in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, B.C. 280, would lead us to believe that it had endured for 53,535 years; and, for a long time, the learned were so bewildered by its numerous dynasties, that their faith in the chronology of Moses, the foundation of general, as well as sacred history, was severely shaken. Time has come forward with other facts to verify the accuracy of the inspired annals. As modern ingenuity has succeeded in discovering a key to the occult language of ancient inscriptions, so modern inquiry, stopping at no obstacle, has unravelled the mystery of the Egyptian dynasties; and we now find that many of the kings were contemporaries, ruling at the same period over different portions of the country, till, at length, the whole fell under one sovereign. This is in keeping with the course of progress and amalgamation traceable in other nations; and it is remarkable that the earliest monuments of Egypt, from which we derive information on every point of its history, go no further back than the era of Abraham," 193 years after the supposed foundation of the kingdom by Misraim. The Shepherd invaders were probably the Israelites, who came from the neighbourhood of Phoenicia, where 17 The Ancient Egyptians,' by Sir Gardner Wilkinson. the Shepherds are said to have dwelt; and Joseph and his successors, appointed rulers over the kingdom by the Pharaohs, may have been familiarly designated Kings, since they evidently exercised all but regal authority. Their dominion is said to have lasted 250 years, only twenty-two short of the period mentioned by Moses; and, according to Manetho, they then retired in a body from Egypt by way of the desert, penetrated into Syria, and built Jerusalem. The granite pages of Egypt's monuments reveal to us her Gospel, as well as her history; and hence we derive a clear knowledge of her original religion. The articles of her faith are inscribed on those imperishable tablets, as was the creed of Sinai on the tables of stone, and, reduced to their first principles, we may trace the finger of God equally in both. Osiris appearing on earth for the emancipation of mankind from the dominion of the Evil One, may, without extravagance, be recognised as an image of the true Messiah; and the resemblance becomes more striking when we find that he was put to death, but subsequently returned to life, and became the Judge of the dead. What is this, indeed, but a prophetic view of the future Saviour gradually come to be regarded as an accomplished fact? Nor is it less startling to discover another sacred and significant myth in the triads, used by the Egyptian priests to represent the creative attributes of the Almighty; and in which the third idea is said to proceed from the other two. The belief of the early Egyptians in one supreme Lord, denominated Seb, or Saturn, was, indeed, known to the ancients; and is attested, among other authorities, by Jamblichus, while Plutarch mentions an inscription in an Egyptian temple, which made this awful announcement-'I AM ALL THAT HAS BEEN, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.' Not more explicit was the declaration from the burning bush,~'I AM THAT I AM.' II. THE MARCH OF INTELLECT. LOOKING back from the remote point at which our history has arrived-forming a platform, as it were, on the brink of time-we obtain a dim view of a very signal fact, vindicating the providence of God, while it attests, in an emphatic manner, the antiquity and unchangeableness of true religion. There is here evidence that the Creator has at no period left his creatures ignorant of his existence, but has, on the contrary, from the first vividly impressed it on the human mind, imparting also а correct perception of his attributes, and, if one may so speak, of his character. The parent nations seem even to have been acquainted with the divine mystery of the Trinity, and to have had a foreknowledge of a future Saviour, who, subjected on earth to a cruel death, should rise from the grave, and become the Judge of departed spirits. Such incidents necessarily involve a conviction of the im THE MARCH OF INTELLECT. 39 mortality of the soul; and there is, indeed, no ground whatever for the general impression that this fundamental doctrine was unknown to the old world. It is true, the religion promulgated from Sinai is silent on the subject of a future state; but we must remember, as a no less significant fact, that the Almighty was here legislating for a temporal people, specially singled out for a temporal destination. Certain it is, from numerous passages in the Prophets and the Psalms, not to mention the apocryphal books of Wisdom and Maccabeus, that the Jews were sensible of the immortality of the soul; and, indeed, Josephus has left us a detailed account of their views of a future state,' corresponding with that so forcibly indicated in the parable of Dives and Lazarus. Both the immortality of the soul, and the coming of the Messiah were known to Job, and who can forget his sublime exclamation ?" I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth: and though, after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." A future existence 1 'Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades.' |