position, that on the year in which this great event took place, the action of the vertical sun, was not confined to that portion of the globe, which is contained between the tropics, but was carried over the accumulated mountains of ice, at the northern and southern poles: which extraordinary circumstance, he thinks easily and naturally explained, by supposing that the earth, instead of preserving the parallel position of its poles, presented each of them, alternately, to the sun's verticle beams. It seems impossible to form any hypothesis free from difficulty: and each of those stated, bearing a greater or less degree of probability, supposes, what in fact every theory must allow, an immediate interposition of divine power and agency. Admit only the fact, that HE who made the world, destroyed it by water; and he could be at no loss for means to accomplish his awful design. The quantity of water required is immense: but not impossible to be raised.* Who has descended to his central storehouse? or seen the magazine of his rain and hail, treasured up against the day of wrath? Who can affirm that God has not a sufficient quantity of water in the earth for this grand purpose? It has been proved, that no less than one thousand six hundred gallons of water have been exhaled from one acre of land, and dispersed into the air, in twelve of the hottest hours of a summer's day, and when there had been no rain for above a month, and the earth was parched by continual heat!"* Besides, the sacred writer is consistent with himself. He represents the earth originally covered, in its unformed state, with water, till the voice of God said, "Let the See note 6, to this Lecture at the end of the volume, waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so."† If this theory be just, then is the deluge effected only by reducing the earth to its primeval state, and giving it over again to the dominion of the waters. Admit only, from the reasoning of the first part of this Lecture, the fact of a deluge; and from the second, the hand of Omnipotence in the production of it; and there can be no difficulty which does not melt away under his resistless operations. Had there been no deluge, it were difficult to account for the universal traditions respecting it: still more so, to explain the appearances presented in the face of nature itself. It was impossible. for Moses to impose the belief of it upon the Jews, appealing as he did to the names found in the line of their immediate ancestors, and fixing a certain era for this wonderful event. Many of them were well acquainted with the contemporaries of Joseph: Joseph with the particulars of the life of Abraham: and Abraham lived in the days of the sons of Noah. Now the Jews must have received traditionary accounts of every remarkable event, handed down through successive generations, in other channels besides the writings of Moses. Had his history clashed with these traditions, they could not have failed to observe it; and had he attempted to impose a fable upon them, they could not have failed to detect it. And such a detection at the commencement of his history, could not have failed to weaken, in the minds of his contemporaries especially, the authority and validity of the whole. But we must notice • Cen. i, 9. III. SOME OBJECTIONS, RAISED AGAINST THIS ACCOUNT. OBJECTION 1, is raised against THE ARK ITSELF. many have supposed it too small for the purposes assigned to it. We might have presumed, had not Moses informed us, that a vessel so constructed, so designed, and so employed, could not have sprang from mere human contrivance. The length of it was three hundred cubits; the breadth, fifty; the height, thirty. The difficulty is to determine what was the exact measure of this cubit. Some fearing that the ark would not be sufficiently capacious for its destination, if measured by the common cubit, have enlarged its dimensions to extravagance. It is generally agreed, however, that they were common cubits: one of which, although formerly estimated at eighteen of our inches, is now allowed to contain twenty-two. According to this measurement, the ark must have been, in length 547 2-10 English feet; in breadth, 91 2-10; in in height, 54 2-10; and its solid contents amount to over 2,730,781: almost double what it would be by the former computation. The form of it was an ob. long square, with a flat bottom, and a sloped roof, raised a cubit in the middle. It had neither sails, nor rudder; and was admirably adapted to float steadily on the water, without rolling, which might have endangered the lives of the animals: but it was unfit to endure a boisterous sea. It consisted of three stories: each of which might be about eighteen feet high; and was partitioned into numerous apartments. It was, without doubt, so formed, as to admit a proper proportion of light, and air, on the sides; although the particular construction of the windows, is not mentioned. The whole seems to have had another covering, be sides the roof; probably made of skins, like that of the tabernacle. Noah is said, after the flood, to have removed the "covering of the ark;" which cannot be supposed to be the roof, but something drawn over it, like the covering of the tabernacle; which is also expressed by the same Hebrew word; and such a covering was probably used to defend the windows.* Upon this estimate, the ark appears to be sufficiently large and commodious, for the purposes for which it was constructed. OBJECTION 2, arises from THE DIFFICULTY OF ACCOUNTING FOR THE PEOPLING OF AMERICA; AND FROM THE SUPPOSED IMPOSSIBILITY OF WILD CREATURES OF ALL KINDS EXISTING IN ONE PLACE. With regard to the latter of these difficulties, it is removed, if we suppose, what is at least probable, that there might be such a temperature of air before the deluge, as was suited to the constitution of every animal. Respecting the difficulty of peopling America, it is neither impossible nor improbable, after the pattern afforded them in the ark, that some sort of a vessel or flotilla should be constructed, which would be sufficiently strong to convey them, by a north-east pas. sage, to their destination. The greater difficulty is, the existence of wild creatures, and mischievous animals: which men neither would, nor could transport; unless some restraint had been laid upon their ferocity, similar to that which existed while they remained in the ark. But the modern geographical discoveries have removed the weight of this objection. The straits which divide North America from Tartary, are so narrow, as to admit a very easy passage from one This account and calculation is principally extracted from Ane, Univ. Hist. vol. i, c. 7-on the Deluge. continent to the other; and it is not impossible that they might even have been united by an isthmus which time and the waves, in their combined influence, have demolished.* OBJECTION 3, has been urged against THE DESTRUC TION OF INFANTS AMONG THE INHABITANTS OF THE OLD WORLD. We shall not attempt to develope the reason why the Almighty permits devastation among children: but we will venture to affirm, that this is no objection against the Deluge itself, as a fact, any more than against the existence of earthquakes, which equally bury infants in their ruins. There is an equal propriety in urging it against the one fact, as the other; and if it will not be admitted as an objection in the one instance, neither ought it to be pressed as a difficulty in the other. Those who oppose the fact on this ground, affirm that it is "contrary to the justice of God." We contend, with a learned writert, that "they have no right, in fairness of reasoning, to urge any apparent deviation from moral justice, as an argument against revealed religion; when they do not urge an equally apparent deviation from it as an argument against natural religion. They reject the former, and admit the latter, without considering, that, as to their objection, "they must stand or fall together;" because the apparent deviation is the same in both cases. OBJECTION 4, respects THE RAINBOW. The reasoning adopted is as follows: The same causes must always produce the same effects; consequently it is an absurdity in the Mosaic relation, to speak of the rainbow, as formed after the flood, and as the sign of a The reader may consult on this subject, Dodd. Lect. pt. vi. §8, under prop. cxix. p. 350, $51, 4to edit. Bishop Watson, in his excellent Apology for the Bible, |