summing up all these portions of time, it is plain that the oppression, which continued till the day of the Exodus, must have continued, in the whole, some few years more than a century.

Now if we put all these matters together, Mr. Faber observes, we must come to the conclusion, that the Shepherd invaders, and not the Pharaohs, were the oppressors of the Israelites: that their leader was the new king, who knew not Joseph; that it was he who persecuted both the Israelites and the Egyptians.

This supposition alone, adds the same writer, can explain an apparent contradiction in two passages of Deuteronomy xxiii. The first is contained in the 3d, 4th, and 6th verses. "An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever." And in the 6th verse, "Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever."

If we inquire into the cause of so much and eternal hatred, we find it assigned in the 4th verse. "Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way when ye came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired Balaam, the son of Beor, of Pethor in Mesopotamia, to curse thee."

Now according to this command, an Ammonite or Moabite was to be abominated for ever, because they had ill-treated the Israelites, and had attempted to persuade Balaam to curse them. I say

attempted, because the curse did not take place; as Balaam, instead of cursing, blessed them. But still the very wish of having them cursed was a sufficient reason for abominating an Ammonite or a Moabite for ever.

But if we turn to the 8th verse, we find the following command; "Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in their third generation."

If we consider attentively this passage, we cannot but be struck with the contradiction it contains in regard to the Moabites and the Ammonites; for these two nations are cursed for ever, because they had ill-treated the Israelites; while the Egyptians, who had ill-treated them a thousand times more, who had heaped upon them oppression over oppression, after a certain period were to be cherished like brothers. But let history speak, and be rightly explained, and every contradiction vanishes. Under an imperfect dispensation, which required an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, the injuries of Moab and Ammon were never to be forgotten; while on the other hand the fostering friendship of the ever kind Egyptians was eternally to be remembered and requited.

If then, the Hyk-shos were a nation different from the Israelites, and if they were expelled at the Exodus, the next question will be about the time at which this event took place. On this head

we have three different computations, the Hebrew text, the Samaritan, and the Septuagint; and I hope you remember what was said about them in our Lecture on Chronology, and the reasons which have persuaded the best chronologists to adopt the computation of the Septuagint. Mr. Faber however, prefers the chronology of the Samaritan text; and calculates the Exodus of the Israelites to have happened about the year 1591. But with all possible deference to the judgment and superior acquirements of the learned gentleman, I must beg leave to differ from him. For the sake of refreshing your memory, I shall simply repeat, that, according to the Hebrew text, Abraham was born 292 years after the Flood, and consequently 2056 B.C. According to the Samaritan Pentateuch, he was born 942 years after the Flood, and consequently 1994 B.C.; while according to the Septuagint version this same Patriarch was born 1072 years after the Flood, and consequently 2686 years B.C.

Therefore, according to the Hebrew text, the Exodus took place in the year 805 after the Flood, and 1543 B.C.; according to the Samaritan Pentateuch, in the year 1455 after the Flood, and 1481 years B.C.; and according to the Septuagint, 1585 years after the Flood, and 2173 years B.C. From this it follows, that according to the Hebrew text, the first irruption of the Hyk-shos must have taken place 294 years after the Flood; according to the Samaritan Pentateuch 1992 years B.C.; and according to the Septuagint at least 1074 years after the Flood, or 2684 years B.C.

Of these three computations I shewed you, in our Lecture on Chronology, that the Septuagint reckoning is the most reasonable, and most generally followed by the best chronologists and historians, both Heathen and Christians; and indeed it was the only one known up to the beginning of the second century of our era.

Having, therefore, established that the year 2173 B.C. is the year of the Exodus, I will endeavour to find out, if possible, who was the Pharaoh that reigned at the time of the Exodus, and perished in the Red Sea, and who was the Pharaoh who received Joseph, and a few years after Israel and his children. This, after all, must be, as it is, a question of chronology, and therefore you must not be surprised at finding a difference of opinion that is quite appalling. One thing, however, may be assigned as certain, and that is, that the final expulsion of the Shepherds, and the deliverance of the Israelites, must absolutely have taken place during the reign of the Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty. This conclusion is evident from what has been said, because, as the whole tyranny of the Shepherd kings, from first to last, continued for 511 years, when they were finally expelled at the Exodus, as the first irruption of the Shepherds happened under the reign of the Pharaoh Timäus, the last sovereign of the sixteenth dynasty,—as they continued to hold the sceptre of Egypt during the whole of the seventeenth dynasty, for the space of 260 years, as they, at the end of this period were driven out by Thoutmosis, who was the chief of

the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, and as the princes of this eighteenth dynasty reigned over Egypt for 348 years, it is evident that the remaining 251 years must have expired during some of the reigns of this dynasty. If we can therefore ascertain the exact date of any one of these events, we shall be able with ease to fix the chronology of the rest; for in the sum total sacred as well as profane history coincide. In fact, we know upon the authority of the sacred pages, that the Israelites left Egypt after the lapse of 430 years, and that this period is to be reckoned backward to the time of Abraham, when that Patriarch had the communication from God that his "seed should continue a stranger in a land which was not theirs” for that space of time. We also know that he was at that time 85 years old. If therefore, we add these two periods together, we have the total of 515 years, which differs from Manetho's account only by six years; and which probably may be the six years of the reign of Timäus, at the end of which he was put to death by the ruthless Shepherds. Therefore, whether we take the birth of Abraham as the point of our calculation, or whether we assume any of the other events which happened from the birth of this patriarch to the Exodus, or whether we follow the recital of Manetho, the result of our reckoning must necessarily be the same.

The only plan therefore, we are to pursue, is to ascertain, first, the succession of the Pharaohs, who reigned during the eighteenth dynasty, and