670 A FEW KEHARKS 



It is easy to settle such speculations by the i-eflection — " It was 

 the wiU of Him who is Almighty ;"" but as in most cases we 

 see that secondary causes are employed to work out His will, 

 we may imagine that the extraordinary prolongation of man's 

 existence was effected by such means. 



Connected with these questions respecting the additional 

 quantity of water is the reflection that the amount must have 

 been very great. This may be placed in another light. Sir John 

 Herschel says,* " On a globe of sixteen inches in diameter such 

 a mountain (five miles high) would be represented by a pro- 

 tuberance of no more than one hundredth part of an inch, 

 which is about the thickness of ordinary drawing paper. Now 

 as there is no entire continent, or even any very extensive tract 

 of land, known, whose general elevation above the sea is any 

 thing like half this quantity, it follows, that if we would con- 

 struct a correct model of our earth, with its seas, continents, 

 and mountains, on a globe sixteen inches in diameter, the whole 

 of the land, with the exception of a few prominent points and 

 ridges, must be comprised on it within the thickness of thin 

 writing paper ; and the highest liills would be represented by 

 the smallest visible grains of sand."— Such being the case, a 

 coat of varnish would represent the diluvial addition of water ; 

 and how small an addition to the mass does it appear ! 



Let us now refer briefly to the recorded account of theFlood. 

 Without recapitulating dates and events, I will at once advert 

 to the ark : — an immense vessel,-]- constructed of very durable 

 wood, J and well stored with vegetable provision for all that it 

 contained. Some cavillers have objected to the heterogeneous 

 mixture of animals embarked ; on the ground that they could 

 not have been assembled ; and would have destroyed one ano- 

 ther. We may reply : He who made, could surely manage. But, 

 without direct miraculous interposition (though we should never 

 forget that man is a miracle, that this v^orld is a miracle, that 

 the universe is a miracle), imagine the effect that would be 

 produced on the animal creation by the approach of such a war 



* Treatise on Astronomy, Cabinet Cyclopedia, page 22. 



t Sharon Turner, Harcourt, Burnett, &c. 



+ Some of our English ships have lasted more than a centurv. 



