curred the anger of God, and was involved in the general destruction, the accusatory passages being, "The earth also was corrupt before God. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was very corrupt: and behold I will destroy them (all flesh) with the earth."

If we are at a loss to account for the anger of God towards the inferior creatures, we are at a yet greater loss to account for the condemnation of vegetable life, but not a single exception is recorded to shield this form of life from the universal destruction.

Noah is forthwith commanded to construct an ark of gopher wood. It was a curious specimen of naval architecture the length was 550 feet, the breadth ninety-two feet, and the height fifty-five feet.* It was pitched without and within with pitch, and contained rooms, with three stories, and one door on the side, and one window in the top, the size of the window being

* We find in the "Times" of April, 1857, the following comparison between the size of the Ark and the Great Eastern, both being considered in point of tonnage after the old law for calculating the same. The sacred" cubit," as stated by Sir Isaac Newton, is 20.625 English inches; by Bishop Wilkins, at 21.88 inches. According to these authorities the dimensions will be as follows:

twenty-two inches square. Noah is warned of the purposes for which the ark was designed, and the very short space of seven days was allotted to him for its construction and its provisioning. The vessel was unprovided with sails; and not having sails, a rudder of course was useless. But sails would have been superfluous, for the only mariners were Noah, and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, with their wives and families, and it will be found they had ample duty assigned to them, without demanding their attention to the navigation of their vessel.

The ark was, as we have said, destined to receive Noah and his wife, and his sons and his sons' wives. Afterwards there were to be received "of every living thing of all flesh, male and female, two of every sort, and of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive." It is to be presumed all these creatures were voluntarily to seek the protection of Noah; for the text says, "they shall come unto thee," and without such supernatural aid the endeavour to collect them by Noah and his sons would be hopeless.

A charge of sufficient responsibility and labour is assigned to them in the construction of their huge vessel, and in provisioning it with an entire year's provision. The living cargo was to embark by supernatural means, but supernaturalism then ceased, for their life during the voyage was to be supported by the ordinary process of food, and the building and provisioning of his ship had to be completed within the space of seven days. He is charged "to take of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and

it shall be for food for thee and for them."

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Noah was

further commanded to take of every clean beast by sevens, the male and his female, and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and the female, also of fowls of the air by sevens, the male and the female.”

This appears to have been a supplementary command, as if the previous order to provide two of each kind had been forgotten, and so large and apparently inconvenient an accession of animals was calculated to embarrass Noah, and if the text did not expressly state the purpose for which they were taken, "to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth," we might imagine that the clean animals were intended for live stock for Noah and his family. But the mention of clean and of unclean animals betrays the fact that this part of the legend was written long posterior to the supposed events. The division of animals into clean and unclean was an arrangement enforced on the observance of the Hebrews by Moses. Until the promulgation of his law, the separation of the beasts into two religious classes was unknown, and it is to be presumed that antecedent thereto, the law of nature was, as now, a sure and sufficient guide to man, in his choice of wholesome animal food.

But the insertion of this sacred command to Noah, so much at variance with the first command, exposes the loose and careless manner with which these legends are written, and on which we have previously had occasion to animadvert. The second command is an evident interpolation, designed to introduce the needful observance of the Mosaic law. Some positive distinction was, in the opinion of the interpolator, due to the separation which had been consecrated between the

beasts which are clean, and those which are unclean. The Chaldean author has commanded "that every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort, shalt thou bring into the ark." Here there is an absence of favouritism, but the Mosaic interpolator decided differently. He commanded that a preference shall be given to the clean over the unclean, so that seven of the clean shall be saved to two of the unclean; and this involves the legend in confusion and contradiction, and exposes the character of the Deity to seeming indecision and changeableness.

An interval of seven days was granted previously to the infliction of the flood, when by the descent of rain upon the face of the earth for forty days and forty nights, every living substance that had been made, should be destroyed from the face of all the earth.

It is unfortunately too certain that in order to conceal any legend from a charge of absurdity, it is only needful to envelope it in an atmosphere of sacredness. This presumed holiness procures for it a reverential acceptation, which absolves it from doubt, and ofttimes from ridicule. In the city of Mecca there is preserved in the Caaba, a black stone, which is the object of profound veneration by the Mahomedans. A temple has been erected expressly for its conservation, in which lights are burnt both day and night. This stone descended from the clouds expressly for the use of Aaron. Without considering whether (if it did so descend) it might not be an aerolite, or whether a stone either black or white could not more conveniently have been procured for his accommodation from the earth, or whether a stone would not have proved a very inconvenient and immovable seat, the superstition of

the Moslems insists that a black stone was brought from the clouds, a place in which it could not be generated, for the express convenience of Aaron, and it is reverenced accordingly.

But let us forbear from smiling at the credulity of the Mahomedan: the followers of Moses are not absolved from their share of reverential black stones.

THE SCRIPTURAL LEGEND OF THE FLOOD.

Gen. vii. 1-24.

And the Lord said unto Noah, Come, The Scriptural Legend thou, and all thy house, into the ark; for of the Flood. thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and the female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female: to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. And Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives, with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of everything that creepeth upon the earth, there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. And it came