Against the first opinion there is, accordingly, this preliminary objection, that either it takes for granted that the whole world was peopled in the days of Noah, or it represents as involved in ruin large tracts of land, fair and fertile, though uninhabited by man. For the first alternative there is no evidence in Scripture. Indeed, the whole narrative of the preparation of the ark and Noah's intercourse with his fellow-men, leads us to infer that the population of the globe at the time was not so extensive but that the warnings of the patriarch could be everywhere heard and known. It would have been a vain task if his single voice had been required to sound in all lands. The second alternative is equally adverse to the opinion of the universality of the deluge, for it necessitates our belief in the destruction of large portions of the earth's surface where man had never been, and which could not, therefore, have become tainted and defiled by sin—a view that is opposed to the known modes of God's dealings with his creatures. But against the idea of a gene ral flood over the whole globe simultaneously, many arguments of much greater force may be brought forward. These are derived from a con sideration of the laws by which the present economy of nature is regulated. If it be objected to these arguments that the deluge was a miracle, and must, accordingly, be judged apart from the operation of law, it is sufficient to reply that, whether a miracle or not, it was brought about by the ordinary agencies of nature ; the fountains of the deep were broken up ;' that is, the land was depressed and the sea rolled over it ; the windows of• heaven were opened,' in other words, a con stant and heavy rain was sent upon the earth ; and again, when the waters were to be dried off the land, a wind was made to blow upon them. In short, from the beginning to the end of the narra tive in Genesis, we meet with no setting aside of the laws of nature. Everything is done in strict accordance with those laws, as if to teach a truth which is very apt to be forgotten in the present day, that what we call the laws of nature is only the constant mode in which the Creator acts, and that by the operation of these laws, directed as he sees fit, he works out his purposes in creation.
Astronomy, geology, and zoology each furnish evidence against the universality of any flood over this earth.
The astronomical difficulties are indeed insuper able. Granting, for an instant, that from some unknown source a vast body of water was intro duced on the surface of our planet, we are led to ask what would be the result ? It can be shewn that there was no general collapse of the earth's crust, and the water must therefore have risen five miles above the sea-level, so as to cover the top of the highest mountain. The effect of this would be to increase the equatorial diameter of the earth by some ten or twelve miles. The orbit round the sun would consequently be altered. The in fluence of its attraction on the planets would be increased, and thus the element of disorder would reach to the remotest regions of space. But let us suppose that a change of this kind was per mitted to extend though the universe, what is the next step in this series of impossible suppositions ? After a period of less than a year the waters assuage, and the earth is once more as it used to be. Here, again, another change must have ex
tended through the firmament. The old relations of the heavenly bodies are re-established, and the orbits continue as -they were before the flood. Thus we must suppose a serious alteration to have disturbed every celestial body throughout the whole universe, to have lasted while our earth performed some three hundred revolutions on its axis, and then to have ceased by the return of everything to the original condition. And this stupendous system of aberration had for its object the destruction of a race of creatures inhabiting a mere speck among the planetary systems ! No one will pretend that this hypothesis has any shadow of probability.
Many years have not elapsed since it was be lieved that the revelations of geology tended in a very marked manner to confirm the commonly re ceived view of the deluge. Over the greater part of Great Britain and Ireland, and throughout cen tral and northern Europe, as well as North America, there exists immediately under the vegetable soil a deposit of clay, sand, or gravel, often very tumul tuously arranged. This deposit, in the infancy of geological science, was set down as the product of Caine great rush of waters, and as it was plainly one of the most recent formations of the globe, it came to be regarded as beyond question the result of that old deluge by which the human race had been destroyed. It received accordingly the name diluv jam, and from its very general occurrence in both hemispheres, it was held to be a confirmation of the Bible narrative of the flood that covered `all the high hills that were under the whole heaven.' But the identification proved too hasty. A more careful examination of the diluvium sheaved that it belonged to many different periods, and had to a considerable extent resulted from local causes, act ing over limited areas. It was ascertained, how ever, that one kind of diluvium having a wide diffusion over the northern parts of Europe and America, must have been produced by one great cause acting in the same geological period. The agency which gave rise to this ' drift ' was never theless shewn to be not a rush of water, but ice coining from the north, either in the form of a glacier or as icebergs, and bearing with it enormous quantities of sand, mud, and stones. Thus the last hope of sustaining the doctrine of a universal deluge by an appeal to geological facts fell to the ground. Not only does geology afford no evidence in favour of such a doctrine, but it tends to support the opposite view. The notion of a simultaneous and universal desolation of the globe finds no countenance among those stony records in which the primeval history of our planet is graven, as with a pen of iron in the rock for ever. There are indeed many gaps in the chronicle, many passages that have been blotted out in whole or in part, and some pages that seem never to have been inscribed among rocks at all, but these are only local. What is wanting in one place is often made up in another, and though even at the best the record is full of imperfections, the geologist can confidently affirm that its whole tenor goes to disprove any universal catastrophe, and to shew that the extinc tion of successive races of plants and animals has been imperceptibly effected during immensely pro tracted periods of time.