-"and to have all one language, and that

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nothing would be restrained from them "which they imagined to do, confound"ed their language that they might not "understand one another; and fcattered "them abroad upon the face of all the "earth." Here light breaks forth in the midst of darkness. By confounding the language of men, and fcattering them abroad upon the face of all the earth, they were rendered favages. And to harden them for their new habitations, it was neceffary that they fhould be divided into different kinds, fitted, for different climates. Without an immediate change of bodily constitution, the builders of Babel could not poffibly have fubfifted in the burning region of Guinea, or in the frozen region of Lapland; efpecially without houfes, or any other convenience to protect them against a destructive climate. Against this hiftory it has indeed been urged, "That the circumftances mention"ed evince it to be purely an allegory; “that men never were fo frantic as to

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think of building a tower whofe top "might reach to heaven; and that it is grofsly abfurd, taking the matter lite"rally,

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rally, that the Almighty was afraid of men, and reduced to the neceffity of faving himself by a miracle." But that this is a real history, must neceffarily be admitted, as the confufion of Babel is the only known fact that can reconcile facred and profane history.

And this leads us to confider the diverfity of languages *. If the common lan

guage

*As the focial state is effential to man, and fpeech to the focial ftate, the wifdom of providence in fitting men for acquiring that neceffary art, deferves more attention than is commonly bestowed, on it. The Oran Outang has the external organs of fpeech in perfection; and many are puzzled to account why it never speaks. But the external organs of speech make but a fmall part of the neceffary apparatus. The faculty of imitating founds is an effential part; and wonderful would that faculty appear, were it not rendered familiar by daily practice a child of two or three years, is able, by na ture alone without the least instruction, to adapt its organs of fpeech to every articulate found; and a child of four or five years can pitch its windpipe fo as to emit a found of any elevation, which enables it with an ear to imitate the fongs it hears. But above all the other parts, fenfe and understanding are effential to fpeech. A parrot can pronounce articulate founds, and it has frequently an inclination. to fpeak; but, for want of understanding, none of

the

guage of men had not been confounded upon their attempting the tower of Babel, I affirm, that there never could have been but one language. Antiquaries constantly fuppofe a migrating spirit in the original inhabitants of this earth; not only without evidence, but contrary to all probability! Men never defert their connections nor their country without neceffity: fear of enemies and of wild beafts, as well as the attraction of fociety, are more than fufficient to restrain them from wandering; not to mention that favages are peculiarly fond of their natal foil*. The

first

the kind can form a fingle fentence. Has an Oran Outang understanding to form a mental propofition? has he a faculty to exprefs that propofition in founds and fuppofing him able to express what he fees and hears, what would he make of the connec tive and disjunctive particles?

*With refpect to the fuppofed migrating spirit, even Bochart must yield to Kempfer in boldness of conjecture. After proving, from difference of language and from other circumftances, that Japan was not peopled by the Chinefe, Kempfer without the leaft hesitation fettles a colony there of thofe who attempted the tower of Babel. Nay he traces moft minutely their route to Japan; and concludes,

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that

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first migrations were probably occafioned by factions and civil wars; the next by commerce. Greece affords inftances of the former, Phoenicia of the latter. lefs upon fuch occafions, members of a family or of a tribe will never retire farther from their fellows than is neceffary for food; and by retiring gradually, they lofe neither their connections nor their manners, far lefs their language, which is in conftant exercise. As far back as

that they must have travelled with great expedition, because their language has no tincture of any other. He did not think it neceffary to explain, what temptation they had to wander fo far from home; nor why they fettled in an island, not preferable either in foil or climate to many countries they must have traverfed.

An ingenious French writer obferves, that plaufible reafons would lead one to conjecture, that men were more early polished in islands than in continents; as people crowded together foon find the neceffity of laws to restrain them from mischief. And yet, fays he, the manners of flanders and their laws are commonly the latest formed. very fimple reflection would have unfolded the myftery. Many many centuries did men exift without thinking of navigation. That art was not invented till men, ftraitened in their quarters upon the conti nent, thought of occupying adjacent islands.

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history

history carrieslus, tribes without number are difcovered, each having a language. peculiar to itself. Strabo (a) reports, that the Albanians were divided into feveral tribes, differing in external appearance and in language. Cæfar found in Gaul feveral fuch tribes; and Tacitus records the names of many tribes in Germany. There are a multitude of American tribes that to this day continue diftinct from each other, and have each a different language. The mother-tongues at prefent, tho' numerous, bear no proportion to what formerly exifted. We find original tribes gradually enlarging; by conqueft frequently, and more frequently by the union of weak tribes for mutual defence. Such events leffen the number of languages. The Coptic is not a living language any where. The Celtic tongue, once extenfive, is at prefent confined to the highlands of Scotland, to Wales, to Britany, and to a part of Ireland. In a few centuries, it will fhare the fate sof many other original tongues it will to