earlh had been fully peopled, both unfortunately inter- 

 mixed Avith each other; and, as it frequently happens, the 

 wicked seduced the good, contention soon arose, legiti- 

 mate governments were subverted; war, violence, conquest, 

 or anarchy, e\-ery where prevailed ; nor was even the pre- 

 sence of God, which was long, at least occasionally, msLr 

 nifested to Adam, and his favoured family, and emphati- 

 cally called the Spirit of God, sufficient to repress these 

 disorders. Hence, the necessity of destroying^ the whole 

 race, all to one family, namely, that of Noah. . 



It is not necessary to suppose, that the whole range of 

 the primitive language was known to Noah or his family; 

 but its structure, its idioms, and radical words, might be 

 retained by, them; and several books, written in that lan- 

 guage, were certainly preserved by them, as will be seen 

 in the sequel.. 



Thus this language subsisted, as we are informed by 

 Moses, for some generations, (about five hundred years,) 

 .among the greater part of the descendants of Noah ; not 

 but other languages might have arisen, during that inter- 

 val, among other families, sprung from banished criminals, 

 as before the Flood. But these, formed without any pre- 

 concerted plan, iu the intercourse of a turbulent and 

 ignorant multitude, could be nothing more than uncouth 

 jargons, as defective, and ill connected, as those of the 

 lowest ranks of society, in all countries, generally are. The 

 practice of punishing the most atrocious crimes, by ba- 



■; !.■'■.: nishment, 



