160

make very good but-keepers are careful and of accence and the discoveries of philoso-
gentle as shepherds, and make excelent stock-phy do but confirm the word of our God,
keepers; and large numbers are now so em-
ployed, as well as in wool-wastiar, and other
work connected with sheep and cattle farming
It remains to be seen, however, whether a w
be possible to overcome to any extent their
migratory habits, which have hitherto always
prevented any permanent settlemen

→ In South Australia there seems to be much
satisfaction felt at the change in the aborigizes.
The Protector of the Aborigines' in that eo
ony states that upward of two hundred this
sand sheep were in June, 1852, under the sole
charge of native shepherds. A training insti-
tution for aborigines has been established at
Adelaide, chiedy by the exertions of Archdeacon
Hale, who resides on the establishment. He
says that even his own sanguine expectations
did not lead him to anticipate a success so
complete and triumphant as that which has
attended our efforts, nor so rapid an increase
in the number of our inmates. Besides the
school-room, mess-room, etc., there are twenty

huts occupied by native married couples. There
is also a small farm, the work of which, with
herding, eattle-keeping, etc., is done by the in-
mates of the institution, who are also taught
brick-making, building, and other useful occu-
pations.

urged, for example, that the account given which abideth forever. It was once by Moses of the creation of light on the first day is eontradictory of his own assertion that not until the fourth day were the sun and the moon called into existdesity the Zendavesta of Zoroaster, a ance. To meet and evade this supposed work in the main a piracy from the book of Genesis, announces that the sun was created first and light afterward. Then, it was maintained that the sun is a great globe of fire; that from him are continuaily emitted innumerable fiery particles, and that he is the sole source of light, as well as heat. It has since been discovered that both light and heat exist independently of the sun; and by means of powerful telescopes it has been demonstrated that, so far from the sun being a vast body of fire, he is, on the contrary, a globe, in all probability like our own, capable of sustaining animal existence. In exact conformity with the Mosaic record, philosophy now declares, as the result of numerous practical experiments, that light as well as heat has a separate the

most memorable that ever occurred upon our earth previous to the advent of Christ. It is the total destruction of the human race, with the exception of one family, consisting of eight persons. We are indebted for our knowledge of it to the sacred historian; but of a catastrophe so appalling and so universal it might, indeed, excite surprise, if not doubt, were there no corroborating circumstances in the aspect of our world and in the testimony of tradition. We shall find, accordingly, that there is a vast amount of what may be called circumstantial evidence, with reference to the reality of this event, and the truth of the account given thereof by the inspired writer. therefore, upon the Scriptural narrative Before entering, let us turn our attention to some undisputed facts which serve to confirm the account of this event given by Moses.

And in the first place I observe, as a remarkable instance of the progress of the human mind, that whereas philosophy was once arrayed against revelation, it has of late been found that the one is the handmaid of the other; and that the researches

given by the sacred writer is philosophically correct.

under consideration. So, also, as respects the subject now confidently affirmed that there was not sufficient water to cause such a deluge as It was once very computed that twenty-eight oceans would that described by Moses. It was then progress of mathematical and physical be necessary for that purpose; but the knowledge has shown that the different eight times more water than was then seas and oceans contain at least fortysupposed; and by philosophical experiment it has been proved, that the mere raising of the temperature of the whole than marine animals live in, in the shalbody of the ocean to a degree no greater low seas between the tropics, would so expand it as more than to produce the height above the mountains stated in the Mosaic account.

Again: it was once objected to the inspired writer, that the ark built by Noah number of animals said to have been prewas by far too small to contain the vast served therein, together with food neces

sary for their subsistence. Now it may fairly be questioned whether Noah was commanded to bring into the ark all living creatures zoologically and numerically considered, or only those, clean and unclean, which were indigenous to the country in which he dwelt. During the fifteen hundred years previous to the flood the various animals must, of course, have spread themselves over a great part, if not the whole of the antediluvian world. Those which were saved must, therefore, if all were included, have come together from very great distances; but there is no intimation of any such journeyings. And it would seem, I think, quite probable that the animals preserved in the ark were those only which were found in the region where Noah dwelt. This supposition will account also for the remains of animals totally unknown which have been discovered in various places since the date of the Deluge.

I remark, further, that, after all the arguments which have been alleged against the probability of a general deluge, philosophy has at length acknowledged that the present surface of the earth must have been submerged under water. Not only, says Kirwan, in every region of Europe, but also of both the old and new continents, immense quantities of marine shells, either dispersed or collected, have been discovered. This and several other facts seem to prove that at least a great part of the present earth was, at some time or other, the bed of an ocean.

a flood as that described by Moses. To this may be added, that the very aspect of the earth's surface exhibits marks both of the violent action and rapid subsiding of water. The undulations of hill and dale, valleys with winding and sinuous course, abrupt declivities, rough and ragged defiles, immense plains of barren sands, abound to a greater or less extent in every quarter of the globe, and are on no other hypothesis accounted for so satisfactorily, as by referring their origin to the great event we are now considering.

Indeed, the researches of modern science, and more especially the developments of geology, are continually confirming the sentiment of the wise Lord Bacon, that natural philosophy is the surest antidote to superstition, and the food of religious faith.

It is perfectly reasonable to expect, I remark further, that of an event so wonderful there would be, in the different nations of the earth, some traditionary accounts. It certainly made a deep impression on the minds of the survivors, who doubtless would relate its history to their children, and thus it would descend from one generation to another, and thus some knowledge of it would be retained even among those who had not the writings of Moses. Were there, indeed, no traditions upon the subject, the truth of the Bible account would not thereby be overthrown; yet, finding them to exist, as they do, among almost all nations, they contribute greatly to strengthen faith in the truth of the inspired record. The limits of this essay will not allow me to go much into detail on this part of my subject, yet I cannot do it justice without alluding to some of the more prominent of the traditions.

Other facts seem also to prove with sufficient evidence, that the retirement of the waters from those parts now inhabited was not gradual, but violent. This is evinced by various undisputed phenomena. Stratified mountains are found in all parts of the world; in and between the strata of these mountains various substances of marine origin repose, either petrified or in their natural state. To overspread, says Watson, the plains of the arctic circle with the shells of Indian seas and with the bodies of elephants and rhinoceri, surrounded by masses of submarine vegetation; to accumulate in promiscuous confusion the marine productions of the four quarters of the globe, what conceivable instruments would be efficacious but the In the mythology of ancient Greece we rush of mighty waters? These facts, find in the history of Deucalion, the reabout which there is no dispute, are pre-puted founder of that nation, a very strikcisely what might be expected from such ing allusion to the general deluge as deVOL. XI.-13

Berosus, a Babylonian historian, who lived in the time of Alexander, is quoted by Eusebius as giving a brief account of this memorable event; and although there is much that is evidently fabulous mixed up with his narrative, yet it contains sufficient evidence that it is founded upon the Scriptural account of that occurrence. He speaks of a floating ark, of birds sent out from it, and of its finally resting upon a mountain.

Noah. Their tradition, among other things, says that at this period, soon after the Deluge, wine was discovered. The Bible tells us that after the subsiding of the waters Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard; and the probability is that, bad as were the antediluvians, and we have seen that they were desperately wicked, they were strangers to the use of intoxicating drinks.

evidence of its actual occurrence, and of the fact that all nations have descended from one and the same origin. It is stated by Molini, in his history of Chili, that the Araucanians, the ancient inhabitants of that country, have a tradition of a great deluge from which only a few persons were saved, who took refuge upon a high mountain, called the Thundering, which had three points, and the property of moving upon water.

The Peruvians had a tradition that a great deluge occurred long before there

when the world was very populous; that only six persons were saved by means of a raft, and that from those six the earth was repeopled. The Brazilians not only preserved the tradition of a deluge, but believe that the entire human race perished in it, with the exception of two brothers with their wives, who saved themselves by climbing the highest trees on the loftiest mountains. It is said, too, that they annually celebrate the memory of this event by religious ceremonies.

Scarcely less remarkable is the tradition among the Hindoos. It is found embodied in an ancient poem of which Sir William Jones gives the following abridg-were any Incas or kings among them, and ment: Their prince was, on one occasion, performing his ablutions in the river Critimala when the Hindoo god, Vishna, appeared to him in the shape of a small fish, and, after several augmentations of bulk in different waters, thus addressed his amazed votary: In seven days all creatures who have offended me shall be destroyed by a deluge, but thou shalt be secured in a capacious vessel miraculously formed. Take, therefore, all kinds of medicinal herbs, and esculent grain for food, and, together with the seven holy men, your respective wives, and pairs of all animals, enter the ark without fear. Saying this he disappeared, and after seven days the ocean began to overflow the land, and the earth to be flooded with constant showers, when the prince saw a large vessel floating upon the waters. He entered it, having in all respects conformed to the instructions of Vishna, who, in the form of a vast fish, suffered the vessel to be tied with a great sea serpent, as with a cable, to his measureless horn.

Even in the interior of Africa the history of a deluge is mentioned in their traditions, in which all human beings perished; but they add that the Deity was obliged, afterward, to create mankind anew.

But it is in our own country, among the aboriginal inhabitants of North and South America, that are found the most striking evidences of the truth of the Mosaic history, in the traditions current among them. For ages prior to the time when Columbus revealed the new world to the old one, this continent had been inhabited by a variety of populations in different states of civilized and savage life, unknown to the rest of mankind, and maintaining no kind of intercourse with them. The general prevalence of a belief in a general deluge among a people thus situated, is strong

Acosta, in his history, says the Mexicans speak of a great flood in their country, by which all men were drowned; and in their peculiar paintings, which constituted their literature, there was found an expressive representation of that event. In short, wherever the untiring enterprise of man has penetrated, with scarcely a solitary exception, there is found existing, in some form or other, the memorials of a watery deluge. The justly celebrated Humboldt, with great force and propriety, remarks that similar traditions exist among all the nations of the earth, and, like the relics of a vast shipwreck, are highly interesting in the philosophical study of our species. These traditions, he adds, respecting the primitive state of the globe among all nations, coming to us in so many different languages, belonging to branches which appear to have no connection with each other, fill us with astonishment. Were the Mosaic record a fable, an invention of the imagination, this would, indeed, be matter of astonishment; but to us, it is what might be expected; it is the spontaneous and overwhelming corroboration of the account given of an actual occurrence by the faithful pencil of inspiration. Turn we, then, our attention for a little while to the Scriptural narrative of this great catastrophe.