have been uttered at the time to which it is ascribed, and doubt the Divine inspiration of the book in which it is contained?

For an interpretation of this extraordinary revelation of future events, I must refer you to those learned men who have written expressly and largely on the subject;* I produce it only in explanation of the view which is to be taken of the covenant established with Noah and his seed.

It is well remarked by Bishop Newton, that this prophecy relates not so much to the sons of Noah "as to their posterity, the people and nations descended from them. He was not prompted by wine or resentment; for neither the one nor the other could infuse the knowledge of futurity, or inspire him with the prescience of events which happened hundreds, nay thousands of years afterwards. But God willing to manifest his superintendance and governance of the world,” (and I should add, to shed further light on his covenant of mercy;) "endued Noah with the Spirit of prophecy, and enabled him in some measure to disclose the purposes of Divine providence towards the future race of mankind.”

Keeping my present object closely in view, I shall not notice the verbal criticisms to which the

* See particularly Fabricius de prophetid Noachi, in his Christologia, Diss. iii; and Bp. Newton on the Prophecies, Diss. i.

prophecy has given rise with respect to the substitution of Canaan the son for Ham his father; nor shall I inquire into the fulfilment of the curse on their descendants. I only mark the limitation of the great patriarchal blessing of the Messiah to the family of Shem, and the subsequent admission of Japhet to a participation of its spiritual benefits. Jehovah calls Himself the Lord God (JEHOVAH THE ALEIM) of Shem, and promises that in the progress of the accomplishment of his purposes, he would dwell in the tents of Japhet.

That the prediction of the ALEIM being the ALEIM of Shem had relation to the covenant of redemption, will appear from the renewal of the covenant, when God revealed Himself to Abraham. "I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant; to be a God (ALEIM) to thee and thy seed after thee."* (Gen. xvii. 7.)

* Heideggerus verò, Histor. Patriarch. Tom. 2. Exercit. 7. sect. 7. hoc modo scribit, et quam Theologicè! Quá promissione (loquitur autem de illâ quâ Deus promittit Abrahamo se ei futurum in Deum) nihil amplius, inquit, illustriusve excogitari potest. Adeo ut meritò in eâ S. Chrysostomus collocaverit to κεφαλαίωμα των αγαθων summum bonorum omnium. Ad ejus vero intelligentiam quatuor potissimum in antecessum notanda sunt. Primum, quod promissio hæc facta sit Abrahamo ejusque semini, utrique peccatori, et ob peccatum naturâ iræ divinæ obnoxio. Idque puto aveaywvwv. Secundum, quod peccatori Deus esse in Deum aliter non possit, quam remittendo ei peccatum, adeoque

From other editions of the covenant as revealed to Abraham, we learn that its principal feature was the promise of the universal Benefactor; "In thy seed" (which St. Paul tells us was Christ) "shall all nations of the earth be blessed." From a comparison of what is said of the Lord God of Shem in this prophecy of Noah, with what is said in other Scriptures of the Messiah, in which he is spoken of as being both the author and object of blessing, I am led to infer that when Noah said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem," he had the promised seed of the woman, the MAN-JEHOVAH of Eve, immediately in his view; and that he not only predicted that Jehovah would, by a federal engagement, be "the shield and exceeding great reward" of himself and his descendants, in the line of Abraham, but also that Jehovah would become incarnate of the seed of Shem according to the flesh, in execution of the covenant of redemption thus revealed.

eum justificando. Etenim Deus peccatori amicus esse nequit, nisi peccato prius remisso, ne ipsi videatur similis, Psalm. 1. 21. Tertium, remitti peccatum non posse, nisi præstitâ satisfactione. Cujus quidem necessitas probari posset variis modis, a justitia Dei, lege operum, impotentiâ legis, ejusque maledictione, typis in V. T. futuram satisfactionem adumbrantibus, aliisque argumentis et testimoniis irrefragibilibus. Quartum denique, quod vox Deus in hac locutione sit relativa, uti ex multis Mosis et prophetarum locis constat, nec non ex disertis locis Hosea, cap. i. and ii.. Ubi ejus promissionis relatio imprimis ostenditur, ubi Deus populi sui, et populus Dei sui vicissim appellantur. Ita Hos. 2 v. ult. Fabricii. Christologia. p. 121.

This benediction was renewed by Melchizedek,* the King of righteousness and peace; and its fulfilment is recorded by St. Peter (Acts iii. 26.) when he said to the seed of Abraham, "Unto you, first, God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, by turning every one of you from his iniquities." God revealed Himself as the Lord God of Shem, by the manifestations which he made of his favour to the patriarchs of that family, by the residence of the Shechinah in the tabernacle and temple, and finally by the incarnation of Jehovah, and the publication of his Gospel, in the first instance, among the Jews. The part of the prophecy which relates to Japhet,

* Gen. xiv. 19.

†The following clause, " and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem," is capable of a double construction; for thereby may be meant either that God, or that Japhet, should dwell in the tents of Shem; in the tents of Shem, saith he, speaking according to the simplicity of those times, when men dwelt in tents and not in houses. They who prefer the former construction, seem to have the authority of the original text on their side; for there is no other noun to govern the verbs in the period, but God; there is no pronoun in the Hebrew answering to the he which is inserted in our English translation: and the whole sentence would run thus, 'God will enlarge Japhet, and dwell in the tents of Shem' and the Chaldee of Onkelos also thus paraphraseth it, and will make his glory to dwell in the tabernacles of Shem. They who prefer the latter construction, seem to have done it that they might refer the 27th verse wholly to Japhet, as they refer the 26th wholly to Shem: but the other appears to me the more natural and easy construction. Taken in either sense, the prophecy hath been most punctually fulfilled. In the

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has been fulfilled by the publication of the Gospel among Gentile nations, and the formation of the Gentile church. But both parts of the prediction wait for their ultimate accomplishment, when "the Deliverer shall come out of Sion, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob;" and when the conversion of the Jews shall be "life from the dead" to the whole world.

That the covenant, as revealed to Noah, was, in its substance, the covenant of eternal redemption, further appears from the mention made of it before the flood. Gen. vi. 18. The deliverance of Noah and his family from the general destruction which the flood brought on mankind, and the promise that a flood of waters should never again destroy them, were, both of them, blessings resulting from the dispensation of grace revealed to man after his fall. The English word to establish, which is used in the several re-publications of the covenant, and which very justly

former sense it was fulfilled literally, when the Schechina or Divine presence rested on the ark, and dwelt in the tabernacle and temple of the Jews; and when the Word who was with God and was God,' John i. 1. eσкŋywσ, pitched his tent, and dwelt among us, ver. 14. In the latter sense it was fulfilled first, when the Greeks and Romans, who sprung originally from Japhet, subdued and possessed Judea and other countries of Asia belonging to Shem; and again spiritually, when they were proselyted to the true religion, and they who were not Israelites by birth, became Israelites by faith, and lived, as we and many others of Japhet's posterity do at this day, within the pale of the church of Christ. Bp. Newton on the Prophecies. Diss. I.