THE WORLD:

A COURSE OF HISTORICAL STUDY

FROM THE

COMMENCEMENT OF THE WORLD UP TO THE PRESENT CENTURY.

BY H. DUPRÈS.

BOD

(Entered at Stationers' Hall.)

CARDIGAN: 0. W. THOMAS, 14, ST. MARY STREET.

A COURSE OF HISTORICAL STUDY,

FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE WORLD UP ΤΟ THE PRESENT CENTURY.

CHAPTER I.

He endowed man

GOD created all the beings of the universe. and woman with the greatest perfection of soul and body, and placed them in a delightful place called the Terrestrial Paradise, in Asia. But Adam and Eve, by their disobedience, drew upon themselves the displeasure of the Almighty, who condemned them to the evils attendant on life and death. After their fall, they had two sons, named Cain and Abel. Cain becoming jealous of his brother, killed him; this was the first murder. A third son, named Seth, consoled Adam for his loss, and became distinguished for his justice and his piety. His sons followed his example. Still, the human race became corrupt as they multiplied. They despised the warnings of God, and a terrible accident overthrew them, and the race of Adam was reduced to the family of Noah. The earth became inundated; this was named the universal deluge, and happened seventeen centuries after the creation of the world, or thirty-four centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ; 1655 of the world, 3308 years before Jesus Christ.

FROM THE DELUGE TO THE SETTLEMENT OF NOAH'S FAMILY.

After several months had elapsed, the waters vanished, and the ark stood still on Mount Ararat. Noah's family multiplied considerably, and, as the country round about the placewhere they disembarked from the ark could no longer

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support them, they formed the project of separating in tribes or families.

Before their separation they wished to leave a monument as a memorial of their strength, to preserve them from a second deluge, by building a prodigious tower, called the Tower of Babel. God, disgusted with their pride, stopped the construction by a miracle-that of the confusion of tongues. The separation then became more necessary, and three colonies were formed.

First, that of the descendants of Ham, who took the country towards the south-west. The one stopped in the country, since called Palestine, to which the proscribed race gave the name of Canaan, a name derived from that of their chief. The others, under the care of Misraim, established themselves in Africa, and founded the kingdom of Egypt.

Secondly, that of the descendants of Shem, who preserved to themselves the plains of Sennaar, and extended themselves from east to west. Arphaxad, the eldest of the children of Shem, founded the kingdom of Chaldea, afterwards the kingdom blessed by God under Abraham, the son of Terah. Elam, the second son, founded the kingdom of the Elamites, or Persians. Assur, the third son, laid the foundation of the kingdom of the Assyrians.

Thirdly, the descendants of Japheth traversed a portion of Asia eastward and south, and passed on to Europe. All these colonies spread themselves from generation to generation in the countries where they primitively established themselves, and the earth became populated.

DIVISIONS OF HISTORY.

The original of the human race, their increase and decrease, their good and bad actions, their successes and their reverses, and their revolutions, are preserved in a memorial called history. History is, therefore, a tableau of events which have taken place on our globe. These events are religious if they appertain to religion, civil or political if they belong to the government of a country, literary if they recall the origin and progress of the arts and sciences, natural if they have connection with terrestrial or celestial phenomena. From thence are derived the terms, sacred history, religious, ecclesiastical, civil and political history, literary history, and natural history. History is divided into universal, or general, or private history. Private history treats