sephus says: "Jacob meeting with an angel, wrestled with him; the angel beginning the struggle. But he prevailed over the angel, who used a voice and spake to him in words, exhorting him to be pleased with what had hap pened to him, and not to suppose the victory was a small one; for he had overcome a divine angel, and ought to esteem the victory a sign of great blessings that should come to him. He also commanded him to be called Israel, which in the Hebrew tongue signifies one that struggled with the divine angel. These promises were made at the prayer of Jacob; for when he perceived him to be the angel of God, he desired he would signify to him what should befall him hereafter. When the angel had said what is before related, he disappeared. Jacob was pleased with these things, and named the place Phanuel, which signifies the face of God. Now when he felt pain upon his broad sinew by this struggling, he abstained from eating that sinew afterward; and for his sake it is still not eaten by us." Hebrew Sacred Books relate the adventure more briefly. Jacob remarks: "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved;" which implies a belief that he had wrestled with God himself. The ancient idea that a spirit of prophecy descends on souls about to quit this world, seems to have existed here also; for Jacob on his death-bed foretold the destiny of all his sons. Blessing his grandchildren before he died, he said: "The God of Abraham and Isaac, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads." Some of the Jewish Rabbis, in their commentaries on this text, say their ancestor did not directly pray to angels, but invoked God through intermediate Spirits, as petitions are presented to the king through his ministers. Others say Jacob prayed to God for blessings, and to the Angel to avert evils.

God is represented as saying to Moses: "I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as Elshaddai; but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them. Elshaddai is translated the Almighty God. From the few fragments of history which have come down to us, it is not possible to ascertain clearly what ideas of the Divine

Being were entertained by these wandering patriarchs. Reverence for the supernatural, which covered ancient Hindostan with altars, filled Egypt with temples, and sent up incense from all the Grecian hills, inspired them also with faith in spiritual agencies, prompted them to offer to God the first-fruits of their fields and flocks, and mingled religious observances with all the events of life. Their moral perceptions were influenced by the rudeness of the age in which they lived; and the same remark applies to the founders of all ancient nations. Hebrew records describe them as men of God; but they also tell us that they quarrelled about their flocks and herds, and resorted to many tricks and falsehoods. Abraham, to ensure his own safety, represented his wife as his sister, and by so doing brought "great plagues on Pharaoh and his house." While Esau had gone out hunting to bring venison for his aged father, Jacob disguised himself in Esau's clothes, and made his hands hairy, in order to obtain the blessing intended for his elder brother. And when the blind old man inquired how he had obtained venison so quickly, he had the hardihood to answer: "Because the Lord thy God brought it to me." While he served Laban, we are told he artfully managed to have all the strong cattle of such a colour as Laban had promised to him for wages; but, in conversation with his wives, he devoutly ascribed it all to God: "If your father said, The speckled shall be thy wages, then all the cattle bare speckled. If he said, The ring-straked shall be thy hire, then all the cattle bare ring-straked. Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father and given them to me." Josephus informs us that "Jacob was envied and admired for his virtuous sons." But we find eight of them conspiring to murder their younger brother, and dissuaded from their cruel purpose only by the sug gestion of one of them to sell him into slavery. Reuben was guilty of dishonourable conduct with his father's concubine. Judah ordered his son's widow to be put to death for incontinence, and was induced to recall the sentence only because she proved to him that he was himself the VOL. I.--33*

father of her child. Shechem, the son of a neighbouring chieftain, in a sudden fit of amorous passion, took Jacob's daughter to himself without asking the consent of relatives. or offering the customary purchase-money. He afterward sought to atone for his too violent love, by offering mar riage, and whatever dowry her friends required. Her brothers replied that such a marriage would be impossible, unless he and all his tribe consented to be circumcised according to the custom of the Hebrews The arient young chieftain agreed to these hard terms; but when they had been fully complied with, Jacob's sons slew him and all his people, seized all their possessions, and carried their wives and little ones into captivity.

The sale of Joseph by his brethren was the first circumstance that brought the posterity of Israel into close connection with Egypt. By his skill in the interpretation of dreams, Joseph rose high in favour with one of the Pha raohs, who named him Psothom Phanec, which signifies the revealer of secrets, and subsequently invited his relstives to reside in a district of his kingdom. How far he assumed the customs of his adopted country, we are not informed. That he did so in some degree, is implied by the fact that he married an Egyptian wife of high rank, daughter of Poti-pherah, priest of On, which Greeks called Heliopo lis. That he practised the magical rites then in vogue, is shown by his describing the cup found in Benjamin's sack. as "the cup whereby he divined." When he died, ts body was embalmed and buried by Egyptians; but it was afterward carried to the land of Canaan, according to a promise he had required of his brethren. Josephus says the posterity of Jacob remained in Egypt four hun.ired years. They dwelt apart, in a district assigned to them. because "shepherds were an abomination unto the Ey tians." But though they were a separate people, with a foreign language, the opinions and customs of others grai nally mingled with their own, in the course of oentures

Hebrew Sacred Books inform us that the Egyptians, process of time, became jealous of the rapid increase of

Hebrews, and therefore ordered their male children to be put to death. Josephus gives an additional reason. He says: "One of the sacred scribes among the Egyptians, who were very sagacious in truly foretelling future events, told the king that about this time a child would be born to the Israelites, who, if he were reared, would bring the Egyptian dominion low, and would raise the Israelites." This prediction so alarmed the monarch, that he ordered all their new-born sons to be drowned. Amram, grandson of Levi, was informed in a dream that à babe about to be born to him was the remarkable child predicted by the Egyptian prophet. When the boy came into the world, he was thrown into the river, according to the royal command; but he was carefully enclosed in a strongly woven basket, and his sister watched it as it floated down the stream. When the daughter of Pharaoh went with her attendants to bathe in the Nile, she saw the basket, and caused it to be brought to her. Struck with the uncommon beauty of the infant, she at once adopted him, and sent for a nurse. The babe naturally turned away from the breast of a stranger, and his sister Miriam made this a pretext for calling his own mother to nurse him. Pharaoh ratified his daughter's adoption, notwithstanding the alarm which Josephus says he felt concerning the prophecy. They bestowed on the foundling the name of Moses, from Egyptian words, signifying saved from the waters. This is supposed to have happened about one thousand six hundred years before our era.

Two sets of influences acted on the child thus rescued, and produced a character which has strongly marked itself on the history of the world. He was born a Hebrew, and his people, as herdsmen and labourers, belonged to a caste despised by the upper classes of Egypt. He was nursed by his own mother, and would naturally keep up a subsequent connection with his relatives. Under such circumstances, he could scarcely fail to hear the prophecies and exploits of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, told with all the exaggerating pride of family and clan,

which to this day marks the traditions of nomadic tribes. That sympathy for his people was kept wide awake within him, is manifest by the fact that at forty years old he slew an Egyptian because he saw him beating a Hebrew. But while the posterity of his ancestors were in the condition of ignorant slaves, he himself received the best instruction the world then afforded. Writers of his own nation thought they awarded him the highest intellectual praise when they declared "he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." From all sources there is concurrent testimony that Egypt was universally considered the fountain-head of wisdom and science. Knowledge was shut up from the common people, and monopolized by the priesthood, which included the royal family within itself. Moses, as the adopted son of the king, who was always inducted into the sacerdotal ranks before his inauguration, must necessarily have been educated by priests, and of course familiar with the secret doctrines taught at the solemnization of their Great Mysteries. From fitful gleams of light, which history throws on the subject, there is reason to suppose these Mysteries inculcated a belief in One Invisible God, whose attributes were merely symbolized by the numerous popular deities. Similar ideas would be instilled by his mother and Hebrew relatives, when they repeated Abraham's abhorrence of images, and traditionary prophecies that his descendants were destined to become a mighty nation under the especial guidance of the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Thus trained in sympathy with his people, and educated far above their level, he was peculiarly prepared to be their leader; an office which he is supposed to have undertaken when he was about eighty years of age.

The only light we have concerning the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, is imparted by Hebrew Sacred Books and fragments of Manetho, an ancient historian of Egypt, as quoted by Josephus. The book of Exodus informs us that Pharaoh became jealous of their increasing numbers, lest in case of war they should join with his