The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-08-22
LEIGHTON TKEDELUGE
rns FLOOD or NOAH COVERED ONLY
A PART or The EARTH.

Extended over the Globe.
DR. Zahrn's lecture az the Catholic sum-
cner school Mt Plattsbnrg, y. l.. on
.Noah's DEUCE wns startling one 20
the ana,coce re denied the universally
% the eooi. and presented many argu-
ments In proof Of HE assertions Ihe toi-
lowing are extracts from bis lecture
Barring the creation Of the world ana OF
man. n may be questioned if any event re-
corded in The Testament has given rise TO
more commentaries aud PROVOKED more
discussion than tie terrible cataclySm TO
corded with such minutencss ana detaii IN
tbescvcoth chopterof Genesis. The fathers.
IN their Interpretations Of the inspired vol
up,e and .be schoolmen ia their ponderous
.on,es devoted entire treatises TO the con-
alteration Of fhe subject. The cxegetists
who succeeded the schoolmen found the
oucs,jon Of the deluVc no hess interesting,
and iud1ing from the space they gave 10
tho euhicci they considered its calculation
O, prime Importance
With scarcely dissenting voice the IA
theirs the scboolmen and the exegetists,
who Immediately followed them, were az
once regarding the universally OF the ca
tastropho. The words Of the Bible were
taken literally. and the almost general con,
sensus oil opinion among theologiahs ana
commentators was that the deiuge was
universal, not only In relation TO MANKIND
but also I'm reference 10 the earth's surface.
One Of the first TO seriously controvert the
theory Of the geographical universally OF
the deluxe was Isaac NOss In his "Dlssertato
de Vero Mundi Etate" He maintained That
not more than one-hundredth part OF the
earth WAS submerged by the flood.
The distinguished Benedictine, Don Ma
billion, having at the request OF the congre.
gntion Of the index examined the work OF
Voss regarding the nonuniversaiity OF the
deluge. gave it rs his opinion that bis teach-
Ing was neither against faith nor morals
aud could therefore be tolerated. In the
first place. no one could any longer seriously
maintain that tho fossils found in the vari-
ops strata of the earth's crust were depos-
tied there By the deluge Of Noah Such
view was now regarded as simply nnten-
able, II not absurd.
Again, owing to the active researches OF
naturalists the world over, it was discov-
cred that the number OF species OF animals
was In excess Of what had previously been
imagined by far, and then IA new difficulty
presented itself that could not beignored.
Contrary 10 what Lindens had taught, Cu-
vier and others pointed out the fact that
there were several distinct foci or centers
Of animal life; that certain species and
classes of animals are found in one part OF
the world, while other species have their
habitation ia another. IL seems unreason-
able, therefore, to suppose, even if the ark
had been large enough. that representatives
of the different species Of animals OF the
various distant countries OF the world came
or were brought to the ark, and how were
the representatives of the various fauna Of
distant countries and far off isles Of the
ocean returned to the places whence they
camel
In the light of science, therefore-espe-
cially In the light Of geology, zoology and
physical geography-the theory of uni
yersal deiuge is untenable On any ground
n IL untenable without assuming the ex-
tstcnce Of such number of miracles that
tho theory perforce falls by its own weight.
But Il will be asked, What explanation Is
70 be given OF the universal terms employed
In tho biblical account Of the delugeY IL Is
saIl" men and "every" living creature that
ara TO be destroyed. 1t Is the whole" earth
that n TO DO submerged. The words "all'
and ''cvery" are absolute and exclude moth
inc. and It is these words, we are told, that
must be satisfactorily explained before We
arc at liberty to accept any other theory
than that which proclaims that the deluge
was universal.
In speaking of the famine which pre-
vailed at tho time Of Jacob, Moses declares
that the famine prevailed in the whole
world thss& the famine increased daily in
all the Land. and that the provinces came
into Egypt to buy food and to seek some
relief for their wants None Of these pas
sages, however, are TO be taken literally.
Notwithstanding the use Of the absolute
terms ''ali" and whole" Moses refers only
TO the countries and people known TO the
Hebrews. And so il Is in many other In
stances that might be adduced. The whole
earth" sometimes applies only TO the prom
ised land sometimes it embraces only
Egypt; at Others il is made only to refer 10
the kingdom OF David or OF Solomon, and
ut others again To stretch Of country
bounded by the invisible horizon. The del
uge was not, as we may believe, universal
10 the earth's surface, nor as TO all forms Of
animal life was IL. excluding those that
were In the ark.
Neither the church, nor the fathers, nor
the schools defined or showed that the uni
versal destruction Of mankind by the flood,
excepting OF course those in the ark, was
OF faith. The first serious objections to a
universal destruction of our race came
from science, and singularly enough when
the results Of scientific discoveries pro-
chained tho necessity Of revising the inter
probation thai had been in vogue regard
Ing the destruction Of the race by the del
uge, IL was found that there was nothing
In the sacred text that forbade such re-
vision What the extent OF the food was
cannot be determined, but it seems to he
almost certain that it was very limited,
both as 10 the amount of territory sub
merged and to the number Of the human
race destroyed.
To find fault with the fathers Of the
church for having 1000 or 2,JO0 years ago u
less extensive knowledge Of the natural
sciences and physical scisnces than we our
selves possess would be simply preposter-
Gus. We must judge them as we ourselves
under similar circumstances would wish
~ be judged We may not indeed with
cut new and weighty reasons reject the
teachings u such venerable authorities on
questioas like the one now under discus
Non, but when sufficiently grave reasons
are forthcoming we may safely, without
incurring the note of rashness, modify our
opinions SO as To make them harmonic