried off. So Noah knew that the up from off the earth: and Noah waters were abated from off the removed the covering of the ark, earth. and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 12 And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the caused to come. Genev. Vers. 'received her.' 10. Stayed. Heb. 'patiently abode;' the same word that occurs Ps. 40. 1, 'I waited patiently for God.' So in v. 12 below. 'He that believeth shall not make haste.'- -- Again he sent. Heb. 'added to send.' Thus v. 12, 'Returned not again,' Heb. 'added not to return. So also, v. 21, 'Will not again curse,' Heb. 'will not add to curse.' 11. Came in to him. Rather came to him, as the original has nothing answering to in, and his receiving her into the ark is afterwards mentioned. -T An olive-leaf pluckt off. Heb. well known that in general doves fly low and are perhaps on that account called Ezek. 7. 16, 'doves of the valleys,' as ravens also are called ' ravens of the valleys,' Prov. 30. 17, from their usually finding their prey on the low grounds. The vain and weary wanderings of the soul in quest of rest are strikingly shadowed forth in the disappointment of the dove. No solid peace or satisfaction can it find in this deluged, defiling world, till it returns to Christ as to its ark, its Noah. The carnal heart, like the raven, takes up with the world, and feeds on the carrion it finds there, but the gracious soul still sighs out its 'Oh, that I had wings a newly-pluckt olive-leaf; like a dove,' that I might fly to him and be at rest; and, as Trapp remarks, 'if that 'Oh' will not set her at liberty, then she takes up that 'Wo' to express her misery; 'Wo is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, and dwell in the tents of Kedar." Let our language then ever be, 'Return thou to thy rest (Heb. 3 limnuah, to thy Noah, as it were), my soul!' Ps. 116. 7.-¶ Returned unto him into the ark. Rather, 'returned unto him to (3) the ark;' for it was not till after Noah had put forth his 13. Six hundred and first year. That is, hand, and taken hold of her, that she of Noah's life, as the Gr. expressly has actually entered the ark. The wa-it. Removed the covering of the ark. ters were on the face of the whole earth. That is, upon the flat or lower regions in contradistinction from the mountains, the tops of which had previously become visible.¶ Pulled. Heb. or rather olive twig or branch; not a loose leaf floating on the water, but a small tender twig, such as the dove might have broken off with her bill, which she probably did by supernatural impulse. Compare the use of the original phrase Neh. 8. 15, 'Go forth unto the mount and fetch olive-branches (b). According to Pliny and Theophrastus, the olive-tree retains its verdure even under water.- -T Abated. Heb. 13p were lightened. Heb. non mikseh which occurs Ex. 26. 14.-36. 19, and elsewhere in reference to the covering of skins spread over the tabernacle. It was probably a similar envelope which is spoken of 14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. 15 And God spake unto Noah, saying, 16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. 47 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, gch. 7. 13. h ch. 7. 15. nere. The Gr. indeed renders it orεyn roof, as if the meaning were, that Noah now broke up in whole or in part the planking of the roof; but we cannot learn that the original is ever used in that sense. The patient waiting evinced sy Noah under these circumstances is worthy of all admiration. Most men in his situation would have been apt to have removed the covering, when the dove returned with the signal of the retiring waters in its mouth; but though the sight of land is always so desirable to the voyager after a long confinement to the walls of a ship, yet Noah discovers no precipitancy, but is' calm, moderate, and patient to the end. We must look to the paramount influ ence of the gracious principle by which he was governed, and to that alone, 'for an adequate key to his conduct; and let us remember that like causes ever produce like effects. 14. In the second month, &c. was the carth dried. The following table will exhibit a tolerably correct calendar of the time of the continuance of the flood and of Noah's abiding in the ark. The aggregate is one year and ten days. If, however, as Ainsworth supposes, the Jewish year consisted of only 354 days, six of the 12 months hav.. ing each 30 days, and the remaining six but 29-354, then by adding 11 days for the 27th of the second month completed, the amount will be 365 days, or a full solar year. 16. Go forth of the ark, &c. As Noah entered the ark by God's command, so he must wait his time ere he attempts to leave it. Though he saw the ground dry the first day of the first month, yet he is required to tarry for nearly two months longer, before he makes his egress from his floating house. "God consults our benefit, rather than our desires; for he knows what is good for us better than we do ourselves; and how long it is fit our |