THE LIGHTS OF THE CHURCH AND OF SCIENCE. 637 



guage and physical conformation. Whether the earth moves 

 round the sun or the contrary ; whether the bodily and mental 

 diseases of men and animals are caused by evil spirits or not ; 

 whether there is such an agency as witchcraft or not — all these 

 are purely scientific questions ; and to all of them the canonical 

 Scriptures profess to give true answers. And though nothing is 

 more common than the assumption* that these books come into 

 conflict only with the speculative part of modern physical science, 

 no assumption can have less foundation. 



The antagonism between natural knowledge and the Penta- 

 teuch would be as great if the speculations of our time had never 

 been heard of. It arises out of contradiction upon matters of fact. 

 The books of ecclesiastical authority declare that certain events 

 happened in a certain fashion ; the books of scientific authority 

 say they did not. As it seems that this unquestionable truth has 

 not yet penetrated among many of those who speak and write on 

 these subjects, it may be useful to give a full illustration of it. 

 And for that purpose I propose to deal, at some length, with the 

 narrative of the Noachian Deluge given in Genesis. 



The Bampton lecturer, in 1859, and the Canon of St. Paul's, in 

 1890, are in full agreement that this history is true, in the sense 

 in which I have defined historical truth. The former is of opinion 

 that the account attributed to Berosus records a tradition — 



not drawn from the Hebrew record, much less the foundation of that record; 

 yet coinciding with it in the most remarkable way. The Babylonian version is 

 tricked out with a few extravagances, as the monstrous size of the vessel and the 

 translation of Xisuthros ; but otherwise it is the Hebrew history down to its mi- 

 nutim (p. 64). 



Moreover, correcting Niebuhr, the Bampton lecturer points out 

 that the narrative of Berosus distinctly implies the universality 

 of the flood : 



It is plain that the waters are represented as prevailing above the tops of the 

 loftiest mountains in Armenia — a height which must have been seen to involve 

 the submersion of all the countries with which the Babylonians were acquainted 

 (p. 66). 



I may remark, in passing, that many people think the size of 

 Noah's ark " monstrous," considering the probable state of the art 

 of ship-building only sixteen hundred years after the origin of 

 man ; while others are so unreasonable as to inquire why the 

 translation of Enoch is less an extravagance than that of Xisu- 

 thros. It is more important, however, to note that the univer- 

 sality of the deluge is recognized, not merely as a part of the 



* For example, it appears to me to pervade and vitiate Mr. Wilfrid Ward's argument 

 in the last number of this review. 



