descent into Egypt or Africa, and to have been pushed on by him, until he settled himself in the country afterwards known as Libya. Accordingly we find him mentioned by Jeremiah, xlvi. 9, and Ezekiel xxx. 5, in both which passages the Hebrew original for the word Libya in our version is Phut. Dr. Hale in his "Analysis of Chronology," vol. i. p. 355, states that Jerome notices a district in Libya called Regio Phutensis, or the land of Phut. And Hardain traces them in the river Fut, mentioned by Pliny, 1. i. c. 1, and which he supposes to have been within the kingdom of Morocco. Josephus confirms this idea, where he informs us that "Phut was the founder of Lybia, and called the inhabitants Phutites, from himself; there is also a river in the country of the Moors which bears that name; whence it is that we may see the greatest part of the Grecian historiographers mention that river, and the adjoining country, by the appellation of Phut; but the name it has now has been given it from one of the sons of Mestraim, who was called Lybyos."—Antiquities of the Jews, b. i. c. 6. s. 2.

The nations thus dispersed abroad, and settled, became rapidly powerful and mighty. That of Mizraim, which occupied the country afterwards known as Egypt, and which during their occupation of it, should be called the land of Mizraim or of Ham, have left some of the grandest monuments that exist in the world, for we unhesitatingly assign to them the erection of the vast and magnificent Pyramids of Gizeh, which have always and justly been esteemed some of the wonders of the world. We will briefly explain our reasons for venturing such an assertion. It is not unfrequently stated by commentators, that the hard tasks of the Israelites in Egypt were the erection of the Pyramids. Allowing this to be in its degree correct, they could not have been employed about those of Gizeh. Their works, whatever they were employed in, were of brick, while the Pyramids of Gizeh are of massive blocks of stone. But these latter have connected with them another remarkable monument, whose character at once points out the age in which it was made. The Sphynx, which is but a part of the Great Pyramids, that is, a part of the same monumental range, hewn out of the same rock, and associated in the same group, possesses Nubian_or African features; that is, those peculiar lineaments of the human face that belong to the Hamitic families. The Sphynx, then, and its cognate Pyramids must have been wrought when the Hamitic race were in power in the land of Ham; and this, as we shall presently have occasion to show, they were not while the children of Israel were subject to slavery and oppression in Egypt.

There is one other remark we must make in connection with the Pyramids of Mizraim. The description given by Herodotus of the form of the temple of Belus, the ancient Babel, which he himself saw, speaks of its base as a vast square, and implies that its superstructure was pyramidal. It is no wonder, therefore, that we find the Hamitic race in Mizraim repeating the sin which they appear to have been foremost in the perpetration of at Shinar, and thereby justifying the predictive judgment of God, and the condemnation of the whole race to subjugation at least, if not to actual slavery, by the Shemitic and Japhetian races.

We have seen Phut and his family settled in Libya. We have observed the mighty progress that Mizraim had made in the land, afterwards known as Egypt. We have traced the settlement of the descendants of Mizraim

all the way that he came, so that, like landmarks, we can mark his whole course. Caphtorim occupied the Delta of the Nile, and near to him came Philistim, placing himself on the borders of the wilderness, and of Canaan. Horim established himself in Mount Seir, while the Emims, Zuzims, Rephaims occupied the eastern side of the valley of the Jordan. So again we have seen the Canaanites disposed along the western side of that valley, and strengthening themselves in Sidon, the first-born of Canaan. We return, then, to inquire into the family that still continued in possession of Babel, and dared to confront God in the very place of their sin, and his just and effective judgment.

This family was that of Cush, whose very name is to be traced there even to this day. Khuzistan is the name of a district, immediately adjoining to the site of Babylon, and which in ancient times was known as Susiana, having Susa for its capital. Part of Susiana is called Kissia, and across the mountains a tribe was located called the Cossæi, while one of the rivers of the country is named Choaspes, and immediately adjoining to Ctesiphon, being separated only by the Tigris, was Koche. The ancient Susa is now called Shus, and in the vicinity of it are Shuster, and Kishti Bund. Now, all of these names, if tried by the ear and not by the eye, that is, by their similarity of sound, and not by their peculiarity of spelling, will be found to be of cognate nature, and of common origin. It was here, then, that Cush and his successors rose into power, and acquired that fame in the earth, which has made the name of one of his children a word of terror in every future age. But although Cush settled first at, or rather retained possession of, Babel and Shinar, he appears to have moved subsequently from thence, and to have descended into Africa. If a reason for his doing so be asked, we conceive that it is at once to be found in the character of his too famous son Nimrod, whose name, Nimrod, the rebel, plainly denotes his character. It is easy to conceive that one of such a temper as he was would have little hesitation in rebelling against and deposing his father, usurping his authority, and ruling in his stead. But the father, thus expelled from his own kingdom, would have adherents of his own, and these departing with him, and migrating into Africa, thus occasion us to find Cush or Ethiopia in that part of the world, as well as in the vicinity of Shinar.

tional

The character of Nimrod is given in that simple but emphatic style, which so peculiarly distinguishes the sacred history, and which nothing can excel: "Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth." He was the first, that is, that grasped despotic and unconstitu power, and seized for himself authority and might which belong not any, save as they are conferred upon, or entrusted to them. "He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord." His name became a fear and a byeword. He was the first who had appropriated to him the terrible title of Great, that word which has been assigned to none but the tyrants and oppressors of mankind, as Alexander and Herod in ancient times, Frederick and Napoleon in our own. The occupation of Nimrod was like that of all his compeers, the hunting down, and harrying with war and all its horrors, his fellow-men. This was done too under the hypocritical mask of serving God, as in after times the king of Assyria, Sennacherib, sent to Hezekiah

the falsehood, declaring that the Lord had commanded him to destroy Jerusalem, and the land of Israel; (Isa. xxxvi. 10.) So did Nimrod profess himself to be a mighty hunter before the Lord, and the servant of Him whose creatures he was destroying. But such has ever been the false and hypocritical spirit of human tyranny and oppression.

But with the same measure that all such mete shall it be meted to them again, and the result will justify the warning. As Nimrod and his people became hunters of men, and taught their fellows the terrible lesson of enslaving and tyrannizing over their kind, they, in their t

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THE CLASS OF A THOUSAND-AND-ONE; A SUNDAYSCHOOL MEMORIAL.

*

No. IV. SABBATHLESS NEIGHBOURHOODS.

PLEASINGLY striking is the picture of repose which the larger and more respectable streets of a great city like London present to the eye on a Sunday morning. The very atmosphere is purer, owing to cessation from work at the large factories, the tall conical chimney belches forth no poisonous exhalations, the streets are unusually clean, the houses appear less dingy, and everything seems to beam with a brightness and a gladness unknown to other days. The pavement, too narrow for the ebb and flow of the vast human tide that usually rolls along it, is now fully wide enough for the few and scattered units that move to and fro. The crowd of omnibuses and cabs, the carts and wagons, that noisily thread their difficult way on other days, is unknown, and silence and rest are the principal features of the scene. Long before the hour of public worship, the minister, the city-missionary, and the Sunday-school teacher are on the alert, hastening towards the scene of their labours, while clean neatly-dressed Sunday-school children are, book-bag in hand, crowding to their Sunday-school. Anon, respectable-looking families, with prayer and hymn-books, appear; stalwart young men and modest maidens swell the numbers, and a stranger might at such an hour suppose that the entire inhabitants of the city were attending public worship.

Very different, however, is the picture presented in a low neighbourhood on a Sabbath morning, and one which perhaps, if better known to them, might quicken the zeal of some of the respectable and Christian worshippers we have alluded to. Here the lane or the by-street is converted into a market; fruit, fish, vegetables, meat-much of it stale and pernicious-are clamorously extolled by costermongers and fishwomen in the ears of thronging buyers. Sweetmeats and bad fruits are alluringly exhibited to coax from the youthful pocket the Sunday-penny, the open shops are crowded with customers, and the feeble gas glimmers in the gin-shop, from and into which pale wretches and rude ruffians momentarily jostle against each other. The unshaved mechanic skulks in his dirt into the penny shaving-shop, to discuss with kindred spirits the news of the passing hour. The vulgar periodical and the atheist newspaper solicit in the newsvender's window the attention of those who intend to sit at home and read; while the pleasure-van, laden with its indispensable cargo of gin and beer, waits for the more respectable and the humane thirty who intend, by means of two unfortunate horses, to enjoy an excursion to the suburbs. Pigeon-flyers, dog-fanciers, bird-catchers, form motley groups in the street; ill-looking fellows lounge with the pipe in their mouths out of the windows; and ragged lubberly lads toss for halfpence, or form parties for fishing or boating.

Such is a melancholy but by no means over-coloured picture of a low neighbourhood on a Sabbath morning. Yet even here something cheering and hopeful may be found. If in such a locality there are many who, to the discredit of the Christian church, are ignorant of truth, or, to their own shame, are indifferent or opposed to it; yet there are others to whom

the falsehood, declaring that the Lord had commanded him to destroy Jerusalem, and the land of Israel; (Isa. xxxvi. 10.) So did Nimrod profess himself to be a mighty hunter before the Lord, and the servant of Him whose creatures he was destroying. But such has ever been the false and hypocritical spirit of human tyranny and oppression.

But with the same measure that all such mete shall it be meted to them again, and the result will justify the warning. As Nimrod and his people became hunters of men, and taught their fellows the terrible lesson of enslaving and tyrannizing over their kind, they, in their turn, had to feel the effects of the lesson they had taught; and their race, and that of all their kindred have been ever since like the proscribed and hated of the earth. A servant of servants have they been unto their brethren, from age to age. Slaves, nay, the bondmen of a slave."

66

The beginning of the kingdom of Nimrod was Babel, and Erech, and Accad,* and Calneh, in the land of Shinar, from which it is to be inferred, that when he seized upon the dominion of his father, Cush, these strong cities or fortified places had already been erected. But Nimrod was not one to be contented with what he had thus unjustly possessed himself of, or with the extent of territory enjoyed by his father. He sought to make his name great, and this he could only do by extending his kingdom, by conquering his neighbours, and preying upon those who were dwelling in peace around him. How capable the race of Ham were of thus lording it over those of Japheth and Shem, may be understood from what we read of them in after times, for the Anakims, a tribe of Mizraim, were noted as a people great and tall," the Philistims were famous for their giants, as Goliath, and others; and still later, in the writings of Isaiah, we read of the Sabeans, who were descendants of Cush, in Ethiopia, as “men of stature." It is no wonder, then, that in their primitive state they were able to oppress and render subject to their dominion those who dwelt around them.

His nearest neighbour was Asshur, one of the sons of Shem; and Nimrod disregarding all the natural ties of blood, fearing not God nor regarding man, made a predatory inroad upon the possessions of Asshur, and established throughout the land, as his father had done in Shinar, strong and fortified places, by which he could hold the people under tribute, and compel the industrious to minister to the support, and even luxury, of himself and his hostile bands. These places were Nineveh, which afterwards became the metropolis of the Assyrian empire, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen, which last is noted in the history as being a great city. Thus had Nimrod attained to an awful pre-eminence amongst his fellow-men, and spread terror and dismay amid the children of Shem in his immediate vicinity.

*The situations of some of these cities, Babylon of course excepted, are doubtful. Accad, or Achad, is supposed according to some MSS. to be Achan, and its remains to be seen in a remarkable pile of ancient buildings called Akher-Keif, and also by the Turks, Akher-i-Nimrúd, and Akher-i-Babil. One heap of ruins, to which the name of Tel-i-Nimrud, that is, Nimrod's Hill, is appropriated, has the appearance, from one point of view, of an irregular pyramid. Now this fact tends very strongly to confirm the idea intimated above, that the sons of Mizraim, when they built the Pyramids in Egypt, repeated the sin that had been committed at Babel, since we find the very same thing done also among the sons of Cush in the land of Shinar.-See Dr. Kitto's Cyclopædia, at the word "Accad."