ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES. It is worthy of notice, also, that "the land of Goshen" appears to have been a border province, situated on the north-eastern frontier of Egypt, and was therefore exposed to the ravages of the nomad tribes of South-Western Asia. From this quarter the Valley of the Nile was successively invaded and conquered by the Persians, the Macedonians, the Arabs, and the Turks; and it is evident that, in the days of Joseph, it was regarded as the most vulnerable part of the country. It seems to have been the first district which the shepherds occupied when they invaded Egypt, and the last from which they retired. It was a tract of country peculiarly suitable for the pasturage of cattle; and as the Egyptians were not a pastoral people, it had probably remained in a great measure unoccupied during the short period that elapsed between the expulsion of the shepherds and the arrival of Jacob and his family. This will account for its being so readily assigned to the Hebrews, who, being a pastoral people, were most naturally placed in a district from which a pastoral tribe had just been expelled. Thus Joseph, even before the arrival of his father and brethren in Egypt, at once promises that they should dwell in the land of Goshen; and, when they were about to be presented to Pharaoh, he tells them: "Ye shall say, Thy servants' trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen;" which seems to indicate both that the land remained unoccupied, and his conviction that Pharaoh would at once assign that territory to them as soon as he knew that they were shepherds. This assignment of Goshen to the Hebrews, as Dr Hales justly remarks, was no less wise than liberal policy on the part of the Egyptian monarch; as this "nakedness of the land"-literally "the defenceless part of the country" -the barrier towards Palestine and Arabia-the quarters from which invasion was most dreaded-was in a short time covered by a numerous, brave, and industrious people, amply repaying, by the additional security and resources which they gave to Egypt, their hospitable reception and naturalization.* Manetho (a priest who, about 180 B.C., translated into Greek the Annals of the Ancient Kings of Egypt), and after him Josephus, have strangely confounded the shepherds with the Israelites. This theory, though strenuously supported by Hengstenberg, may now be regarded as completely exploded. From the name Scios given to them on the monuments, and from their physical appearance, there is every probability that they were a Scythian race, driven upon Egypt "by the general pressure of population from the north-east towards the south-west, which led the nomad Shemitic tribes first to overcome the original inhabitants of Palestine, and, continuing in the same line of advance, then to enter and subdue Egypt.” There is a remarkable scene depicted in a tomb at Beni-Hassan, which is now generally supposed to be a representation of the arrival of Jacob's family in Egypt. A royal scribe or secretary of state ushers into the presence of a viceroy of the reigning Pharaoh ten men and one lad, accompanied by several females, * Pictorial Bible, vol. i., p. 126, 127. 45 two children, and a number of attendants. The two foremost of the strangers bring as presents the antelope and the ibix of Lebanon. The others are armed with clubs, spe:.rs, bows and arrows; and one of them carries and performs on a lyre, which has been by antiquarians identified with the Jewish "Chinnor." They are accompanied by two asses of the desert, which carry two children, together with the arms of the party, and the leather water bottles, such as are still used for carrying water through the deserts of Arabia. The men wear many-coloured tunics, and sandals; and all have beards, "contrary to the custom of the Egyptians, although very general in the East at that period, and represented in their sculptures as a peculiarity of foreign uncivilized nations." The females wear tunics of the same primitive character, dyed with a peculiar pattern of stripes, intermixed with waved lines, and short leather boots, which are never worn by the Egyptian females. These are the main points of the painting, which is believed to have a direct reference to the arrival of Jacob's family in Egypt, on the following grounds: The owner of the tomb was governor of the district in the neighbourhood of Goshen, where the Jews afterwards settled. The name of the royal secretary who introduces them is written "Jusuf"-the present Eastern name for Joseph. Their number, ten men and a lad, corresponds exactly with that of Joseph's brethren. They have evidently just crossed the desert, and the animals they bring indicate their Judean locality. The words Nazareth and Sichem can be traced on the accompanying inscription. And finally, their Hebrew physiognomies and costume, all point to the same conclusion, and bear striking corroborative evidence to the truth of the Mosaic record. There is another well known picture, termed by Rosellini, "the Jewish brickmakers," copied from the tomb of the chief architect of one of the Pharaohs, which was in all probability intended as a representation of the scene described by Moses, when it is said, "The Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field." "And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to-day, as heretofore ?" The picture referred to represents a number of workmen or slaves, with countenances undeniably Jewish, engaged in the various parts of the process of brickmaking, cutting out the bricks, moulding them, and spreading them out to dry in the sun-their beards half-grown-their limbs bespattered with mud, and their Egyptian taskmasters with the scourge superintending their labour. To the right of the picture two of the Egyptian officers, distinguished from the Israelites by their head-dresses and complexion, are represented as compelled, by the blows of the taskmasters, to bear the vessels of clay, and the brick yoke, and to complete the work which the slaves under their charge had failed to perform. "Of the labourers," says Rosellini, "some are employed in transporting the clay in vessels, some in intermingling it with the straw; others are taking the bricks out of the furnace and placing them in rows; and others, with a piece of wood upon their backs, and ropes on each side, carry away the bricks already burned or dried. Their dissimilarity to the Egyptians appears at the first view; their complexion, physiognomy, and beard, permit us not to be mistaken in supposing them to be Hebrews. They wear, at the hips, the apron which is common among the Egyptians; and there is also represented as in use among them a kind of short trowsers. Among the Hebrews, four Egyptians, very distinguishable by their mien, figure, and colour, are scen; two of them, one sitting and the other standing, carry a stick in their hand, ready to fall upon two other Egyptians, who are here represented like the Hebrews-one of them carrying on his shoulder a vessel of clay, and the other returning from the transportation of brick, carrying his empty vessel to get a new load. The tomb in which this picture was found, was made in the time of the fifth king of the eighteenth dynasty, and belonged to Rochscere, who was overseer of the public buildings, and had, consequently, the charge of all the works undertaken by the king." The scene depicted in this sketch derives additional light from a spectacle witnessed by Carne, at Alexandria, during the progress of the canal which Mehemet Ali compelled one hundred and fifty thousand men, chiefly Arabs from Upper Egypt, to construct, for the purpose of connecting the Nile with the sea. "The bed of the canal presented a novel spectacle, being filled with a vast number of Arabs of various colours, toiling in the intense heat of the day; while their Egyptian taskmasters, with whips in their hands, watched the progress of their labour. It was a just and a lively representation of the children of Israel, forced to toil by their oppressive masters of old. The wages Mahmoud allowed to these unfortunate people, whom he had obliged to quit their homes and families in Upper Egypt, were only a penny a-day, and a ration of bread." Twenty thousand of their number perished during the progress of the work. SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS. "They found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands."-? KINGS ix. 35. Ir may appear somewhat extraordinary, but it is true, that, although the hyena, jackal, and pariah dogs of India greedily devour human flesh whenever they may come across it, yet do they, owing to some instinctive and inherent prejudice, invariably abandon the hands and feet of such corpses as they may have in every other respect consumed. And this remark holds generally good in all parts of the East. On the arid sands of Juggernaut, where the pilgrims die by hundreds and thousands throughout the year, from the effects of disease and famine, and whose remains are devoured by the dogs and other obscene animals (there being no hand near that will, on account of caste, afford burial), the former fact is fully established and confirmed. On one occasion it happened that a ferry-boat, laden with pilgrims, was in the act of effecting a transit over the Subunreeka River, near the village of Jellasore, in the height of the rainy monsoon, and from its having been overladen with passengers, it was swamped; and, owing to the fearful impetuosity of the torrent, the whole of the party were drowned; and in the course of a week after wards, when the floods had subsided, the sands were chequered with the skeletons of some forty human beings, the same having been denuded of the flesh by entire and untouched were the insides of the hands, dogs and jackals. The only parts which remained and the bottoms of the feet; and whilst I stood gazing a while upon the solemn and distressing spectacle, it brought to my mind the remarkable passage contained in the Second Book of Kings, which relates to the unhappy fate of Jezebel, who, it is recorded mained of her but the palms of her hands, and the therein, "was devoured of dogs, and nothing resoles of her feet." Thus the truth of the above passage is supported by similar occurrences borne witness to in modern times by eastern travellers.-Correspondent of Morning Post. "Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings."-MAL. iv. 2. AMONG the Egyptians a winged sun was the emblem of an active, superintending, and protecting Providence. The figure of such a sun may be found, February 17, 1844; the orb appearing in the centre among other Egyptian symbols, in the Athenæum of of two elongated wings. 66 It is remarkable that most, if not all, of the best commentators consider the word "wings," in the passage quoted above as "rays," in order to make any sense of the passage; but this reference to the Bishop Newcombe, and, after him, Scott, alike supEgyptian mythology appears to offer the best solution. pose "wings" to be a metaphor for "beams." Bishop Beveridge also reads "rays" for "wings," which D'Oly and Mant adopt; while Diodati does not notice the word. Henry interprets "wings" by beams;" but Calmet supposes "wings" to be put metaphorically for the sun's swiftness of motion, Pole and Cruden are alike unsatisfactory; all which thus accrediting one sense of the Egyptian emblem. is the more remarkable, as the orginal word has no such meaning as " 91 ray or "beam" affixed to it in the senses given by Gesenius in his Lexicon; and as original word "wings." the Septuagint version (like our own) renders the If this view of the prophet's reference to the ancient emblem be correct, it is as if he had said: The Sun of Righteousness, which shall enlighten true believers (superior to the natural sun, which is symbolized with wings,' as illustrating the superintending agency of the God of providence), shall have superadded to all this natural energy, the spiritual principle and saving property, proceeding from the God of grace, which are for the healing of the nations." -Poynder's Literary Extracts. THE FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE. AMONG the martyrs who suffered in the persecutions that the Roman emperors raised against the early Christians, there were forty who endured martyrdom at the same time, in the city of Sebaste, in Armenia, a country of the East. They all belonged to the Roman army, and were in the strength and vigour of their age. They had received many rewards for their valour, and had been advanced to places of trust. But these earthly honours were not what most occupied their minds-they had become Christians, and were leading Christian lives. The general idols; and he thought, that in order to conquer the of the army was a Heathen, devoted to the service of enemy, he must sacrifice these Christians to the honour of his false gods. These faithful soldiers of Christ did not deny their profession; they refused LEARNING AND DOING. to offer sacrifice to the idols, and were brought publicly before the judgment-seat on their refusal. When they received the emperor's order to obey, they answered boldly that they were Christians, and that no tortures with which they could be threatened should force them to forsake their religion. Upon this they were cruelly tortured, and then put in prison, and confined there for a week, being fastened together by chains. It was the end of the winter, which is very cold in Armenia; and an east wind, which blew at that time, increased the severity of the cold. The judge ordered these holy men to be stripped of their clothing, and exposed to the frost during the coldest part of the night, till the violence of it should cause their death. They went cheerfully to the place of their punishment, which was close to the public baths, that they might see relief at hand, if they were overcome with pain, and ready to deny their faith. Amongst the various words with which they encouraged each other, they all prayed together to God that he would preserve their number complete. This was fulfilled, but in a different sense from that in which they intended it, and may remind us of the fall of Judas, and the election of St Matthias. One of these forty fellow-sufferers yielded, and was carried into the baths to be restored by the warmth of the fire; but he did not save his temporal life, for he died as soon as he was brought in there. His place was supplied with a soldier who had charge of the baths, and who had been watching the martyrs; he hastened to join them, crying out that he was a Christian. He was bound with chains, and placed among them. At last they all expired from the cold; and their dead bodies were heaped together and carried away to be consumed by fire. The youngest of all these martyrs, whose name was Meliton, was still living after all the rest were dead; the executioners brought his mother to him, hoping that she would persuade him to deny his faith, and live. She was a poor woman, and a widow; but she had brought up her son in the knowledge of true wisdom. She now came to him, and found his limbs frozen, his breath short, and his speech gone; he could only look at her, and made signs to endeavour to console her. She exhorted him to persevere unto the end; and then with her own hands laid him on the chariot where the dead bodies of his companions had been placed, and followed him rejoicing in his victory. This is said to have happened in the month of March. THE GENIUS OF SPRING. "To cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth." From the budding boughs of the flowering tree, O'er these vernal children of the earth Fertile wreaths of the regal rose, And "blossom-showers," like the cistus snows. All ye that hear the glad "voice of Spring," 47 CONSCIENCE AND THE CONFESSIONAL. IN a town in Massachusetts a Roman Catholic had stolen an axe, and had it in his possession a year or two. In conversation with the Protestant minister of the place, he told him that his stealing the axe lay very heavy on his mind, and that he wanted to go to pardoned. The minister advised him to return the Boston to confess to the priest, that he might be axe to its lawful owner, and confess the injury that he had done to him. He replied that he wanted to keep the are, for he feared that he should not get another as good. He wished to confess to the priest, and yet retain the stolen property. If he could only confess, the burden that lay so heavily upon his mind would be removed. Such is the education which the conscience gets at the confessional. To steal is nothing, and to keep stolen goods is nothing; but not to confess to the priest is a damning sin! What am I? Where am I? TWO QUESTIÓNS. 1. What am I? Am I a child of God or not? Am I sincere in religion, or am I only a hypocrite under a profession? 2. Where am I? Am I yet in a natural state, or a state of grace? Am I yet in the old root-in old Adam? or am I in the root Christ Jesus? Am I in the covenant of works, that ministers only wrath and death? or am I in the covenant of grace, that ministers life and peace?--Mead. LEARNING AND DOING. "THE sheep, when they have been feeding, do not carry to their shepherds the grass itself, to show them how much they have eaten; but, having digested it, they produce wool and milk in return. In like manner, do not you be in haste to show to the ignorant the words you have learned, but rather the good works which come from the inward digesting of them."-Epictetus. From this Heathen we may all take a useful hint. If we were as anxious to bring forth the fruits of the Gospel, as to show how much we know of the Gospel. it would be better for us and for the world. HINTS FOR DAILY PRACTICE. 1. Come by faith to the blood of Christ, that all your sins may be pardoned.-Lev. xvi. 11; Heb. ix. 14, 28; Eph. i. 7, ii. 13; 1 Pet. i. 19; 1 John i. 7. 2. Seek by prayer the help of the Holy Spirit.Luke xi. 13; Rom. viii. 26, 27; Gal. v. 22, 23; Eph. ii. 18; James iii. 17. 3. Try to recollect continually that God is always present, knowing every thought you think, hearing every word you speak, and observing everything you do. Prov. xv. 3; Ps. cxxxix. 2–4, 12; Ezek. xi. 5; Heb. iv. 13. 4. Live upon Christ as the life-giving root of all true holiness.-John vi. 47-58, xv. 4-8; Col. ii. 3, 4.. 5. Before you speak, ask these three questions: Is what I am going to say true? is it useful? is it kind? Ps. cxv. 2, cxli. 3; Prov. xv. 1, 2; Eph. iv. 15, 25, 29, 31, 32. 6. Pray for a calm and thoughtful state of mind, trusting always in the Lord, for you know not what a day may bring forth.-Job xxii. 21; Isa. xxvi. 3, 4: Hag. i. 5; Matt. xi. 29; John xiv. 26, 27; Phil. iv. 2-7; James i. 2-7. 7. Remember that if religion has done nothing for your temper, it has done little for your soul; and see, therefore, that your temper be kind, merciful, cheerful, meek, and affectionate.-Rom. xiii. 10; James i. 26; 1 Pet. iii. 8-11. 8. Work while it is called to-day, for the glory of God and the good of men.-John ix. 1; 1 Cor. x. 31; Gal. vi. 10. now, THE DYING INDIAN BOY. I FOUND him dying of consumption, and in a state of the most awful poverty and destitution, in a small birch-rind covered hut, with nothing but a few fernleaves under him, and an old blanket over him. After recovering from my surprise, I said: "My poor boy, I am very sorry to see you in this state; had you let me know, you should not have been lying here." He replied: "It is very little I want and these poor people get it for me; but I should like something softer to lie upon, as my bones are very sore." I then asked him concerning the state of his mind, when he replied, that he was very happy; that Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, had died to save him, and that he had the most perfect confidence in him. Observing a small Bible under the corner of his blanket, I said: "Jack, you have a friend there; am glad to see that; I hope you find something good there." Weak as he was, he raised himself on his elbow, held it in his attenuated hand, while a smile played on his countenance, and slowly spoke, in precisely the following words: "This, sir, is my dear friend. You gave it me. For a long time I read it much, and often thought of what it told. Last year I went to see my sister at Lake Winnipeg (about two hundred miles off), where I remained about two months. When I was half-way back through the Lake, I remembered that I had and was nine days by myself, tossing to and fro, left my Bible behind me. I directly turned round, before I could reach the house; but I found my friend, and determined that I would not part with it again, and ever since it has been near my breast, and I thought I should have buried it with me; but I have thought since I had better give it to you when I am gone, and it may do some one else good." He was often interrupted by a sepulchral cough, and sunk down exhausted. I read and prayed, the hut hardly affording me room to be upright, even when kneeling."-Missionary letter in Bishop of Montreal's Journal. GOOD MEN AT VARIANCE. MANY a sharp conflict there hath been between saint and saint, scuffling in the dark through misunderstanding of the truth and each other. Abraham aud Lot, at strife. Aaron and Miriam jostled with Moses for the wall, till God interposed and ended the quarrel by his immediate stroke on Miriam. The apostles, even in the presence of their Master, were at high words, contesting who should be greatest. Now, in these civil wars among saints, Satan is the great kindle-coal, though little seen, because, like Ahab, he fights in a disguise, playing first on one side, and then on the other, aggravating every petty injury, and thereupon provoking to wrath and revenge; therefore the apostle, dehorting from anger, useth this argument, "Give no place to the devil;" as it he had said, Fall not out among yourselves, except you long for the devil's company, who is the true soldier of fortune, as the common phrase is, living by his sword, and therefore hastes thither where there is any hopes of war. Gregory compares the saints in their sad differences to two cocks, which Satan. the master of the pit, sets on fighting, in hope, wher killed, to sup with them at night. Solomon saith (Prov. xviii 6): "The mouth of the contentious man calls for strokes." Indeed, we by our mutual strifes give the devil a staff to beat us with; he cannot well work without fire, and therefore blows up these coals of contention, which he useth as his forge, to heat easily hammered as he pleaseth. Contention puts our spirits into wrath, and then we are malleablethe soul into disorder, and inter arma silent leges. The law of grace acts not freely, when the spirit is in a commotion; meek Moses, provoked, speaks unadvisedly. Methinks this, if nothing else will, should sound a retreat to our unhappy differences, that this Joab hath a hand in them; he sets this evil spirit devour one another, to make hell sport! We are between brethren; and what folly is it to bite and prone to mistake our heat for zeal, whereas commonly in strife between saints it is a fire-ship sent in by Satan to break their unity and order; wherein while they stand they are an armada invincible: and Satan knows he hath no other way but this to shatter them: when the Christians' language, which should be one, begins to be confounded, they are then near scattering; it is time for God to part his children, when they cannot live in peace together.-Gurnall." THE CHRISTIAN TREASURY. 49 VAIN RELIGION. BY GEORGE REDFORD, D.D., WORCESTER. own profession. Judge, jury, witnesses, will start up in his own conscience. These things being admitted, it is an inquiry of infinite importance-By what rule can we determine the cases of vain religion? Is there any infallible law by which we may ascertain what will render our profession of religion abortive? Certainly such rules of judgment are abundantly supplied by the Oracle of God; and, if we apply them faithfully and constantly to ourselves, we shall be at no loss to determine beforehand what kind of personal religion will not be vain, and what will. Every serious and anxious reader must perceive that the whole question of acceptance or rejection, salvation or condemnation, is implicated in this matter of personal religion. This is the trial of our hope; the whole issue of eter VAIN religion!-there is such a thing, strange as the words may sound; for the Apostle James (i. 26.) says of a certain description of character: "This man's religion is vain." Now, a man's religion may signify the particular system in which he professes to believe; and as there are several systems differing essentially from each other, but all bearing the common name of religion, and as there can be but one true religion, all the rest must be vain religions. It might, therefore, have been the intention of the apostle to describe all the false systems of the Heathen as vain, for most assuredly they merit the appellation. But he evidently did not describe the system, but referred to the exhibition made of religion in the character and conduct of an individual, or a class. He assumes that the man is professedly a Christian-that in theory he adopts the true religion, but that his profes-nal life, or eternal death, is depending. A man's sion is vain, because his practice is in opposition to it. If a man's religion is true, and yet he is not true to his religion, then his religion, though not vain in itself, is vain to him; and this is the cose intended. Religion, as it comes from the mind of God, and exists in its authenticated documents, is one thing; religion, as men profess and practise it, or as they fail in practising it, is quite another thing. Religion in the abstract stands quite independent of man, and is to be contemplated as the divine system by which God governs and blesses human souls; but the reception men give to this religion, the exemplification they afford, whether creditable or otherwise, is their religion, and this may be utterly vain. religion is, properly speaking, his only hope—the foundation upon which he is building for immortality-his supreme and final consolation. It would be a most deplorable and irretrievable failure, if, at last, we should be found either to have built upon a false foundation, or to have built on the right foundation only such a vain hope as might be compared to wood, hay, and stubble, which must be consumed. The tremendous discovery will be made by some when it will be too late to apply or seek a remedy. The great Teacher prewarns us of this factand it should excite a salutary fear-for many will claim him as their Saviour whom he will not acknowledge as his people. Should not this induce us to adopt the prayer, in all sincerity and earnestness, "Search me, O God, and prove me; try my reins and my heart; and see if there is any way of wickedness in me; and lead me in the way everlasting." It is every man's highest wisdom to use the utmost caution, and to sub It is universally admitted that this may be the case; and it can scarcely be asserted that it is not a common case. The views of men may differ greatly as to what constitutes a vain, or unsound, or unprofitable profession of the true religion; but there can scarcely be any disagree-mit to every possible mode of testing and trying ment upon this point-that a man may profess his own experience of religion-that is, the inwhat is right, but do what is wrong, what is fluence his religion has over him; for if he directly condemned by the plainest terms of knows, believes, and even admires the best and that religion which he holds to be divine; and only true religion in the world, and yet is not then it must follow, upon his own principles, transformed by it into a new creature, his relithat his religion will turn out at last to be vain.gion will be vain; his hope will be as the giving Thus, out of his own mouth he will be con- up of the ghost, and all his blossom shall go up demned. He will find his impeachment in his as dust. Reader, ponder the infinite importance No. 5. * March 28, 1846. |