text should not have resorted to such a puerile interpretation." * We know not what impression these remarks will make on our readers but we freely confess, they have been sufficient to convince us that the commonly-received version of this incident cannot be true. But then the question returns, What is the real import of this portion of holy scripture? Two modes of solving the difficulty have been resorted to, which we shall briefly mention, leaving the reader to form his own opinion. First: It has been intimated that the conduct of Ham and Canaan toward Noah was very much worse than disrespectful behaviour on account of having seen him in an indecent posture; that it included a mutilation of the most revolting and barbarous character. This opinion has some sanction from sacred and profane records. In a preceding chapter we identified Saturn with Noah; and Neptune, Pluto, and Jupiter, with Japheth, Shem, and Ham. Let this identity be remembered, and then the mythology of these deities will give a full and elaborate account of the indignity inflicted on the patriarch, by this "cruel operation." We have another version of the same fact in the case of Uranus. We are told that his sons "mutilated him, and for ever prevented him from increasing the number of his children." We have also a case very analogous in the Egyptian Osiris; but on this point we will not enlarge, and only briefly allude to the testimony of scripture. We are told that "God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." Yet this command, in respect of all the persons named, was not obeyed: something (we can scarcely suppose it to have been the ordinary course of providence which frustrated any part of the Divine command) prevented * "Nimrod," vol. iv. p. 379. + BANIER'S "Mythology,” vol. ii. p. 174; LEMPRIERE'S "Dictionary,” article Saturn. This opinion receives great support from the fact, that it is fully sustained by the Phenician annals of Sanchoniathon. its being accomplished; for we read, "The sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah; and of them was the whole earth overspread." (Gen. ix. 18, 19.) In immediate connexion with this text, and as if to account for the discrepancy, we find the incident on which we are remarking recorded. Other writers take a different view of the case. They suppose that the pantheistic notion of the divinity of the world was prominent among the vices of the antediluvians; that the principle of fecundity was worshipped under the same form as the Egyptian Phallus; and that the sin of Ham was a defection from God, and a relapse into this abomination of Paganism; that the incident of his father's having drunk freely, and fallen to sleep uncovered, was taken hold of as the opportunity of promulgating those Heathen and impure sentiments in the new world; that therefore Noah, on coming to himself, being aware of this conduct, delivers a series of predictions which refer to the entire scope of religion. We leave this subject to the reader's judgment, and direct attention to the important prediction delivered by the patriarch on this occasion. This, like most of the ancient prophecies, was delivered in metre. The following is Bishop Newton's translation : "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And Canaan shall be their servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, And he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, And Canaan shall be their servant." We take too limited a view of this prediction, if we con Neither the blessing fine it to the persons who are named. nor the curse appears to stand exclusively connected with the individuals themselves; but they relate to their posterity. We have, therefore, the singular combination of a Divine judgment on an action that had occurred, with the result of God's prescience in regard to future and contingent events; and the whole arraigned, judged, and visited with prospective punishment. Nor are we to suppose that there is any thing forced or unnatural in this procedure. The children of Ham, and more particularly the descendants of Canaan, were remarkable for having generally manifested a spirit and a conduct analogous to that which is exhibited and reprehended in the text. Take, for instance, the case of the cities of the plain. The conduct of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha has covered them with everlasting infamy. Again : with respect to the general character of Canaanitish nations, let the reader peruse Leviticus xviii., and pay particular attention to the 24th and following verses; and chapter xx., specially regarding the 23d verse; and it will be seen how fully and how fearfully the persons against whom this malediction was denounced had, in process of time, rendered themselves obnoxious to its righteous punishment. This is not the place to enlarge on the fulfilment of this prophecy. We therefore, briefly observe, that it was evidently intended to convey the promise of a blessing to Shem and Japheth. To the first, a blessing is given of a strictly religious character: "Blessed of Jehovah, my God, be Shem;" and we all know that this promise was abundantly redeemed. The truth of God was, by a continued series of divine revelations, maintained in this family; in it the church of God was founded, and continued for many generations; and from this tribe, "as concerning the flesh, Christ came." Japheth, also, had a blessing: he should be "enlarged, and dwell in the tents of Shem. We do not know how far the following exposition will be deemed admissible. It is certain, that, in the early history of the world, the descendants of Japheth remained in obscurity. All the most ancient and most powerful nations-Assyria, Persia, Egypt, and Israel-were descended either from Shem or Ham. Japheth's family, scattered over the north and western portions of Europe, were little known. But, according to the * BISHOP NEWTON'S "Dissertations," p. 14. promise, they have been enlarged, evidently by the providence of God, until, at the present time, Japheth exercises a ruling influence over almost the whole earth. But we think the last clause of this prediction may be fairly referred to the religious condition of Japheth. "He shall dwell in the tabernacles of Shem." He, too, shall be religiously exalted; and, when the elected house of Shem shall be unfaithful to the spiritual purposes of God, then Japheth shall be grafted, as it were, on its stock; be introduced into the sacred tabernacle; and, dwelling in the holy house which Shem had inhabited, shall constitute the visible church of Christ on earth. We have now to consider the condition and progress of mankind. No doubt whatever can be entertained, that Noah's family located near Ararat. Here husbandry was prosecuted, vineyards planted, and all the arts of life exercised. In this manner the four families provided for their wants, and made provision for the progressive increase of mankind. A long and patient prosecution of this course must have been continued. Many years elapsed before any thing like a community was produced. We have, in fact, again to trace onward the increase of a family into a population. And here, more than in any other portion of history, we see the importance of obtaining a clear and accurate chronology. In the first part of the Preliminary Dissertation, we have given our reasons for preferring that system of chronological numbers found in the Septuagint; and we shall not repeat what has been written. Yet, it is necessary to call the attention of the reader to the important fact, that Ussher, following the Hebrew chronology, allows but a century to elapse from the time of the Deluge to that of Peleg, when the Dispersion took place. The extreme improbability of this assumption is so clearly shown by Dr. Russell, that we cannot do better than transcribe his words : "If we confine our speculations to the statements of the holy scriptures, we must admit, that, at the end of the first century, the descendants of Noah could not have multiplied to any great extent. Even on the basis of the Hebrew genealogy, we cannot, in that interval, establish more than three generations: for Arphaxad lived five-and-thirty years before he begat Salah; and Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber; and Eber lived five-and-thirty years, and begat Peleg. The renovated race of mankind, be it remembered, too, proceeded from the three sons of Noah only; there being no mention made of any children born to that patriarch himself after the Deluge. Were we to assume, then, the largest number that the laws of nature and of probability will warrant, as the issue of the three families in the course of a hundred years, we shall find it much too small to be consistent with the great objects which appear to have been contemplated by those aspiring individuals who founded the Babylonian monarchy. "In the first generation which proceeded from Noah's household, we count only sixteen sons; namely, seven in the family of Japheth, four in that of Ham, and five as the progeny of Shem. Suppose there was an equal number of daughters, and that all the cousins in the three families intermarried with one another, and we shall then have sixteen couples, upon whose prolific qualities we are to rely for the amount of the second generation. But let us take along with us, that at least ten years after the Flood must have passed away before sixteen sons and sixteen daughters could have been born in the houses of Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and, moreover, that, as thirty-five appears to have been the usual age for marriage, the first generation could not begin to have children till about the fortieth year of the new era, on the average, of all the families. Let us further suppose that all the grandchildren of Noah were as fruitful as their parents had been, and that every couple produced five sons and five daughters; the result will be sixteen multiplied by ten, or one hundred and sixty human beings in the second generation. These were, of course, the contemporaries of Salah, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem. "The next descent, or that to which Eber belonged, |