beings; and that kings bore the most noble characteristics of the Supreme Being, as the power and will of doing good to others were united in their persons. It was the blind adoration they paid to their monarchs, which led them to believe that after death their spirits passed into, and became the animating principle of some heavenly body, and consequently they became the object of their worship. Thus Thoth (2nd) or Hermes Trismegistus, the thirty-fifth king of Thebes, is said to have been deified, because he was the reviver and second founder of the theology, laws, and social institutions of the Egyptians, all of which he brought into that system which has been regarded with wonder in every subsequent age.

On the death of every Egyptian king, a general mourning was instituted throughout all Egypt for seventy-two days; hymns commemorating his virtues were sung; the temples were closed; sacrifices were no longer offered; and no feasts or festivals were celebrated during that period. The people tore their garments, and covering their heads with dust and mud, formed a procession of two or three hundred persons of both sexes, who met publicly twice a day, to sing the funeral dirge. A general fast was also observed, and they neither allowed themselves to taste meat or wheat bread, and abstained from wine and every luxury. In the mean time, the funeral was prepared, and on the last day the body was placed in state within the vestibule of the tomb, and an account was given of the life and conduct of the deceased. It was permitted to any present to offer himself as an accuser, and the voice of a people might prevent a sovereign from receiving funeral honours. This was an ordeal, the dread of which would, doubtless, tend to stimulate the Egyptian monarchs to the practice of their duty; for there is planted in the human breast, in all ages, and in all countries of the world, an ardent desire that a last tribute of respect should be paid to frail humanity.

CASTES OF THE PEOPLE.

The division of Egyptian society into separate classes, or castes has been noticed by many ancient writers. Herodotus says, they were divided into seven tribes,-priests, soldiers, herdsmen, swineherds, shopkeepers, interpreters, and boatmen. Diodorus states, that like the Athenians (who, being an Egyptian colony, derived this institution from the parent country,) they were distributed into three

classes, the priests, husbandmen, from whom the soldiers were levied, and the artizans, who were employed in handicraft, and other similar occupations, and in common offices, among the people. This author, however, in another page, extends the number of castes to five, reckoning the pastors, husbandmen, and artificers, independently of the soldiers and priests. Strabo limits them to three, the priests, soldiers, and husbandmen; and Plato divides them into six bodies, the priests, soldiers, artificers, huntsmen,* husbandmen, and shepherds; each peculiar art, or occupation, he observes, being confined to a certain subdivision of the caste, and every one engaged in his own branch, without interfering with the occupation of another, as in India and China, where the same trade or employment is followed in succession by father and son.

From these statements it will be perceived, that the exact number of classes into which the Egyptians were divided is uncertain the most probable inference we can draw from them is, that there were five distinct castes in Egypt, with certain subdivisions.

The Priestly Power.

The priesthood formed the second, and the ruling power in Egypt. The authority and paramount influence, indeed, of the priestly order were such as to render the Egyptian government rather ecclesiastical than monarchical. We have seen that when a king was elected, who was not previously of the sacerdotal caste, he was adopted into that caste, and instructed in its mysteries and science. This may explain the union of Joseph with Asenath, the daughter of the แ priest of On." The desire of the priesthood to concentrate all power into their own body, may have induced them to wish that Joseph should be connected with them; or, the king may have desired it to establish him in his position, by securing him the support and countenance of the priestly order in his undertakings, without which all his plans must have proved abortive, though dictated by ever so much wisdom.

The priests of Egypt possessed great privileges and reve

*This class appears to have comprehended those who sought the young of gazelles, and other wild animals of the desert, and those who, as fowlers, sought for birds in a wild state, which they caught in large clap-nets. It is supposed that, like a similar class of persons in India, as described by Megasthenes, they led a wandering life, dwelling in tents.

nues. See Gen. xlvii. 22, 26. The prince usually honoured them with a large share of his confidence, because they were better educated than any other caste, and were most strongly attached to the person of the king, and the good of the public. In the priesthood, not only must the son of a priest be a priest, but he must be a priest to the particular deity to whom his father had ministered. The priests were dispersed in parties in the several districts, where they constituted the governing body but the large cities which had at different times been the capitals of Egypt, and where their great temples were found, formed their principal seats. Every priest was attached to some temple or other, and every temple had its chief priest whose office was hereditary. In the principal cities, the high priests were, to a certain extent, hereditary princes, who ranked next the kings, and enjoyed nearly equal advantages. Such a person was Potipherah," priest of On." Heeren concludes, that the organization of the inferior priesthood was different in different cities, according to the extent and wants of the locality. On the position they held in the state, this author says, that they did not constitute the ruling race merely because from them were chosen the servants of the state, but much rather because they monopolized every branch of scientific knowledge, which was entirely formed by the locality, and had immediate reference to the wants of the people. Their sole, or even their most usual employment, was not the service of the gods; they were judges, physicians, soothsayers, architects; in short, every thing in which any species of scientific knowledge was concerned. Annexed to each temple and settlement of priests were extensive estates, which were farmed out at moderate rents. The produce of these lands supplied a common fund, which furnished provisions for the priests and their families, thereby rendering it unnecessary, as Herodotus observes, for them to contribute any thing from their own private resources towards their support; from which we discover, that they had private property and estates exclusive of their common lands.

The priests had possession of the sacred books, which contained the principles of government, as well as the mysteries of divine worship, and which, like their temples, were not open to the vulgar. These were both commonly involved in symbols and enigmas, which made truth more venerable, and excited more strongly the curiosity of the multitude. The figure of Harpocrates, in the Egyptian sanctuaries, with his finger upon his mouth, seemed to intimate that mysteries were

there enclosed. As much may be said of the sphinxes placed at the entrance of every temple; and it is well known, that the pyramids, obelisks, pillars, statues, etc., were usually adorned with hieroglyphics, or symbolical writings, under which was couched a hidden and parabolical meaning. It is stated by Porphyry and Clemens Alexandrinus, that the writing of the Egyptian priests was of four kinds. The first, HIEROGLYPHIC and this twofold; the more rude called curiologic, and the more artificial called tropical: the second SYMBOLIC, and this likewise was twofold; the simple and the mysterious, that tropical, this allegorical. These two kinds of writing were not composed of the letters of an alphabet, but of characters which stood for things not words. Thus, to signify the sun, they sometimes painted a hawk; this was tropical: sometimes a scarabæus with a round ball in its claws; this was enigmatical. The third form of writing was called EPISTOLIC, from its being first applied to civil matters; and the fourth, HIEROGRAMMATIC, from its being used only in religious matters. These last two kinds of writing expressed words, and were formed by the letters of an alphabet: thus, Y. K., in the Egyptian tongue, signifying a serpent; and a serpent, in their hieroglyphics, denoting a king; Y. K., as stated by Manetho, signified the same in the sacred dialect.

One of the principles in the religious policy of Egypt, was, that the government of the world had, by the Supreme Ruler of the universe, been committed to subordinate local, tutelary deities, amongst whom the several regions of the earth were divided; that these were the proper objects of all public and popular religion; and that the knowledge of the ONE TRUE GOD, the CREATOR of all things, was highly dangerous to be communicated to the people, but was to be secreted, and shut up in their MYSTERIES, and in them to be revealed only occasionally, and to a few; and those few the wise, the learned, and the mighty among mankind.

Another fundamental maxim in the religious policy of Egypt was, to propagate, by every means, the doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments, as the necessary support of all religion and government. Thus their tenets were dictated by worldly wisdom, for the support only of the state. How unlike such are the pure doctrines of the gospel! While they form a broad security for good order in a state, they teach mankind the knowledge of the one true God, and the way of salvation through a crucified Redeemer.

Diodorus observes, on the education of the Egyptians :—

"The children of the priests are taught two different kinds of writing, what is called the sacred, and the more general; and they pay great attention to geometry and arithmetic for the river, changing the appearance of the country very materially every year, is the cause of many and various discussions among neighbouring proprietors about the extent of their property; and it would be difficult for any person to decide upon their claims without geometrical reasoning, founded on actual observation.*

"Of arithmetic they have also frequent need, both in their domestic economy, and in the application of geometrical theorems, besides its utility in the cultivation of astronomical studies; for the orders and motions of the stars are observed at least as industriously by the Egyptians as any people whatever, and they keep records of the motions of each for an incredible number of years, the study of this science having been, from the remotest times, an object of national ambition with them. They have also most punctually observed the motions, periods, and stations of the planets, as well as the powers which they possess with respect to the nativities of animals, and what good or evil influences they exert ; and they frequently foretell what is to happen to a man throughout his life, and not uncommonly predict the failure of crops, or an abundance, and the occurrences of epidemic diseases among men and beasts; foreseeing also earthquakes and floods, the appearance of comets, and a variety of other things, which appear impossible to the multitude.† It is said that the Chaldeans in Babylon are derived from an Egyptian

* According to some authors, Sesostris was the first who divided Egypt by a measure amongst his subjects, and thus gave a beginning to the science of geometry. Sir Isaac Newton ascribes the origin of this science to Moeris, the fifth from Sesostris, confounding Sesostris with Osiris. But it is evident from Scripture, that an exact division of private landed property existed in Egypt before the days of Joseph, whose wise administration commenced ages anterior to the period assigned by Newton. See Gen. xlvii. 20-26.

+ The false science of astrology was created by the priests of Egypt, for the sake of establishing and preserving their power. Induced by the illusion of his senses to regard himself as the centre of the universe, man was easily persuaded that his destiny was influenced by the heavenly bodies, and that it was possible to foretell it by observing their aspect at his birth. This illusive notion kept its ground till the end of the seventeenth century, when knowledge generally diffused the true system of the world over Europe, and destroyed the imposing fabric of astrology, dispersing its reveries and follies, as the beams of the sun disperse the morning mists.