J "defcendents; who, having no affiftance but their natural ta"lents, were left to gather knowledge from experience, and in "particular were left (each tribe) to form a language for itself; "that figns were fufficient for the original pairs, without any "language but what nature fuggests; and that a language was "formed gradually, as a tribe increased in numbers, and in differ ent occupations, to make speech neceffary?" But this opinion, however plaufible, we are not permitted to adopt; being taught a different leffon by revelation, viz. That God created but a fingle pair of the human fpecies. Tho' we cannot doubt of the authority of Mofes, yet his account of the creation of man is not a little puzzling, as it seems to contradict every one of the facts mentioned above. According to that account, different races of men were not formed, nor were men formed originally for different climates. All men must have spoken the fame language, viz. that of our first parents. And what of all feems the most contradictory to that account, is the favage ftate: Adam, as Mofes informs us, was endued by his Maker with an eminent degree of knowledge; and he certainly was an excellent preceptor to his children and their progeny, among whom he lived many generations. Whence then the degeneracy of all men unto the favage ftate? To account for that dismal catastrophe, mankind must have fuffered fome terrible convulfion. That terrible convulfion is revealed to us in the history of the tower of Babel, contained in the 11th chapter of Genefis, which is, "That for many centuries after the deluge, the whole earth was "of one language, and of one fpeech; that they united to build a city on a plain in the land of Shinar, with a tower whofe top "might reach unto heaven; that the Lord beholding the people to be one, and to have all one language, and that nothing would "be restrained from them which they imagined to do, confound"ed their language, that they might not understand one another; "and 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 scattering 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 constitution, the builders of Babel could not poffibly have fubfifted in the burning region of Guinea, nor in the frozen region of Lapland; houfes not being prepared, nor any other convenience to protect them against a destructive climate. Against this history it has indeed been urged, "that the circumstances mentioned evince it to be purely an allegory; "that men never were fo frantic as to think of building a tower "whofe top might reach to heaven; and that it is grofsly abfurd, "taking the matter literally, 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 confusion of Babel is the only known fact that can reconcile facred and profane history. And this leads us to confider the diverfity of languages * As the focial ftate is effential to man, and fpeech to the focial ftate, the wisdom of providence in fitting men for acquiring that neceffary art, deferves more attention than is commonly beftowed on it. The Orang Outang has the external organs of fpeech in perfection; and many are puzzled to account why it never fpeaks. But the external organs of speech make but a small 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 practice: a child of two or three years, is able, by nature alone without the leaft inftruction, to adapt its organs of fpeech to every articulate found; and a child of four or five years can pitch its windpipe so 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 underftanding the common language 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 conftantly 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 neceflity: 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 firft migrations were probably occafioned by factions and derstanding are effential to fpeech. A parrot can pronounce articulate founds, and it has frequently an inclination to speak; but, for want of understanding, none of the kind can form a fingle fentence. Has an Orang Outang understanding to form a mental propofition? has he a faculty to exprefs that propofition in sounds? and fuppofing him able to exprefs what he fees and hears, what would he make of the connective and disjunctive particles? * With respect to the fuppofed migrating spirit, even Bochart must yield to Kempfer in boldness of conjecture. After proving, from difference of language, and from other circumstances, that Japan was not peopled by the Chinese, Kempfer without the least hesitation fettles a colony there of those who attempted the tower of Babel. Nay he traces moft minutely their road to Japan; and concludes, that they must have travelled with great expedition, becaufe 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 traversed. An ingenious French writer obferves, that plaufible reafons would lead one to conjecture, that men were more early polifhed in iflands than in continents; as people, crowded together, foon find the neceffity of laws to reftrain them from mifchief. And yet, fays he, the manners of iflanders and their laws are commonly the latest formed. A very fimple reflection would have unfolded the mystery. VOL. I. F Many Greece affords inftances and civil wars; the next by commerce. of the former, Phoenicia of the latter. fions, members of a family or of a tribe from their fellows than is neceffary for food; and by retiring gradually, they lose neither their connections nor their manners, far lefs their language, which is in conftant exercife. As far back as history carries us, tribes without number are discovered, 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 fuchtribes; and Tacitus records the names of many tribes in Germany. There are a multitude of American tribes that to this day continue distinct from each other, and have each a different language. The mother-tongues at prefent, tho' numerous, bear no proportion to what formerly existed. We find original tribes gradually enlarging; by conqueft frequently, and more frequently by the union of weak tribes for mutual defence. Such events promote one language instead of many. 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 of many other original tongues: it will be totally forgotten. If men had not been scattered every where upon the confufion of Babel, another particular must have occurred, differing not lefs from what has really happened than that now mentioned. Many many centuries did men exift without thinking of navigation. That art was not invented till men, ftraitened in their quarters upon the continent, thought of Occupying adjacent islands. (a) Book 2. As As paradife is conjectured to have been fituated in the heart of A-fia, the furrounding regions, for the reason above given, must have been first peopled; and the civilization and improvements of the mother-country were undoubtedly carried along to every new fettlement. In particular, the colonies planted in America, the South-fea iflands, and the Terra Auftralis incognita, muft have been highly polifhed; because, being at the greatest distance, they probably were the latest. And yet thefe and other remote people, the Mexicans and Peruvians excepted, remain to this day in the original favage ftate of hunting and fishing. Thus, had not men wildly attempted to build a tower whose top might reach to heaven, all men would not only have spoken the fame language, but would have made the fame progress toward maturity of knowledge and civilization. That deplorable event reversed all nature: by fcattering men over the face of all the earth, it deprived them of fociety, and rendered them favages. From that state of degeneracy, they have been emerging gradually. Some nations, ftimulated by their own nature, or by their climate, have made a rapid progress; fome have proceeded more flowly; and fome continue favages. To trace out that progrefs toward maturity in different nations, is the fubject of the prefent undertaking. |