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their independence, led them into crimes and abominations which completed their own ruin, and the destruction of their country.

THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT.

We will now take a view of the kingdom of Egypt. This was one of the most ancient kingdoms of the world. It is supposed to have been founded by Mizraim, the grandson of Noah. For many ages the Egyptians appear to have had very little concern in wars. During this period they cultivated the arts and sciences, brought agriculture to great perfection, and made many great and useful improvements throughout their country. And it is worthy of remark that, while they cultivated the arts of peace, and did not use their resources for the purpose of war and violence, they were greatly blessed by Divine Providence. Their country was rich and prosperous, their soil was remarkably productive, and from its extraordinary fertility, Egypt was considered, at that early period, as the granary of the world. Egypt was not then a warlike nation. We are informed by Rollin that, "Its inhabitants, content with a country which abounded in all things, had no ambitious dreams of conquest. The Egyptians extended their reputation in a very different manThey triumphed by the wisdom of their counsels, and the superiority of their knowledge; and this empire of the mind appeared more noble and glorious to them, than that which is achieved by arms and conquest."

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Had these peaceable and virtuous principles continued to govern the Egyptians, in all succeeding ages, they might have continued to this day, equally distinguished and happy. And had all nations been governed by these principles, wars never would have existed. And we will further add, as our unshaken belief, that were a few respectable nations to set the example of peace before the world, there would soon be an end of all wars.

But the Egyptians having become rich and powerful, through a long period of peace and prosperity, were at length exalted by pride and ambition, and began to corrupt themselves with the cruel and ferocious principles of war, to cultivate the military arts, and to practice war as the noble and honorable employment of a great and powerful nation. Sesostris, (supposed by some to be the father* of that king

*Rollin supposes Sesostris to be the son of that Pharaoh; but this seems hardly probable, for it is ascertained that the power of Egypt, for a length of time, declined after his death.

Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red Sea) was in his youth, by order of his father, instructed in the arts of war, together with a great number of Egyptian youths of his own age, who afterwards became his military officers. This is the first account we have on record, of a military school in any nation. And what were its effects? They were evidently sufficient to plant the seeds of military ambition in the mind of Sesostris, and lead him, and consequently the nation, into the principles and practice of war. And the like effects

may naturally be expected wherever military schools exist. Leaving the improvements of his own rich country, and its immense privileges, in which he might have enjoyed every advantage that nature could require, Sesostris, without the least appearance of provocation, was determined to prove his military skill, and try the fortune of war.

After invading and conquering several of the neighboring nations, his ambition, inflated by success, led him to form a design of making a conquest of the world. With this view he went on to make the requisite preparations. "His army," says Rollin, "consisted of six hundred thousand foot, and twenty-four thousand horse, besides twentyseven thousand armed chariots." With this immense army, he rushed like a fury, through almost all parts of the then inhabited world, conquering and despoiling all the nations. in his way, till at length his career was stopped by famine. After nine years of ravage, plunder and destruction, he returned to Egypt, laden with the spoils and treasures of the conquered nations. Doubtless the destruction of property, occasioned by these ravaging wars, was immense; but the destruction of lives, and the sufferings and misery brought upon families and individuals, must have exceeded all calculation. It is stated by historians that, on extraordinary occasions, he caused the kings and chiefs of the conquered nations to be harnessed to his car, instead of horses, and valued himself upon being thus drawn by the lords and sovereigns of other nations. Such were the effects of war principles upon an ambitious young prince, whose mind had been inflamed with a thirst for military glory, occasioned by his early education in a military school. But after all his conquests, this vain glorious and haughty prince was struck with blindness, and put a period to his own life.

Such was the end of this mighty Egyptian conqueror. Inflamed with a boundless ambition for war and conquest, which was nourished and perhaps generated in a military school, he was the first to attempt universal empire by

means of human butchery. His fate, and the fate of many such like "men of renown," who have pursued the same ambitious course, so far from deterring others from the like pursuits, seem only to stimulate them in the wild career of war and devastation; as tho the splendor and magnificence of their future glory depended on the great extent of destruction and misery inflicted on their fellow creatures. Such is the blind infatuation of the war spirit, and such the shortsighted views of those who glory in military achievements.

In the reign of this warring prince, the Egyptians rose to a great height in military glory and renown; but what was the consequence? It laid the foundation for their destruction: for from this time, they studied and practiced the arts of war more, and the arts of peace less. They grew proud and haughty, and increased their ambition for military glory and greatness. Their attention, which had before been engaged in agriculture and the arts of peace, was now turned to the erection of splendid monuments of pride and ambition-forming military establishments, impregnable fortresses, and the implements of death and destruction. The obelisks, pyramids,* and other monuments of the pride and folly of the Egyptian kings, as described by historians, show the immense riches, and the astonishing power and greatness of that mighty nation.

Besides these mighty works of pride, ambition and folly, some of their cities have been described as immensely large and populous. "Thebes," says Rollin, "might vie with the noblest cities in the universe. Its hundred gates, celebrated by Homer, are universally known. It was equally large and populous; and according to history, could send out at once, two hundred chariots, and ten thousand fighting men, at each of its gates." This city was also called No-Ammon, and is doubtless the same referred to by the prophet Nahum, under the name of No. (See Nahum iii, 8.)

Thus it appears that Egypt was a rich, populous and powerful nation, great in military resources, mighty in war, and highly exalted in pride and ambition. But her wars

proved her ruin; they were the means of engendering the seeds of destruction in her own bowels. Her military conquests exalted her pride and self importance. Her numerous armies, accustomed to victory and plunder, must of

*The largest of these pyramids is said to be 499 feet high, and to cover more than 11 acres of ground, and to have employed 100,000 men 30 years in building it. It is built of hewn stone.

The accounts of some late travellers who have visited its ruins, fully confirm its vast magnitude, and the appearances of its original splendor,

course grow haughty, cruel and insolent. The crimes of war were the natural consequence of her victories; and the immense spoils of which she had robbed other nations, could not fail to introduce extravagance and luxury. Corruption, in every hideous form, followed of course. Her unjust and unprovoked invasions of the rights of other nations, and the heavy contributions and annual tributes, unjustly imposed on them, could not but excite in them a spirit of opposition, and a desire of revenge, whenever an opportunity offered. Of course she was continually embroiled in wars with the surrounding nations, which were attended with a constant diminution of her treasures, destroyed her resources, depopulated her cities, disaffected her subjects, weakened her power, created dissensions, broils, mutinies, jealousies and treacheries among her officers, and in her armies, till at last she was overwelmed with the wars which she had excited, and sunk into ruin.

Such was the fate of a nation once powerful in war, and rich in resources; nor could all her vast armies, her strength and preparations for defence, afford her any protection. And such is the effect of the spirit of war, wherever it is indulged and carried to any considerable extent, in any nation, however strong and powerful.

As a further evidence of the pride, ambition and self-confidence of Egypt, and of her threatened destruction and desolation, for her numerous and extensive crimes, we shall quote the testimony of the Jewish prophets, who foretold her ruin, which was evidently the effect of Divine judgment upon her. The prophet Ezekiel has the following testi

mony.

"Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt. Speak and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.-Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.-Behold I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia-It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them,that they shall no more rule over the nations." And again; "By the swords of the mighty I will cause thy multitudes to fall, the terrible of the

nations, all of them and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed." (See Ezek. xxix. and xxxii.)

Thus it appears, that because they had exalted themselves in their pride, and carried war and violence among the nations, and ravaged and destroyed the countries around them, God, in his just judgment, was about to suffer other nations to return their injuries upon their own heads.

Again: The prophet Nahum, in prophesying against Nineveh, says, "Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains." (Nahum iii. 8, 9, 10,)

Hence it appears, that altho her power and strength was beyond human calculation; yet she was brought to desolation and ruin. All her numerous armies and military preparations were insufficient to save her. And hence we may see that the spirit and principles of war and military forces, instead of protecting and defending a nation, have a direct tendency to bring about its ruin and destruction.

As the Egyptians had greatly afflicted other nations; so God suffered them to be greatly afflicted in their turn. They received a full measure of the sufferings they had dealt out to others, and that without the possibility of warding off the calamity. The strength of Egypt was gone; her cities were destroyed, her armies vanquished, her riches taken away, and all her pride and vain glory levelled with the dust; nor was she ever able to recover herself. For more than two thousand years, she has not had a king of her own, nor been able to maintain an existence as an independent nation; but the desendants of that nation remain, to this day, a degraded and miserable race of beings, governed and enslaved in their own country, by their conquerors, who are still their masters.

THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE.

In tracing the course of ancient warring nations, we shall notice the Assyrian empire, as the next in order. It is needless to enter minutely into the history of this empire;

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