"The modern Nubians, with a few exceptions, are not the descendants of the monumental Ethiopians, but a variously mixed race of Arabs and Negroes."

Again, Lepsius, Beufey, Meyer, Bunsen, Birch, and other philologists have proved that the ancient Egyptian tongue is full of affinities with the Shemitic or Syro-Arabic languages, and that it occupies a kind of middle place between them and the Indo-Germanic dialects. Quâtremere showed the relation of the present Coptic to the early tongue, and we find it in sisterly contact with these classes of languages which have spread so widely over the world. The first book of Bunsen exhibits this relationship in a variety of illustrations, and he had been preceded by Lepsius, in his famous Essay on the Egyptian numerals.' It is only of late years that any relationship was allowed between Hebrew and Sanscrit, but Fürst and Delitzsch have abundantly proved it, and it is now universally acknowledged. The old language of Egypt is found to be a connecting link between all these great varieties of human speech; and even the Celtic, in points where it differs from the Sanscrit, nearly corresponds with the ancient Coptic—the language of the pyramids and monuments. If the old Egyptian tongue have so many analogies with other and remote tongues; if they often resemble it in forms and flexions where they do not bear much likeness to one another, the plain inference is, that it is older than any of them, and has retained much of its original shape and character, while they were constantly subject to a process of development. 'The Egyptian language,' Bunsen affirms, 'is as certainly the primitive formation of the Euphrates and Tigris territory fixed in that island.'1 There are also many points of analogy between the temple ceremonies and mythology of Egypt and those of Asia. Juba, as quoted by Pliny, was of opinion "that

1 Report on Ethnology. British Association, 1847.

2 Lib. iv. 34.

the dwellers in Egypt, from Syene to Meroe, were not Ethiopians but Arabs."

"It seems to us, therefore, the only rational opinion to suppose that Mizraim, the son of Ham, and the first colonists, passed out of Asia into Lower Egypt, and settling at Heliopolis or Memphis, laid the formation of that marvellous kingdom, whose wisdom, arts, and labour have given to it a singular and imperishable fame. The pyramids in the vicinity of Memphis are the most ancient of the monuments, while those of its rival Thebes scarcely go beyond the eighteenth dynasty. Besides, the Isthmus of Suez offers the most natural and probable passage from Asia into Africa, (it has been the pathway between the continents for every important expedition,) and it plainly would conduct the emigrants into Lower Egypt.1 The most distinguished Egyptologers now adopt this or a similar view, such as Bunsen in his recent and popular production. Hieroglyphical records show that Egypt was named the "land of Ham" from the earliest period, and Egypt and Cairo are universally named Misr or Musr, at the present day. Phoenician story speaks also of Miser, who is evidently Mizraim, being the ancestor of Tautus, Thoth, or Hermes-Trismegistus. Nay, more, one of the gods of the first class was named Kham, whose name and mystic attributes seem to identify him with Ham, the father of the Egyptians.

"The long periods of chronology to which the ancient history of Egypt lays positive claim are sufficiently startling. Manetho demands many thousands of years as the prior period of his country's duration, while Herodotus, in referring to the alluvial deposit which the Nile had spread over the country, speaks of its accumulation as capable of being effected during twenty thousand years,

1 See Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 2.

2 Egyptens Stellung in der Welt-geschichte.

a period which he plainly reckons as nearly equal to the ages which had preceded his own birth. Definite epochs cannot be ascertained with satisfactory precision. That Egypt arrived at comparative civilisation at a very early period cannot be questioned, and that it was far advanced in social order as early as Abraham's days, is now universally admitted. That patriarch found in it a king —a Pharaoh, with a court, nobility, harem, and great wealth, joined to other indications of a fixed state of society."

1

I now pass on to survey this race as the great opponents of the children of Israel in the Land Of Promise.

1 Illustrated Early Oriental History, by J. Eadie, D.D., L.L.D.—Encyclopædia Metropolitana, vol. xviii. p. 64.

XV.

THE PROMISED LAND.

"Who smote great nations and slew mighty kings. Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan. their land for an heritage unto Israel, his people."—Ps. cxxxv. 10—12.

And gave

It is with a profound feeling of gratitude to the Great Author of Truth, that I approach this sacred subject. Whatever light I may throw upon the momentous theme, I would in all humility ascribe to the only source of light, and thankfully preface my remarks with that "Laus Deo," which characterised the conclusions of the literary labours of our forefathers.

The marvellous history of that people who were hallowed by the blessing of Jehovah for the holy work of regenerating the human race, is perhaps the grandest monument of Divine compassion and justice, in connexion with any single nation upon earth. The land which was "flowing with milk and honey," a "land of vineyards and olives," was an especial inheritance, granted for an especial act of faith, to the descendants of the Father of the Faithful.

But it would have been utterly impossible for the children of the great Patriarch, to realise this rich token of Almighty benevolence, had not the same Gracious Being who had "caused the lines to fall to them in pleasant places," vouchsafed the might of His arm to dispossess the warlike tribes which had secure possession of this fertile territory at the period of their entrance upon it.

The long slavery of His chosen people in Egypt, was closed by a miracle as striking as the providence which had introduced Joseph its youthful ruler. A dynasty which "knew not Joseph," had taken possession of the Egyptian throne, and the bondage of the Hebrews had become bitter and constant. The ambition which prompted the Solar Race to attempt, in spite of the intentions of Providence, an eternity of existence for the body, induced the same people to rear grand and gigantic structures to ensure a perpetuity of renown.

Works such as these could not possibly have been constructed in those early times without a body of men urged on to the task by princes, who moved a large portion of their subjects as a gigantic living machinery, uniform in its action, having no volition, and set in motion by the vapour of a Despot's ambition. By such means were constructed the grand aqueducts of Rome —her highways, and the pyramids of Egypt. The rearing of these last named gigantic masses of masonry had pressed heavily upon the strength of the Hebrews. The misery of their existence is forcibly depicted in the sacred writings. At length the day of deliverance dawned. By the special intervention of the Almighty, they were enabled to depart from that land, which to this day bears the traces of their forced slavery. But such valuable auxiliaries could not be tamely resigned by a warlike people; who while they scorned the arts of peace themselves, found it indispensable to maintain around them a large body of slaves to aid them in the objects of their ambition. The pursuit of the Hebrews was resolved upon, and hastily put into execution. Already the martial bands of these Solar Rajpoots were upon their track, and the advance of the fugitives seemed completely barred by the arm of the sea which rolled directly in their front. It was at this critical moment that the cavalry and