A

NEW SYSTEM;

OR, AN

ANALYSIS

OF

ANTIENT MYTHOLOGY.

OF THE

DELUGE,

And the Memorials thereof in the Gentile World.

THE history of the Deluge, as it is transmitted to us by Moses, may appear short and concise; yet abounds with matter: and affords us a thorough insight into the most material circumstances, with which that calamity was attended. There seems to have been a great convulsion in nature, insomuch that all flesh died, eight persons only being saved: and the means of their deliver

ance were so wonderful, that very lasting impressions must have been left upon their minds, after they had survived the fearful event. The sacred writer has moreover given us the reasons, why it pleased God to bring this flood upon the world, to the destruction of the work of his hands. 'The earth was corrupt before God; and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt: for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me ; for the earth is filled with violence through them : and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of Gopher wood.—And this is the fashion, which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above: and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof.―Thus did Noah: according to all, that God commanded him, so did he.- And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.3 In the six

'Genes. c. 6. v. 11. &c.

2 Ibid. c. 7. v. 7.

3.Ibid. c. 7. v. 11. &c.

hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the self same day entered Noah, &c.-And they went in unto Noah into the ark two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in. And the flood was forty days upon the earth: and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And all flesh died, that moved upon the earth-All, in whose nostrils was the breath of life-And every living substance was destroyed. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

We find from the above, that the Patriarch and his family were inclosed in an ark, or covered float; wherein there was only one window of a cubit in dimensions. This was of small proportion in respect to the bulk of the machine, which was above five hundred feet in length. It was moreover closed up, and fastened: so that the persons within were consigned to darkness; having no light, but what must have been administered to

*Genes. c. 7. v. 21, &c.

them from lamps and torches. They therefore could not have been eye-witnesses to the general calamity of mankind. They did not see the mighty eruption of waters, nor the turbulence of the seas: when the fountains of the great deep were broken up. Yet the crash of mountains, and the noise of the cataracts could not but have sounded in their ears and possibly the cries of people may have reached them; when families and nations were overwhelming in the floods. The motion too of the ark must have been very violent at this tempestuous season: all which added to the gloom, and uncertainty, in which they were involved, could not but give them many fearful sensations; however they may have relied on Providence, and been upheld by the hand of heaven.. We find that the machine, in which they were secured, is termed Thebah, an ark, or chest. It was of such a model and construction as plainly indicated, that it was never designed to be managed, or directed by the hands of men. And it seems to have been the purpose of Providence throughout to signify to those, who were saved, as well as to their latest posterity, that their preservation was not in any degree effected by human means.

After this the sacred historian proceeds to inform us, that God remembered Noah, and every living

5 Genes. c. 8. v. 1, &c.