"Most of the ancient nations possessed myths concerning impious giants who attempted to storm heaven, either to share it with the immortal gods, or to expel them from it. In some of these fables _the confusion of tongues_ is represented as the punishment inflicted by the deities for such wickedness."[37:3] FOOTNOTES: [33:1] Genesis xi. 1-9. [33:2] The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 268. [34:1] Ibid. p. 268. See also Bible for Learners, vol. i. p. 90. [34:2] Myths and Myth-makers, p. 72. See also Encyclopædia Britannica, art. "Babel." [34:3] "There were _giants_ in the earth in those days." (Genesis vi. 4.) [34:4] Quoted by Rev. S. Baring-Gould: Legends of the Patriarchs, p. 147. See also Smith: Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 48, and Volney's Researches in Ancient History, pp. 130, 131. [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 gods. This mountain was supposed to consist of _seven stages_, increasing in sanctity 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 god 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] Encyclopædia Britannica, art. "Babel." [36:3] _Esthonia_ is one of the three Baltic, or so-called, provinces of Russia. [36:4] Encyclopædia 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: