WAS THE DELUGE REAL? 



47 



length of the human frame being to its width as six is to one. 

 Now, the body of a man lying in the water flat on his back will 

 float with little or no exertion. It would appear, therefore, that 

 similar proportions would suit a vessel whose purpose was floating 

 only. It is not necessary to suppose that the ark had to contend 

 with either storm or wind. The waves of water lying to the 

 depth of a few fathoms upon a submerged continent could not, 

 at any rate, be compared in violence to those of the ocean. 

 The gathering of the flood, lasted but forty days, and although 

 the ark floated for a year, nearly eleven months were occupied 

 in the subsidence of the water. It is probable that the ark was 

 gradually and slowly surrounded by the advancing tide, was 

 quietly lifted up upon its surface, that it hovered about the spot 

 where it was constructed, and finally, upon the disappearance of 

 the water, settled as quietly back upon its broad basis and pro- 

 jecting supports. 



It is a curious fact that many minds which have refused to 

 accept the evidences of a communication between God and man 

 in the instances of Moses and of our Savior, admit the strong 

 probability of a communication having passed from God to 

 Noah. The chain of argument is indeed exceedingly strong. 

 Mr. Taylor thus seeks to establish the fact that the Deity did, 

 in the case of Noah, condescend to make known his intentions 

 toman. " Was the Deluge," he asks, . " a real occurrence ? All 

 mankind acknowledge it. Wherever tradition has been main- 

 tained, wherever written records are preserved, wherever com- 

 memorative rites have been instituted, what has been their 

 -subject? The Deluge : — deliverance from destruction by a flood. 

 The savage and the sage agree in this : North and South, East 

 and West, relate the danger of their great ancestor from over- 

 whelming waters. But he was saved : and how ? By personal 

 exertion? By long-continued swimming? By concealment in 

 the highest mountains ? No : but by enclosure in a large float- 

 ing edifice of his own construction. But this labor was long : 



