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pofed of twelve Months. Which will evi dently appear, if we confider,

I. In the firft Place, the Account of the Flood as we find it recorded in the feventh and eighth Chapters of Genefis. We read Gen. vii. 6. that Noah was fix hundred Tears old when the Flood of Waters was upon the Earth; and ver. 11. that in the fix bundredth Year of Noah's Life, in the fecond Month, the Seventeenth Day of the Month, the fame Day were all the Fountains of the great Deep broken up, and the Windows of Heaven were open'd; and in chap. viii. ver. 13, that it came to pass in the fix hundredth and firft Tear, in the firft Month, the first Day of the Month, the 'Waters were dried up from the Earth; and ver. 14. that in the fecond Month, on the twenty feventh Day of the Month, was the Earth dried. From the foregoing Account it is manifeft Noah was fix hundred Years, one Month, and feventeen Days old, when the Flood happen'd, and he went into the Ark; and fix hundred and one Years, one Month and twenty feven Days old when it ended, and he came out of the Ark; and confe quently the Flood lafted a Year and ten Days.

Now if we confider the Account given us by Mofes, of the feveral Periods of the Increase, Duration and Decrease of the Flood, we fhall find it amount to twelve

Months

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Months and ten Days; from whence it will follow, that the Years mention'd by Mofes, did each of them refpectively conlift of twelve Months. And before I go any further I must beg Leave to obferve, that I have determin'd the fecond Month mention'd in ver. 11. chap. vii. to be the fecond Month of the current Year of Noah's Life by reafon I conceive that Expreffion cannot rightly be understood any otherways. For if we fhould take it to be the fecond Month of the then current Year of the World, as fome have done, we must then neceffarily suppose the Birth of Noah to co-incide with the first Day of the Year. For which Suppofition there are no grounds. And that this is the neceffary Confequence of taking that Expreffion the fecond Month in the Senfe I have laft mention'd, is plain from ver. 13. chap. viii. where it is faid, that in the fix hundreth and first Year, in the first Month, the first Day of the Month, &c. which shows that Noab enter'd that Day his fix hundredth and first Year. For that the fix hundredth and firft Year there mention'd is to be understood of Noah's Life, is evident from ver. 11. chap. vii. And the Words themselves not admitting naturally of any other Construction, I fhall not infift any longer on it, but return to my Subject.

We are told, Gen. vii. ver. 11. that the Flood begun on the feventeenth of the se

cond

cond Month; and chap. viii. ver. 4. that the Ark rested on the feventeenth of the Seventh Month. Here are therefore five Months for the Increase, Duration and Part of the Decrease of the Flood. It is afterwards faid, ver. 5. that the Waters decreased continually until the tenth Month; in the tenth Month, on the first Day of the Month were the Tops of the Mountains feen. Here is a further Decrease of the Waters of near two Months and a half; namely, the remaining Part of the feventh Month, and all the eighth and ninth Months; which, with the five Months before-mention'd, make feven Months and thirteen Days. In the 6th and 7th Verses of the fame Chapter we are told, that after forty Days Noah open'd the Window of the Ark, and fent out a Raven, Which brings us to the tenth of the eleventh Month, and makes eight Months and twenty three Days.

And now here seems to be an Omiffion in the Account given us by Mofes; for we find ver. 8. that He fent out a Dove after him. And it is not faid what Interval of Time there was between the fending out the Raven and the fending out the Dove. Indeed ver. 10. feems to determine it to seven Days; adding then those feven Days to the eight Months and twenty three Days, we shall have just nine Months, and it will bring us to the feventeenth of the eleventh Month.

In ver. 10. we are told that He ftaid yet other feven Days, and fent the Dove again out of the Ark. Which makes nine Months and seven Days, and brings us to the twenty fourth of the eleventh Month; and we are again told, ver. 12. that He ftaid yet other feven Days, and fent forth the Dove a third time; which makes nine Months and fourteen Days, and brings us to the first of the twelfth Month.

But here the Account of the Flood, as it is in our English Bibles, is faulty; for we are told immediately after, ver. 13. that it came to pass in the fix hundredth and firft Tear, in the firft Month, the first Day of the Month, the Waters were dried up from off the Earth. Now it is plain that this is the beginning of a new Year of Noah's Life; and the Particulars of the Account of the Flood, as I have related them, bring us only to the first of the twelfth Month. So there is all that Month to be accounted for, before we can make the Account of the Flood given us by Mofes confiftent with it felf. It is abfolutely faid that the Flood happen'd in the fecond Month of the fix hundredth Tear of Noah's Life, and that Noah came out of the Ark in the fecond Month of the fix hundredth and first Year of his Life, and confequently the Flood lafted a Year. We must therefore endeavour to find out a proper Place, where to B

in

infert this Month, in order to make the Account of the Flood confiftent with it felf, as I faid before.

For which Purpofe, let us try and make our Computation after the following Man

ner.

When Noah open'd the Window of the Ark, and fent out the Raven, which was the eleventh of the eleventh Month, the Flood had lasted eight Months, and twenty three Days, as I have fhewn already. Now, if we fuppofe Noah waited a Month, or thirty Days, before he sent out the Dove, then that will make nine Months and twenty three Days, and bring us to the tenth of the twelfth Month, and that he then fent out the Dove, who finding no reft for the Sole of her Foot returned into the Ark. He ftaid Jeven Days, and fent her out a second time, when he returned with the Olive Branch; which makes ten Months, and brings us to the feventeenth of the twelfth Month. He ftaid yet other feven Days, and fent out the Dove a third time, but he returned no more: Which makes ten Months and feven Days, and brings us to the twenty fourth of the twelfth Month. And it is probable Noah waited fome time for the Return of the Dove, the last time he fent her out, before he removed the Covering of the Ark, which we are told, ver. 13. he did on the first Day of the first Month of the

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