taken in my Mark. _Pardon me for
making a Speech for_ the Devil.

_Noah_ big with a Sense of his late Condition, and while the Wonders of
the Deluge were fresh in his Mind, spent his first Days in the Extasies
of his Soul, giving Thanks, and praising the Power that had been his
Protection, in and thro' the Flood of Waters, and which had in so
miraculous a Manner, safely landed him on the Surface of the newly
discover'd Land; and the Text tells us, as one of the first Things he
was employ'd in, _He built an Altar unto the Lord, and offered
Burnt-Offerings upon the Altar_. Gen. viii. 20.

While _Noah_ was thus employ'd he was safe, the _Devil_ himself could no
where break in upon him; and we may suppose very reasonably, as he found
the old Father invulnerable, he left him for some Years, watching
notwithstanding all possible Advantages against his Sons and their
Children; for now the Family began to encrease, and _Noah_'s Sons had
several Children; whether himself had any more Children after the Flood
or not, that we are not arriv'd to any Certainty about.

Among his Sons the _Devil_ found _Japhet_ and _Shem_, good, pious,
religious, and very devout Persons; serving God daily, after the Example
of their good old Father _Noah_, and he could make nothing of them or of
any of their Posterity; but _Ham_ the second, or according to some, the
younger Son of _Noah_, had a Son who was nam'd _Canaan_, a loose young
profligate Fellow, his Education was probably but cursory and
superficial, his Father _Ham_ not being near so religious and serious a
Man as his Brothers _Shem_ and _Japhet_ were; and as _Canaan_'s
Education was defective, so he prov'd, as untaught Youth generally do, a
wild, and in short a very wicked Fellow, and consequently a fit Tool for
the _Devil_ to go to work with.

_Noah_, a diligent industrious Man, being with all his Family thus
planted in the rich fruitful Plains of _Armenia_, or wherever you
please, let it be near the Mountains of _Caucasus_ or _Arrarat_; went
immediately to work, cultivating and improving the Soil, encreasing his
Cattle and Pastures, sowing Corn, and among other Things planting Trees
for Food, and among the Fruit Trees he planted Vines, of the Grapes
thereof he made no doubt, as they still in the same Country do make,
most excellent Wine, rich, luscious, strong, and pleasant.

I cannot come into the Notion of our Criticks, who to excuse _Noah_ from
the guilt of what followed, or at le