ing question in physics, it is in no higher degree a moral
one than those questions which relate to the right figure or age of the
earth, or to the true motions of the heavenly bodies. And it will be
found that the only passages in Scripture which refer to this strictly
physical subject, instead of determining the geographic extent of the
Flood, serve only to raise a question regarding their own extent of
meaning.

It is known to all students of the sacred writings, that there is a
numerous class of passages in both the Old and New Testaments in which,
by a sort of metonymy common in the East, a considerable part is spoken
of as the whole, though in reality often greatly less than a moiety of
the whole. Of this class are the passages in which it is said, that on
the day of Pentecost there were Jews assembled at Jerusalem "out of
_every nation under heaven_;" "that the gospel was preached to _every
creature under heaven_;" that the Queen of Sheba came to hear the wisdom
of Solomon from the "_uttermost parts of the earth_;" that God put the
dread and fear of the children of Israel upon the nations that were
"_under the whole heaven_;" and that "_all countries_ came into Egypt to
Joseph to buy corn." And of course the universally admitted existence
of such a class of passages, in which words are _not_ to be accepted in
their rigidly literal meanings, but with certain great modifications,
renders the task of determining and distinguishing such passages from
others in which the meaning is definite and strict, not only legitimate,
but also laudable; and justifies us in inquiring whether those passages
descriptive of the Flood or its effects, in which it is said that the
"waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth," so that "_all_ the high
hills that were under _the whole heavens_ were covered," or that "_all_
flesh died that moved upon the earth," belong to their number or no.
There are some instances in which the Scriptures themselves reveal the
character and limit the meaning of the metonymic passages. They do so
with respect to the passage already quoted regarding the stranger Jews
assembled in Jerusalem at the Pentecostal feast,--"out of every nation
under heaven." For further on we read that these Jews had come from but
the various countries extending around Judea, as far as Italy on the one
hand, and the Persian Gulf on the other;--an area large, indeed, but
scarce equal to a one fiftieth part of the earth's surface. But