THE NOACHIAN FLOOD 1 . 



DARWINISM implies almost throughout that no uni- 

 versal Deluge has drowned our globe, either within the 

 last ten thousand years, or even within a period in- 

 definitely longer. Let us speak with due respect of the 

 contrary belief. It seems to rest upon the testimony of 

 a Volume the most precious in the world. It was taken 

 for granted till a few years back as much in science as 

 in religion. For a while, the arguments that began to 

 be raised against it were met by counter-arguments so 

 plausible, and the objectors differed so widely among 

 themselves, that unscientific opinion had a kind of right 

 and prudence in adhering to that which had been taught 

 for centuries, and was still taught without deviation in 

 nursery, and school, and pulpit. 



We should have asserted a better right and shown a 

 higher prudence, had we waited, in a matter which 

 concerned science full as much as it concerned religion, 



1 The design of this Essay was not, as has been erroneously supposed, 

 to disprove the universality of the Deluge by help of Darwinism, but to 

 remove one great obstacle to the general acceptance of Darwinism by 

 disproving the universality of the Deluge. Taking the Theory of 

 Development for granted, a recent universal Deluge would be too 

 obviously impossible to need arguing against. 



