fheep, and there they had pafturage abundant for their flocks or herds. They were thus too, by the providence of God working through thefe natural means, kept detached from the reft of Egypt, cut off from a general communication with the Egyptians, and fo left untainted by the vices of their idolatry. Yet the land of Gothen was not wholly a wilderness at the . time. We have already shown the royal herds and royal flocks to have been pastured along it at the coming of the Ifraelites, and to have continued pafturing afterwards, under the infpection of a few Hebrews over the many Egyptian tenders. But, as the Hebrews and their cattle multiplied, the folitude became peopled, and the paftures were crouded with buildings. Even at last, when they were reduced into a complete flavery by the Egyptians, they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom," a city, from the fignification of its name as the mouth of the deep, plainly placed at the mouth of the river, Pelufium therefore in all probability; and Raamfes," or Ramales, at the other end of Gothen, being the town at which the Hebrews on their departure convened together, and from which they fet out for the land of Judæa, the Auaris of Manetho, and the Bulac perhaps of modern Egypt. In all this period the Ifraelites, however, were not left wholly unmixed with Egyptians. They had even many among them. This has been wholly overlooked, yet is very evident. Speak ye,' as God tells Mofes, unto all the congregation of Ifrael, faying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lanib, according to the houfe of their fathers, a lamb for a houfe; and they fhall take of the blood, and frike it on the two fide-pfts, and on the upper door-pofts of the houses wherein they fhall cat it; and the blood thall be to you for a token, upon the houfes where you are, and, when I fee the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you, when I finite the land of Egypt." So near were the houfes of the Egyptians now come to the houfes of the Hebrews, and fo mingled among them!" Speak now in the ears of the people," faid God, for that reafon, to Mofes, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman, of her neighbour, jewels of filver and jewels of goldt." And, when the Ifraelites commenced their march, a mixed multitude went up a fo with them"; the men affuredly who had lived in Gothen with them, and who now wifhed to fhare in their for tune. * Exod. xii, 3, 7, 13. + Ib, xii, 2. Ib. xii, 38, Having thus fhown the real ftate of Gofhen at the time of "the Ifraelitish fettlement upon it, having alfo difclofed the real reafon of their fettlement there, and having thus refifted the falfe reafons with the imaginary flate affigned by Mr. Allwood and others, we proceed to another point of history even more momentous in itfelf, yet equally distorted by others and by him. This confifts in a distinction made between the divifion of the earth and the difperfion of mankind in the days of Nimrod, in a date affigned to the difperfion pofterior to the divifion. The date and the diftinction run through the whole work, like the fpinal marrow of the whole, But, as the author has concentrated his reafons for the whole in a fill later part of his work we will cite his reafons from this, and reply to them as briefly as we can. "In the tenth chapter of Genefis, there is an account given of the principal branches of the firft family, and of the regions in which they were planted. To the potterity of Japhet, the eldest fon of Noah, were affigned he ifles of the Gentiles," or the regions of Greece and [all] Furope. The line of Shem were placed in Elam, Chaldæa, Aramea, Affyria, Lydiat; and other countries in Afia and Afia Minor. And the race of Ham were appointed to take up their refidence in the regions of Africa, to the fouth-weft. All this was by the fpecial determination of Divine. Providence; and the Scriptures fpeak of it as an actual divifion by particular, allotment, These are the families of the tons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations, and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.” "In confequence of this arrangement, the colonies which had hithesto compofed the family of the Noachide, took their routes in the differ nt directions in which they were deftined to travel; part of the pofterity of Shem alone remaining on the territory of Armenia. The defcendants of Ham fettled chiefly in Africa, and the Mizraim in particular in Egypt. Of the offspring of Shem, Affar took poffeffion of the land of Shinar as his part of Afia, and held it till he was driven out by Nimrod -The poterity of Cush the father of Nim We meet with them in pp. 23, 34, 36-37, 71-73, and 79, 84, 165, 324, and 389, 383, 414, 416, 490, and 514. "The poffeffions of this family were denominated from the names of its principal branches; as from Elam, Elamp or Perfia; Lydia, from Lud; Aramea, from Aram; Arrapachitis, from Arphaxad; and Affyria, from Afhur. The names of thefe patriarchs are recorded in Genefis, ch. x, ver 22. "Egypt was particularly called Mifr, as being the land of the Mizraim at other times it is styled the land of Ham; as being the place of fettlement of the moft flourishing branch of the race of Ham. § Genefis, ch. x, ver, 11, as connected with Genefis, ch. xi, godg rod," were the first who disturbed the peace of mankind, by thei open repugnance to the difpenfations of heaven. They feem indeed to have vifited their appointed land of fettlement; but to have been diffatisfied with it, and to have refolved upon a return to thofe more hofpitable regions which they had quitted.-When Cufh" thus "fell back upon Afhur, Afhur was obliged to evacuate the territory which the other had feized.-And no fooner had Afhur been obliged to aban don the territory, than the monarchy of Nimrod had its commence. ment. He was the firft who, departing from the fervice of the true God, inftructed his followers in the principles of a falfe religion, and at length established the worship of the folar orb.-It is no wonder therefore, that in process of time the fettlers in Shinar should under, take the construction of an edifice, which might ferve the various pur poles of a fortress, a beacon, an observatory, and a temple-. Neither can we collect, from a view of the paffage before us,' concerning the building of Babel," that all the offspring of Adam were immediately concerned in the confusion at Babel: for not even the whole of the pofterity of Chus were refident upon that fpot; Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, formed alfo parts of the dominions of Nimrod; and th were by no means evacuated, in order that the whole, even of the pofterity of Chus, might be concerned immediately in this confufion." Accordingly Mr. Allwond favs; in an antecedent paffage, that the defcendants of Javan were by no means concerned in the difperfio from Bab (r.84) which Mr. Allwood ftates as pofterior to the conftruction of Babel, and doubly posterior to the difperfion before the conftruction; he thus making two difperfions, one general before the conftruction, and other particular after it. He even adds in another paffage antecedent, that the natives of Ireland and Wales," the fons of Gomer, that elder brother of Javan, had not "the patriarchal families from which they are defcended, at all concerned in the confufion of tongues at Babel." P. 234. Mr. Allwood thus exempts our British ancestors in particular, and mankind in general, except a part of the family of Cuth, from all concern in the conftruction of the tower, and from all participation in the confulion of tongues at Babel. He has thus made a confufion of facts, as great as this of tongues, and has constructed an edifice as vain as that of the tower. In order to prove the truth of this affertion, without making any parade of learning, we fhall puth to the point at once, by going directly to divine authority. In tracing the families of Noah's three fons to their feveral fettlements, the Scripture begins with the fons of Japhet," as the eldeft, and adds thus at the end: "by these were the P. 529,530, 53, 532, 534, 535, 536, 538. ifles of the Gentiles divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations" The account of the difperfion therefore, in this very first branch of Noah's family, is evidently carried down below the confufion of tongues and the fons of Gomer, the fons of Javan, are included in the confufion. They are included as much in the confufion, as in the difperfion. 44 The history next goes to "the fons of Ham," and traces Cuth, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan, in their refpective defcens dants for many generations. The defcendants of Cuth, partia cularly, it carries not with Mr. Allwood, first into Ethiopia, and afterwards back into Shinar; but fixes in Shinar at once, and for ever. Cuth," it fays, "begat Nimrod, and the beginning of his [Nimrod's] kingdom was Bubel," of the building of which we have afterwards a particular account, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneth, in the land of Shinar↑.” But, as it inftantly fubjoins, concerning the land of Shinar, out of that land went forth Afhur," certainly with Nim.rod, another of the fons of Cuth; not driven out by Nimrod, as Mr. A. afferts, but iffuing from this country as we know all the others to have iffued at the confufion of tongues, and builded Neneveh," &c. The defcendants of Mizraim are traced, even down to the Philiftines themselves; being thus 'not merely confined to Egypt, but extending into Ethiopia affuredly, into Lybia probably, and into Palestine certainly. The defcendants of Canaan are equally traced into the Jebufité and the Emorite, and the Gergafite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite; and afterwards were the families of the Canaanites fpread abroad," when the Canaanites first appeared in this land, we know, only in the time of Abraham. Yet, in Mofes's account; "the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comeft to Gerar, unto Gaza, as thou goeft unto Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboim, even unte Lafhah¶;" the account coming down to the roads and towns of Mofes's own days. And, after fuch proofs for the pofteriority of Mofes's account of the difperfion to the confufion, it is al most impertinent to quote the concluding fentence of all; thefe are the fons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations." We have thus fhown two of the immediate fons of Noah to have been engaged equally in the confufion and the difperfion. * Gen, X, 5. Gen. xii, 6. + V. 8, IC. ¶ Ib. x, 19. ‡ V. 11. V. 14. The The evidence of Scripture is decifively clear for both of them. Let us therefore fee if it is alfo clear for the third, "The children of Shem," the only patriarch remaining, are traced through "Athur", a perfon very different in himself, as of a very different lineage from the Afhur before, though Mr. Allwood has confounded them; this being a defcendant from. Shem, and that from Ham; to Eber and his two fons," the name of the one" of which "was Peleg, for in his days was the earth divided, and his brother's name was Joktan"; even to the thirteen fons of Joktan, of whom it faid, "and their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou geeft unto Sephar, a mount of the eaf." Mofes thus again defines the dominions of Joktan's family, by a reference to roads and towns exifting in his own days. And he again concludes all his account of the family of Shem, juft as he has concluded his accounts of Ham's and Japhet's, with a general reference of the whole to the confufion of tongues. These are the fons of Shem," he cries, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nationst." 66 So guarded indeed is Mofes in all this account of the three Patriarchs, that the honeft mind, attending only to the account, feems precluded from all poffibility of mistaking it. Yet what guard can be oppofed to the dangerous feduction of an hypothefis? Mr. Allwood was not fo guarded. But he was not confcious at the moment, that he was preferring hypothefis to Scripture. He faw the account of the difperfion in a preceding chapter, and found the history of the confufion in a fubfequent one. He obferved not the biftorical pofteriority of Mofes's accounts of the difperfion to his accounts of the confufion; and he noted not the exprefs reference of thofe to theft. He thus made the fame fort of mistake that the late Mr. Law. made with the creation of man; finding this creation noticed in the first chapter of Genefis under thefe terms, "fo God created man, male and female created he them"; but not adverting to the fecond chapter, in which this general account is made a particular one, he fancied Adam to have been originally a real hermaphrodite, But let us make furety doubly fure, and take a bond of” criticifin itfelf, by citing two pallages out of the fubfequent chapter, which how at once the contufion of languages, and the difperfion of all mankind as occafioned by it. So," fays Mofes, of the confounding their languaget" by God, Lord fcattered them abroad from thence," from the land of Shinar, * Gen. x, 22, 25, 30. + V. 31. 14 the |