themselves over the Palus Mootis, beyond the Danube into Germany and France; from whence they passed into Britain, and are esteem Thus I have answered your question Ham's eldest son Cush settled in ed to be the founders of the Welch, Arabia, was possessed of Ethiopia who to this day call themselves Kumero. Magog, Japhet's second son, possessed the N. E. of the Euxine sea, and became the father of the Scythians; from whom the Parthians, Tartars, Turks, and Chinese are descended. Medai, his third son, either cast his lot in Macedonia, or, as it is more generally thought, he was the father of the Medes. Javan, his fourth son, set up his abode in Greece; and his son Elishah took possession of all the isles between Europe and Asia: his second son Tarshish seated his family in Cilicia, and other regions in the S. E. parts of lesser Asia; from whence in process of time there went forth colonies into Spain; Kittim, his third son, retired to the sea coast of lesser Asia, and became famous for shipping; his posterity are supposed to have sent forth colonies into Cyprus, Macedonia and Italy and his youngest son Dodanim became the father of the Dorians, who possessed Doris, also a. country of lesser Asia; and from hence the island of Rhodes was first inhabited. Tubal, his fifth son, was the founder of the Asiatic Iberians, who were merchants, trading in slaves and in vessels of brass. Meshech, his sixth son, travelled as far as Muscovy, and became the father of the Russian empire. And Tiris, his younger son, established the name of the ThraciansE in Asia, and the land of Midian on the borders of the Red Sea; his son Seba gave a name to a country cu the S. W. part of Arabia; as his son Havilah did also to another re gion situated higher to the N. in Arabia ; his sons Sabtah, Raamah and Sabtecha, and the sons of Raamah, whose names are Sheba and Dedan, gave origin to so many dif ferent people in the same large country of Arabia, whose names they bore many ages after. You shall hear concerning Nimrod, the other son of Cush, hereafter. Mizraim, the second son of Ham, built Zoar, Thebes and Memphis. He was deified by his posterity, and had seven sons whose names are Ludim, Anamim, Lehahim, Naph tuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim and Caphtorim, who became the founders of seven nations. Ludim the eldest fixed upon Ethiopia in the 9. of Africa; the second, on the country about the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and the Nazamones; the third, on Lybia; the fourth, on Lybia Marmorica; the fifth, on that part of Egypt called Pathros; the sixth, ou the other side of Egypt called Casiotis, and the mountain Casius, from whose posterity Colchis in Asia was peopled; and the youngest son was the progenitor of the Philistines, and father of the Cappadocians and Cretians. Phut was the third son of Ham, he divided Africa with his brother Mizraim, and spread more west. ward into Mauritania, And, Г : Canaan, Ham's youngest son, possessed all that country called the land of Canaan; he was succeeded by his eldest son Sidon on the N. of that country; and by Heth, who founded the Hittites, near Hebron on the S. of the same country from him also sprang the Jebusites, who possessed Jebus or Jerusalem; the Amorites, who inhabited the mountains; the Canaanites, who dwelt by the sea, on the coast of Jordan; the Girgashites on the cast side of the sea of Tiberias, along the upper part of Jordan; the Hivites in the northern parts of Canaan; the Arvadite, in the isle Aradus on the Phonician coast; the Zemarite, at Edessa in Calosyria; and the Hamathite, near Hameth in Palestine. Shem's eldest son Elam gave a name to the Elamites or Persians. Ashur, his second son, founded the Assyrians. Arphaxed, his third son, with whom the primitive Hebrew lanFuage continued after the confusion of tongues, remained with his family, in the southern parts of Mesopotamia, near the plains, or valley of Chinar: though his son Salah is thought to bave dwelt on the coast of Susiana; whose eldest son Heber or Eber, was the father of Joktan, who had thirteen sons that became the founders of so many nations in India and Arabia Felix. End, his fourth son, raised the Lydian nation, near the river Meander. Aram, his youngest son, took possession of Armenia, Mesopota12 and Span: and his son Uz, Letida, the Paaascus, sub„ecled the waste haud ej bz, which comprehended, from thence, a good part of Arabia Deserta, as far as Arabia Petræa: his second son Hul, occupied Armenia the Greater: his third son Gether, seated himself in Albania, bordering on Armenia ; and his youngest son Mash, fixed his family near the mountain Masius. Thus you hear, how the whole carth was peopled by Shem, Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and their descendants. And as the ori sin of some nations, and their par. ticular progenitors, are not to be ascertained from other historians and ancient records; the Mosaic account, which says that, by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood, must be esteemed the best, and the foundation of all history. Thus you see that the plantations of the world by the sons of Noah and his offspring, recorded by Moses, are not unprofitable fa bles, but a most valuable piece of history, which distinguisheth from all other people that particular nation, of which Christ was to come; and shews us the first rise and origin of all nations, their gradual increase, and successive migrations, cities built, lands cultivated, kingdoms raised, and.governments settled. S. You promised to give me an account of Nimrod the son of Cush, T. Of all the sons of Cush, the son of Ham, Nimrod distinguished himself by his bravery and courage. His name, it is truc, signifies rebel, which might have been given him for some remarkable rebellion, or perhaps on account of his being the first person, after the nations were divided, that broke through the original agreement, and by force invaded the property of his neighbours, The case might be this: being allotted to some country much overrun with wild beasts, and finding that God prospered his endeavours to hunt them out, he at last resolved, under the pretence of hunting, to draw together an army of stout young fellows, and with them to attack his peaceable neighbours, and to enlarge his government by seizing upon lands belonging to some of the posterity of Shem; by which means being possessed of the fruitful valley of the land of Shinar, he built the city Babylon on the same ground, where the tower of Babel had been begun. This city stood on both sides the river Euphrates, and in process of time its circumference became 45 miles; its walls were 50 eubits high, and so broad that carts and coaches could pass on them without interruption; the two parts of it were joined by a sumptuous bridge, whose ends were adorned with two palaces; and the temple of Belus, which was the tower of Babel, reared its head in the midst of the city. Nimrod fixed his residence here, and taking upon him the title and power of a king, made this the metropolis of the Babylonish empire, of which he was the first monarch. And continuing to enlarge his empire, he laid the foundations of the cities Erech, Accad, and Caleh, in the neighbouring provinces. But Ashur, passing into Assyria, built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah and Resen or Larissa on the banks of the Tigris, to secure his new conquests from any future invasion, and thus laid the foundation of the Assyrian empire. S. Does Moses record an exact catalogue of all Noah's descendants? T. No; neither was it necessary : because his history was only design. ed to give a general account of the names of some certain persons, descended of each of Noah's children, who became famous in their generations; his chief intention being, as I have said before, to describe the true genealogy of the promised sccd, or the Messiah. S. How does he make out the sequel of this genealogy? T. He carries it down to Abrain in the line of Shem, by his third son Arphaxed, the father of Selab, whɔ was the father of Eber; from whom came Peleg, the father of Ren; who was the father of Scrug; and frola him Nahor, the father of Terab, who was the father of Abram. S. What are the most remarkable circumstances in their days? mentioned, it may be proper to 10T. Besides what has been already mark, that Reu is the same as Ragou, recorded in 1 Chron. i. 25. and that Terah had three sons, Abram, Nahor and Haran; which Haran died before his father Terah, leaving a son called Lot. S. Did the descendants of Noah preserve the worship of God pure, down to the days of Abram? T. No. They fell into gross idolatry, changing the glory of the incorruptible God into the image of corruptible man, and of birds and of four-footed beasts and creeping things; after they had worshipped the sun, moon and stars, even all the host of heaven. And, tho' the fixed time be not certain, when this apostacy first happened; it was certainly before the days of Abram in Chaldea, whose inhabitants worshipped the sun, and are said in the beek of Judith to have expelled Abram's family from amongst them, because they refused to join in the worship of their gods; though it is also likely, that Terah was corrupted with idolatry and polytheism. But God being mindful to select this family, and in them to establish his church, ordered Terah to leave his habitation at Ur, in the eastern part of Mesopotamia, included sometimes under the name of Chaldea, and to retire into Canaan with his son Abram and his wife, and his grandson Lot: Terah obeyed, but in the way he died at Haran or Charran, a city in the N. W. part of Mesopotamia. Kere it will not be improper to observe the insufficiency of reason to guide us in the matters of religion. Who can boast of so great advantages as these ancients had? They lived much nearer the begining of the world; Cod's judg ments in the flood and the confusion of tongues were fresh in mind; the articles of their religion were few and natural; they had not so many temptations to luxury, pride and intemperance, as are now abroad in the world: yet they alienated themselves from the light of God, and lightly regarded the counsels of the Most High; they forsook the guide of their youth, and rejected those revelations, which at sundry times, and in divers manners, were made known to their forefathers for the rule and measure of their faith and practice and yet no one can deny that those idolaters had as great a claim to reason, as any of our mo. dern freethinkers; but professing themselves wise, they degenerated into fools; and have left us a convincing proof, that reason, sisted by the light and anthority of divine revelation, will run into fol ly, superstition and impiety. unas СНАР. У. God's choice and separation of Abram and his seed to be his peculiar people. The travels of Abram and Lot. Of Melchizedeck. Abraham's success and children. Destruction of Sodom, &c. Abrakam's faith in offering up Isaac. Death of Sarah. Abraham's second marriage, and death. S. WHAT did God do, when Abram; who being command ed by he saw that his former judgments did not deter the increasing world from superstition, idolatry and impiety? T. He resolved to separate a people from among the nations, to whom he would reveal his will, display his glory, and by certain peculiar laws and ordinances keep them under his especial government. This design he accomplished in the Lord to leave his own country and relations, took his wife and family and his nephew Lot, and departed to the land of Canaan, in faith that God would give it to his posterity, and that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed; because of him was the Messiah to be born, who has reconciled all those, that believe in hiur, to the justice of God. S. Where does the land of Canaan lie? T. It lies between the Mediterranean sea, and the mountains of Arabia, and extends from Egypt to Phoenicia It is bounded to the E. by the said mountains; on the S. by the wilderness of Paran, Idumæa and Egypt; on the W. by the Mediterranean or great sea; and on the N. by the mountains of Libanus; being in length about 70 leagues, and 30 in breadth. It took its name from the youngest son of Ham, and in the scripture phrase, is called the land of Promise, the land of Israel, the land of Judah, and now the Holy land. S. In what part thereof did Abram pitch his tent. T. When he arrived in this country, he first stopt at the grove of Moreh, not far from where the city of Sichem or Sychar was afterwards founded in Samaria; and having there built an altar, and paid his devotions to God, he in a vision received fresh assurances of the divine promise. S. Why did God send Abram into this country, and promise to give it rather than any other to his seed? 7. This was surely a matter of indifference, nor does the question require an answer. I shall just tell you what some have thought, that this country was not allotted to any of the sons of Ham by the original settlement; but that Canaan had invaded and usurped it from the children of Shem, to whom it did of right belong; and from whoin Abram was decended: therefore it Belonged to him and his posterity by original title. S. Did Abram remain at Sichem? T. No; he removed to mount Ephraim, and erected another alta to the Lord at Bethel; and fro thence, travelling southward, being stopt by a famine, he turned off' into Egypt for the greater conven:ence and better support of his family and herds; for he was master of great flocks of cattle, which he carried with him. S. What befel Abram in Egypt? T. Abram knowing that he was entering a country wholly given up to luxury, and all kind of excers, who neither feared God nor regarded men; and judging some precaution would be necessary to guard against their power and lust, prevailed on Sarai his wife, to own herself his sister. Her beauty as he had suspected, was soon reported to the king, who being captivated at her sight, proposed to keep her as a royal concubine; out of which dengerous situation nothing but the wisdom of God could deliver her; which was elected by plaguing Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, but God also gave them understanding to apply their punishment; for Pharaoh sent for Abram, on whom before he had bestowed many valuable presents, and chiding him for denying Sarai to be his wife, returned her to him again, and commanded him to depart out of his dominions with all that ho possessed. S. What did Abram do more in Egypt? T. Josephus tells us that he gained himself infinite credit by his solid judgment, easy elocution, and instructive talent of informing and convincing his hearers; and he was |