<< Genesis 11: The Tower of Babel >>

 1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. GENESIS XI

Like the garden of Eden, the Tower of Babel has been a puzzle to geographers who look to the literal sense of the Bible alone. They have sought for its remains in different regions, but with most unsatisfactory results. The sum of these results is thus stated by Dr. Kitto, himself a literalist : — '' After the lapse of so many centuries, and the occurrence in the land of Shinar of so many revolutions, it is not to be expected that the identification of the of the Tower of Babel with any actual ruin should be easy, or tend to any very certain result."

The mound styled Birs Nimrod, on the west of the Euphrates, about six miles from Hillah, has been a favorite spot with those who have wished to find the ruins of the Tower of Babel somewhere, yet it is much more clearly ascertained that these are the ruins of the Temple of the Sun. It has been surmised that Nebuchadnezzar selected the ruins of Babel, and finished them, to become the Temple of Belus, or the Sun. But even this is contrary to probability. To suppose that a great eastern monarch should select an accursed ruin, to make it into a temple of his God, indicates a want of appreciation of the sentiments which usually prevail among men, especially among eastern men. They would shun an abhorred spot even for their common dwellings, and much more for what they believed to be a sanctuary for their gods. Besides, this ruin is a building of brick, 37 feet high, and 28 feet broad. What a profane idea does it give of God, to suppose that the erection of such a pile, caused Him to come down from heaven to see what the men were doing, and stop their proceeding by a miracle! Who can explain why such a structure should cause alarm, and the pyramids, so much more immense, be constructed in divine indifference ?

If the sacred writings had only represented the people as designing to reach heaven by a tower, it would have been difficult for rational belief; but when it proceeds to state that the Deity came down and felt it necessary to stop their efforts by rendering them unintelligible to each other, surely it must induce every thoughtful person to say this cannot be literal, this must have another signification. What I come down to see, because these men were building something not half so large as many a chimney in Great Britain, and perform a miracle to prevent them from thus reaching heaven ?

But, it must not be forgotten, that if the ages of these early personages were the ages of individuals, (and not, as they really were, descriptive of communities, called by single names, as Israel was for more than a thousand years,) then Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth, must have been among these people. They had come down from the mighty Ararat, more than three miles high. Could they have so childish a conceit as that they could reach heaven by a brick building, in a plain or a valley, when they had not found it in the regions of perpetual snow ? Surely, if its forming a part of that primeval history, which in relation to the other great subjects, can only be allegorically or spiritually understood, did not lead us to a spiritual sense, the inevitable difficulties of the letter, in this instance alone, would lead us to look for some higher, some interior meaning.

Besides, if the history be a literal one, what is its moral? What is it to teach ? That men were not to build large erections? — thousands far larger have been built since, without interference. That men are not to build, to make themselves a name ? — it is equally wrong to do anything else for vain glory, and yet there is no especial interference of the Almighty. That men are not to try to reach heaven by earthly buildings? — if that were necessary to be learned, much better let them build on ; so insane a project would soon cure itself. In this case, as in the others we have treated, we must say to the Biblical student, " Come up higher, friend."

We have mentioned that, like the site of Eden, the position of this Tower has greatly perplexed the curious. It is like Eden with its Tree of Lives, in another respect. Paradise has a leading position at the beginning of the Bible, and we find it again in the last book, Rev. ii. 7 ; xxii. 2. It is thus represented as the blissful state from which men fell, and as that which by regeneration they will again attain. In both, a spiritual blessing, not a natural place. So with Babel; it is hero as the symbol of pride, building up superstition, to scale heaven its own way. It is the same in the Book of Revelation. There, Babylon the great, is the symbol of a selfish and superstitious church, a prostitution of religion by mysterious doctrines and priestly craft to the awful purpose of lording it over men's souls, as well as their bodies. No one supposes that Babylon in the Book of Revelation means an earthly city, why then assign that meaning, so replete with obscurity, to Babel here ?

Let us turn now to the same history as opened by the divine science of correspondence, or analogy. The whole earth is said to be of one language, and of one speech. The earth, as in all other cases, means the church, especially as to its external principles, worship, and practice. It is that earth which is called upon by the prophet, when he said, " earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord." In it, is the ground in which the seed of the Word of God is sown. The earth at this time is said to have had one language, and the speech one, or as the latter part may be rendered, the words united or made one (Debarim echadim). Because, the church is represented in a state of charity and harmony. Where love rules, there unity prevails. Even, if doctrines differ, kindness can find sentiments sufficiently in common, to harmonize men's minds. Where charity prevails, diversity of view does not produce discord, but only makes beauty in variety. These ideas may be varied, but the spirit may be the same, under all the forms. The language in such case is one, and the words are in unison. If a spirit of love prevailed, varying forms of faith would not repel, nor divide men, but rather lead each to seek the others, and to help them. Love is a golden bond, around which all true thoughts, like pearls, will gem themselves. It harmonizes them ; it fulfils the law ; it is a fire that melts into one, metals which hold each other off when cold, and what is too impure, it removes, in dross, or in vapour. The members of the human body are wonderfully varied in form, but the heart harmonizes them, and sends the living blood to each. In their variety, the warm fluid produces unity and health. When love animates and directs them, the tone of all and of each, is directed to the production of use. Their language is one, and their words are one.

Such a state of feeling is represented in the opening terms of this divine description. It is characteristic of a church at its commencement. The sentiment of its members is harmonious, and their expressions tend to the good of all.

But we are informed these people went from the east, and they found a plain, (or valley,) in the land of Shinar, and dwelt there.

The east, in the divine language, is the symbol of a state of love to the Lord, because, in such a state of the heart, the Sun of righteousness, the Sun of the soul, arises, and gives its beams of light and warmth over the mind. Eden is said to be eastward (Gen. ii. 8). The glory of the God of Israel, came to the representation of the spiritual temple, seen by the prophet Ezekiel, by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east (Ezek. xliii. 4), and such is ever the case. Only when the heart from a spirit of love turns to the Lord, does He pour forth the beams of His grace and glory, from the chambers of the east. He was ever shining there, for His love is always the same ; but He seems to turn to us, when we really turn to Him.

But the people of whom we are now speaking, went from the east, and found a plain, or more properly translated, a small valley, in the land of Shinar. The word (Beka) translated plain, ought rather, according to Parkhurst and Furst, to be rendered a break, or gorge, or small, broken valley. The word Shinar, means Lionland.

Valleys are the symbols of the lower affections of the soul, and mountains of the higher. Hence we read of the " valley of bones'' (Ezek. xxxvii. 1), which the prophet addressed, and which symbolized the natural mind, full of the skeletons of religious teaching, long uncared for. The Psalmist blesses those who passing through the valley of Baca, (or weeping,) make it a well; or, in other words, who are brought into troubles and sorrow externally, but make these the means of opening in themselves that well of salvation, whose bright waters sparkle with hope and consolation — that water of truth, which springs up for ever, to quench the thirst of the faithful soul (John vii. 37, 38).

When the effect of the Lord's coming into the world was predicted (Isa. xl. 3), it was said, " Every valley shall be exalted," to hold out the glorious promise that those who were in low and external states, on account of the depressing influence of the powers of darkness, and the want of heavenly light, should be enabled to rise into states of devotion, love, and holy joy. The mountains are said to brine: peace (Ps. lxxii.), because they are, in their stillness, their grandeur, and their elevation, the representatives of those interior heights of the soul, in which adoration, gratitude, deep devotion, and holy trust in our Saviour, have their abode. In the latter days it is prophesied (Isa. ii. 2), the mountain of the Lord's house shall be at the top of the mountain ; and again, the “mountains shall run down with new wine (Joel iii. 18). The meaning of these and many similar uses of the term mountain, is manifest, when we see its signification to be a high state of love in the soul.

When those to whom our text relates, are described as coming into a little broken valley, in the lion-land, and dwelling there, it is to intimate that they had departed from their first love, and sank into low and carnal states, in which they rejected all real high principles, all real goodness, which is the only real greatness, and boldly determined to make a religion for themselves, outwardly of the same appearance as before, but inwardly devoted to their own glorification, and to the gratification of spiritual pride. This is to leave the glorious mountains of the east, and to dwell in a little broken valley of our own, in the land of the lions, or Shinar. " My soul is among lions," David said, "and I lie among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." — Ps. lvii. 4. He no doubt was strongly infested, by temptations from those who rejected all virtue, and all true wisdom, and boldly followed the diabolical impulses of pride and ambition. He felt the bitterness of dwelling in the land of the lions.

Such, then, are the indications given in the divine volume of the states of those who proceeded to build the Tower of Babel ; but let us consider the materials they used, and their whole mode of operation. And they said, " Let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." In this speech there is manifestly displayed the spirit of ostentatious pride, and an utter want of trust in the providence and ways of the Lord.

" Let us build a city, and tower whose top may reach heaven, and make us a name." What a burst of arrogance and self-sufficiency is here. "Let us build a city," let us construct a system of doctrine, let us make a church. The true church of the Lord is a city which comes down from heaven, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." — Heb. xii. 22. It is the city of truth. — (Zech. viii.) The strong city which hath the salvation which God hath appointed for walls and bulwarks, and of which it is said : " Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in." — Isa. xxvi. 1, 2. It is a city of defence for the soul, and thrice happy are those who walk in its holy light, and delight themselves in its golden streets pearly abodes. But when men say, “Let us build a city,” it is an indication of their determination to have a system of their own. Unsatisfied with the calm, simple grandeur of the divine law, " Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God,” — " If ye would enter into life, keep the commandments," — “ If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and follow me," — the conceits of human self-derived intelligence, are active to contrive a mode of teaching that may spore their sins, and yet warrant their salvation. " Let us build a city,” let us contrive a scheme, say they, which shall profess to honor God, and save souls, but which shall really " make us a name." Let us seek influence with all our might. Let us teach men that we are the mediators between them and God. We will induce the Deity to be propitious. We will forgive them their sins. We will teach them a way to be saved, although they cling to evil, and despise such of the divine commands as interfere with their sins.

They not only determined to build a city, but also a tower. The city, as we have seen, was a religion perverted to their self-idolization ; a tower in it, represents the arrogant claims of self- love in such a church. True religion is represented by the Lord as a vineyard hedged round, with a wine-press and a tower in it. — Matt. xxi. 33. Because the tower in such case means the elevated thought of spiritually-minded men, but the tower man builds from pride and self-confidence, is the ambitious claim to be reverenced by all. When men prostitute religion to foster their insane pride, there is no demand too haughty for them to make. They arrogate the powers of Deity. An offence against them, is an offence against God. A crime against the divine laws is with them very light, but an offence against their dignity, or even their opinions, is sure to bring down the heaviest excommunication. Ambition is terrible at all times ; it is the fruitful parent of wars, and tears, and woes innumerable ; but ambition in priests, is a plague which spreads itself throughout society, and poisons the very springs of blessing. The servants of the lowliest, become the insanest examples of haughtiness. They pretend their power reaches to heaven; they have the keys of the celestial gates, and can refuse admission to those who refuse them servility ; as if heaven could be opened to aught but heavenly-mindedness, or closed by aught but sin. They parade their idle pretensions, dignify themselves with great names and extravagant titles, and presume to deck themselves with the attributes of God, to impose upon unthinking and unenlightened men. Such has been the towering pride of Rome, the Babylon of the Revelation and such was Babel in the land of Shinar.

The Divine Word denounces all such arrogance. "The lofty looks of man shall he humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one who is proud and lofty, and upon every one who is lifted up, and he shall be brought low. And upon every high tower and upon every fenced wall." — Isa. ii. 11, 12, 15. The ministers of true religion, imitate Him who was the servant of all ; they say. Blessed are the meek. They point to their Master who said, " Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them; and they that are great, exercise authority upon them ; but it shall not be so among you. Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister ; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." " Love one another." " By this we know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren." Such is the language of a true servant of the Lord Jesus ; but the priests of a selfish system ever cry, " Let us build us a tower, and make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." As if their insane claims, could be a better protection than the wall of fire which Divine Love places around the humble, who trust in Him. Far, far be it from us, brethren, to suppose we need any self-derived aggrandizement, or defence.

“Safe is the man, my God, who flies
To thee, when storms and dangers rise.
He, from his inmost soul's retreat,
Shall mark the awful tempest beat,
And feel Thy hand, in mercy spread
Its guardian shadow o'er his head.”

Let us now mark the materials which these Babel-builders used. " And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar."

Stone, as a natural production affording a strong foundation, and the material for firm and solid walls, corresponds to divine truth ; brick as a human manufacture, and a substitute for stone, is the symbol of opinions fabricated by man's contrivance.

God, as being essential truth itself, is called the Rock of Israel (2 Sam. xxiii. 3). The Rock and Fortress (Ps. xviii. 2). The stone which the builders refused, which became the headstone of the corner (Ps. cxviii. 22). The foundation truth, which is a correct faith in the Lord as the only Saviour, is the stone which the prophet refers to when he announces to the people “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a a stone, a tried stone, a precious comer stone, a sure foundation ; he that believeth shall not make haste” — Isa. xxviii. 16. “For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.'' — Cor. iii. 11. He who builds his hopes, his prospects and his principles upon this truth, builds upon a rock, and that Rock is Christ " Whosoever,'' says the Lord, '' heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock." — Matt. vii. 24. When Simon the apostle uttered the truth that the Lord's Humanity was divine, " the Son of the living God," the blessed Saviour called him Peter, the rock-man, and said, "Upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." — Matt. xvi. 18. Peter was the representative of every man, who in heart receives this fundamental truth. Every such man, becomes also a Peter or rock-man. In him the Lord builds his church, and the gates of hell can never prevail against it. To him, as he reads the Word, the Lord gives the keys of heavenly knowledge, which open to him angelic states. What vices he binds in his life, the Lord binds in his spirit. What virtues he looses in his conduct, the Lord looses in his inmost soul. Such is the meaning, the value and the power, of the stones of divine truth. Interior truths are precious stones, and '' The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." — Matt. xiii. 45, 46. But the truths of heaven, common or precious, all teach humble, holy love to God and man, displayed in a just and pure life, as the essence of all religion. " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them ; this is the law and the prophets." — Matt. vii. 12. True religion has nothing in it conducive to priestly pomp, or hierarchal splendour. It elevates principles, not persons. It leads men to God, and to the adoption of His divine laws for their government, not to outward show, and sacerdotal parade. It proclaims the infallibility of principles, the eternity of right, and calls upon all men to adopt these in love, and follow them in life, as the only means to be happy. But these truths will not serve the purpose of Babel-builders, so they make materials of their own, brick have they for stone.

The false principles engendered by spiritual pride, which elevate man, in the place of God, and substitute unintelligible mummery in worship, instead of enlightened adoration, are aptly represented by brick, which the builders make themselves. Where, for instance, could the paraphernalia of superstitious religion — consecrated ground, holy water, sainted bones, and rags, the worship of dead and living men, high- sounding names — “His holiness,” “father in God,” “right reverend father in God,” and such like pompous titles applied to mortals quite as frail and feeble as others, be obtained, unless they had made them themselves? The stones of divine truth would not do, and so they made brick. The whole of the persuasions which tend to the exaltation of priestly pride, are bricks of human contrivance, substituted for the stones of a true spiritual building.

They said also, Let us burn them thoroughly. Fire is the symbol of ardent affection. Heavenly fire is the affection to do good (Ps. civ. 4). The fire of hell is the affection or lust for doing evil (Isa. ix. 18 ; James iii. 6). The fire which burned these bricks was the intense desire for power over men's souls, which produces zeal for self, not for God. It is amazing with what ardour the lust of spiritual dominion will work. It will compass sea and land to make a proselyte. It will both do and suffer much more than true religion requires, to accomplish its insane ends. It will madly rush on, trampling upon all laws divine and human, if haply its system may triumph. That it may turn this lovely earth into a field of blood, scatter all tender human ties, destroy millions of God's children, ruin cities, depopulate nations, is nothing, if its proud claims may but triumph. Nay, so fanatical does he become, who blends the lust of power and the profession of religion together, that he will often give his own body to be burned, but yet not have Christian love or charity (1 Cor. xiii. 3). Such zeal for false principles, is operative in their formation and propagation, when men say in spirit, "Let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.'' Not only had they brick for stone, but slime had they for mortar.

When truths are the stones, the love of truth is the cement, which unites them firmly together. Truths, without love, are like stones without mortar, loose, and devoid of strength. However much a man knows, if he lacks the love of the truth, he has no saving strength in the sight of heaven. But the uniting principle among Babel-builders is merely the lust of being worshipped by others, and is therefore described by slime. Nothing is so unclean, as the love of self in its varied forms. It spurns the chaste delights of marriage, and longs to wallow in the impurities of adultery. Out of the evil heart, comes all that really defiles a man. Nothing is so unclean, as those worse than Augean stables, the secret recesses of the bad man's soul. He gloats on polluted fancies, and foul thoughts. His sentiments revel in corruption. His dreams reek with defilement. From such a state the Psalmist rejoiced to be delivered : " He brought me out of a horrible pit, out of the miry day, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." — Ps. xl. 2. The defiled condition of the wicked is alluded to, when their perpetual misery is described in that awful sentence, He that is filthy, shall be filthy still (Revelation, chap, xxii.11) The impurity of the lust of power, from which a selfish Babylonish system is held together, is here called slime. In the days of the prophet Ezekiel, when false prophets seduced the people, as they do in all ages, by offering salvation on other terms than loving goodness, believing truth and obeying God's commandments, the prophet said, " Because, even because, they have seduced my people, saying. Peace, and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar, say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall.'' — Ezek. xiii. 10, 11. The wall, like the tower, is a system of falsehood ; the untempered mortar, like the slime, means the impure affections which sustain it.

How diligently the labourers work at their tower. They teach, they preach, they indoctrinate, they counseL They parade their mysterious powers, they decry reason, they insinuate that science is of very doubtful character. Religion is an awful mystery, and they are its only expounders. The people would certainly destroy themselves, if they ventured to investigate and decide for themselves. Pray and pay, are enough for the people. They are the authorized mediators between the Deity and man, armed with awful powers. He who serves and obeys them, is sure of Paradise though never so negligent ; he who does not follow their doctrine, will be eternally ruined, though ever so faithful to God's commands. They labour diligently, and among a simple and ignorant people they labour successfully; and were it not that Divine Providence watches over human-well-being, nothing would be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. Happily, however. He who keepeth Israel never sleeps, and He comes down to see the city and the tower.

The Lord is said to see, when He makes it manifest to His creatures, that He sees. Undoubtedly, He who fills heaven and earth, is present everywhere, and knows all things. But, when He manifests Himself to man, He seems to come down to him, and when He shows that He knows, it appears to us that He then first observes. It is in this way, the Lord is said to have come down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

He is divinely careful of human freedom, and human progress. And, when a system, fraught with peril to both, has proceeded so fiur as fully to unfold its noxious character, then is the time for Infinite Goodness to act. Midnight has come over the mind, and it is time to commence the morning. Man's necessity is God's opportunity. The horn of judgment sounds. God reveals His light to some minds, capable of better things, and His truth flashes conviction. The tower of superstition totters. Men feel that God is there. He has come down to their states, and they see, as it were, His lightning striking their lofty structures, and hurling them to the dust.

The eyes of the Lord, are the wisdom of the Lord. ''The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." — Prov. xv. 3. The wheels of Divine Providence are said to be full of eyes (Ezek. i. 18), because all their movements manifest the most perfect wisdom. When that wisdom is displayed, in defeating the machinations of the evil, the eyes of the Lord are described as going to and fro in the earth (Zech. iv. 10). It is thus that the Lord is said in the sacred narrative, to come down to see. The fulness of time has come. The tower of spiritual pride, is completely ripe for judgment ; the safety of the human race, demands its overthrow. The divine wisdom selects suitable minds, and directs them to its. contemplation; opening their eyes to its monstrosity. This operation on the part of Divine Providence, is intimated by the words. Let us go down, and see. The Divine Mind, acting through free agents, expresses itself by “Let us," the low and mean character of the lust of power, as, far beneath all that is heavenly, is intimated by '' Let us go down ;" and the revelation to men of the baselessness of all arrogance of man towards man, and the determination of heaven to defeat it, is intimated by " Let us there confound their language."

We cannot, have a more perfect illustration of all this sacred narrative, than is afforded by the history of the papal power, and its overthrow by the agency of the reformers.

From the time of the council of Nice, when they left the true foundation of the church, the acknowledgment of all the fulness of the Godhead being bodily in the One Divine Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the leaders of the church began to build with bricks of their own making. They invented three divine persons, as Kings in heaven, and one semi-divine person as Queen. All sorts of impostures, in writings, in stories of miracles, in relics, and wonders of every kind, were produced and diligently propagated. The ignorance of the laity presented the most favorable field £or operation, and burning zeal gave energy to the inventors and proclaimers of pious frauds. They made bricks, and they burnt them thoroughly. The manufacture of holy lies went on apace, century after century ; if opposition raised its voice, it was hunted down as irreligious. The slimy lust of temporal power, and wealth, and pleasure, by spiritual means, held the bricks of falsehood together, and the city of lies extended, and the tower of haughtiness grew, and reared its head to heaven. The popes claimed all power, divine and human. They set up kings, or threw them down at pleasure. They gave away kingdoms at their caprice. They excused and pandered to vice, but made it profitable. Any sin was passed over in the authorities of the earth, if the power of the holy see were but protected and extended. A system foreign to the simple purity, and the intelligent holiness of real Christianity spread itself over Christendom, and gaudy ceremonies thinly veiled essential heathenism. D'Aubigne says, " Morals and doctrine were alike poisoned, and both needed a mighty regeneration. The more the value attached to the outward works, the farther off was sanctification of the heart ; dead ordinances had been substituted everywhere for Christian life, and there had sprung up that strange but natural union of the most scandalous debauchery, with the most superstitious devotion. Theft had been practised before the altar ; seduction in the confessional ; poison had been administered in the mass; adultery had been committed at the foot of the cross. Superstition, by destroying doctrine, had destroyed morality." The tower of pride, a second Babel, was again erected ; and its adherents hoped it would last for ever, it would never " be scattered over the face of the earth." Every abomination was practised in it, — legalized in it for a certain sum. The essentially infernal nature of sin was lost sight of, and for a consideration, heaven could easily be had without virtue. The dignitaries of religion, were monsters of lust and rapine, were bravos in surplices, yet still the builders went on with their towers, and thought in their hearts, " We will ascend into heaven, we will exalt our throne above the stars of God ; we will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. We will ascend above the heights of the clouds ; we will be like the most High.'' — Isaiah xiv. 13, 14. But the time of judgment came. When least expected, the divine light broke upon the minds of Luther and others. The Word was taken from its dusty repositories, and the Divine Wisdom said, " Let us see the tower, and the city which the children of men have builded.'' The lightning of divine truth struck it again and again ; down fell battlement and buttresses. Here lay a portion, and there. The whole pile became a ruin, and so remains. It is supposed to be of some little use to despotism, and for this mean service, it obtains yet permission to seem to be. " It has a name that it lives, but it is dead."

The confounding of the languages, represents the different doctrines which arise, when a spiritual despotism is exposed and overthrown. The system in which men have apathetically trusted, having been shown to be fictitious, and hurled down, its former adherents know scarcely what to do. They are thrown upon their own resources, and those resources are most scanty. They have been trained in lies, and the rational faculty, the true servant and representative of divine truth in the soul, has been systematically neglected, or crushed. The unregenerate heart, that most fruitful source of malignant error, has been unpurified by the sacred streams of heavenly wisdom, and it mixes itself largely in the general turmoil, and the result is confusion, which the word Babel in Hebrew means. They do not understand each other's doctrines, they oppose and fly from each other. They are no longer united for despotism, nor are they united at all. The tyranny of the priesthood is broken ; but innumerable sects are formed. In the turmoil of the universal fray, different nations seize upon different dogmas, and form them into separate churches. The wildest notions are taken up, some by one party, some by another. The whole structure is broken down into fragments, each land holding a language, a doctrine of its own, and excommunicating the others. Such was the Babel of modem times, and such was that of the ancients, represented in the Babel before us.

Luther, when describing the state of things after the papal power had been arrested and so rudely shaken by his assaults, says : " Wherever the Word of God has made itself heard, and God has brought together a band of the faithful, the devil has quickly perceived the divine ray, and has begun to chafe, and blow, and raise tempests from every quarter …....I hold that I myself (let alone the ancients) have undergone more than twenty hurricanes, twenty different assaults of the devil. First I had the Papists against me. Every one knows, I suppose, pretty nearly, how many tempests of books and of bulls the devil has through them, hurled against me, and in what a terrible manner they have devoured and torn me to pieces. It is true that I sometimes blew gently, though, against them, but it was no good ; they were the more irritated, and blew again more violently, vomiting forth flames and fire. It has been so without interruption to this present hour. I had begun to hope for a calm from these outbreaks of the devil, when he made a fresh attack through Munzer and his revolt, which failed, though, to extinguish the light. Christ Himself healed that breach when, lo ! in the person of Carlstadt, he came and broke my window-panes. There he was, bellowing and storming, so that I thought he was come to put out light, wax and tinder at once ; but God was at hand to aid His poor little light ; nor would He permit it to be extinguished. Then came the Sacramentarians and the Anabaptists, who broke open doors and windows to put out this light Again it was in great danger, but thanks be to God, their spite was again disappointed. Others, again, have raged against the old masters, against the Pope and Luther all at once."

Regarded in this light, the history of the Tower of Babel, is deeply interesting, for all time. Viewed only as to the letter, it is a childish story, incredible to a considerate mind, scarcely having a perceptible moral. In the spirit, however, it is eminently important. The tendency to selfish rule, inherent in all men, displays itself most fearfully when it assumes a religious form. In a wide-spread community, where the doctrines and the sentiments are the same, it may accomplish incalculable mischiefs. It has done so again and again. It puts forward its schemes and fallacies ; it pursues them with furious zeal ; it persecutes those who oppose ; it pants and hopes for universal success, but what is the end thereof? The time is sure to come, when Divine Mercy will interfere to save the human race, and "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen," will again be cried. Of all evils, the lust of power is the subtlest, and the most terribly seductive ; yet it is the insanest, and the emptiest of results. What but the merest phantasy, can be the delight of dictating to others, and filching from them their freedom ?

The foes of the freedom of others are ever the destroyers of their own. Alexander, hurried madly on, gnawed by the rage for fresh conquests, with no rest, pushing everything to extremes, destroying his friend in one drunken debauch, and himself at the age of thirty, in another, is a terrible illustration of the lust of power. Napoleon, after keeping Europe in turmoil, for twenty years, making homes, by millions, the abodes of woe, and then pining for years on the distant rock of the Atlantic, his insatiable lust for dominion had necessitated for his prison, is once more a spectacle of the same crime, and its punishment. The Russian despot, master of sixty millions, instead of struggling against this passion in himself, must make his one step more, lighting up the horrors of war, leading to the destruction of half a million of people, and so increasing his own anxieties and his violence, as to send him sadly down to a premature grave. The same spirit is shown ecclesiastical history as the demon of discord, transforming the ministers of the Prince of Peace, into fomentors of persecution, founders of of the Inquisition, and harassers of the world. Oh, how opposite to the nature of religion is all this! Who was so lowly as the Highest of all? He washed His disciples' feet, — He was the servant of all, — He breathed mercy and forgiveness towards His murderers, — His religion is the religion of love, and " Love no ill to his neighbour.'' The true disciples of the Saviour seek to promote freedom in all beings, not to grasp power. They labour to make men enlightened to know their rights, and free to practise them. They seek to subdue selfishness in their own bosoms, not to stretch its influence over others. They know that, if they would follow the Lord, they must deny themselves, and take up the cross. They know, too, that if this cross is worthily borne, it will surely have its crown. They see in all experience, the punishment of selfishness written, but they know and feel its evil nature in themselves so truly, that they abhor the principle more than the punishment. It is the serpent, upon which they tread. It is the essence of Hell. The victory over it prepares in each breast, for the reign of wisdom, love, and good to others, and these make heaven. How much more blessed it is to give, to promote the well-being, the freedom and happiness of others. The Lord creates all to be free. He gives his blessing freely, and is Himself unseen, lest man should be dazzled by His majesty. His sun rises, and diffuses its glorious beams over the earth, in silence. His heat softly and secretly insinuates itself into all things, elevating the juices of vegetation, and unfolding leaves, and flowers, and fruits, but the hand that guides the whole is unseen. The Creator, like the Saviour, is a God hiding Himself (Isa. xlv. 15). His Word makes man free. The more truth he receives, the more free he is (John viii. 32). The power of truth is intended to redeem us from the bondage of our evils and passions, and lead us to triumph even over ourselves, and make us free indeed. Why, should any of us seek to enslave our fellow men ?

O let us ever guard against any of these insane attempts. Why need we build a city with our bricks, when the Lord has given us one from heaven, with a street of gold, clear as crystal, and garnished with all manner of precious stones ?

Why should we go into our valley, and build our tower, when we may ascend, by purifying our hearts, into the Lord's house at the top of the mountains of celestial love, and there breathe the balmiest atmosphere, and enjoy the most magnificent prospects. Oh! let the language of our hearts, and our prayers ever be, 'Lord make us truly free ourselves, and true but humble promoters of real freedom, real wisdom, real progress amongst all around us! We will build no city, nor tower, for ourselves; we will enter into the city Thou hast given. Thy new, Thy heavenly Jerusalem.

“Here will we take our Joyful rest,
Nor e'er from Salem roam ;
For ever and for ever blest
In this our happy home.”

Author: JONATHAN BAYLEY --From The Divine Word Opened (1887)