SIXTEEN Hundred and odd Years after the Earth was made, and inhabited, it was over-flowed and destroyed in a Deluge of Water. Not a Deluge that was National only, or over-run some particular Country or Region, as _Judea_ or _Greece_, or any other, but it over-spread the Face of the Whole Earth, from Pole to Pole, and from _East_ to _West_, and that in such Excess, that the Floods over-reacht the tops of the highest Mountains; the Rains descending after an unusual Manner, and the Fountains of the _Great Deep_ being broke open; so as a general Destruction and Devastation was brought upon the Earth, and all Things in it, Mankind and other living Creatures; excepting only _Noah_ and his Family, who by a special Providence of God was preserved in a certain Ark, or Vessel made like a Ship, and such kinds of living Creatures as he took in to him. After these Waters had rag’d for some time on the Earth, they began to lessen and shrink, and the great Waves and Fluctuations of this _Deep_ or _Abyss_ being quieted by degrees, the Waters retir’d into their Channels and Caverns within the Earth; and the Mountains and Fields began to appear, and the whole habitable Earth in that Form and Shape wherein we now see it. Then the World began again, and from that little Remnant preserv’d in the Ark, the present Race of Mankind, and of Animals, in the known Parts of the Earth, were propagated. Thus perish’d the Old World, and the present arose from the Ruins and Remains of it. THIS is a short Story of the greatest Thing that ever yet hap’ned in the World, the greatest Revolution and the greatest Change in Nature; and if we come to reflect seriously upon it, we shall find it extreamly difficult, if not impossible, to give an Account of the Waters that compos’d this Deluge, whence they came, or whither they went. If it had been only the Inundation of a Country, or of a Province, or of the greatest part of a Continent, some proportionable Causes perhaps might have been found out; but a Deluge overflowing the whole Earth, the whole Circuit and whole Extent of it, burying all in Water, even the greatest Mountains in any known Parts of the Universe, to find Water sufficient for this Effect, as it is generally explained and understood, I think is impossible. And that we may the better judge of the whole matter, let us first compute, how much Water would be requisite for such a Deluge; or to lay the Earth, consider’d in its present Form, and the highest Mountains, under Water. Then let us consider whether such a Quantity of Water can be had out of all the Stores that we know in Nature: And from these two, we will take our Ground and Rise, and begin to reflect, whether the World hath not been hitherto mistaken in the common Opinion and Explication of the general Deluge.