sons of Ham,

Canaan, whose descendants

settled in the hill-country, called after his name, along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, - a region about one hundred and fifty miles in length and ninety in breadth. There they dwelt for several centuries, and built up a most corrupt and idolatrous civilization, until at length, enervated by sensuality, and prepared by all their habits for destruction, they were dispossessed of their inheritance by the children of Shem, the invading hosts of the Jews, under the leadership of Joshua. By this invasion and conquest, vast numbers of the Canaanitish race perished, and those who survived were reduced to an abject and servile condition and so continued for many generations. More than four hundred years after this conquest, when Solomon was engaged in the great work of building his temple, he had in his employ, under the name of "bearers of burdens," seventy

thousand of this subject people. In the overwhelming and long continued calamities, with which these children of Canaan were thus visited, the curse in question would seem to have been adequately executed. Everything in the Bible pertaining to it points to this as its fulfillment. It is the simple and natural interpretation which even a child would make in reading this ancient history. And in this opinion, mankind would quietly have rested without any hesitation or doubt,never thinking of looking beyond the land of Canaan, for the fulfillment of the curse pronounced upon Canaan, had not a great scheme of human wickedness and cruelty sought to rest itself upon supports drawn from the Bible.

Let us examine somewhat carefully the record itself which contains this curse. It is found in the closing part of the ninth chapter of Genesis. In the 18th and 19th

verses we are told "And the sons of Noah that went forth of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah; and of them was the whole earth overspread." Now the attention of the careful reader is at once arrested by the little clause thrown in: "And Ham is the father of Canaan." True, so he was; but he was the father also of Mizraim and Cush and Phut. Shem too, as we learn in the next chapter, was the father of five sons, and Japheth of seven, but not a word is said of all these; only the historian is careful to stop at this point and say, "and Ham is the father of Canaan." anticipations are at once awakened by these few words thus curiously inserted. Then in the 22d and 23d verses, we have the account of the shameful conduct of Ham in his treatment of his father. And here, too, we find the same clause annexed. It

Our

is not Ham simply who does this, but it is "Ham the father of Canaan." And now the vile conduct has been committed, and if any disapprobation is to be expressed, -any condemnation to be uttered,-any curse pronounced, we naturally expect that it will fall on Ham the offender. But when the curse comes, it falls on Canaan. "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, 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." We are surprised that the curse is pronounced in this way, until we remember that the historian has been careful to tell us twice over that "Ham is the father of Canaan." And now we begin to perceive, that he is aiming to teach us, in the most exact and careful manner, but with the fewest words possible, that this curse

does not fall on the whole race of Ham, but only upon the descendants of one of the four sons.

The tenth chapter, consisting of thirtytwo verses, is wholly occupied with the genealogy of these three sons of Noah, beginning with Japheth and ending with Shem, with slight glances occasionally at the regions in which their descendants settled and began their work of building cities and empires. These brief references to the early beginnings of empire are most marked and distinct in the line of Ham. But in the whole enumeration, the only point where the historian stops short, to give us the exact locality and boundaries of a people, is in the case of Canaan. "And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboim, even unto Lasha." It is as though he had said to the reader,