isfactory reason for their existence in an inland country, free from volcanoes, and hundreds of miles distant from the sea. There are also appearances of desolation presented in nature, which cannot be accounted for, even on the supposition of earthquakes; nor be deemed the consequence of any convulsion, less powerful than that of an universal deluge. Another hypothesis is levelled against the system which we espouse. Some philosophers have, supposed, that a perfect transposition of the order of things has taken place: that what is land was once sea; and that where the ocean rolls his proud waves, the earth presented her fair and cultivated face.* If this, indeed, was the case, as the sea is liable to the same volcanic irruptions, the existence of marine productions, on every part of the globe, may be accounted for, without the admission of an universal deluge: since we may easily imagine, that when the waters retreated, they left some of their spoils, deeply implanted, behind. The observations which we have made, and are capable of making, in the contracted sphere of our personal knowledge and the changes which are effected on the face of nature, in the narrow circle of the few years allotted to us-may not perhaps be deemed any thing: but those of ages and generations long since rolled by, and which are recorded on the faithful page of impartial history, ought to be duly appreciated. The inroads which the sea has made upon the land, recorded by those who have measured and watched its boundaries, in the remembrance of our fathers, have been comparatively inconsiderable: nor will any authentic history of the most remote periods, furnish us with matters of fact to justify, or even to countenance, an hypothesis Buffon. so extravagant. Every instance which can be produced of the ground gained by the waves upon the shores of the globe, is so trifling, and the conquest was so slowly acquired, that the system proposed must suppose an antiquity of the world, very little different, as it respects the objections that lie against it, from the hypothesis which maintains its eternity; the answer to which fell under the department of the preceding Lecture. This wild opinion, moreover, seems to suppose islands only the tops of mountains: but over the whole face of our present continents is there no such mountain, or chain of mountains, in shape or extent, as our native country-whose hoary cliffs stretch their barriers wide and firm, frowning defiance equally upon the waves which assault her shores, and the power of nations who insult her majesty? On the whole, we think, that only on the principle of an universal deluge can the existence of marine productions found scattered wide, and buried deep, over the whole globe, be accounted for: since the theory which supposes the retreat of the ocean from our present earth, and that which rather suggests, than asserts, that all dry land was thrown up from the bottom of the sea, by volcanic, subterraneous fires, are equally preposterous and irrational. Now, the waters were long enough upon the earth, according to the Mosaic account, for shellfish to breed on land, and to increase from spawn to their full size; the action of the waters upon the earth would greatly soften it; and the spoils of the deep, at, and before, the retreat of the waters, would be deeply absorbed, and covered by the perforated and broken soil. There appears to us to be but one way of determining upon this point: the Mosaic history is so express, that either an universal deluge must be admitted, or the whole narration rejected. Had the deluge been only partial, some winged animals might have made their escape from it, since it gradually and progressively extended; and time was consequently afforded them for flight from the encroaching waters: but it is said, "all flesh died, that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle." And if the waters were restricted to only a portion of the earth, a constant miraculous power must have been exerted to keep them at an elevation so immense, as to cover all the high hills of the immersed part, from running off into the sea, supposing the sea to have preserved its usual level. Nor is it easily ascertained, how far the human race had spread themselves over the face of the earth, or the degree in which man had multiplied. When, therefore, we speak of the Deluge, we mean an universal flood; and mean to distinguish it from the partial inundations which from time to time have laid waste particular countries; and which, in more remote ages, were preserved in remembrance by the heathen poets. II. We pass on to present you with a selection of a few, from the innumerable HYPOTHESES BY WHICH INGENIOUS WRITERS HAVE ATTEMPTED TO ACCOUNT FOR IT. To all who have written upon this subject, the grand difficulty appears to have been, the prodigious quantity of waters requisite to such a deluge as that described by Moses. There are two sources whence the -sacred historian deduces them: "the fountains of the great deep. were broken up; and the windows of heaven were opened." The proportion of water necessary to constitute an universal deluge, has been by some estimated at eight oceans; while others have computed it at not less than twenty-treo. The inquiry then is, What did Moses intend by "the fountains of the deep?” and are these united with "the windows of heaven," sufficient to cause an inundation so immense? 1. Dr. BURNET† supposes the world to have been perfectly round, without mountains or any irregularity of surface, incrusting a globe of waters, which he calls the central abyss. He imagines that this exterior covering of earth, was broken at the time of the deluge, and sunk down beneath the prevailing waters. This system, it is necessary to observe, opposes the narrative of Moses, which asserts, that "all the high hills were covered." 2. Mr. WHISTON‡ imputes the whole to the interposition and agency of a comet: descending in the plane of the ecliptic towards the sun, and passing just before the earth on the first day of the deluge. He also concludes that there is an abyss of waters under the surface of the earth; and supposes the influence of this body would produce a strong tide on the waters both above and under the earth, which would increase in proportion to the nearness of its approach. Those, particularly, encircled within the globe, would form an elliptical figure so much larger than their former spherical one, that, unable to oppose a resistance equal to its pressure, the surface of the earth would burst; which he asserts is the meaning of the phrase, “the fountains of the great deep were broken up." He further supposes, that, in its descent, the comet involv ted. • Dr. Keil. Telluris Theoria Sacra. ed the earth in its atmosphere and tail for a considerable time; and the quantity of water left behind, when rarified by the sun, would descend in violent rains; which he imagines is intended by the opening of "the windows of heaven." The succeeding heavy rains, recorded by Moses, enduring an hundred and fifty days, he attributes to a second similar immersion, on its return. In withdrawing these destructive waters from the face of the ruined world, he supposes a vehement wind to have arisen, which dried up a part, forced more through the clefts out of which they issued, and deposited the remainder in the bed of the ocean; which he imagines not to have existed before. The uncertainty of every calculation respecting comets, and the possibility that their tails and atmospheres are streams of electric fluid, and not aqueous vapors, render this ingenious theory very questionable. 3. M. DE LA PRYME,* concludes that the antediluvian world resembled the present one: but that the deluge was effected by violent earthquakes, breaking up its whole surface-absorbing continents, islands, and the whole of the then dry land, correspondent portions of earth emerging from the antediluvian sea. Three objections rise against this theory: 1. The Mosaic history says. nothing of earthquakes. 2. Amid commotions so. terrible as those which must necessarily be caused by the sinking of the earth, the ark itself could not have been preserved without miracle. 3. Earthquakes operate suddenly and violently: but the Bible affirms that the flood came on gradually, although irresistibly. 4. The eloquent and ingenious ST. PIERRE,† imagines that the deluge may be accounted for on the sup • See Enclyclopedia Britannica-article Deluge. |