['Tis ridiculous to put off or down the general floud of Noah in that particular inundation of Deucalion,]] as the Heathens some of them sometimes did: Confuderunt igitur sæpe Ethnici particularia illa diluvia, quæ longe post secuta sunt, cum illo universali quod præcessit, ut ex fabulis in Diluvio Deucalionæo sparsis colligere licet; non tamen semper nec ubique. Author. Observat. in Mytholog. Nat. Com. Then amongst those that confound them, he reckons Ovid and Plutarch.

[How all the kinds of Creatures, not onely in their own bulks, but with a competency of food and sustenance, might be preserved in one Ark, and within the extent of 300 Cubits, to a reason that rightly examines it will appear very feasible.]] Yet Apelles the Disciple of Mercion, took upon him to deride the History of Moses in this particular, alledging that it must needs be a fable, for that it was impossible so many creatures should be contain'd in so small a space. Origen and St. Aug. to answer this pretended difficulty, alleadge that Moses in this place speakes of Geometrical (and not vulgar) cubits, of which every one was as much as six vulgar ones; and so no difficulty. But Perer. l. 10. com. in Genes, quest. 5. de arca, rejects this opinion of Origen, as being both against reason and Scripture.

1. Because that sort of Cubit was never in use amongst any people, and therefore absurd to think Moses should intend it in this place.

2. If Moses should not speak of the same Cubits here, that he mentions in others places, there would be great æquivocation in Scripture: now in another place, i.e. Exod. 27. he saith, God commanded him to make an Altar three Cubits high; which if it shall be meant of Geometrical Cubits it will contain 18 vulgar Cubits; which would not only render it useless, but would be contrary to the command which he saith God gave him, Exod. 20. Thou shall not go up by steps to my Altar. For without steps what man could reach it. It must therefore be meant of ordinary Cubits; but that being so it was very feasible. I can more easily believe than understand it.

[And put the honest Father to the Refuge of a Miracle.]] This honest father was St. Aug. who delivers his opinion, that it might be miraculously done, lib. 16. de Civ. Dei, cap. 7. where having propos'd the question how it might be done, he answers, Quod si homines eas captas secum adduxerunt, et eo modo ubi habitabant earum genera instituerunt, venandi studio fieri potuisse incredibile non est, quamvis jussu Dei sire permissu etiam opera Angelorum negandum non sit potuisse transferri; but St. Aug. saith not that it could not be done without a miracle.

[And 1500 years to people the World, as full a time, etc.]]

Pag. 36.

[That Methusalem was the longest liv'd of all the children of Adam, etc.]] See both these Points cleared by the Author, in Pseudodox. Epidemic. the first lib. 6. cap. 6. the other lib. 7. cap. 3.

[That Judas perished by hanging himself, there is no certainty in Scripture, though in one place it seems to affirm it, and by a doubtful word hath given occasion to translate it; yet in another place, in a more punctual description it makes it improbable, and seems to overthrow it.]] These two places that seem to contradict one another are Math. 27. 5. and Acts 1. 8. The doubtful word he speaks of is in the place of Matthew; it is ἀπήγξατο, which signifieth suffocation as well as hanging, (ἀπελθὼν ἀπήγξατο, which may signifie literally, after he went out he was choak'd) but Erasmus translates it, abiens laqueo se suspendit: the words in the Acts are, When he had thrown down himself headlong, he burst in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out; which seems to differ much from the expression of Matthew; yet the Ancient Writers and Fathers of the Church do unanimously agree that he was hanged. Some I shall cite. Anastas. Sinaita, l. 7. Anagog. Contempl. Unus latro ingratus cum esset typus Diaboli, et Serpentis, et Judæ, qui se in ligno suffocavit. Gaudentius Brixiens. tract. 13. de natal. Dom. Mortem debitam laqueo sibimet intulit præparato, etc. Droggotoshen. de sacram. dominic. pass. Jamdiu erat quidem quod Christo recesserat, et avaritiæ laqueo se suspenderat, sed quod fecerat in occulto, palam omnibus innotuit. S. Martialis in Ep. ad Tholosanos. Non sustinuit pœnitentiam, donec laqueo mortis seipsum consumpsit. Ignat. ad Philippens. Diabolus laqueum ei ostendit, et suspendium docuit. Leo Serm. 3. de passion.——Ut quia facinus omnem mensuram ultionis excesserat, te haberet impietas tua judicem te pateretur sua pæna Carnificem. Theodoret. lib. 1. hæretic. fabul. Ille protinus strangulatus est, quæ fuit merces ejus proditionis. Chrysostom. Hom. 3. de proditore. Pependit Cœlum Terramque intermedius vago funere suffocatus, et cum flagitio suo tumefacta, viscera crepuerunt, etc. Bernard. Serm. 8. in Psal. 9. Judas in Aere crepuit medius.

1. There are those that are so particular, that they acquaint us with the manner, as that it was done with a Cord. Antiochus Laurensis, Spem omnem a se cum abjecisset, insiliente in eum inimico (sc. Diabolo) funiculo sibi præfocavit gulam. Oecumen. in Act. Fracto funiculo quo erat suffocatus decidit in terram præcipitio. 2. That it was done on a Fig-Tree, Beda. Portam David egredientibus fons occurrit in Austrum per vallem directus, ad cujus medietatem ab occasu Judas se suspendisse narratur: Nam et ficus magna ibi et vetustissima stat.