acles given to the fathers of the one, are possessed and prized by the other: they laboured, and we have entered into their labours. This interpretation is favoured by the marginal reading, which the very learned Ainsworth says the original word properly signifies: "God shall persuade Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem."

Let us proceed, in the next place, to offer a remark or two on the justice of the divine proceeding in denouncing a curse upon children, even to remote periods, for the iniquity of their parents. It is worthy of notice that the God of Israel thought it no dishonour to his character to declare, that he would visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, in those that hated him, and more than that he would show mercy to those that loved him, which he did in an eminent degree to the posterity of Abram. And should any object to this, and to the Bible on this account, we might appeal to universal fact. None can deny that children are the better or the worse for the conduct of their parents. If any man insist that neither good nor evil shall befal him, but what is the immediate consequence of his own conduct, he must go out of the world; for no such state of existence is known in it.

There is, however, an important difference between the sin of a parent being the OCCASION of the prediction of a curse upon his posterity, (who were considered by Him who knew the end from the beginning as walking in his steps,) and its being the formal CAUSE of their punishment. The sin of Ham was the occasion of the prediction against the Canaanites, and the antecedent to the evil predicted; but it was not the cause of it. Its formal procuring cause may be seen in the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus. To Ham, and prehaps to Canaan, the prediction of the servitude of their descendants was a punishment: but the fulfilment of that prediction on the parties themselves, was no farther such, than as it was connected with their own sin.

There is also an important difference between the providential dispensations of God towards families and nations in the present world, and the administration of distributive justice towards individuals with respect to the world to come. In the last judgment, every one shall give an account of himself to God, and be judged ac.

cording to the deeds done in the body: but while we are in this world we stand in various relations, in which it is impossible that we should be dealt with merely as individuals. God deals with families and nations as such; and in the course of his providence visits them with good and evil, not according to the conduct of individuals, but, as far as conduct is concerned, that of the general body. To insist that we should in all cases be treated as individuals, is to renounce the social character.

We are informed at the close of the chapter, that Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years, and died at the age of nine hundred and fifty. How long this was after the foregoing prophecy, we are not informed; but he lived to see in the descendants of Shem, Eber and Nahor and Terah the father of Abram.

DISCOURSE XVI.

THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH.

Gen. x.

WITHOUT this genealogy we should not have been able to ascertain the fulfilment of Noah's prophecy: but after what has been said on that subject, I need not be particular here. The chapter contains the origin of the various nations, of antiquity; and the more it is examined, and compared with universal history, the more credible it will appear. All the researches of the Asiatic Society into the ancient Hindoo records go to confirm it. But it does not comport with the object of these discourses to enter minutely into such subjects; I shall therefore pass over it with only a few remarks.

1. Concerning the posterity of Japheth, ver. 2—5. His family was the largest, and almost every one of his sons became the father of a nation. In them, we trace, among others, the names of Madia, the father of the Medes ;—of Javan, and his two sons, Kittim and Dodanim, the fathers of the Ionians or Greeks, and of the Romans. It was from Japheth that all the nations of Europe appear to have been peopled; who seem, at this early period, to have obtained the name of Gentiles; namely, peoples, or nations. (ver. 5.) This name was given in apostolic times to all who were not Jews; but in earlier ages it seems to have been chiefly, if not entirely, applied to the Europeans. Such at least is the meaning of the isles, of the Gentiles, in which, by a synecdoche, those places which were the nearest to the situation of the sacred writer are put for all the countries beyond them. And the scriptures forseeing that Europe would from the first embrace the gospel, and for many ages be the

principal seat of its operations, the Messiah himself is introduced by Isaiah as addressing himself to its inhabitants: Listen, OH ISLES unto me; aad hearken ye people from afar! Jehovah hath called me from the womb: and hath said unto me, It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob-I will also give thee for a light to the GENTILES, that thou shouldst be my salvation to the end of the earth. Here we see, not only the first peopling of our native country, but the kind remembrance of us in a way of mercy, and this, though far removed from the means of salvation. What a call is this to us who occupy what is denominated the end of the earth, to be thankful for the gospel, and to listen to the sweet accents of the Saviour's voice!

2. Concerning the posterity of Ham, ver. 6-20. In them, we trace, among others, the names of Cush, the father of the Ethiopians; of Mizraim, the father of the Egyptians; and of Canaan, the father of the Canaanites.

Particular notice is taken of Nimrod, the son of Cush, as the first who set up for empire. He might, for any thing I know, be fond of hunting beasts; but the connexion of his character with a kingdom, induces me to think that men were the principal objects of his pursuit, and that it is in reference to this that he is called a mighty hunter, a very proper name for what modern historians would have called a hero. Thus we see, from the beginning, that things which are highly esteemed among men are held in abomination with God. This perfectly accords with the language of the prophets, in which the great conquerors of the earth are described as so many wild beasts, pushing at one another, whose object is to seize and tear the prey.-Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. This may denote his daring spirit, doing what he did in the face of heaven; or in defiance of the divine authority. Thus the inhabitants of Sodom are said to be wicked, and sinners before the Lord. Nimrod's fame was so great that his name became proverbial. In after times, any one who was a daring plunderer in defiance of heaven, was likened to him, just as the wicked kings of Israel were likened, to Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. In short, he became the type, patern, or fa