The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-04-05

that it requires any support from such
God is abundantly able to take care of his
own cause.
Blind unbelief is sure to err.
And scan his works in vain:
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain
But do seriously deprecate the effect of
such teachings upon the minds of our
youth. The path of life is beset with pit
falls enough already. Let us be careful
not to have them added to by false inter-
probation, under the pretence of harmon
izing Gods word with man S wisdom.
In one of his attempts to defend the
Bible against that class of intidels who
deny the story of the flood and allege the
the insufficiency of the Ark to contain all
the animals necessary to have been pre-
served, the lecturer claimed that the Ark
being $50 feet long, Is feet wide and As
high was sufficient to preserve all the ami
mails of Lower Asia, which were all that
were required to be preserved, as that part
of the world only was covered by the flood
This seems to mo to be a weak defense of
the Bible from very old and oft refuted
charge of intidelity. If any one will read
Genesis vi: II and vii: 81, 90, 23, he will
find it difficult to frame language by which
the destruction of every being either Of
man or beast on the face of tho earth can
be more fully and definitely stated. l have
examined the geography of Asia and find
that all the animals of Asia and Australia,
both Amphlbia and Mammalia, and all the
larger birds are embraced in a catalogue of
turn T,1y IF
each class of unclean beasts male and fe-
male, and seven of each class of the clean
beasts, with seven of each class OF the
fowls of the air, according to the Sacred
record the number could not have greatly
exceeded one hundred and fifty. If, there
fore, the animals and birds of Lower Asia
only were to be preserved, the Almighty
Judgment must have been terribly at fault
i'll directing the construction of an Ark,
even in view of the dimension given, so
unnecessarily large for the purpose de-
signed.
AS this is subject upon which many
others have blundered it may not be amiss
to state, that the ancient cubit, upon the
best authority, was 81 ,SSS or nearly %
inches. Reckoning by this standard, there
fore, the Ark was 547 feet long, 81 feet
wide and "a feet high and according to
tons burden.
The heighth of the Ark being "a feet or
90 feet higher than the caves of the Court
House and divided, into three stories of IS
feet each, with the immense dimensions of
length and width, | have given, it would
seem that the bare statement of its charac-
ter should be sufficient to silence all cavil-
ing. But as men have wild and confused
ideas when looking at a subject generally,
without specific and definite examination,
a closer investigation of this matter would
be found to be an interesting study. In an
article of this character it is impossible to
cover the whole ground. 1t may be suffici-
ent to say, that naturalists who have studi-
ed this subject carefully, have determined
that the animals necessary to have been
preserved may 5e divided into three classes
-Mammalia, Amphibia and AYES, or birds
of all kinds. For Pisces or the fishes,
whose natural element is the water, no
room in the Ark was needed. For the
Amphibia it is shown there was abundance
of room in the lower story, or hold. For
the lLammala, the second story; while the
upper Or third story afforded space suffi-
cient for Noah and his family and all the
feathered tribes: room for the necessary food
of the occupants of each story is embraced
in the calculation.
IT,, o,t;,o o.>,r., ~ ,oo+,ro. ,-,s ,,+,o
-; - ~ 81, - 49, IS 49, ~,
man race. and to that extent w,s at war viii
tbe simnle Rih,e story az the vast majority
of its readers understand it. The argu-
! ,,,arts i, s,nnort of th;s ontoronisn, 70 Tho
p;lla Listor,i ora To-, So, tI,a d;vars;.r
of tho human snec;es in thar nbvs;c,i con.
t,ra,+;nr ond H. .nao;a1 adaDtat;n, ~
to the different countries and zones they
nI;,,ata ~ h.h;ts Of 1;fa nonld nnsSibl,
I,a,,a ,,rod,,oaS Tba onnsooran.o r ~ ,bat
thoso so;sntiGn ;rre.t;n.torS mr.. dr;von 70
the rone.Sitvof ,dont;1, tbe sYtr,ordin,rv
/ tbeorv If sevoIonment from tho lower
| orJor of ,nin,ais ,brouob tho course If
h,'snaan nf tia,,saaa IS 49,. ~.
soo ,ta le 81 +ha ,ao,,'uar " ~. ti, ;d Va,
's ~ '''e o"ao VI cio " .nS i
,',oa NJ, t"na Of na,m. x,hicb nenossit.tns
tho ernr.isa of almiohtv miraculous now
ors IF creot;on in e.c5 ;nstanca
T. doas a,,ns.r tn mo th.t od,,;tt;ro &c
+h,,, 49,, IN tha dist;,ct;ans ha, ,,aan .hs
Siesrent tvrns Of man. and aamittina aIso
IN ra,' ~ 70 a,oro;sa ~ AIr,irhtn ors.t;sa
,nJr.r there is Int littIa diti;cnitv in tho
w., ~ tho s;noero Cbrist;,n and honest
D; by +,ao,t
| Of the descendants of Noah, who in seeking
to rear that great monument proposed to
earth and to concentrate their power: