VII- The Israelites in Egypt.

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8th to 14 verse of 1. Exodus. In taking up this part of the Mosaic narrative, we have a most imprtant subject presented to us, for when we take the church of God at its beginning, and see it going from strength to strength, daily & rapidly increasing <among> in the midst of all endeavours to suppress it, we understand more of its institutions, and of the Providence which brought it up than we could possibly do, if we only considered it in its present mature and flourishing state of perfection

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We must first, in order fully to understand this subject, remember the condition of the Israelites, before Josephs death We are told, that when Jacob, and his family first came up into Egypt, they had possessions in flocks and herds, they had been shepherds from their youth, and Pharaoh therefore, in requital of the services of Joseph, established them in the land of Goshen, because it was a fruitful land, and fit for cattle. And therefore, during the life of Pharoah, being under the favour of the King, and placed in an eligible situation, we may suppose that they accumulated very much wealth of this sort, and at the death of Pharaoh. were in a most prosperous, & flourishing condition, till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. Now, if we ask how the very numerous and important services of Joseph, could be so soon forgotten, we would reply that it can be accounted for in no other way than by considering the nature of human gratitude, Some, affirm, that the new king was a usurper, and feared the proximity of the Israelites because they had now. become a very powerful people, and, having experienced many benefits from. the former monarch, might perhaps assist the native Egyptians, in deposing him from the throne which he __. But this is a mere supposition, deduced only from the kings forgetfulness of the. many services of Joseph, we have no evidence of th fact, but on the contrary have very strong evidence against it. for we are assured, in a number of ancient historical records, that a disturbance, a revolution of this kind had taken place before Joseph was carried into Egypt very long before that time indeed, and had retained the throne for a considerable period, and also, that the soverign who received Joseph, was in fact the first of the native kings, who. was enabled to reassume the throne of which his ancestors had been depriv'd and we surely cannot suppose it to 

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be likely, that another revolution of the same kind, should have taken place, within a period so short. It is exceedingly improbable that this king could have been a usurper, and it is impossible, that the expression "knew not Joseph" can signify that he was ignorant of the services he had so publicly rendered to his predecessor, and indeed to all the Egyptians, The fame of one, who had not only foretold the coming of the seven years famine, but had preserved (most likely) a very great part of a whole nation, from death, or from ruin, must have, been noised abroad long after that person had ceased to exist, and Joseph was still living; In short, <)> we can only suppose, that this expression signifies, not that the new king was ignorant of the great and manifold services of Joseph, but that he was resolved not to reward them, he was jealous of a people who were becoming excedingly powerful, and who occupied, it may be supposed, a very large portion of his dominions. It is evident, that Pharaoh could have had no idea of the divine economy, by which the children of Israel were to be brought up out of Egypt, and wander through many dangers till at last they were to be established in the land of promise, for, otherwise, he [c(?)]ould not have been jealous of a people interference or [power,(?)] he could not then have dreaded.
But, besides this jealousy, there was another very devious reason why Pharaoh treated the children of Israel, thus hardly. They<<re>> were settled in Egypt for their own advantage, not for, Pharaohs, The king of Egypt not only wished to prevent the children of Israel from rising against him, but to compel them to labour for him, The advantages to Pharaoh, which would be derived from the united labour of a nation so numerous, and so powerful, cannot but have been considerable, it would enrich his treasury, and it would increase his, power. Now the expression "Let us deal wisely with them," signifies, I rather think, let us deal cunningly with them let us endeavour to turn their sojourn in Egypt to our own advantage, for it was not a thing wise in itself, to oppress the Israelites, or deal tyrannically

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with them, on the contrary this would provoke their hatred, and might have. accelerated their rebellion.  In pursuance therefore of this resolution, "let us deal. wisely or cunningly with them," we are told that Pharoah set over them task masters, in order to cause them to labour constantly, and to secure their labour for himself, And they built treasure cities, Pithon, and Rameses, Now these treasure cities or store cities, appear to have been on the side of Egypt which bordered upon Philistia, and was therefore always exposed to, and had of ten experienced foraging incursions from the Philistines, or more serious invasions, they may be supposed therefore, to have ben two fortified cities, built for<e> the purpose of containing stores ammuniton, and trops, in order to protect Egypt from any future invasions of the same kind, which might constantly be expected.
I notice all these minute particulars, in order to show how complete is the evidence of the truth of the bible, and how it is constantly found to be connected with history, the latter supporting and confirming, the incidents of the Bible. for it is a thing of very great, importance, to collect all the evidences of the truth of A book of such vast moment to us, We have a much stronger hold of divie testimony, when we find it thus supported  There are, there must always be, hours of weakness, of affliction, of forgetfulness, which came upon us in trials and old age, in which doubts must present themselves to us and unbelief torment us, and it is necessary to be prepared for and fortified agAinst the time of trouble, to have searched deepl into, and taken fast hold of the truth, and it is certain that the more we examine and meditate upon the bible and consider how its evidence is supported by history and its doctrines confirmed by experience, the more we shall believe in the sanctity of its origin and the wisdom of its author.
It has sometimes been asked, to what the labour of the Israelites was applied, & whether they were employed in building the pyramids, or otherwise  Now we are told that The Israelites were compell.

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ed to make brick, and work all manner of work in brick, but the pyramids are of stone, not of brick, and besides it is more probable that they were employed in works of greater utility, It is well known that Lower Egypt, that is, the portion of Egypt between the banks of the Nile, and the hills on each side, once was, and would at present be, marshy, and full of pools of stagnant water, in consequence of the annual overflowing of the N<u>ile. We may then suppose that The Israelites were employed, in constructing those works, which are at present so frequently    [?}  throughout the whole of Lower Egypt, which is indeed, almost entirely artificial, and intersected by numerous canals, or protected by bulwarks, the principal <[(?)]> part of which, in accordance with the statement of Scripture, is composed of brick, This would, most likely be the nature of te labour of The Israelites, and thus the bondage to which they were subjected, would be turned {m(?)]ost to the advantage of Pharoah. We are told that they built cities also in short were set to all the most laborious and unremitting labour, in order to break their spirit, and make them submit patiently to the bondage wwhich was put upon them. We must also expect, under these circumstances, to find their minds injured and depreciated, While they were free, and the fathers have instruction to the children, they might have held to the God of their fathers, but, when they were cast into bondage the case. would be changed, The same feeling which would enslave them, would keep them in ignorance of the power and truth of their God, and of course, much more, of their own high destiny in order that they might submit the more patiently to that slavery; We ind, that whenever their teachers came among them, and endeavoured to give them instruction, that Pharaoh said, "Ye are idle, ye are idle,and gave them heavier and severer tasks  The rising generation would then be - entirely ignorant of the power and attri

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butes of their God, and the consequence [will(?)] have been, that the Gods of the Egyptians would have become magnified in their eyes, in proportion as they lost sight of the power of their own God, (Joshua, 24th chapter, 14 verse, "put away the Gods which your fathers served, on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt." It is evident from this that the true God, was, at this period forgotten, or, in the mind of the Israelites, degraded to the level of the animal tribes of the Nile or of the Idols, the work of mens hands:
This view of their present condition, may be useful to us, as a key to their conduct in the<ir> desert, for had they unremittingly served God in Egypt, it would have been most astonishing, that after the signal miracles which had been just before, worked in their favour have bowed themselves down to Idols, but if we reflect on the state of debasement from which they had just escaped, when we remember, that through a very great period all instuction and knowledge of the God of their fathers, had been withhold from them, that they had been long accustomed to worship reptiles & Idols, we cannot consider it much more than another evidence of the constant depravity of <the> human nature, that, they were prone to return to the idolatry, from which they had so lately been emancipated, and to estrange themselves from a God, mighty as his wor[K(?)]s might have been, who hitherto had been entirely unknown to them.
We should however, also notice, the character of the Gods of Egypt, and although at present ver ylittle is know of what these Gods were, yet it should be remembered, that Greece was colonized from Egypt, or, at the least, many colonies from Egypt, settled among the ancient Grecians, The mythology  of the Grecians, or at least, a very great part of it may therefore be supposed to have been derived from the Egyptians and we well know, how base and vile that mythology was. If then this stream was so defiled, what must the fountain have been, and the little that we at present know of the Egyp

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tian <go> system, tends to confirm this opinion of its utter vileness and of the degradation of human nature which it caused;
Again, the number of the children of Israel, must have rendered the diffusion of knowledge amongst them extremely slow in spite of all the strenuous exertions, of Moses, and Aaron. We are told, that the number of men, able to bear arms, among the children of Israel, was six hundred thousand men, and if, as is generally done, we multiply that number by five, for the old men, woman, and children, we shall have a result of about three millions, as the number which Moses led forth into the wilderness. We cannot wonder at the conduct of such a multitude of degraded slaves, who had been accustomed or a lengthened period to worship birds and beasts, and reptiles, and who knew nothing of the God who had delivered them. from that slavery, and whom they were now commanded by their lea-er to worship alone.
Having seen, that such was te degraded and idolatrous condition of the Israelites in Egypt, we shall next proceed to draw a few inferences, from the considerations we have been making. ____ (#) 1st. the constant and watchful care of providence over the church of God. The children of Israel, were, at that time, the foundation of the church of the church of God, and they were the only church existing, the were the framework, the cradle of the church, & we see how they were watched over, He first, gave Joseph favour in the sight of Pharaoh, that Jacob and his sons & in them the first foundation of Christianity. might be preserved. While this, favour continued to be extended toward  them, God multiplied their numbers, in order that the jealousy of Pharaoh's successor, might not be able to exterminate them, he gave them the smile, till they could endure the frown, and the adversity which they afterwards endured, was, all likewise for their good. For, had they continued to enjoyed uninterrupted prosperity, to have multiplied in the land of Egypt, and gather together much wealth in corn and cattle and sheep, it would have been entirely impossible, to have induced them to leave the fruitful Goshen, and the fleshpots  of Egypt, and to 

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undertake a long and dangerous journey through a barren and thirsty desert, at the command of a God whom they worshipped not, and to search for an hitherto unknown land. But when all the property which they had hitherto acquired, and the prospect of acquirin any in future, and finally their liberty was lost, They would then be ready to listen to an offer of emancipating them from the yoke of the Egyptions, they would be wiling to abandon the worship of those Gods who had hitherto extended no protection to them & to pass through many perils, and undergo many <perils> hardships, in order to, arrive at a land, which they were told was a better land than Egypt, and who[se(?)] fruits they would at least be permitted, uninterruptedly to enjoy. 
We therefore see, that although Pharaoh meant it not, he was in fact, an instrument in the hand of God, to accomplish his supreme will, and his tyranny over the Israelites, was turned to their benefit This is an illustration of the same providence watching over us, the Israelites might at first, have denied that all the rigour and bondage to which they were subjected, was for their good, yet they afterwards found, that it was so. Let us then knowing this, never say in trials or afflictinos, All these things are against me, For Providence ruleth over the darkness, as well as over the light. If we could, on all occasions, look beyond our afflictions and endeavour to scrutinize the purposes of them. we should feel ourselves equa[l(?)]ly secure under adversity or prosperity  Again. we see from this the importance of decision of character. Had the Israelites only been possessed of this - they would not so soon have submitted to the influence of Idolary, they w[ould(?)] not so soon have forsaken their own God and bowed down to Idols, had it not been for their indecision this it was that permitted such an invasion of their sacred character, And Go permitted the visitation on account of this. And if there were not in us such a decision of character, as would enable us to hold to the Lord under any adversity or Affliction the Lord will cause it by trails. Remember who said, "he that is not for me, is against me, if we are not instant enough and eager enough and constant enough, in following God it is as bad as being his enemy or worshipping beasts and birds and idols 

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Lastly, we should observe the judgement that God will finally pronounce on all his enemies. Here was a mighty monarch, and a mighty people, but they strove against God, and warred upon his people, and were overwhelmed in the very flush of victory. Woe unto him that striveth with his maker. Oh <[(?)]> let us flee from the wrath to come, and from the punishment which will fall upon headstrong rebellion, and let us trust ourselves to that God who has thus always watched over the welface of his own people, as knowing, that he is a kind and faithful Creator.