fence, Gen.iv. 14,16. And when the Wickednefs of Men had provoked God to drown . the World, he revealed this to Noah, and refpited the execution of this Judgment an Hundred Years ; and Noah, in the mean time, both by his Preaching, and by preparing an Ark, warned them of it, and exhorted them to Repentance by preparing of an ark to the faving of his houfe, he condemned the world, Heb. xi. 7. and he was a preacher of righteousness to the old world, 2 Pet. ii. 5. He made it his business, for above an Hundred Years together, to forewarn the wicked World of their approaching Ruine; which he did by all the Ways and Means that a Wife and Great Man could contrive, proper for that End.

Noah lived, after the Flood, Three hundred and fifty Years, Gen. ix. 28. and it was between One and Two hundred Years before the Division of Tongues, and the Difperfion of the Sons of Noah. And when all the Inhabitants of the Earth were of one Language, and lived not far afunder, Noah himself living amongst them; the Judgment of God upon the wicked World, in overwhelming them. with the Flood; his Mercies to Noah and his Family, in their prefervation, when all the reft of the World perifhed; and the Commandments which God gave to Noah at his coming out of the Ark, with his Promifes and Threatnings refpectively to the per

formance

formance or tranfgreffion of them, must be well known: and the fin in building the Tower of Babel, for which the Univerfal Language was confounded, and the Race of Mankind difperfed, could proceed from nothing but the heighth of Prefumption and Perverfeness. After the Confufion of Languages, and the Difperfion of Mankind, they could not on the fudden remove to very diftant and remote Places, by reafon of the. unpaflable Woods and Defarts and Marshes, which, after fo vaft an Inundation, muft be every where to be met with, to obstruct their paffage, in those hot and fruitful Countreys, when they had lain uninhabited for fo many Years. This we may the better underftand, from the flow progrefs which was made in the Discoveries of the West-Indies. For the Spaniards, in thofe places where they found neither Guide nor Path, did not enter (f) See the Countrey ten Miles (f) in ten Years. Leigh, 1.1. And in thofe Ages they could not but be ill c.8. §. 3. provided, either by their own Skill, or by

Sir W.Rau.

4

convenient Tools and Inftruments, with fit means to clear the Countrey which they were to pass; and they were likewife unprovided of Veffels to tranfport any great numbers of Men, with their Families, and Herds of Cattle, which were for many Ages their only Riches, and abfolutely neceflary for

their ance: for Navigation had never

had fo flow an Improvement in the World,

if it had fo foon been in that Perfection as to enable them for fuch Transportations.

And as for thefe Reasons, the Difperfion of Noah's Pofterity over the Earth must be gradual, and many Generations must pass, before the remoter Parts of it could be inhabited; fo the feveral Plantations must be fuppofed to hold Correfpondence with those to whom they were neareft allyed, and from whom they went out; they must be fupposed to own fome fort of Dependance upon them, and pay them fuch Acknowledgments as Colonies have ever done to their MotherCities. It is natural to fuppofe that they firft fpread themselves into the neighbouring Countries; and (as Sir Walter Rauleigh has obferved) the first Plantations were generally by the Banks of Rivers, whereby they might hold Intelligence one with another which they could not do by Land, that being overspread with Woods, and altogether unfit for travelling. And the great affinity which is obfervable between the Eaftern Languages, proves that there was a continual Correfpondence and Commerce maintained between the feveral Nations, after the Difperfion.

;

All which, confidering the great Age that Men lived to in thofe times, muft, without a very grofs Neglect and Contempt of God,

a

veral Parts of Notion of Religion in the fe

the World: Noah himself lived Three Hundred and Fifty Years after

the

the Flood; his Sons were not foon dispersed; their Difperfion was gradual, and they held a Correspondence after their Separation, and lived long to educate and train up their Children in that Knowledge of God, which they had received and been instructed in themselves; and befides, they had little elfe. to discourse upon, but fuch things as would neceffarily lead them to it: The Hiftory of their own Nation and Family is that which Men are naturally moft fond of; and in these Ages the Particulars could be but few, and thofe very remarkable, and almost within the memory of fome yet living; and every Occurrence must bring to their remembrance what they had heard and had been taught concerning God, and his Dealings with them and their Forefathers.

Moreover, there was the fpecial Hand of God, and a particular Over-ruling Providence, in the Difperfion and Divifion of Nations: For, when the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the fons of Adam, he fet the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Ifrael, Deut. xxxii. 8. He determined the bounds of their habitation, that they fhould feek the Lord, if haply, they might feel after him, and find him, Act. xvii. 26, 27. This was the reafon of the Divifion of the Nations, according to the number of the children of Ifrael. There was a particular regard had to the Number

of

n

Graunt on

of the Chofen Seed, that they might bear a fit proportion to the rest of Mankind, and might be as fo much Leaven to the whole Mafs, as a quickning and enlivening Principle to excite and maintain due Apprehenfions of God, 1 and his Worship and Service in the World: And this is the Reafon given, why Polygamy was permitted them; That they who were the peculiar People of God, and were to teach his Commandments to the rest of the World, might fufficiently encrease and multiply. For though it appears by our Regifters (g), that here more Males are born (3) See than Females, to a confiderable difproportion, the Bills of and that therefore Polygamy amongst ús Mortality. twould not tend to the multiplication of Man-* kind, but rather to the contrary; yet in Judea it might be otherwife; or the Captive Women, whom they were permitted to marry, might raise the number of Females above that 5 of the Males; or their perpetual Wars lessen'd the number of Males to a degree beneath the Females. However, this is the reafon alledged by learned Men, why Polygamy, which was not permitted from the Begin ning, fhould be allowed the Ifraelites: for, indeed, it was of great confequence that they should multiply fo as to have a due proportion to the rest of the World; and for the fame reason, the furviving Brother was to Praife up Seed to the deceased. Barrenness was a Reproach; and to die Childless, a F Curfe;