240 
remained an independent monarchy as it was then, and where 
God Jehovah is acknowledged as the only Lord and King 
with the revealed religion of the Jews and Christians as the 
base of their belief in Mohammed. 
What shall I say more ? Can we look back on the history 
of Egypt, of Tyre, and of Jerusalem, and not tremble at the 
awful denunciation of God against the wickedness of nations 
and their rulers, and see how all those who forgot their 
Creator and Divine Benefactor have been punished and for- 
gotten by Him ? He said it, and is still saying it : “ Them 
that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall 
be lightly esteemed.” 
Amongst some new theories have been mooted that 
Abraham's native place was in Syria and not in Mesopotamia, 
and that Babel meant “ the Gate of God,” instead of what 
has hitherto been understood to be derived from the word 
confusion. The former is founded on the discovery of the 
name of “ Ur ” on a brick found in a mound called Magayir, 
on the western side of the Euphrates, about 1 80 miles below 
Baghdad ; and the latter, because l( Bab-el ” meant c< Gate of 
God ” in the cuneiform writing ! Both theories are mere con- 
jecture, because there might have been two or three “ Urs,” 
in Chaldea and elsewhere, the same as Cush ; and, with regard 
to the meaning of “ Bab-El ” in Assyrian, any one who 
understands Semitic languages would tell you that you might 
construe the rendering of certain words in quite opposite 
meaning.* But why should we adopt a new theory when we 
are plainly told in Holy Writ that Babel was called thus from 
the confusion of tongues, the derivation of which no one can 
deny.f As for Abraham having come from Magayir, or from 
that neighbourhood, it is a mere phantom, as we are plainly 
told in the Acts of the Apostles that he was called from Meso- 
potamia. J Moreover, we are told by Nicolas of Damascus, 
* “ Ajooz ” jyz ? — the common meaning of this word is old woman ; but 
H has besides no less than 100 other significations, amongst which are, young 
women of delicate constitution, an old man, heaven, earth, sea, road, vanity, 
a kind of dart, a point of a sword, a kettle, a pot, &c. Then “Kadr,”jjJ 
making great, amazing, confusion, opportunity, cooking in a pot, measuring, 
fate, price, power, affluence, &c. Then the word “ Bab,” or the first 
word of Bab-el, means really a door, or a gate, also a chapter of a book, an 
affair, reason, manner, species, &c. 
t Genesis xi. 9. 
X In St. Stephen’s apology before the High Priest he said that “ the God 
of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, 
before he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, 
and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.” 
