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imagined, that the deluge should not be considered as having 

 covered the whole face of the earth. His Lordship was of opinion, 

 that some parts of the then habitable world, which by the force of 

 the deluge were separated into islands, and were divided from the 

 continent whereon the ark landed, were in some sort exempted 

 from the common calamity, brought on the rest of the world by 

 the deluge ; inasmuch, his Lordship says, as the continent of Ame- 

 rica, and many islands in the East Indies, are at present partly 

 inhabited by wild beasts and noxious animals, which it is not rea- 

 sonable to imagine, that any body could or would, have imported 

 thither since that time *. 



To account for this particular circumstance, may not, perhaps, 

 be very easy; but, however, it is not necessary to be done, in 

 proving the prevalence of the deluge over every part of the known 

 world ; since testimonies sufficient to this fact, are yielded by those 

 wonderfully preserved remains of former ages, which form the ge- 

 neral subject of these inquiries, and which have been discovered in 

 almost every part of the known world. Even the very spots which 

 were thus pointed out, by his Lordship, as having been exempted 

 from the fate of the rest of the world, contain the most astonishing 

 and interesting remains of organized beings ; at once proving that 

 the waters of the deluge did cover the whole earth, and leading us 

 to regard the globe we inhabit as one vast tomb of a former world. 



Assuming it then as proved that the deluge did overwhelm the 

 whole of this globe, it next becomes necessary, to inquire what 

 changes were probably thus effected. Very different opinions have 

 been maintained respecting the degree of change which took place 

 on the earth, in consequence of the deluge. Some have supposed 

 that the change was but slight and superficial, affecting the upper 

 surface only of the earth ; but others, considering the declaration 



* Vindication of the Histories of the Old and New Testament, p. HI. 



