This statement has been objected to on the ground that the queen bee does not care for nor raise her own brood, but this work is done by the “workers” of the hive. This is unques tionably the present condition; but how did the first pair of bees raise their young? If we admit that the bees were created like all other crea tures, there was a male and a queen, and from them came all the bees. If you insist that the bees evolved out of some other lower insect, then the problem remains the same; there was a first true bee, and it had to perpetuate its kind. There is a species of ant known as the Atta, of whom Beebe has written so engagingly in his book, “ The Edge of the Jungle.” These ants have a queen, who lays the eggs from which the workers hatch and rear the young. But when start ing a new colony, the queen begins all by herself, laying the eggs and rearing the. young unaided, until she has enough workers reared to take over the task, after which she degen erates to a mere egg-laying machine. It is evident that the first bees must have had some such method of procedure as this. True species are few. Varieties are many. But even of the true species there are some which would not have had to enter the ark. We can see no reason why the ducks could not survive out in the rain, unless certain geological cataclysms that probably attended the deluge would make it impossible. Cer tainly the rain would not drive them in. The alligators and crocodiles can live in salt water or fresh, or they prefer a mixture of both. They prefer their diet well ripened, so they would fare well outside the ark. The fish would be safe out side, and the barnacles could find a home on the bottom of the ark! In other words, a little analysis of the text shows that Ignorance loses its battle against Revelation here, for as always, Reason is the champion of the latter. If half of the ark had been filled with food, and fourteen individuals of every true species now inhabiting that part of the world were stored in the other half of the ark, there would have been an average of 175 cubic feet of space for every individual! This would have been more than ample, as a 200 pound man requires only 15 cubic feet. Since the dispersion did not take place until a long time after the flood, the civilization that perished was probably a local one. But as the only men alive were restricted to the locality, in the sense here intended, their habitation was “the world.” So Noah would have to provide room in the ark for only those animals which lived there in the flooded local ity. Who can say how many true species there were? The only comprehensive natural history survey of the land in which Noah lived was made by Dr. Howard Osgood. He found that there were just 575 varieties of mammals and birds between the size of a mouse and the size of a sheep, and 290 varieties between the size of a sheep and the size of a camel. There are no animals larger than a camel extant in that land today. Food they had in plenty. It is evident that they would have no meat diet, as in Genesis the diet of all is given as the same: a vegetarian fare exclusively. See Genesis 1:29,30 —“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yield ing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food: and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given him every green herb for food; and it was so.” A very wise and learned lady once said to us, “ Tell your readers how the ark was ventilated! I have always worried about that! There were all those animals and men, and only one little window way up in the roof. How did they breathe?” Skepticism has often used this apparent weakness in the structure of the ark as an opportunity to point the finger of derision and raise the cry of improbability whenever the ark was mentioned. In a recent debate with Dr. Cantrell on the “ Scientific Infallibility of Genesis,” he ignorantly stated, “ The ark was hermetically sealed!” The Scripture does not so state. Note the language of the text, and you will see two lines of thought worthy of deep analysis. Of course, the exact method of ventilation is not given in detail. This is a record
THE LAST VALLEY Let me walk lightly across this last valley, As one who would hasten to love's rendezvous All of life's burdens and shadows behind me, Ahead of me, everything lovely and new! Let me walk swiftly across this last valley. Should footsteps be laggard and fearful and slov, Which carry me finally into His presence Who loves me, and knows all the way that I go? Let me walk joyfully through this last valley, Knowing there waits at the end of the road, That blest One who sought me, and lifted me, bought me, My precious Redeemer, the dear Son of God! Let me walk softly across this last valley, Silently, wonder is wakening here Hushing my heart for the presence of glory, Preparing my soul as the moment draws near. of tremendous events and, as such, does not deal with small details. Histories of great battles do not bother themselves with the fit of the soldiers’ clothes, whether their shoes fas tened with laces or buttons, and such variety of minor details. Only the main facts are given, as in this present account. We have the dimensions of the ark, and the shape. Let us now look at the simple details of the actual construction. It contains this direction: “ A window shalt thou make in the ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward.” (Or, “Up to a cubit shalt thou finish it.” ) Finish what? The window of the ark? If the window is to be finished up to a cubit, that probably means it ran the length of the ark to within a cubit of the end. That would be quite some ventilation! But if the words “ finish it” refer to the ark itself, we have somewhat the same result. If the walls of the ark are finished “up to a cubit,” that will leave an open ventilator all the way around the ark, twenty-two and a half inches wide! In either case, we have an open ventilator providing 2,460 square feet of air space, which is certainly ample. The overhanging eaves would keep the dripping rain out. There is no wind mentioned until the rain stopped, so no rain would drive in. That would be more than sufficient for comfort, and plenty for sanitation. Do not think that the modern sanitary engineer could add to the structure of the ark, for while the builder was Noah, the Architect and Designer was God. The scientific accuracy of the ark is finally attested by its modern dimensions. The ancients did not so build ships. The ark was exactly six times as long as it was wide. Upon these identical proportions do we build our naval vessels today. In the days when we were in personal daily contact with the Pacific Fleet, the matchless pride of the American Navy was the U. S. S. New Mexico. Many, many times we have been on her decks, in her wardroom and gun turrets, and she was then the peer of anything afloat. She was built upon the scientific dimensions of Noah’s ark! When Rome entered the First Punic Wars she had a fleet of three hundred and thirty vessels—biremes, triremes, and quadriremes. These were built after a plan which varied from a length of a hundred and ten feet with a width of eleven feet, to a maximum of one hundred thirty feet long by twelve feet wide, or a general plan of ten times the width for the length. None of the ancients seem to have constructed on the proportions of the ark. Modern science figured them out for the U. S. S. New Mexico, and God revealed them all to Noah. —Martha Snell Nicholson
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