reared, in which the chosen priest and prophet of God officiates. Thus, the perpetuation of that chain of evidence is provided for, which was to be perfected when Shiloh came; and the flood, which swept away mankind and all their works, leaves the hope of the promise uninjured, or rather strengthened. To assure man of the preservation of the world until the promise was fulfilled, the bow is placed in the heavens, accompanied by the covenant of God, that while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, summer and winter, shall not

cease.

By that covenant the world stood, until it witnessed the coming of Him, who took away the sin offering by the sacrifice of himself; and, by it, continues to be preserved, until the Gospel be preached to all nations, for a witness; and then

shall the end be.'

1

CHAPTER XI.

THE ONE LIP AND THE HEAVENLY

TOWER.

It is recorded, that, for some time after the deluge, all the earth was 6 of one language and of one speech.' Language and speech being the same thing, it must be evident, to every one, that this translation does not convey the meaning of the passage, there being no such thing as unnecessary repetition in the words of Scripture. The literal rendering is, of one lip and of one words.'

The researches we have already been engaged in, and the use made of the word 'lip,' to signify. worship, in other passages of Scripture, make it unnecessary to enter into any lengthened discussion, to prove that the information given in this passage is, that, for a century or more after the flood, all the descendants of Noah continued to maintain the same form of worship, the same form of words in religious matters. We have merely to remind the reader of the proof, formerly given, of the necessity of a change, or novelty, in words, when there was any change in opinions.

That this form of words,' was C SOUND,' will appear evident from the following considerations. Being universal, it must have included the children of Shem, as well as the families of Ham and Japheth. Now, the Lord God, was to dwell in the tents of Shem; not only in His incarnation, but because in them there was, at all times, to be a seed serving the Lord. Besides, the deluge, which bore testimony to the pure faith, was too recent an event to permit any open profession of departure from it;-any 'lip,' or 'words,' in opposition to it. A priest had been preserved to the new world, who took not that honour to himself, but was called of God as Aaron was; and the wrath of God had, too recently, been revealed from heaven, against all departures from Noah's faith, to permit any renunciation of it to be openly expressed or favorably received.

In such a state of the religious world, how could such a scheme, as that of the building of the Tower of Babel, have originated?

It seems almost unnecessary, before answering this question, to refute the childish idea, that mankind combined together to build a tower, the top of which would touch the blue sky ;-or the scarcely less absurd suppositions, that it was meant as a place of refuge in case of another deluge, or intended for an astronomical observatory. Had mankind been as silly as the two first conjectures imply, or as much addicted to one branch of natural philosophy as the other notion suggests,-the top of Mount Ararat would have better suited their purpose.

These guesses respecting it are noticed, not as containing any thing worthy of refutation, but to call attention to the gross absurdity of many of the ideas entertained in youth, respecting events recorded in the Scriptures;-ideas fostered, in no small degree, by the prints, miscalled illustrations, which are often put into the Bible, to render it attractive to children; and which, even in riper years, maintain a hold of the imagination, most destructive of any thing approaching common sense, in judging of the employments and understanding of the ancients.

Perhaps the ridiculous ideas regarding, and equally absurd attempts to delineate, the Tower of Babel, cannot meet with a better check, than by adverting to the simple fact, that the word translated 'tower,' means a large or magnificent building of any kind. The next step, in getting rid of idle fancies regarding it, is to observe, that the word translated' top,' means Origin, Beginning, Design, or Authority. Applied to the body, the word means head; applied to a design, it means the origin or intention of it. What was there, then, in the situation of Noah's posterity, during the first and second centuries after the deluge, which could have led them to think of founding a city and a magnificent building, the head of which was to be IN the heavens ;'-in other words, a Temple, with a city for the worshippers, claiming heavenly origin and design?

They were then, as we are told, and have been considering, all of one language. The ideas conveyed by language, being intimately interwoven with heavenly or spiritual matters, and the roots

being immutable from which the words and ideas sprung, mankind would all, consequently, be of one way of speaking regarding heavenly things, while they continued that one language, in its purity, as they had received it from Noah. No schism had as yet overtly taken place amongst them. But they were now beginning, rapidly, to branch, or spread out, 'from the east,' or place of God's worship (Noah's altar). There was great danger that this emigration would lead to alterations and corruptions of the one lip, and consequently mar the unanimity which now prevailed. It seems, therefore, to have occurred to them, that a magnificent building, or temple, elucidating heavenly things, and professing to derive its authority, in such matters, from heaven itself, would form a centre to which the worship of the world might be directed; so that it would preserve them from 'breakings,' divisions, heresies or schisms, in religious matters, over all the world.

There was one consideration, in particular, which would enforce their arguments in favour of such a design. The Edenic temple and its cherubim had been swept away. The figures which Noah had seen there, and of which he must have told them, were the great standard to which the opinions of men ought to have been brought, however much they were neglected, before the flood. It would, very probably, be said on the plain of Shinar, as men have ever been ready to say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in their deeds.' If we had such wonderful figures remaining to us, there would