The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-07-02
BUILDERS OF BABEL,
ANCIENT AND MODERN.

At the Grand Avenue Presbyterian
Church yesterday the pastor. the Reverend
John F. Cannon. preached on Babel Build
ers-Ancient and Modern" He took for his
text Gen. XII. 4: And they said. Go to- let
us build Us q city and q tower, whose top
may reach unto heaven; and let US make
US a name, lest We be scattered abroad up
on the face of the whole earth
He said. In part:
These words set forth the spirit and
aims OF the builders of Babel. The record
Is brief and. to a modern reader. somewhat
obscure. But some things are made plain.
Their undertaking was purely selfish In us
aim. 1t was conceived. not for Gods glory,
but for their own; not to make his name
great in the earth. but theirs. Again. In
The whole movement God was ignored. He
was not in all their thoughts. There was
no seeking for his guidance and help: no
recognition of their dependence upon him
or his claims upon them. The movement
was self-exaltins and God-excluding.
Gods revealed plan and purpose for the
race which was that they should scatter
abroad upon the face OF the earth TO sub
due and till II. and form those nations
Tor which. as Moses tells us. God divided
out the earth.
These features marked the proud under
taking as impious and atheistic ia its spir-
IL anu aim. Hence God in righteous judg-
mcnt blasted IT. He COMPOUNDED their Ian
guage. misunderstanding arose. and alien
alton. and antagonlsm. so that they lett on
10 build the city They began 90 build and
were not able TO finish.
This experiment on the plain of Shinar
mankind have been repeating from that day
10 this In many different ways. and on
many different scales. The spiri; exemplf-
fed by those Babel builders is the spirit
which has inspired every civilization o: the
past. When Nebucbadnezzar. foF example.
centuries afterHard. building, as there u
some reason 10 believe. upon the very foun-
dalton of this unfinished work. r,stred the
splendid city of Babylon. and the powerful
empire Of which II was the center he had
the same inspiration and aim as these early
builders l need not stay 10 show that the
which was built UP on the banks of the
Nile--of which the pyramids stand to-day as
the mournful witnesses-and also those OF
Greece and Rome.
''One of the most marked tendencies of
the times In which we live IL tendency
to association. Combination Is. perhaps.
the most characteristic feature of the age.
on all sides. and in every department. OF
life. men are saying to each other, Go 10,
let us build together; let us make common
cause; let US ASSOCIATE ourselves And
why? The great combinations which are
making themselves felt in our modern civ
ilization are. with few exceptions, selfish
and goddess. They neither fear God nor
regard man. Well. the lesson which is
Numbered in our ears by this Old Testa-
ment Incident, and by all the experience Of
tain within themselves the elements of
their own destruction. They will inevitably
end in confusion and failure Gods SEN
tence has gone forth. and stands to-day un-
alterable and sure.
Let US nov turn to the second chapter
of the Acts Of the Apostles There we
have Gods plan for unifyirg the race-ths