CHAPTER XI.

NOAH'S SONS AND GRANDSONS.

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DISPERSION.

BABEL AND THE

TOW these are the generations of the sons of Noah,- Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

Let them that would build castles in the air,
Vault thither, without step or stair.

Instead of feet to climb, take wings to fly,

And think their turrets top the sky.

But let me lay all my foundations deep,

And learn, before I run, to creep.

Who digs through rocks to lay his groundworks low,

May in good time build high, and sure, though slow.

The whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

Glory is like a circle in the water,

Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself,

Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to naught.

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And 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.

God, in derision, sets

Upon their tongues a various spirit, to rase
Quite out their native language; and, instead,
To sow a jangling noise of words unknown.
Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud,
Among the builders; each to other calls

Not understood; till hoarse, and all in rage,

:

As mocked they storm: great laughter was in heaven,
And looking down, to see the hubbub strange,
And hear the din. Thus was the building left
Ridiculous, and the work, Confusion named.

When Babel was confounded, and the great
Confederacy of projects wild and vain
Was split into diversity of tongues,
Then, as a shepherd separates his flock,
These to the upland, to the valley those,
God drave asunder and assigned their lot
To all the nations.

Herces and kings obey the charm,
Withdraw the proud high-reaching arm;

There is an oath on high,

That ne'er on brow of mortal birth

Shall blend again the crowns of earth,

Nor in according cry

Her many voices mingled own

One tyrant Lord, one idol throne:

But to His triumph soon

He shall descend, who rules above,
And the pure language of His love
All tongues of men shall tune.

OW the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy

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country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.

No foot of land do I possess ;
No cottage in this wilderness;
A poor wayfaring man,
I lodge awhile in tents below,
Or gladly wander to and fro,
Till I my Canaan gain.

Nothing on earth I call my own,
A stranger to the world, unknown,
I all their goods despise ;
I trample on their whole delight,
And seek a city out of sight,

A city in the skies.

After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt. thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house. is this Eliezer of Damascus ? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but

the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Ah, who can tell the hidden way,

His feet so soon must tread;
How he shall follow and obey,

Or where he shall be led?

Unknown, untried, the paths must be,

That lead, my Saviour, up to Thee!

Through flowery meads, through verdant glades,

By waters still and clear;

Or through dark vales and dismal shades,

'Mid landscapes bleak and drear;

Such may the hidden pathway be,

That leads, my Saviour, up to Thee

CHAPTER XIII.

THE NAMES CHANGED. THE COVENANT RENEWED.
CIRCUMCISION.

WHAT pleases God, O pious soul,

Accept with joy; though thunders roll,

And tempests lower on every side,

Thou knowest naught can thee betide,

But pleases God.

OW Sarai, Abram's wife, bare him no children: and she

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had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid the Egyptian,