so firm and secure, fixed on the Rock of Ages, and to drift away, without chart, compass, or rudder, on the dark and unknown sea of unbelief. II. THE DISPERSION FROM SHINAR. HE most ancient genealogical tree of the THE human race is found in the fifth chapter of Genesis" the generations of Adam;" and the next one that is given, namely, in the tenth chapter, together with the first chapter in the first book of Chronicles, will be the one we now have to consider. The descendants of Noah were destined by God to overspread the whole earth. "Be ye fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth. . . . . And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein " (Gen. ix. 1, 7). We must go back to this old family record for any true and reliable information we want in regard to the descendants of Noah. It has been well pointed out that a careful study of ancient history, based on the biblical account, will show that "the material civilization of the world was begun by the race of Ham, put to the highest uses by the race of Shem, and, if the phrase may be allowed, popularized and made the handmaid of energetic progress by the race of Japheth, to whom Noah's prophecy gave the highest development of worldly greatness."-Smith's Antient History, P. 48. The post-diluvians were not to confine themselves to any one particular district, as they evidently wished to do: thus the Almighty, to frustrate their intention, gave to each family a different language, or three distinct offshoots from the original tongue in which they had spoken. The researches of learned philologists confirm this, showing that in course of years branch dialects issued from these three. Cuvier classes them as Caucasian, Mongolian, and Ethiopian. |