SECT. 13.] AND SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 253
plain a respect to Joseph as that he must shut his eyes who sees him not therein, especially since the times agree well enough. (4.) Jo- seph had the exercise of all regal power committed unto him, who was one of the shepherds, and made laws and statutes, yea, changed the whole political interest of Egypt and the tenure of their lands, mak- ing the king the sole proprietor of the whole soil, leaving the people to hold it of him in a way of tenancy at a certain rate, by the way of acknowledgment and rent. This might well raise a fame of his being a king amongst them. And there is that herein which over- throws the whole fabulous supposition of the invasion and conquest of Egypt at that time by another nation. For Moses affirms that those laws of Joseph were in force and observed in Egypt unto the day of his writing that story, Gen. xlvii. 20-26. Now, this story supposeth that immediately after the death of Joseph came in a new nation, who utterly dispossessed the Egyptians of their coun- try and whole interest therein, taking it into their own power, pos- session, and use. And can any man think it probable that the laws made by Joseph about the rights of the king and the people should be in force and be observed by this new nation, who had conquered the whole, and at first, no man knows for how long, had no king at all? For they were these Hyksos, and not the Egyptians, who, ac- cording to Manetho, as interpreted by our chronologers, ruled in Egypt in the days of Moses. This, in my judgment, so long as men will acknowledge the divine authority of the writings of Moses, is sufficient to discard the whole story; for it is most certain that things could not be at the same time as Moses and Manetho report, if the Hebrews be not intended by him. And setting aside such considerations, certainly he who was a person renowned for wisdom and righteousness in the world, the ruler and conductor of a mighty nation, the first and most famous lawgiver on the earth, writing of things done in his own days and under his own eyes, is to be be- lieved before an obscure, fabulous priest, who lived at least sixteen hundred years after the things fell out which he undertakes to re- late. (5.) The nation or people unto whom Abraham went down was to afflict him and his posterity four hundred years, and after- wards to be judged of God for their oppression, Gen. xv. 13, 14 Now, this cannot be affirmed, if they first went down unto one na- tion, and then were aftilicted by another, as this story imports. (6.) The people with whom the Israelites had to do from first to last, in a way of kindness and oppression, are called Mizraimites or Egyp- tians constantly; and although these Hyksos should have been in Mizraim, or Egypt, yet if they were not of the posterity of Mizraim, it could not be said in what they did that it was done by the Miz- raimites. They were Egyptians who first received them and kindly
254 PREFIGURATIONS OF THE PRIESTHOOD [EXERC. XXXIV.
entertained them; Egyptians they were who oppressed them and were their taskmasters; an Egyptian it was that Moses slew for his cruelty ; Egyptians they were whom the people spoiled at their departure; and so in all other instances: whereas, if this story be rightly applied unto another nation, they received nothing but kindness from the Egyptians, and were oppressed wholly by another people. (7.) The places which Manetho reports these Hyksos to have held peculiarly in garrison were most probably those built by the Israelites whilst op- pressed by the Egyptians. It is generally agreed that Pithom, which was built by them, Exod.i. 11, was the same with Pelusium, and this the same with Abaris, which the Hyksos are said to maintain with 240,000 men; which great number are said afterwards to have been driven out of Egypt, and to have entered into Syria. He that shall reflect on the truth of the story in Moses, and withal consider the nature of the reports concerning the Hebrews leaving Egypt, in | Trogus, Tacitus, and others, will not easily think that any but they are intended. (8.) It is evident that whoever ruled Egypt at the departure of the Israelites, both himself, his whole host, and all the strength of the kingdom, were utterly destroyed. If it be supposed that those were the Hyksos, and not the Egyptians, and withal as it is said that the Egyptians in Thebais always waged war with these Hyksos, and expected an opportunity to recover their liberty, can it be imagined that they would have let go the advantage now put into their hands, when there was no strength left to oppose them? But this, according to the story, they did no way make use of ; but after their destruction and desolation, the Hyksos continued to rule in Egypt two or three hundred years. Wherefore, this story, as it is framed by Manetho, and applied by some late learned chronolo- gers, is inconsistent with the writings of Moses; and therefore, with those by whom their sacred authority is acknowledged, it can be no otherwise esteemed but as a fabulous declaration of that obscure tra- dition which the Egyptians had so long after of the Hebrews being in their country, and of the desolation which befell it thereby. “Malum habitat in aliendo fundo.” Had there not been somewhat of real truth in the business, there had been no occasion for this fabulous superstructure. The like account I shall give in its proper place of that other bold, and, to speak plainly, false hypothesis, that many of the Mosaical religious institutions were taken from the usages and customs of the Egyptians i in their sacred rites.