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4. As the artificers were numerous, the work was carried on with great expedition, and in a short time the walls were raised to a prodigious height. But the Almighty being dissatisfied with their proceedings, thought proper to interpose, and totally put an end to their ambitious project; so that the first of their vanity became only a monument of their folly and weakness.

5. Though the descendants of Noah were at this time exceedingly numerous, yet they spoke the same language. In order, therefore, to render their undertaking ineffectual, and to lessen the towering hopes of these aspiring mortals, the Almighty formed the resolution of confounding their language. In consequence of this, a universal jargon took place, and the different dialects caused such a distraction of thought, that inca pable of understanding or making known to each other their ideas, they were thrown into the utmost disorder. 6. By this awful stroke of divine justice, they were not only deprived of prosecuting their intended plan, but of the greatest pleasure a social being can enjoy, namely, mutual converse and agreeable intercourse. We are not, however, to suppose, that each individual had a peculiar dialect or language to himself; but only the several tribes or families, which are supposed to have been about seventy in number. These detaching themselves according to their respective dialects, left the spot, which, before the consequences of their promption, they had considered as the most delightful on earth, and took up their temporary residences in such places as they either pitched on by choice, or were directed to by chance.

7. Thus did the Almighty not only defeat the designs of those ambitious people, but likewise accomplished his own, by having the world more generally inhabited than it otherwise could have been. The spot on which they had begun to erect their tower, was, from the judgment that attended so rash an undertaking, called Babel (afterwards Babylon) which, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies confusion.

8. The confusion of tongues, and dispersion of the family of Noah, happened 101 years after the flood, as is

evident from the birth of Peleg, the son of Heber (who was the great-grandson of Shem) and was born in the 101st year after that memorable period. He received his name from this singular circumstance, the word Peleg, in the Hebrew language, signifying partition, or dispersion.

9. The descendants of Noah being now dispersed, in process of time, from their great increase, they scattered themselves to distant parts of the earth, and, according to their respective families, settled in different parts of the world. Some took up their residence in Asia; some in Africa; and others in Europe. By what means they obtained possession of the several countries they inhabited, the sacred historian has not informed us. It is, however, natural to suppose, that their respective situations did not take place from chance, but from mature deliberation and that a proper assignment was made of such and such places, according to the divis ions and subdivisions of the different families.

10. When Babel was confounded, and the great Confederacy of projectors wild and vain Was 'split into diversity of tongues,

Then, as a shepherd separates his flock,
These to the upland, to the valley those,
God drave asunder, and assign'd their lot
To all the nations. Ample was the boon
He gave them, in its distribution fair

And equal; and he bade them dwell in peace.

QUESTIONS.

1. Is it supposed that Noah and his family continued any time near the place where the ark had rested?-2. Where did they go, on leaving this place?-3. In what way did they become determined to distinguish themselves, on settling in the plains of Shinar? 4. What inconvenience did they experience at first in building their city and tower?-5. How did they obviate the inconvenience of not having stones with which to build ?-6. Did they commence their contemplated work?-7. Was God pleased with their design?-8. In what way did he manifest his displeasure, and stop their work?-9. Is it supposed, that in the confusion of language on this occasion, every individual was made to have a

dialect of his own?-10. What good effects did the Almighty accomplish from this confusion of language?--11. What is the place called, where it took place?-12. At what time was this memorable event?-13. Are we informed in what way the descendants of Noah took possession of the several countries they afterwards inhabited?—14. What is probable on this subject?

THE ASSYRIANS.

1. THE Assyrians, or Syrians, inhabited the country which was first settled by Ashur, a son of Shem, and afterwards taken by Nimrod, a grandson of Ham. Assyria is now a part of Persia. The Assyrian was one of the four universal monarchies, and was the first empire that ever existed Her kings usually styled themselves, by way of eminence, king of kings; and it is probable, from the most correct accounts of that remote period, that, in power, they were surpassed by none, and equalled by few, if any, of the contemporary potentates.

2. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, and Babylon, the capital of Babylonia, a province of Assyria, were two of the most memorable cities of which we have any account in history. Nineveh was built on the Tigris, and is supposed to have contained no less than a million of inhabitants. It was surrounded by a wall, one hundred feet high, and so thick that three carriages might be driven abreast on the top of it. Babylon was built over the Euphrates, and was surrounded by a wall 87 feet in thickness, 360 feet in height, and 60 miles in circumference. This city was nearly square, and contained one hundred brazen gates, twenty-five on each side,

3. The building of Nineveh has been ascribed both to Nimrod and Ninus his son and, it is probable, that the former began, and the latter completed it. It was undoubtedly named in honour of Ninus. Babylon is said to have been built by Semiramis, the widow of Ninus. After the death of her husband, she became determined to eclipse his glory, by building a city that should surpass Nineveh. This she attempted in en

larging and rendering magnificent the city of Babylon; and she succeeded so well in the attempt, as to have been called by some its founder. She is represented to have employed, in this vast enterprise, two millions of men, which were collected out of all the provinces of her extensive empire.

4. Nimrod, as well as Semiramis, has been called the founder of Babylon; but, it is believed with confidence, there can be little if any doubt with the intelligent historian, that Babylon and Babel are the same. Its origin is therefore to be ascribed to the foolish vanity of those persons named in Scripture, who desired to build a tower and a city, that should render their memory immortal. It is probable, however, that this ridiculous design being defeated by such an astonishing prodigy as none could be the author of but God himself, every body abandoned the place, which had given him offence; and that Nimrod, in company with his friends and confederates, was the first who afterwards settled therein, and encompassed it with walls-beginning, in this place, the powerful empire, which has excited the interest of all succeeding ages, and of which he was the first chief.

5. The kings of Assyria were numerous, which necessarily resulted from the long continuance of the empire yet nothing besides the names of a large part of them is transmitted to us. The reign of Sennacherib may be considered, on some accounts, the most interesting of any which history has preserved. This prince's ambition and power seemed to threaten the neighbouring nations, with that oppression, which nothing but the will of God could resist. After ravaging Egypt, he returned and besieged Jerusalem. But, while encamped before that place, a destroying angel, to use the language of Scripture, in one night, slew one hundred and eightyfive thousand of his army. He returned to his own country greatly chagrined; and to divert the attention of his subjects from this disgrace, he exercises on them every species of cruelty; so that his own family became disgusted at his conduct, and shortly assassinated him in the temple, while prostrated before his god Nisroch.

6. Few facts are known of the Assyrian empire; and some have even doubted, but without reason, the existence of it. But notwithstandsing the obscurity in which the history of this nation is involved, it is generally believed, that the empire was founded about the year 1800 of the world, and continued about fourteen hundred years from its foundation—or about seventeen hundred, if we reckon to the destruction of Babylon. The Assyrian empire, however, did not exist in its zenith of power this length of time; for it was at first, like most nations, small, and rose from that condition by degrees. Besides, it did not long retain the power and political importance which it thus acquired. Intestine divisions, and provincial apostacies frequently weakened its strength; and, finally, the Babylonians and Medes, inhabitants of two provinces, united against and destroyed Nineveh, the capital, and became themselves, in a measure, distinct and independent nations.

7. Babylon, like Nineveh, soon fell into the hands of its enemies. In the year of the world 3466, Cyrus the king of Persia, took the city of Babylon, by turning the river Euphrates, and marching his troops through its former channel, while the people were celebrating a grand festival. Prom this period, Babylon experienced a rapid decay, till it was taken by Alexander the Great, about two hundred years after. He, with a view of making it the seat of his empire, had determined to restore it to its ancient splendour: but dying suddenly, the work ceased. His successors abandoning this proud capital for ever, it continued to decline, till it became desolate. Not the smallest vestige of it now remains; and the exact place where it stood is unknown.

8. The splendour and greatness of Nineveh and Babylon, as of all other great cities of early times, consisted chiefly in their public buildings. The dwellings of the great mass of the people, were little better than wretched hovels-without, unornamented; and within, unfurnished. Indeed, Nineveh and Babylon contained little worthy of notice, except their walls, towers, temples, palaces, and superb structures of royalty. How incomparably more magnificent are the modern cities of

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