(1.) Canaan. There is something inexpressibly awful in the words respecting Canaan, and they are full of instruction respecting sin. They show what an awful thing sin is in the sight of God, and how superficial is man’s estimate of its guilt; for here is a whole race laid under a solemn curse in consequence of the sin of its head. As Adam brought a curse on the world, so Ham brought one on Canaan. The curse inflicted in that case was bondage, and the prophecy was that Canaan should be a servant of servants to both his brethren: _i.e._ to both Shem and Japheth. And now look at the fulfilment. Take first a period about 1,000 years after the prophecy was given, when the Canaanites were still in the promised land, and Israel, the descendants of Shem, came up from Egypt. The conflict then was between Shem and Canaan, and what was the result? The greater part of the Canaanites were destroyed, and those that remained were reduced to abject slavery. The prediction was fulfilled, and Canaan became the slave of Shem. But some may say that all that was a long time ago, and only matter of ancient history. Let us then turn to our own times, and consider facts that are within our own observation. How is it that our own West Indian islands are peopled with negroes? Is it not because we English made slaves of the Africans, or, in other words, because Japheth made a slave of Canaan? How is it that there is a negro population amounting to 4,000,000 in the United States? Is it not for the name reason, that Japheth made a slave of Canaan? How is it that up to the year 1807, when the slave trade was abolished, the West Coast of Africa was made the hunting-ground for all the leading nations of Europe? What was it but the simple fulfilment of this prophecy, in which it was foretold that Japheth should make a slave of Canaan?