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Rage, awe, horror, succeeded to the night of storm and destruction. The builders went no more to the great tower; the ruined halls and temples lay where they had fallen, unrepaired and uncared for. Each was occupied by his own thoughts and feelings, and each feared that some still heavier calamity might ensue.

By degrees, renewed confidence and a better understanding were established. It was found that the language of some of the populace still retained considerable resemblance to that of others, and that certain signs and symbols might be made to perform the office of speech. Men thus began to congregate according to their language; and to form nations and races; spreading themselves abroad upon the face of the earth, and appropriating cities and towns to themselves according to the speech which they severally used. And Nimrod the hunter, who, for his personal prowess, was regarded as something more than an ordinary man, still maintained his dominion over the whole people, who, having forsaken God, had no trust but in the salvation of man. And the sway of the hunter monarch was acknowledged before his death by the city of Babel, which was that of the great tower, and by the cities of Erech and Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar, and of Nineveh, and Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen.

The city of Nimrod was called Babel, because of the

confusion; and hence arose the dispersion of the descendants of Noah, by whom in course of time the whole earth was peopled. And this Babel was the same which was subsequently called Babylon, of which the prophet Isaiah many ages afterwards said, “Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldee's excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in, from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces; "—a prophecy, the fulfilment of which is one of the most remarkable evidences of the truth of the word of God.

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ABRAHAM AND LOT.

MANY years after the dispersion of mankind, when the descendants of the sons of Noah had become generally corrupt and wicked, it pleased the Lord to preserve one family from the otherwise universal taint of idolatry and crime. The children of Terah, of the tribe of Eber, of the race of Shem, still worshipped the God of Noah and of Adam; but, being surrounded by the Chaldeans, who were addicted to the vices introduced by Nimrod and his followers, there was great danger lest they also should fall and desert the way of the Lord. the Lord called unto Abram the out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."

into the commission of sin, So in a vision of the night, son of Terah: "Get thee from thy

At this time Abram was seventy-five years old, and he

was married to Sarai, a virtuous and believing woman of his own tribe; and they two dwelt with Lot the son of Haran, Abram's brother, who had died in the land of his nativity. As the Lord had commanded, so did Abram. He took his wife and his brother's son, and all their substance, and went forth to journey to the land of Canaan, since called Syria or Palestine, which was that promised by God as a possession to Abram and his seed. Now Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver and gold, and Lot also had flocks, and herds, and tents; so rich were both indeed that the land was not able to bear them dwelling together; the pasturage and water for the cattle, and food for the herdsmen and attendants, were insufficient; until in the end there arose strife between the followers of Abram and those of Lot; when Abram said unto Lot: 'Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thine; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered, even as the garden of the Lord. So Lot chose the plain of Jordan, and journeyed eastward; and Abram continued to dwell in the land of Canaan.

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The example of Nimrod the mighty hunter had long been established as a precedent among the races which had sprung from or held intercouse with the impious builders of the tower of Babel. Kings had arisen in the cities of the plain; and wars had become common among mankind. Small regard was left for the denunciation of the Lord, that "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." The whole generation had given itself up to folly, licentiousness, and the grossest iniquity.

When Lot separated himself from Abram, he went to dwell in Sodom, of which Bera was then king, who with other kings had been subdued by Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and had served and paid tribute to that prince twelve years. In the thirteenth year the subjected kings revolted, and there arose a fierce war between the kings of Shinar, Ellasar, and Elam, and Tidal king of nations on the one side, and the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela on the other, whose armies joined battle in the vale of Siddim upon the coast of the salt sea: a place full of slime-pits and acclivities, which both in the battle and the fight wrought as much destruction as the sword of the enemy. And the servants of the five kings were overthrown by the troops of the four; and those who escaped from the conflict fled into the valley, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were

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