Nod," which is itself not described by any more distinct criterion than that it is situated "in the east of Eden." If the position of the latter should be settled beyond dispute, it will be time to search for a distinct locality both of Nod and Enoch. If the land of Nod is, at least, to be determined as the whole region of Asia to the east of the Tigris, it would be preposterous to fix in this vast territory upon a spot for the town of Enoch. Vague resemblances with later Greek or Eastern names have here also been the only guides of those who think it either necessary or possible to settle every minute detail of Biblical antiquities. It is an essential part of every science to distinguish and to acknowledge what it is impossible to know. And a certain subdued light, a chiaroscuro, is well befitting the earliest deeds and sufferings of mankind. The progress from the delightful innocence of childhood (Eden), through the struggle and guilt of the awakening physical and moral strength (Nod), back to the conscious virtue by training and instruction (Enoch), is a type more to be conceived by the internal eye than to be palpably constructed for the senses.

18-24. The historian passes rapidly over the next four generations. After the first formation of towns, and the organisation of communities, there is necessarily a long pause before any decided advance is made in social life. Numberless claims are to be adjusted, endless conflicts to be settled; and experience suggests a thousand improvements in the institutions and all external arrangements. Centuries elapse before the political life admits of, or urges on to, a further progress. This important step was reserved to the fifth generation. One of Lamech's sons was Jubal. He was the inventor of musical instruments. Necessity had been the mother of the first discoveries, and had prompted to the carliest

exercise of the moral energies. A certain simple comfort was the consequence of this activity; and security and ease gave leisure and cheerfulness for the cultivation of the fine arts. The bare and rude wants were supplied; and the mind was sufficiently vacant to desire beauty. The toilsome existence was ennobled by the admixture of a higher element. The inexorable necessaries of daily life absorbed no more the whole attention or the entire strength; the soul and the heart also, demanded and obtained their food and nurture; Lamech was the first poet(vers.23,24), and his son the first musician; the "sweat of the brow" was temporarily dried by the heavenly sunshine of art; the curse of Adam was, in a great measure, conquered by the perseverance and the gentleness of his descendants. Everybody will readily admit, that this was a most important step in the advancement of society; for, materialism with its degrading tendencies of cold expediency was, in some measure, dethroned; it became a co-ordinate part of a higher striving, which found its reward, not in selfish utility, but in a free and elevating recreation. It is true, that most of the ancient nations ascribed the invention of musical instruments to their deities: the Egyptians believed that Thot, the god of wisdom and knowledge, the friend of Osiris, invented the threestringed lyre; the Greeks represented Pan or Mercury as the first artists on the flute; and music was generally considered a divine gift, and an immediate communication from the gods. But our context describes the invention of these instruments in a far deeper manner; it embodies it organically in the history of the human families, and assigns to it that significant place which its internal character demands.

It is not an accidental fact, that the lyre and the flute were introduced by the brother of a nomadic herdsman (Jabal). It is in the happy leisure of this occupation, that mu

sic is generally first exercised and appreciated, and the idyllic tunes of the shepherd find their way, either with his simple instruments, or after the invention of others of a more developed description, into the house of the citizen, and the palace of the monarch. - But we must not be surprised to find here Jabal described as "the father of those who dwell in tents, and of those who have cattle" (ver. 20), although Abel had already followed the same pursuits (ver. 2). Every single remark proves the depth of thought, and the comprehensiveness of the views of the Hebrew writer. Abel had been murdered, most probably without leaving children; yet, his occupation could not die out with him; breeding of cattle is a calling too necessary, and at the same time too inviting, not to be resumed by some later-born individual. But in the family of Cain rested the curse of blood-shed; the crime was to be expiated by severe labour; in the fourth generation it was atoned for (Exod. xx. 5); and now were the Cainites permitted to indulge extensively in the easy life of herdsmen; the blood of Abel was avenged, and with the restored guiltlessness returned affluence, and-mirth, which is aptly symbolized by the invention of music.

Jabal and Jubal were Lamech's sons with Adah; but he had another wife, Zillah, who bore him also a son, Tubal-cain. He was a "sharpener of all instruments of brass and iron"; and this seems to imply, that he continued the ancestral pursuit of agriculture, but that he also improved the necessary implements; he invented the practical arts of whetting ploughs, and of making, by the aid of fire, other instruments materially mitigating the toil and hardship which the cultivation of the soil

imposes upon the laborious countryman. And are we not justified in finding in this alleviation of the manual labour also, a relaxation of the severe curse pronounced against his ancestor Cain?

Daughters are not usually mentioned in genealogical lists, except where in later history they obtain some individual distinction. We shall, however, not urge too much the question, why Naamah is here introduced, as the only female descendant of Cain? And, since the name alone is mentioned, it can be our only guide in attempting a reply; but, considering the general significance of the names, we shall scarcely go astray in following that trace. Naamah signifies, the lovely, beautiful woman; whilst the wife of the first man was simply Eve, the lifegiving. Who does not see the obvious progress in the intervening generations? It is the same remarkable change in women, as we have just pointed out in men. The women were, in the age of Lamech, no more regarded merely as the propagators of the human family; beauty and gracefulness began to command homage; the woman was no more merely the "help" of the husband, but his most beautiful ornament; if the eye finds an independent delight in lovely appearance, gross materialism is conquered; and man has entered the period of art, which consists essentially in the spiritualisation of the sensual conceptions. Even the wives of Lamech manifest the transition into this epoch of beauty; for, whilst one wife, Zillah, reminds still of assistance and protection, the other, Adah, bears a name almost synonymous with Naamah, and, likewise, signifying ornament and loveliness. We may add, that the son of the former (Tubal-cain) was the inventor of