Undoubted as an acknowledgment, however vitiated and depraved, of dependence upon that Being, whose acts shine forth in universal love, but whose spiritual adoration was now partially lost sight of, or _merged_ in the homage thus primarily tendered to the _lucid offspring_ of his _omnipotent fiat_. This tower, so erected by Nimrod, in opposition to the established system of religious belief, and which, therefore--but from a _nobler_ reason than what was generally imagined, viz. his researches in astronomy, and the application thereto of instruments--procured him the appellation of _rebel_ from _nemh_, heaven, and _rodh_, an assault, was, I hesitate not to say, a temple constructed to the celestial host, the sun, moon, and stars, which constituted the substance of the _Sabian idolatry_.[79] Shinaar, in Mesopotamia, was the theatre of this dread occurrence--this appalling spectacle at once of man’s weakness and God’s omnipotence:--Here the Noachidæ had been then fixed; and the name by which this innovation upon their previous usages is transmitted, viz. _Ba-Bel_, corroborates the destination above assigned.[80] The word “Baal,” in itself an appellative, at first served to denote the true God amongst those who adhered to the true religion; though, when it became common amongst the idolatrous nations, and applied to idols, He rejected it. “And it shall be in that day that you shall call me Ishi, and shall call me no more Baali.”[81] Another name by which the _Godhead_ was recognised was Moloch. The latter, indeed, in accuracy of speech was the name assigned him by the Ammonites and Moabites--both terms, however, corresponded in sense, “Moloch” signifying king, and “Baal” Lord, that is, of the heavens; whence transferring the appellation to the Sun, as the _source_ and _dispenser_ of all _earthly favours_, he was also called Bolati, _i.e._, “Baal the _bestower_,” as was the moon, Baaltis, from the same consideration: whilst the direct object of their internal regard was not, undoubtedly, that globe of fire which illumines the firmament and vivifies terrestrials, but, physically considered, _nature_ at large, the _fructifying germ_ of universal _generativeness_. The Sun, it is true, as the source of light and heat, came in as _representative_ for all this adoration. Thus viewed, then, it would appear that the origin of the institution may have been comparatively harmless. God being invisible, or only appearing to mortals through the medium of His acts, it was natural that _man_, left to the workings of unaided reason, should look on yon mysterious luminary with mingled sentiments of gratitude and awe. We have every reason, accordingly, to think, that solar worship at first was only emblematical, recognising, in the effulgence of the orb of day, the creative power of Him, the “Father of all, in every age, In every clime adored, By saint, by savage, and by sage, _Jehovah_, _Jove_, or _Lord_”--