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"ABRAM went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land (of Canaan.)"— Gen. xii. 10.

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"And they brought Joseph into Egypt." - Gen. xxxvii. 28. (Read whole chapter.)

"And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn."-Gen. xli. 57.

"And Joseph said unto his brethren... Say unto (my father), thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not." -Gen. xlv. 3, 9.

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(Jacob) came into Egypt, and all his seed with him." -Gen. xlvi. 6.

"The Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt."—Exod. xii. 51.

"The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt; and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. And the Lord shall smite Egypt; he shall smite and heal it." -Isaiah xix. 1, 22. (Read whole chapter.)

"The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded Jer. xlvi. 24. (Read whole chapter.)

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"Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt ... I will make the land of Egypt desolate... they shall be there a base kingdom . . . It shall be the basest of the kingdoms."—Ezek. xxix. 2, 12, 14, 15. (Read whole chapter.)

"And the sword shall come upon Egypt... There shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt . . . I will set fire in Egypt... I will execute judgments in Egypt."-Ezek. xxx. 4, 13, 16, 19. (Read whole chapter.)

"Of all the places foreign to Judæa, Egypt holds the most conspicuous place in the volume of inspiration, Abraham, the patriarch of the faithful, and his comely and beloved spouse, flee to it, in order to escape the famine which raged in the land of Canaan. Joseph, in the wonderful providence of God, the precursor and saviour of his brethren and parent, enters it as a slave, and rises to the dignity of a prince, presiding over the councils of its regal courts, and halls of judgment, and treasuries of food and money. The family of Jacob, chosen for the conservation of true religion during the awful period of the general apostasy of the world from God, sojourns in it for upwards of two centuries, with an increase of its numbers so wonderful as to render it formidable to a tyrannical sovereign, who in the devisings of his own wickedness was induced to attempt its reduction, or extirpation, by the hand of violence

and oppression. Moses, the 'goodly child,' and destined by God to be the deliverer of his kindred from cruel bondage, is found floating on its river in his bulrush cradle, by the daughter of Pharaoh, and reared and instructed by her 'in all the wisdom of Egypt.' The Lord brings out his people by a strong hand, and an outstretched arm, from the house of bondage, amidst the terrors of his vengeance on the haughty ruler. When Jehovah interdicted the Jews from holding intercourse with the ungodly Gentiles, Egypt had a partial exemption made in its favour... Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land.'

"Solomon, the most powerful prince of Israel, is married to the daughter of an Egyptian sovereign. Shishak, the first king of Egypt who is mentioned in Scripture by his personal name, carries his arms into Judæa, takes Jerusalem, and carries off the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house,' in the reign of Rehoboam. Zerah, the Ethiopian,' who, with his army, a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots,' was smitten by the Lord before Asa and before Judah, is recognised in Osorthon, or Osorkon I. The name of 'Tirhakah, King of Ethiopia,' mentioned in the second Book of Kings, and by Isaiah, is discovered on one of the Egyptian temples in the form of Tehrak. Necho, king of Egypt, who by his archers overthrew Josiah in the valley of Megiddo, and put Jehoahaz in bonds at Riblah,' is not overlooked by profane historians. Several of the latter Pharaohs became the allies and confederates of the kings of Israel and Judah, as the last-mentioned monarch, who set Jehoiakim on the throne. Many Hebrews, in the spirit of unbelief and cowardice, flee to Egypt through fear of Nebuchadnezzar, and dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, where they were visited by the Divine indignation, and where those who survived of their number saw the Lord, through the instrumentality of the king of Babylon, 'kindle a

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fire in the houses of the gods, and burn them,'-' break the images of Bethshemesh (Heliopolis),' and confound their purpose to 'burn incense to the queen of heaven.' The child Jesus himself is conducted to Egypt by Joseph and Mary, and finds a refuge there from the murderous hate of Herod, who sought to destroy him.

"Egypt is frequently the theme of prophetical discourse; and to the present day its political and natural changes, and lengthened depression and degradation, have most strictly accorded with the declarations of the inspired seers. The whole monumental wonders and antiquities of the land seem to have been preserved as if for the express purpose of evincing the authenticity, and illustrating the narratives, of the Bible; every single allusion of which, either to the circumstances of the country or of the people, is seen to have the minutest consistency with truth,-so strikingly so, indeed, as to have attracted the attention of every Egyptian antiquary. Egypt will share in the blessings which are yet in store for all the nations of the earth: 'He that has smitten will heal it; the Lord of Hosts'shall bless it, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.' WILSON'S Lands of the Bible.

"With calm delight we were now able to look round upon the land of Egypt, while many scenes of its eventful history rose up before us. It was here that Jacob and Joseph sojourned with their families for 400 years. This was the land of Moses and his wondrous deeds. And, more interesting still, this was the land that gave refuge to the holy child Jesus,' when compelled to flee from the land of Judah. It was the cradle of Israel, and the cradle of Israel's Saviour, as it is written,— 'Out of Egypt have I called my Son.'

"The villages are wretched. The people seem almost naked, and excessively dirty; most of them, too, are old people; very rarely did we meet any healthy young The reason is, that all such are obliged to enter

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the army; and Egyptian villages and lands are left to the care of women and old men. It seems still the case that taskmasters rule over Egypt,-it is a house of bondage at this day. God remembers how Egypt kept his chosen Israel 400 years in slavery, and therefore has poured out upon it the fulfilment of that humiliating prophecy, 'It shall be the basest of kingdoms.'

Basest of kingdoms' is everywhere seen fulfilled, in the fact that native Egyptians have none of the power or wealth of the land. Every appearance of power or greatness in it belongs to its foreign governor and his officers-not to natives. The pasha is the gulf in which the produce of Egypt is swallowed up.”—Mission to the Jews.

Speaking of the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, now called the Copts, Niebuhr observes :—

"If an ancient origin, and illustrious ancestors could confer merit, the Copts would be a highly estimable people. They are descended from the ancient Egyptians; and the Turks, upon this account, call them, in derision, the posterity of Pharaoh. But their uncouth figure, their stupidity, ignorance, and wretchedness, do little credit to the sovereigns of ancient Egypt. They have lived for 2000 years under the dominion of different foreign conquerors, and have experienced many vicissitudes of fortune. They have lost their manners, their language, and almost their existence. They are reduced to a small number in comparison of the Arabs, who have poured like a flood over this country. Of the diminution of the numbers of the Copts some idea may be formed from the reduction of the number of their bishops. They were seventy in number at the period of the Arabian Conquest; they are now only twelve, and most of these settled in Upper Egypt, to which the ancient inhabitants seem to have retired."-NIEBUHR'S Arabia.

"There is no freehold property in Egypt; all the land being let out by the pasha, who afterwards forces the

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