Transcriber's Note.
The text comprises a series of letters in three groups. The first
group, the first letter within that group, and the third group,
lack headings. Appropriate headings have been copied from the
Table of Contents and inserted on pages 25 and 468.
Apparent typographical errors have been corrected as has inconsistent
hyphenation.
Italics are indicated by _underscores_. Small capitals have been
converted to full capitals.
[Illustration: THE FINDING OF MOSES.--PAGE 388.]
THE
PILLAR OF FIRE;
OR,
Israel in Bondage.
[Illustration]
BY REV. J. H. INGRAHAM,
Rector of Christ Church, and of St. Thomas' Hall, Holly Springs, Miss.
AUTHOR OF
"THE PRINCE OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID."
BOSTON:
ROBERTS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS.
NO. 299 WASHINGTON STREET.
1881.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by
G. G. EVANS,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
THE MEN OF ISRAEL,
SONS OF
ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB,
KINDRED OF MOSES,
THE GREAT LAWGIVER AND FRIEND OF GOD:
This Book
IS INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR;
WITH THE PRAYER,
THAT YOU, OF THIS GENERATION, WHO ARE DISPERSED IN ALL THE EARTH
MAY BEHOLD AND FOLLOW THE LIGHT OF
THE CROSS,
AS YOUR FATHERS FOLLOWED
THE PILLAR OF FIRE
AND ENTER AT LAST THE REAL CANAAN,
UNDER THE TRUE JOSHUA,
JESUS, THE SON OF ABRAHAM,
WHO ALSO WAS
THE SON OF GOD.
AUTHOR'S CHAPTER TO THE READER.
The idea of illustrating scenes of that period of the history of Egypt
in which the Israelites were held in bondage by her kings, and
presenting it from a point of view outside of the Mosaic narrative,
yet strictly harmonizing therewith, occurred to the writer some years
ago.
In view of his object, he has carefully studied the history and
chronology of Egypt, and endeavored to inform his mind upon the
manners, customs, laws, religion, and polity of the ancient Egyptians,
so far as to aid him in an intelligent and practical execution of his
work.
The difficulties which the question of dynasty, and of _individual_
reigns have presented, will be understood by the Egyptian student.
Whatsoever chronology or theory the author might finally decide upon,
he saw would be open to the objections of adherents to the opposite
school.
After a thorough examination of the subject of the dynasties, the
author has followed, chiefly, the chronology and theory of Nolan and
Seyffarth, whose opinions are sustained by the ablest scholars.
But this work is by no means a "Book on Egypt." It professes to have
nothing more to do with Egyptian antiquities, mythology, chronology,
and history, than these naturally assemble about his subject, which
is, mainly, "The Bondage and Deliverance of the Children of Israel
from the Land of Egypt."
The plan upon which the author has constructed his work is similar to
that of "The Prince of the House of David;" viz., by presenting the
scenes and events he would describe, through a series of letters,
alleged to be written by one who is supposed to witness with his own
eyes what he is made to place before those of the reader.
As in "The Prince of the House of David," a young Jewish maiden is
supposed to witness many of the most remarkable scenes in the human
life of the Lord Jesus, and to write of them to her father in Egypt,
so in the present work a young prince of Phœnicia is made the
medium of communication between the author and his reader.
This prince, SESOSTRIS, the son of the king and queen of Phœnicia,
upon reaching the age of eight-and-twenty, prepares to go into Egypt,
for the purpose of studying the laws and arts, religion and government
of that country, which, at this period, was the most powerful kingdom
of the earth. Mistress of wisdom, learning, and letters, she drew to
her brilliant court youths, nobles, philosophers, and travellers of
all lands; as in later centuries, even in her decadence, Greece sent
her scholars there to be perfected in the sciences and philosophies of
her academies.
Young Sesostris takes leave of his mother, now a widowed queen, and
embarks in the royal galley at the marble pier of the palace of the
Isle of Tyre. He bears letters to Amense, the queen of Egypt,
commending him to her courtesy.
Between Egypt and Phœnicia existed bonds, not only of friendly
alliance, but of relationship. But few centuries had passed since a
king of Phœnicia, at the head of a vast army of Syrians, invaded
Egypt, and taking Memphis, set up a foreign throne in the valley of
the Nile.
Under this dynasty of conquerors, Joseph ruled in Egypt, and Jacob
dwelt; for, being Syrians, these new Pharaohs regarded with partiality
the descendants of Abraham, who was also "a Syrian."
But after the death of Joseph, not many years elapsed ere the Theban
kings of Upper Egypt invaded the Memphitic realm of the Nile, and,
overturning the power of this foreign dynasty, friendly to the sons of
Israel, re-established the native Egyptian monarchy, "which knew not
Joseph," nor recognized the descendants of Abraham dwelling in the
land. On the contrary, looking upon them as of similar lineage with
the expelled Syrian or Assyrian invaders, as they were equally called,
the new monarch and conqueror, AMOSIS, at once placed them in
subjection, and oppressed them with a bitter bondage.
This new Egyptian monarchy, under Pharaoh-Amosis, came into power
again, some years after the death of Joseph, during which period the
children of Israel had increased to a great people. For the space of
seventy years their oppression was continued by successive kings,
until, under Amenophis I. (the father of Amense, "Pharaoh's
daughter"), the alarming increase of the numbers of the Hebrews, led
this monarch to take harsher measures with them, "for the more they
afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew."[1] Fearing for the
stability of his kingdom, if they should rise upon their taskmasters,
and remembering the Syrian shepherd-kings, who had so lately ruled
Egypt, he issued the command for the destruction of all their male
children, as soon as born!
At the time of the promulgation of this sanguinary edict, Amense was a
young princess, to whose feet the little ark, containing the infant
Moses, God-directed, came.
The theory of Egyptian chronology which we have decided to follow,
represents this princess as the Queen of Egypt, at the time when we
present the Prince Sesostris of Tyre to the reader Under her wise
rule, Egypt had attained the culmination of its glory and power. Her
father, having died, after reigning twenty-two years, she began her
brilliant reign when Moses was twelve years of age--B. C. about 1560.
She had been upon the throne twenty-one years, when the Prince
Sesostris prepares to visit her court.
We will not longer delay presenting the reader to the Letters of
Prince Sesostris, trusting that this feeble attempt to illustrate one
of the most interesting periods of human history, as it might have
appeared to a stranger in Egypt, may lead to a study of the Old
Testament by many who are unfamiliar with its pages; and also show
how, in his dealings with Pharaoh, God wielded not merely an arbitrary
power, but that, in all the "mighty works" He did, He was striking at
Egypt's _gods_, and asserting His own Divinity, as the Only Living and
True God, "besides Whom there is none else."
THE AUTHOR.
HOLLY SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI,
_Jan. 1, 1859_.
NOTE.--The Egyptian scholar, the critic, and the Biblical student
are referred to the "Concluding Essay by the Author," in the Appendix,
at the close of the volume.
[1] Exodus ii.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
LETTERS OF SESOSTRIS TO QUEEN EPIPHIA.
LETTER I.
On, the City of the Sun--Grandeur of Egypt--Emotions at the sight of
its wonders of art and scenes of beauty--The Queen of the ancient
house of Pharaoh--Her son, Prince Remeses (Moses)--Tyre, and its
traffic with distant lands--Damascus--Voyage from Tyre to
Pelusium--Scene at the departure of the fleet--The Nile--Its
encroachments--First view of Egypt--Meeting with Egyptian
war-ship--Invitation to visit the Court of Queen Amense--Description
of Egyptian war-ship--Banquet on the Admiral's ship--Singular
custom--Panorama of the Nile--pp. 25-38.
LETTER II.
Love for native land--Avenue of temples and palaces--Sublime temple of
the Sun--Emblem of Osiris--Artificial canal--Gardens and circular
lake--Gathering of philosophers and scholars--Obelisks--Message from
Queen Amense--Great temple of Osiris--Splendid approach to the City of
the Sun--Row of sphinxes--Osiris and Isis--Colossi--An Arabian
charger--Magnificent scene--Spectacle of architectural grandeur--Beautiful
palace--Religious notions of the Egyptians--Personal appearance of the
Lord-prince Remeses (Moses)--View of the Desert--Hebrew
laborers--Interview with Remeses--pp. 39-52.
LETTER III.
Climate of Egypt--Eternal sunshine and crystalline atmosphere--Costume
of the Egyptian prince--Hieroglyphic writing--Legend of the Obelisk of
Mitres--More of the personal appearance of Remeses (Moses)--The Hebrew
prince Abram (the Patriarch)--His personal appearance--His
tomb--Interior of Egyptian palace--Egyptian Mythology--Mnevis, the
sacred ox--Legend of Osiris--Pantheism--Apis, or the sacred
bull--Out-of-door life at midday--Hebrews, under their taskmasters, in
the burning sun--Prospect from the terrace of the palace--Isle of
Rhoda, in the Nile--pp. 53-66.
LETTER IV.
Palace of Remeses--Invitation to meet the Queen--Costume of a prince
of Tyre--Egyptian chariots and horses--Nubian charioteer--Escort of
the Queen's body-guard--Pleasure chariots--The Queen in her
chariot--Beautiful lake--Sphinxes--Royal palace described--The
throne-room--The throne-chair of ivory--Its footstool and
canopy--Assembly of military princes--Magnificent attire, and splendid
appearance of Remeses (Moses)--Ceremony of presentation to the
Queen--Queen Amense; her appearance and costume--Termination of the
audience--pp. 67-80.
LETTER V.
Egyptian magnificence--Egyptian architecture--Osiride pillars--Vastness
of objects--Avenue of Sphinxes--Temple of the god Horus--The emblem of
Hor-hat--Court of Colonnades--Grand hall--Rich colors in
architecture--Sculpture--Bass-reliefs--Splendid temple--Chamber of art
and beauty--Magnificent review of the army of four thousand chariots
of iron--A warrior-prince in his war-chariot--Description of
war-chariot--Ethiopian slaves--Bewildering spectacle--Military and
civil homage to the Queen--The Lord of Uz (Job) described--Ceremonies
preparatory to a royal banquet--The banquet--Costly wine-goblets--Arabian
dancing-girls--Jugglers--Guests overcome by wine--pp. 81-98.
LETTER VI.
Visit from Prince Remeses (Moses)--Great gate of the city--Phalanx of
dark Libyan soldiers--Varied accomplishments of Remeses--Avenue of
gardens, villas, and lakes--Temples in circular lakes--Egyptian
field-laborers--Hebrew brick-makers--Description of this "mysterious"
race--Account of the mode of their toil--Cruelty of their
taskmasters--Emotions of pity at the sight of their sufferings--The
lash!--Beautiful Hebrew girls--Dwellings of brick-makers--Joseph--Scene
at the "Fountain of Strangers"--Distant view of the City of the
Sun--Of Raamses--Of the pyramids--Of the illimitable desert--Wounded
Hebrew youth at the Fountain of Strangers--Majestic old Hebrew beaten
by taskmasters--Touching scene--pp. 99-114.
LETTER VII.
Interview with the venerable Ben Isaac at the Well of the
Strangers--Raamses, the Treasure-city--Joseph's granary--Exquisite
temple of Apis--Beautiful young Hebrew girl pursued by the
taskmaster--Her rescue and story--The punishment of the
taskmaster--Intolerable burdens of the Hebrews--Garden of Flowers for
the use of the temple of Apis--Account of the Syrian prince Abram
(Abraham)--Of Melchisedec--Of the Hyksos, or Shepherd-Kings--Their
conquest of Egypt--The Princess Sara (wife of Abraham)--Prince Jacob
(the Patriarch) and his twelve sons--Joseph--Pharaoh's dream--Elevation
of Joseph--Monuments of his power--pp. 115-129.
LETTER VIII.
Eagles of prey--Account of the Hebrews--Imposing funeral of the
Patriarch Jacob--His powerful and able government--Overthrow of the
dynasty of the Shepherd-Kings--Dynasty of the Thebaïd--Flourishing
condition of the Hebrews in the land of Goshen, under the government
of Joseph--Aspirations after the One God--Reduction of the Hebrews to
servitude--Their rapid and miraculous increase--The massacre of their
male infants--Courageous affection of the Hebrew mothers--Egyptian
nurses sympathize with them--Infants hid--Queen Amense's
humanity--Courage and wisdom of many of the Hebrews--Exciting ride
past Joseph's ruined palace--Jacob's Well--The plain of the Hebrew
brick-makers--Death of a Hebrew under his taskmasters--Sculptured
obelisk of Queen Amense--Emotions of Syrian painters at sight of their
prince--pp. 130-144.
LETTER IX.
Reflections on the degradation of the Hebrews--Hebrew pages and maidens
in the service of Egyptian nobles--Amram, the palace gardener--Contrast
between the physiognomy of the Egyptians and Hebrews--Remarkable
likeness of Prince Remeses to the Israelites--Description of the
Lord-prince Mœris--He seeks a quarrel with Remeses--Illness of
Queen Amense--Filial devotion of Remeses--Magnificent prospect of the
Nile, the Plain of the Pyramids, the City of the Sun, Jizeh and
Memphis--Myriads of human beings at labor--Naval review and
sham-battle--Exciting scene of contending thousands--pp. 145-157.
LETTER X.
Recovery of Queen Amense--Gropings after the True God--Pleasure-galley
of the Nile--Voluptuous ease--River chant--Phœnician Mythology and
Learning--Procession of the Dead--Tradition of the universal Deluge
and of Noe-menes (Noah)--Myths of Ammon, and of Belus the Warrior-god
and Founder of Babylon--Nimrod's temple--Baalbec--Worship of the
Sun--Myths of Apis, Horus, Adonis, and Io--Magnificent worship of
Osiris and Isis--Mysteries of the temple of Tyre--Baal-phegor--Pillars
of the West--Marvels of foreign lands, and islands of wonderful
beauty--Men formed like monkeys--The edge of the world--A
sea-storm--Gulf down which the full sea plunges--Legends of the form
of the Earth; of its foundation; of its motion through space--pp.
158-172.
LETTER XI.
The beautiful Isle of Rhoda--Prince Mœris and his favorite
lion--Refinement of Egyptians--Polite observances at the reception of
visitors--Parting between Queen Amense and Remeses--Military
emblems--Magnificent display of the Egyptian "tented hosts"--Striking
religious and military display of the army--Columns formed of trophies
taken in battle--The chief priest of Mars--His gorgeous attire and
imposing ceremonies--Gigantic statue of Mars, in full armor--Offerings
of the soldiers--Invocation by the High-priest--Libations for the
army--Clouds of incense--Appearance of the beautiful daughters of the
priest--The musical sistrum--Sacred offices in the temple filled by
women--The Virgins of the Sun--Social position of Egyptian
women--Thrilling martial hymn chaunted by the priests, the army, and
the maiden--Sacrifice--Remeses reviews the army--Ethiopia--Description
of an Egyptian army; its tactics and weapons--The nations composing
it--pp. 173-190.
LETTER XII.
Immense military force of Egypt--Sublime sunrise--Morning hymn--Gala
of the resurrection of Osiris--Festivals to the gods--Visit to the
Queen--Glimpse of dark-eyed Egyptian girls--Their tasteful
dress--Life, manners, and customs of high-born Egyptian ladies--Their
high social estimation--Egyptians can have but one wife--Occupations
of ladies--Classifications of Egyptian society--The habitations of the
Egyptians--Family customs and gatherings--House of the Admiral
Pathromenes--Home-life of the Egyptians--pp. 191-208.
LETTER XIII.
Ancient worship of the gods on Libanus--Natural temples--Legend of the
weeping for Tammuz--Unsatisfactory nature of the worship of
idols--More aspirations and gropings after the true God--Where is the
Infinite?--There can be but one God!--His nature--Body-guard rowers of
Prince Remeses--Their captain--Nubian slaves--Great quay, or
landing-mart of Memphis--Merchants from all parts of the world--Street
lined with temples--Avenue of statues and columns--Memphis--Gradual
change of the true religion into idolatry--The four deified bulls of
Egypt--Sacred birds, serpents, scorpions, vegetables, and
monsters--pp. 209-225.
LETTER XIV.
Majestic temple of the sacred bull, Apis--Tyrian mariner torn to
pieces by the Egyptians for ignorantly killing a sacred cat--Imposing
worship of the deified bull--Description of the sacred animal--Costly
offerings at his shrine--An omen!--Tasteful palace of the hierarch of
the temple--Transmigration of souls--Brute incarnation of
deity--Tradition concerning Osiris--Foreshadowing of the coming of the
Invisible upon earth in human form--Lamentations upon the death of a
deified bull--His obsequies--Pomp and rejoicings over a new god,
Apis--Mausoleum of the Serapis--Sarcophagi--The Sarapeum--The Lady
Nelisa--Beautiful daughter of the priest of Mars--The Lake of the
Dead--Embalmers and their art--Customs attending death and
embalmment--Funeral procession of Rathmes, "lord of the royal
gardens"--The venerable head-gardener, Amram--The baris, or sacred
boat--pp. 226-244.
LETTER XV.
Conclusion of funeral ceremonies of the lord of the royal gardens--The
Sacred Way--Processions of mourners--Avenue to the tombs--The
"dead-life" of the Egyptians--Awful ceremony of the judgment of the
dead--Burial of the unworthy dead prohibited--False accusers stoned
away--Myth as to the state of the soul after death--Metempsychosis--The
mystery of the tribunal of Osiris--Reception of the justified soul
into the celestial kingdom--Doom of the reprobate soul--Monkeys,
emblems of the god Thoth--The gate of the pyramids--Colossal
Andro-sphinx, or Watcher before the pyramids--Beautiful temple of
Osiris--The twin pyramids, Cheops and Chephres--pp. 245-261.
LETTER XVI.
Continuation of description of the Pyramids--Colossal monolith of
Horus--Perilous ascent of Cheops--Prospect from a resting-place upon
the pyramid, four hundred feet in air--A prince of Midian falls from
Chephres--Magnificent view from the top of Cheops, six hundred feet in
air--Tombs of kings--The Giants before the Flood founders of the great
pyramids--Ancient appearance of pyramids--Greater duration of human
life--The third pyramid built by Amun, son of Noah--Egyptian tradition
of Noah and his sons--Entombment of Noah in Cheops, and the mourning
of the Nations--Verdant plain of the Nile--The desolation of the
Desert--Jizeh--Raamses and Pythom, the treasure-cities--The smiling
land of Goshen--Prophecy of an Unknown World, in the West--The sacred
papyri--Descent of the pyramid--Luxora, the beautiful daughter of the
high-priest--Her legend of the Emerald Table of Hermes--Osiria--pp.
262-276.
LETTER XVII.
The lovely Osiria's legend of King Saurid--Stately Hebrew
woman--Tradition of the construction of the larger pyramid--Its
foundations--Its gates--Its covering of silk--Its treasure-chambers and
magical guardians of stone and agate--Miriam, the papyrus-copier--Her
striking resemblance to Prince Remeses--The pyramid penetrated by a
Phœnician conqueror--Discovery of treasures--Mighty sarcophagus of
the dead monarch of two worlds, Noah--Chamber of the precession of the
equinoxes--Hall of the Universe--Pyramids built before the
Deluge--Configuration of the seven planets as at the Creation--Astrology--
Enigma of the Phœnix--The riddle solved--Nelisa--Interview with the
stately Miriam in the Hall of Books--pp. 277-293.
LETTER XVIII.
Tidings from Prince Remeses and the army--Antediluvian origin of the
pyramids--The barbaric King of Ethiopia, Occhoris--His body-guard of
Bellardines--His sacrilege in the temple of the sacred bull at
Thebes--Pious vengeance of the people--Visit of Remeses to the tomb of
his father--Remarkable conversation with Miriam, the papyrus-copier--
Description of Miriam--Ben Isaac and the lad Israel--Contempt of the
Egyptians for Israel--Religious and political degradation of the
Hebrews--Miriam declares the mystery of the God of her fathers--Her
denunciation of idol-worship--Miriam's occupation--The winged
asps--Interview with the Prince of Uz, Ra-Iub (Job)--Job speaks of the
ALMIGHTY!--Seems inspired of God--Tradition of a Day's-man, or
mediator--Job convinces Sesostris that there is but one God--pp.
294-313.
LETTER XIX.
Intelligence from Ethiopia--Remeses a conqueror--Great spoils--He
enters Memphis in triumphal array--His filial piety--The captive
Ethiopian king--Victorious army of one hundred thousand men in
triumphal procession--The Prince of Egypt in his war-chariot--Column
of twelve thousand Ethiopian captives--Description of the bands of
captives, and their treatment--Invocation of the victors in the great
temple of Pthah--Distinction between captives taken in war and the
Hebrews--pp. 314-330.
LETTER XX.
Delightful climate--Indolence and leisure by day--Spirit of life and
enjoyment reigns at night--Galley of a noble designedly runs down a
small baris--Handsome Hebrew--Another startling resemblance to Prince
Remeses!--The lad Israel again--Miriam, the papyrus-copier, the sister
of the handsome Hebrew--What he saw, in boyhood, beside the Nile--His
infant brother committed to the river--Subterranean chambers for
casting images of the gods--The Hebrew gives an account of his people
and his God--He mourns the oppression of his race--pp. 331-346.
LETTER XXI.
Thirty-fifth birthday of Prince Remeses--Queen Amense proposes to
abdicate in his favor--The Hebrew page, Israel--Melancholy of the
Queen--Prince Mœris--Moving interview between the Queen and
Remeses--He declines the throne of Egypt--A secret!--Prince Mœris
seeks the ruin of Remeses--A bribe!--Suspicion!--Terrible agitation of
the Queen--Attempt of Mœris to poison Amense at a banquet--Another
bribe--A mystery!--Remeses consents to accept the sceptre--pp.
347-363.
LETTER XXII.
Remeses prepares for his coronation by an initiation into the
mysteries of the temple--Power and influence of Egyptian
priesthood--Daily public duties of the Queen--Her attire--Her bathing
and dressing rooms--Skilful adornment of their hair by Egyptian
ladies--The Queen acts as chief priestess--Her delightful
hospitalities--Beautiful trait of character--Proposed succession of
Remeses--Solemn vigil, and other ceremonies of initiation--Remeses
shut out from the world in the gloom of the mysterious temple--
Israelisis with a message from the Queen--The Celestial Sea--A
courier from Mœris--Great distress and singular manner of the
Queen--A terrible secret--An impatient follower--pp. 364-380.
LETTER XXIII.
Revelations--Letter from Mœris--His haughty demand--Is Remeses the
son of Pharaoh's Daughter?--Another letter and another haughty demand
from Mœris--Still another--A doubt!--An investigation--Amense never
a mother!--Her descent to the Nile to bathe--The little ark of
basket-work and beautiful child--The princess adopts it--A
threat!--The Queen unfolds the terrible secret--Her agony of fear--Her
touching story of the discovery of the infant Remeses--She gains
resolution and defies Mœris--Remeses a Hebrew!--pp. 381-397.
LETTER XXIV.
Mournful reflections--Sacred poem by Remeses, being scenes in the life
of Job--Remeses discovers all--A sirocco of the soul--He narrates the
mysterious scenes of his initiation--Startling spectacles--Overwhelming
displays of enchantment and magic--Mysterious journey beneath the
pyramids--Labyrinthine catacomb--March of Time through the
heavens--Remeses alone beside the altar--Amense not his mother!--His
vision in the dark chamber of the pyramids--The massacre of the Hebrew
infants--Scene in the Hebrew hut--The mother and child--The babe
committed to the Nile--The little maid--The beautiful lady, Pharaoh's
Daughter--The Hebrew nurse--The image-caster--pp. 398-414.
LETTER XXV.
Continuation of vision of Remeses--Himself the child of his
vision--Mysterious voices in the vaulted chamber of the
pyramid--Mocking eyes--He flees--Tender interview between the Queen
and Remeses--He narrates his vision--The secret fully unveiled--
Discovery of a father, mother, brother, sister--Illness of the
Queen--She assembles the councils of the nation--Remeses renounces the
throne--Amense adopts Mœris--Her death--Amram--The mother of
Remeses--Miriam--Aaron--Egypt in mourning--Remeses assumes his Hebrew
name, Moses--Arts of magicians and sorcerers--pp. 415-431.
LETTERS BETWEEN REMESES (MOSES) AND OTHER PERSONS.
LETTER I.
Moses beholds the thousands of his countrymen under the lash of the
taskmasters--A prophecy--Visits Tyre and is cordially received by
Queen Epiphia--Tyre--Damascus--He meets the venerable Prince of Uz
(Job)--Nuptials of Sesostris--pp. 432-435.
LETTER II.
Defeat of the King of Cyprus by Sesostris--Moses in Syria--He journeys
to sit at the feet of Job--Cruelty of Pharaoh (Mœris)--The Lake
Amense--pp. 436-438.
LETTER III.
Moses visits Job--The wisdom of Job--His wealth and power--Moses
writes his life--Job leads Moses to the knowledge of the true God--pp.
439-441.
LETTER IV.
Mœris increases the burdens of the Hebrews--Tradition as to the
term of their servitude--Nearly accomplished--Moses, in Syria, yearns
to be with his brethren in Egypt--pp. 442-444.
LETTER V.
Moses determines to visit Egypt--Receives from Job the history of the
Creation--Job's piety and his favor with God--Prayer the path to the
throne of God--King Sesostris and Queen Thamonda--Israelisis--pp.
445-448.
LETTER VI.
Moses departs for Egypt--The Illimitable Sea--Reflections upon the
infinity of God--A storm--Despair of passengers--Their gods unavailing
to save--Moses invokes the true God--The storm ceases--The crowd offer
divine honors to Moses--His anger at their sacrilege--He arrives in
Egypt--Is in the bosom of his family--Oppression of the Hebrews--Their
miraculous increase--Tradition of God's revelation of Himself to
Abram--A miracle!--God's command to Abraham--His obedience--God's
promise--The fulness of time at hand--Woman of salt--City of
Salem--Moses strives to arouse the Hebrews--He is doubted and
discredited--pp. 449-461.
LETTER VII.
Moses, in disguise, sees King Mœris amid his chief captains--
Terrible cruelties inflicted upon the Hebrews--Taskmaster
pursues a Hebrew youth, to kill him--Moses slays the taskmaster--Comes
upon two Hebrews in altercation--He rebukes them--They threaten to
expose him to Pharaoh for slaying the Egyptian--Prophetic inspiration
of Amram, the father of Moses--Moses flees from Egypt--pp. 462-467.
LETTERS OF REMESES OF DAMASCUS TO HIS FATHER, KING SESOSTRIS.
LETTER I.
The young prince visits Egypt--The acts of the Egyptian kings--The
reign of Mœris--He constructs an immense lake--Inauguration of a
temple--Splendid spectacle of idol-worship--Plain of the
Mummies--Enlargement of Memphis--Discovery of treasures beneath the
Sphinx before Chephres--The captive King Occhoris--Increase of
Hebrews--Character of the reigning Pharaoh--His cruelty to the
Hebrews--Good feeling between Hebrew and Egyptian women--Intelligence
of the long-absent Remeses (Moses)--pp. 468-476.
LETTER II.
A caravan from Ezion-geber--Its governor a Midianite--Prince
Jethro--Abram--Moses in Midian--The young prince determines to
accompany the caravan into Midian, and to seek Moses--pp. 477-481.
LETTER III.
Moses to his old friend Sesostris--Account of his mode of life--His
meditations upon the oppression of his nation, and upon the character
of their predicted Deliverer--Is inspired to write a narrative of the
Creation of the World--pp. 482-484.
LETTER IV.
Journey across the desert--Mount Horeb--Moses, standing upon a
mountain-rock--Affecting interview--Grotto of Moses--His wife and
sons--Story of his rescue of the daughters of Jethro at the well--His
sublime teachings--Will he be the Deliverer?--View from Mount
Horeb--Aaron--Miriam--pp. 485-490.
LETTER V.
Moses leads his flock to a secluded valley--Wonderful appearance of
the Burning Bush--Astonishment of the shepherds--The Voice in the
midst of the fire--God reveals Himself to Moses, and commissions him
to lead forth the people--The humility of Moses--His staff converted
into a living serpent--The leprous hand--Moses hesitates--The Lord
rebukes him, and the flame in the bush shoots fiery tongues--Aaron to
be the mouth-piece of the Lord--Miraculously advised, Aaron comes to
Moses--Moses converts his staff into a serpent, before Aaron--He
obtains the consent of Jethro to his departure from Midian--Moses in
Egypt--Sends messengers to summon the elders of Israel to meet him at
Jacob's well--Pharaoh's cruel designs against the Hebrews--pp.
491-503.
LETTER VI.
Midnight meeting of the elders of Israel--Jacob's well a source of
superstitious dread to the Egyptians--Beautiful moonlight scene--Moses
opens his errand from the Most High--Aaron unfolds the traditional
promises--Unbelieving Hebrews--Terrible means used for their
conviction--Korah persists in unbelief--His punishment and horror--The
assembly dissolves--pp. 504-508.
LETTER VII.
Moses goes before Pharaoh--Amazement of the Egyptian courtiers--Harshness
of Pharaoh--Moses delivers God's message--Pharaoh defies the Living
God--He is overcome by his emotion, but hardens his heart--New toils
devised for the Hebrews--pp. 509-513.
LETTER VIII.
The rod! the whip! the cry of the sufferers!--The Hebrews reproach
Moses and Aaron--Moses appeals to the Lord--Seeks to comfort his
brethren with the words of the Most High--Hope dies in their
hearts--Pharaoh redoubles his worship of all manner of idols--He
curses God--Sacrifices a living Hebrew child to the Nile--Sacrifices a
Nubian slave to Typhon--Invokes his idol-god against the God of
Moses--A secret dread--Children of Israel groan under oppression--pp.
514-522.
LETTER IX.
Moses and Aaron again seek Pharaoh, and demand the freedom of
Israel--He requires a miracle--Miracle of Moses' rod--Jambres and
Jannes, the magicians--They convert their rods into serpents--Moses'
serpent destroys theirs--The brothers confront the King at the river's
side--He defies their God--The Nile runs blood--Goshen, the land of
the Hebrews, sparkles with clear water--Jambres again appealed to--The
plague of the frogs--Jambres and Jannes produce, but cannot remove
them--Pharaoh relents, and the plague is stayed--The plague of
lice--Jambres and Jannes disgraced--God speaks to Moses by the well of
Jacob--The plague of flies--Pharaoh again relents--He hardens his
heart, and God sends a pestilence upon the cattle--God again speaks to
Moses beside the well--The plague of boils--Goshen unharmed--God
threatens further vengeance upon Pharaoh--pp. 523-538.
LETTER X.
Moses denounces the plague of thunder and hail against Egypt--Grand
gathering of the storm of God's anger--The storm hangs over Goshen but
harms it not--The purpose of God in these judgments--Terror of
Pharaoh--Agrees to let Israel go--Scene of desolation and
death--Pharaoh seeks to drown his terror in a banquet--In his revels
curses God--Again refuses to let the people go--He vacillates--Orders
Moses and Aaron to be thrust from the palace--The plague of the
locusts--Despair of the Egyptians--Pharaoh acknowledges his sin--The
plague ceases--Character of Pharaoh--The plague of darkness--Description
of the plague--Pharaoh unequal to the combat with God--His rage
against Moses--Moses denounces upon Pharaoh God's last and terrible
judgment--The Egyptians deify him--pp. 539-558.
LETTER XI.
Moses and Aaron call the elders of Israel together--The Passover
Instituted--The Hebrews cease work--They all flock to Goshen--Moses
deified by priests in the temples--Hopefulness of the Hebrews--The
sprinkling--Egyptians seek refuge with the Hebrews--Silence of
expectation--Awful vision of the Angel of the Lord in the Pillar of
Fire--A cry from Egypt--Messengers from Pharaoh to Moses--Amunophis,
the son of Pharaoh, slain by the Angel of the Lord--Egyptians implore
Moses to depart--Israel marshalled--Guided by the Pillar of Fire, the
Hebrew host leave Egypt--The Lamb of God prefigured--Moses explains
the lessons of God's judgments--pp. 559-575.
LETTER XII.
The departure--Sarcophagus containing the embalmed body of Joseph--The
Shekinah--Succoth--Etham--Pi-hahiroth--Migdol--Hebrews inclosed
between the mountains and the sea--Calm confidence of Moses--Fulfilment
of prophecy--Pharaoh determines to destroy the entangled
Hebrews--Gathers a mighty host and follows in pursuit--Dismay of the
Hebrews--The Egyptian army comes in sight--The elders reproach
Moses--He calls upon God--The Voice of the Lord--The Pillar of Cloud
and the Pillar of Fire--The sea--Israel in the midst of the sea--The
procession--The pursuit--Frantic terror of Pharaoh and his army--Their
destruction--Israel filled with awe and gratitude--They go into the
wilderness--The bitter waters--Journey abounding in miracles--The rock
in Horeb--God's awful presence on Horeb--Moses disappears in the mount
of God--The people murmur--They demand a god--They sacrifice to a
molten calf--An indignant God!--Terrible vengeance upon the
offenders--Joshua--pp. 576-596.
APPENDIX.
The author to the scholar and critic--pp. 597-600.
THE PILLAR OF FIRE,
OR ISRAEL IN BONDAGE.
LETTERS OF SESOSTRIS TO QUEEN EPIPHIA.
LETTER I.
PRINCE SESOSTRIS
TO HIS ROYAL MOTHER, EPIPHIA,
QUEEN OF PHŒNICIA.
At length, my dear mother, I have reached the "Land of the Seven
Rivers," and do now write to you from her gorgeous capital, ON, The
City of the Sun.
How shall I describe to you the grand and solemn magnificence of this
city of divine temples, and convey to you a just idea of its palaces
that seem rather to have been erected for the abodes of gods than of
men!
Wheresoever I turn my eyes, I realize that I am in mighty Egypt; for
everywhere I behold grandeur and glory, excellency and perfection.
Every object illustrates the power, munificence, and taste of the
imperial princess who now sits on the throne of the Pharaohs, and the
splendor of whose reign has raised Egypt above the mightiest empires
of the earth.
And all that I behold recalls the ancient glory, my dear mother, of
our own land, the once princely Palestina and Phœnicia,--twin
kingdoms which of old gave conquerors, and rulers, and laws to Egypt,
under the short but brilliant dynasty of her Shepherd Kings! But,
though fading with age, Phœnicia still lives in the beauty, pride,
and power of her daughter Egypt.
I will not lament over the waning glory of my own dear land, my royal
mother, while I can see it revived here with increased magnificence.
Phœnicia is not dead while Egypt lives. Every ruin in my own
kingdom is restored with augmented beauty and splendor on the green
plains of this land of the shining River, whose fountain-head is
underneath the throne of Thoth, far in the southern sky.
How shall I describe what I behold? Every new object enchants me, and
moves my soul with a fresh pleasure. I am intoxicated, not with wine,
but with the splendor of art and scenes of beauty, and with
manifestations of human glory and power hitherto inconceivable. I have
heard my royal father describe the glory of Salem in Palestine, under
the princes of the dynasty of Melchisedec, with its gorgeous temples
to the Sun, and its palaces of marble, its hanging gardens, and noble
terraces overlooking its flower-enamelled valleys; but the cities of
Egypt surpass this Syriac magnificence.
In coming hither, across the Levantine seas, from Syria, I seem to
have crossed to the shores of that mystic world where dwell the sacred
divinities, rather than only to another land of the plane of the
earth; for Egypt, compared with the kingdom of Phœnicia seems truly
the land of the blessed. What far-famed warriors! what stately
priests, clothed with power from the gods! what superb princes! what a
majestic queen! what grace and dignity in the virgins of the Sun! what
a stupendous system of worship! what mighty mausoleums, both tomb and
temple, rising like mountains hewn into solid triangles everywhere
over the illimitable plain! What a land of verdure and of
flowers!--land of gardens and palaces, obelisks and fountains, fanes
and altars, sphinxes and gigantic statues!--land, comprising all that
can delight the heart or take captive the sense!
I ask myself--Am I, indeed, in Egypt, the "Land shadowing with wings,"
as those proud Pharaohs, Thothmeses I. and II., termed it, upon their
winged globe-carved shields?--am I in Egypt, the glory of the earth,
the kingdom above all kingdoms, whose queen is above all the monarchs
that reign, and before the elevation of whose golden sceptre all
sceptres fall?
I have not yet, my dearest mother, seen, save at a distance, as she
was ascending the steps of her palace, this mighty queen of the
ancient house of the Pharaohs; but the third day hence I shall be
formally presented to her in the throne-room, where she receives the
ambassadors and princes of the nations who come into Egypt either to
learn arts or arms, or to behold the magnificence of her empire, or to
study the religion, laws, and government of a nation, the fame of
which has filled the earth.
Upon my arrival with my galleys off the mouths of the Nile, I
forwarded to her, by a private messenger in my gilded barge, the
letters written by your loving hand and sealed with the regal signet
of your kingdom, commending me to her personal favor and royal
consideration.
Although I have not yet been presented to the court, I have seen, and
must describe to you, the royal son of Queen Amense--this proud
daughter of the Pharaohs--Prince Remeses. Never did the gods set their
seal upon a nobler and truer prince. Every movement of his stately and
graceful person, his rich voice, his superb height, his lordly eyes,
his majestic yet winning carriage, all bespeak a youth born to
empire--created for dominion over men.
He is now in his thirty-fourth year, and is in the full glory of
manhood. He is skilled in all the arts of war, and not less celebrated
for his learning in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Sages and
philosophers listen to his words when he converses, not so much with
the deference that is the homage due to rank, as with the attention
which intelligence lends to superior wisdom.
He received me with kindness and embraced me with affection, inquiring
after the welfare of my royal mother, and welcoming me to his country
with gracious and courteous words. Notwithstanding there is a
difference of six years in our ages, I feel that I shall be regarded
by him on terms of equal friendship, and that to his companionship I
shall owe the happiest hours I may pass in the land of Egypt.
But, dear mother, as I promised to write you an account of my voyage
hither, with the adventures and scenes thereof worthy of your notice,
I will devote the remainder of my letter to this subject.
When I took leave of you on the marble steps of the stately pier which
extends along the front of our palace, and had stepped upon the deck
of my galley, I felt that a twofold cord had parted at my heart,--one
which bound me to thee, O mother, from whom I had never before been
separated, and one which tied me to my native land.
Although for the first time in command of a beautiful fleet, numbering
a score and ten galleys, and about to visit the fairest of all realms
under the sunny skies of Afric, yet the pang of this twofold
separation deeply grieved my soul. It was with tears glittering upon
my eyelids that I gazed upon you, as you waved your adieux and called
on the god of our race to bless me! It was with a voice thick with
emotion that I gave orders to the admiral to spread the purple sails
of my golden galley to the favoring breezes which seemed to be sent in
answer to your prayers.
Long I stood upon the lofty poop of my ship, gazing towards the
receding city, with its noble lines of palaces, its crowning temples,
its familiar groves, and pleasant gardens. (Even now I am moved as I
recall the sweet emotions of that time.) As I surveyed the fleets of
merchantmen from all lands gathered about her piers and anchored in
the haven, I felt my sorrow at parting, yielding gradually to a
feeling of pride that I was the prince of the great city to which
these argosies came bearing the merchants of all the earth. Indeed it
was a noble and stirring sight, dear mother, and calculated to divert
my thoughts, to see these ships, as my galley passed through them,
lower their banners, or elevate their rows of shining oars high in the
air, both in homage and farewell to the departing lord of the port.
There were vessels for bringing the merchandise of gold, and silver,
and precious stones from unknown seas; galleys from Tarsus and the
isles of the West, bearing pearls, and coral, and precious woods, and
thyme-wood; gayly decked barges, that carry fine linen, and purple,
and silk, and scarlet down to Egypt from Syria; painted ships from the
Nile, that receive by caravans from Ind and the East cinnamon, and
odors, and ointments, and frankincense, and ivory, and diamonds; the
low dark galleys from Afric, that bring Ethiopian slaves; and the
broad heavier vessels from the Delta, laden with wheat and fine flour!
There were also the strong craft from Colchis and the North, with
iron, and brass, and marble; and oaken argosies from further
Britannia, bringing tin; tall ships from Græcia with horses and
chariots; while from the south shores of the summery seas were light,
graceful vessels laden with dainty and goodly fruits, and birds of
gorgeous plumes and of ravishing songs! All these annually lay their
treasures at thy feet!
As I moved slowly in my galley through the rich fleet of ships which
filled your haven, I felt my heart beat quicker, and I returned the
salutations of the ship-masters and of the foreign merchants on their
decks, with smiles of gratification at the prosperity still at least
of our port of Tyre; though the half our realm has been lost by
invasion and our interior cities are decaying. So long as Damascus and
Tyre remain, dear mother, those two eyes of your kingdom, your power
and throne will stand. The decadence of our sister city Sidon will not
affect our prosperity, since her ships will flock to Tyre. Yet Sidon
will rise again, if in my power to restore it.
I remained upon the poop of my ship until we had passed, not only the
fleet of merchant galleys, but the fourscore war-ships with their
hundred banks of oars, that ever guard the entrance to the port with
vigilant eyes and arms. The sun was gilding with his setting beams the
battlements of the temple of Hercules; and the columns of the graceful
temple of Io were richly roseate in the blushing glory of his
radiance. The last object on which my eye rested was the gilded gate
of the gorgeous Fane of Nyeth on Lebanon; and I sent from my lips a
prayer to the fair and kind-hearted goddess to guard thee, mother, and
me for thy sake.
We soon passed the bright red Pharos, from the lofty lantern of which,
as the shades of evening rapidly fell around us, streamed forth like a
new-born star its cheering splendor for the haven-bound mariner. Soon
in the heavens over us other lights were kindled by the gods; and the
moon, rising over the lofty mountain-range of Libanus, made far out
upon the sea a path of light, that seemed like a band of silver with
which she would bind me still to the shores I was leaving! But in
Egypt I yet behold the same moon shine down upon me with familiar
radiance; and as I gaze upon her I can feel, that even here she is a
link to bind me to my native land--that upon her winged beams I can
send a thought to my dear mother, on whom also she shines.
My whole fleet got well out of the port before the star Aldebaran
rose; and as the breeze was light, the governors of the rowers
commanded them to ply their oars. Thus with the fall of a thousand
sweeps into the blue sea at one motion, keeping time to the voice of a
singer who stood upon the bridge across the mid-ship, we kept our
course down the coast of Palestine. We would have steered directly for
the Delta of the Nile, but had knowledge, by a vessel that met us, of
a fleet of Rhodian pirates, which lay wait, in that vicinity, for the
Egyptian merchant-ships; and, as my galleys were rather an escort of
honor than a war-fleet, I did not wish to measure my strength with
them, but dispatched one of my ships, the same night, back to Tyre, to
the admiral of your Tyrian fleet, who, no doubt, has gone out ere this
in pursuit of these sea-rovers and enemies of our commerce.
Nevertheless, after we had passed Jaffa, and the next day Ascalon in
lower Philistia, we beheld half a score of ships of doubtful
appearance, and, by my orders, six galleys were detached from the
fleet and gave chase. They proved to be fast-sailing Ionian pirates,
for one of them, being crippled, was overtaken. They had been many
weeks on the sea, and were returning to their own distant and
barbarous islands, richly laden. The captain of the galley took out
her merchandise, and precious stones, and spices, of which she had
robbed other ships, and burned her on the sea, with all the wretches
who appertained to her.
The shores of Egypt were reached by us on the seventh day, without any
accident to my fleet. It was two hours after the sun rose that we came
in view of the low line of land which marks the entrance to the
"Garden of the World," and from which open the seven gates of the Nile
into the great blue sea.
Upon ascending to the castle for bowmen on the highest mast of the
ship, I could discern the tall columns erected by King Menes at the
chief entrance of the river, from the summit of each of which at night
blazes a wonderful flame, said to have been invented by the Magi of
Egypt. As our galley rowed nearer the faint line of coast, I could see
numerous ships coming out and entering the Pelusian branch of the
Nile,--some of them in the interior so far, that only their tops could
be seen above the level land. I was now suddenly surprised with a
change in the color of the sea, which, from an emerald green, became
clouded with an intermixture of tawny water, thick with mud, that
seemed to flow upon the surface of the sea, as if lighter than itself.
I soon perceived that this was the outrush of the river against the
sea, with which it refused wholly to intermingle and lose itself,--as
if the proud Father Nilus reluctantly yielded his power, so long
wielded for a thousand miles, to the sceptre and dominion of the god
of the Mediterranean. Yet the latter--so vast was the volume of the
yellow waves of the former--was forced a league from the shore before
the conquered Nile ceased to resist his fate.