sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations; and by these were the nations divided after the flood." We inquire, but we inquire in vain, what nations remained to be divided after the flood? Was the flood really universal, or was it only partial? If universal, what were the means by which these nations evaded the fate which was destined for them?

THE SCRIPTURAL LEGEND OF THE TOWER OF BABEL, AND OF THE GENERATIONS OF SHEM, DOWN TO ABRAM.

of Babel.

mortar.

66

Gen. xi. 1-32.

And the whole earth was of one lanThe Scriptural Legend guage, and of one speech. And it came to of the Tower pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence, upon the face of all the earth: and they left

off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

The Scriptu

tions of Shem down to Abram.

"These are the generations of Shem: ral Legend of Shem was an hundred years old, and the Genera begat Arphaxad, two years after the flood: And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber and Salah lived after he begat Eber, four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg : and Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Rew: and Peleg lived after he begat Rew two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters. And Rew lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: and Rew lived after he seven years, and begat

begat Serug two hundred and sons and daughters. And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: and Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah and Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah, in the

land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran." The writer of this legend commences by Commentary on the Scrip- asserting that the whole earth was of one tural Legend language, and of one speech. Short as is of Babel, and the interval between the inscription of the of the Gene- last chapter, and the commencement of the present one, it has already escaped the author's memory, that in his detail of the genealogies of Japheth, of Ham, and of Shem, their sons, their grandsons, and their great grandsons, are divided into lands, according to their divers languages, every one after his tongue." By what miracle they afterwards became of one language, and acquired one speech, certainly needs explanation.

of the Tower

rations of

Shem down

to Abram.

But the search for it is fruitless. The text is decidedly adverse to the assumption that the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. Each of the genealogies is accompanied by the information "that they were divided in their lands after their tongues,” and the likelihood of such an occurrence, as that of the union of the whole earth into one language, becomes less and less probable the more the generations

This difficulty is suffi

are augmented in number. ciently condemnatory of the legend, if other insurmountable difficulties did not also present themselves.

The legend is a close copy of one of the mythical fables of the ancients. The Titans were the giants of the heathen mythology; Gog and Magog, and others, are those of the Hebrew mythology. "Gomer and Magog," whom we term Gog and Magog, are the first names in the genealogies of the sons of Noah. The Titans besieged heaven, by piling the mountains on each other, whose destruction was effected by Jove's thunderbolts. The scriptural giants besieged heaven by means of a tower, whose construction was defeated by a confusion of tongues, introduced among the builders by the Deity.

The

We

The opposition to the building, by a special impediment by the Divinity, was a superfluous act. Creator's laws would have vindicated themselves. will suppose the builders had designed to raise their tower to the height of Mont Blanc. Long before they had attained that elevation, the rarefaction of the atmosphere would have brought them to the region of perpetual snow, a sufficient barrier against further progress, without the needfulness of a special act of supernaturalism to confound the builders.

The conception of God descending from heaven to earth, "to see the city and the tower," and to return a second time, in order to introduce the confusion of tongues amongst the builders, is an idea purely heathenistic. The expression "Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language," would imply that the impious intention of the builders had been unknown to Omniscience, and could only be counter

acted by a personal descent from the firmament called heaven.

Philology is that branch of physical science which seeks a knowledge of the origin and combination of words, and is a section of human intelligence the most useful in tracing and connecting the various families into which mankind are divided. A similarity in the framework or structure of language, and more especially in the sounds of particular words, facilitate the labour of the philologist, in ascribing a common origin to people, divided from each other by nations whose tongues are dissimilar. "The people of the whole earth," spoken of in the commencement of this chapter, as having one language, and one speech, was probably a Chaldean colony or off-shoot, which, from accident or design, became settlers at a distance from their native homes; a process which, at this moment, is actively at work amongst the family of the AngloSaxons. But the philologist fails to trace language to one original fount, and if he take the tenth chapter of Genesis for a sound authority, he perceives the uselessness of his inquiry; for the youngest son of Noah founded nations with diversity of tongues in two generations his second son in three generations and his eldest son in five generations; and yet at an undefined period of time subsequently, the whole human family are found of one family and of one speech, congregated in the plain of Shinar. It is therefore within the confines of the territory of Shinar, the philologist must concentrate his researches, where, if the sacred writ prove to him a true guide, he will discover the primitive language of the people of the earth.

Replete at every step with self-confounding asser