A Discourse of the Covenants, Chapter 3
Of God's Covenant with Noah. CHAP. III.
The Children of God ſtated in a new Relation, and their Obedience upon a new Foundation from the firſt Promiſe. §. 1. The Word of God the Rule of their Faith and Obedience; how revealed to them. §. 2. Enoch's Tranſlation; the Inſtruction and Benefit the whole Church had thereby: His Prophecy; how written in the Old Teſtament. §. 3. The ordinary Propagation of the Church in thoſe times: Mixt Marriages one cauſe of the general Defection of Mankind: Noah finds Grace in the Sight of God. §. 4. The Ark its typical Reſpect; the general nature of ſuch a Type illuſtrated by conference of ſome other like extraordinary Works of Providence: The form of the Ark, its myſtical Ʋſe: how Baptiſm anſwers to the Ark: Noah not altogether ignorant of the myſtical Signification of the Ark: How he became Heir of the Righteouſneſs of Faith by building it. §. 5. The Covenant of God with Noah; the eſtabliſhing thereof at his entring into the Ark; the Benefit of the Church thereby. §. 6. The farther management of God's foederal Tranſaction with Noah, when he came out of the Ark; the Promiſes obtained in the Intereſt of his Sacrifice; what ſignified thereby: The reaſon of his Name: the particular Benefits of this Covenant: the ſpiritual Extent thereof. §. 7. The curſe of Cham opens the way to Shem's Bleſſing: Circumciſion a warning to Iſrael not to imitate Canaans Wickedneſs: Special regard to the Meſſiah in Shem's Bleſſing: This the cauſe of Japhet's Bleſſing alſo; The extent thereof. §. 8. The building of Babel, and confuſion of Tongues. §. 9. The Evils involved in this confuſion of Language: how removed by the gift of Tongues at Jeruſalem: The days of Man ſhortned. §. 10.
§. 1. THE firſt Dawning of the bleſſed Light of God's Grace unto poor Sinners being broken up in that Promiſe intimated Gen. 3. 15. the Redeemed of the Lord were from that time brought into a new-Relation to God in and by Chriſt the promiſed Seed, thro' Faith in him as revealed in that Promiſe; and hereupon their Obedience, and religious Service, was ſtated, and accepted of by God upon a new Foundation, viz. that of pardoning Mercy, and Forgiveneſs thro' the Redeemer, Pſal. 130. 4. They were no longer upon Terms of perſonal, and perfect Obedience, or doing of a Law; but upon Terms of Faith, or believing a gratuitous Promiſe; which wholly changed the order of their Acceptation with God: For by the Covenant of Creation, the Work of Obedience was to maintain the Relation, and ſecure the Acceptance of the Perſon with God; but by the Covenant of Grace and Redemption, the Relation and previous Acceptance of the Perſon in Chriſt, was the reaſon of the good Acceptance of all their ſincere, tho' imperfect Obedience, which did now ſpring from Faith: And hence it is ſaid Heb. 11. 4. God had reſpect to Abel and his Offfering; firſt to the Perſon, and then to his Work; And this order, and way of Salvation, as to the general Nature thereof, ever was, and muſt be, the ſame and invariable in all Ages, and under all different Diſpenſations of God towards his Church.
§. 2. And as holy Men then lived by Faith, ſo conſequently they had the Object of Faith with them, viz. The Revelation if God's Counſel by his Word; Tho' the Word was not written till Moſes's time, yet was the Church never without God's Oracles; which in thoſe days were made known to it, by thoſe ways and means, that the infinite Wiſdom, and Goodneſs of God made choice of; This we have ſeen in the firſt Promiſe, and in the Inſtitution of Sacrifices, which could not have been offered in Faith, as Abel's was, if God had not commanded and appointed them; yea it appears alſo that God had given them ſome particular Directions what Beaſts they might offer in Sacrifice, and what not; for in Noah's time the diſtinction of Beaſts clean and unclean, is mentioned as a thing well known before: See Gen. 7. 2, 3. chap. 8. 20. Unto this we may add that (at leaſt diverſe of) the Names of Seth's Line were impoſed by a Spirit of Prophecy; Enoch was a Prophet; and Noah a Preacher of Righteouſneſs; all which do infer a Revelation of the Mind of God, and of his Counſels then made unto the Church, diſtinct from the Light, and Law of Nature, and tranſcending all the Dictates thereof; altho' it muſt be granted, This Light did not ſhine upon them with the ſame Clearneſs, as it did upon after Ages.
§. 3. Moreover, The extraordinary Diſpenſation of God's Providence towards Enoch, who by Faith walked with God, and then was tranſlated to the heavenly Inheritance without being made ſubject to the common Lot of Mankind in Diſſolution by temporal Death, was not only a ſingular favour to himſelf, but alſo an eminent Diſcovery to the reſt of the Believers of that Age, that the right of Adoption, and claim of an Inheritance in Light by Faith, was reſtored to them in the promiſed Seed; and therefore did greatly tend to encourage their Faith and Hope, in the Expectation of a glorious State for Soul and Body, to be injoyed in a bleſſed Immortality, and eternal Life hereafter; an Earneſt of which they had, in the preſent Injoyment of one Member of that Body to which they were all united. Conf. Gen. 4. 24. Heb. 11. 5.
And the very time wherein this was done, doth caſt ſome farther Light upon the myſtical Import thereof: Enoch was the ſeventh from Adam; and this Septenary Number is famous in Scripture, for its myſtical Signification of that perfect Reſt or Sabbatiſm that Chriſt ſhould bring his Church unto: And therefore by Matthew, the Genealogy of Chriſt is counted by ſeptenary Generations: Again, The Tranſlation of Enoch happened ſoon after the Death of Adam (the firſt whoſe natural Death is mentioned in Scripture) Enoch in the ſeventh Generation was tranſlated, that he ſhould not ſee Death; As they had ſeen the Fruit of the Curſe exemplified in Adam's Death; ſo they ſaw that Life which the Promiſe gives exemplified in Enoch's Tranſlation; who before he was tranſlated walked with God, or, as the Apoſtle gives it, had this Teſtimony, That he pleaſed God; and indeed the Hebrew Phraſe uſed Gen. 5. 22. doth not only ſignifie Integrity, and eminent Holineſs, in a private Capacity, but alſo (as the learned Ainſworth notes upon the place) is often uſed for a pleaſing Adminiſtration of Office before God, in which reſpect he was a ſpecial Figure of Chriſt; and his Tranſlation, of Chriſt's entring into Heaven, as a Forerunner for us.
Three hundred Years the Church had injoyed his Miniſtry; and ſeven Patriarchs were left alive as Witneſſes of his Tranſlation; ſo that the whole number of the Sons of God had the Benefit and Comfort of Inſtruction thereby. He propheſied of the Deſtruction of wicked Men, and ſummed up his Prophecy in the Name he gave to his Son Methuſelach, which may be interpreted, They die by a Dart: or He dyeth, and then is the Dart; (i. e. the Dart of Divine Vengeance in Puniſhing the ungodly) or, he dyeth and then it is ſent: This was almoſt 1000 years before the Flood; but was exactly fulfilled in the iſſue; For Methuſelach dyed but about the ſpace of one Month before the Flood came. This Prophecy is more fully ſet down by Jude v. 15. (which may be taken as a divine Paraphraſe upon this Prophetick Name; like Daniel's Interpretation of the Writing upon the Wall) and applyed analogically to the Sinners of his time: for as this firſt Judgment, was a Type of future Judgments upon wicked Men, eſpecially of the Deſtruction of the Jewiſh State by the Fire of God's Wrath, for their rejecting of Chriſt; and each of theſe was a Praeludium of the general Judgment of the World, ſo the threatning of this firſt Judgment to the ungodly then living, was a denouncing of Judgment againſt all ungodly Sinners, in future times alſo.
§. 4. In theſe Ages of the Church it was generally propagated in that Line, thro' which the Blood of the promiſed Seed did run; Yet do we not find any ſuch Partition-Wall ſet up between one Family and another, but any that would might freely aſſociate themſelves, and joyn with the true Worſhippers of God; *Potuit fieri ut quidam privati Hominer ex Generation… Caln, Inſtinctu divino, ſe ad Adam conjunxerint, … ſalvati ſint. Luther in Gen.nay it is poſſible that even ſome of the Line and Race of Curſed Cain might do ſo; as on the other hand, it is more then probable that others of the Children of Adam, beſides Cain, did revolt with him from all true Religion and Holineſs, and joyned Iſſue in an open Contempt of God, and Rebellion againſt him. However the Nature and Neceſſity of the thing in it ſelf, in reference to religious Worſhip, and that Obedience that was due to God therein, did oblige his Servants to keep themſelves diſtinct and ſeparate from the reſt of the World: And whilſt they did ſo, the general Defection of Mankind was prevented: But towards the Period of the old World, all things declined and grew worſe, and worſe; Gen. 6. 5, 12, 13. The Violence and Corruption of Mankind abounded; and even the Sons of God were taken with the bait of ſenſual Delights: And thoſe who had formerly kept up a pure and diſtinct Communion for the ſolemn worſhipping of God by calling upon his Name, and therefore had alſo his Name called upon them, Gen. 4. ult. being denominated the Sons of God; did now loſe the ſenſe of Religion, and brake the Bounds of their juſt Separation, and mingled themſelves with the Daughters of Men, Gen. 6. 24. Theſe were the Women of Cain's Offspring, or of Confederacy with his Seed, by whoſe Beauty they were entangled, while they regarded more the gratifying of their Luſt, than the true Ends of Marriage; and being thus entangled were alſo drawn in a Partnerſhip with them in their Abominations; Inſomuch that when the time of the Flood came, the pure Worſhip of God was maintained in the Family of Noah only, who found Grace in the ſight of God; Gen. 6. 1-11. and was preſerved in the Ark, that by him and his Sons the deſolate Earth might be again repleniſht with Inhabitants, after the Foundation of the Wicked had been deſtroyed with a Flood: Job 22. 16.
§. 5. Now in the dealings of God with Noah there are ſome things call for our diligent Attention, as carrying on to a farther degree of Light, the Diſcovery of Grace and Redemption by Chriſt; and ſo the farther Eſtabliſhment of the Church in Expectation thereof. For,
The Ark which Noah being warned of God, built by his ſpecial Direction, for the ſaving of himſelf, and his Houſe, which were eight Souls, 1 Pet. 3. 20. did not only afford him and them a temporal Deliverance from the Deluge of Waters, by which God in his Wrath then ſwept away a diſobedient World; but was moreover uſeful by its typical Reſpect for their farther Inſtruction about the Redemption of Man, from the Floods of divine Vengeance to be hereafter poured out in eternal Wrath upon the World of Unbelievers. For this is to be obſerved concerning the State of the Church before Chriſt came in the Fleſh; That as the Goſpel was preached unto them by Types and dark Shadows, ſo this kind of Inſtruction was afforded them, not only by the ſtated Ordinances of Ceremonious Worſhip, but alſo by many extraordinary Works of Providence, which were ſo ordered by Divine Wiſdom, as that they might bear a typical Reſpect unto, and be an apt Repreſentation of, ſpiritual things: This may be obſerved in many Inſtances in the Hiſtory of Abraham, and of his offspring the Children of Iſrael: On this account the Manna they did eat in the Wilderneſs is called ſpiritual Meat, and the Water of the Rock which they drank, ſpiritual Drink; and the Rock Chriſt: 1 Cor. 10. 3, 4. and yet we read of no ſpecial Ordination, or Appointment of theſe things unto ſuch an End, but what they had from the Order and Voice of Providence, together with the peculiar Circumſtances of the People concerned in them. And under this Conſideration doth Noah's Ark come, which either was a Type of Chriſt, (as the Ark in the Jewiſh Sanctuary) or of the Church conſidered as guarded with his Salvation; which in the Iſſue will come near to the ſame thing.
And this Type is rendered the more lively by the Form of Structure which God commanded; and alſo the unwonted Uſe of one Term in the Direction given for the ſecuring of their Preſervation who were to enter into the Ark.
1. The Form in which the Ark was built, in the Proportion of its Dimenſions comes neareſt to that of the Body of a Man; for it was in length 300 Cubits, in breadth 50, and in height 30: So that in Figure is was ſhaped like a Coffin; and there was a Reſemblance of Burial in the entring thereinto, and of a Reſurrection in coming out of it; In which reſpect the Apoſtle Peter makes Baptiſm to be the Antitype to the Ark, 1 Eph. 3. 19, 20. And thus was the Ark an extraordinary Sacrament, or Prefiguration of the Churches Redemption and Salvation, by the Death and Reſurrection of Chriſt; and of her Union, and Communion with him that dyed and roſe again, ſo as to enjoy all the Benefits of his Death and Reſurrection.
2. In the Directions given for the building of the Ark, Noah is commanded to pitch it with Pitch both within and without, Gen. 6. 14. the Words in the Hebrew are Caphartà Baccophèr: The firſt ſence of the Verb [foreign] is to cover; and thence by a Metaphor it ſignifies to expiate, or make Atonement; becauſe as things covered are hid from Sight, ſo Sin expiated, is blotted out, and no more remembred againſt the Sinner: And the Noun viz: Cophèr is never uſed in the like ſence in all the Bible, for the Hebrews have other Words that properly ſignify ſuch kind of Stuff as was now to be made uſe of; ſee Exod. 2. 3. but in the Law it is often uſed for the Covering of, or Propitiation for Sin: So that theſe Terms ſeem to be eſpecially adapted by the holy Ghoſt, unto the typical reſpect of the Ark, which was to prefigure the Salvation of the Church thro' the Expiation of Sin, and Atonement made by the Death of Chriſt; in the Merit of whoſe Blood is her only Defence againſt the ſwelling Waters of Divine Wrath, and the Curſe of the Law, under which the whole World of Unbelievers muſt inevitably periſh.
Now tho' we have no reaſon to think that theſe things could be then apprehended ſo diſtinctly and clearly, as we now ſee them by the Light of the New Teſtament; yet have we good ground to believe that ſome general Knowledg of them was conveyed to the Minds of the Faithful, in the time of this Type, and by means thereof: And this will inform us how Noah became an Heir of the Righteouſneſs of Faith by building the Ark, and entring thereinto: Heb. 11. 7. ſeeing there was not only a Proof of his Obedience herein, whereby the Truth of his Faith was manifeſted, but moreover his Faith did reach, and in ſome Degree apprehend, the Myſtical uſe of the Ark which he was building; and while his hands were buſied in the external Work thereof, and his Life ſecured by his abode in it, his Faith was exerciſed about that ſpiritual and eternal Salvation, that was ſhadowed and typically repreſented by it.
§. 6. Upon rhe entrance of Noah into the Ark, and alſo at his coming out thence, we find mention made of God's eſtabliſhing his Covenant with him: ſee Gen. 6. 18. & chap. 9. 11. And this is the firſt Place and Occaſion of the explicite mention of a Covenant in the Scriptures; and therefore we are the more obliged to a ſerious inquiry after the true Nature, and import of this Covenant; ſome Obſervations upon it we ſhall collect, according as things are preſented in the order of their Narration by Moſes; only let this be premiſed;
That tho' God's eſtabliſhing of a Covenant with Noah, be mentioned at two diſtant times, in the Texts before referr'd to, yet they are not two different Covenants that are ſo mentioned, but in ſubſtance one and the ſame Covenant, the Benefits whereof are firſt more generally, and afterwards more particularly expreſt.
In Gen. 6. 18. God thus ſpeaks unto Noah; But with thee will I eſtabliſh my Covenant, and thou ſhalt come into the Ark, &c. God's making of a Covenant, is the Eſtabliſhment thereof, becauſe his Promiſe is a full, and ſufficient Aſſurance, that he will perform to the end, what is engaged for therein: The Benefit immediately promiſed, is, the Preſervation of Noah, and all that were with him in the Ark; and the Reſtipulation required of him, was, A believing Reſignation of himſelf to God, in an obedient uſe of thoſe Means of ſafety which he had ordained.
This at firſt view ſeems to import no more than an outward and temporal Favour; but if diligently looked into, we ſhall diſcern a great deal more in it; for,
1. In this Benefit of Noah's Covenant there was not only a temporal Salvation ſecured to him, and his Houſe, but moreover his eternal Salvation, yea, the Salvation of the whole Church was included therein, and did wholly depend thereupon; ſeeing, the promiſed Seed which ſhould break the Serpent's Head was not yet brought forth; and therefore if all Mankind had been now deſtroyed, that firſt and great Promiſe (which was a Revelation of the Sum of the Covenant of Redemption) had failed, and ſo the whole Covenant unto which it did belong, had been evacuated, and made of none effect: And with reſpect to this alſo as well as the Certainty of it in it ſelf, the Promiſe here given to Noah in a foederal way, is aptly ſaid to be an eſtabliſhing of God's Covenant with Noah, ſeeing this Covenant was made with him purſuant of that gracious Deſign of Man's Redemption before revealed, which as it was never ſuſpended upon the Worthineſs of Man, ſo God by Covenant aſſures Noah, its Accompliſhment ſhould never be prevented by his Wickedneſs.
2. Add to this the typical Reſpect of the Ark, and you will diſcern that under this Covenant was implyed, and darkly ſhadowed, the Covenant of eternal Salvation by Chriſt; even as the Promiſe of the heavenly Inheritance unto Believers, was afterwards couched in the Promiſe of Canaan to Abraham and his Seed.
§. 7. What paſt after Noah was come out of the Ark, you have recorded in Gen. 8. from v. 20, to the end of the Chapter, and in Chap. 9. In which Hiſtory you may obſerve;
1. That before any farther Tranſaction of God with Noah, there was a Sacrifice offered unto the Lord by him, in which the Lord ſmelled a ſweet Savour, or, a ſavour of Reſt, Gen. 8. 21. This Phraſe of ſmelling a ſweet Savour, ſignifies the Acceptance of his Offering; and this Savour did ariſe from the typical reſpect of this Offering to the Sacrifice of Chriſt (Confer Eph. 5. 2.) and the Faith of him that ſacrificed, which was thro' it directed to the ſame Object: And this is to inform us, That all which follows, was tranſacted in the *Chriſt's Mediation and Sacrifice is the cauſe of God's Forbearance towards the WorldIntereſt of this Sacrifice, and is ſome way to be referred to the ends thereof. From this Paſſage you may look back to Gen. 5. 29. and you will find the reaſon of Lamech's giving the name of *And he called his Name Noah, ſaying, This ſhall comfort us, &c.Noah to his Son explained thereby.
2. The Bleſſings of Noah's Covenant are firſt conceived in a gracious Purpoſe of God's Heart; And the Lord ſaid in his Heart, I will not again curſe, &c. and are afterwards put into the Promiſes of the Covenant wherein God ingageth himſelf to beſtow them; chap. 9. 8, 9, &c. And this is reckoned equivalent to an Oath, Iſa. 54. 9. I have ſworn that the Waters of Noah ſhould no more go over the Earth.
3. The particular Benefits and Bleſſings given to Mankind by this Covenant, were, 1. Fruitfulneſs for the repleniſhing of the Earth. 2. Dominon over the Creatures, and the free uſe of them for Food. 3. Aſſurance that the Judgment which they had now eſcaped ſhould not be repeated; notwithſtanding that after-Generations were like to prove as wicked as thoſe that had gone before them, ſeeing the ſame Root and Spring of Corruption remained in them, Gen. 8. 21. And the Rainbow was appointed to be the viſible Sign and Token of this Covenant: Gen. 9. 12-17.
Theſe things I ſhall content my ſelf to have thus briefly pointed at; and farther we have to Note,
1. That the Diſpenſation of Goodneſs, and Forbearance which the World was ſet under by the firſt Promiſe, was now ratified by a ſolemn Covenant; wherein alſo was enſured the Succeſſive Generation of Mankind for the Production of the promiſed Seed, both as *Viz, The Meſſiah, and his Members.perſonally, and collectively conſidered: And this Aſſurance raiſed the Faith of the Church one Degree higher than it had before attained to.
2. This Covenant had alſo its Myſtical Uſe to the Faithful, as ſhadowing the Covenant of Grace by Chriſt; and the Ratification thereof in the Blood of his Sacrifice, by which we are ſaved from the Curſe, and reſtored to a ſanctified Right in Creature-Comforts, and the Hope of eternal Life: And the Soveraignty of God's Goodneſs, with the Abſoluteneſs of his Promiſe in this Covenant, are inſtanced as a ſingular Incouragement to the Faith of the Church in reference to the Promiſe of that Grace that reigns in the New Covenant: Iſa. 54. 9. And the Token of this Covenant, is made the Emblem of the Stedfaſtneſs, and eternal Memorial of the other *The Rainbow about the Throne, notes God's regard to his Coveannt in the Government of the World; All the Adminiſtration of Providence is bounded by his Faithfulneſs.Rev. 4. 3. ſo that in the typical reſpect of this Covenant, the Light of divine Grace, and Mercy, did dawn upon the Church with ſome more Clearneſs then formerly.
3. This Covenant is ſaid to be made with Noah, and his Sons, and their Seed after them, and that for perpetual Generations; the Terms are parallel with thoſe we meet with in the 17th Chapter in the Covenant made with Abraham for his Seed in their Generations: And yet here two things are evident;
1. That remote Generations to the end of the World, are as much concerned in this Covenant as their immediate Offspring with whom it was firſt made, and have equal Claim to the Bleſſings of it with them, without any conſideration had of their immediate Parents. And
2. That altho' the Grace of the New-Covenant was myſtically held forth in this Covenant with Noah, which was thus ſtricken with him for all his Poſterity, yet were not the Grace and Bleſſings thereof by this means intailed upon all Mankind; *The ſame may be ſaid of the Promiſes of typical Bleſſings to Abraham's carnal Seed, and their Intereſt in them.They have all, indeed, an intereſt in that Covenant that ſignified, and ſome ways included ſpiritual Bleſſings, but thoſe Bleſſings appertain not to all that have the Signs of them, but remain the peculiar Right of thoſe that do by Faith receive them, Who are born not of Bloods, nor of the Will of the Fleſh, nor of the Will of Man, but of God. Joh. 1. 13.
§. 8. In the following Part of this Hiſtory Gen. 9. 25, &c. we may obſerve,
1. That the Curſe of Cham upon his Son Canaan, prepared the way to the Bleſſing of Shem in his Poſterity by Abraham; for by the Execution of this Curſe were the Canaanites afterwards diſinherited, and Iſrael planted in their room. And in this prophetick Curſe on Canaan, and the Bleſſing on Shem you may read, what is after noted by Moſes, Deut. 32. 8. It is alſo worthy of our Notice; That the Seal of Iſrael's Covenant by virtue of which they inherited the Land of Canaan, kept alive the Remembrance of Cham's Wickedneſs, and was a perpetual warning to them, not to degenerate into his Steps: He was condemned to ſervitude for looking upon the Nakedneſs of his Father, and they were circumciſed in the foreskin of their Fleſh.
2. In the Bleſſing of Shem, ſpecial Regard is had to the Meſſiah, whoſe bringing forth into the World, was now limited to the Line of Shem; and therefore in his Bleſſing is the Spring of Japhet's Bleſſing alſo. Shem is the firſt of whom it is expreſly ſaid, that the Lord was his God: And by the Lord God of Shem Chriſt who is now over all, God bleſſed for ever, is intended; whoſe Name is here celebrated by Noah, as the only Hope and Salvation of the Church.
3. The Bleſſing of Japhet in the Intereſt of Shem's Bleſſing, doth not only ſignifie his perſonal Intereſt in the Meſſiah who was to come of Shem, but alſo the calling of the Gentiles of his Poſterity, to be joynt Heirs with the Jews in the Bleſſings of the New-Covenant; yea his dwelling in the Tents of Shem, doth intimate moreover the Succeſſion of the Gentile Church unto the Church of the Jews, who were to be diſinherited of all Covenant-Intereſt for their rejecting of the Meſſiah: In that Paſſage, God ſhall *foreignperſwade Japhet, there is an Alluſion to his Name; and the calling of the Gentile Church is propheſied of in like terms, Hoſ. 2. 14, 15.
§. 9. Some time after theſe things, viz. about the fourth Generation, we find that according to the Bleſſing of God upon Noah and his Sons Gen. 9. 1. there was a very great Increaſe of Men in the World; and as they increaſed, they evidently drew upon themſelves the ſame Charge that was laid upon the Old World; viz. That the Imagination of their Heart was evil from their Youth; For in the days of *Gen. 10. 25.Peleg there was a very general Conſpiracy, and Rebellion againſt God, managed by the Children of Men at Babel; in purſuance of which they began to build a Tower there: Gen. 11. 1-9. And it is very probable Nimrod that mighty Hunter was one chief Doer in the Buſineſs: (for, A Defection from the true Religion, and Tyrannous Oppreſſion, uſually go hand in hand) But this their rebellious Enterprize was interrupted by the *This gave the Name to the place Babel ſignifying Confuſion.Confuſion of Languages that God brought upon them; And hereupon the Hebrew Tongue which before was univerſal, remained in its Purity only with the Family of Heber (from whom it alſo had its particular Denomination) and ſuch other of the Patriarchs and holy Men then living as had not joyned themſelves with theſe Workers of Iniquity in their curſed Deſign; And on this occaſion Heber hath a ſpecial Honour put upon him, as you may collect from Gen. 10. 21. where Shem is in a peculiar manner ſaid to be the Father of all the Children of Heber. And Abraham with his Poſterity the Heirs of Shem's Bleſſing, are from him denominated Hebrews.
§. 10. Now by this Confuſion of Languages the Children of Men fell under a greater Evil, than poſſibly at the firſt thought we may be aware of; for it did not only fruſtrate their preſent Deſign, and alſo render the means of their civil Converſe difficult for the future, and the Attainment of all Knowledg in things natural, full of Labour and Travel; but, which is far more.
1. It was virtually a kind of Excommunication from the Church then in being, with whom the Hebrew Tongue remained, that was from this time unintelligible to the greateſt part of the World beſides; And,
2. In the after Diſpenſation of God towards the Hebrews, this Diverſity of their Language from that of the reſt of the World, was as the Addition of a natural Fortification to that Wall of Separation, whereby the Nations were excluded from the Priviledges of the Church, and left deſtitute of that Bleſſing (which of all other was the greateſt Iſrael had, Rom. 3. 1, 2.) of the Oracles of God, which were committed to them in the Hebrew Tongue: And therefore for many Ages they remained Strangers to the Covenant of Promiſe, Eph. 2. 12. living in the darkeſt Cloud of Ignorance and Idolatry, and ſo without Hope, and without God in the World. And this diſmal Effect of the preſent Judgment, remained upon them generally, until the times of Reſtitution and Refreſhing, even until the laſt Days, wherein God would perſwade Japhet, and bring him into the Tents of Shem: And then a Door was opened for the breaking up of Light to the Gentiles, by the Gift of Tongues at Jeruſalem, whereby the Apoſtles and Prophets of the New-Teſtament were enabled to preach the Goſpel to all Nations in their own Tongue; and thus the Salvation of God in Zion became a Light to the Gentiles, whoſe Darkneſs was originally brought upon them by the Confuſion of Tongues at Babel.
3. Neither did the Judgment of God upon this Evil Generation ſtop here, for their Days were alſo ſhortned, and cut off in Anger for their Sin, and that to the half of them: for you may obſerve in the Genealogy, Gen. 11th, that as none which were born after the Flood, attained to the Years of thoſe that lived before it, ſo moſt manifeſtly the ordinary Age of Man was again ſhortened from the time of this Defection at Babel; inſomuch that none of the Generations after Heber, attained to more than about half the number of his Years.