From this definite account of driving the
"nations apart, when the ancient hills did bow," all reflecting minds
may judge that man was scattered over the whole face of the earth: And with the
superior knowledge of men like Noah, Shem, (who was Melchisedec) and Abram, the
father of the faithful, three contemporaries, holding the keys of the highest
order of the priesthood: connecting the creation, and fall; memorising the
righteousness of Enoch; and glorying in the construction of the ark for the
salvation of a world; still retaining the model and pattern of that ark, than
which a great, ah, we may say, half so great a vessel has never been built
since; for another ark, be it remembered, with such a ponderous living freight
will never be prepared as a vessel of mercy by command of Jehovah: That was so
perfectly built as to brave the fury of the elements a year: and with the image
of the tower whose peering top reached the sky in daring magnificence; and with
that mighty combination of intellect, when the whole earth was of one language,
and the plains of Shinar the capitol, with all these and thousands of others,
-- where is the man so self biased for his own age, as to wonder who peopled
the ruinous cities of the south, or reared the time defying mounds of the
north? (John Taylor, "Ancient Ruins," Times and Seasons 5, no.
23 [December 15, 1844]:746)
