one people, nor all have the same language." v. 6.

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I do not stop to make any curious enquiries as to the object for which they had met to build the tower of Babel. Whatever it might be, it was evidently made use of as the occasion for their dispersion. Nor is it necessary for us to determine, whether all, or only the majority of the human race were engaged in this mighty attempt. wish to avoid every thing which is merely curious and critical, and to keep to the plain facts of the history. The Lord said, Behold the people is one, and they have all one language. Go to, let us go. down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand each other's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of the whole earth." Gen. xi. 5—7.

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Hence, it is plain, that the diversity of manners and opinions which characterizes the different nations of the world has resulted, in a great measure, from an immediate exercise of Divine power. For it can require no deep research into the

history of mankind to know, that, from a difference of language, a difference of opinions will naturally arise, and that when nations are separated from each other by seas and mountains, they will necessarily fall into very different modes of thinking on moral and religious subjects.

"He hath made of one blood all the nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined the times appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." Acts xvii. 26. Moses having given an account of the sons of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, concludes:-" These are their sons after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, and after their nations, and by these were the nations of the earth divided after the flood." Gen. x. 32. And with an express reference to this event, he speaks of the time" when the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance." Deut. xxxii. 8.

It was, therefore, not only by the permission, but by the immediate power of God, that mankind were thus scattered far and wide upon the face of the earth;

that the sons of Japheth went northward to the isles of the Gentiles and peopled Europe; that Shem peopled Asia and the east; and that Ham was the father of Africa. But if this arose from the will and council of the Most High, and if these were the dispensations of his Providence, are we not to infer, that the dispensations of his grace have been accommodated to the same variety of tongues, and kindreds, and nations ?

As this is a very important step in our argument, I trust we may be allowed to consider it with that attention which it deserves. How is it that it is generally treated? It is thus: A revelation, it is said, had been originally given to all, and that, if men, as they migrated to a distance from Shinar, forgot this revelation, it was their own fault, and they must abide the And these are the arguconsequences. ments by which grave divines have attempted to answer the objections of unbelievers!

But, surely, this is not only insulting reason, it is misrepresenting the whole

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record of Scripture. So far as we can depend on the account of Moses, it was plainly the design and intention of God, that mankind should not retain this uniformity of manners and sentiments; but, that by breaking them into separate communities, and by dispersing them over different countries and climates, they should be made to differ from each other by an indefinite diversity of customs and opinions.

If there had been any wish, on the part of God, that all men should have retained the same worship and the same creed, then, he would have kept them united in one family, and they could have all conversed together in one language. If he had wished them all to retain the same traditionary knowledge, then, this dispersion had not taken place. But, to suppose that he first gave them a revelation, and then scattered them abroad, so that they naturally forgot it, and afterwards punished them for their ignorance of this revelation; these are such glaring absurdities, that one is almost ashamed to recount them.

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The Scripture evidently records the dispersion of mankind, as the immediate act of God for the purpose of scattering the nations on the face of the earth; and from this act, the endless diversities of national manners and customs have originated. Some of these tribes went into cold, barren, and inhospitable regions: hence arises savage barbarism. Others, in time, formed mighty empires; hence the wars and stratagems of more civilised society. But, whatever might be these diversities, they were plainly designed by Providence for the exertion and formation of the human character under every possible variety of circumstance and condition.

Such are the elements of a state of trial and probation. "There is no situation in which a rational being is placed, from that of the best instructed Christian, down to that of the rudest barbarian, which affords not room for moral agency, for the acquisition, exercise, and display of voluntary qualities to the good and bad. This observation applies to every condition; to the whole range of the scale; not excepting