It is probable also that the crimes and violence of the previous age had greatly diminished the population, and that they would have utterly exterminated the race had not God in this way saved out some good seed from their destruction. So that the flood, by appearing to destroy the race, really saved the world from destruction.


William Smith, L.L.D., Smith's Bible Dictionary: A Dictionary of the Bible - Comprising its Antiquities, Biograhpy, Geography, Natural History and Literature with the latest researches and references to the Revised Version of the New Testament. By William Smith, L.L.D. Revised