The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-08-01

find record in the log. But as an his
torical event it is altogether insignifi-
cant, and could not possibly have
found place in a composition made in
dependently of the original record
when the appalling submergence of a
| world and the extinction of nations
| were occupying the thought. Much
the same may be said of the drifting
Of the Ark (c). which would be a ter
rifying thing to its occupants, and vet
not momentous enough for natural
mention in an independent later mar
| ration. And that little detail about the
| fifteen cubits'' depth of the water over
the mountains ~, is evidently mere
item from the log-book. never to have
; been noticed by an independent his
torian of the mighty cataclysm.
4 The style of this portion of the
story is distinctively matter-of-fact
mechanical. and homely 1t is wholly
devoid of the distinction and impress
siveness which SO characterize the ma
jestic, terrific and pathetic variations
which precede and succeed it, 1t is a
plain strip of homely tartan inserted
between splendid breadths of grand
I tapestry But it testifies unmistaka-
bly, of the Ark-home and rude loom
whereon it was woven.
In presenting the foregoing deduction.
made from the literary form of the
Deluge story, it seems desirable. in or
der to avoid misconstruction. to state
the writer's mental position in refer
ence to the facts recorded, believe
them TO be true, and see no adequate
reason for doubling their historical
verify. A. the same time it is regard
ed as serious error of Interpretation
to apply the traditional severity of lit
eral construction to the terms employ
ed in describing the extent of the Del
uge- Those terms are manifeSt1y not
intended to designate a universal sub
mergepce of the land surface of the en-
tire globe, for the reason that Noah's
conception of the earth did not en-
brace any large proportion of the globe.
and the language used by himself, and
that of Godtto him, was necessarily ac- j
commodated to his limited understand !
ing. The facts described mean simply
that the whole of the earth as it was
known to Noah was submerged and
all of it's breathing inhabitants Destroy
ed, except those which were saved in
the Ark
The reality of universal deluge is
absolutely excluded by those scientific
-dCtS, 81 IOiIS COlIplele1y eSldDilSHeO, as
20 the present distribution and ancient
pedigree of the forms of animal life in
he various sections of the globe.
1eem also that any thorough consd-
grafton of the great inherent diversities
n the various breeds of men localized
IN the different continents and islands
viii equally preclude the idea that all,
II even the greater part, of mankind
,erished in the Deluge of Western
Asia. We have to note. first, the in
lerent improbability that. during the
lges of human existence before the
0eluge, the tribes of mankind should
lot have effected their migrations to
he remote regions where they have so
ong been isolated. And, next the
and permanence of their
'ariations of racial type appear to pre-
dude their descent from a type so
and fixed as that of Noah \
must have been.
Such extreme variations of human
ype as we find remotely localized
ould have originated only during the
infancy of the human race. In their
plastic condition great varia-
ions would easily have been set up,
While, during the early wanderings
nd isolations of those primeval tribes,
UGH variations would naturally be-
ONE established into fixity by means
f their segregated interbreeding. But
UGH great diversities of type could not
POSSIBLY have originated in a compare
lively modern descent from the long-t :
established breed of the Noachian :
amily.
1t has appeared to the writer, that a
ust conception of the Divine inter-
osition in saving chosen family
rom the destruction which overwhelm-
d that portion of mankind inhabfting
Western Asia must be sought by in
it as a wise act of Divine
election and segregation for the pur-
ose of protecting and establishing
ornament strip, from which to prop-l
gate a superior breed of civilized
nd religious man. This end would ap-I
ear to have been adequately accom-
lished by the production of the DOM
lant and progressive Caucasian fami- s
les, with their comparative social
urity and regard for law.
1t is in such a theoretical setting thatl
he writer contemplates the great his
oricaI event of the Deluge.