Page images
PDF
EPUB

IV.

the beasts that were destroyed for his sake, as well as CHAP. in himself) where the occasion was not, as where there were animals, and no men, there seems no necessity of extending the flood thither. But to what end, then, it will be replied, did God command Noah with so much care to take of all kind of beasts, and birds, and creeping things into the ark with him, if all these living creatures were not destroyed by the flood? I answer, because all those things were destroyed whereever the flood was. Suppose then the whole continent of Asia was peopled before the flood, which is as much as we may in reason suppose, I say all the living creatures in that continent were all destroyed; or if we may suppose it to have extended over our whole continent of the anciently known world, what reason would there be, that, in the opposite part of the globe, viz. America, which we suppose to be unpeopled then, all the living creatures should there be destroyed, because men had sinned in this? And would there not, on this supposition, have been a sufficient reason to preserve living creatures in the ark for future propagation, when all other living creatures extant had been in such remote places as would not have been accessible by them in many generations, and those beasts growing wild for want of inhabitants, would not have proved presently serviceable for the use of men after the flood? Which was certainly the main thing looked at in the preservation of them in the ark, that men might have all of them ready for their use after the flood; which could not have been, had not the several kinds been preserved in the ark, although we suppose them not destroyed in all parts of the world.

All this proceeds on supposition that animals were propagated much further in the world than men were, before the flood. Which I confess seems very probable

[blocks in formation]

IV.

21.

III.

BOOK to me on this account; because the production of animals is parallel in Genesis with that of fishes, and both Gen. i. 20, of them different from man. For God saith, Let the waters bring forth every moving creature that hath life, viz. fish and fowl; and accordingly it is said, that the waters brought forth abundantly every living creature after their kind, and every fowl after his kind. Accordingly in the production of beasts, we read, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so. But in the pro

Ver. 24.

Ver. 26.

duction of man, it is said, Let us make man in our own likeness. From hence I observe this difference between the production of animals and of man; that in the one God gave a prolific power to the earth and waters for production of the several living creatures which came from them; so that the seminal principles of them were contained in the matter out of which they were produced: which was otherwise in man, who was made by a peculiar hand of the great Creator Gen. ii. 7. himself, who thence is said to have formed man of the dust of the ground. Now therefore although there were but one male and female of mankind at first, which had a special formation by God himself, yet there is no reason we should conceive it to be so as to the production of other living creatures, whether fish, or fowl, or beasts; but the prolific virtue being by God's power given to that material principle out of which they were formed, it may very well be supposed that many of the same kind were at first produced. For it seems very strange to imagine, that in the whole ocean there should be only two of a kind produced; but fish and fowl both arising from the water, we may have just reason to think, that the waters, being separated before this prolific virtue was communicated to

of the globe of the

IV.

the whole mass of waters, might in the several parts CHAP., earth bring forth both fish and fowl. after their kinds. The same I say of the production of animals in the sixth day's work, which are ranked into three sorts; cattle, creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kinds. Now God saying, Let the earth bring forth her living creatures, (and that after the waters had divided some parts of the earth from other, so that there could be no passage for the cattle, creeping things, and beasts out of one part into another, without the help of man,) it seems very probable that at least those parts of the earth, which were thus divided from each other, did bring forth these several living creatures after their kinds, which did after propagate in those parts, without being brought thither by the help of man. If now this supposition be embraced, by it we presently clear ourselves of many difficulties concerning the propagation of animals in the world, and their conversation in the ark, which many have been so much to seek for satisfaction in: as how the unknown kind of serpents in Brasil, the slow-bellied creature of the Indies, and all those strange species of animals seen in the West Indies, should either come into the ark of Noah, or be conveyed out of it into those countries which are divided from that continent where the flood was, by so vast an ocean on the one side, and at least so large a tract of land on the other, (supposing any passage out of one continent into another, which yet hath not been discovered.) Besides, some kinds of animals cannot live out of that particular clime wherein they are; and there are many sorts of animals discovered in America, and the adjoining islands, which have left no remainders of themselves in these parts of the world. And it seems very strange that these should propagate into those remote

BOOK parts of the world from the place of the flood, and III. leave none at all of their number behind them in those

V.

parts from whence they were propagated. These things at least make that opinion very probable, which extends the production of animals beyond that of mankind in the old world; and that the flood, though it destroyed all mankind, and every living creature within that compass wherein mankind inhabited, yet might not extend itself to those parts, and the animals therein, in which men had never inhabited. And by this means we need not make so many miracles as some are fain to do about the flood; and all those difficulties, concerning the propagation of animals, do of themselves vanish and fall to the ground. This is the first way of resolving the difficulty concerning the possibility of the flood, by asserting it not to have been over the whole globe of the earth, but only over those parts where mankind inhabited.

Secondly, Suppose the flood to have been over the whole globe of the earth, yet there might have been water enough to have overwhelmed it to the height mentioned in Scripture. For which we are to consider that many causes concurred to the making of this deluge: first, the air was condensed into clouds, and those fell down with continued force and violence; not breakSir Walter ing into drops, but all in a body, (which sir Walter History. Raleigh parallels with the spouts of the West In

Raleigh's

dies,) which are thence called the cataracts or floodgates of heaven, God loosening (as he expresseth it) the power retentive which was in the clouds, and so the waters must needs fall in abundance, according to Job xii. 15. the expression of Job, Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. Now I say, although these waters falling down with so much fury and violence,

upon

IV.

Raleigh's

as well as in so great abundance, might quickly de- CHAP. stroy all living creatures, yet this was not all; for God, who held in the ocean within its bounds, whereby he saith to it, Thus far it shall go, and no further, might then give it commission to execute his justice the sinful world: and to all this we have another cause of the deluge, which was, That the fountains of Gen. vii. 11. the great deep were broken up; by which Vatablus most probably understands, immensam illam et profundam aquarum copiam quæ est subter terram, that vast body of water which lies in the bowels of the earth. Now when all these fountains were broken up, and the waters within the earth rush out with violence and impetuosity upon it, it must needs cause an inundation so great as that is mentioned in the Scripture. For as that judicious historian, sir W. Raleigh, ob- Sir Walter serves, Let us consider that the earth had above 21,000 History. miles compass, the diameter of the earth, according to that circle, 7000 miles, and then from the superficies to the centre 3500 miles; take then the highest mountain of the world, Caucasus, Taurus, Teneriffe, or any other, and I do not find, saith he, that the highest exceeds thirty miles in height. It is not then impossible, answering reason with reason, that all those waters mixed within the earth, 3500 miles deep, should be able to cover the space of 30 miles in height, which 30 miles upright being found in the depths of the earth 116 times; for the fountains of the great deep were broken, and the waters drawn out of the bowels of the earth. But then withal, saith he, if we consider the proportion which the earth bears to the air about it, we may easily understand the possibility of the flood, without any new creation of waters: for supposing so much air to be condensed, and so turned into water which doth encompass the earth, it will not

« PreviousContinue »