tions of different writers upon the subject, was certainly the most elevated and extraordinary edifice which the world has ever beheld. Perhaps its site is distinguished at this very day by that immense mass of vitrified ruin, which rears its summit high above the shapeless mounds which now alone commemorate the grandeur of ancient Babylon, and which, under the name of Birs Nimroud, excites the amazement of the traveller. But the design of the children of Noah were frustrated by God.

What is the origin of Language?

LANGUAGE, which is peculiar to immortal man, which is essential to all the institutions and gratifications of society, to the communication of thought, to the progress of improvement, to the knowledge of truth, to all that gives value, or dignity, or importance to human existence, was unquestionably the immediate gift of God to Adam in the garden of Eden. Of all the absurd notions which visionary speculators have ever maintained, that of a natural language is the most preposterous. It was God, who imparted to men form, and life, and intelligence; who endowed them with the knowledge of their own powers, and excited them to the exercise of their own reason-it was God, who taught them how to adopt sounds as the symbols of thoughts, and how thus to bring to bear upon the general good of the whole, the attainments, the capacities, and the benevolence of each individual being. What that language was, which God gave to Adam, is a question as useless, as it is incapable of solution. All that is known of the matter is, that when the tower of Babel was built, men as the members of one family, spoke but one language, "the whole earth was of one lip and one speech,'

How was the design of the children of Noah frustrated?

To punish these infatuated beings for their impiety and folly, to secure the rapid peopling of the whole earth which would otherwise have been most materially retarded, and to prevent the physical and moral evils which would inevitably have resulted from the collection of too large a multitude in one place,

God "confounded their language, that they should not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city." It is unnecessary to agitate the question, in what manner this confusion of tongues was created. Critics and speculators, who have endeavoured to account for almost every event recorded in the Holy Scriptures, by referring to mere human or natural agency, have bewildered themselves to no purpose whatever, in the solution of this inquiry. It seems evident to the most superficial reader of the account as it is given in the book of Genesis, that Moses intended to describe a miraculous event. However it was effected, it was the work of God; and this is all that can be known, or need to be said upon the subject.

How was the world peopled, after the confusion of tongues, by the posterity of Noah?

In the separation which thus took place among the posterity of Noah, the families of his sons took dis tinct routes, and peopled different regions of the world. The descendants of Japhet, possessed all Europe, the islands in the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and the northern parts of Asia. The descendants of Ham are to be discovered in the Phoenician tribes, the Egyp tians, and the inhabitants of Africa; while the de scendants of Shem occupied the whole of that part of Asia not possessed by the children of his brothers; and his posterity constituted by far the largest proportion of the inhabitants of the world. It is most probable, that the inhabitants of America, are descended from more than one of these distinct portions of the human race. This inquiry has no connexion with the object of this work.

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CHAPTER II.

FROM THE BIRTH OF ABRAM TO THE SLAVERY IN
EGYPT.

SECTION I.

THE CALL OF ABRAM.

GIVE an account of the country and family of Abram. A MORE melancholy demonstration of human depravity, and of the tendency of man to depart from his God, cannot be afforded than the fact, that three hundred and fifty years after the flood, the rites of idolatry had almost superseded the adoration of the Supreme Being. In the land of Chaldæa, the heavenly bodies, and probably fire, were reverenced as Deities; and it has been supposed upon good foundation, that images were already made, before which the deluded people presented their offerings and their prayers. Among the idolatrous inhabitants of this country, Abram, the father of the faithful, the ancestor of the Jews, was born. The name of his father was Terah, A. C. 1996. and he was probably younger than his two brothers, Nahor and Haran. Haran prematurely died, leaving a son, Lot, who afterwards accompanied his celebrated relative to Canaan; and Abram, when introduced to our notice by the sacred historian, was married to Sarai his half sister. Whether the tradition which assigns to Terah, the occupation of a maker of idols a tradition originating no doubt in the relation of the word Teraphim to Terah, is founded in fact, is of no great consequence; but there is no reason to doubt, that Abram's detestation of the idolatrous practices of his countrymen, induced him to abandon the land of his nativity; and since his father accompanied him in his migration from Ur to Charran, it is proba

ble that he also was convinced of the sin and folly of the idolaters.

Recite a traditional account of the fidelity of Abram to the worship of God.

Abram is stated to have been denounced to Nimrod the idolatrous sovereign of the country, and the following dialogue is said to have taken place between them. Nimrod commanded him to worship the fire, Abram said that it would be more profitable to worship the water which can extinguish the fire. "Why then," said Nimrod, "worship the water." "No," said Abram, "it would be better to worship the clouds which furnish the water." Nimrod commanded him to worship them; but Abram told him that it would be still better to worship the winds which dispersed the clouds. Nimrod told him to worship them. Abram then said it would be more reasonable to worship man who can stand against the wind. "I see," said the indignant monarch, "that your purpose is to deride me; I must therefore tell you briefly, that I worship nothing but the fire, and if you do not the same, my intention is to throw you into the flames; then I shall see whether the God you worship will come to your relief." The tradition adds, that Abram was cast into a furnace of fire, but that he was miraculously preserved by God, and came from the ordeal perfectly uninjured.

What was the divine call given to Abram?

After the death of Terah, Abram was commanded by God to forsake his kindred and his father's house, and to set out for an unknown country to which he would be conducted by the direction of Providence. Thus "being called to go out into a place which he should after receive as an inheritance, by faith he went out, not knowing whither he went.'

Why does the call of Abram demand particular attention?

The call of Abram demands particular attention, because it involves the reason of the divine proceedings with reference to himself, and the great object of the divine dispensations to his posterity in the subse

quent ages of their history. God first of all promised to render him the ancestor of a great, a numerous, and a mighty nation; then that he should be a blessing to his descendants; then that an extraordinary protection should be extended over him, tantamount to an absolute identity with the favour of his omnipotent Friend; and lastly, that his existence was to involve the most sublime and glorious results to the whole human race; "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." This could not be a prediction of any merely civil governor, however excellent his policy, or extended his dominion. The precise reference of the significant declaration is decided by apostolic authority; "The Gospel was preached to Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." Gal. iii. 8. The Gospel is the revelation of redemption by the Son of God. The calling of Abram, and all the events which afterwards transpired in the history of his descendants, are to be regarded as preparatory to the glorious developement of the purposes of infinite mercy in the incarnation and death of Him, "whose name shall endure for ever: whose name shall be continued as long as the sun and men shall be blessed in Him: all nations shall call him blessed." The separation of Abram from the rest of his fellow-creatures, the peculiar privileges which were bestowed upon his posterity, and the memorable dispensations which arranged their subsequent condition through the long period of seventeen hundred years, were not the operations of capricious, arbitrary, and wayward willthey had a defined, an adequate, an all-interesting design-and that design was, to pave the way for the counteraction of the desolating ravages of sin by the Redemption of Christ, for the deliverance of innumerable millions from the horrors of everlasting destruction, and for the illustrious manifestation of the divine glory to the whole intelligent universe. From the beginning the momentous design was followed, and in the fulness of time it was accomplished.

What were the circumstances of Abram when he received the divine command, and how did he obey it?

Already Abram was possessed of considerA. C. 1921. able wealth. He was accompanied on his