2o8 THE PROBABLE CAUSES OF THE DELUGE. Ocl. I9, 



water, (and by the fpcts feen on his face it is more 

 than probable) it is poffible he might experience a re- 

 volution fomething fimilar to our flood : ior that our 

 flood was cccafioned by the near approach of -^ftometj 

 is a mofl natural fuppofuion, and in no wife militates 

 again [t the fcriptural dodlrine of that event ; as it v/as 

 as eafy and as confiftent for the Almighty to render 

 juftice by a fccondary caufe, as by an immediate in- 

 terpofition. Nor is his attribute of mercy arraigned 

 by the promifcuous deftrudlion the deluge uccafioned ; 

 for it is evident, by reafoning from his works, that he 

 governs the univerfe by *' general not by partial 

 " laws." 



The veftiges of the deluge are fo remarkable, both 

 on the furface and within the bowels of the earth, 

 that, if examined without prejudice, they prove, I 

 think beyond a doubt, that awful revolution to have 

 been the work of a comet. Not that the moifture of 

 its tail drowned the world, as was unphilofophicaliy 

 fuggefted by Whifton ; but, if the attraction of the 

 moon be capable of raihng the water of the fea 

 above its common level, what efi'ecls might not be 

 fuppofed from the nearer approach of a body perhaps 

 many thoufand times as large as the moon ? If a tide, 

 by fuch an attraction, was raifcd three or four miles 

 above the level of the fea, the earth, by turning on its 

 axis, would have that protuberance dragged over the 

 land, and its furface would be ploughed up into thofe 

 inequalities we call mountains ; for that mountains 

 are not of eternal duration, is e\ident from their 

 growing lefs even in the memory of man : for every 

 thing llrivcs at a level. Rains frdling on mountains 

 wafh down their afperitiesj this matter bemuds the 

 rivers, and banks our fea ; rocks themfelves yield up 

 their fantaftic figures to the effects of air, water, and 

 lieat ; and land has been growing into the water ever 

 fince the deluge. But why lliould all aflemblageB of 

 mountains be arranged like the little ridges of fand on. 



