bodies of men; that those who do not believe in Him will be drowned spiritually, for these waters of the Truth of God shall also accomplish the condemnation of the wicked.

The waters of the Deluge "prevailed until all the high mountains that are under the whole heavens were covered." The term "mountain " has been used generally by the prophets of God, to mean a "ruler" or "king" of temporal dominion. The Deluge covering the "mountains," therefore, expresses the fact that the great and powerful of the earth were swept away in the resistless flood of Truth which descended from God.

The three sons of Noah-Shem, Japheth and Ham-typify three divisions of the human race. Shem, or "Sam," meaning "supreme man or the "high man," is distinguished from his two brothers, by his spiritual superiority. From him, were to come the messengers and prophets who should reveal God to humanity. The children of Shem were also distinguished by residence in the temperate regions. Japheth means "beauty" and "fair," a characteristic of the races of northern latitudes. Ham means "hot" or "burned with heat," typifying the division of the human race inhabiting equatorial regions. These were the three ethnological divisions, at the time of Noah, when the earth was not thickly populated; before the time of racial intermingling which produced the varying types of peoples and nationalities.

The Arabs say "The Children of Shem are prophets; the children of Japheth are kings; the children of Ham are slaves."

CHAPTER XVIII.

ABRAHAM, MOSES AND MOHAMMED.

Deluded by superstitions and imaginations, we have continually turned aside from the way of righteousness, seeking God by paths and roads which lead to destruction. In His Love and Mercy, our Heavenly Father has sent a long line of prophets and messengers to teach us anew the way to Him; each holy soul bearing the same mesage of Truth; each herald of the glad tidings, crying "Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God." With the illumination of this divine mission, came Abraham, the "Friend of God," to whom it was promised that all the nations of the earth should be blessed through him. Genesis 17, 6. "And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee; and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish My Covenant between Me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee."

According to scriptural chronology which has been sustained by recent archæological discoveries, Abraham lived about two thousand years before the birth of Christ. He was a descendant of Shem, and was born in Ur of the Chaldees, beyond the Euphrates. This country is inhabited at the

present time by the Kurds, who are direct descendants of the ancient Chaldeans.

Abraham bore the title "Khalil Allah," the "Friend of God," and this supreme compliment is still applied to him in oriental countries. Only Christ, the greatest of prophets, received a higher title of honor in the cause of God. Christ was called the "Son of God" and as the "Son" is nearer and dearer than the "Friend," so Christ embodied a higher degree of illumination and closer association with God the Infinite; a manifestation of divine power, supreme to that of Abraham.

The history of Abraham as recorded in Genesis, contains contradictions and discrepancies which are not in harmony with his mission as a great prophet, and which cannot be reasonably explained. In Genesis, it is said that he denied Sarah, his wife, and claimed she was his sister. In Genesis 17-17, God appeared to Abraham and informed him that Sarah should be blessed by the birth of a son, at which announcement, "Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his heart, shall a child be born to him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear?" We must conclude from literal acceptance of this record, that the birth of Isaac was a miracle. To make the record still more unreasonable, it is stated in Genesis 25th, that after the birth of Isaac, and notwithstanding his increased age, Abraham took a wife, Keturah, who bore him six sons. At this time, Abraham was not less than one hundred and forty years old. It is not esteemed a miracle in scriptural

teachings, that at this age, he had six sons by Keturah, whereas the birth of Isaac, forty years previous, was considered the miracle by which God chose to bring forth Isaac, the "Father of the Hebrews."

We must conclude from these accounts, which are unquestionably legendary, that scribes and translators who copied the scriptural text long after the time of Moses, endeavored to exaggerate the importance of their own nationality, striving to show that the blessings of God were confined to the Hebrews, who have never exceeded seven or eight millions of people. By this, they have sought to deprive other nations of the rights and privileges afforded the human race by the mercy of their loving Creator; assuming incorrectly that they are the "chosen people" of God, whereas all the holy messengers who have been sent upon the earth to reveal the truth, have taught that the "chosen people" of God are those who choose God. Repudiating this claim of the Hebrews, we can only believe that the blessings poured upon the patriarch Abraham, by the Almighty, were blessings intended for his posterity, through whom, according to God's intention, they should descend to all nations of the earth.

It is the inclination on all races to exaggerate their own importance; to consider that they are the highest and most favored of God's creatures. This is a universal egotism, common to all mankind. We do not find, however, that any other races or nations, except the Hebrews, have asseverated unto

themselves the blessings bestowed by Almighty God upon humanity in general. It cannot be denied that God has conferred many of the highest blessings upon the descendants of Jacob; that many of His prophets appeared in that nationality, voicing His Truth, yet we know that messengers of God have appeared to all races of the earth, teaching the way of righteousness; and this way, this teaching, has been the same revelation of Truth throughout.

If we study all the religions of earth, living or dead, and abstract from them the corruptions and false interpretations which have obscured whatever of truth they contain, we will find that at the root and core, they all embody the same light which has been revealed by God to the children of men, through His prophets. All truth has been and must ever be from God. His knowledge, promise and command thus revealed to us, have always been founded upon the fixed, invariable basis of His Truth. The blessings and promises of God descended upon and enlightened Abraham, appointing him to be the "Father of multitudes of nations." No other interpretation can be put upon this revelation than that these blessings should be extended to and embrace all nations of the earth. As the object in truth seeking, is to condemn no particular belief, but to throw light upon all subjects in connection with human life and accomplishment, it is necessary for us to judge and interpret the Scriptural narrative concerning Abraham, with wide and open range of intelli