calling this vast bed or storehouse by the name of the profound abyss, and the different gathering of the waters, by the name of seas, as being many. From these two different suppositions, which are neither repugnant to scripture nor philosophy, naturally flow all those particulars which we find in scripture, in the traditions of the ancients, and in the present state of the world. Now the axis of the earth not being inclined to the plane of the eliptic, the plane of the earth's equator coincided with the plane of its natural orbit, and consequently intersected the body of the sun, or, in other words, the earth's equator was always opposite to the sun. From such a situation, it necessarily follows, that all the climates of the earth, except the middle of the torrid zone, enjoyed a constant and pleasant temperature of weather; day and night were equally divided to all places alike, consisting each of twelve hours; the air was always pure and serene, and there was a perpetual spring all over the globe; the sun and moon regulated the course of the year, not by diversities of seasons, but by the change of places; the earth in its annual revolution in its orbit round the sun, passing under the twelve constellations of the zodiac, so that when it was under Libra, the sun appeared to be under Aries; and when the earth passed under the sign Scorpio, the sun seemed to be in Taurus. The

revolution which the sun seemed to perform in one year, the moon did really perform every month, renewing its phases then perpendicularly, as it does now. Thus did these two lights," which presided one over the day, and the other over the night, serve as two regulators to mankind, whereby to fix the length of the year, and to measure the several portions of time.

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By a natural consequence of this uniform temperature, which presided every where, and at all times, the trees perpetually retained their verdure, and brought forth fruit, blossomed and budded at the same time; the present crop was but an earnest of what was to succeed, and uninterrupted plenty exalted her full horn in every place.

"The clemency and temperature of the air could not fail of having a beneficial influence on the bodies of men, and causing longevity."

These seem to have been precisely the cir cumstances of the old world.

Section 2. The inhabitants of the old world, having enjoyed, according to what has been sug gested, a perpetual spring, and a state of health and strength agreeable therewith, could not conceive that they were in any danger from the waters of a flood. Hence, though Noah preached to them, and the Spirit of Christ in his ministry, testified that God's wrath would break out fully upon them at the fixed season; yet they lived in

a total neglect of the Lord and his worship, and continued in their unbelief.

In consequence of their exceeding sinfulness, the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them." Though all were thus corrupt, yet there was a root of election which secured the church, and its preservation in the ark." "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord;" and the Holy Ghost describes him as a just, or justified man, and perfect in his generation, and as one who walked with God. He was a believer in Christ; he worshipped the Lord in the belief of what was revealed in the word of promise, concerning the woman's seed, and presented himself at the place of divine worship, before the cherubims which Jehovah inhabited at the east of the garden of Eden, in the belief of the incarnation, sacrifice, obedience, and death of our most blessed and precious Immanuel; and walked with God in the same faith that Enoch did. The Lord singled him out, and commanded him to build an ark, chest, or coffin, to keep men and living things from the water. The form, dimensions, partitions, length, breadth, and heighth of it, with its one window and door, are all expressly given him. It was in shape like a coffin for a man's body; six times as long as it was

broad, and ten times as long as it was high; the top of it was like the ridge of a coffin; it was to be made of gopher wood, which, it may be, was a kind of cedar tree; and it was to be pitched within and without with pitch: all which Noah performed according to the command of Jehevah. The apostle says, "By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith," Heb. x. 7.

Section 3. The Lord God informs Noah of his great design upon the world of the ungodly, saying, "I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die." To accomplish this, was a most wonderful event, and Jehovah speaks of it as such. The author quoted so largely in the first section, gives the following account as a conjecture concerning the physical cause of it. "The Lord God took the axis of the earth, and inclined it some few degrees towards the northern stars, and behold, this little deviation produced a thorough change in the order and economy of the natural system of the world, and seemed to give birth to a new heaven and a new earth. By this inclination of the axis, the equator of necessity became depressed

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below the sun, and that bright luminary imme diately darted its scorching rays on one hemisphere, whilst the sharpest frost and cold exerted their utmost severity on the other. Hence proceeded condensations and rarefactions in the air, causing violent commotions in the atmosphere, whilst warring winds and tempests raged with embattled fury through the middle regions of the sky; the windows of heaven were opened, and the superior waters being condensed by the violence of the shock, poured down torrents upon the face of the earth; the earth felt the universal concussion and shaking, from its very foundations, broke in pieces under the feet of its wicked inhabitants, and plunged into the subteṛraneous waters; by the disruption of the crust, the fountains of the great deep were broken, and spouted forth their treasures over the disjointed mass. In a word, from the concourse of the superior and inferior waters, was produced an universal deluge, which drowned the world."

Before this, the Lord God gave another warn ing: he commanded Noah to enter the ark, and all his house, saying, "For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." He then gives a command, concerning clean beasts, and clean fowls, and adds, "For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made, will I destroy from off the face of the earth," Noah