t the positions here assumed, warrant the
correctness of the conclusion that the main body of these people were
negroes, subdued by and under the rule and direction of Nimrod; that the
language used by them, why they would build them a tower, shows they
were daily practicing the _same sin_ that caused God to destroy the
earth by a flood; and that, actuated by the fear of a similar fate,
springing from a _like cause_, they hoped to avoid it by a tower, which
should reach heaven; that their confusion and dispersion, and the
stopping of the building of _their_ city by God--all, all go to show
what sort of people they were, and what sin it was that caused God to
deal with them so _totally_ different from his treatment of _any other_
people. The very language used by them, on the occasion, goes plainly to
prove that those Babel-builders knew that they were _but beasts_, and
knew what the effect of that sin would be, that was being committed
daily. They knew it was the very _nature_ of beasts to be scattered over
the earth, and that they had _no name_ (from God, as Adam had);
therefore they said, "one to another, let us make brick, and let us
build _us_ a _city_, and a _tower_ whose top may reach heaven; and let
us make _us a name_ (as God gave us none), lest we be _scattered
abroad_." _Name_, in the Hebrew scriptures, signified "power, authority,
rule," as may be readily seen by consulting the Bible. And God said:
"And _this_ they will begin to do, and nothing will _be restrained from
them_ which they have _imagined to do_; let us, therefore, confound
their language, that they might not understand one another." This
language is _very peculiar_--used as it is by God--and there is more in
it than appears on the surface, or to a superficial reader; but we will
not pause to consider it now. The confusion of language _was confined to
those there assembled_. Why should God object to _their_ building a
city, if they were the descendants of Adam and Eve? But it is plain he
did object to _their_ building one. Did God object to Cain's building a
city?--although a fratricidal murderer. Did he object to Mizraim and his
descendants building those immense cities which they built on the Nile?
No. In short, did God ever object to any of the known descendants of
Adam and Eve building a city, or as many as they might choose to build?
Never. But, from some cause or other, God did object to those people
building _that_ city and _that_ tower. The