AND THEORY OF THE HEAVENS. 131 



what the consequence of this would be. The whole 

 world was submerged under water. And, besides, it 

 sucked in with the foreign and subtle vapours of this 

 unnatural rain, that slow poison which brought all creatures 

 nearer death and destruction. At the same time, the 

 figure of that pale and light bow now disappeared from 

 the horizon ; and the new world, which could never recall 

 its appearance without feeling terror before this fearful 

 instrument of Divine vengeance, saw perhaps with no 

 little consternation in the first rain that fell, that coloured 

 bow which seemed by its figure to be a copy of the first, 

 but which through the assurance of Heaven being recon- 

 ciled, was to be a gracious sign and monument of the 

 continuous preservation of the now altered earth. The 

 resemblance of the form of this memorial sign with the 

 event it indicated, may recommend such an hypothesis 

 to those who are devoted to the prevailing tendency to 

 bring the miracles of Revelation into a system along with 

 the ordinary laws of nature. I find it more advisable 

 to sacrifice the transient approval which such harmonizings 

 may awaken, entirely to the true pleasure which arises 

 from the perception of the regular connection of things, 

 when physical analogies support each other in demonstrat- 

 ing physical truths. 



