tural Consequence of which was, that they became the peculiar Favourites of Heaven; that God vouchfaf'd to reveal Himself to them, in an extraordinary manner; and to ordain that of them fhould be born, according to the Flesh, his Son JESUS CHRIST, for the Salvation and Redemption of degenerate, loft Mankind.

For the first Man Adam, though form'd in full Maturity of Human Perfection, with all Powers and Capacities fuitable to the Nature of his Condition, and moreover exprefly and fully inftructed in his Duty to God his Creator, yet unhappily prov'd the first Example of Difobedience; and, by breaking the Divine Precept, entail'd Sin and Misery upon his wretched Postetity. Of his three Sons, Cain, Abel, and Seth, the First flew his Brother Abel, revolted from God, and propagated an impious Race of Mortals, who, treading in his Steps, deviated from the Paths of true Religion and Virtue, and lost themselves in the Mazes of Error and falfe Worship. Of them therefore the Scripture takes no Account; pursuing the Defcent of that B 2

Line

26.

Line only, which contains the Genealogy of our Saviour CHRIST.

But Seth took care to cultivate and spread the true Worship of God; and with that

Succefs, that foon after the Birth of his Gen. iv. Son Enos, Men began to call upon the name of the LORD: The Knowledge of Religion increas'd and was extended, in proportion as his Descendants were multiplied. To the Cognizance and Obfervation of this particular Branch of Mankind therefore, the Scripture chiefly confines itself; as of those to whom God would, occafionally, make extraordinary Discoveries of Himfelf; and, out of them, in the fulness of time, manifeft Himself in the flesh. From this Root fprung the Firft of the Four Generations abovemention'd; confifting of these nine principal or Patriarchal Perfons; Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. In the Days of the laft of which it was, that the righteous Progeny of Seth, called in Gen. vi. Scripture the fons of God, went in unto the daughters of men, took them Wives from athe Defcendants of Cain; Men, by that time, having begun to multiply on the face of

2.

mong

the earth.

From

From these licentious and improper Marriages, there speedily enfued fo great a Decay of Piety, and the whole Earth grew to be fo generally deprav'd, and abandon'd to all manner of Wickedness, that God thought proper, at once, to put an End to their finful Courfes and their Lives; by deftroying them by a Deluge of Waters. Only Noah, who was a righteous Man, and upon that Account fpar'd with all his Family, escap'd in the Ark; which he built for that Purpose, by God's special Direction.

Of the three Sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, fome Part of the Defcendants of Shem only, continued to worship the true God; thofe of Ham and Japheth totally revolting from Him. And therefore, of this fecond Generation, the Scripture takes account of no more than these, Shem, Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nabor, Terah.

It is here mention'd once for all, That many of the proper Names are fpelt differently in different Places of Scrip ture, from the different Languages, or Dialect, in which they were wrote,

SECT. II.

Whence called HEBREWS.

FROM Eber or Heber, one of the Generation last mention'd, this People began to have the Name of Hebrews. For the Ark, as the Deluge abated, having refted upon the Mountains of Ararat, or Armenia, Noah and his three Sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, dwelt in the East, as they call'd it; being that Country which lies on this fide the River Tigris, and was afterwards, for the most part, known by the Name of Affyria. There are Critics who moreover conclude, that the whole Family of Arphaxad obtain'd the Name of Hebrews, from their going to settle in Chaldea, which was on the other fide of the River; Heber, in their Tongue, fignifying beyond or over. And for this Reason, it is Gen. x. thought that Shem is faid to be the father of all the children of Heber; that is, of all

21,

those that went on the other fide of the River.

After this, the Defcendants of Ham and Japheth, finding it convenient also to

change their Quarters, came into Chaldæa, in the Days of Heber the Grandson of Arphaxad, and took up their Habitation in the Plains of Shinar. Thefe, at the Inftigation of Nimrod, Grandfon of Ham, who was a mighty one in the earth, and ambitious of fecuring to himself a great Name with After-ages, attempted to build a city and tower whofe top might reach unto heaven. Until that Time, the whole Earth had continued to use the fame Language which they had deriv'd from Adam: When God, offended at their prefumptuous Attempt, thought proper to put a Stop to their fenfeless unreafonable Project, by confounding their language, that they might not understand one another's speech. Hence the Tower was call'd Babel, which fignifies Confufion; and, from that, both the City, and Country round about it, took * their Names.

But the Sons of Heber, not concurring with the reft in their audacious Design, retain'd the ancient Language which, from the Time of Shem, had been in use among

* Babylon, Babylonia.

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his