Chap". 4$.] Proofs that the Earth is fphericd. 301 



fand years. That its form is fphcrical, was firft con- 

 jeftured from the curved line which bounds the 



earth's 



full power, the Denial principle was a!fo much greater than at 

 prefent; vegetation and animal increafe were carried on with more 

 vigour; and all nature feemed teeming with the feeds of life. But 

 thefe phyfical advantages were only productive ef moral evil; the 

 warmth which invigorated the body encreafed the paffions and 

 appetites of the mind; and, as man became, more powerful, he 

 grew lefs innocent. It was found necefi'ary to puaifh this depra- 

 vity ; and all living creatures were overwhelmed by th.2 deluge ia 

 univerfal deflruclion. 



* This deluge, which fimple believers ai;e willing to afcribe to 

 a miracle, philofophers have been long defirpus tg account for by 

 natural caufes: they have proved that the earth could never Sup- 

 ply from any refervoir towards its center, nor,tke atmofphere by 

 any difcharge from above, fuch a quantity of water as would cover 

 the furface of the globe to a certain depth over the tops of our 

 higheft mountains. Where, therefore, was all this \vater to be 

 found ? Whifton has found enough, and more than a fufEciency, 

 in the tail of a comet; for he feems to allot comets a very active 

 part in the great operations of nature. 



* Us calculates with great feemirig, precifion, the year, the 

 month, ana the day of the week on which this comet (which has 

 paid the earth fome vifits ftnce, though at a kinder alliance) in- 

 volved our globe in its tail. The tail he fuppp&d to be a vapour- 

 ous fluid fubitance, exhaied from the body of the comet, by the 

 extreme heat of the fun, and in creating in proportion as it ap- 

 proached that great luminary. It was in tins that our globe was 

 involved at the time of the deluge ; and, as the earth full aded by 

 its natural attraction, it drew to itfelf all the watery vapours which, 

 were in the comet's tail ; and the internal waters being alfo at the 

 fame time let loofe, in a very fhort fpace the tops of the lughel 

 mountains were laid under the deep. 



The punifbment of the deluge being thus completed, and all the 

 guilty destroyed, the earth, which had been bvoken by the erup- 

 tion of the internal waters, was alfo enlarged by it ; fo that upon 

 the comet's recefs, there was found room fuflicient in the internal 

 abyfs fpr the recefs of the fuperfluous waters ; whither they all re- 

 . tired, and left the earth uncovered, but in fome refpe&s changed, 

 particularly in its figure, which, from being round, was now be- 

 come oblate. In this univerfal wreck of nature "Noah furvived, by 



