been from the beginning like the Russian serfs, mere chattels, who were not likely to suffer injury by being transferred from the vassalage in which they had hitherto been held by the soldiery to the common sovereign and father of the people. But supposing Diodorus to be mistaken in this respect, as a reference to the state of things in other eastern countries renders extremely probable, Joseph's arrangements will still be found to have conduced more to the ultimate prosperity of Egypt, than any others which could have been formed.

By the policy of Joseph," says Lord Valentia, "the whole of the land of Egypt, not occupied by the priests, became the property of the sovereign, and the people, with their children, his slaves; an event which, however unpropitious it may be in any other country, was necessary there, where every harvest depended on the Nile, and where an equal distribution of its waters could alone produce a general cultivation. When the lands of Egypt were private property, would it be possible to induce iudviduals to sacrifice their own possessions, that they might be turned into canals for the public benefit? or when the canals were constructed, would it be possible to prevent the inhabitants of the upper provinces from drawing off more water than was requsite for their own use, and thereby iujuring the cultivators lower down? But when the whole

belonged to one man, the necessary canals would be con structed; the distribution of water would be guided by prudence; each district would receive its nesessary proportion; and the collateral branches would then, as they are now, be opened only when the height of the river justified such an increase for the public benefit." All this is so self-evident, that it stands in need of no argument to support it. But there is another point in Joseph's proceedings deserving of notice. He did not retain the property in the soil which, for a particular purpose, he had purchased, but restored it, after that purpose had been served, to its original owners. What that purpose was, Lord Velentia has, we think, clearly pointed out; and though we are not bound to suppose that all the canals were dug, and Egypt rendered every where capable of irrigation during the short period of the famine's continuance, it is but fair to presume, that Joseph, upon restoring the lands, exacted from the people a pledge, that the works which he had begun should be completed, and the regulations which he had framed, strictly enforced. As to the reserve of one-fifth of the produce, every person acquainted with the customs of the east must know,

that from some such source the chief portion of the revenue of every state has, from time immemorial, been derived. Thus the Hindoos appear under their own dynasties, to have contributed one-eighth of the produce to the exigencies of the state; under Aurungzebe the assessment was increased to one-third; whilst our own government exacts a proportion which never falls short of two-thirds, and in some instances amounts to nine-tenths. If it be asked why the priests were exempted from the operation of this general law, two answers may be given, either of which seems quite adequate to meet the difficulty. It may be, that the fundamental constitution of the country, which secured to the priests certain tracts of land for the maintenance of the temples, and the supply of victims, placed them beyond the reach of minor enactments; or, which is even more probable, the priests may have followed the example of Joseph, and laid up, during the years of plenty, sufficient stores against the years of want. In either case there is no difficulty in accounting for the fact, that whilst the rest of the people were compelled to sell their possessions, those of the priesthood continued as before; although neither Joseph nor king Pharaoh, showed any undue or blameable partiality to that class of persons. In like manner there is nothing to startle or alarm in Moses's declaration that Joseph after purchasing their lands," removed the people from one end of the borders of Egypt even unto the other end thereof." This was no act of cruelty, nor any exercise of arbitrary power; it was the offspring of prudence and good sense, because the expression means no more than that Joseph caused the people to concentrate from a variety of distant places, round the granaries or storehouses which he had built, by which means their wants were more easily supplied, and all risk of waste owing to the transportation of grain from spot to spot obviated. Joseph was thus occupied when intelligence reached him that his father Jacob lay at the point of death. Taking his two sons with him he hurried down to Goshen, where he arrived just in time to receive the paternal blessing, which Jacob with more than ordinary solemnity, and acting under the guidance of the Divine Spirit, poured out upon the heads of all his children. At that solemn interview the fortunes of those tribes, of which the heads or representatives surrounded their father's couch, were distinctly foretold. Thus, Reuben, in punishment of his incest, was deprived for ever of his birthright, and denied the high honour of counting the Mes

siah in his future line; whilst to Simeon and Levi, who had taken the lead at the massacre of Shechem, all portions among their brothers in the land of Canaan were refused. Judah, on the contrary, was blessed with a fruitful country, and the possession of sovereign power, which it was foretold should never wholly pass from his house till Shiloh came; and Joseph was doably rewarded by having each of his sons advanced to the honourable distinction of giving a name to a tribe. In a word, predictions were uttered, every one of which came in after times fully to pass, and which allotted to those who heard them the several parts which it behoved them to act, in the great drama now visibly in progress.

Jacob had scarcely ceased to speak, when to use the expressive words of Moses, "he gathered up his feet into the bed, and gave up the ghost." He was buried by his own desire in the cave of Machpelah, beside his father, being arrived at the great, but manifestly shortening age of one hundred and forty-seven years. His funeral obsequies were attended with all the pomp and show which the court of Egypt conld furnish; insomuch that a particular spot in the land of Canaan, where the procession temporarily halted, was called by the people of the land Abel Mizraim, or the Mourning of the Egyptians.

The sacred historian gives us no further acccount, either of Joseph or his brethern, except that the former made haste to dissipate the fears which the latter experienced now that their father was removed from them; and hence we may reasonably conclude that they dwelt together on good terms, till, one after another, they paid the debt of nature. As to Joseph himself, having lived to the age of a hundred and ten years, and seen the descendants of his sons to the third generation, he summoned his relatives about him, and with the same solemnity which had marked the last scene in his father's life, assured them, "that God would surely visit them, and bring them up into the land of which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." He accordingly requested that when they did move, they would not leave his bones behind them, and having received a solemn promise to that effect, he too gave up the ghost." His body was embalmed and put into a coffin, where, probably in some open vault or cave, or other place of safety, it was preserved till the Exodus, or departure out of Egypt took place.

CHAPTER X.

History of Jacob's descendants.-Cruelty of Pharaoh.-Birth of Moses. His early career.-Commissioned by God to deliver the people. The plagues of Egypt.-Objections stated and answered.

A. M. 3548 to 3763.-B. C. 1863 to 1648.

FROM the era of Joseph's death, during a succession of sixty four years, sacred history is little better than a blank. It fell not in with the plan which Moses had chalked out for himself, to describe minutely the manner in which the descendants of Israel spent their time at Goshen ; but we may readily believe, that as long as a sense of the benefits which their country had received from Joseph continued fresh in the minds of the Egyptian monarchs, the relatives of that amiable patriarch would receive at least equitable treatment at their hands. No truth, however, stands better attested than that he who confers benefits upon a people at large, need not look for any lasting return of gratitude; and that which occurs every day among the polished nations of Europe was not very likely not to happen in a ruder and more remote age of the world. The increasing numbers of the Israelites began by degrees to excite the apprehensions and jealousy of those whose guests they were; nor, if a few facts in Egyptian history be taken into consideration, is it very surprising that the case should have been so.

It has been mentioned, that among other methods which Joseph adopted to try, and perhaps to punish his brothers, he accused them, when they first presented themselves in his presence, of being spies. This was doubtless a very harsh epithet to bestow upon them; and to such as have not looked into the earlier annals of Egypt, it may appear a very unmeaning one; but the truth is, that none could be more appropriate in the mouth of an Egyptian statesman who was, or pretended to be, ignorant of the real condition and lineage of the individuals before him. We learn from Herodotus, and other ancient writers, that Egypt was, on a certain occasion, overrun by a horde of pastoral people, the leaders of whom have, for distinction's sake, been denominated Shepherd-kings

This invasion, as Dr. Hales as clearly proved, occurred in the reign of Thamnon, about three hundred years previous to Joseph's arrival; and was conducted by a tribe of Cushite shepherds from Arabia, who cruelly oppressed the country, and laid the heaviest, and most galling burdens upon its inhabitants. The native princes, wearied out by their tyranny, at last rebelled, and, after a struggle of thirty years' continuance, succeeded, about twenty-seven years prior to Joseph's administration, in expelling them from their territory and driving them into Palestine, where they became what are in Scripture called the Philistines. But the memory of their tyranny must have been still fresh in the minds of the Egyptians, as well as the apprehension that they might yet endeavour to regain a footing where they had once been master; and hence Joseph's charge against his brothers, was exactly such as an Egyptian statesman might be expected to bring against persons coming from Philistia, or the plains of Mamre.

In like manner, though for a time the suspicions of the Egyptians were allayed, these, as the remembrance of Joseph and his good offices became faint, would naturally acquire fresh strength, whilst it was continually borne in mind, that this colony of strangers, whose extraordinary increase rendered them daily more and more formidable, had originally come among them from the country possessed by their ancient oppressors. Nor is this all: supposing the Egyptians to have been satisfied, that as the Israelites had originally no connexion with the Shepherd-kings, so were they bound to them by no tie of alliance or consanguinity, it must have, nevertheless, occurred to them, that between themselves and the the strangers no natural bond of union existed; and hence that the strangers were just as likely, in the event of an invasion from any foreign power, to take part with their enemies, as with themselves. That such were, in point of fact, the opinions of the Egyptians, we have the authority of Moses himself for pronouncing. After informing us that" the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty," and that "the land was filled with them," the inspired historian goes on to say, that "there rose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with them : lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that when there falleth