from the Creation to Abraham than the Hebrew.  In general, however, there was an inclination to the supposition that the Deluge took place about two thousand years after the Creation, and, after another interval of two thousand years, Christ was born.  Persons who had given much attention to the subject affirmed that there were not less than one hundred and thirty-two different opinions as to the year in which the Messiah appeared, and hence they declared that it was inexpedient to press for acceptance the Scriptural numbers too closely, since it was plain, from the great differences in different copies, that there had been no providential intervention to perpetuate a correct reading, nor was there any mark by which men could be guided to the only authentic version.  Even those held in the highest esteem contained undeniable errors.  Thus the Septuagint made Methuselah live until after the Deluge.

It was thought that, in the antediluvian world, the year consisted of three hundred and sixty days.  Some even affirmed that this was the origin of the division of the circle into three hundred and sixty degrees.  At the time of the Deluge, so many theologians declared, the motion of the sun was altered, and the year became five days and six hours longer.  There was a prevalent opinion that that stupendous event occurred on November 2d, in the year of the world 1656.  Dr. Whiston, however, disposed to greater precision, inclined to postpone it to November 28th.  Some thought that the rainbow was not seen until after the flood; others, apparently with better reason, inferred that it was then first established as a sign.  On coming forth from the ark, men received permission to use flesh as food, the antediluvians having been herbivorous!  It would seem that the Deluge had not occasioned any great geographical changes, for Noah, relying on his antediluvian knowledge, proceeded to divide the earth among his three sons, giving to Japhet Europe, to Shem Asia, to Ham Africa.  No provision was made for America, as he did not know of its existence.  These patriarchs, undeterred by the terrible solitudes to which they were going, by the undrained swamps and untracked forests, journeyed to their allotted possessions, and commenced the settlement of the continents.

In seventy years the Asiatic family had increased to several hundred.  They had found their way to the plains of Mesopotamia, and there, for some motive that we cannot divine, began building a tower “whose top might reach to heaven.”  Eusebius informs us that the work continued for forty years.  They did not abandon it until a miraculous confusion of their language took place and dispersed them all over the earth.  St. Ambrose shows that this confusion could not have been brought about by men.  Origen believes that not even the angels accomplished it.