the Lord said, Behold the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth," &c.

[The chapter being read, the question was, Who were confederate in this bold and heaven-defying project of raising a fortification against heaven; whereupon the conversation commenced.]

Thomas. It would seem as the whole human race were confederate, inasmuch as it is said, "the whole earth was of one language and of one speech; and immediately after it is said, "they journeyed from the East."

Olympas. The whole earth is not the antecedent to they. The construction intimates no more than as men journeyed from the East. Besides it would be much more incredible, because without any evidence or reason that the whole human race then existing should rise up and leave all their improvements, and the labors of a century or more behind them, and go in quest of a new location, than to make the pronoun they represent a part of mankind, as we are wont to use that word every day; as when we say, "They say so," "The people love to have it so," and "They will have it so;" intimating not the whole human race, but those of a certain district or country. True, there is little or nothing of any importance depending on the latitude we give to the pronoun they in this passage. I am more concerned to determine the legitimate use of the sacred language, than to establish any point of doctrine involved in this passage.

Edward. Were we to suppose that Noah, Shem, and all their immediate descendants were a part of their colony, we should then have to encounter other and greater difficulties, as it appears to me, than merely to find cause for their abandonment of their early plantations and local attachments.

Olympas. Of these difficulties of which you speak, will you state the chief?

Edward. We should have Noah who was perfect in his generation, and Shem, and the holy seed all in one daring conspiracy against Heaven-all engaged in an attempt to prostrate the designs of God in allotting to each family its own country and clime; or, if not in this, in something worse-the erection of an idolatrous temple devoted to the Sun, as some of my late readiugs would clearly intimate.

Olympas. True, my dear Edward, this would be a strange case, that Noah, in one hundred and twenty years after the flood, who had faithfully served the Lord so many centuries before the flood, should now abandon his worship for idolatry, or for any scheme, to subvert his decrees and appointments. We think, therefore, that in journeying from the East they left in the East the faithful portion of the human race, who were determined to cleave to the patriarchal altar in the families of Noah and Shem. This new colony, this swarm from the East, as all ancient records seem to indicate, were, for the major part at least, composed of the families of Ham and Japhet.

With regard to language, James, how many were spoken before the flood?

James. Only one.

Olympas. And till this time of which we now speak, how many were spoken, Susan?

Susan. Only one.

one speech.

"The whole earth was of one language and of

Olympas. Can any of you tell the difference between being "all of one language and of one speech.? Are not language and speech the same thing?

Edward. The margin says they were of one lip and of one word. But this may mean the same thing.

Olympas. Unity of design and unity of language appear to express the original full as well as any other terms we have. Now that this is the meaning is farther evident from the 6th verse. "And the Lord said, Behold the people is one, and they all have one language; and this they begin to do, and nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do." And hence we learn the power of unity of language and unity of design. If the whole world still spoke one language, and were of one opinion, who could calculate to what extent they could carry any project of good or evil intent! The strength of Satan's realm consists much in this fact, that he and his angels are of one language and of one design. What, William, constituted the region called "the East," in the Old Testament style?

William. Mesopotamia, Assyria, and the lands east of the Euphrates.

Olympas. The tide of emigration has, it seems, from ancient days, rolled westwardly. From Mount Ararat Noah and his sons descended the valleys that marked the course of the Euphrates. Tell me, William, what notable persons came from the East?

William. Abraham came from the East. From the mountains of the East Balaam came to curse Israel; and from the East came the

Magi to pay their honors to the new-born King of the Jews. And "still the star of empire westward wends its way."

Olympas. Where, Susan, did this migrating colony first settle? Susan. They found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

Olympas. Tell me, Edward, where Shinar lay?

Edward. It lay along the Tigris, or was a part of that rich valley that bordered on, or lay between the Tigris and the Euphrates, once the richest valley in the world.

Olympas. And there they projected the tower of Babel, that immense pile, designed as a monument of their skill and as a means of consolidation and concentration to prevent their dispersion over the earth. Of what, James, was this tower composed?

James. Of brick and bitumen.

Olympus. How high was it, William?

William. According to Strabo and other ancient historians, such as Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, it was one stadium, or five hundred feet in height, having a statue of Belus of forty feet.

Olympus. And what was its square at the base, Henry?

Henry. You said it was one thousand feet.

Edward. It was almost as high as the steeple of St. Paul's Church in London, which formerly measured five hundred and twenty feet.— But since the fire of London it has been reduced, and it was twenty feet higher than the loftiest pyramid of Egypt.

Olympas. Whence, Edward, had it the name Babel?

Edward. It was called Babel because there human language was confounded, and because from that place the Lord dispersed them over the earth.

Olympas. It was, indeed, a marvellous confusion; because it was instantaneous, because it seems to have run in families according to consanguinity, and because it was both a bond of union and a cause of schism. Many languages made many parties, and one language made one party, For the Lord, it is said, divided them according to their languages-"every one after his tongue, after their families in their nations."

Henry. Did the Lord come down himself to see this city and tower which they builded?

Olympas. This is rather a form of expressing that the Lord took notice of it, and considered the meaning and design of it, than that he literally descended from heaven and came to Shinar to survey this work of rebellion, or of idolatry.

Thomas. Into how many languages were the Babel-builders divided?

I have read somewhere that they were divided into seventy-two, according to the number of the Sanhedrim.

Olympas. This is more imaginative than real. It is obvious to those who have closely examined the structure of the languages of the world, that they have sprung from a common origin, and that three branches corresponding to the three sons of Noah, may be demonstrated to be the remote parents of all the modern languages of the whole earth. True, indeed, their languages are greatly mixed up with innovations and amalgamations which greatly obscure their common origin, and justify the hypothesis that the languages introduced at Babel were as numerous as the nations and colonies into which these archmasons formed themselves.

Many linguists have been at pains to trace the origin of the languages of Asia, Africa, Europe, and America, to one common fountain. Take, for example, the very word origin: it is plainly sprung from the Latin origo; from orior, I raise; whence oriens, the East; and the orient; and thus orior from the Greek oro, to raise; and that again from the Hebrew or, to lift up oneself, to raise. How evident the descent! Hebrew or, Greek oro, Latin orior, orient, origo, English origin. Take another example: The word air comes from the Latin aura, from the Greek aer, from the Hebrew aur. But we may trace its kindred branches still farther: in many of the Eastern languages are evidences of its passing through them. Thus in the Chaldee ur denotes fire; in the Egyptian or represents the Sun; in the Gentoo, or Sanscrit, our expresses day; and in many Eastern languages the same word denotes light, fire, and air. Of all the dialects, the Hebrew spoken by Noah, Shem, Abraham, and Moses, seems to have escaped the wreck of tongues, and to have been the dialect of Adam. Some foreign words are found in it, but that they have crept in from junior rather than from senior dialects, is more probable than any other supposition. Thus we find Latin words in Greek authors, and Welsh terms in Roman.

Among the sister dialects of Europe, the French, Spanish, German, Italian, &c. we have many proofs of a Roman parentage; and among the sister dialects of Asia, the Chaldee, Arabic, Sanscrit, Chinese, &c. &c. we find equal vouchers for a Hebrew ancestry. But the Lord inflicted these diversities of tongues in indignation for past abuses, and as merciful preventions of greater misfortunes to the human race.

Thomas. And may not the neighborhood, positions, and localities of certain nations their frequent intercourse, commerce, and conflicts, greatly contribute to the introduction of many foreign words into all their languages, and have had an influence in assimilating them to one another in some respects?

Olympas. True, it had, as in the case of France and England, whose dialects, terms, and phrases are now more incorporated with each other, than they were even some fifty years ago. Tell me, Thomas, in what positions did the elder nations after the flood radiate from the dwellings of the first plantation?

Thomas. As I have learned, the three families of Noah first located themselves bordering on each other in the very central regions of Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia. From these, time after time, new colonies were formed, and new and even far distant communities erected. To every point of the compass they directed their way from the central settlements. The Chinese, Persians, Ethiopians, and Indians directed their journeys in an eastern direction; the Arabians, Egyptians, Phenicians, Lybians, and some of the Ethiopians, went southward; while the Goths, Greeks, and Latins, Peruvians, Mexicaus, and Americans migrate westwardly, leaving the North for the Scythians, Celts, and Tartars.

Olympus. The affinities in the dialects of these people and nations are in the ratio of their proximity to each other, and the frequency and familiarity of their intercourse, and satisfactorily demonstrate the force of circumstances that sometimes combine in the amalgamation of dialects and the transformation of language. But enough of this for the present. What moral lessons are we taught in this affair? Will you all in rotation tell me your reflections, and what moral instruction you have derived from this marvellous event? We shall begin at the youngest and ascend.

Susan. How happy it would have been for us had Ham and Japhet accepted of their lot and not presumed to unite in opposing God! We would then have had to learn but one grammar!

James. And we could have travelled all over the earth and needed no interpreter! How many good lessons we might have learned from those nations whose speech we cannot now understand!

Henry. And then, too, we would have needed no translations of the Scriptures, and could have sent them all over the earth as soon as we can send them all over America!

William. There would have been no controversy about the meaning of foreign words, and in a few years we might have got from school and been employed in business which would be better for ourselves than others!

Mary. We would also have loved mankind better; for those who speak the same language always like one another better than those who speak foreign languages. Now had we all spoken one language, still there would have been more love and less hatred in the world. Indeed I do not think there would have been half so many wars.