Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-04-23

penal infiction, man was its only object,
and but a small portion Of the earth was
occupied by man. Indeed he confines the
deluge to a comparatively small portion
of central or western Asia To all OF
which we reply, l. If God willed the
destruction Of man only, it is su prisipg
that any other creatures should have been
involved in the general calamity, even in
"small portion of central or western
Asia" For Newton will acknowledge
that his little deluge swept off all the ami
l-s@l. So that s. porEinn of central or wes-
tern Afla, where 1t prevailed except such
as Noah bad taken inta he-Ask r5st;115s
their destruction was unavoidable; for this
involves the blasphemous absurdity that
omnipotence can affect some things and
not Others; that is, God could destroy man
by destroying the irrational animals along
with him, but not otherwise. 9. If the
delugc was confined to so small district
of country, why employ Noah to build an
ark at an immense outlay Of time and
means, when all who were saved might
have been delivered in much more agree
able and convenient manner, by simply di-
,ecting them to that portion of Asia where,
according to Newton's theory, the waters
did not prevail. g. If it is allowable for
Newton to object against uniUersal aeluge
because he caunot see a necessity for it,
surely zoe may be permitted to object against
a partial deluge: We cannot see the ne
cessity Of drolcning the world, when it
might have been destroyed by SO many
o,her different methods. Methods too, that
would have obviatcd the necessity of de-
stroying unoffendiDg animals. By the
way. is it not reasen ,ble to suppose, that if
he flood was confined to so small portion
Of the earth as Newton supposes, there
were few if any animals destroyed for we
should think they would escape instructive
ly, particularly the winged tribes. But
Moses says all in the dry land died. -
So he docs, and Newton says all means only
part. So they are reconciled. The next
difficulty which Newton encounters is to
account for the immense quantity Of water
required +" admitting the deluge to have
been universal" Well, zoe might have
adopted the views of some learned men,
that the waters rushed ont from the hid
den abyss of the bowels of the earth - but
we are cut off from this, for Newton tells
: US that "the centre of the earth is occupied
by vast ocean Of liquid fire." Newton
says, 1t is demonstrated that it would
have required eight times the quantity (of
water) now on earth" Against this we
assert that the mere raising of the tenn
: perature of the whole body of the ocean, to
deluge no greater than marine animals
live in, in the shallow seas between the
!. tropics, would so expand it, as more than to
!, produce the height above the mountains,
% stated in the Mosaic account.
" Newton remarks that the water, after its
!; work of destruction (supposing universal
deluge) could not have evaporated "sinct
OF in that event such an immense amount o
ge watery vapor would be collected in tn,
IN atmosphere, as 10 render us liable at an,
tc time to destruction by deluges." Now i
n there be any meaning in language, Ne~to
Ill has shown that whether the deluge wa
to universal or partial, we arc at presen
e- liable to distraction by deluges. Hea
re what he says: ave deny the exercise O
ak any miraculous agency, and attribute til
l." deluge wholly to natural causes" B
or "uatural causes" we understand him
he mean the "operalion of natural laws .
all then, the delugc was an effect or resul
is produced by the regular Certainly not 4,
To- regular) operation Of natural laws, and COZ
tut formable to the established course of event.
me If so, We are liable to destruction by deli
ry ges; i. e., dcluges being natural event
ill are likely to occur. Nor can the force
be this reasoning be evaded by saying, th;
Bi. unusual energy and power we're given
lst these causes (laws) thus occasioning III
.ed common effects. For the deviation, col
". trolment or suspension of those laws to az
IS extent is miraculous.
,he Supposing that the animals taken in
Id, the ark were gathered from all parts of Il
Ote earth. E" How" asks Newton, "was it DO
,ry sible for them to reach the ark We rel
70 of Noah's making no long voyages to &C
re, lect them together" No, we do not; al
~ Il 49, AAlann- To have heen ennfins
n" trail or western Asia" we do not read
ere his making any short voyages, or any a
lty tempts whatever to collect them togethe
But the Inspired writer informs US tn
Tor they were miraculously brought to Noal
y" "they went in unto Noah"
q 1he lasI ooJectlon we shall notice is tn
~ concerning the capacity of the ark. E
CT says 1t was too small to have contained q
Sc the animals, had they been collected fro
all parts of the world According TO
lo ION distinguished commentator, the ark VI
Tue 547 feet long, 81 broad, and 81 high"
or Newton had consulted ga distinguishe
an commentator" more largely, he might ha,
re' been convinced that the ark was sufficient
'es- large for all the animals, &C.. generally su
-, posed to have entered it, indeed, that of ii
oW M two, it ia more difficult to assign numb
a. al and bulk of necessary things to answer
al, an the capacity of the ark, than 10 find suf
i!h cient room for the several species of ar
,s' mails and their food, already known to ha
ID been there DR. Hales proves the ark
icn have been 42 Alb tons. A fret rate ma
> of war is between 2200, and 23OO ton
-. AMI consequently, the ark had the capaci
it in or stowage of eighteen of sach ships. ii
wiz longest in present use, and might car
lalt 10000 men, with provisions for six month
lnd besides the weight of 1900 cannons and
- all military stores. Can ace doubt of
nat being sufficient to contain eight person
and about t,oo hundred, or t,oo hundr
sal and Gtty pair cftour footed animals