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and faith the delinquents were to wait, "till one happier man fhould regain "the blissful feat," and "open the "kingdom of heaven to all believers;" himself the true TREE OF LIFE IN THE PARADISE OF GOD.

To the learned and candid of all denominations these remarks are fubmitted. If there be any thing in them, the text in question, which has been fo long the butt of infidels, and the ftumblingblock of believers, not only becomes cleared of it's difficulties, but throws a light and a glory on the whole patriarchal difpenfation.

LET.

XI.

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LET.

XII.

LETTER

P.

XII.

.7. "The account of the Flood "is very embarraffing." Poffibly it may-There was a great deal done in a little time; and neither thefe gentlemen nor myfelf were prefent to fee how it was done.

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Ibid. "From whence came the water ?"

From the place to which it returned, and in which it has remained (God be praised) ever fince. The globe of the earth, as the Scriptures inform us, is a fhell, or hollow fphere, inclosing within it a body of waters, ftyled "the great deep," or abyfs. The earth,

earth, at the creation, was covered on LET. all fides with water, which, at the XII. command of God, retired to this abyss beneath, from whence, at the fame command, it came forth in the days of Noah; and having performed it's task, was again difmiffed, as before. "The fountains of the great "deep," by the divine power, were "broken up;" gravity for a time was fufpended, or overcome; the waters were violently thrown upwards into the atmosphere, and defcended in torrents and cataracts of rain. If we meafure the circumference of the earth, and gauge it's contents, we shall find water enough, I dare fay, to anfwer every purpose mentioned in the book of Genefis.* The fhells, and

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*"Some are puzzled to find water enough to form an univerfal deluge: to affift their endeavours

XII.

LET. other marine bodies, depofited in the bowels and on the tops of the highest mountains, all the world over, afford fufficient evidence, that the waters have been there. If any one can give a better account than Mofes has done, when and how they came there, e'en let us have it. A learned and refpectable perfon expreffes his furprife, that the fhell fish fhould tranfport themselves from the bed of the ocean, where they were much better accommodated, to fo uncomfortable a fituation as the fummit of a barren mountain. Alas, worthy Sir, it was

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"endeavours it may be remarked, that was it "all precipitated which is diffolved in the air, "it might probably be fufficient to cover the "furface of the whole earth to the depth of "above thirty feet." WATSON's Chemical Effays, Vol. 111. P. 87.

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no party of pleasure! Whenever they LET. took the journey, depend upon it, it XII. was-" upon compulfion, Hal!"

P. 8. Neither can we eafily per"fuade infidels, that the windows of "heaven were opened, while they know "it has no windows."

They can know nothing of the matter, till they know the meaning of the phrafe, and it's ufage in the Scriptures, where the heavens are faid to be opened when it rains, and fout when rain is withholden, and the like. What is more common than fuch modes of expreffion are in all languages? Suppose, to describe an uncommon fall of rain, I should say " the fluices of heaven "were opened;" would it not be the height of abfurdity to reply, that "the fluices of heaven cannot be "opened, because it has no fluices?"

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