But did a better race succeed? No; for Noah, in time, became intemperate, and in a fit of intoxication became an object of contempt to one of his sons, who, so far forgot his duty to his intoxicated father, that instead of concealing his folly and shame, he exposed it. When Noah awoke from his slumber, and discovered what had taken place, he began most heartily to curse his son and his posterity for ages to come, and also to prophesy evil concerning them, which prophecy, according to the Bible, the Lord approved of and brought to pass. Here, again, Jehovah is disappointed; that is, if he expected a moral world better than the one he had destroyed. Turning, then, with detestation from an account which represents the Governor of the Universe as having drowned a world and repented he had made it, and also of being grieved at heart, we will notice Noah’s preparing the ark and making ready for his singular voyage. Nothing short of repeated miracles could have completed the embarkation of Noah, his family, and the living cargo, or freight. A miracle must have been wrought on all those beasts, whose savage nature had made them a terror to man, in order that they might become tame, and be conveyed to the vicinity of the ark. Another miracle must have been in continual operation on all those who were engaged in procuring the beasts, birds, and reptiles, to induce them to labor without any remuneration for their toils, but the certainty of being left to perish by the flood. A continuation of miracles must follow on, to induce the then population to stand quiet, up to their necks in water, and not to make an effort to force their way into the ark before it was closed up; and also to enable Noah and his family to attend to feeding and keeping clean their respective cages and dens. The water, also, to drown the world, and cover the highest hills, must be created for this express purpose, and then reduced again into its native nothingness. For, from an accurate calculation, it would require one hundred and eight times as much water as is now on the face of the earth, to cover the highest mountain, admitting its height to be no more than twenty thousand feet, and there are mountains still higher. It would follow, therefore, that after the flood, one hundred and eight oceans must be annihilated, there not being room for so much water on the earth.