ponded entirely with Jacob's behaviour towards his sons, whom he blessed before his death, and this is the more probable, seeing that Noah's predictions could not possibly affect the individuals to whom they were addressed. Nay, nor were the descendants of the person cursed, affected by that curse so long as they continued righteous, since we find in Abraham's days, Melchizedek among them, whose name was expressive of his character, King of Righteousness and Priest of the Most High God; whilst Abimelech, whose name imports Paternal King, pleaded the integrity of his heart, and the righteousness of his nature, before God, and his plea was admitted.

The curse upon Canaan was, that he should be a servant to Shem; and it was accomplished many centuries after, when the Israelites, the descendants of Shem, drove the Canaanites from their country, destroying multitudes by the sword, and reducing still greater multitudes to the condition of bondsmen. In like manner Canaan was doomed to be the servant, when the Greeks and Romans, descended from Japheth, subdued the relics of the Canaanites at Tyre, at Thebes, at Carthage, and throughout Africa; whilst the condition of the Africans at this day, as contrasted with the states and people of Europe and Asia, seems to be but the continuation of the destiny imposed upon the children of Ham by their great ancestor.

The blessing of Japheth implied that his territories should be enlarged. How this has been fulfilled, every one may judge for himself when he beholds, not Europe only, and Asia Minor, but Media likewise, part of Armenia, Iberia, Albania, with the extensive regions peopled by the Tartar tribes, all owning his sway; whilst the declaration that "he should dwell in the tents of Shem," became strictly verified, when first Alexander, and afterwards the Casars, became masters of Jerusalem, and made the surrounding country tributary. But the blessing of Shem was of far more importance than this: it referred to the coming of the Messiah; that great event, to which all other occurrences, in time, have been but as accessories, and it corresponded in every particular with the promise first made to Adam, and afterwards renewed to Noah. Like the curse of Canaan, and the less important blessing of Japheth, it, too, has received its accomplishment, the Redeemer having come from the stock of Shem, through Abraham and Judah.

It appears, therefore, that Noah's blessings and curses, so far from originating either in the fumes of undigested wine, or in momentary irritation, were the deliberate outpourings of a prophetic spirit, which, like that which in aftertimes possessed Israel, burned up with its brightest lustre just before it expired.

CHAPTER V.

Nimrod's ambition.-Building of the tower of Babel.-Its consequences.---Objections noticed and answered.

A. M. 2857 to 3318.-B. C. 2554 to 2093.

WE have every reason to suppose, that for some years after the flood, Noah and his family dwelt together in the immediate vicinity of the mountains where the ark rested. As their numbers increased, however, and the means of subsistence became scanty, they gradually extended their settlements till they embraced the whole of Armenia; and when that province was found too narrow to contain them, they took possession of the adjacent fertile and pleasant regions of Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Media. That every movement made during the lifetime of Noah, was made at his suggestion, as it carries with it a great degree of plausibility, so has it been held to be true by the ablest writers; indeed, St. Paul himself, at Acts xvii. 26, seems to inculcate the belief, that to each of his sons the great patriarch distinctly allotted a particular portion of the world as an inheritance. It is of course impossible to argue this point on any other ground than that of probability; but the following opinion of Abulfaragi, supported as it is by that of the learned Dr. Hales, appears to us to deserve the deepest attention: "To the sons of Shem," says he, "was allotted the middle of the earth, namely Palestina, Syria, Assyria, Samaria, (a town of Babylonian or Chaldean Irac,) Babel, Persia, and Hagiar (or Arabia Petrea ;) to the sons of Ham, Tiernan, (or Idumea,) Africa, Nigritia, Egypt, Nubia, Scindia, and India (or western and eastern India, on both sides of the Indus.) To the sons of Japheth also, Garbia, (the north,) Spain, France, the countries of the Greeks, Sclavo

nians, Bulgarians, Turks and Armenians." Of course these countries could be peopled only in succession, and by very slow degrees; nor is it necessary to believe that the family of mankind actually broke up into distinct commonwealths till after the decease of their common father.

These several migrations were already begun, and had, to a certain degree been carried into execution, when that memorable event befell, to which Scripture teaches us to trace back the diversity of languages which now prevails upon the earth. "In the 70th year of Reu,* the sixth in descent from Shem, about sixty years after the final division of the earth, and in the two hundredth year of the life of Peleg, a tribe of Cushites, descendants of Ham, which had established themselves beyond the Tigris, either dissatisfied with the portion which had fallen to them or instigated by caprice, suddenly turned back from the east, and directed their faces westward. The leader of this tribe was Nimrod, a word signifying "the Rebel," who by his great boldness in attacking, and his success in destroying wild beasts, had acquired from those around him that respect which, in a semi-barbarous state of society, is granted to no qualities so freely as to courage and bodily prowess. This man, arriving with his followers at a settlement of the Arphaxadites, the children of Shem, of remarkable fertility in the plain of Shinar, took forcible possession of the country; and rebelling against the divine decree, which through the medium of Noah, had assigned to each branch its portion, determined to establish himself there. It would appear, moreover, that the Cushites, not content to thwart the will of Providence in one particular, resolved totally to defeat its designs by extending their sovereignty over the whole earth. With this view they fell upon the device of building a tower, or fort, within which, if hard pressed, they might find refuge; whilst they carried arms, without hesitation, against all their brethren, whom they strove to bring under their arbitrary dominion.

Up to this moment, the human inhabitants of the world seem to have employed one common language. What that language was, whether as some imagine, the Hebrew, or as others, with at least equal plausibility suppose, some dialect now totally lost, it is impossible to determine; but of the fact, whether we trust to scriptural authority or to the hardly

*Hale's Chronology, with his account of Abel's sacrifice.

less credible testimony of analogy and reason, it is impossible to doubt. It would appear, moreover, that the impious, as well as ambitious designs of Nimrod, were not a little forwarded by that circumstance; indeed it is easy to understand, how men, holding familiar and constant intercourse one with another would be liable to become overawed by the superior courage and daring of one of themselves, to whom large numbers had already submitted. Under these circumsances it seemed good to unerring Wisdom immediately to interfere; and by placing mankind in a novel situation, to bring about the great designs of Providence, by compelling different tribes and families to seek for separate habitations, and forms of government, through a positive inability to dwell peaceably or advantageously together.

We have said that one of the measures of Nimrod for the attainment of universal sovereignty, was to erect a tower, or fortress, within which his plunder might at all times be secured, and his followers, in case of a repulse, find shelter. We are not ignorant that the language of Scripture has sometimes received a different interpretation; and that the erection of the tower is represented as referring to an object totally distinct from that for which we have given Nimrod credit. In the 11th chapter of Genesis for example, it is stated, that "the people said one to another, go to, let us build a tower whose top may reach to heaven;" from which commentators have drawn the inference, that these persons were so foolish and impious, as to imagine that they might guard against the danger of a future deluge, by erecting a tower of such a height, that the water should not be able to sweep over it. But not to dwell too much on the extreme improbability that any race of persons, accustomed to mountainous scenery, could entertain the idea that they could erect a tower, over which, waters that flooded the summits of Ararat, would not sweep, it appears to us, that the concluding clause of the verse wherein they are represented as saying, "and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth," places the transaction with the designs of its inventors, in their true light. Without a doubt Nimrod intended to resist the divine decree, which doomed mankind to separate themselves, and colonise the whole earth; and he conceived that this tower, whilst it furnished him with a place of safe retreat, would serve as a sort of landmark to keep the families of men together. That, however, which he impiously devised with a view to thwart the counsels of

the Most High, was made to conduce, more than any thing which had yet befallen, to their advancement; and the building, begun to perpetuate the wisdom and greatness of its founder, remained a standing monument of his folly and absolute inability to counteract the designs of Providence.

It is of no small advantage in our endeavours to ascertain the precise site of this memorable edifice, that the inspired historian has given us a particular account of the materials of which it was composed. His expressions are, that the people had brick for stone, and slime for mortar; the word slime being, in our version, substituted for the more appropriate term, bitumen; and as no builders have ever preferred brick to stone, where the latter could be procured in adequate quantities, we must believe that the founders of Babel were driven to make use of hardened clay, because more solid materials lay not within their search. Now, it is a well-attested fact, that the great plain of Babylon is not only remarkable for the absence of every thing like a stonequarry, but the soil chances to be particularly well fitted for the making of bricks; whilst bitumen, both solid and liquid, abounds there, in a degree unparalleled in any other quarter of the globe. To this fact Herodotus, Vitruvius, Strabo, Justin, with other ancient writers bear ample testimony; indeed, they represent the walls of the great city of Babylon, as it existed in the days of Cyrus, to have been held together by bituminous cement. We have, therefore, no hesitation, in asserting our conviction that the tower of Babel must have stood somewhere in the plain of Babylon; nor does it imply any gross credulity to believe also, that the famous tower, so minutely described by Herodotus as a temple of Belus, though not one and the same with the edifice begun by Nimrod, was erected upon its site, and, in fact, with its materials.

With respect to the chronology of this portion of the history of mankind, it will be seen by our reference to the works of Abulfaragi and Dr. Hales, that we have here, as elsewhere, adopted the theory advanced by the latter of these eminent persons. Thus, by referring the dispersion, not to the era of Peleg's birth, as has sometimes been done, but to the two hundredth year of his age, we fix the date of Nimrod's insane attempt at the five hundred and fortieth year after the Deluge and as it is unquestionably encum

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