Having found a good material, they proposed to build a city and a tower of great eminence, by which they should obtain a name, and avoid the evil of which they thought themselves in danger, of being scattered upon the face of the whole earth. But here they were interrupted by a divine interposition: the Lord came down and confounded their language, so that they could not understand one another's speech.

To perceive the reason of this extraordinary proceeding, it is necessary to inquire into the object, or design, of the builders. If this can be ascertained, the whole passage may be easily understood. It could not be, as some have supposed, to provide against a future flood; for this would have needed no divine interposition to prevent its having effect. God knew his own intention never to drown the world any more: and if it had been otherwise, or if they, from a disbelief of his promise, had been disposed to provide against it, they would not have been so foolish as to build for this purpose a tower upon a plain, which, when raised to the greatest possible height, would be far below the tops of the mountains. It could not have been said of such a scheme, This they have begun to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do: for it would have defeated itself.

Neither does it appear to have been designed, as others have supposed, for an idol's temple. At least, there is nothing in the story which leads to such a conclusion. It was not for the name of a god, but for their own name, that they proposed to build; and that not the tower only, but a city and a tower. Nor was the confounding of their language any way adapted, that I can perceive, to defeat such a design as this. Idolatry prevailed in the world, for aught appears, as much under a variety of languages as it would under one.

Some have imagined that it was intended merely as a monument of architectural ambition, like the pyramids of Egypt. This supposition might in a measure agree with the idea of doing it for a name: but it is far from harmonizing with other parts of the history. It contains no such deep-laid scheme as is intimated in the 6th verse, and given as the reason of the divine interference: nor is it supposable that God should interpose in so extraordinary

a manner, by working a miracle which should remain throughout every age of the world, or which at least has remained to this day, merely for the purpose of counteracting a momentary freak of human vanity.

Their are four characters by which this design, whatever it was, is described. (1.) It was founded in ambition; for they said, Let us make us A NAME. (2.) It required union; for which purpose they proposed to build A CITY, that they might live together, and concentrate their strength and counsels. This is noticed by the Lord himself: Behold, the people, saith he, ARE ONE, and have all one language: and his confounding their language was for the express purpose of destroying this oneness, by scattering them abroad upon the face of the earth. (3.) It required that they should be furnished with the means of defence; for which they proposed to add a tower to the city, to which the citi zens might repair in times of danger; and of such a height as te bid defiance to any who should attempt to annoy them with arrows, or other missive weapons. (4.) The scheme was wisely laid; so much so, that if God had not interposed to frustrate it, it would have succeeded: And this they have begun to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

The only object which appears to accord with all these general characters, and with the whole account taken together, is that of A UNIVERSAL MONARCHY by which all the families of the earth, in all future ages, might be held in subjection. A very little reflection will convince us that such a scheme must of necessity be founded in ambition; that it required union, and of course a city, to carry it into execution; that a tower, or citadel, was also necessary to repel those who might be disposed to dispute their claims; and that if these measures were once carried into effect, there was nothing in the nature of things to prevent the accomplishment of their design.

If there were no other reasons in favour of the supposition in question, its agreement with all these circumstances of the history might be sufficient to establish it but to this, other things may be added, by way of corroboration.

The time when the confusion of tongues took place, renders it highly probable that the scheme which it was intended to subvert was of Nimrod's forming, or that he had a principal concern in it. It must have been a little before the division of the earth among the sons of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, after their TONGUES in their countries, and in their nations; being that which rendered such division necessary. Now this was about the time of the birth of Peleg, who was named from that event: and this, by reckoning the genealogies mentioned in Chap. xi. 10-16, will appear to have been about a hundred years after the flood. At this time, Nimrod, who was the grandson of Ham, must have been alive and in his prime. And as he was the first person who aspired to dominion over his brethren, and as it is expressly said of him, that the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, nothing is more natural than to suppose that he was the leader in this famous enterprise, and that the whole was a scheme of his, by which to make himself master of the world.

It was also natural for an ambitious people, headed by an ambitious leader, to set up for universal monarchy. Such has been the object of almost all the great nations and conquerors of the earth in later periods. Babylon, though checked for the present, by this divine interference, yet afterwards resumed the pursuit of her favourite object; and in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, seemed almost to have gained it. The style used by that monarch in his proclamations, comported with the spirit of this idea: To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and tongues! Now if such has been the ambition of all Nimrod's successors, in every age, it is nothing surprising that it shouid have struck the mind of Nimrod himself, and his adherents. They would also have a sort of claim to which their successors could not pretend; namely, that of being the first, or parent kingdom; and the weight which men are apt to attach to this claim, may be seen by the later pretensions of papal Rome, (another Babylon,) which, under the character of a mother church, headed by a pope, or pretended holy father, has subjected all Christendom to her dominion.

To this may be added, that the means used to counteract these builders, were exactly suited to defeat the above design; namely,

that of dividing and scattering them, by confounding their language. And it is worthy of notice, that though several empires have extended their territories over people of different languages, yet language has been a very common boundary of nations ever since. There is scarcely a great nation in the world, but what has its own language. The dividing of languages was therefore, in effect, the dividing of nations; and so a bar to the whole world being ruled by one government.

Thus a perpetual miracle was

wrought, to be an antidote to a perpetual disease.

But why, it may be asked, should it be the will of God to prevent a universal monarchy; and to divide the inhabitants of the world into a number of independent nations; This question opens a wide field for investigation. Suffice it to say at present, such a state of things contains much mercy, both to the world and to the church.

With respect to the world, if the whole earth had continued under one government, that government would of course, considering what human nature is, have been exceedingly despotic and oppressive. We know that in every state of society, where power, or wealth, or commerce, is monopolized by an individual, or confined to a few whose interests may unite them to one another, there is the greatest possible scope for injustice and oppression; and where there is the greatest scope for these evils, human nature being what it is, there they will most abound. Different nations and interests in the world serve as a balance one to the other. They are that to the world which a number of rival merchants, or lesser tradesmen, are to society; serving as a check upon each other's rapacity. Union, when cemented by good will to men, is exceedingly desirable: but when self-interest and ambition are at the bottom, it is exceedingly dangerous. Union, in such cases, is nothing better than a combination against the general good.

It might be thought, that if the whole world were under one government, a great number of wars might be prevented, which, as things now are, would be certain to take place. And it is true, that one stable government, to a certain extent, is on this account preferable to a great number uf lesser ones, which are always at variance. But this principle, if carried beyond certain limits,

becomes inimical to human happiness. So far as different nations can really become one, and drop all local distinctions and interests, it is well but if the good of the country governed be lost sight of, and every thing be done to aggrandize the city, or country governing, it is otherwise. And where power is thus exercised, which it certainly would be in case of a universal monarchy, it would produce as many wars as now exist, with only this difference, that instead of their being carried on between independent nations, they would consist of the risings of different parts of the empire against the government, in a way of rebellion and by how much wars of this kind are accompanied with less mutual respect, less quarter given and taken, and consequently more cruelty than the other, by so much would the state of the world have been more miserable than it is at present.

The division of the world into independent nations has also been a great check on persecution, and so has operated in a way of mercy towards the church. If the whole world had been one despotic government, Israel, the people of God; must in all ages have been in the condition to which they were reduced from the times of the captivity as a punishment for their sins, a mere province of another power, which might have crushed them and hindered them, as was the case from the times of Cyrus to those of Darius. And since the coming of Christ, the only way in which he permits his followers to avoid the malice of the world which rages against them for his sake, is this: If they persecute you in one city, flee to another. Of this liberty millions have availed themselves, from the earliest to the latest periods of the Christian church but if the whole world had been under one government, and that government inimical to the gospel, there had been no place of refuge left upon earth for the faithful.

The necessary watch also that governments which have been the most disposed to persecute have been obliged to keep on each other, has filled their hands, so as to leave them but little time to think of religious people. Saul, when pursuing David, was withdrawn from his purpose by intelligence being brought him, that the Philistines had invaded the land: and, innumerable instances, the quarrels of bad men have been advantageous to the righteous.