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LITERARY NOTICES.

ISAAC RILEY & Co. have in the press Godwin's last novel, "Fleetwood." We have not seen the work, and therefore cannot speak with certainty. One general remark however occurs, the force of which, authors do not sufficiently feel; we mean the responsibility, which an author takes on himself, for the effects, produced by the natural tendency of his writings. We hope the moral tendency of this novel will be better, than from our knowledge of its author we have reason to expect.

WE are authorized to expect in a short time another volume from the pen of Doctor Caustic, author of "Terrible Tractoration" &c. A part of the expected volume, we understand, was published in London about the time the author left that place, with the title of "Original Poems." The American edition will be enriched with many valuable additions, written since the author's return.

AN abridgment of the History of New England by Miss Hannah Adams has just appeared. This lady has been assiduous in her labors for the benefit of youth. The present volume contains 185 pages, and, like her other works, is intended for the improvement of " young persons."

DAVID HOGAN of Philadelphia proposes publishing by subscription a scripture account of the faith and practice of Christians; consisting of an extensive collection of pertinent texts of scripture, given at large, upon the various articles of revealed religion; reduced into distinct sections, so as to embrace all the branches of each subject, the motives to the belief or practice of the doctrines taught, and the threatenings, promises, rewards, punishments, examples, &c. annex

ed thereto; addressed to the understanding, the hopes, and the fears of Christians; the whole forming a complete concordance to all the articles of faith and practice taught in the holy Scriptures. By the late Rev. Hugh Gaston, V. D. M. member of the Root Presbytery, County Antrim, Ireland.

According to the prospectus this work embraces nearly 1300 articles, under each of which is collected all the corroborative texts of scripture, that are pertinent to the subject, and the words of the sacred writers set down as far, as they are applicable. On the perfections of Deity there are 160 sections or separate heads; on the creation of all things, and the state of man, angels, and devils, 41; on God's government of all things 82; of Jesus Christ, his incarnation, sufferings, works, &c. his offices, titles, perfections, glory, &c. 34; on baptism and the Lord's supper 5; of the Holy Ghost, his offices and works 16; of the Trinity 16; relative to duties toward God 244; toward mankind 70 ; toward ourselves &c. 221; characters good and bad &c. 210; christian's exercises 37; human life, death, and the resurrection 10; the last judgment, a future state, both with respect to the righteous and the wicked 29.

To the whole are annexed a table of contents and a copious index, by which any subject can be referred to without difficulty.

Several respectable divines have furnished approbatory testimonials to this valuable work. Dr. Green of Philadelphia says, "the design of Gaston's collections is to arrange under "the general heads or common topics of theology the vari"ous texts of scripture, which in the opinion of the author "bear upon the several points, which he specifies; or in "other words to form a kind of system of divinity from the "Bible itself. The compiler appears to have been a man of "orthodox principles, and his work is the fruit of much in"dustry. It will be found of considerable use to those, "who wish to support their religious principles by scripture "authority."

LITERARY MISCELLANY.

PRIMITIVE HISTORY.

CHAP. III.

[Continued from page 9.]

Of the Deluge.

IN the transactions of the Asiatic society at Calcutta

we find several proofs from the sacred books of the Hindoos, that they have a knowledge of this great event, and as with us it stands, as part of their religious code." However we may derive the European traditions on this subject from the Hebrew books, yet the same account cannot be given of those of the Hindoos; they are supposed to be coeval with Moses.

Having now collected our proofs, let us make a brief comparison of the facts and opinions, that have been stated, to see if we can make such an arrangement, as will comprehend the present appearance of the world, and reconcile it with the Mosaic history, without recurring to any anterior submersion. It will not be expected, that we shall pursue the reasoning through all its ramifications; it will be enough to state those heads of argument, which persons of inquiry will know how to apply.

The world was probably made at first in the same form, in which we see it. There was the same distinction of land and water, rivers, lakes, and seas; of mountains, hills, vallies, and green fields; of trees and smaller vegetables, some with ripe fruit, and others in bloom, according to their various progress at the same season. In every division of matter were specimens in every degree of perfection, all produced at once without waiting the slow operation of chemical principles, or the accidental combination of organic particles to produce * Asiat. Res. vol. i, pp. 16 and 216, Vol. II. No. 2.

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the larger and more perfect animals and vegetables. This is evidently the Mosaic account, and accords best with our ideas of an infinite Creator, to whom all operations are equally easy, and who is never delayed by doubts of the fitness of things to produce the intended effect.

Among the theorists Dr. Burnet supposed the body of our planet to have been originally water, and Mr. Whiston admitted large cavities filled with that fluid. Count Buffon supposes the interior substance to be hard stone, and the water is with him merely superficial. There is some truth in each opinion, but neither of them exclusively just. The central abyss was at first water. The solid part of this planet was not then any more, than it is now, a complete sphere, but open at both poles for some degrees, and possibly in some few other places, by which a communication was kept up between the central water and that of the ocean. In the various attempts of our own time to explore the different regions of the globe no land has been found within eight degrees of the northern, nor within thirty degrees of the southern pole. These latitudes may be considered, as very near the bounds of that segment of a sphere, which is to be regarded, as the solid part of this planet. The interior is of hard rock, as supposed by M. Buffon, but interspersed with large cavities, which render the whole mass specifically lighter, and provide for supporting above the surface of the water those prominences, which we distinguish into continents and mountains, and by means of which all terrestrial animals are upheld in life. The solid part of the planet rests upon the fluid, as a ship does upon the water, and is supported upon the same principle of buoyancy. Heretofore philosophers have supposed a southern continent, and after the globular form of this planet was ascertained by its being circumnavigated, we find, a southern continent laid down in the maps, as a counterpoise to the lands in the northern hemisphere. But since the modern explanations of the globe no such principle, as the counterpoise, can be admitted; for, if we examine the terrestrial globe, we shall find

every large tract of land to be opposite to water, except that South America is opposed to the eastern part of Asia. Every other continent has its antipode in the ocean. As this is opposite to what we should expect from counterpoise, we must recur to buoyancy for the theoretic principle. The whole mass of our globe is equal in weight to a globe of water of the same surface, as the present ocean.

All, that now remains, is briefly to show, that this construction satisfies the present appearances of the earth merely by means of such a flood, as Moses has described.

Thus

The immediate cause of the flood was the rupture of so many of the lower cavities of the earth, as to alter its specific gravity. The cavities being opened, but the fragments of rock not immediately falling off, the water gushed in at the fissures, and, the specific gravity of the solid part of the globe being thus increased, that part began to sink, and exhibited to the terrified inhabitants an enormous tide, overflowing the land, and pursuing them among the inland mountains. Though every part of the world was inundated, it was done in succession, as the earthquakes continued to open different cavities. At one time the waters surmounted the elevated ridge of the Andes, and at another, in the opposite hemisphere, the ark was lodged on the summit of Ararat. by undulations every kind of animal, that properly belongs to the land, was destroyed, excepting the few specimens, preserved with Noah in the ark. During five months, or one hundred and fifty days from the commencement of the flood, the water continued to rise, till the seventeenth day of the seventh month, when the ark grounded on the top of a stupendous mountain between those two collections of water, now known, as the Caspian and Euxine seas. In forty three days more the tops of the mountains began to appear, and, after a year and ten days from the beginning of the flood, the small remains of mankind were released from their long confinement, and the beasts and birds restored to their own modes of life.

It is evident from this statement, that not more than one

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