Heads of Families, in the feveral Generations and Succeffions of Kingdoms amongst his Pofterity: For that the fame Perfon was both King and Priest in the earlier Ages of the World, we learn from the best Antiquities of other Nations; and it was fo likewife amongst the Hebrews, till God had appointed an Order and Succeffion of the Priesthood in one Tribe : and therefore Efau is ftiled a profane Perfon, for felling his Birth-right, because the Pricfthood went along with it, Heb. xii. 16.

d

By all the Accounts we have of the World before the Flood, we are affured, that God was pleased, at first, to afford frequent Communications of himself to Mankind; and even to the Wicked, as to Gain, whofe Punishment it afterwards was, to be hid from the face of the Lord, and driven out from his prefence, 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 house, be condemned the world, Heb. xi. 7. and he was a preacher of righteousness to the old world, 2 Pet. ii. 5. In our Translation we read, the eighth Perfon, a Preacher of Righteoufnefs. But it is rendered by fome, and per haps more exactly, the eighth Preacher of Righteoufne/s, implying that there were feven before him. However he made it his bufinefs, for above an Hundred Years together, to forewarn the wicked World of their approaching Ruine; which he did by all the Ways

e

Omnésque primogenitos Noe, donec facerdotio fungeretur! Aaron fuiffe Pontifices (Hebræi tradunt.) Hieronym. Quæftion. feu Tradit. Hebraic. in Genef.

• Όγδοον Νῶε δικαιοσαύης κήρυκα ἐφύλαξε, octavum Juftiticiz Præconem Noe. Erafm.

and

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 Divifion of Tongues, and the Dispersion 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 respectively to the performance 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 Perverseness. 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 unpaffable Woods, and Defarts, and Marfhes, which, after so vaft an Inundation, muft be every where to be met with, to obftruct their paffage, in thofe hot and fruitful Countries, when they had lain uninhabited for fo many Years. This we may the better understand, from the flow Progrefs which was made in the Discoveries of the Weft-Indies. For the Spaniards, in thofe places where they found neither Guide nor Path, did not enter the Country ten Miles fin ten Years. And in thofe Ages they could not but be ill provided, either by their own Skill, or by convenient Tools and Inftruments, with fit means to clear the Country which they were to pafs; and they were likewife unprovi

c See Sir W. Rawleigh, 1 1v ce 8 Su-3x

ded

ded of Veffels to tranfport any great numbers of Men, with their Families, and Flocks and Herds of Cattle, which were for many Ages their only Riches, and abfolutely neceffary for their Suftenance: for Navigation had never had fo fow 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 Noal's Pofterity over the Earth must be gradual, and many Generations muft pafs, 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 nearest allyed, and from whom they went out; they muft be, fuppofed to own fome fort of Dependence upon them, and pay them fuch Acknowledgments as Colonies have ever done to their Mother-Cities. It is natural to fuppofe that they first spread themselves into the neighbouring Countries; and (as Sir Walter Rawleigh has obferved) the firft 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 overfpread 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 those times, muft, without a very grofs Neglect and Contempt of God, preferve a true Notion of Religion in the feveral Parts of the World: For Noah himself lived Three Hundred and Fifty Years after the Flood; his Sons were not foon difperfed; their Difperfion was gradual, and they held a Correfpondence after their Separation, and lived long to educate and train up their Children in that Knowledge of God, which they had received and been inftructed

ftructed in themselves; and befides, they had little elfe to difcourfe 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 thefe Ages the Particulars could be but few, and thofe very remarkáble, and almost within the memory of fome yet living; and every Occurrence muft 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 special 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 Jeparated 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 should feek the Lord, if hat ly they might feel after him, and find him, A&s xvii. 26, 27. This was the reafon of the Divifion of the Nations, according to the number of the children of Ifrael, who are ftiled, a Peculiar Treasure, a Kingdom of Priefts, and a Holy Nation, Exod. xix. 5, 6. There was a particular regard had to the Number of the Chofen Seed, that they might bear a fit proportion to the reft of Mankind, and might be as fo much Lea ven to the whole Mafs, as a quickening and enlivening Principle to excite and maintain due Apprehenfions of God, 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, 8 that here more Males are born than Females,

See Graunt on the Bills of Mortality.

E

to

to a confiderable difproportion, and that therefore Polygamy amongst us would not tend to the Multiplication of Mankind, 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 of the Males; or their perpetual Wars might leffen the number of Males to a degree beneath the Females. However, this is the Reafon alledg'd by learned Men, why Polygamy, which was not permitted from the Beginning, fhould be allowed the Ifraelites; for indeed it was of great confequence, that they fhould multiply fo as to have a due proportion to the reft of the World; and for the fame Reason, the furviving Brother was to raise up Seed to the deceased. Barrennefs was a Reproach; and to die Childlefs, a Curfe; and a numerous Offfpring, a Bleffing, fo often promifed, that it is evident that many Difpenfations of the Divine Providence depended upon it.

And the better to revive and keep up a Senfe of Religion amongst Men, thofe who were moft eminent for Piety were employed to be God's Heralds and Embaffadors to the reft of the World, as the whole People of Ifrael are appealed to as his Witnesses, Ifai. xliii. 12. and xliv. 8. The Jews have a Tradition, That Abraham refufing to worship the Fire, the God of the Chaldeans, was thrown by them into it, and was deliver'd out of it by Miracle: And therefore they underftand it, not that he went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, as it fignifies a Place, but from the Fire of the Chaldees; Ur in the Hebrew Tongue fignifying Fire. But we have no need of recourfe to fuch Traditions: This is certain, Abraham was fent, by God's Command, out of Chaldea into Canaan; and there he had no fix'd or fettled Habitation, but journied, going

h S. Hierom. Quæft. in Genef. S. Auguft. Quæft. in Genef. 1. v. qu. 25.

on