109 
that, though the character expressing seventy is not particu- 
larly like that denoting seven, the names of the letters, 'Ain 
and Zain, are not unlike one another. In short, I understand 
the passage to mean that as many as a thousand people gathered 
about the Ark (the Yulgate makes a difference which is not 
in the Hebrew, between septuaginta viros and quinquaginta 
millia plebis), and that out of them several presumptuous 
men were struck dead whose sacrilegious curiosity had led 
them to profane the hallowed shrine of God. 
9. These two, or perhaps three, instances of plain incorrect- 
ness in numerals led me to the conclusion which I have now 
ventured to put before you. I shall proceed to examine a few 
more details. 
10. The earliest numbers, or sets of numbers, which we 
meet with in the Old Testament are, I need hardly say, those 
representing the ages of the antediluvians and of the early 
postdiluvians. An investigation of these belongs to a subject 
on which I do not propose to touch, Bible chronology. Let 
me only take this occasion of protesting against the elevation 
of Archbishop Ussher's chronology into an article of faith. 
With the highest respect for Ussher's learning, ingenuity, 
industry, and accuracy, I must decline to hold him infallible. 
Yet there are those who consider it scepticism and irreligion 
to doubt whether the Tower of Babel were built exactly 2,233 
years before the Christian era, or to suggest that 1,491 does 
not necessarily show the exact number of years that passed 
between the Exodus and the theoretical date of the Nativity. 
With regard to the numbers themselves, I would suggest that, 
as our Hebrew text reads them one way, the Samaritan Pen- 
tateuch another, and the LXX. another, we may be excused 
for doubting whether we have the right numerals at all, and 
are by no means justified in insisting upon them in the teeth 
of scientific calculations. 
11. The size of the Ark, or giant vessel constructed by 
Noah, has appeared to some unwieldy. But it is not 
monstrous. Beckoning the cubit at 1 ft. 6 in., we have the 
dimensions 450 feet length, 75 feet breadth, 45 feet height. 
We have no ancient vessel whose magnitude has been recorded 
approaching this in size, with a few exceptions : the vast 
galley said to have been constructed by Archimedes forHiero, 
a naval edifice which we may banish to the region of the mer- 
maid and the kraken ; the cedar ship of Sesostris mentioned 
by Diodorus, and the Isis of Ptolemy Philopator, by Athenasus, 
to each of which is assigned a length of 280 cubits, or 420 feet. 
The vessel of Noah, however, was not intended for navigation, 
but for safety ; and though we may reasonably doubt whether 
