Part 9 (1/2)

[34:5] Jewish Antiquities, book 1, ch. iv. p. 30.

[35:1] ”Diodorus states that the great tower of the temple of Belus was used by the Chaldeans as an _observatory_.” (Smith's Bible Dictionary, art. ”Babel.”)

[35:2] The Hindoos had a sacred _Mount Meru_, the abode of the G.o.ds.

This mountain was supposed to consist of _seven stages_, increasing in sanct.i.ty as they ascended. Many of the Hindoo temples, or rather altars, were ”studied transcripts of the sacred Mount Meru;” that is, they were built, like the tower of Babel, in _seven stages_. Within the upper dwelt Brahm. (See Squire's Serpent Symbol, p. 107.) Herodotus tells us that the upper stage of the tower of Babel was the abode of the G.o.d Belus.

[35:3] The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 269. See also Bunsen: The Angel Messiah, p. 106.

[35:4] Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 484.

[35:5] Legends of the Patriarchs, pp. 148, 149.

[36:1] Ibid. p. 148. The ancient _Scandinavians_ had a legend of a somewhat similar tree. ”The Mundane Tree,” called _Yggdrasill_, was in the centre of the earth; its branches covered over the surface of the earth, and its top reached to the highest heaven. (See Mallet's Northern Antiquities.)

[36:2] Encyclopaedia Britannica, art. ”Babel.”

[36:3] _Esthonia_ is one of the three Baltic, or so-called, provinces of Russia.

[36:4] Encyclopaedia Britannica, art. ”Babel.”

[36:5] Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 27.

[36:6] Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 204.

[36:7] Humboldt: American Researches, vol. i. p. 96.

[36:8] Ibid.

[36:9] Ibid., and Brinton: Myths of the New World, p. 204.

[36:10] The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 272.

[37:1] Quoted by Bishop Colenso: The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p.

272.

[37:2] Humboldt: American Researches, vol. i. p. 97. Lord Kingsborough: Mexican Antiquities.

[37:3] Com. on Old Test. vol. i. p. 196.

CHAPTER IV.

THE TRIAL OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH.

The story of the trial of Abraham's faith--when he is ordered by the Lord to sacrifice his only son Isaac--is to be found in Genesis xxii.

1-19, and is as follows:

”And it came to pa.s.s . . . that G.o.d did tempt Abraham, and said unto him: 'Abraham,' and he said: 'Behold, here I am.'

And he (G.o.d) said: 'Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.'