es both conditions, for at first it says: "Thou
shalt bring into the ark," and then adds: "Two of every sort shall
come unto thee." If they had not been miraculously guided, they would
not have come by twos and sevens.

279. That two by two and seven by seven came of their own accord is a
miracle and a sign that they had a premonition of the wrath of God and
the coming terrible disaster. Even brute natures have premonitions and
forebodings of impending calamities, and often as if prompted by a
certain sense of compassion, they will manifest distress for a man in
evident peril. We see dogs and horses understand the perils of their
masters and show themselves affected by such intelligence, the dogs by
howling, the horses by trembling and the emission of copious sweat. As
a matter of fact it is not rare that wild beasts in danger seek refuge
with man.

280. When, therefore, there is elsewhere in brute natures such an
intelligence, is it a wonder that, after having been divinely aroused
to a sense of coming danger, they joined themselves voluntarily to
Noah? For the text shows they came voluntarily. In the same manner
history bears witness, and our experience confirms it, that, when a
terrible pestilence rages or a great slaughter is imminent, wolves,
the most ferocious of animals, flee not only into villages, but, on
occasion, even into cities, taking refuge among men and humbly asking,
as it were, their help.

B. THE FOOD NOAH TOOK INTO THE ARK.

V. 21. _And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and gather
it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them._

281. Inasmuch as the flood was to last a whole year, it was necessary
to remind Noah of the food to be collected from the herbs and the
fruits of trees in order to preserve the life of man and of animals.
Though the wrath of God was terrible, to the destruction of everything
born on earth, the goodness of the Lord shines forth, notwithstanding,
in this an awful calamity. He looks to the preservation of man and the
animals, and through their preservation to that of the species. The
animals chosen for preservation in the ark were sound and of
unblemished body, and through divine foresight, they received food
suitable to their nature.

282. As for man, it is established that, as yet, he did not use flesh
for food. He ate only of the vegetation of the earth, which was far
more desirable before the flood than at present, after the remarkable
corr