except his own; when he, though one of only eight souls, and these the members of one family; when he, who had so escaped, in consequence of the faith and pious fear of his own parent, presumed to mock, not the virtue, but the sin of this, his father; for his combined impiety and filial disobedience, the displeasure of God is pronounced over him and his posterity, by the lips, too, of this very parent.* No doubt different interpretations of the cause of this curse, from the lips of Noah, may be assigned; but a cause there was, and descend it did, in solemn illustration of this serious and instituted connection between parent and child, so that both Ham and his posterity were involved in this lowering prophecy. Accordingly, long afterwards, many of them perished miserably in Sodom and Gomorrah, for crimes which seem to have also originated in the neglect of family-government. Nay, about eight hundred and fifty, or, according to Hales, above fifteen hundred years after Noah's prophetic denunciation, Egpyt, which was "the land of Ham," suffered awfully in the Exodus, while Shem's posterity are now on the way from Egypt, commissioned to expel the posterity of Canaan. The remnant who survive and remain, are to be" servants to their brethren;" and so were employed in servile work by Solomon and his successors. On the other hand, an illustration equally striking of the blessing now announced in the decalogue, is furnished by a reference to Shem and his posterity. Shem had acted differently, and he is blessed indeed. Noah, too, shall live long enough to see his prophecy of blessing also fulfilled, though he died before Abraham was born. As for Shem, on whom the blessing was pronounced, he shall live to enjoy it; and so the gradual * For the cause why a curse so severe was pronounced on Ham and his posterity, see the Reflections of Allix, Part I. Chap. 13. abbreviation of human existence, from Noah to Abraham, was rendered subservient to the most gracious of ends. Thus, when Isaac, the child of promise, was married, Shem was yet alive, and in him he saw his posterity of the tenth generation; even in Abraham the ninth, and Isaac the tenth, in lineal descent, he might see his posterity receiving the promise of the future Saviour with faith and joy; Abraham being above 140, and Isaac more than 40 years of age before he expired! Nor did Shem alone survive; Arphaxad, his son, as well as Reu of the fifth generation, Serug of the sixth, and Terah of the eighth, were all alive in the time of Abraham; nay, two other descendants, Salah and Eber, were living as well as Shem, in the days of Isaac; and the last of these, Eber, the great grandson of Shem, though born 2281 B. C., having reached the age of 464, survived the death of Abraham several years. Never was there such a familygroup capable of being assembled as this; and although separated from each other, in consequence of Abraham's removal to Canaan, with each other's existence, and prospects, and blessings, they must have been acquainted. The journey of Eleazar of Damascus into Mesopotamia, to procure Rebekah for Isaac, would convert all mere report and conjecture into certainty. Thus, if Adam himself survived to be both tried in the death of Abel, and blessed in the piety of Seth and Enos; so Noah, at the beginning of a new world, continued to live and pass through the same course. Long too as the period may seem, from the creation to the time of Moses, all difficulty as to the mind of God, on any subject, being distinctly known, and certainly handed down, will vanish at once, when the ages of the antediluvians, and the gradual abbreviation of human existence, from Noah to Moses, are observed. Yes, although the world had gone on for above two thousand five hundred years before this law thus promulgated from Sinai, it should be remembered that all the patriarchs before Noah, were born before Adam died, and the chain of communication even from Adam to Moses, will be found to have contained little more than four links! From Adam to Noah there was but one man, Methuselah, who joined hands with both; from Noah to Abraham there was only this one individual, Shem, who, for 450 years, was familiar with Noah, and lived till Abraham was nearly 150 years old; from Abraham to Joseph there was only one individual, Isaac; and from Joseph, a fourth individual, viz. Amram, the father of Moses, who must have long and frequently seen Joseph. All these calculations are made, it is granted, according to the chronology noted on the margin of the Bible, which as yet is most generally followed; but should the reader have consulted the able and interesting chronology of Hales, and feel partial to it; then, extended though the period seem, he will find, that still there was from Adam even to Noah only one individual, viz. Mahalaleel. Indeed, though the whole period, from Adam to Moses, be thus extended to above 3700 years, still the chain of communication does not embrace above six, or, at most, seven individuals. In addition to what has been said, I notice one peculiarity of these times, which must have had a most powerful influence in perpetuating the knowledge of divine truth. When these aged men lay on their deathbed, it seems to have been their custom to record, in the ear of their posterity now standing round, the most important and fundamental principles of their faith; a practice which must have been attended to with the greater solemnity by their children, from the circumstance that, occasionally at least, as if to guild their dying hour, the aged parent was indulged with some peculiar man ifestation of the divine favor, in the way of prophecy, and, in some cases, of prophecy involving at once the future fortunes of his posterity, and the progress of the divine economy relating to the Messiah.. Indeed all the prophecies respecting Him, from Adam to Moses, are of a domestic character, and were either given to parents, with some reference to posterity, or, as in the remarkable case of Jacob, uttered by a parent at the close of life, with reference to each of his children. After all, it would not be doing justice to the subject before us, and the ages before the time of Moses, were I not to go out of this line altogether, and call an independent witness, as well as the most ancient, to whom we can refer. He and his friends will show, that though the corruption of idolatry might have infected the progenitors of Abraham, the Gentile world, if I may so call it, even then exhibited, not only ample knowledge of the true God, but such a sense of parental obligation, as may serve for a pattern to any age. I refer to Job, an Idumean, the faithful witness, in his day, not only to the creation of the world by one supreme Being-the government of the world by the power of God-the corruption of human nature the necessity of sacrifices to propitiate-the hope of the Messiah, and the certainty of a future resurrection, -but to the peculiar obligations of a parent. Yes, the contents of the Book of Job, the most ancient piece of authentic writing upon record, are strongly corroborative of this subject, as well as of the evils descending on those who neglect such obligations. The long controversy which took place between that illustrious man and his three friends, is remarkable on many accounts. Although not sustained in its masculine vein of thought, by any assistance which might have been derived, from reference to such stupendous proofs of divine judgment as the destruction of Sodom or of Egypt, which had not yet taken place; nor to such important subsequent events as the Exodus or the giving of the law; and although the friends of Job erred in judgment, and were reproved; yet the whole controversy is strikingly illustrative of their knowledge of God and his ways, both in kind and degree. On the particular subject also to which I now advert, however they might disagree respecting the case before them, both Job and his friends were here, as well as in their general views, in perfect harmony. "I have seen the foolish taking root," said Eliphaz; “but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate; neither is there any to deliver them." "How oft is the candle of the wicked put out?" replies Job, "and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. God layeth up his iniquity (that is, the punishment of his iniquity), for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty; for what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?" Confessedly mysterious as were the sufferings of Job, with principles such as these we shall find his practice in perfect harmony. He had seven sons and three daughters, all grown up; and of the manner in which they had been trained and instructed by him, any one may judge, by what is recorded of him, when they arrived at the years of maturity. Each of these sons had a house and table of his own, to which, at least on their birth-day, these three sisters were usually invited. Here there was nothing wrong, but, on the contrary, a fine exhibition of family harmony and love. Now, the previous care and watchfulness, the established authority and piety of Job may be conjectured, |