SLAVERY OF THE AFRICANS-EUROPEAN COLONIES IN ASIA.

Not only do the different countries and cities, which form the subjects of prophecy, exhibit to this day their predicted fate, but there is also a prophecy recorded as delivered in an age coeval with the deluge, when the members of a single family included the whole of the human race, the fulfilment of which is conspicuous even at the present time. And while the fate of the Jews and of the Arabs, throughout many ages, has confirmed, in every instance in which the period of their prediction is already past, the prophecies relative to the descendants of Isaac and of Ishmael,-existing facts, which are prominent features in the history of the world, are equally corroborative of the predictions respecting the sons of Noah. The unnatural conduct of Ham, and the dutiful and respectful behaviour of Shem and Japheth towards their aged father, gave rise to the prediction of the future fate of their posterity, without being at all assigned as the cause of that fate. But whatever was the occasion on which it was delivered, the truth of the prophecy must be tried by its completion:-" Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant."

The historical part of Scripture, by its describing so particularly the respective settlements of the descendants of Noah, "after their generations in their

b Gen. ix. 25, 26, 27.

nations," affords, to this day, the means of trying the truth of the prediction, and of ascertaining whether the prophetic character, as given by the patriarch of the postdiluvian world, be still applicable to the inhabitants of the different regions of the earth which were peopled by the posterity of Shem, of Ham, and of Japheth. The isles of the Gentiles, or the countries beyond the Mediterranean, to which they passed by sea, viz. those of Europe, were divided by the sons of Japheth. The descendants of Ham inhabited Africa and the south-western parts of Asia. The families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon. The city of Tyre was called the daughter of Sidon; and Carthage, the most celebrated city of Africa, was peopled from Tyre. And the dwellings of the sons of Shem were unto the east, or Asia. The particular allotment, or portion of each," after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations," is distinctly specified. And although the different nations, descended from any one of the sons of Noah, have intermingled with each other, and undergone many revolutions, yet the three great divisions of the world have remained distinct, as separately peopled and possessed by the posterity of each of the sons of Noah. On this subject the earliest commentators are agreed, before the existence of those facts which give to the prophecy its fullest illustration. The facts themselves, by which the prediction is verified, are so notorious and so applicable, that the most brief and simple statement may suffice. Before the propagation of Christianity, which first spoke peace to earth, taught a law of universal love, and called all men brethren, slavery everywhere prevailed, and the

c Gen. x. 5.

d Ib.

e Ib. x. 6, 18, 19. f Ib. x. 30. Ib. 31, 32.-See Mede, Dic. L. p. 277, &c.

greater part of the human race, throughout all the world, were born to slavery, and unredeemed for life. Man can now boast of a nobler birthright. But, though long banished from almost all Europe, slavery still lingers in Africa. That country is distinguished above every other as the land of slavery. Slaves at home, and transported for slavery, the poor Africans, the descendants of Ham, are the servants of servants, or slaves to others. Yet so unlikely was this fact to have been foreseen by man, that, for centuries after the close of the Old Testament history, the inhabitants of Africa disputed with the Romans the empire of the world. But Hannibal, who was once almost master of Rome and of Europe, was forced to yield to and to own the fate of Carthage.h

"God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." Some of the ablest interpreters of prophecy, of a former age, conceived that this prediction was fulfilled, not only by the conquests which the Macedonians and the Romans obtained over many of the countries of Asia, but that the promise or blessing of enlargement to Japheth was also verified in a metaphorical sense, by the extension of the knowledge of true religion to the nations of Europe. But it stands not now in need of any questionable interpretation, having received a literal accomplishment. What is at present the relative situation or connexion of the inhabitants of Europe and of Asia, the descendants of Japheth and of Shem? May not the former be said literally to dwell in the tents of the latter? Or what simile, drawn from the simplicity of primeval ages, could be more strikingly graphic of the numerous and extensive European colonies in Asia? And how much

h Livii Hist. lib. i. cap. xxvii.

have the posterity of Japheth been enlarged within the regions of the posterity of Shem? In how many of their ancient cities do they dwell? How How many settlements have they established ?-while there is not a single spot in Europe the colony or the property of any of the nations whom the Scriptures represent as descended from Shem, or who inhabit any part of that quarter of the world which they possess ed. And it may be said, in reference to our own island, and to the immense extent of the British Asiatic dominions, that the natives of the isles of the Gentiles dwell in the tents of the East! From whence, then, could such a prophecy have emanated, but from inspiration by Him whose presence and whose prescience are alike unlimited by space or by time?

Whatever events the prophecies reveal, they never sanction any iniquity or evil. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God, though it be made to praise him. And any defence or attempted justification of slavery, or of man having any moral right of property in man, must be sought in vain from the fulfilment of this prediction. Nebuchadnezzar was the guilty instrument of righteous judgments; and although, in the execution of these, he was the servant of the Lord, it was his own gain and glory which he sought, and after having subdued nations not a few, he was driven from men, and had his dwelling with the beasts. Never were judgments more clearly marked than those which have rested on the Jews in every country under heaven. Yet he that toucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye; and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion shall be the day of the Lord's vengeance, when he will plead with all flesh for his people and for his heritage. And if these examples suffice not to shew that it is a wresting of Scripture to their destruction,

for any to seek from them the vindication of slavery, because Canaan was to be the servant of servants unto his brethren, yet they who profess to look here to the holy Scriptures for a warrant, because that fact was foretold, should remember, that though Christ was delivered into the hands of his enemies" by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, it was by wicked hands that he was crucified and slain." God hath made of one flesh all the nations of the earth. And, were the gospel universally and rightly appealed to, no other bond would be known among men but that of Christian brotherhood.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA.

INCOMPLETE as has been the view given in the foregoing pages of the Evidence of Prophecy, yet do not the joint clearness of the prophecies themselves, and the profusion of precise facts which shew their literal fulfilment, bid defiance to the most subtle sceptic to forge or feign the shadow of a just reason to prove how they could all have been spoken, except by inspiration of God? The sure word of prophecy has indeed unfolded many a desolation which has come upon the earth; but while it thus reveals the operation, in some of its bearings, of the "mystery of iniquity," it forms, itself, a part of the "mystery of godliness:" and it is no less the testimony of Jesus, be