We now turn to the consideration of other passages which, taken even in their literal sense, militate strongly against the doctrine in dispute. After the destruction of the antediluvian earth by the flood, Jehovah affirmed, "I will not _again curse the ground any more_, though the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every living thing as I have done." This _curse_ which the Lord is here inferred to have pronounced upon the former world, in whatever sense the terms be taken, was accomplished in its destruction; and the end of that world by a flood of waters, completed its fulfillment. The curse of the Lord, therefore, when pronounced upon the earth, leads to its dissolution. But God Himself affirms that He will not thus curse the ground any more,--that He will not again suffer it to be destroyed, neither will He again smite everything living. The declaration is absolute. It is not said that He will refrain from it during a _limited period_, but that He will not do it _any more_--to all eternity. Yet if the commonly received doctrine be correct, this declaration of Jehovah must be untrue. If _again_ everything living _is_ to be smitten,--if again the earth is to be cursed with destruction as complete, if not more so than the former one; then it cannot be true that every living thing is _not_ again to be smitten, nor the earth again to be cursed. In this instance the literal proofs clash with the solemn declaration of God. If, however, it be objected that these words refer not so much to the _destruction_ of the globe, as to the _mode_ of that event, I reply that no such qualifying language is found in the text. The words are general; they are not "I will not again curse the earth _with water_," but I will not curse the ground,--I will not destroy the earth "_any more_," either in this way or in any other. "I will not smite any more everything living as I have now done," by an universal destruction. And, in fact, the promise that _a flood_ should no more destroy the world, would have afforded little consolation to Noah, had he understood that another destruction more awful than the former, was approaching, in which not this world only, but the whole universe would perish; and when not the greater part, but _all_ things living, would be destroyed, without the preservation even of a remnant. The flood is certainly in the following chapter referred to particularly as the more recent danger, and a repetition of which would be most dreaded by the survivors; but the very same declaration of Jehovah, which interdicts a flood of waters, equally interdicts any other entire destruction:--"I will not in any way curse the ground any more."