his Grandson, rather than against _Ham_ his
Father, and who 'tis supposed in the Story the guilt chiefly lay upon?
we see the Curse is (as it were) laid wholly upon _Canaan_ the Grandson,
and not a Word of the Father is mention'd, Gen. ix. 25, 26, 27, _Cursed
be_ Canaan, _a Servant of Servants shall he be_, &c.

That _Ham_ was Guilty, that's certain from the History of Fact, but I
cannot but suppose his Grandson was the Occasion of it; and in this Case
the Devil seems to have made _Canaan_ the Instrument or Tool to delude
_Noah_, and draw him in to Drunkenness, as he made the Serpent the Tool
to beguile _Eve_, and draw her into Disobedience.

Possibly _Canaan_ might do it without Design at first, but might be
brought in to ridicule and make a Jest of the old Patriarch afterward,
as is too frequent since in the Practice of our Days; but I rather
believe he did it really with a wicked Design, and on Purpose to expose
and insult his Reverend old Parent; and this seems more likely too,
because of the great Bitterness with which _Noah_ resented it, after he
came to be inform'd of it.

But be that as it will, the _Devil_ certainly made a great Conquest
here, and as to outward Appearance no less than that which he gain'd
before over _Adam_; nor did the _Devil_'s Victory consist barely in his
having drawn in the only righteous Man of the whole Antediluvian World,
and so beginning or initiating the new young Progeny with a Crime; but
here was the great Oracle silenc'd at once; the Preacher of
Righteousness, for such no doubt he would have been to the new World, as
he was to the old, I say, the Preacher was turn'd out of Office, or his
Mouth stopt, which was worse; nay, it was a stopping of his Mouth in the
worst kind, far worse than stopping his Breath, for had he died, the
Office had descended to his sons _Shem_ and _Japhet_, but he was dead to
the Office of an Instructor, tho' alive as to his Being; For of what
Force could his Preachings be, who had thus fallen himself into the most
shameful and beastly Excess?

Besides some are of the Opinion, tho' I hope without Ground, that _Noah_
was not only overtaken once in his Drink, but that being fallen into
that Sin it became habitual, and he continued in it a great while, and
that it was this which is the meaning of his being uncovered in his
Tent, and that his Son saw his Nakedness; that is, he continually
exposed himself for a long Time, a hundred Years, say they, and that hi