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Shem." They who prefer the latter construction, seem to have done it, that they might refer the 27th verse, wholly to Japheth; as they refer the 26th wholly to Shem; but the other appears the more natural and easy construction. Taken in either sense, the prophecy hath been most punctually fulfilled. In the former sense, it was fulfilled literally, when the Shechina or Divine Presence rested on the ark, and dwelt in the tabernacle, and in the temple of the Jews. And when the Word who was with God, and was God, took our nature upon Him, and dwelt among us.

In the latter sense it was fulfilled, first, when the Greeks and Romans, who sprung from Japheth, subdued and possessed Judea, and other countries of Asia, belonging to Shem; and again, spiritually, when they were proselyted to the true religion; and they who were not Israelites by birth, became Israelites by faith; and lived, as we and many others of Japheth's posterity do at this day, within the pale of the church of Christ.

Is not this a most extraordinary prophecy? A prophecy both wonderful and instructive, which was delivered nearly 4000 years ago, and yet hath been fulfilling through the several periods of time, to this day!!

CHAPTER IX.

THE BUILDING OF BABEL.-THE CALLING OF ABRAM.

WE have seen the close of the first great period of the world; there next ensues a considerable space of time, in which we are presented with little more than a general view of the genealogical succession of the sons of Noah; from the flood to the calling of Abram.

It may be presumed that, for a considerable time, the recent horrors of the deluge would impress their minds, having before their eyes the awful monuments of its ravages; and might confine them to the mountainous regions of Armenia, where the ark first rested; but, as their numbers increased, and their fears diminished, allured by the beauty and fertility of the plains washed by the Tigris and the Euphrates, they descended from the heights, and spread along the vast and fruitful vallies of Shinar, or Chaldea : " And the

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whole earth was of one language and of one speech and it came to pass as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there." Gen. xi. 1. He who had seen the human race cut off for their wickedness, his own family, consisting of eight persons, only excepted, lived to see the descendants of that family almost as numerous and as profligate, as the generations of men which had been destroyed by the flood.

He had the mortification, in particular, to see his posterity engaged in an enterprize, absurd, vain, and impious; that of building a city or tower, whose top might reach unto heaven, to transmit their names with renown to posterity; and to be the great seat of empire; and thereby the means of preserving them in one grand system of political union, and of securing them from discord and dispersion: But the means which they had vainly devised to keep themselves together, proved, in the ordering of Divine Wisdom, the means of separating and scattering them. He who foresaw the mischievous effects of such an attempt, determined to frustrate it. By their scheme, a great part of the earth must have been for a long time uninhabited, and overrun with wild beasts; which, after their dispersion, according to ancient authors, for a long

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time exercised the industry and valour, of the primitive heroes, in hunting and subduing them. It was thus Nimrod gained his renown : "He was a mighty hunter before the Lord." Gen. x. 9.

Thus the contagion of wickedness for some time at least, had bounds set to it; evil example was confined, and could not easily stretch beyond the limits of one country; nor could wicked projects be carried on with universal concurrence, by many little colonies, when separated by the natural boundaries of mountains, rivers, deserts, and seas; and hindered from associating together by a variety of languages, unintelligible to each other.

What we have already seen of the history of the world, may inspire confidence in Divine wisdom and power, by the representations of the constant, seasonable, and suitable interposition of Providence, according to the various exigencies of mankind. The wicked are continually aiming at defacing his image, and marring his work, but they cannot prevail. The purposes of Omnipotence and mercy are not to be defeated by the united efforts of the powers of darkness.

This dispensation therefore was calculated to prevent a second universal degeneracy:

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