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A-e-ri-al, a. inhabiting the air. Consisting of air.
Co'-ve-nant, s. an agreement.

19. Mo"-nar-chy, s. (pro. mon'-ar-ky,) a kingdom governed by a single person.

Mo"-narch, s. (pro. mon'-ark,) a king, a sovereign.

1. BEFORE We treat or speak of the empires, it will be well to give an account of the history of Noah and his family, being the only people who survived the flood, and it was through Noah's posterity that the world was repeopled.

2. Therefore, you know, Noah and his family were inhabitants of the world before and after the flood, and that for his righteousness he and his family had been preserved.

3. It came to pass before the flood, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

4. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

5. And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth; both man and beast, for it repenteth me that I have made them.

6. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, and I will destroy them with the earth.

7. But make thee an Ark, and with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee: and two of every living thing, male and female.

8. And Noah did according unto all that the Lord had commanded him.

9. And Noah and his family went into the ark, and took male and female of every living thing on the earth. 10. And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth, and every one was drowned except those in the ark.

11. After a certain time the waters abated, and God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth out of the ark. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him.

12. Every beast, and every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the face of the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

13. And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

14. And the sons of Noah, that went forth out of the ark, were, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. These are the three sons of Noah; and of them was the whole earth overspread.

15. And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.

16. Now these are the generations of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and unto whom were sons born after the flood.

17. For a great many years after the flood, mankind lived all together, near Mount Ararat,* where

* This mountain is situated near the spring of the Tigris, in the eastern part of Asiatic Turkey.

the ark rested; the other part of the world having then no human inhabitants.

18. Now the whole human race was of one language and one speech.

19. Soon after was the beginning of the Assyrian or Babylonian Monarchy, and in the following

manner:

20. Ham had a son named Cush, and Cush had a son named Nimrod; the last is called, in scripture, a mighty hunter; because he was famous for killing wild beasts, which had multiplied to such a degree, that mankind were obliged to hunt and kill them for their own safety.

21. Nimrod being so expert, and much superior to any other in killing the wild beasts, their enemies, he was made king, and a number of people joined with him in a scheme for building a city and a tower, the top of which should reach to heaven; and they departed from the place where Noah and his family settled when they came out of the ark, and travelled to the plain of Shinar,* and there they began to build their tower, which was the same that is called in scripture, the "Tower of Babel."

22. And they said one to another, "Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar; and began to build the tower, which is thought to have been an idol temple. 23. And here the Lord confounded their language, that they should not understand one another's speech: hence is the diver

* Shinar was the country round about where stands the present city of Bagdat, in Asia.

sity of tongues. 24. As soon as their language was confounded, they left off building the tower; and therefore the name of it was called Babel (which word, in the Hebrew language, denotes confusion), because the Lord did there confuse the language of all the then inhabitants of the earth.

25. As Nimrod was the first man after the flood who governed a number of people, he is called the first monarch, and the kingdom he ruled, the first monarchy; and as this kingdom was in Assyria, hence it is sometimes called the Assyrian, and at other times the Babylonian Monarchy.

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Em'-pire, s. the territory or extent of land under the command of an Emperor.

1. Nin'-e-veh, s. the capital of Assyria, situated on the river Tigris. 3. Con-quests, s. pl. any thing gained by force of arms; here it alludes to countries.

1. THE first great empire in the world was the Babylonian or Assyrian, supposed to have been founded by Nimrod,* who built Babylon, not long after the deluge, B. C. 2217; afterwards greatly enlarged by Ninus, who built Nineveh, B. C. 2259, and by his Queen, Semiramis.

* Nimrod was the son of Chus, grandson of Cham, § and great grandson of Noah.

$ Chus and Cham, pronounced hard, as if spelt with a k.

This empire was situated in and round about that country which is now called Asiatic Turkey. It was overturned by Cyrus,* a prince of Persia.

2. The Second Empire was that of the Medest and Persians, a people who lived east of the Assyrians, in and about that country which is now called Persia. After Cyrus had conquered the Assyrians, the two nations became as one.

This empire was overturned by Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, a country still called by the same name, in the southern part of European Turkey.

3. The Third Empire. After Alexander the Great had conquered the Medes and Persians, he established that of the Greeks and Macedonians, generally called the Grecian Empire. After his death, his conquests were shared among his generals. The chief of them were, Ptolemy§ in Egypt, Seleucus in Asia, and the descendant of Antigonus in Macedonia.

4. The Fourth Empire. The above kingdoms belonging to Alexander's generals afterwards fell under the Romans, a people in Italy; whence is the name of the Roman Empire, which comprehended the greatest part of the then known world.

Cyrus was entrusted with the command of his uncle's and father's forces, in order to reduce Babylon; which he did.

+ Media was situated south of the Caspian Sea, being the north part of the present Persia.

Persia, then so called, was the southern part of the present.

Ptolemy on the death of Alexander the Great obtained Egypt, and part of Arabia. His Christian name was Lagus.

Seleucus (Nicanor) was King of Syria; a great part of it still re

tains the same name, being a part of Asiatic Turkey.

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