But let us return to the mountains of Armenia, and see the little remnant of the human family issuing from the ark, and commencing a new career in a world in which probably not a vestige remained to awaken melancholy recollections or tender associations-not a relic of that grandeur and magnificence on which they had formerly gazed with admiration, or contemplated with sentiments of unutterable compassion in the view of that awful catastrophe which they foresaw would speedily overwhelm their vain and guilty possessors.

How long the ark itself continued as a monument of art, or a memorial of divine vengeance and of divine mercy-or as a model of great design and exquisite skill in architecture, whether for ship-building and naval enterprise, or for temples, towers, public or private edifices-Moses has not told us, and tradition is not worth regarding.

Noah, we are informed, became a husbandman. He began the world (to use a common phrase) as Adam and his sons had done before him, by cultivating the earth. Here then is no approach to savage life.

Noah and his family, for some time probably, cultivated the valleys in the neighborhood of Ararat, one of the mountains of Armenia, on which the ark settled after the subsidence of the waters. As they increased in numbers, they appear to have passed along the banks of the Euphrates, which rises in the mountains of Armenia, (Vid. Herodotus,) till at length they came to the plains of Shinar or Babylonia, -allowed to be the most fertile country in the East. Here they built a city and commenced a tower, whose top might "reach unto heaven," i. e. to the visible heavenly luminaries or to the clouds. For this purpose they burnt brick, which they used instead of stone; "and slime," or bitumen [Lat. Vulg.] or doqaλròs, [Græc. Sept.] " had they for mortar." (Gen. 11: 3, 4.) Three years, it is said, they prepared their materials, and 22 years carried on their building. Their arrogant and rebellious attempt displeased the Lord, who miraculously confounded their language, which put an effectual stop to the work, procured for it the name of Babel or “confusion," and obliged the people to disperse themselves, and replenish the world.

It is thought by some that the family of Shem did not concur in this presumptuous enterprise,-that Nimrod, the son of Cush and grandson of Ham, was the principal leader:

but of this we have no certain evidence. What became of this mighty tower (commenced about 100 years after the deluge) we cannot determine. Nearly 1800 years after its erection, Herodotus saw a structure at Babylon (the temple of Jupiter Belus) consisting of eight towers, raised one above another, built of bricks and bitumen, of immense size. This lofty edifice is believed by many to have been the identical tower described by Moses. Bel or Belus was a title given to Nimrod, according to Bryant. Its ruins, or the supposed ruins of this ancient tower or temple, have been frequently noticed by antiquaries and modern travellers.*

It is not material to our present purpose to inquire into the object or end for which this remarkable tower was built. Some suppose it was designed to be a " temple to the host of heaven," or for idolatrous worship of some kind;—others, that it was intended to afford an asylum to the builders and their families in case of another deluge; like the Pyramids of Egypt, perhaps;-others again, that it was designed to be the central ornament or principal fortress of a grand me. tropolitan city, the seat of government, in order to prevent a general dispersion of the people. "Let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Gen. 11: 4.

The sons of Noah had witnessed the massive and colossal structures of the old world-they had seen the great ship which had preserved them from a watery grave-ambition or vanity, or a distrust of the divine providence and promise, might have prompted them, at least some of them, [say the family of Ham, known to have been profane and disobedient,] to imitate the proud monuments of art which had adorned the antediluvian world, that future generations might possess a specimen and a model of the same stupen

* Vide Herodotus, St. Jerome, Calmet, Bochart, Rollin, Bryant, Rich, Niebuhr, Rennell, Della Valle, Ker Porter, Grotefend, etc.

;

It is very questionable, however, whether even the site of old Babylon can be ascertained at the present day. Lucian intimates that not a vestige of Nineveh remained in his time and he predicts that such also would soon be the fate of Babylon. In this particular, at least, he accords with the Hebrew prophets.

dous and magnificent architecture-or that their own name might be immortalized by their labors-or that it might serve as a citadel or military castle of defence and protection—or as a palace or residence for their chief, [Ham, for instance, or Nimrod,] for many centuries to come; not realizing that their life was to be shortened-or-but it is no matter what they had in view.

It proves that they were still equal to great undertakings; that they had not lost that knowledge of the arts which they must have brought with them from the ruins and the wreck of former nations. They were still a civilized people.

Down to this period assuredly, if there be truth in Scripture, no trace of savageness can be found in our world. We fearlessly and most confidently oppose facts to theory. And we are willing cheerfully to submit the case to any honest, enlightened, independent jury of our peers.

Civilization and the arts continued to flourish in the countries first occupied after the flood. In the fruitful plains of Shinar or Babylon-upon the eastern and southern shores of the Mediterranean--along the banks of the Euphrates, the Tigris and the Nile-and in the adjacent regions.

But here commences a new era. Mankind were now to be dispersed and scattered over the face of the earth.

As men travelled further from their original residenceinto colder, more sterile, more inhospitable, or more unhealthful climes-into rocky, mountainous regions-remote islands-impervious forests and deserts, by this time, filled with beasts of prey and venomous reptiles-especially when the colonies were small and indifferently furnished with artisans and mechanics, or with the implements and utensils indispensable to agriculture and carpentry-in such circumstances, it is easy to account for the speedy degeneracy of numerous tribes, and for their lapse into a barbarous and savage state.

Thus, Northern Asia, the greater part of Africa, the islands of the Mediterranean Sea and of the ocean, Europe and America, appear to have been inhabited by rude and savage and migratory hordes, as far back as history and tradition extend; while the same history and traditiontogether with Scripture-assure us that Chaldea, Assyria,

Phoenicia and Egypt, perhaps, India and other eastern countries, were civilized and polished from the remotest times, or from the beginning. And these have proved the fountain of civilization, letters and the arts, to every other part of the globe, where they have been found, or where they now exist. From the building of Babel to the period at which Egypt appears, on the page of authentic history, a great and flourishing empire, famed alike for wealth and power and wisdom and science, the interval is short; the steps are few and easily marked.

We have thus presented the outlines of our general views on this curious subject, under the heads of REASON and SCRIPTURE.

The third branch of the argument, namely, that from HISTORY, will be illustrated in a future article; in which, we shall endeavor to ascend the historical stream of civilization, till we fairly land upon the classic shores of ancient Greece ;-whence, confessedly, modern Europe and European America have derived all their civility, literature and arts. Nor shall we assign the palm of originating these to the ingenious Greeks; much as we admire them, and unquestionable as are their claims to the everlasting gratitude of mankind. We shall pursue our voyage to Egypt and the East;-where will be found all the luxury, beauty, opulence, splendor and refinement which usually distinguish the meridian of national greatness, or which characterize its decline-even at the earliest epoch to which Grecian history and tradition ever ventured to approach. Here was civilization of the highest order, when the Greeks themselves were, by their own showing, fierce and untamed barbarians.

Thus, commencing from the creation of man, we learn from Scripture that he existed in a civilized state, at least down to the period of the general dispersion: and, reversing the order of our inquiry, we shall find from history that civilization is still traceable up to the age and the region, when and where this memorable event is believed to have occurred.

ARTICLE III.

THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHN THE EVANGELIST.

By Edward E. Salisbury, New Haven, Conn.

FROM the earliest ages of the Christian Church, there has been a charm in the name of " the beloved disciple ;" and an air of mystery has been thrown around the endearing relation, which subsisted between him and his Divine Redeemer. But, if we mistake not, the tender, yearning affection, with which he clung to his Saviour, has been so exclusively dwelt upon as to produce a one-sided view of his character. It is our design to present some scattered memorials of his life, and to attempt a delineation of his character as "the beloved disciple."

A son of Zebedee and Salome, and born, as is supposed, either in Bethsaida or Capernaum, he appears to have passed his earlier days as a fisherman on the sea of Tiberias. (Matth. 4: 18-21 and 27: 56, comp. with Mark 15: 40 and 16: 1.) Several things lead to the supposition, that his parents were above the lower class of Jews in respect to worldly circumstances. For instance, his father was assisted by kind servants on his fishing excursions, (Mark 1: 20,) and his mother joined herself, probably on the death of her husband, to that company of women which attended our Saviour to minister to his daily necessities. (Matth. 27: 55, 56.) She was one of those who provided spices to embalm his body, (Luke 23: 55, 56,) and John himself is said to have taken to his own house (is ra idia) the mother of our Lord, after she had been so tenderly committed to his

care.

What religious impressions John may have received in the spring-time of life, while instructed, according to the custom of the Jews, by his parents, in the Law and the Prophets, we have no certain knowledge. But from the devotion of his mother to the service of Christ in his journeyings from place to place, we may infer that she had been a zealous expectant of the promised Messiah, and had entertained