MOSAIC FLOOD. 73 
Again, through the knowledge of geology in general, 
and through the inference set forth by the principle 
of gradation of beings from primeval creation up to 
existing tribes, we are informed that the means of 
destruction employed in the present case was the 
Mosaic Flood.* In the epoch then antecedent to 
the Great Deluge, our district was peopled by tribes 
of animals and plants having a close affinity in 
organization to existing races, and these, a portion 
of which are hereafter to be named, were, as we 
shall now proceed to shew, destroyed and swept 
away by the waters of this stupendous and destruc- 
tive engine. 
The origin of the various structures constituting 
the crust and superstrata of the globe is well known 
to be wrapped in obscurity, each new deposit 
counting from below, is thought to have been the 
absolute formation of each succeeding flood, or de- 
structive agent ; I find however, that the clay termed 
diluvial, or at least some kind of clay, was in exist- 
* I have here and in other places used or implied the express- 
ion Mosaic flood, but without a full conviction of its propriety. 
That a flood of some date occurred here in a remote epoch of the 
world, and wreught the effects about to be described, I cannot 
however doubt. It may be that the Mosaic flood was partial— 
limited to that part inhabited by man, and that the other portions 
of the earth were consecutively submitted to the same circum- 
stance. This question is of so great subtlety that it cannot be 
said to be decided in the works of those who have had the most 
extensive opportunities of inference, and therefore for me to pre- 
tend to decide the point by mere local geology, would amount to 
a kind of arrogance, of which I should be sorry ta be found 
guilty. Forthe sake of method, I have however chosen to adopt 
a name with which none but the new theorists can find fault, and 
let no one suppose that in the present caveat, I detract in any way 
from Scripture.—To question the general authority of the Bible, 
is to deduct from the authority of God, but, to question the signi- 
fication given to certain words of Scripture by mere men, is to 
deduct from their anthority alone. 
K 
