from that country shortly before the Exodus of the Israelites, and do not appear again in the history of the world. The remaining branch, the Canaanites, were blotted out of the Holy Land by the Hebrew descendants of Shem. Thus, without a blessing from his father Noah, and with a curse on his posterity by Canaan, the family of Ham has drifted into obscurity. As a separate people they are unknown. They have, as predicted by Noah, become subservient to their brethren. Their dynasty is extinct-their language has ceased to exist; and the descendants of Shem and Japhet have divided the world of history between them; for universal history, as Bunsen observes, so far as it is the history of the human mind and civilisation in the historical age, is nothing but the history of these two great families of nations, the Semitic and the Japhetic, as will presently more fully appear.

So far the record of Moses and all external evidence concur as to the early career and subsequent obscurity of the family of Ham. Let us now turn to the contemplation of the history of the descendants of Shem. And here we have a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths in the Scripture records of the leading family of that tribe, of which Abraham, the tenth in descent from Shem, was the progenitor; for with the history of that branch of the Shemites, the history of all the others is, to a great extent, mixed up. But further, the monumental remains of Nineveh reveal the fact, that the Assyrians of old were the descendants of Shem. Their Semitic language and Jewish aspect, as we have already observed, preserved in the marbles

that adorned that ancient city, proclaim the affinity of its inhabitants to the children of Abraham, as they have always existed, and do exist, to the present hour. The bricks, also, of Ur of the Chaldees, stamped with the name and title of Urukh, the king of Ur and of Accad,' from which the trusting Abraham went forth on that pilgrimage which has not yet ended, authenticate the first line of that interesting episode of Holy Writ.

Their descent into Egypt, the Exodus, the conquest of Canaan, their struggles with their brethren, Edomites, Ishmaelites, and Midianites, Gebal and Ammon, and Amalek, the Philistines and Assyrians, their captivity by the waters of Babylon, the first advent of the Messiah, the destruction of their city, and their expulsion from the land of promise, are also authenticated by the presence, at this day, of the homeless Jew in all the cities and kingdoms of the civilised world, a living link between the past and the future, the omnipresent witness of the truth of God's word, and of the inspiration of His holy prophets.

In the days of Herodotus, who wrote in the fifth century before Christ (about 450 B. C.), the Semitic races were composed of the Assyrians, the Syrians or Aramæans, the Arabs, the Phoenicians, and the Jews. With the exception of the Phoenician colonies on the shores of the Mediterranean, the whole country occupied by them was comprised within a parallelogram which is about 1,600 miles long, extending upwards from the south of Arabia to the parallel of latitude that passes through the north of Palestine, and in breadth about 800 miles, extending eastward from the

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shores of the Mediterranean. This site is well defined in the map of the world; and within this tract the Semitic races have ever since remained, with the exception of the scattered Jews, and the irruption of the Arabs from their desert abodes in the seventh century, under the stimulus of religious fanaticism, when, for one hundred years, they became the ruling nation from the confines of India to Spain. But they returned within their former and present bounds, and their influence sank as rapidly before the attacks of the sturdy sons of Japhet; and except in Egypt and on the northern shores of Africa, they maintained no footing in the countries they had so quickly overrun. In no

other instance has the Semitic race shown a capacity to extend themselves, either by migrations or by conquest. They are still concentrated in the countries we have described, extending 800 miles to the east of the Mediterranean, and along the northern shores of Africa, identified by their aspect, their language, and their historical traditions, with the ancestors whose records are found in the Bible and in the Semitic inscriptions of Nineveh. Here let us leave them for the present. Their part in the civilisation of the world has been small. They have never evinced a capacity to extend and sustain themselves territorially. In this respect, they will be found to contrast unfavourably with the Japhetite, whose progress in migration has been persistent and extensive, pursuant to the blessing of Noah- God shall enlarge Japhet.' But in the religious history and mental progress of mankind the influence of the Shemite has been considerable. Bunsen

has well observed, in his 'Outlines of the Philosophy of History,' in the historical age of the world power passes rapidly and irresistibly to Japhet. The first continuous stream of civilisation runs since that time in a Japhetic channel; whereas Shem takes the most prominent part in the religious development of mankind. The three cognate religions (Hebrew, Christian, and Mahometan) which govern the world are based upon Semitic records, and founded and propagated by Semites.' In this influence on the spiritual edification of mankind, we may recognise the fulfilment of his father's blessing on Shem- Blessed be the Lord God of Shem,' the Great Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Creator of the World, and the Redeemer and Sanctifier of the fallen race of Adam.

The sons of Japhet now claim our attention -- a people of unequalled energy and perseverance, who from their earliest days lifted high the torch of civilisation, and have carried with them the fruitful knowledge of science, arts, literature, and commerce to all parts of the world in which they are found. The Scripture record of the Japhetite is scanty. Little is there found directly relating to them beyond the sketch of their migrations given in the tenth chapter of Genesis, by which it appears that they migrated to the north and west of Shinar. Gomer, Magog, Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim, mentioned in the tenth chapter of Genesis, point to those parts of the world now known as Russia, Germany, and Greece. Therefore, before their emigrations, their settlement must have been in or near

the highlands of Armenia, outside the precincts of Semitism, to the north of Shinar; and all history, tradition, ethnological and philological evidence establish the fact, that from this point all European and Indian civilisation proceeded. The ancestors of the inhabitants of these countries can, by their language, be traced back to their cradle in Asia with as much certainty and accuracy as a number of rivers can be traced to a common source, as we shall presently find. To the west of the highlands of Armenia lies the Euxine or Black Sea, mentioned in Scripture as 'Ashkenaz.' This naturally interrupted and severed the tide of emigration in that direction. One wave passed along the southern margin of the Black Sea into Asia Minor, and broke upon the shores of Greece and Italy. These were the parents of Greek and Roman civilisation. Another flowed northward across the Caucasus, and round the northern shores of the Black Sea into western and central Europe. These were the pioneers of Celtic and Teutonic civilisation. While a third wave rolled eastward to the south of the Caspian Sea, through Persia, and over the mountains of Afghanistan, to the Indus and Hindostan, and carried civilisation to those countries. And first, let us follow the history of these Eastern emigrant sons of Japhet.

In Hindostan are found to the present hour the Brahmans, an ancient body or order of priests, who have ever been the sole guardians and ministers of the Hindoo religion. To their custody were committed the books called the Vedas, the sacred literature of the