The great events of history : from the creation of man till the present time. An historical reader

Preface

In preparing a third American Edition of " The Great Events of History," it seems desirable to bring together the information about the character and scope of the work scattered through the prefaces to former editions. Dr. Collier's plan of grouping his facts about the most significant event in each period has many obvious advantages, but its comparative novelty makes it needful that a few words of explanation be given at the outset.

The object of both author and editor has been to present in a series of pictures, each with its dominant point or points of interest, the nine great periods into which human history has been divided. To these, in the present edition, a tenth has been, added, in order to bring the story down to the present day. To preserve the characteristics of the book, it has been found necessary to depart, at times, from strict chronological sequence. Thus, in order to give a united view of the progress of affairs in England and America, from the discovery by Columbus, the Old World story is interrupted, and is not resumed until we reach the end of the American War of 1812. Then we return to the Europe of the sixteenth century, to note the rise of the Dutch Republic and the events of the' Thirty Years' War.

To obviate any difficulty or inconvenience that might arise from such lapses of chronological sequence, we have in the present edition added a Chronological Table, with references to the page wherein each occurrence will be found mentioned.

The book has been extended, in the various American editions, to nearly double its original size. The additions include the whole of the First Period, and of the Tenth ; the chapters on American History ; those of the great events of English History, and the valuable articles descriptive of life and manners in leading countries. To the present edition has been appended a summary of the world's progress since the close of the Franco-Prussian War; and there has been prefixed, by way of introduction, a general view of Ancient History, based on the latest discoveries in Chaldea, Assyria, and Egypt, and the conclusions drawn therefrom by the most eminent living scholars.

White Plains, N. Y., 1890.

FEATURES

TO WHICH THE ATTENTION OF TEACHERS IS DRAWN.

1. The " Great Events of History," as we now present it, gives in a series of pictures a connected view of the entire historic period, from the Creation of Man to the present time.

2. It meets a want, which teachers generally feel, in providing a general history which is not so prolix as to weary and discourage the pupil ; at the same time it is not so bald as to be uninteresting.

3. It is designed to introduce the subject to the pupil in a manner so pleasant as to obviate the usual objections to the study of history in schools.

4. One of the objects to be attained by the study of general history, is to create such a love for the subject as to induce the learner to read particular history. This the '' Great Events" is eminently calculated to do.

5. A new and very interesting feature is the description of the life and manners in leading countries. This feature, alone, is sufficient to make the book desirable.

6. It gives a brief account of the settlement of the New World, and the American wars, including the late Civil War in the United States.

7. The causes of the seven weeks war between Austria and Prussia, by which Prussia gained the ascendency in Germany, are stated in a single short chapter.

8. The American editor has aimed to produce a pleasant, interesting book, which may be used as a manual of history, or for a class readingbook.

OOl^TEI^TS.

riRST PERIOD.

FROM THE CREATION OF MAN TO THE CKUCIFIXION.

Chap. Page

Introduction ^

I. Creation of Man ^3

Fall of Man ^^

IL Deluge ^^

Babel ^'^

Social Life of the Ancients— Job 18

III, Call of Abraham *^

History of Joseph ""■

rV. Exodus '*''

Progress of the Israelites after entering Canaan 24

Social Life of the Hebrews 25

Social Life under the Kingdom 28

Social Life after the Eeign of Solomon 31

Contemporary Nations 33

Egypt J

Assyria

Babylon and Media 36

Phoenicia °"

Carthage *"

Greece ^^

Rome ^

SECOND PERIOD.

FKOM THE OPBNINQ OP THB CHBISTIAN EBA TO THE PALL OP THE WESTERN

EMPIRE.

I. The Crucifixion ^

II. The Siege of Jerusalem. . ^

IIL E^rly Persecution of the Christian Church 49

IV. The Reign of Constantine the Great ^^

V. The Fall of the Western Empire 60

VI. Domestic Life in Imperial Rome 65

Great Names of the Second Period ''"

6 CONTENTS.

THIRD PERIOD.

FROM THE FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE TO TUE ACCESSION OF CUAI(I.K-

MAONB.

Chap. Page

I. The Age of Justinian. 72

II. The Growth of the Papacy 76

III. Mahomet and his CreeJ 80

IV. Merovingians and their Mayors 86

V. Barbarous Races of Infant Europe 87

Great Names of the Third Period 92

FOURTH PERIOD.

FROM THE ACCESSION OF CHARLEMAGNE TO THE SEQINNING OF THE CRUSADES.

I. Charlemagne 94

II. Moslems in the West and the Bast lOO-'

III. The Rise of the Romano-Germanic Empire 102

IV. The Byzantine Court 105

V. The Norsemen 108

VI. Life at the Court of Charlemagne Ill

Great Names of the Fourth Period 114

FIFTH PERIOD.

FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE CRUSADES TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF 8WMB INDEPENDENCE.

I. The Crusades US

II. The Crusades (continued) 121,

in. The Albigenses 126

IV. Conquest of Prussia by the Teutonic Order 130

V. The Swiss War of Independence 132

VI. Chivalry 136

Great Names of the Fifth Period 141

SIZTH PERIOD.

riHIBFLT FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SWISS INDEPENDENCE TO THE BEFORXA-

TION.

I. Italy in the Middle Ages — 143

II. The Ottoman Turks 151

in. The Expulsion of the Moors from Spain 156

IV. England 160'

V. Saxon Rule 163

VI. Norman Line 168

VII. Houses of Lancaster and Yoik 173

VIII. House of Tudor 177

IX. House of Stuart 181

X. House of Brunswick 187

CONTENTS. ^ 7

Chap. Page

XI. Discovery and Conquest of America 194

XII. Settlement of America 199

Xm. American Eevolution 205

XIV. American Eevolution (continued) 210

XV. American Revolution (continued) 212

XVI. American Eevolution (continued) 215

XVII. American Eevolution (continued) 218

XVIII. War of 1813 221

XIX. Life in Italy and Spain at the close of the Middle Ages 226

SEVENTH PERIOD.

FROM THE BEFOEMATION TO THE CLOSB OF THE THIRTY TEAKS' VTAB.

I. The Eef ormation 232

n. The Emperor Charles V 239

in. Tlie Else of the Dutch Eepublic 246

rV. The Huguenots 250

V. Cardinal Eichelieu 256

VI. The Thirty Years' War 260

VII. Life in Gei-many during the Age of the Reformation 268

Great Names of the Seventh Period 274

EISHTH FEBIOD.

TKOM THE END OP THB THIRTY YEARS' 'WAR TO THE BBGINNINQ OP THE PUBNCH

REVOLUTION.

L Louis XIV. of France 278

Genealogy of the Bourbon Family— Second Tree 278

n. Peter the Great of Eussia, and Charles XII. of Sweden 289

m. Frederick II. (the Great) of Prussia 295

rV. Life in France under Louis XIV 303

Great Names of the Eighth Period 307

NINTH PERIOD.

FROM THE BEGINNING OP THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TO THE PRESENT TIME.

I. French Eevolution 310

II. Napoleon Bonaparte 318

III. Continental Europe in 1815 ; 332

Great Names of the Ninth Period 341

TENTH PERIOD.

FROM THE CLOSE OP THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR, 1870, TO THE PRESENT TIME.

I. American Civil War 344

II. American Civil War (continued) 350

III. Causes which gave rit^e to the Franco-Prussian War 353'

IV. French and German War, 1870. , 354

The Pope's Letter to the King of Prussia 356

8 # CONTENTS.

Chap. Page

King William's Eeply to the Pope 356

Napoleon's Proclamation 356

Secret Treaty 358

Benedetti's Denial 359

Ollivier's Denial 361

V. Franco-German War (continued) 361

Napoleon's Second Proclamation 362

King William's Proclamation 362

VI. French and Prussian War (continued) ; 363

Battle near Metz, August 14th, 1870 364

Mars la Tour, August 16th, 1870 364

Battle of Gravelotte, August 18th, 1870 365

Battle of Sedan, August 23d, 1870 366

Surrender of Napoleon, September 1st, 1870 366

VII. Battle of Coulmiers 367

Capitulation of Metz, October 27th, 1870 367

Bazaine's Vindication 367

Conclusion 369

Result 369

VIII. France 371

Czar and Nihilism 373

President Garfield 373

President Grant 374

Brazil 374

Anti-Chinese Legislation 375

Boycotting 376

Stanley and Livingstone 377

Gordon, Charles George 381

Emin 385

Ship Canals 3^6

Electricity 388

Bridge, East River and others 390

Eiffel Tower 391

Great Names of the Tenth Period 393

Important Events 394^

THE

GREAT EVENTS OF HISTORY.

INTRODUCTORY.

At the beginning of history we find, in the fertile Delta of the Nile, and in Lower Chaldea, near the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates, which were at that time far apart, two dense and long-established populations, partly gathered together in cities, and possessing an advanced material civilization. How these communities arose we may perhaps imagine ; but we can claim no positive knowledge on the subject. With their general characteristics, their merits and demerits, we are, however, becoming, year by year, better acquainted. The glories of ancient Egypt have always been evident, thanks to her huge Pyramids and temples of calcareous rock which grows harder by exposure. But on account of the perishable character of the materials of which the Chaldean monuments were constructed, the early civilization of the peoples of the Mesopotamian Valley had been almost forgotten.

About the middle of the present century, 1842, European travelers and historians became interested in the remains and ruins found along the lower reaches of the great rivers of western Asia. Among the first, M. Botta, French consul at Mosul, who made excavations in a mound of debris, brought to light the ruins of an Assyrian palace, beautiful sculptures, and interesting inscriptions. Other explorers, Layard, Loftus, Taylor, De Sarzec, followed, and opened tell after tell — as the mounds are called — finding everywhere stupendous walls and paved courts, sculptured slabs of alabaster, artistic works in bronze, gold, silver, ivory, and especially a great number of inscriptions cut in stone and terra-cotta. These inscriptions are in characters called Cuneiform (" wedge-shaped"), having been cut in the stone, or stamped upon the clay, before baking, with a triangular chisel ; each stroke of the tool made a mark more or less like a wedge. Some of these inscriptions were in Assyrian, a language like the Hebrew ; and when transported to Europe, were deciphered by scholars like Rawlinson, Delitzsch, Menant, and Lenormant. Others, however, especially those from the more southern tells, near the shore of the Persian Gulf — the last to be translated — were in a different tongue, and for a long time were a puzzle to the most experienced savants.

lO • INTRODUCTORY.

A large collection of terra-cotta tablets, many of them badly broken, had been found by Layard in a mound at Koyunjik, and had been stored away in the British Museum. The late Mr. George Smith, who was employed to make engravings of the inscriptions, undertook to set this collection in order. In doing so he remarked that some of the tablets contained each two inscriptions in opposite columns, one in the unknown tongue, the other in Assyrian. He conjectured that the latter was a translation of the former ; and, prosecuting his researches, he discovered a large number of these double texts, and even grammars and dictionaries of the more ancient language, written in Assyrian. It turned out that this collection of tablets was the library of an Assyrian king, Asshurbanipal, who lived about 650 B.C. That monarch had caused to be transcribed and translated, as we have seen, documents in a much older tongue than his own, just as learned men in the present day busy themselves in translating the works of Homer and other ancient writers. There were poems, hymns, and incantations ; but there were discovered besides, in various mounds of Upper and Lower Mesopotamia, inscriptions on statues and on cylinders, usually of terra-cotta, which referred to historical events, and in a few cases gave a recognizable date. Names of kings and of cities also frequently occur, and many of these are found to agree with names given in the first chapters of the Bible. Thus it happens that we are now able to point to the actual sites of the cities of Accad, Ur, Erech, and others which were inhabited long before the time of the patriarch Abraham ; to tell a great deal about their people, to describe their buildings, and to trace the outlines of their history.

The most ancient of these wonderful ruins are found in the great Mesopotamian Valley, along the lower reaches of the great rivers. Upon these plains, where now reigns the silence of death, many centuries ago teemed a busy multitude.

The accumulation of silts and sand deposited by the frequent overflows of the Tigris and Euphrates, during the long ages of the past, have not only buried these cities, but extended the plain out into the sea more than a hundred miles.

Though these great cities in the day of their prosperity were so near the Persian Gulf as to be seaports, nothing has been found to indicate that they were inhabited by a maritime people.

Their industries seem to have been confined to agricultural pursuits and such domestic manufactures as met the needs of their civilization.

They manufactured beautiful textile fabrics, were skillful workers in metals, and made fine pottery. Their architecture was massive. Burned bricks, slabs, and blocks of baked clay constituted their building materials.

Among other structures of massive masonry that have been exhumed.

INTRODUCTORY. II

are huge pyramidal structures, from the summit of which it is supposed lights were placed to illuminate their cities ; these were carried to a height, to be above the periodical overflow of the great rivers.

Their principal buildings wei-e also of brick, faced sometimes with carved stone, but much oftener with glazed terra-cotta, decorated with beautiful patterns, and strange figures of their gods and heroes, in exquisitely chosen colors.

Their language was of the type called " agglutinative," in which compound words are formed out of simple words by " glueing" them together, as it were, without modification. The modern Turkish is a language of this sort. Their features, as we see from the many fine statues that have been exhumed,* were of a decidedly Mongolian or Tartar cast. In fact, they belonged to an extremely ancient race, the Turanian, of which the Chinese, Mongols, Tartars, and Turks are the best-known modern representatives ; and which, in prehistoric times, overspread most of Asia and all south-western Europe. Everywhere they seem to have been an ingenious and industrious people, to whom we probably owe our divisions of time into months and days and hours, our earliest weights and measures, and our first astronomical observations. But they appear to have been incapable, by themselves, of any great progress in morals and religion.

In Egypt, at the same time, within the narrow bounds of the Nile Valley, a similar civilization had reached a yet higher degree of development. The ancient Egyptians, like the Turanians of Chaldea, built cities, but with temples and palaces of stone. These cities were, at first, independent of one another, each under its own chief, like the cities of the Turanian Chaldeans. But they early submitted to a single king, and formed a strong monarchy, while their neighbors were still a loose confederation.

Between these two highly civilized peoples, on the sandy peninsula of Arabia, dwelt a quite different race, living in tents, having little or no soil fit for cultivatioji, building no cities, constantly wandering in search of pasture for the flocks and herds which were their subsistence. They were much less advanced in the arts than cither the Egyptians or the Accadians,f but had purer religious notions and a higher sense of honor. They were also, it is likely, braver soldiers. These were the Shemites, afterwards modified into Arabs, Hebrews, Phoenicians, and other tribes and nations.

♦Notably at Tello, by M. de Sarzec, whose finds are now in the Lou-vtc, Paris, t So called from their city, Accad, to distinguish them from other Turanians and from later Chaldeans of mixed race.

1 2 INTROD UCTOR V.

At a period to which no certain date can be assigned, Shemite tribes made their way into Chaldea. Some of their members, quitting the pastoral mode of life, settled in the cities, and soon rose to power. Sargon I., who united under his sway most of the Chaldean cities, was a Shemite. Others, like the patriarch Abraham, the progenitor of the Hebrew people, preferred to continue their former mode of existence outside of city limits. Shemites also entered Egypt by the Isthmus of Suez ; but, owing probably to the stronger political organization of the Egyptians, did not so easily acquire power there.

About the year 2200 before Christ, the earliest date which

2200 can, with certainty, be assigned to a historical event, the B.C. Shemite-Accadian rule in Chaldea was overturned by a wilder Turanian nation, the Elamites, who descended from the mountain chain that separates Chaldea from Persia. This invasion may have been the cause of Abraham's departure from Ur, his journey with his tribe to Haran, far in the north, and then westward into Canaan. There, the Bible tells us, he inflicted a defeat on the King of the Elamites, Chedorlaomer, or Khudar-Lagomar, as his name is given in the inscriptions.

This Elamite conquest of Chaldea appears to have had very far-reaching results. It broke violently into the two great civilizations, in danger of stagnation, and inaugurated an era of war, of turbulence, and of rapid change. It may be regarded as the centra] epoch of this very early period of the world's history.

It precipitated on Egypt a great body of Shemitic tribes, which, joining with the Shemites already in that country, under Turanian leaders, subjugated the Egyptians, and established what is known as the Hyksos rule in Egypt. Of these Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, as they are also called, very little trace has, until recently, been found on Egyptian monuments. It was even supposed that they were so barbarous that they left no memorials of their rule behind them. But the excavations of Mr. Petrie and M. Mariette at Tanis in 1884, and those, still more extensive, of M. Naville at Bubastis in 1888-9, have brought to light a number of Hyksos monuments, which show that in their case the usual relations of Turanian and Shemitic peoples were reversed, for the Hyksos royal statues are as distinctly Turanian in features as the earliest Accadian statues of chiefs, made before the period of Shemitic influence in Chaldea. It was probably during the reign of one of these kings that Abraham went to Egypt, and under another Joseph was made prime minister.

THE

GREAT EVENTS OF HISTORY.

FIRST PERIOD.

Chapter I

Biblical narrative of creation— Pall— Deluge— Locality of the garden— Babel.

Thkre are no written records of man's history, covering the period which elapsed between his creation and the beginning of the Christian era, except those of Moses and Herodotus. The writings of Herodotus take in a period of 400 years, immediately preceding the 300 years before the birtii of Christ. Hence, as far as any written record of man's history previous to that time is concerned, we are indebted to the Bible.

A very brief outline of this history, based upon the biblical narrative, is presented in the first few pages of this work. The Bible tells us that " in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," and that the earth passed through successive changes which transformed an unshapely mass to its present condition of beauty and fitness.

Moses makes the creation of man the central point and crowning act of all this wonderful work.

Man having been created, means were employed for his occupation. In order to develop his mind and body activity w^as necessary.

He was to dress and keep the garden, to subdue the lower animals, study them, and subject them to his control and use.

Distinguished from all other created beings around him by the gift of speech, he was enabled to classify and name the animals, hold converse with his wife, and engage in oral acts of praise and worship of his Heavenly Father.

The locality of the Garden of Eden is believed to have been in the highlands of Asia Minor, near the sources of the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris.

The -whole district drained by these rivers is represented by travellers as one of surpassing beauty. Mountains rise, by easy slopes, to the height of 5,000 feet ; their sides are clothed with gigantic forest trees, underneath which the box, bay, and rhododendron flourish.

The valleys and lowlands are studded with villages, and checkered by orchards, vineyards, and gardens, yielding both the cereals of the temperate zones and the fruits of the tropics.

In the eastern part of this charming district is Lake Van. This lake is described by travellers as follows :

" The shores of Lake Van (a noble sheet of water, 240 miles round) are singularly fine. They are bright with poplar, tamarisk, myrtles, and oleanders, whilst numerous verdant islands, scattered over its placid bosom, lend to it the enchantment of fairy land. In one direction the gardens cover a space seven or eight miles long, and four miles broad. The climate is temperate, and sky almost always bright and clear. To the southeast of the lake extends the plain of Solduz, presenting in one part an unbroken surface of groves, orchards, vineyards, gardens, and villages. The same description is applicable to the tract extending along the Araxes, which, for striking mountain scenery, interspersed with rich valleys, can scarcely be equalled. This district accords, in every respect, with the best notions we can form of the cradle of the human race."

Here, say the Armenians, was the Vale of Eden. On the side of Mount Ararat, at no great distance from this, the ark rested ; and here, also, the vine was first cultivated by Noah. It is impossible to say whether further investigation in this comparatively unknown district will ever guide us nearer to the spot where the Lord planted the garden ; but there can be no doubt that these plains, lakes, and islands must have T;iven birth to the images of Elysian fields and Fortunate islands that continued, age after age, to gild the traditions of the world.*

The Fall of Man. — This expression signifies the loss of the innocence and perfection with which he was endowed at his creation.

The Fall was the consequence of disobedience.

Man, having been created and placed in the garden, was allowed to use the fruits of all the trees except one — The Tree of Knowledge. Of the fruit of this he was forbidden to eat.

• For an account of Creation, sec first and second cbapters of Genesia,

OF HISTORY.

IS

Bat he was left t4 exercise his free will. Satan entered into a serpent, empowered it with the gift of speech, sought out Eve, and persuaded her '-Q eat of the forbidden fruit. She, astonished at hearing the serpent speak, listened, and as he told her that the eating of the fruit would increase her knowledge, she finally consented, and after partaking of the fruit herself, took some to Adam, who also ate.

This act of disobedience entailed upon Adam's descendants a sinful nature, denominated by theologians, original sin.

For this act the heretofore happy pair were driven from the garden. The earth was cursed, and they doomed to labor, and endurance of pain.

From that time they, with all their descendants, were liable to death

Milton thus describes the momentous event :

" Of man's disobedience, aud the frnit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe." Eve's act —

"... her rash hand, iu evil hour, Forth reaching to the fruit. She plucked, she eat. Earth felt the wound, and Nature, from her seat. Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe, That all was lost."

Adam's Act —

" Earth trembled from her entrails, as again In pangs, and Nature gave a second groan ; Sky lowered, aud muttering thunder, some sad drop« Wept at completing of the mortal sin Original "

At what period of the existence of our first parents their Fall occurred the inspired writer does not inform us. The fact is only stated. There is reason to infer that it occurred soon after their creation.

Before the Fall they lived in the garden, whose enchanting beauty has already been described. Their employment was to dress, admire, and enjoy the lovely spot, and to praise and glorify their Maker.

Having disobeyed, they were driven forth from the garden, and the ground, which before brought forth, spontaneously, an abundant supply of fruits to satisfy all their desires, became changed, and needed cultivation to produce the food their desecrated bodies needed.

" Adam and Eve went foilh into the wide world, carrying with them the fallen nature and corrupt tendencies which were the present fruit of their sin, but with faith in the promise of redemption."

The chief object of their life was yet to be accomplished, the earth was to be peopled and subdued. The curse was accompanied by a promise. The toils of the man were to be rewarded by the fruits the earth would yield to cultivation ; and the woman, in her suifering, was consoled by the hope of a Redeemer.*

Chapter II. Deluge, And Confusion Of Tongues

Cause of the flood — Describe the ark — Noah's age vrhen he entered the ark— How many pei sons were saved — How long they were shnt np in the ark — First acts on leaving the ark- Change of laws and privileges — God's promise not to destroy the world again by water- Babel, and its object — Where was the tower built — Confounding of tongues — Dispersion of mankind — Mode of government — Social life.

DELUGE.

The Deluge, or Flood, was an overflow of water upon the land, which covered the tops of the highest mountains, destroying all animal life.

This event is described in the seventh chapter of Genesis. The reason for sending the flood is stated in the previous chapter.

This remarkable occurrence took place about 1656 years after the < reation of man.

Sin and wickedness had become so wonderful that God determined to destroy the whole race, except Noah and his family.

Noah was directed to construct a vessel sufficiently large to accommodate his family and such animals as he should need. In this vessel, called in the Bible the Ark, he embarked with his wife, three sons, and their wives, making in all eight souls.

He took, according to Divine direction, clean beasts and birds by sevens, and of such as were not to be used for food or for sacrifice by pairs, with a supply of food for all.

The age of Noah at the time he entered the ark was 600 years. When all had embarked, the ark was shut by the hand of God, and immediately the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the clouds sent forth torrents of water, which increased and bore up the ark.

The Bible does not describe the terrific character of the consequences of such a storm. We are left to imagine the scenes that followed. The mountain streams must have swollen so suddenly as to forsake their channels and find new outlets, sweeping away, in their angry force, hamlets, villages, and even cities, washing down hills, and undermining mountains.

But, most prominent, there rises before the fancy a scene of terrible con-

• For an account of the Fall, see third chapter of Genesis.

flict — brawny men fighting with the tempest, carrying their families from height to height, but still pursued by the remorseless, unwearying foe.

The next scene is one of defeat and death.

Bleached and bloodless corpses float everywhere, like pieces of a wreck over the shoreless sea ; the poor babe, locked in the arms of the mother, having found even nature's refuge fail.

Last of all, there is a scene of awful stillness and desolation, not one object being seen but the dull expanse of the ocean, nor one sound of life heard but the low moan of its surging waters.

On the seventh month the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. But nearly a year elapsed, after the mighty vessel grounded, before Noah emerged from this temporaiy prison. Immediately upon landing he erected an altar, and offered sacrifice to God for preserving him from the watery grave which had engulfed all mankind except his family, with which act, God being well pleased. He made a covenant with him, never again to destroy the world by flood, and to seal the promise, He set His bow in the cloud.

Noah, as has been stated, on going "out of the ark, celebrated his deliverance by a burnt off'ering of all the kinds of clean beasts which he had preserved in the ark with him.

The Lord accepted this sacrifice, and assured Noah that never again should the inhabitants of the world be destroyed by a deluge. The order of the seasons, and the produce of the earth, were secured by Divine promise to the end of the world's existence. Till that end man is to live under the dispensation of God's forbearance, and work out his full destiny.*

BABEL.

The next great event in man's history was the confusion of tongues, and the consequent dispersion of mankind into three great lingual families.