On the Mosaic account of the Creation. 383 



between land and sea, but refer simply to the fact, that 

 a deluge having passed over the then earth, caused all within 

 it, or upon it, to perish. This was likewise the opinion, as we 

 learn from Mr. Penn, " of the very learned annotator on 

 Noldius," who declares that, " terra diluvio non fuit perdita 

 quoad substantiam, sicut homo, — the earth was not destroyed 

 by the deluge with respect to its substance, as man was ;"* 

 an opinion, the correctness of which, for obvious reasons, 

 is not allowed by the Mosaic geologist, who thinks " it only 

 shews that the annotator was unaware of the fact," (as he 

 deems it,) u that the ancient Jewish Church understood the 

 reverse."f It will be presently shewn, however, from the 

 words of St. John, that the Jewish Church could not have 

 understood the reverse, and the charge that such an opinion 

 could only be entertained on " the ground of an inconsiderate 

 and preconceived hypothesis/^ will eventually recoil upon 

 the head of him whose views we are now analising. 



The soundness of the annotator's views, is moreover sup- 

 ported by, " the original of this notable passage, qtjoi pw 

 •y-p which Michaelis interprets, "fluvius eluit fundamenta 

 ipsorum, — a flood obliterated their foundations ;"§ an inter- 

 pretation, which our author highly approves of for his own 

 ends, but which is not only at once corroborative of the 

 opinion, that the substance of the earth did not perish, as man 

 did ; but is likewise in accordance with the effects we should 

 naturally look for after such a catastrophe, namely, the 

 obliteration of that surface, or foundation on which the sins 

 which had provoked the punishment, had been committed. 



Mr. Penn, however, not appearing rightly to understand 

 the import of the threat, ei I will destroy them, (i. e. all flesh) 

 together with the earth ;" and being entirely misled by his 

 views of the first revolution, founds upon this sentence and 



* Comparative Estimate, p. 255. 



X Ibid, p. 256. f Ibid, p. 256. 



§ Ibid, p. 252. 



