On the Form of the Ark of Noah. 315 



of particulars would shew, it was sufficiently ample for the pur- 

 ix)se for which it was intended. Into that detail we need not 



ifltiter, as it is found fairly enough exhibited by several com- 



'jitoentators on the passage. 



ti.; It will be objected to our investigation, by some persons to 

 whom, from respect to the very feding whence the objection 

 arises, we would not willingly give offence, — that, to enter into 

 any proof that the structure of the ark was the best which we 

 can conceive for fitting it to encounter the shocks and hazards 

 to which it was exposed, is unnecessary, when we reflect, that 

 He who warned Noah of the approaching catastrophe against 

 which it was provided, and commanded it to be built, could 

 also preserve it from every danger. This last position no reflect- 

 ing mind will controvert. But the answer to the objection lies 

 within narrow compass. He was pleased to employ human 

 agency and ordinary means for the preservation of Noah and 

 his family, and the living creatures that were saved with them ; 

 |ind if it be delightful to the contemplative mind to observe the 



-iliumberless wise contrivances, the uses and ends displayed, 

 the infinity of wisdom, in short, poured over the immensity of 

 his creation, it is also highly gratifying to it to find an analo- 

 gous proof of wisdom in its admirable adaptation to its end, in 



^>ihis structure, fabricated by his express directions* " v^ i.»-jj*ijd 



fX'j So long as we depended on the use of masts and sails t6'fe}i^t 



'f'the movements of our ships, we could not have attempted in 

 their construction, any approach to that form which we have 

 described. But now that, in the power of steam, we have the 

 means of movement within the vessels themselves, it may not, 

 perhaps, be hazarding too much to predict, that we shall speedi- 

 ly take a lesson, from the first vessel of whicH we have any ac- 

 "count, for the improvement of the forms of our own. A pre- 



♦tVious desideratum is indeed necessary to be accomplished, — 

 the placing the whole of the machinery below the surface of the 

 water, to protect it from the hurtful stroke of the waves ; and of 

 obtaining this we have no reason to despair, having, before our 

 eyes in nature, means displayed, analogous to those which may 

 procure it for us. It would then be not difficult to shew, that 

 the form of the ark, with the modifications necessary to fit it 

 for* making way through the water, would be the best and 



x2 



