"Power," the same "Divine Arm." This was, assuredly, the only "cause foreign to our globe "and solar system, that was capable of giving "to the waters of the deep their unexampled

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impetuosity." And, since we have no reason whatever for supposing that a similar catastrophe can ever occur by the operation of any known laws of nature, and since we are assured, by the Author of those laws, that it never shall occur again, Newton would not have wasted a moment in searching for the cause by which it was produced; but would have concluded, here as elsewhere, certainly that which can never be hereafter without a supernatural power, could "never be before without a supernatural power1."

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An eminent French mathematician, however, deprives himself of this consolation, by choosing to doubt of" the nature of the stability of equilibrium "in the sea;" and he propounds, "that there is "reason to fear, that some extraordinary cause may "communicate to the sea a concussion, which, though inconsiderable at first, may increase more and more, and raise it above the highest mountains; which (he observes) would explain many phenomena of natural history." Until, however, he shews reason for doubting the stability of equilibrium in the sea, we certainly have no reason to fear that calamity; and Moses and

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1 Fourth Letter to BENTLEY.

2 LA PLACE, Systême du Monde, chap. ii. p. 265.

Newton concur to relieve us from all doubt. Neither need we wait for that event, to enable us to explain the "phenomena of natural history" to which he so plainly alludes; for, we have already ascertained, both the "extraordinary cause" which alone could effect such a revolution of the sea, and also, the nature of the revolution which was actually effected by that cause; and, therefore, we are already in possession of the means for explaining the phenomena which were occasioned by that revolution.

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By the continued action of the powerful agents thus employed by God, His awful purpose was at length fully effected; namely, the destruction of " every living thing of all flesh, clean and unclean," (excepting only those few individuals which were destined to keep seed alive upon the earth,)" together with THE EARTH ITSELF," on which they had subsisted. Meanwhile, the ark and its inhabitants, guided throughout all this period of devastation by the particular providence of God, obtained at length a lodgment upon a solid base; which, after the waters had entirely subsided, and were a second time" gathered together

into ONE PLACE," proved to be the summit of a mountain on the new earth, which was afterwards denominated Ararat, in the region of AR"Listen!" (says St. Chrysostom,)" the Deluge, was the common wreck of the in"habited land; the cataracts were opened, the abyss flowed out again, and every thing was

MENIA.

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"water the visible things were resolved into "their elements; earth no longer appeared, for all « was sea. - Behold now a miracle ! When “ the earth had been obliterated, when those "who had worked wickedness were extermi

nated, and when the tempest had subsided, the "summits of the mountains appeared; -the ark “ rested; its doors were opened; and Noah went “ forth, preserved from the wreck. He beheld "the earth desolated; he beheld a tumultuary

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sepulchre, the mud, a sepulchre common to beasts and men; all the carcasses, of horses, “ and of men, and of all unintelligent animals, " imbedded in the same tomb. He beheld that

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tragedy ! — All had perished; neither man, nor beast, nor any other of the things that were "without the ark, was preserved; he beheld "heaven only (the same)1!"

The time allotted for the completion of this amazing revolution, was twelve months; during

1 Ακουε. εγενετο κατακλυσμος το κοινον της οικουμένης ναυαγιον καταρρακται ηνεχθησαν, και αβυσσοι ανεβλυσθησαν, και παντα ην ύδωρ· και τα φαινομενα ανεστοιχείουντο και γη ουκ εφαίνετο, αλλ' ην παντα πέλαγος. - Και ορα θαῦμα· ότε εξεκλυσθη ἡ γη, ότε ανηρέθησαν οἱ τα κακα εργασμενοι, ότε ελώφησεν ὁ χείμων, εφάντησεν αἱ κορυφαι των ορέων—εκάθισεν ή κιβωτος, και ανεργησαν αἱ θυραι. εξηλθε Νως, εκ των ναυαγίου διασωθείς βλέπει την γην ηρημωμένην βλεπει ταφον εσχε διασμένον, ελυν, ταφον κοινον κτηνεσι και ανθρωποις, παντα όμου τα σωματα ίππων, και ανθρωπων, και κτηνων αλόγων παντων κατακεχωσμενα. Είδε την τραγωδίαν εκείνην. παντες απωλοντο· ουκ ανθρωπος, ου κτηνος, ουκ των έξω της κιβωτου διεσώθη, ουρανον εβλεπε μονον. S. CHRYSOSTOM. tom. i. p. 782, 3.

αλλο τι

which period, as Josephus speaks, “God changed "the continent into sea". εις θαλασσαν την ηπειρον METEßaλE. But, that the transfer of the waters from the old into a new bed was not immediate and simultaneous, as, when they were congregated in the former bed on the third day of creation; on the contrary, that it was conducted with much gradation and calculable succession; is evident, both from the time employed in the process, and from the description of the record. And, here we must observe; that the historian, having notified in the terms of the divine threat the fact of the destruction of the EARTH, proceeds, as in his narration of the Creation, to describe the progress of the catastrophe practically and optically', as the effects would have appeared to the eye of the spectator; and it is for us to refer those effects to their proper causes, by principles of reason exercised upon their appearances in this case, as in the former case; and to deduce from them such conclusions, as that optical description is justly qualified to yield.

It is not possible, to apprehend correctly the description afforded us of that vast operation which our version renders, "the fountains of the great

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deep were broken up," without resorting to the original text, and investigating the precise meaning of its terms. The original text is this-yp)

-fons, foun,מעין The word .כל מעינות תהום רבה

See above, vol. i. p. 162, 163.

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tain, is thus accurately expounded by Simon : propriè, vi formæ, locus ubi aqua fontis pro"fluit- this word properly signifies, by virtue "of its formation, the place where the waters "of a fountain issue forth." This is also the proper meaning of the Latin fons, from which we have derived our word fountain: Varro expounds it in almost the same words as SimonFons, unde funditur à terra aqua viva-the place from which a running water is discharged "from the earth:" (funditur, i. e. à fundo datur1.) The ry, fons, fountain of the great deep or abyss, will therefore correspondently signify"locus, "ubi aqua abyssi profluere conatur- the place, "where the congregated waters of the abyss toss and roar,' in their efforts to ' surpass their bounds,'" in other words, the sea-bed, ; which word, denotes the bounded receptacle in which the abyssal waters are congregated together. We are expressly told, that the sea, or D, iam, does not denote the waters, considered in themselves; but, only with relation to their receptacle, when they are so collected as to leave the adjoining land dry above them. Hence, the waters, and the sea, are continually distinguished in Scripture; the sea, denoting the place in which the waters subsist.

1 Thus, when Virgil says, "Nereus ciet æquora fundo," the fundus aquoris is the fons æquoris — the fountain or bed of the great deep. Hab. ii. 14, "full, as the waters cover the sea, i. e.

* Isaiah, xi. 9. "their bed."