examined) originated, is derived from the age to which the bone deposit immediately under the lava belongs. It was stated by Mr. C. Lyell, in a paper read at the Royal Institution in April, 1847, that over these deposits have been poured a mass of lava to the thickness of thirty feet. Mr. Owen examined some of these animal remains for Mr. Lyell, and recognized among them the Equus fossilis, and others of extinct species. Mr. L. thinks it probable" that the deposits of red argillaceous sand, under the lava, containing these remains, were derived chiefly from volcanic matter, which the eruption of Tartaret threw out, and that the fossil animals perished by floods occasioned by that outburst." Now, since these volcanic cones consist of pumice-stone and other loose and light substances, "it is self-evident," says Dr. Smith," that these could not have withstood the action of a flood: they must have been broken down and washed away with the first rush of water." Surely when such a formidable army of objections, nay, impossibilities, rise up against us, it is time that we begin to do what we should have done before-and that is, simply to inquire whether the word of God really demands of us the belief that the deluge was universal. Are we wise in shutting our eyes against sound inquiry, and regarding it beforehand as a settled thing? Are we so sure that we have arrived at the right meaning of God's book? Especially is it incumbent upon us to consider this question calmly and patiently, since this is one of the objections made by the infidel denier of the fact of the deluge. "We see no apparent necessity for a universal deluge," he says, "when the same result might have been accomplished by a partial one." It would not comport with our limits to do more than cite two or three authorities, to show that the opinion of the universality of the deluge was not only doubted, but even denied, by pious men and Biblical expositors long before modern geologists began to methodize their facts into a sciThe learned Vosius says: ence. "No reason obliges us to extend the inundation of the deluge beyond the bounds which were inhabited; yea, it is altogether absurd to aver that the effect of a punishment inflicted upon mankind only should extend to those parts where no man lived. Although we should, therefore, believe that part of the earth only to have been overflowed by water which we have mentioned, and which is not a hundredth part of the terrestrial globe, the deluge will neveruniversal, and overwhelmed the whole habitable theless be universal, since the destruction was earth." Again: "I see no urgent necessity from Scripture to assert," says Bishop Stilling. fleet, "that the flood did spread over all the surface of the earth. That all mankind, those in the ark excepted, were destroyed by it, is most certain, according to Scripture. The flood was universal as to mankind; but from thence follows no necessity at all of asserting the universality of it as to the globe, unless it be sufficiently proved that the whole earth was peopled before the flood, which I despair of ever seeing proved." Further: "It is not to be supposed," writes Matthew Poole, "that the entire globe was covered with water. Where which there were no human beings? It would was the need of overwhelming those regions in be highly unreasonable to suppose that mankind had so increased before the deluge as to have penetrated to all the corners of the earth. It is indeed not probable that they had extended beyond the limits of Syria and Mesopotamia." If we turn away from these mere human authorities to the word of God itself, we shall find ourselves-with one exception, to which we shall presently refer-absolutely relieved from all difficulty upon the subject, simply by applying a canon of interpretation to the history of the deluge which we are obliged to apply in numberless other cases, in order to avoid contradictions and absurdities. The canon to which we refer is, that we should frequently understand only a large amount in number and quantity, when universal terms are employed. We stated that there was one difficulty in the Scripture narrative, which the application of this rule of Scripture interpretation would not meet. The sacred historian states, that on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Now, if the ark rested upon the mountain which now goes by that name in Armenia, and if that mountain was really covered with water, it is evident that it could have been no partial deluge. An inundation which rose to the height of seventeen thousand seven hundred feet, must, by its flux and efflux, have overspread all other portions of the globe. We shall adopt the same method of approach to this as we have done to several other difficulties in these pages, and inquire if ancient authorities are uniform in opinion about the locality of the ark's resting-place. In doing this we shall find that an agreement has by no means prevailed upon this subject. Jerome bears testimony to the fact that Ararat was a name given generally to the mountainous region of Armenia, and not to any particular mountain. The Mosaic account states, that the ark rested "upon the mountains of Ararat"-and not upon one particular mountain, according to the popular notion. All the Greek interpreters render the Hebrew word Ararat by the name Armenia. The Vulgate translates the terms, Montes Armenia, Terra Armeniorum.* Shuckford suggested that some locality more easterly coincides better with the Scripture account of the place where the ark rested; for it is said that the families of the sons of Noah, as they journeyed from the east, found a plain in the land of Shinar. Gen. xi, 2. But Shinar, which corresponds with Babylonia, lies nearly south of the modern Ararat. It is, therefore, probable that the true resting-place of the ark lies further south. It Bryant quotes a part of the song of the Sybil "On the frontiers of black Phrygia rises a lofty mountain called Ararat." is a remarkable fact that the Phrygian city, called Apamea, was anciently named Cibotus, which signifies, in Greek, an ark, and is the very word employed by the LXX, and also by the apostle, to designate the ark. Heb. xi, 7; 1 Pet. iii, 30. All over this region are found remarkable memorials of the deluge. A medal, or coin, of Philip the Elder was struck at this place, which bears on its reverse a representation of the ark, with a bird bearing the olive branch in its beak. The name Noe, which is the Greek for Noah, is seen written on the rude vessel repre CEANAP RA ΝΩΕ OVBA PXIAN sented as floating in water. This coin receives additional interest from the custom which prevailed of embellishing ancient coins with figures which related to the traditions and mythol ogies of the place where they were struck. And on the authority of Mr. Bryant we learn that there was a tradition that the ark itself rested upon the hill of Celænæ, where the city of Cibotus was founded. Before we leave the subject of Ararat, we must refer to another objection, urged with great force by Dr. Pye Smith, against the notion that the mountain which now goes by that name was the true restingplace of the ark. It is argued by this eminent Biblical scholar that it would have been impossible for Noah and his family to have made a descent from that mountain. An ineffectual attempt to ascend the loftiest peak of Ararat, which rises far above the limits of eternal snow, was made by Tournefort in the year 1700. The Turkish pasha of Bayazeed subsequently fitted out an expedition, and built huts at various stations, supplied with provisions; but his people suffered so much amid the snows and masses of ice, and were unable to endure the rarefied atmosphere of that altitude, that they were obliged to abandon the project. An ascent, however, was made by Dr. Parrot in 1829. He published an account of his enterprise some We have had our minds time afterward. familiarized with the perils attending an ascent of Mont Blanc, but this mountain is not so lofty as the Armenian Ararat by nearly two thousand feet! When we remember, moreover, that for about five thousand feet this mountain is covered with perpetual snow, can we conceive the possibility of the descent of four men and four women, together with all the animals inclosed within the ark, without having recourse to another miracle? Nor are we helped in the matter by supposing the ice and snow all dissolved by the waters of the flood, for in that case the precip * In Jer. li, 27, Ararat is named where evi- itous pinnacles and naked rocks would dently Armenia is meant. have been exposed, from which the diffi culties, if possible, would have been increased. The safer plan will be to refrain from fixing upon any particular mountain until more decisive evidence is adduced; and to keep to the simple terms of Scripture, which speaks of the ark resting upon "the mountains of Ararat," by which is signified, as we have seen, the mountains of Armenia. | Regarding, then, the view of a partial deluge, as to space-being coextensive only with the limits over which the earth's population had spread-as violating no Scripture statement when rightly interpreted, we proceed to inquire whether the principles and facts of geological science will afford us any corroboration and illustration of such a phenomenon. Sir C. Lyell says: "There are two conditions, either of which will make it possible for any region to be covered by a deluge. First, extensive lakes_elevated above the level of the ocean, as Lake Superior, raised six hundred feet above the level of the sea, the waters of which may be suddenly let loose by the rending or sinking down of the Now, in the district lying immediately north of Syria and Mesopotamia, there once existed an inland sea, of probably larger dimensions than the Mediterranean. It is impossible now to decide, from the condition of the existing surface, at what time the waters were drained off their ancient bed; but indubitable proofs exist, in littoral and marine remains, that it was so drained at a comparatively recent period. Let us now suppose that the bed of this ancient sea was gradually elevated by such causes as are still at work in that neighborhood, and the effect would evidently be the inundation of the whole of that territory, which we suppose to have been the primitive abode of mankind, whose complete destruction must have ensued. vast body of water, which being heaved up to a great height might roll and permanently submerge a large portion of the continent." A glance at the map will show that the whole district of Western Asia, which we take to have been the abode of the antediluvian world, was eminently suited to such inundations, girt about as it is by the waters of the Mediterranean, the Red, the Black, the Caspian, and the Persian seas. It is possible, however, that some of these inland seas might have been first formed by the elevation of the level of the surrounding land, at the time of the subsidence of the waters of the flood. To say the least, no violence whatever is done to any part of Scripture by this more modern theory of the cause of the deluge. And such causes as these, which would have been abundantly sufficient to have introduced that awful catastrophe, are precisely similar to many that have been in activity in more recent times, and such as are in operation at this moment in many parts of the earth. Sir C. Lyell has arrived at the conclusion, from observations which he himself has made, that a great portion of Sweden stood higher above the sea at the period of his last visit than it did twenty or thirty years before. It is well known that the frequent effect of earthquakes is to cause oscillations and changes of level. The visitations of 1822 and 1835 along the whole coast of Chili, from the Andes far out to the sea, comprising an area of one hundred thousand square miles, are to be ascribed to this cause; the effect of which was to raise the level on the north side two feet higher above the high-water mark; and on the south side to leave it two feet lower than it was previously to the catastrophe. But the most remarkable phenomenon, and one which will best serve to illustrate some of the causes which produced the Mosaic deluge, is the submergence and the subsequent elevation of the celebrated temple of Jupiter Serapis, in the bay of Baiæ, near Naples. This temple was erected long before the commencement of the Christian era. A marble column was dug up in the neighborhood, on which was carved an inscription which dates as far back as 105 B. C. All that now remains Again, "the sudden conversion," says of the fabric, besides the pavement, is sevLyell elsewhere," of part of the unfathom-eral pillars, each about forty feet in height. able ocean into shoal, would displace a The surface of these pillars is smooth and A, B, Two different sea levels. a, a, a, Perforations made when submerged. uninjured to the height of twenty feet through all the streams of ancient history?" All that now remains to complete our argument is, to ascertain if such natural operations as we have described would have manifested themselves during their activity in a manner that would harmonize with the brief but very graphic language of the sacred writer. Let us suppose, then, either the bed of that inland sea which we have seen once existed to the north of Syria or Mesopotamia, or that of the Indian Ocean, to have been gradually elevated by volcanic action; then, in the first case, the waters would gradually have submerged the plain to the south, and, in the second case, a similar effect would have followed; for a rise of water must immediately have taken place in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, which would have gradually swollen in the great valley of the Jordan and of the river Euphrates, and have been followed by the inundation of all the low lands and plains south of the high table-lands and mountains of Syria and Armenia. We can scarcely conceive of more appropriate language to describe these phenomena than that employed by the sacred historian, when he says, "All the fountains"-or " floodgates," as we read in the margin-" of the great deep were broken up.' This is precisely how the thing would have appeared to the senses of those who witnessed the scenes. And the invariable style of Scripture language, when speaking of the operations of nature, is not according to scientific accuracy, but rather as they appear to the senses. We need, then, only to conceive of similar causes to these being brought into activity, to be followed by similar effects in the region of Syria and Mesopotamia, and we have all that we require to explain the great deluge of waters which destroyed the race of man. And it has been proved that the whole of that locality abounds with traces of volcanic action. May we not then give an unhesitating affirmative to the question so forcibly put by Professor Sedgwick, in one of his letters to Humboldt: "If we have the clearest proofs of great oscillations of natural level, and have a right to make use of them, while we seek to explain some of the latest phenomena of geology, may we not reasonably Other natural phenomena would have suppose that, within the period of human attended the action of these wonderful subhistory, similar oscillations have taken terranean agencies. For instance, "it is place in those parts of Asia which were well known," says a distinguished gethe cradle of our race, and may have pro-ologist, "that in volcanic eruptions, drenchduced that destruction among the earliering rains are often the result of the sudden families of man which is described in our condensation of the aqueous vapor." In sacred books, and of which so many tra- addition, therefore, to the rains which visit ditions have been brought down to us our earth from ordinary causes, we may suppose the inundation occasioned by the breaking up" of "all the floodgates of the great deep," to have been attended with extraordinary rains from the continual condensation of vapor emitted from the bubbling, boiling, and seething volcanoesfully justifying the strong metaphor," the windows of heaven were opened." And these processes would also continue as long as the causes were in action, until all the high lands and mountain-tops of the district would be entirely covered from human sight. Thus, in the foregoing pages, we have not appealed to the fancies of our readers, but to their reason and judgments; we have exercised no ingenious arts of exposition, but have simply placed the phenomena of the awful event and the Scripture statements side by side; and we think it cannot but be at once obvious that the language of Moses exactly corresponds with these phenomena, when he says that "all the floodgates of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." BABIE BELL. THE POEM OF A LITTLE LIFE THAT WAS BUT THREE HAVE you not heard the poet tell With folded hands and dreamy eyes O'er which the white-winged seraphs go, They fell like dew upon the flowers! She came and brought delicious May! The swallows built beneath the eaves; Like sunbeams, in and out the leaves, The robins went the live-long day: The lily swung its noiseless bell, And o'er the porch the trembling vine Seem'd bursting with its veins of wine! O, earth was full of pleasant smell When came the dainty Babie Bell Into this world of ours! O Babie, dainty Babie Bell! How fair she grew from day to day! What woman-nature filled her eyes! What poetry within them lay! Like violets after rain! And now the orchards which were once All white and rosy in their bloom-Filling the crystal heart of air With gentle pulses of perfumeWere thick with yellow juicy fruit; The plums were globes of honey rare, And soft-cheek'd peaches blush'd and fell! The grapes were purpling in the grange; And time wrought just as rich a change In little Babie Bell! Her petite form more perfect grew, And in her features we could trace, In softened curves, her mother's face: Her angel nature ripened too. We thought her lovely when she came, But she was holy, saintly now— Around her pale and lofty brow We saw a slender ring of flame! Sometimes she said a few strange words Whose meanings lay beyond our reach: God's hand had taken away the seal Which held the portals of her speech! |