wherein Venus put his body newly killed. In fhort, there CHAP. I. is no doubt to be made, but the Garden of Eden planted by the hand of God, and that, in some respects, in a supernatural manner, hath been the pattern, out of which the poets have formed their Fortunate Inlands, the Elyfian Fields, the Meadows of Pluto, the Gardens (not only of Adonis already mentioned, but also) of the Hefperides, of Jupiter, and Alcinous.

35.

of Enoch,

learned

What we have to add further in reference to the fituation of the country and Garden of Eden, falls in with of the city what we have to offer concerning the fituation of the land and the of Nod, and the city of Enoch. The learned Bishop of Soiffons has obferved, that Ptolemy, in the description of opinion concerning Sufiana, places there a city called Anuchtha; and alfo its fituathat the fyllable tha, which endeth that word, is a termi- tion. nation pretty ordinary to the feminine nouns in the Chaldee tongue, and fo is no part of the name itself. It then only remains Anuch, which is without difficulty the fame as Enoch, or, as it is more agreeable to the Hebrew word, Anoch. And from hence the learned perfon afore mentioned infers, that this Anuchtha, mentioned by Ptolemy, is the fame with the city of Enoch, mentioned by Moses; efpecially fince Anuchtha is by Ptolemy placed on the east of Eden, which agrees very well to what Mofes faith of the land of Nod, wherein the city of Enoch was built, namely, that it was on the east of Eden, Gen iv. 16.

which at

nion.

Now, though this conjecture seems very plaufible, in- 36. fomuch that I could not at firft but readily embrace it ; Difficulties, yet upon further deliberation there appeared fome diffi- tend Hueculty, which feems to make the truth of it questionable, tius's opiand which in the upfhot would not give me leave to acquiefce in the forefaid conjecture. For, firft, though Anuchtha be no other than the city of Enoch, or Anoch ; yet it is far from being certain, that there was no other city of that name, but that which was built by Cain, and called fo by him from his fon Enoch, or Anoch. It is moft certain, that there was another Enoch, or Anoch, befides the fon of Cain; namely, the fon of Jared, and fa

ther

PART I. ther of Methuselah, a person most remarkable for his

37.

Huetius's opinion

piety in the antediluvian ages; infomuch that Mofes particularly fays of him, that he walked with God, and was not; for God took him: Gen. v. 18, 21, 24. By which words is to be understood, as we learn from Heb. xi. 5. that this Enoch was tranflated that he should not fee death. It is then poffible, not to say probable, that the city, mentioned by Ptolemy, might take its name from Enoch, not the son of Cain, but the son of Jared, and a descendant of Seth, the brother of Cain; and that it might be fo named from him in respect to the illuftrious character he bore for his piety, this being a very ancient and ufual way of paying a veneration to the memory of perfons. At least, it might take its name from fome other Enoch or Anoch, different from both the former, and living many generations after; namely, after the Flood. And indeed, from the confideration of the Flood there do arise fome objections, which make it still more questionable, whether the Anuchtha of Ptolemy could be the city of Enoch built before the Flood; or at least could be known to be the fame, and fo could retain, even after the Flood, the name it had before.

But there is still behind another confideration, which The great weighs most with me, as overthrowing what seems most eft objection againft to favour the learned Huetius's opinion. For he efpecially obferves, that the Anuchtha, fo often mentioned, is placed by Ptolemy on the east of Eden, exactly agreeable to the fituation of the land of Nod according to the facred text, Gen. iv. 16. But the word there rendered, on the east, is the very fame, which is alfo rendered by fome after the fame manner, in the description Mofes gives of the course of the Hiddekel or Tigris. Which interpretation, as the learned Huetius rejects in that place relating to the river Hiddekel, fo he should likewise reject in this place relating to the land of Nod : because it may be fairly prefumed, that Mofes used the word in the fame sense in both places. Hereupon the Seventy Interpreters judged it but reasonable to keep the fame interpretation in both texts,

and

and accordingly rendered the original word, in this place, CHAP. I. as in the former, by the Greek word denoting, over-against, or on the fide of Eden, not reftraining it to the eastern fide any more than to the western. And on the fame account Arias Montanus alfo in his verfion renders the Hebrewword, (as in relation to the course of the Hiddekel, fo) in reference to the fituation of the land of Nod, by the same Latin word, denoting before; which, as I have above observed, I take with him to be the plain and primary import of the original word.

This being fo, what the learned Huetius in other cafes particularly, and that reasonably too, infists upon, must likewise be remembered in the cafe before us; namely, that Mofes in penning his history had regard to the place where he penned it. Whence it follows, that when Mofes faith, that the land of Nod lay before Eden, he must thereby be reasonably understood to mean, that it lay before Eden in respect of the place where he was writing, and confequently on the weft of Eden, namely, between Eden and the parts of Arabia Petræa, or else the parts of Syria adjoining to the Lacus Afphaltites, or Dead Sea.

opinion

the land of

On these confiderations I cannot but incline to the opi- 38. nion of the learned Grotius, who fuppofes Cain to have Grotius's been doomed by God to withdraw into the deserts of Ara- concerning bia, which joins on to Eden weftward, and so properly lay Nod. before Eden, in respect to the place where Moses wrote, Indeed, fince one part of Cain's punishment was banishment, and fince, banishment being defigned as a punishment, it is more proper, and fo more usual, for perfons banished to be fent, not into a pleasant and fruitful country, as is Sufiana, wherein Ptolemy places Anuchtha, but into some unpleasant and unfruitful country; these confiderations do, I think, much favour the opinion of Grotius, that Arabia Deserta was the country, into which Cain was fentenced to withdraw. And to the barrennefs of this part of Arabia may perhaps appertain the curfe pronounced by God against Cain, Gen. iv. 11, 12. And now art thou curfed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth

to

PART I. to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tilleft the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her ftrength. In fhort, if the reader fees cause to prefer Grotius's opinion, then he muft of confequence look on the land of Nod to be Arabia Deferta, or at least to be feated therein, and fo to be part of it. If he prefers Huetius's opinion, that the Anuchtha mentioned by Ptolemy is the fame with the city of Enoch built by Cain, then he muft of confequence look on the land of Nod to be seated in Sufiana.

tain, whe

ther the word Nod is to be

39. I fhall only observe further, that as to the name itself, It is uncer- there are no remainders of it to be found. Indeed it is not certain, that the word Nod fhould be taken for a proper name: nay, it is actually rendered by fome intertaken for a preters as an appellative, denoting a fugitive, or one that name or an is banished, which very well expreffes the condition appellative. wherein Cain was, as appears from Gen. iv. 12. 14. A fu

proper

40.

gitive fhalt thou be, &c. In a word, it is not to be doubted, but, if the word Nod is to be understood as a proper name, the land of Nod was fo called, as being the land wherein the fugitive Cain lived.

And thus much for the places of the antediluvian earth, The con- mentioned in facred history.

clufion.

CHAP.

CHAP. II.

Of the Mountains of Ararat, whereon the Ark of Noah refted, upon the abating of the Flood: together with fome confiderations concerning the Place where the Ark was made, the Wood it was made of, and the Form it was made in.

1.

Ark, upon

the abating

refted on

THE fhort account of the antediluvian world, given in the fix first chapters of Genefis, is followed, in the seventh Noah's and eighth chapters of the fame book, with an account of the Deluge or Flood: upon the abating whereof the of the flood, facred hiftorian tells us, that the Ark refled upon the the mounmountains of Ararat, Gen. viii. 4. It is therefore to be tains of enquired, which are the mountains of Ararat; and then, in what particular place of the faid mountains the Ark did fo reft.

Ararat.

2.

the error,

of Ararat

were in

near the

named Ci

As to the firft query, it may not be unufeful to take notice, in the first place, of a palpable error, concerning The rife of the fituation of these mountains, which occurs in fome that the verfes, which go under the name of Sibylline Oracles. mountains There we are told, that the mountains of Ararat lay in Phrygia; which is no ways reconcileable to the fa- Phrygia, cred text. The learned Bochart has happily light on the city Apaground of this mistake; which arofe in all likelihood mea, furfrom the fituation of a city in Phrygia, called Apamea botus. Cibotus. The word Cibotus is a Greek word, denoting in that language an Ark; and it is the very fame word, which the Seventy Interpreters make use of to denote the Ark of Noah. Now from the city Apamea having the furname of Cibotus given it, the author of those verses (falfely attributed to the Sibyls) inferred, that the Ark of Noah refted there on an adjoining hill, and that this was the occafion, that gave the furname of Cibotus to Apamea. But the inference is by no means conclufive, forafmuch as there might be other reasons for impofing that

furname