tions, in their nations; and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood."

It has afforded a most pleasing exercise to archæologists and linguists to identify the names of Noah's immediate descendents with the places which bore their names, and an extensive table might be constructed, which would present this subject to the eye in a striking light. In making out a very concise table of names of persons with the places that bore those names, we shall confine ourself to a few, in relation to which there can be little room for controversy.

A TABLE

EXHIBITING THE PRIMITIVE SETTLEMENTS OF SOME OF THE DESCENDANTS OF NOAH.

NAMES.

Tarshish, v. 4,

Cush, v. 6......

Togarmah, Gen. 10: 3, Togarmah: Armenia, 1 Ch. 1:6; Eze. 27: 14-38: 6. 39 043 0 -Tarsus, Tartessus in the South of Spain. Cadiz?...36 30 6 20 -Cush, Ethiopia, Gen. 2: 13; 2 Kings 19:9; Zep. 3: 10,16 0 35 0 Mizraim, Egypt,-.

Mizraim, v. 6,

-28

0 31 0

..30 0 10 0

32 30 35 15

..32 30 44 25

..31 40 34 45

Phut, v. 6,

Canaan, v. 6,

. Canaan,

Nimrod, v. 8,

Sidon, v. 15,

.33 33 35 23

Heth, v. 15..

-31 27 35 0

Elam, v. 22,

Elam, Elymais. Gen. 14: 1, 9; Dan. 8:2,

-33 30 48 0

Nothing is more natural than for places to bear the names of those who first inhabited them. This custom has been common, not only with the immediate descendants of Noah, but with all succeeding ages, and hence the name of many places, even in this day, bears testimony to the truth of Biblical history.

That Mizraim, the peopled the land of

Take one or two examples from the preceding table. MIZRAIM is the name by which, in Eastern countries, Egypt is universally designated, and it is the name applied to that country in our Hebrew Bibles. grandson of Noah, was the one who Mizraim, and from whom that country took its name, is evident from the fact that we find his name coupled with that of his father Ham, whose name is also applied to the same country, in a poetical parallelism.

"Israel also came into Mizraim;

And Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.”—Ps. 105: 13.

Several localities, at the present day, bear strong testimony to what is said of Nimrod, in Genesis 10: 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. He was the son of Cush, and the great grandson of Noah. He was powerful as a "mighty one in the earth." "And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, (Babylon,) and Ereck, (Irak or Irka,) and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar." (Balylonia.) "From that land he went forth into Asshur,* (Assyria,) and builded Nineveh, and the city of Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah; the same is a great city."

That some of these places have, beyond all doubt, been pointed out by modern archeologists, we apprehend the greatest sceptic will not deny. That we can fix upon the general locality of the great Assyrian empire, and of Nineveh

*This is the rendering given by Boothroyd, and other eminent critics, and is undoubtedly right. See also Micah 5: 6. The ha local has been dropped from the end of Asshur, by the negligence of a transcriber.

its capital, and that a place in this region bearing the very name of this "mighty one" is certain. Nimrod or Nimroud has been discovered, and that its ancient palaces and sculptures have been made to bring forth their history to the gaze of modern eyes, a Layard, and many other eminent archæoloists can testify. Says Kitto, under thename Nimrod:"The late Mr. Rich, not thirty years ago, in the extensive plain where lie buried the ruins of Babylon, discovered the remarkable mound with remains of buildings on its summit (of which see figure in the article Babel, volume 1, page 267 of this work,) which even now bears the name of Birs Nimroud; and this may well be regarded as some confirmation of the common opinion. The precise meaning of the word Birs, is said to be unknown; which seems to be a proof of high antiquity."*

Kitto says, Palestine "is derived from Philistia, or the country of the Philistians, which comprised the Southern part of the coast plain of Canaan along the Mediterranean." "From this [Philistia] arose the name, Palestine, which was applied by most ancient writers, and even by Josephus, (Ant. i. 6, 2; ii. 15, 2; viii. 10, 3,) to the whole land of the Israelites." The name Palestine, which is now applied to the Holy Land, designates its primitive inhabitants, and bears witness to the truth of Scripture history.

Aram, or Aramæa, corresponds very generally to the Syria and Mesopotamia of the Greeks and Romans. The

*Nimrod is from the verb marad, to rebel, to cause sedition, and hence the noun Nimrod with n prefixed, a rebel, from which we probably have our English word marauder. The name was, undoubtedly given him in description of his character.

languages formerly spoken inthis place and vicinity, including the Hebrew and its cognates, are still called the Aramæan languages, and the locality is still known by that name. The descent of the people of this country from Aram, the son of Shem, is generally acknowledged, and is, beyond all contradiction, confirmed by their language, which is one of the Shemitic family, and closely allied to the Hebrew. Thus the name Aram stands as a witness to the truth of his history whose name it still very generally bears.

Much more might be said on this interesting topic, but we must pass to notice another period.

III. We would here call attention to the Bible history, that comprises Abraham and his descendants-the Hebrew nation.

Abraham was a descendant of Shem, and the progenetor of the Jewish nation. The Jews were chosen to transmit the true religion, and through them the Messiah was to come. They are the only people whose connected history is given in the Bible, but they are so often coming into contact with other nations, that we might reasonably expect to find, amongst their neighbors, much, corroborative of their own history. As we must confine ourself to some limits, we shall select Egypt and Nineveh, as giving a noble testimony in favor of Bible history.

With no country was Abraham, and his descendants, more closely allied than with Egypt, and hence we may look there for many illustrations of Scripture history.

Egypt is a country that abounds in objects of the deepest interests to the student of the Bible. Its numerous and large monuments, and other objects often covered with

hieroglyphics, give us the means of reading its history. Of these hieroglyphics, there are three kinds.

First-Figurative, which imitate objects completely or in part; as the sun or moon, or the ground-plot of a house, for a house.

Second-Symbolic, which represent an abstract idea by a physical object; as a bee for an obedient people.

Third-Phonetic, which represents letters as signs of vocal sounds, and corresponding to our alphabet.

Not until recently, the true method of reading PhoneticEgyptian has been known. The honor of the discovery belongs to Dr. Young and to Champollion. They were enabled to make the discovery by means of a monumental stone* dug up by a French army, at Rosetta, A. D. 1799, containing an inscription, in three languages-Greek, Enchoral and Egyptian. From a long and patient investigation, the letters spelling the name Ptolmes, were designated. In the same manner, on another monument, the name Cleopatra was deciphered, and the correspondence of five letters, common to the two names, confirmed the theory of the investigation. This

7

gave a clue to the discovery of a complete phonetic alphabet from Egyptian hieroglyphics.

It was afterwards found that the initial of the name of any picture, might express a phonetic sound, and hence

*This identical stone, called the ROSETTA MARBLE, the auther saw in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, England, in A. D. 1848.