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into the world, and by sin, death. But such would also have been equally the case had the first human beings derived to themselves, and transmitted through their own persons to their descendants, a knowledge of moral good and evil, with a mechanism of corrupt passions, by any other specific process than that recorded by Moses. So long as our sense of right and wrong is accurate, whilst, at the same time, the spirit of disobedience is strong within us, sin, however at first introduced, will continue to prevail; and where sin is, there its natural consequences must be presumed to follow, unless such a result can be shown to be superseded by some effectual counteraction, such as every Christian believes to be afforded by the expiatory merits of his Saviour. Of one thing we may be quite certain, namely, that had any other explanation of the first origin of sin and death been 'given to us, it would have been as unsparingly criticised, and as dogmatically rejected by the sceptic, as that which we are taught to receive as the correct historical fact. At the same time, we may venture confidently to assert, that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the imagination to invent a theory more exactly accordant with what we know by experience of our own nature, than that which has thus come to us under the presumed sanction of revelation.

CHAPTER VIII.

Of the History of the general Deluge, and the Confusion of Tongues.

FEW, if any, physical facts appear more difficult to account for, upon any known principles of experimental science, than that of the general deluge, as asserted in Scripture; and yet, perhaps, there is not one of those which do not fall within the course of our own actual experience, the absolute certainty of which is more completely demonstrated by the traces left of its existence upon the surface of the globe. It is the opinion of most geologists that several submersions of the crust of the earth, in whole or in part, have taken place from time to time in the course of the order of nature. All of them, however, appear to be unanimously agreed that one deluge at least, answering exactly to that recorded by Moses, did certainly prevail at a period subsequent to the creation of the present races of animals, whose relics are still found in vast abundance in the most recent strata.is, therefore, perfectly vain to start objections, derived from abstract speculations of our own creation, against the physical possibility of an event, the certainty of which has been thus substantiated by irrefragable evidence. From the case in question, however, we may at all events derive an important lesson with regard to any sceptical doubts which, from the presumed certainty of the conclusions of experimental science, we may feel disposed to entertain on the subject of other perternatural occurrences related in the Holy Scriptures. Were we to have recourse to theory alone, we no doubt should have little hesitation in pronouncing upon the extreme improbability, not to say the impossibility, of a deluge, such as that which we read of in the writings of

Moses. Voltaire, who took up this ground, but whose knowledge in experimental philosophy was too superficial to render his objections formidable, asserts boldly the demonstration of the falsity of the scriptural narrative. "The physical impossibility," he says, "of a universal deluge by any natural means is proveable by the most rigorous demonstration." It is amusing to observe that he lays down, as the first principle on which to build this rigorous course of proof, the palpably unfounded assertion, that the average depth of the ocean does not exceed 500 feet. Upon the assumption of this position, accompanied by the gratuitous one that the relative depths and elevation of the bed of the ocean, and of the adjoining continents are, under all circumstances, incapable of any variation, the necessity of the conclusion to which he would arrive seems indeed sufficiently obvious. In answer again to the supposition that the submersion of the earth to the depth asserted by Scripture, could be produced by rain discharged from the atmosphere, it has been shown by other writers, (and in this case, on correct philosophical principles) not only that the time required to produce such a mass of water from that source would be much longer that the scriptural account would appear to allow, but also that even if the entire atmosphere with all its contents, were condensed into water, the whole volume, thus produced, would not occasion a deluge much exceeding thirty feet in height. In the hope of meeting this objection, other theories have been suggested from time to time, such as that of a change in the inclination of the earth's axis, an alteration in the rate of its diurnal rotation, the attraction of a comet, and other causes of a similar nature, founded upon the presumed established facts of modern experimental science. It is, however, generally admitted that none of these ingenious and well-intentioned suggestions are in all respects satisfactory. After all we must be content to learn on this, as on almost every

other theological subject, a lesson of salutary humility, and to abide by the demonstration which we possess of the actual certainty of the recorded event, without hoping to explain what resources Divine Providence may have in store, in the magazine of secondary causes for the operation of its ends.

"There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreampt of in your philosophy."

Still, however, without attempting to propose any thing like a solution of the difficulties which beset this subject, we may venture to observe, that the assertion, which has been so confidently made, that the whole globe of the earth, and the whole atmosphere united, do not contain a sufficient quantity of fluid for such a submersion of the earth, as that related in Scripture, is any thing rather than borne out by the most accurate calculations of men of science. Scripture declares that the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep was made to cooperate on that occasion with the descent of rain; or, as it is styled in revelation, the opening of the windows of heaven. The present proportion of the surface of the sea, as compared with that of the land, is generally estimated as two parts in three. With regard to the actual extreme depth of the ocean, nothing can be inferred beyond probable conjectures. No soundings, from the operation of well known causes, have ever descended much beyond a mile, but there is strong reason for believing that the mean depth very far exceeds that amount. There would, perhaps, be no improbability in the supposition which would consider six miles as the mean depth. Be that, however, as it may, there is every reason to suppose that the solid surface of the earth has, subsequently to its creation, undergone violent changes affecting its partial elevation and depression. Were then the present bed of the ocean raised by any strong subterranean action, to the level of the adjoining

continents, the deluge produced would most probably at least equal that related by Moses; or again the same effect might in great measure be produced by the depression of the land itself; or in the third place, we may imagine both causes cooperating on the occasion alluded to. The most plausible surmise we can make, both with reference to the language of Scripture, and in explanation of existing phenomena, seems to be that some important change was produced at that important epoch upon the surface of the globe, by which the relative proportion of land and sea became permanently altered. What that change was, however, it is difficult, if not impossible, to form a well-grounded opinion. There appears to be some warrant in Scripture for the supposition that rain was unknown in the antediluvian ages. At least the appearance of the rainbow upon the subsidence of the waters of the deluge, is described in a manner to leave the impression of its being the first occurrence of that phenomenon; and with regard to the state of the world before the fall of our first parents, it is expressly asserted that "no rain fell from the heavens in those days, but there went up a dew which watered the ground," whilst no intimation is given that this state of things was altered till the time of the deluge. We can, however, account for the absence of rain upon any known natural principles only, by the supposition that the proportion of sea, as compared with that of dry land was much less in the antediluvian ages, than it has been subsequently to that crisis. The diminished evaporation which would take place under such circumstances, would apparently produce the result now supposed. So long as the earth was. only thinly and partially peopled, such a state of things as that here surmised would not be incompatible with the wants of mankind, though it would be perfectly inconsistent with the general diffusion of population over the whole globe. The change which took place at that same period, in the average duration of human

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