heaven" means a small and limited locality in central Asia; and that "all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven," means no hills at all! that the water did not cover the hills, but only inundated a low district! And this is put forth to sustain the Bible against the objections of free-thinkers, against "profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science, falsely so called!" We blush to see such criticisms from men holding the office of Christian teachers. We say, fearlessly and deliberately, that the truth of the Bible is not worth sustaining by these means. of defense and exposition be necessary, the book requiring it cannot give a certain sound, or be regarded with confidence as an unerring teacher. Give us the unquestioned right to use these canons of interpretation, and we will engage to prove any proposition, however monstrous or absurd, by quotations from the pages of Scripture.

If such a line

But what is gained by this forced and unnatural construction of the sacred narrative? Is it more natural to suppose that God should pile up a mountain of waters on Armenia, than that he should do what he threatened-drown the whole world? Is it more congruous to suppose that Noah should have been commanded to build an ark, the largest floating vessel ever constructed, and to have collected and preserved in it a great number of animals and fowls in pairs, when only a small territory was intended to be inundated, than to believe that the whole earth was covered with water?

We seriously object to follow the advocates of a partial deluge, in pronouncing what is necessary or unnecessary, where infinite Wisdom and infinite Power are engaged. When God propounds his purpose, it seems profane for man to judge of its suitability or propriety. Yet, if we were to follow the example of those whose opinions we controvert, we would direct special attention to two particulars. We are told that a universal deluge was unnecessary. We ask, Can anything be conceived more unnecessary than the erection of the ark, and the crowding it with living animals, if a few wagons and the journey of a few days would have effected the object designed? Why, in such a case, was not Noah, like Abraham afterward, called of God to leave his father's house, and to journey into another land? Such a pilgrimage as that taken by the latter patriarch would, according to the theory of a partial deluge, have abundantly sufficed to carry Noah to a place of safety. Should those whose scheme is open to such objections talk

to us of what is unnecessary?* But, not satisfied with this, they tell us that it is impossible; and then we are expected to believe that a certain district is inundated, and that the waters are piled up for this purpose. It will not be attempted to show that there is any district of sufficient compass to be the theatre of this great event, which could be completely inundated without the interposition of miraculous power. Yet the persons who talk of impossibilities expect us to believe that a certain locality is covered with a heap of waters; that on this the ark floats without sliding down on the one side or the other; but continues swimming on its watery elevation until it finally rests on the top of a mountain!

We take the Scripture narrative in its plain and obvious sense, as unquestionably teaching that the whole earth was submerged in water. "All the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered." "All the high hills under the whole heaven." The language labors to convey the idea of geographical universality; but mountains are the highest hills; and yet these were covered with fifteen cubits of water.

But it is urged, secondly, "Whence came such immense quantities of water? And what became of it afterward?" Now, suppose we should simply and frankly reply, that we cannot tell; how would our ignorance affect the Scriptural statement? The Bible teaches us, that the deluge was effected by a special interposition of divine power, for the accomplishment of a great moral purpose; it was therefore miraculous; and those who believe in the deluge in any other sense, do not receive the Scriptural testimony. Are we, then, to reject the Scriptural relation of a miracle, unless we can, on natural principles, account for the manner in which it took place? When the Jordan was divided for the Israel of God to pass over, what was it that kept the congregated mass of fluid in a heap? Are we expected to describe this, or to say that it was impossible?

But the difficulties connected with a universal deluge are not so great as has been represented.

It appears that the quantity of water necessary for this purpose

* Dr. Pye Smith, while laboring to show that a universal deluge was unnecessary, expresses his "humble opinion” that the population of the antediluvian world “ was really small, that it was in a course of rapid progress toward an extreme reduction, which would have issued in a not very distant extinction." And so a partial deluge was necessary to destroy the few men who remained, before they all died off!

has been greatly exaggerated. An eminent author, to whom reference has been already made, supposes that water sufficient to cover the earth to a depth of five and a half miles above the present level of the sea would be required to cover all the mountains of the earth. And yet this same writer, in endeavoring to account for the partial deluge which he advocates, supposes "an elevation of the bed of the Persian and Indian seas, or a subsidence of the inhabited land toward the south;" while the draining of the submerged district is supposed to have been effected by "a return of the bed of the sea to a lower level, or by the elevation of some tracts of land, which would leave channels and slopes for the larger part of the water to flow back into the Indian Ocean."-Scripture and Geology, p. 304.

Now we have nothing to say against this hypothesis in the abstract; but we have reason to object to its exclusive application. The supposition that ocean-beds were raised, and high lands sunk, is sufficient, if admitted, to make any doctrine of the deluge plausible. Like a suit of chain-armor, it stretches over every part of a scheme, and wards off opposition as it arises. But it is manifestly unjust for such persons to argue, against the literal interpretation of the Scripture narrative, that it would require five miles' depth of water to deluge the earth; and then, when accounting for a favorite mode, to take the liberty of sinking mountains, raising ocean-beds, and abolishing difficulties, as if a monopoly of some almighty mechanism was guarantied for their special private advantage.

We have no wish to dwell on this subject: but simply observe, that if it is a fact, clearly ascertained by careful observation, that large districts of country have greatly altered their elevation, that even the Andes* have been so affected; then we think some caution is necessary when men speak of the quantity of water requisite to submerge the earth five thousand years ago.

We transcribe the following observations on this point from the pen of an eminent scientific writer: "It will be deemed a sufficient allowance, when we suppose the waters of the deluge to have been four miles deep on the surface of the ground. Now,

*"Reflecting on the proofs in our possession, of the local revolutions that have happened, on the site of each port, within the last century and a half, our conceptions must be greatly exalted respecting the magnitude of the alterations which the country between the Andes and the sea may have undergone, even in the course of the last six thousand years."-Lyell's Principles of Geology, vol. iii, p. 273.

it is certain that water, or any other matter, when spread out at large upon the ground, seems to occupy an immense space in comparison to that which it does when contained in a cubical vessel, or when packed together in a cubical form. A cube of ten miles of water would very nearly overflow two hundred and fiftysix square miles of plain ground to the height of four miles. But if we take into account the vast number of eminences with which the surface of the earth abounds, the above-mentioned quantity of water would cover a great deal more. If, therefore, we attempt to calculate the quantity of water sufficient to deluge the earth, we must make a very considerable allowance for the bulk of all the hills upon its surface. But, to consider the matter in its utmost latitude, the surface of the earth is supposed by the latest computations to contain about 199,512,595 square miles. In order to overflow this surface to the height of four miles, there is required a parallelopiped of water sixteen miles deep, and containing 49,878,148 square miles of surface. Now, considering the immense thickness of the globe of the earth, it is by no means improbable that this quantity of water might be contained in its bowels, without the necessity for any remarkable abyss or huge collection of water, such as most of our theorists suppose to exist in the centre. It is certain that, as far as the earth has been mined, it has been found not dry, but moist ; nor have we any reason to imagine that it is not at least equally moist to the centre. How moist it really is, cannot be known; nor can the quantity of water requisite to impart to it the degree of moisture it has, be ascertained; but we are certain it must be immense. It was not, however, from the bowels of the earth alone that the waters were discharged, but also from the air; for we are assured by Moses that it rained forty days and forty nights. But this source of the diluvian waters has been considered as of small consequence by almost every one who has written on the subject.

"With reference to this subject, we must observe, however that there is a very general mistake with regard to the air, similar to that above mentioned regarding the earth. Because the earth below our feet appears to our senses firm and compact, therefore the vast quantity of water contained, even in the most solid parts of it, and which will readily appear on proper experiment, is overlooked. In like manner, because the air does not always deluge with excessive rains, it is also imagined that it contains but little water. Because the pressure of the air is able

to raise only thirty-two feet of water on the surface of the earth, it is therefore supposed that we may ascertain to what depth the atmosphere would deluge the earth if it were to discharge the whole water contained in it. But we know that the pressure of the atmosphere has not the least connection with the quantity of water which it contains. Nay, if there is any connection, the air, as exhibited by the barometer, seems to be lightest when it contains most water. For these reasons we think that the quantity of water contained in the whole atmosphere ought to be considered as indefinite, especially as we know that by whatever agent it is suspended, that agent must counteract the force of gravity, otherwise the water would immediately descend.

"The above considerations render it at least probable that there is in nature a quantity of water sufficient to deluge the world, provided it were applied to that purpose. We must now consider whether there be any natural agent powerful enough to effect this purpose; and we shall take the phrases used by Moses in their most obvious sense. The breaking up of the fountains of the deep we may reasonably suppose to have been the opening of all passages, whether great or small, through which the subterranean waters could possibly discharge themselves on the surface of the earth. The opening of the windows of heaven we may also suppose to be the pouring out of the water contained in the atmosphere, through those invisible passages by which it enters in such a manner as to elude our senses, as when water is absorbed by the air in evaporation. As both these are said to have been opened at the same time, it seems probable that one natural agent was employed to do both. Now it is certain that the industry of modern inquiry has discovered an agent unknown to former ages, the influence of which is so great, that, with regard to this world, it may be said to possess a kind of omnipotence. The agent which we mean is electricity. It is certain that by its means immense quantities of water can be raised to a great height in the air. This is clearly proved by the phenomena of water-spouts. Mr. Forster relates, that he happened to see one break very near him, and observed a flash of lightning to proceed from it at the moment of its breaking. The conclusion from all this is obvious. When the electric matter was discharged from the water, it could no longer be supported by the atmosphere, but immediately descended. Though water-spouts do not often appear in this country, yet every one must have