If to-day, all our laws of equity, the growth of centuries, could be stricken out; all the memories of good examples and heroic sacrifices, the heritage of generations, eradicated; and all our educational, moral, religious, and refining institutions razed to the ground, how soon would men forget their obligations and discard the wisest counsel, and ambition, lust, and rapine reign supreme.

But the sense of justice and of mutual dependence and responsibility had to grow, and approve themselves in man's own experience. And till he had had experience, both of the evil and the good that are possible to society, he could not certainly distinguish between them, for there was neither history nor example to guide him as there is to guide men to-day.

Nature of evil.

And now, since evil in its very nature is not only self-destructive but carries destruction in its train, and as evil had come to prevail in the society of that early time, in agreement with what seem the recorded facts of history, we have characterized the first attempt at human society as a failure.

66 'And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. . . And God said I will destroy man."

We shall find the Hebrew idea of God and

the

method of his government woven into the narrative, as we find it in all the writ

ings of that ancient people. The theory The Hebrew is that disaster, calamity, and affliction;

theology.

that everything in nature or experience out of the normal course; that earthquakes and epidemics, floods and fevers, are expressions of the divine displeasure. We have learned to regard these things otherwise. But such was their understanding and interpretation. And in the wickedness of the people, therefore, which was very great, was found sufficient occasion for the flood, in which the earth was cleansed of its corruption and violence by the destruction of the life upon it.

Story of

the Deluge.

The story of the flood is briefly this: that the fountains of the deep were broken up and the clouds poured out their rain, till the earth was covered and the waters prevailed above the mountain tops, destroying the life that was on the land, except Noah and his family, with the animals gathered by them in the ark, built for their preservation.

The ark, as appears, was not a boat in any proper sense, but a huge box, well proportioned for floating safely on the water, but unprovided, so far as we are informed, with oar, sail, or rudder; left to drift whithersoever it might.

According to the record it was about five hun

dred feet long; less than one hundred feet wide, and about thirty feet high; having a capacity it is computed, about equal to that of the steamship Great Eastern. A man in Holland some years ago constructed a vessel on the model of the ark, and found it well adapted to sustain a very great weight.

Sundry questions inevitably spring up at mention of the ark, such as, how was it possible for Noah and his family to collect specimens of all the animals-one pair of the unclean and least useful, and seven of the clean and more serviceable ones? And whether it was possible for the ark to contain so many animals with food sufficient for such a time. But let us not anticipate. The problem is not so difficult as may at first appear. Having learned the story, let us now, according to our custom, make some inquiries in other di

rections.

Is there any evidence, aside from the written account, that there ever was a flood?

Evidence

of

a flood.

Yes. Evidence that neither the boldest scepticism can gainsay or the sharpest criticism undermine.

The testimony is of various kinds.

1. There are traditions of a flood among many races and nations, some of which know nothing of our Bible or perhaps have never heard of it; tradi

tions dating back to the early history of man. The Chaldees, the Phoenicians, the Persians, the Hindoos, even the American Indians, but especially the races that trace their origin to the interior of Asia, have such traditions. And though their accounts vary somewhat, they agree in the important points, that the flood was destructive of human life in general, but that a few, accounted righteous persons, were saved in some sort of boat.

And though tradition is but perpetuated rumor, and not to be depended on as decisive evidence in the absence of anything beside, it is hardly possible that a tradition so general could exist, and especially with essential points so far corresponding, unless there was some good foundation for it.

2. There is evidence in many a highland district, on many a mountain side, and even on mountain tops, that at no distant period they were under the sea; in other words, that "the

waters prevailed above them."

If you will go to Montreal and climb the mountain back of that city, where workmen are digging in the park, you may find there the shells of such animals as live in the sea to-day, and that at an elevation of four hundred feet above the present level of the St. Lawrence river. There is but one way of accounting for the existence of modern marine remains at such a height, and that

is, that within comparatively modern times, all that region has been covered by the sea; the waters prevailed above.

And what appears so plainly in that locality can be traced with equal certainty in various regions of the earth. There is no possible doubt of the fact.

Causes of floods.

If, then, we inquire into the cause of the flood, it may have been due to either of two causes; an unusual fall of rain, or the sinking of the land in the flooded district, and a filling in of waters from the sea. Either would be effectual in accomplishing the result. The question may be asked, is there anything analogous in modern times, to such a mode of covering the land with the sea?

Modern examples.

Yes, though on a comparatively moderate scale. About sixty years ago a tract of land, half the size of Connecticut, at the mouth of the river Indus, suddenly sank to such extent, the sea covered part of it, and the other, from high, dry land, was reduced to swamp. Still more recently a portion of the coast of Chili sank several feet, so that the waters prevailed where, in all recorded time before, had been dry land; and at another time, a sudden upheaval of a portion of that coast made dry land of a tract that had long been covered by the sea.