6.04 DEL 
rifes in'vapour. If therefore the air is deprived of the 
due proportion of this fluid, it is evident that rain mu ft: 
fall in prodigious quantities. 
Again, we are allured from the rrtoft undeniable obfer- 
vations, that eledlricity is able to fwell up water on the 1 
furface of the earth. This we can make it do even in 
our trifling experiments ; and much more muft the whole 
force of the fluid be fuppofed capable of doing it, if ap¬ 
plied to the waters of the ocean, or any others. The 
agitation of the fea in earthquakes is a fufflcient proof of 
this. It is certain, that atthefe times there is a difcharge 
of a vaft quantity of eledlric matter from the earth into 
the air; and as loon as this happens, all becomes quiet 
on the furface of the earth. From a multitude of ob- 
fervations it alfo appears, that there is at all times a paf- 
fage of eledtric matter from the atmofphere info the earth, 
and vicevtrfa, from the earth into the atmofphere. There 
is therefore no abfurdity in fuppofing the Deity to have 
influenced the adlion of the natural powers in fuch a 
manner, that for forty days and nights the eledlric matter 
contained in the atmo'fphere fhould defcend into the 
bowels of the earth; if indeed there is occafion for fup¬ 
pofing any fuch immediate influence at all, fince it is not 
impoflible that there might have been, from fome natu¬ 
ral caufe, a defcenfof this matter from the atmofphere 
for that time. But by whatever caufe the defcent was 
eccafioned, the confequence would be, the breaking up 
of the fountains of the deep, and the opening the windows 
ef heaven. The water contained iq the atmofphere, be¬ 
ing left without fupport, would defcend in impetuous 
rains; while the waters of the ocean, thofe from which 
fountains originate, and thofe contained in the folid earth 
itfelf, would rife from the very centre, and meet the wa¬ 
ters which defcended from above. Thus the breaking 
up of the fountains of the deep, and the opening the 
window’s of heaven, w’ould accompany each other, as 
Mofes tells us they a 61 :ually did ; for, according to him, 
both happened on the fame day. In this manner the 
flood would come on quietly and gradually, without that 
violence to the globe which Burnet, Whiftpn, and other 
theorilfs, are obliged to fuppofe. The abatement of the 
waters would enfue on the afeent of the eledtric fluid to 
where it was before. The atmofphere would then ab- 
forb the water as formerly; that which had afeended 
through the earth would again fublide; and thus every 
thing would return do its priftine Hate. 
Having thus fliewn in what manner it is poflible that 
an univerfal deluge might take place by means of the 
natural agents known to us at prefent, we fliall next con- 
fider fome more of the evidences that fuch an event ac¬ 
tually did happen, and that the deluge was univerfal. 
The proof here is fo ftrong from the traditions prevalent 
among almoft every nation on the face of the earth, and 
which have been already fo amply treated, that no far¬ 
ther objedlion could be made to the Mofaic account, 
were it not that the necejfity of an univerfal deluge is de¬ 
nied by fome, who contend that all the deluges men¬ 
tioned. in hiftory, or recorded by tradition, w’ere only par¬ 
tial, and may be accounted for from the fwelling of rivers 
or other accidental caufes. Many, indeed, even of thofe 
who profefs to believe the Mofaic account, have thought 
that the deluge was not univerfal; or, though it might 
be univerfal with refpedt to mankind, that it was not fo 
with regard to the'earth itfelf. The learned Ifaac Vof- 
fzus was of this opinion, though his reafons feem princi¬ 
pally to have been that he could not conceive how an 
univerfal deluge could happen. “To effedt this (fays 
he) many miracles mull have concurred ; but God works 
no miracles in vain. What need was there to drown 
thofe lands where no men lived, or are yet to be found ? 
’Tis a fooliIll thing to think that mankind had multiplied 
fo much before the flood as to .have overfpread all the 
earth. How flow and fluggifh the ftrft men were in pro¬ 
pagating their kind, is evident from hence, that Noah 
was but the ninth in a lineal defcent from Adam. They 
U G E. 
are quite wide of the truth, therefore, who think man¬ 
kind to have fpread over all the earth in the days of 
Noah, who perhaps at that time had not extended tliem- 
felves beyond the borders of Syria and Mefopotapiia.: 
but no reafon obligeth us to extend the inundation of the- 
deluge beyond thofe bounds which are inhabited; yea, 
it is altogether abfurd to aver, that the etfedl of a punifh- 
ment infiidled upon mankind only, fliould extend to thofe 
places where no men lived. Although we fliould there¬ 
fore believe that part of the earth only to have been 
overflowed by the waters which we have mentioned, 
and which is not the hundredth part of the terreftrial 
globe, the deluge will neverthelefs be univerfal, oecumeni¬ 
cal, fince the deftrudlion was univerfal, and overwhelmed 
the whole habitable world.” 
Another fcheme of a partial deluge is publifhed by 
Mr. Coetlogon in his Univerfal Hiftory of Arts and 
Sciences, under the article Antediluvians. This appears to 
have been formed with a defign to accommodate the be¬ 
lief of a deluge to the opinions of the free-thinkers, 
(who deny the truth of the Mofaic accounts,) in the 
manner lie tells us that they are willing to allow it. 
According to this author, the firft inhabitants of the 
earth being placed at the confluence of two*great rivers, 
the Euphrates and Tigris, thofe rivers may have over¬ 
flowed their banks all_of a fudden, and furprifed the 
neighbouring inhabitants not yet accuftomed to fuch 
forts of vifits, and drowned part of them (and if really 
defigned as a punifliment), fuch as were more guilty. 
That fome of the animals, particularly the more flothful, 
and confequently not fo apprehenfive of danger, or fo 
ready to take to flight to avoid it, might have been in¬ 
volved in the fame calamity, as well as fome of the vola¬ 
tiles, which, being deprived of food by the earth’s being 
covered with water, might have periflied; particularly 
thofe who, by the too great weaknefs of their wings to 
fupport their bodies, were not proper for a long flight. 
As for others who had tliefe advantages above the reft, 
they wotild no doubt take care of their own prefervation, 
by flying to thofe parts of the earth which their natural 
inftindt could fliew them free from the inundation. 
A third fcheme of a partial deluge is given by the 
learned bifhop Stillingfleet in his Origines Sacree. “ I can¬ 
not (fays he) fee any urgent neceflity from the feripture 
to alfert, that the flood did fpread itfelf all over the fur- 
face of the earth. That all mankind (thofe in the ark 
excepted) were deftroyed by it, is mod certain, accord¬ 
ing to the feriptures. When the Lord faid, that he would 
deftroy man from the face of the earth, it could not be 
any particular deluge Of fo fmall a country as Paleftine, 
as fome have ridiculoufly imagined; for we find an uni¬ 
verfal corruption in the earth mentioned as the caufe ; 
an univerfal threatening upon all men for this caufe; and 
afterwards an univerfal deftrudtion exprefled as the effedfc 
of this flood. So then it is evident, that the flood was 
univerfal with regard to mankind; but from thence fol¬ 
lows no neceflity at all of aflerting the univerfality of it 
as to the globe of the earth, unlefs it be fufficiently 
proved that the whole earth was peopled before the 
flood, which I defpair of ever feeing proved ; and what 
reafon can there be to extend the flood beyond the occa¬ 
fion of it, which was the corruption of mankind ? The 
only probability then of alferting the univerfality of the 
flood, as to the globe of the earth, is from the deftruc- 
tion of ali living creatures, tbgether with man. Now, 
though men might not have fpread themfelves over the 
whole furface of the earth, yet beafts ana creeping things 
might, which were all deftroyed with the flood ; for it 
is laid, ‘ that all flefh died that moved upon the earth, 
both of fowl and of cattle, and of every creeping thing 
that creepeth upon the earth, and every man.’ To what 
end fhould there be not only a note of univerfality added, 
but fuch a particular enumeration of the feveral kinds of 
beafts, creeping things and fowls, if they were not all 
deftroyed ? To this I anfwer; I grant that, as far as the 
. flood 
