Cave of Treasures

Historical source scan page 52

children of Seth, and they began to drown in their great and mighty waves--then was fulfilled that which David spake concerning them, saying: I said, Ye are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. (Ps. lxxxii. 6.) But since ye have done this, and ye have loved the fornication of the daughters of Cain, like them ye shall perish, and even as they did so shall ye die. And when the Ark was lifted up from the earth by the mighty strength of the waters, all the children of men, and the wild beasts, and the feathered fowl, and the cattle, and the creeping things, and everything [living] on the face of the earth was drowned. And the waters [Fol. 18a, col. 1] of the Flood mounted up above all the tops of the high mountains fifteen cubits [variants, 25, 50 cubits], according to the measure of the Spirit. [The cubit of the Holy Ghost = 3 ordinary cubits.] And the flood waxed strong, and the waters thereof lifted up the Ark until it reached the skirts [of the mountain] of Paradise. And as the flood had been blessed by Paradise (i.e. had been made holy), it bowed its head, and kissed the skirts of Paradise and turned itself back to destroy the whole earth. And the Ark flew on the wings of the wind over the waters of the flood from east to west, and from north to south, and it marked out [by its path] a cross on the waters. And the Ark flew about for one hundred and fifty days, and it came to rest on the mountains of Kardô (i.e. Ararat, the Jabal al-Jûdî of the Arabs, near Jazirat ibn `Umar) in the seventh month, that is to say, in the First Teshri (October) on the seventeenth day thereof. And God commanded the waters, and they became separated from each other. The celestial waters were taken up, and ascended to their own place above [Fol. 18a, col. 2] the heavens, whence they came. The waters which had risen up from the earth returned to the lowermost abyss [under the earth]; and those which belonged to the Ocean [which surroundeth the whole world] returned to the innermost parts thereof. And the waters which had been on the earth, and had been assigned to it by the Divine Nod for the needs thereof from the beginning, remained upon it. And the waters diminished little by little until the tenth month, which is Shebat (February), and on the first day thereof the tops of the mountains appeared. And, forty days later, on the tenth day of the month of Adhar (March), Noah opened the east window of the Ark, and sent forth a raven to bring back tidings; and the raven departed and did not return. And after the waters had diminished a little more from the earth, Noah sent forth a dove; and it found no place to rest, and it returned to Noah to the Ark. And after seven days he sent forth another dove, and it returned to him, carrying in its beak an olive leaf. Now the dove figureth for us the Two Covenants. In the First Covenant [Fol. 18b, col. 1] the spirit which spake by the Prophets did not find a place of rest among that rebellious people (i.e. the Jews); and in the Second Covenant it rested on the peoples through the waters of baptism. 52 of 130