Diapersion OF MANKIND. This event is usu- ally held to have been occasioned by the confusion of tongues (q. v.) at the overthrow of Babel (Gen. xi, 9, where the term employed b V^^^putt, to ''^ tcatter""). As to the manner of the distribution of the posterity of lloah (Gen. x, 82, where the term is I^B, parad', to dittamiMie) from the plain of Shinar, it was un- doubtedly conducted under the influence of the ordi- nary laws of colonization. The sacred historian in- forms us that they were divided in their lands, every one according to his tongue, according to his family, and according to his nation (Gen. x, 5 ; xx, 81). The ends of this dispersion were to repeople the earth, to prevent idolatry, and to display the divine wisdom and power (comp. Gen. i, 28). See Diyision op the Earth.
That all the families of man descended from the first human pair, and were by degrees — after the confusion of the Babel-builders, and the division of the earth in the days of Peleg — dispersed over the several coun- tries of the earth, is clearly the doctrine of the Bible (Gen. xi, 9 ; x, 26 ; comp. Deut xxxii, 8 ; Acts xvii, 26). The object of Moses, in the fifth chapter of Gen- esis, was to furnish, ftaiti the ancient documents which had descended to his time, a brief but authentic gene- alogical table of the descendants of Adam, in the line of Seth, unto the time of the Flood, in the days of Noah and his sons.
ADAM, created about 4004 RC. ; he Uved 980 years.
CaL
AbeL Seth, Uved 912 yean.
Methuselah, Uved 969 years. Noah, Uved 950 years.
Japheth.
Shem.
Ham.
So also, in the tenth chapter, he has afiTorded us a sur- vey of the principal nations of the earth, in their emi- grations from the common centre of residence after the Flood. Many other nations, however, have been since formed by the union or division of some of those enumerated. The following is a synopsis of the chief tribes identified. See Ethmoloot.
DISSENTER
824
DISSroENTS
8BE1L
V,"
Elam,
some of the Penian tribes.
Aisliar,
the Auyiiaiu.
Arphaxad,
Abraham,
I Lad,
the Lydiaxu.
Jacob, fhe Hebrews.
Esau, the Edomites. HAM.
Aram, Syxlaiia.
the Ishmaelitea, who mingled with.
the Arab tribes desoended from
Joktan, in the line of Eber,
from Arphaxad.
Cash,
the Ethiopians and their oolooies.
Ifisiaim,
the Egyptians and their colonies.
Phnt,
the Libyan^ and the Manretanlans.
JAPHETH.
the Omaanites, fee FlwuiSciana) **^ their
Gomer,
• the Cimmeilans and the Armenians.
Magog,
the Caucasians and the Scythians.
EUsha,
the Greeks.
BCaJlai,
the Medee and some of the Persian tribes.
Jaran, Tubal,
theTibareni and the Tartars.
Meshecb,
theMoMiiiaDd the MascorUea.
1%M.
Tarshish,
the Etruscans and the Romans.
ChiUim,
the Cyprians and the Macedonians.
Dodajoim,
the Hhodlmna.
Dissenter (Lat dissenHre), a term properly ap- plied to those who, in a country where a certain Church (or certain churches) is estdbUshed or recognised by the state, disagree with that religion. In England, the term Dissenters appears to have come into use in the 17th century, as synonymous with Nonconform^ ists; and firom England its use was transferred to Scotland in the 18th century, after the Secession (q. V.) Church had been founded in that country. It is osually applied to those who agree with the establish- ed Church in the most essential doctrines, but differ from it on some minor point, or on questions of Church government, relation to the state, rites, etc. as in England to Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists. The title is accepted by several of the Free churches in England (e. g. Congregationalists, Presbyterians) ; but the English Wesleyans do not call themselves Dts- sentert^ as they do not share in the views above stated as the grounds of dissent. Yet they are separated, in fact, from the Church of England. See Methodists.
** The term Dissenters is not strictly legal or eccle- siastical, those to whom it applies being usually de- scribed in legal language by a periphrasis. It may be said to be a convenient term to designate those Prot- estant denominations wtiich have dissented fh)m the doctrine and practice of the Church as by law estab- lished. Immediately after the Reformation, Dissent- ers, or Nonconformists, as they were then called, were subjected to severe restrictions and penalties. ' Dur- ing the Rebellion the laws against Protestant sectaries were repealed ; but they revived at the Restoration, and the Parliament of Charles II proceeded to enforce systematically, by new measures of vigor, the princi- ple of univereal conformity to the established Church (Stephen's Com. iii, 63). By 1 Will, and Mary, c. 18, the restrictions on Dissenters were first relaxed, and certain denominations were suffered to exercise their own religious ol)servances. Prom that period various statutes have been passed, each extending in some degree the firee exercise of religious opinion. At the present time. Dissenters of all denominations are al- lowed to practice without restraint their own system of religious worship and discipline. They are entitled to their own places of worship, and to maintain schools for instruction in their own opinions. They are also permittsd, in their character as householders, to sit
and vote in the parish vestries. A Piseontct. if i p- tron of a church, may also exercise hia ownjvd^ver. in appointing a clergyman of the Chardi of Fiifda to a vacant hving. See on this sabject Stepbea ilr- cles. Law. A similar amount of relx^ioos fibenr t ei^yed in Scotland, not so much derived fnm * guiarded by special statute ; fully recognised, bw^v?. by decisions of courts, as belonging to the Uwii±! country. Since the beginning of the 18th €xHbjr. the Presbyterian, Independent or Congregstiflw^ and Baptist denominations in England, have bea u- sociated under the name of the 7%rre Demummasiiaa This association was fully organized in 17S7, and (s- joys — ^like the established clergy of London a^ tt two great universities— the remarkable privik^ ± approaching the sovereign on the ^irone, Notria- standing much weakness, arising fnun doctrinal vsL other differences, tins association has contnbsttd i»r^ to promote toleration and religious liberty in En^sr^i' (Chambers, £ncyclopaduiy s. v.). See De3Cqx£K> TioNs (the Three).