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Yet no one ought to suppose either that these things were written for
no purpose, or that we should study only the historical truth, apart
from any allegorical meanings; or, on the contrary, that they are
only allegories, and that there were no such facts at all, or that,
whether it be so or no, there is here no prophecy of the church. For
what right-minded man will contend that books so religiously preserved
during thousands of years, and transmitted by so orderly a succession,
were written without an object, or that only the bare historical facts
are to be considered when we read them? For, not to mention other
instances, if the number of the animals entailed the construction of an
ark of great size, where was the necessity of sending into it two
unclean and seven clean animals of each species, when both could have
been preserved in equal numbers? Or could not God, who ordered them
to be preserved in order to replenish the race, restore them in the
same way He had created them?
But they who contend that these things never happened, but are only
figures setting forth other things, in the first place suppose that
there could not be a flood so great that the water should rise fifteen
cubits above the highest mountains, because it is said that clouds
cannot rise above the top of Mount Olympus, because it reaches the
sky where there is none of that thicker atmosphere in which winds,
clouds, and rains have their origin. They do not reflect that the
densest element of all, earth, can exist there; or perhaps they deny
that the top of the mountain is earth. Why, then, do these measurers
and weighers of the elements contend that earth can be raised to those
aerial altitudes, and that water cannot, while they admit that water
is lighter, and liker to ascend than earth? What reason do they
adduce why earth, the heavier and lower element, has for so many ages
scaled to the tranquil ether, while water, the lighter, and more
likely to ascend, is not suffered to do the same even for a brief space
of time?
They say, too, that the area of that ark could not contain so many
kinds of animals of both sexes, two of the unclean and seven of the
clean. But they seem to me to reckon only one area of 300 cubits
long and 50 broad, and not to remember that there was another similar
in the story above, and yet another as large in the story above that
again; and that there was consequently an area of 900 cubits by
150. And if we accept what Origen has with some appropriateness
suggested, that Moses the man of God, being, as it is written,
"learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," who delighted in
geometry, may have meant geometrical cubits, of which they say that
one is equal to six of our cubits, then who does not see what a
capacity these dimensions give to the ark? For as to their objection
that an ark of such size could not be built, it is a very silly
calumny; for they are aware that huge cities have been built, and they
should remember that the ark was an hundred years in building. Or,
perhaps, though stone can adhere to stone when cemented with nothing
but lime, so that a wall of several miles may be constructed, yet
plank cannot be riveted to plank by mortices, bolts, nails, and
pitch-glue, so as to construct an ark which was not made with curved
ribs but straight timbers, which was not to be launched by its
builders, but to be lifted by the natural pressure of the water when it
reached it, and which was to be preserved from shipwreck as it floated
about rather by divine oversight than by human skill.
As to another customary inquiry of the scrupulous about the very minute
creatures, not only such as mice and lizards, but also locusts,
beetles, flies, fleas, and so forth, whether there were not in the
ark a larger number of them than was determined by God in His
command, those persons who are moved by this difficulty are to be
reminded that the words "every creeping thing of the earth" only
indicate that it was not needful to preserve in the ark the animals that
can live in the water, whether the fishes that live submerged in it,
or the sea-birds that swim on its surface. Then, when it is said
"male and female," no doubt reference is made to the repairing of the
races, and consequently there was no need for those creatures being in
the ark which are born without the union of the sexes from inanimate
things, or from their corruption; or if they were in the ark, they
might be there as they commonly are in houses, not in any determinate
numbers; or if it was necessary that there should be a definite number
of all those animals that cannot naturally live in the water, that so
the most sacred mystery which was being enacted might be bodied forth
and perfectly figured in actual realities, still this was not the care
of Noah or his sons, but of God. For Noah did not catch the
animals and put them into the ark, but gave them entrance as they came
seeking it. For this is the force of the words, "They shall come
unto thee,", not, that is to say, by man's effort, but by God's
will. But certainly we are not required to believe that those which
have no sex also came; for it is expressly and definitely said,
"They shall be male and female."' For there are some animals which
are born out of corruption, but yet afterwards they themselves copulate
and produce offspring, as flies; but others, which have no sex, like
bees. Then, as to those animals which have sex, but without ability
to propagate their kind, like mules and shemules, it is probable that
they were not in the ark, but that it was counted sufficient to
preserve their parents, to wit, the horse and the ass; and this
applies to all hybrids. Yet, if it was necessary for the completeness
of the mystery, they were there; for even this species has "male and
female."
Another question is commonly raised regarding the food of the
carnivorous animals, whether, without transgressing the command which
fixed the number to be preserved, there were necessarily others
included in the ark for their sustenance; or, as is more probable,
there might be some food which was not flesh, and which yet suited
all. For we know how many animals whose food is flesh eat also
vegetable products and fruits. especially figs and chestnuts.
What wonder is it, therefore, if that wise and just man was
instructed by God what would suit each, so that without flesh he
prepared and stored provision fit for every species? And what is there
which hunger would not make animals eat? Or what could not be made
sweet and wholesome by God, who, with a divine facility, might have
enabled them to do without food at all, had it not been requisite to
the completeness of so great a mystery that they should be fed?
But none but a contentious man can suppose that there was no
prefiguring of the church in so manifold and circumstantial a detail.
For the nations have already so filled the church, and are
comprehended in the framework of its unity, the clean and unclean
together, until the appointed end, that this one very manifest
fulfillment leaves no doubt how we should interpret even those others
which are somewhat more obscure, and which cannot so readily be
discerned. And since this is so, if not even the most audacious will
presume to assert that these things were written without a purpose, or
that though the events really happened they mean nothing, or that they
did not really happen, but are only allegory, or that at all events
they are far from having any figurative reference to the church; if it
has been made out that, on the other hand, we must rather believe that
there was a wise purpose in their being committed to memory and to
writing, and that they did happen, and have a significance, and that
this significance has a prophetic reference to the church, then this
book, having served this purpose, may now be closed, that we may go
on to trace in the history subsequent to the deluge the courses of the
two cities, the earthly, that lives according to men, and the
heavenly, that lives according to God.
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