Flint (UJ1722n, challamish', from its smoothness, Psa. cxiv, 8; Isa. 1, 7; "rock," Job xxviii, 9; fre- quently with the accompaniment "11^, a rock, Deut. viii, 15; xxxii, 13; once for ^i» itself, Ezek. iii, 9; "sharp stone," Exod. iv, 25), any hard stone, espe- cially of a silicious character, as quartz or granite ; but in mineralogical science it is applied onh' to sili- cious nodules. In the three passages first cited above the reference is to God's bringing water and oil out of tlie naturally barren rocks of the wilderness for the sake of his people. In Isaiah the word is used meta- phorically to signify the firmness of the prophet in re- sistance to his persecutors. So also in Isa. v, 28 we have like flint, in reference to the hoofs of horses. In 1 Mace. X, 73, Kox^a^ is translated /?««/, and in Wisd. xi, 4 the expression tK TreTpaQ ciicporufiov is adopted from Deut. viii, 15 (Sept.). See Rock. Flints abound in nearlj^ all the plains and valleys through which the Hebrews marched during the forty j^ears of wandering. In the northward desert, low hills of chalk occur, as well as frequent tracts of chalky soil, for the most part overspread with flints. In the western desert Burck- hardt saw some large pieces of flint perfectly oval, three to four feet in length, and about a foot and a half in breadth. This desert presents to the traveller's view its immense expanse of dreary country, covered with .=^- ai -
black flints, with here and there ^^'^^^B
some hilly chains rising from the plain. See Desert. "^^^^^^5-,=.-^ =
Flint, Abel, D.D., a Con- gregational minister, was born Nov., 1765, at Windham, Conn. He graduated at Yale in 1785, and in 1786 was elected tutor in Brown University, where he remained until 1790, and on April 20, 1791, was installed pastor of the Second Church, Hartford. He was chosen sec- retary of the Connecticut Mis- sionarj' Society at its organiza- tion, June, 1798, and lield tiie
office for twenty-four years. In January, 1824, he was dismissed from his pastoral charge on account of his failing health, and died March 7, 1825. Dr. Flint pub- lished -4 Treatise on Surveying, and several occasional discourses. He assisted in compiling The Hartford Sdectiim of Hymns, and was also assistant editor of the Connecticut Evangelical ^Magazine for seven y^ars. — Sprague, Annals, ii, 273.
Float (only in the plur. mi^h, doheroth', drifts, 1 Kings V, 9; miDS"^, raphsodoth' , of uncertain der- ivation, 2 Chron. ii, 15 ; Sept. in both passages ffXfCiat, as also in 1 Esdr. v, 55), a raft for convej'ing bulky substances by water. Two methods of conveying wood in floats appear to have been practised in an- cient times. The first was bj' pushing single trunks of trees into the water, and suftering them to be car- ried along by the stream : this was commonly adopted with regard to firewood. The other was ranging a number of planks close to each other in regular order, binding them together, and steering them down the current : this was probablj' the most ancient practice. The earliest ships, or boats, were nothing more than rafts, or a collection of deals and planks bound to- gether. They were called uxiSiai by the Greeks, and rates b}' the Romans. The ancients ventured out to sea with them on piratical expeditions, as well as to carry on commerce ; and after the invention of ships they were still retained for the transportation of sol- diers (Scheffer, De 3Iilit. Nav. Vet.). Solomon, it ap- pears from the above passages, entered into a contract with Hiram, king of T3're, by which the latter was to cause cedars for the use of the Temple to be cut down on the western side of Mount Lebanon, above Tripo- lis, and to be floated to Jaffa. At present no streams run from Lebanon to Jerusalem, and the Jordan, the only river in Palestine that could bear floats, is at a considerable distance from the cedar forest. The wood, therefore, must have been brought along the coast by sea to Jaffa. The Assyrian monuments represent men
Ancient Assyrian Floats.
crossing rivers on inflated skins [see Ferry] and in basket-boats, precisely as described bj- ancient author.s (Herod, i, 194); and in the same region transportation and travelliag is still largely carried on by means of floats, some of them open rafts, and others with an awning or cabin. See Navigation.
-Mudoiu A»»yi'iau KclUk, ur liafl.
FLOCK
599
FLOOD
Flock (usuallj' and properly "i")", e'der, iroinvr] [or dimin. Trot/uviox', a "little flock," like r]"^'rn, cha- siph', 1 Kings xx, 27] ; occasionally n.2p^, mikneh', cattle, as generally rendered ; frequently "|i<:i, shee]) collectively, as commonly rendered ; also n"'""i'2, marith', Jer. x, 21, pasture, as elsewhere rendered ; and min"^;', ashteroth' [q. v.], Deut. vii, 13; xxviii, 4, 18, 51, i. c. Venuses, ewes for breeding). See Fold ; Pasturage ; Sheep.
Flock, the correlative term to "pastor." "The way in which this term, or the language which implies it, invariably occurs in Scripture (1 Pet. v, 2; John xxi, 15), points out to the people that they are not proj)- erly the minister's flock (which would exalt him into the mediator between them and God), but Christ's." — Eden, C/nirch Dictiowiry, s. v.
Flodoard {Flodoardus or Frodoardus) of Rheims, a French chronicler, was born at Epernay in 894, and became canon of Rheims. He was persecuted by count Heribert for opposing the raising of his unqualified son Hugo to the archbishopric of Rheims, and was im- prisoned for several months. After the death of the count, Hugo the son did justice to Flodoardus. He died March 28, 966. He wrote Chronica or Annales, a chronicle of France from 919 to 966, published by Pi- thou (Paris, 1588). He also wrote a Historia Ecclesice Remensis, in four books, giving an account of the pre- lates who had presided over its aflPairs (printed byCol- vener, Douay, 1617). Both these works, as far as ex- tant, are given in Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 135, together with the Opnscida Metrica of Flodoard, in- cluding his Triumphiis CJiristi, a sort of Church Historj' in verse. — Hoefer, Xouv. Biog. Gen. xvii, 936 ; Clarke, Succession of Sacred Literature, ii, 565.