dants of one of his sons, Joktan, and not those of Peleg.

Olympas. In other chapters we are informed that Eber was an ancestor of Abraham; still it is not certain that they were called Hebrews from Eber. Aber, or, according to other orthoepists, Eber, signifies passing over; and because Abraham passed over the Euphrates on his way to Canaan, some learned men with more plausibility argue that they were called Hebrews, or Pilgrims, from their passing over the Euphrates, and because for a long time they had no country of their own. I incline to this opinion. They confessed, said Paul, that they were pilgrims (i. e. Hebrews) in the land. of promise. By dwelling in tents in their own land, they lived as foreigners or as persons on a journey. So ought Christians to live as pilgrims here.

Edward and Henry, as you have been sick for some days, I have not interrogated you, not having had time to prepare your lessons by previous study; but now that you have heard the last two lessons, I must see what attention you have bestowed on our examination. Tell me, then, Henry, how you would compute the relative population of the three branches of Noah's family from all you have heard.

Henry. Do you mean their present population, or their population at any given time?

Olympas. I mean their population in all time since the first settlement of their families; for we calculate upon this principle, that the drawbacks from climate, soil, wars, pestilences, famines, &c. are equal or nearly so.

Henry. I would count all their descendants

mentioned by Moses at the time of their settlement, and making the aggregate amount the denominator, and the descendants of each the numerator, I would thus display their relative numbers now.

Olympas. And how, Edward, would you go to work to solve this problem?

Edward. I would not take all the descendants mentioned by Moses, because he gives more generations of one than of another. Now had he given the same number of generations of them all, Henry's rule would be correct. I would, therefore, take the sons, and leave the other descendants.

Olympas. Edward, you are right; but Henry's principle and yours are the same-you only differ in the application of it. Well, Henry, give us your denominator and your three numerators.

Henry. Japheth, maximus natu, the oldest, had seven sons; Ham, the senior, the second born, had only four sons; and Shem, the minimus natu, or the youngest, had five sons. Now add all their sons for a denominator, and we have sixteen in all. Then the relative data are, Japheth has seven-sixteenths of the human race; Ham, foursixteenths; and Shem, five-sixteenths.

Olympas. Very good, Henry. You suppose the same ratio of daughters as sons, and that is reasonable. But is not a difference of one in the starting a great deal in a thousand years—more than the mere relative value at the beginning?

Edward. No: the relative number is still the same. For example: Suppose that they all had exactly the same number of grandsons-that is to say, four each; then Japheth's grandsons would

be twenty-eight; Ham's sixteen; Shem's twenty. The denominator would then be sixty-four, and Japheth would have twenty-eight sixty-fourthsthat is just equal to seven-sixteenths; Ham would have sixteen sixty-fourths, that is just foursixteenths; and Shem twenty sixty-fourths, that is five-sixteenths.

Olympas. You have carried your point. We may safely conclude, then, that in all probability while only one-fourth of the human race have sprung from Ham, and a little more than a third from Shem, nearly one half are sprung from Japheth. But, Thomas, what does all this prove?

Thomas. It all proves that Japheth received his name by prophecy, and that Noah spake by the Spirit when he said, "God shall enlarge Japheth." His name is ENLARGEMENT.

Olympas. Make room for Japheth! God gave him a large estate-the north of Asia, all Europe, and the most of America. But better still, “He shall dwell in the tents of Shem." What of this, my sons?

[All silent.] William. It is

difficult-because 1st. "He" may refer to God or to Japheth. Then it would be, "God shall dwell in the tents of Shem."

Olympas. This was true; but still, although it might be so answered, I prefer to read, “And he, Japheth, shall dwell in the tents of Shem." This denotes not only what has often happened, viz.— that the sons of Japheth in the persons of the Scythians, Greeks, Romans, Tartars, Britons, &c., have taken the lands and houses of the sous of Shem, but that his descendants should partake of the blessings of the Lord God of Shem, and be

made one body with them under Christ. But our time is drawing to a close, and it is whispered into my ears that an important point in the ninth chapter has been passed over. But we cannot

finish these things perfectly in one or two courses: we must leave something for the next time. But before we conclude this lesson, Edward, tell me what countries were possessed and are still possessed by the sons of Shem?

Edward. Japheth, as before stated, peopled all Europe, Lesser and Northern Asia, and there being but forty miles or less, bridged too by islands, between the northern ends of Asia and America, it is most probable that the northern hive of Asia sent some swarms across the island of Behring into this vast country, and so the sons of Japheth are American, European, and Asiatic.

Shem filled the upper and central Asia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, Persia, and the countries reaching to the ancient Ganges and the Indus; while Ham got the hot regions in the south of Asia and Africa, Egypt and Philistina, Lybia, Sidon, Tyre, Carthage, and some of the islands of the Southern Ocean.

Olympas. Any thing to say about the colours of these families?

Henry. The lessons you gave us on the colours of the human race I do not fully remember; but this much I recall, that Asia is yellow; America, red; Africa, black; and Europe, white.

Olympas. True: as these lands approach each other they mingle their colours, or shade sinks or rises into shade, till we have the white, the yellow, the red, and the black, But the moral of this

lesson, and we will file something for to-morrow. What is the moral, Thomas?

Thomas. As respects the whole affair of the division of the earth amongst these three sons, and their respective families, the facts are first to be considered. Shem had the most honourable family, and the richest and best patrimony. All the Prophets, Apostles, and lights of the world, together with Emmanuel himself, belonged to Shem. Japheth had the largest posterity and the most extensive land and sea estate; together with the fairest, hardiest, and most enterprizing people :· while Ham has the fewest people, only one-fourth; Shem and Japheth having full three-fourths of the human race. His patrimony was small, his colour dark, his talents few and feeble, and his rank inferior to that of his brothers. The cause was, he dishonoured his father.

Olympas. What a lesson! What a moral! May the Lord lead you all to honour your father and your mother, which is the first command with promise!