CHAP. X.-In the line of Shem-the eldest of the sons of Noah-was the covenant confirmed: and of him his father, in the spirit of prophecy, exclaimed, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem:" thus indicating that, amongst the posterity of this, his first-born son, would be preserved the knowledge and worship of the one true God. And very remarkable is his prediction concerning Japheth, from whom those nations have mostly sprung who believe in the divine mission of the Messiah, and who profess to be his disciples. "God shall persuade Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." For, whilst the descendants of Shem, who peopled the vast regions of Asia, have degenerated into an almost universal system of gross idolatry, those of Japheth have been favoured to inherit the privileges attendant on some knowledge of the gospel of life and salvation. Thus, in a spiritual sense is the declaration fulfilled, "God shall enlarge, or (as it may be correctly rendered) persuade Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem."

On Ham, the youngest son, a sentence was pronounced which foreshadowed that spirit

of disobedience to the Most High which so awfully characterised his race. "Cursed be

:

Canaan a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." From Canaan, the son of Ham, proceeded the children of Heth, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites, and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, with all those nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

CHAP. XI.-In the first ages of the world, the life of man was prolonged to a date that almost baffles contemplation :-for race after race arose, until patriarchs beheld many populous nations, of which they were the ancestors and Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years; during which period he saw the earth again peopled around him. "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech." And it came to pass, that they journeyed from the east, and found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. And they made brick and mortar: "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad

upon the face of the whole earth." And the Lord beheld the city and the tower which the children of men builded; and the dispersion, which they had resolved to avert, was the consequence of this presumptuous enterprise : "Because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." "And they left off to build the city: therefore is the name of it called Babel" -a term which signifies confusion.

CHAP. XII.-A veil of solemn mystery shadows much of the current of events during the primeval generations of men: but a transient, yet distinct glimpse is sometimes afforded, through the pages of divine revelation, by which circumstances of a most interesting character may be traced, and by which the authenticity of the holy record is clearly established. An instance of this occurs in the brief notice of the families of each of the sons of Noah," after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations ;" "by whom the earth was divided after the flood." We are informed

that from Mizraim, the second son of Ham, proceeded many nations; amongst them the Philistines, who dwelt in the border of the sea, south-west of Canaan; and we have reason to believe that he founded Egypt, the adjoining territory, which is recorded as being very early a distinct kingdom, and called by his own name, Mizraim. The several nations, of whom we read in succeeding time, generally derived their names from the immediate descendants of Noah; often being designated by that of the head or patriarch of their tribe. Asshur, the founder of Asshurea or Assyria, was the second son of Shem: from Arphaxad, his third son, we trace the patriarch Abraham; and the promised seed, called Hebrews, through Eber, the grandson of Shem; and from Aram, his youngest son, sprang Uz, in whose land lived the patriarch Job.

CHAP. XIII.-The first individual of the new race of men of whom we have any farther record than the name, is Nimrod, the son of Cush, and grandson of Ham. From the brief mention that "he began to be a mighty one in

the earth," that "he was a mighty hunter before the Lord," we may infer that, regardless of his dependence on the Supreme Governor of the Universe, he had assumed a power and influence incompatible with a state of allegiance to his Almighty Creator. He founded the first earthly empire; "and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel." He established also the cities of "Erech and Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar." In connexion with this short, but remarkable history, we are also informed that, from the land of Shinar "went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the cities Rehoboth and Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah; the same is a great city."

Thus we are clearly instructed as to the very early foundation of the two mighty kingdoms, Babylon or Babel, called also Chaldea, and Assyria, or Nineveh. For a long period of time they were separate and rival monarchies, but were at length merged into one; and eventually destroyed, according to the prophetic declarations of the sacred Scriptures.