unclean beasts were preserved in the ark, as well as clean; so, of the three sons of Noah, who were also preserved, there was a wicked Ham, as well as a pious Shem and Japheth. Though they had all been so wonderfully saved in the ark from perishing, it was not long before Ham committed so gross an act of impiety as to draw down upon his descendants the curse of his father, and of God too: so that instead of being the head of a holy race, he was the father of so wicked a posterity, that they became the objects of God's anger and displeasure, and were visited with sore judgments. Noah cursed his race in the person of Canaan, who was Ham's son, saying, "Cursed be Canaan: a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren." And as Shem and Japheth refused to join their brother in his evil deed, but chose rather to act uprightly and piously, Noah gave them this blessing: "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant." After this time, Noah lived three hundred and fifty years, and died at the great age of nine hundred and fifty years.

3. The three sons of Noah had many children who increased and

multiplied exceedingly, dwelling in the country round about the mountains of Ararat, on which the ark had rested. Their numbers still increasing, they journeyed towards the west, till they came to a large and inviting plain, in the land of Shinar, where they determined to fix their abode. At this period they had all one language, and one manner of speech; so that wherever they went they could understand those with whom they conversed.

Being now desirous to perpetuate their name, and fearing also that they might be scattered abroad upon the earth, they agreed to build for themselves a city, and a tower so large, and of such vast height, that the top might reach above the clouds.

It is probable that they intended this tower as a landmark, so that when they were obliged by their increasing numbers to spread themselves over a large extent of country, they might always be able to ascertain the direction in which the city lay which they proposed to build; for they had no roads or footpaths to guide them, and they might wander so far as to be unable to return, not knowing which way to direct their course.

So they began this vast work by preparing the materials; making bricks of clay and burning them; and

gathering large quantities of slime or bitumen which abounded in that country, to use instead of mortar. They then commenced building, and proceeded some time with their work; until, it is said, "the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded." He then 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 confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

4. God, having devised this plan for stopping them in their work, immediately put it into execution by confounding their tongues, so that they now spoke several different languages and could no longer understand one another. There was at once nothing but disorder and confusion amongst them, and they were forced to leave off building. And as they were now not only unable to carry on their intended work, but could not associate and converse together as they had formerly done, they separated into companies and went into other countries; those that spoke one language going one way, and those that spoke another language going another way.

These companies afterwards became separate nations, and had each a distinct and peculiar language. In this way "the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off building the city." This confounding of language gave the name to the city and the tower which they had begun to build. One was called, The City of Babel; and the other, The Tower of Babel:-Babel signifying, in the Hebrew language, confusion. Upon this separation, the descendants of Shem settled in Asia; those of Ham, a part in Asia and a part in Africa; and the greater portion of those of Japheth, in Europe.

5. Some time after this, there was a descendant of Shem, named Terah, who had three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran took a wife, and died before his father, leaving a son, named Lot, and two daughters. Afterwards, Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram's wife being Sarai; that of Nahor's, Milcah. After the death of Haran, Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, and Sarai, Abram's wife, and went with them from Ur, where they had been living, to go into the land of Canaan: but in their way, coming to a place called Haran, they took up their abode there for a time; and at length Terah died

there, at the age of two hundred and five years.

6. Now God loved Abram because

he was a good man: and after the death of Terah, his father, He said to him, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, into a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Abram, without hesitation, believed God's word, which promised two such great favours; one, that he should be the head of a great people; the other that he should bring a blessing to all the world:-the meaning of which, was, that our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, should be born of a woman, descended from his family; which came to pass accordingly.

7. Abram, then, in obedience to the command of God, prepared for his journey and taking Sarai, his wife, and Lot his brother's son, together with their families and all their substance, he set out, not knowing whither he was going. For God did not point out any certain place, that He might prove Abram's faith-whether he believed God. Abram did

believe Him; and he travelled forward till he came into the land of Canaan, to that part which is called, The Oak of Moreh.

8. God then appeared to Abram and gave him a promise of this land of Canaan to his posterity, though it was then in the possession of other people; the Canaanites dwelling there. Abram, to shew his faith and his constant dependence upon God, built an altar to Him in the place, and then removed to a mountain on the east of Bethel, where he pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai, and built another altar unto the Lord and called upon His Name.

9. But Abram had not been long in Canaan before it became necessary that he should remove, on account of a grievous famine which arose in the land. So he departed and went into Egypt, which was a fruitful country lying near to that part of Canaan in which he had settled. When he had arrived upon the borders of Egypt, he began to fear that his wife Sarai, whose fair and beautiful countenance far excelled that of the Egyptian women, might be taken from him, and that the Egyptians, in order to accomplish this, would kill him. To avoid this calamity, he told his wife how much he feared for her safety and his own, and begged her to say that she was his

sister, as indeed she was; being the daughter of his father, though not of his mother. By this means he hoped not only to escape the danger he apprehended, but also to fare better for her sake.

Abram's fears and apprehensions were not groundless; for as soon as he was come into Egypt, the beauty of Sarai became the theme of conversation and when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they admired her fair countenance so much, that they commended her to the king. This raised in the king a desire to see the beautiful stranger from the land of Canaan; so she was taken into the palace and introduced into the king's presence. Abram, calling her his sister, was well treated for her sake; the king bestowing upon him many valuable presents. He had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and sheasses, and camels.

10. But God plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, which led him to think that it was on account of Sarai, and that she was not Abram's sister, as he had said, but his wife. So he sent for Abram and said to him, "What is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why saidst thou, she is my sister?

for I might have taken her to be my wife." He then bid him to take his wife and depart; and commanded his servants neither to injure him in his person nor his goods, but to permit him to remove quietly with all his substance which was much increased during his stay in Egypt; for he was now very rich in cattle, in silver, and

in gold.

11. Hitherto his nephew Lot, whose stock had also increased, had continued with Abram. They now left Egypt and went on their journey till they arrived again at Bethel, the place where Abram had made an altar to the Lord before he went into Egypt; and there he worshipped God again. But their flocks continuing to increase, they found some difficulty in providing a sufficiency of food; for the Canaanites and Perizzites still dwelt in the land.

12. This scarcity of provisions and pasturage, caused great strife between the herdsmen of Abram and those of Lot, which gave Abram much uneasiness of mind: for he feared that if it continued, it might lead to an estrangement of brotherly affection between himself and Lot. To prevent this, he took an opportunity of speaking to his nephew, and entreated that there might be no dispute between them or their ser