of Joseph. In that time, and afterwards, the use of this group in the texts to express nobility is so frequent, that it almost becomes pronominal. The word abel, with the sense of " mourning," "funeral rite," occurs in the Egyptian texts of all transcriptions, with the elision of the moveable letter or r final. In the Coptic texts hebi means "to mourn;" in hieroglyphics hb or ub means funeral ceremonies generally, like its Hebrew counterpart. The initial which is interpreted by h or u, is the picture of the banquet-hall with pillars of a tomb, like those at Beni Hassan, Essiout, and other localities in Middle Egypt. They are noble vaults, excavated in the solid rock, and supported by columns which have been left when the surrounding solid was removed. In those halls were held the appointed periodical banquets for the dead. Square pits of great depth were hewn in the floors, and in these the mummies were deposited. The Egyptian artists, who knew nothing of perspective, represented these pits by the lozenge in the centre of the base. The name of this hall has been eb, or hebi,* which thence came to be also the appellative of the ceremonies observed in it. "And his (Jacob's) sons did unto him according as he commanded them for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre." Gen. 1. 12, 13. The funeral ceremonies, according to the ritual of Egypt, having been completed at Atad, the sons of Israel alone proceed to the cave of Machpelah, bearing to its final resting-place the embalmed body of their father. Of the observances which took place on the burial of the dead with the clan or sept of Abraham at this time, we know nothing. The few practices on such occasions mentioned any where in the inspired narrative, are those natural expressions of grief which are common to all mankind. We can only infer from the very peculiar circumstances of their sojourn in Canaan, that they were perfectly free from all admixture with the *The ebel of the Hebrew text. idolatries of Canaan and of Egypt. Yet, in order to the right understanding of that narrative, it is very needful to keep in mind, that the chosen seed of Abraham was not at this particular period commissioned to make any especial protest, either direct or indirect, against these idolatries, beyond that of not immediately participating in their acts of worship. They were as yet very few in number, and they dwelt in the midst of nations who were engaged in corrupting the truth regarding God and the future state, by overlaying it with coarse earthly symbols: but much that was true still remained in the religions both of Egypt and Canaan, and this truth the Israelites of course held in common with them. Four hundred years afterwards, at the time of the Exodus, the case was very different. We make no greater mistake, than when, following the guidance of the vain, fruitless speculations of the so-called learning of the last two centuries, we assume that the idolatries of Egypt and Canaan were already venerable and well-established superstitions in the patriarchal times. The Bible declares the direct opposite to this. There was much right acquaintance with the true God in these times both in Egypt (Gen. xii. 17-20, &c.) and Canaan. (Gen. xx. 1-7; xxvi. 6-11.) It is, moreover, expressly declared in the same inspired narrative, of one of the most offensive members of the Canaanite confederation, the Amo rites, (Gen. xv. 16,) that at the time of the call of Abram their idolatrous perversion of the truth was not yet completed, and therefore the judgments against them were delayed for 600 years. The general definitions of idolatry, moreover, embodied in God's revelation to man, declare it to be a corruption of the truth regarding religion; (Rom. i. 20-23, &c.) but corruption is a gradual and progressive change and to assume that at so early a period as the one before us, that change had already been completely undergone by the religious opinions both of Egypt and Canaan, is also to assume that mankind had already existed on the earth, as it then was, for some millennia of years,-a position which the Bible contradicts, which the traditive history of all nations contradicts, and which the existing monuments of Egypt contradict likewise, and no less emphatically than either of the other two witnesses. This is the question really in debate between the believer and the infidel at this moment, the length of time during which man has been upon the earth as it now is,-in other words, the number of years that have elapsed since the deluge; for this reason we state our convictions upon it at length. The rites which took place on the plains of Atad, at which the armies of Egypt and the flower of her nobility assisted, would admit of a very ample com ment from the tombs. But as thereby we should illustrate the customs, not of Israel, but of Egypt, it will suffice to mention here, that they consisted principally of banquets and of games of strength and agility. In these last the funeral games of Greece had, doubtless, their origin. The very few notices of the Hebrew funeral customs, which are to be found in the Bible, do not justify us in assuming that either of these practices ever obtained among the descendants of Abraham. "And Joseph returned into Egypt, he and his brethren, and all that went up with him, to bury his father, after he had buried his father. "And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil that we did to him. And they charged Joseph (as his elder brothers) saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin for they did unto thee evil and now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went up and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we are thy servants! And Joseph said unto them, Fear not am I in the place of God? For though ye thought evil against me, God : : |