length which the subject matter may require, although those three days were also verbally limited by morning and evening, and that at a period of the creation when there could have been no morning and evening, in the sense in which those words are now used.

"The revolution of the earth on its axis in presence of an illuminated sun, was necessary to constitute morning and evening, and it must revolve with the same degree of rapidity as now, in order to have constituted such a natural day, with its morning and evening, as we at present enjoy. But the sun was not ordained to rule the day until the fourth of those periods, and it is not certain that the early revolutions of the earth on its axis were as rapid as now. May we not therefore suppose that the historian, as he must employ some term for his divisions of time, adopted one that he found in familiar use, but that it is not necessarily restricted to the common acceptation of the word ?"

The opposite view to this, namely, that the six days of creation are actually six natural days, is thus explained by Dr. Pye Smith. "We have then six days,' which I conceive there is good reason to regard as six natural days, six rotations of our globe upon its axis, each accomplished in about twenty-four hours. The globe is represented to us covered with darkness,' as a vast mass, the surface probably all water, and with it mingled earthy matter, so that it might be called an ocean of mud, and the atmosphere so turbid as to be quite dark, had there been ang there to have witnessed it. And God produced light.' This (as the following operations) is expressed to us in the simple language of antiquity, attributing to the infinite Being the utterance of vocal expression: 'God said, Be light, and light was.' Nothing can be more beautiful, nothing more energetic, nothing more touching, especially in that state of society to which the Scriptures were addressed, when men would not have understood the dry philosophical style, which men in modern times have adopted. We then find reference made to the firmament'-the atmosphere in which watery vapours float. We next find reference made to the separation of land from water; the dry land' is commanded to appear;' it was upheaved by those internal forces, the reality of which the whole history of the globe attests. We then have the divine power creating vegetable nature. And after that, we read of the bringing forth of the luminaries of heaven. Now this has created a difficulty in the minds of many. God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons, for days and for years, and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also. Now can we fail here to perceive the condescending language which God was pleased to direct his servants to use, to meet the apprehensions of the bulk of mankind? It is impossible not to perceive, that this is the language suited to the conceptions of the early ages of man. For the sun is put, with the strictest propriety, as the greater luminary, but the moon is made the next in inagnitude; whereas we know that the moon is the smallest of all the planets belonging to the solar system, excepting those of very recent discovery; and then, of the planets, three of which are amazingly greater by hundreds of hundreds of times than this earth, no mention at all is made; they are only included in the general affirmation-the stars also.' Now men in early times conceived the stars in the third degree of beauty and magnitude and importance. I mention this, as a proof that it is condescending language, meeting the simplicity of the early apprehensions of mankind. The true meaning, I apprehend, is this-that now the atmosphere was so far clear, that, on the side of the earth next to the sun, he was seen shining brightly in the blue sky, and in the opposite hemisphere the moon and the other heavenly bodies would have been seen penetrating the darkness.

"And thus I could travel over the successive six days, and show, that, in those six days, Almighty power, wisdom, and goodness, put forth its direct agency, where necessary, but, where not necessary, what are usually called the laws of nature, namely, the attraction of gravitation and that of chemical affinities, were allowed, I may say, or made to exercise themselves; and the result was what is described-the creation of animated beings in their respective elements, and of man to be the superior and sovereign of them all."

Such of our readers as have perused the three articles we have given on this subject, chiefly in the words of Professor Silliman and Dr. Pye Smith, will, we doubt not, admit :-1. That the Bible does not contradict geology; and 2. That, as we advance in knowledge, a just interpretation of the Bible will always be found to harmonise with the discoveries of science.

STATE OF EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION IN THE REIGN OF AMASIS.

B. C. 571.

To reconcile the command, "not to do evil, that good may ensue," with the fact constantly before our eyes that "evil produces good," appears at first sight difficult: we too often forget that the command is directed to our actions, while the axiom applies merely to our sufferings; and, when tempted to transgress an injunction perhaps more difficult to obey than any other in the Gospel, how readily can we find precedents for our weakness! How numerous are the characters in history to which we can refer, in whom the love of justice and other excellent qualities blot out from our minds the dark steps by which they attained the opportunity of displaying these virtues! Among these characters, the monarch of whom we are about to speak is to be numbered. The degree of his guilt is doubtful, but his good qualities are upon record. Great uncertainty veils the circumstances attending the accession of Amasis, and the direct means by which he obtained the throne of Egypt. Herodotus describes him as of plebeian origin, a native of the city of Liuph, in the district of Saïs; but Diodorus asserts that Amasis was a person of considerable consequence; and we learn from the sculptures of Thebes, that he had married the daughter of Psammetichus the Third; which circumstance, together with the fact of his belonging to the military caste, appears to contradict the first-named historian, whose account of the circumstances of the elevation of Amasis is as follows:-Apries, the reigning monarch, having sent an army against the Cyreneans, received a severe defeat, which so enraged the Egyptians against him, that the friends of such as had been slain, with those who returned in safety, openly rebelled. The King sent Amasis to quell this insurrection; but, instead of bringing the rebels back to their allegiance, he was persuaded to place himself at their head. An outrage committed by the King upon Patarbemis, who had vainly endeavoured to negotiate with Amasis, exasperated even those who had hitherto sided with Apries, and the greater part without hesitation deserting him, and going over to the rebels, the King was left with only the auxiliary troops about him; at the head of whom, consisting of about thirty thousand Ionians and Carians, he prepared to oppose the enemy. Apries was defeated, carried prisoner to Saïs, and afterwards yielded up, with some reluctance on the part of Amasis, to the Egyptians, by whom he was put to death. Apries is the Pharaoh Hophra of the Bible, and his death, with its attendant circumstances, is thus foretold by Jeremiah: "I will give Pharaoh Hophra, King of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies, and into

the hands of them that seek his life."

This apparent treachery of Amasis rests, however, solely upon the authority of Herodotus,-or rather upon the accounts which that writer received from the Egyptian priests: there is some reason to suspect that Amasis was partly the subordinate agent of one of the most powerful monarchs of antiquity, Nebuchadnezzar. This conqueror, according to Josephus, "led an army into ColoSyria, of which he obtained possession, and then waged war on the Ammonites and Moabites. These being subdued, he invaded and conquered Egypt; and, having put the king of that country to death, he appointed another in his stead." Whether Amasis had solicited the aid of the Assyrian monarch in furtherance of his rebellious project, or had merely taken advantage of the disaffection of the Egyptians to advance his ambitious views, we can readily imagine that the Assyrians, having extended their conquests to the extremity of Palestine, would, on the rumour of intestine commotions in Egypt, hasten to take advantage of the opportunity thus afforded them of attacking the country. The prophecy of Isaiah was accomplished: "And the Egyptians will I give into the hand of a cruel lord, and a fierce king shall rule over them." Many were carried captive to Babylon; and Amasis The latter became king of Egypt, tributary to Nebuchadnezzar. fact, proved by the title Melek, which was given to inferior or tributary kings, being applied to Amasis in some of the hierogly

Phic legends respecting him, would account for the silence of the priests towards Herodotus on the subject of the Assyrian invasion. Without mentioning the disgrace which had befallen their country, and the interposition of a foreign power, they attributed the elevation of Amasis solely to his ambition and the disloyalty of the Egyptian soldiery.

But it was not ambition nor the love of conquest alone which led Nebuchadnezzar to attack Egypt; he was actuated also by revenge. Zedekiah had been made king of Judea by the Assyrian monarch, but, endeavouring to throw off the Babylonian yoke, he made a treaty with Apries for that purpose. The latter monarch, however, being engaged in war with the Syrians, could not afford any material assistance to his ally; and, although "Pharaoh's army was come out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem," yet, when the army of Apries had retired, the King of Babylon, again | advancing to the city, succeeded in taking it, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, rased it to the ground, and carried away the remainder of the people captive. The 29th chapter of Ezekiel describes the power of Apries and his pride; reproaching him with having failed in the protection of Judea, and prophesying the waste of Egypt by the Babylonian conqueror. If we reflect upon the character of Nebuchadnezzar, we may well imagine that he needed no further stimulus to his revengeful feelings than the possibility of success, to induce him to invade the kingdom of Apries; and his vindictive spirit might require the death of his deposed enemy, of which Amasis might be the unwilling instrument.

The mild conduct and political sagacity of Amasis conciliated the affections of the Egyptians. From dawn of day to such time as the public square was filled with people, he gave audience to whoever required it: the rest of the day he spent at the table, diverting himself with his guests in a manner not quite consonant with the dignity of a monarch. Some of his friends having remonstrated with him upon this conduct, he replied, "They who have a bow, bend it only at the time they want it; when not in use, they suffer it to be relaxed; it would otherwise break, and not be of service when exigence required. It is precisely the same with a man, if, without some intervals of amusement, he applied himself constantly to serious pursuits, he would imperceptibly lose his vigour both of mind and body. It is the conviction of this truth which influences me in the division of my time." Amasis instituted a law, obliging every Egyptian once in the year to explain to the chief magistrate of his district the means by which he obtained his subsistence. The refusal to comply with this ordinance, or the not being able to prove that a livelihood was procured by honest means, was a capital offence. This law was also established in Athens, by Draco; and Solon commuted the punishment of death to that of infamy, against all those who had thrice offended.

After remedying the evils that civil commotion had caused, Amasis turned his attention to the commercial and military interests of Egypt. Having fitted out a formidable expedition against Cyprus, he subjected that island to his power; being the first who had compelled it to pay tribute. In order to encourage such foreigners as were willing to trade with his subjects, (the Greeks especially,) he permitted the latter people to have a settlement at Naucratis, which soon became a flourishing town, in consequence of the exclusive privileges it enjoyed; every merchant being required to unload his cargo there, or, if contrary winds prevented his making that port, his goods were taken out, and conveyed in boats of the country by inland navigation, through or round the Delta, to Naucratis. Amasis also permitted the Greeks to build a very spacious and celebrated temple at Hellenium, accompanied by many exclusive privileges and distinctions. He likewise presented a large contribution to the Delphians, towards rebuilding the temple, which had been consumed by fire; and, having made an amicable confederacy with the Cyrenians, he sent a golden statue of Minerva, with a portrait of himself, to their city. The last-nanied gift shows that the art of painting was known to the Egyptians, although it does not seem to have been carried to any perfection by them. "The fine arts never flourished on the banks of the Nile. Hermes may have invented the lyre, but he left it to be sounded by the muses of Greece." Tacitus asserts that the Egyptians knew the art of designing before they were acquainted with letters. Is it not so in every country? Hieroglyphics are merely elaborate signs for things, used before man is able to condense and arrange his ideas; in process of time hieroglyphics become simplified into an alphabet. In Egypt, this would have

disclosed the hidden mysteries and science of the priests; therefore the use of hieroglyphics was encouraged by them. Compare our Roman alphabet with the Hebrew, the Syriac, or the Greek; how much more simple it is: the ancient Etruscan and Persepolitan is nearly, if not quite, as old as that of drawing, is shown by characters only exceed it in this respect. That the art of painting colourings on the walls at Thebes, and in many edifices of Upper Egypt. The lips of the oldest Hindu idols are, many of them. coloured red; and this use of mineral substances seems to be almost coeval with man. It follows that the savage, having co loured his own body, would, when led to it by circumstances, make had pictures when invaded by Cortez, but the Mexicans had lost coloured representations of the objects around him. The Mexicans

their civilization.

Besides the presents above mentioned, Amasis gave to the temple of Minerva at Sindus, said to have been built by Danaus, two marble statues and a linen corslet, "deserving of admiration;" and to the temple of Juno at Samos, two figures of himself carved in wood. The kindness shown by Amasis to Samos was owing to the friendship which subsisted between him and Polycrates, the son of Eaces, who had forcibly possessed himself of that island. "But the wonderful prosperity and uninterrupted successes of Polycrates excited the attention and anxiety of Amasis; and, as they were observed by him continually to increase, he was induced to write him the following letter:

"AMASIS TO POLYCRATES.

To learn that a friend and ally is blessed with prosperity, cannot fail to give me the greatest satisfaction; but, knowing the invidiousness of fortune, your extraordinary success excites my apprehension. For my own part, if I might be allowed to choose for myself or those I regard, I should prefer prosperity on some occasions, on others disappointment, and thus

pass through life with an alternation of good and evil, rather than be fortunate in every undertaking. For I never remember to have heard of a man blessed with unceasing felicity who did not end his career overwhelmed with calamities. Take, therefore, my advice, and apply this counterpoise to your prosperity; endeavour to discover some favourite object whose loss would occasion you the deepest regret; and, as soon as this has been ascertained, remove it from you in such a manner that it can never be recovered. If, then, your good fortune still continues unchequered by adversity, I strongly recommend you to repeat the remedy I propose.' "

Polycrates, having seriously deliberated upon this singular piece of advice, determined to follow it; and, accordingly, he fixed upon a signet ring, which he was in the habit of wearing, as being, of all his treasures, that which he the most valued. This ring has been the subject of some controversy. Herodotus calls it an emerald set in gold; Pliny says it was a sardonyx, adding, that in his time they showed a ring at Rome, in the temple of Concord, given by Augustus, which was said to be that of the Samian king. The matter is scarcely interesting beyond the evidence it gives of the art of engraving on precious stones being practised at this time. Resolving to sacrifice the ring, he embarked on board a fifty-oared vessel, and, being taken to a considerable distance from the land, he threw the jewel into the sea, in the presence of his attendants, and returned to Samos. The sacrifice, though voluntary, afflicted him much; but five or six days after, a fisherman, having caught a fish of great size and beauty, brought it to the palace as a presen: to the king, deeming it too fine to be exposed for sale in the market. Polycrates, gratified with the attention, ordered the man his supper in the palace. Shortly after, the servants, on opening the fish, discovered the ring, which the king received joyfully, and concluding that such a circumstance could only be the effect of divine interposition, carefully noted down every particular, and sent it to Egypt. Amasis, on perusing his friend's letter, felt convinced that it was out of the power of one mortal to deliver another from the fate which awaited him; and, fearing that Polycrates could not terminate his days in tranquillity, he sent a herald to Samos, disclaiming all future connexion with him lest, in any calamity which might befal Polycrates, he might be obliged, as a friend and ally, to bear a part.

This conduct certainly reflects no credit on the moral character of Amasis, however consonant it might be with policy. But Diodorus gives a very different reason for his withdrawal from the alliance of Polycrates: disgust at the tyrannical conduct of the latter, not only towards his own subjects but to strangers; conduct which must eventually bring about his ruin. This historian is confirmed by other writers, Herodotus among the rest, respecting the disaffection of the Samians towards their king: several of them fled to Crete; and Polycrates, suspecting the fidelity of others, and perhaps willing to revenge himself for the desertion of Amasis, sent to Cambyses, who was then meditating the invasion of Egypt,

entreating him to demand supplies and assistance of the Samians. With this private intimation Cambyses publicly complied; and the Samian king, selecting those whose loyalty he doubted, sent them in forty triremes to Cambyses, requesting him by all means to prevent their return. These people, however, instead of proceeding to their destination, repaired to Sparta, and implored the assistance of the Lacedemonians, which was granted; and an army was embarked against Polycrates, in which expedition the Corinthians also joined. The fleet besieged Samos; but, after remaining forty days before the place without any advantage, the Lacedemonians returned to Greece; while those Samians who had taken up arms against Polycrates, seeing themselves forsaken by their allies, embarked for Siphnos, one of the Cyclades. These islands were all eminently beautiful, and each was distinguished by some appropriate excellence. From Paros came the marble whose beauty bas furnished the poet with similes in ancient and modern times; Andros and Napos produced the most exquisite wine; Amengos was famous for a dye, made from a lichen growing there in great abundance; and the riches of Siphnos, now Siphanto, are extolled by many ancient writers. At this time the power of the Siphnians was very considerable; and, being insulted by the Samian ambassadors, they collected their forces to expel the strangers, but were defeated, and compelled to pay a hundred talents.

As

To return to Polycrates. Oroetes, a Persian, and governor of Sardis, having been reproached by a companion for never having attempted to add Samos to the dominions of his master, lying contiguous, as the island did, to the province which he governed, determined to effect the death of Polycrates, on whose account he had been reproached. Knowing the character of the Samian king, and that he projected the subjection of Ionia and the islands, Oroetes despatched a messenger to him, with intimation that Cambyses having determined on the death of the Persian, he had resolved to escape, and was willing to place himself and his wealth at the disposal of Polycrates; by which means the latter might easily obtain the sovereignty of Greece. With these overtures the king was extremely delighted, for his love of money was excessive; and, after sending a messenger to meet Orce:es, he sailed himself for Magnesia, accompanied by many of his friends. soon. however, as he arrived at that place, he was put to a miserable death by Oroetes, and his body fixed to a cross. His friends were dismissed to Samos, but the servants of those who had accompanied the king were detained in servitude. Thus terminated the life of Polycrates, "of all the princes who ever reigned in Greece, those of Syracuse alone excepted, the most magnificent." The alliance or friendship of Amasis could not have saved Poly. crates from this fate; and, in fact, the storm which at this period impended over Egypt might have involved him in the fate of that country, while it would have prevented Amasis from giving him any assistance against his rebellious subjects, had the latter been inclined to do so. But here again good springs from evil. Diodorus and other authors affirm that it was the tyranny, not the recommendation of Polycrates, which drove the Samian sage,' Pythagoras, from his native island to Egypt, there to study the religious mysteries of the priests, and to acquire those profound scientific truths which modern investigation has but confirmed, scarcely surpassed. Thales and Solon also visited Egypt during the reign of Amasis; the latter carrying back with him the foundations of those laws which have rendered the Athenian code so celebrated. Let us inquire in what state was science in Egypt in the reign of Amasis. Even the Greeks themselves inform us that geometry was studied in Egypt from the most remote antiquity. According to Plato, this science was invented by Thoth, to whom the Egyptians were indebted for the use of letters, according to Manetho, before the flood. Upon this intricate subject we will not enter; merely noticing that the dispassionate and lucid author of "Origines" sees no reason why the fact should be deemed improbable." The erection of the pyramids is sufficient to show a considerable proficiency in geometry; and as to astronomy, is not our present system that which Pythagoras learned in Egypt? for we believe that the opinion that Pythagoras, at the age of twentytwo, carried into that country more learning and science than the priests, devoted to its acquisition, had been able to obtain in the Course of many centuries, is now exploded. Admitting that Pythagoras went into Egypt for the purpose of acquiring knowledge, not of transmitting it, what degree of knowledge did he acquire? He was taught that the sun was the centre of the planetary system; to attempt to measure the distance between the earth, the sun, and the moon; to determine the size of these orbs; and to calculate the periods of the revolutions of the stars and

planets. Pythagoras understood the cause of a lunar eclipse, and held the same opinion as the moderns respecting the nature of the moon,-its mountains, valleys, and seas; his disciples described the diurnal motion of the earth; and they likewise taught that the diameter of the moon is about a third of that of the earth: modern astronomers have determined it to be greater than a fourth. They also said that the moon's mass is to that of the earth as 1 to 72; Bernouilli says, as 1 to 71. The Pythagoreans understood the form of the comets' courses. and gave hints of a plurality of habitable worlds. All this shows an advanced stage of astronomical science. How the Egyptian priests had acquired it,—whether it were the remains of antediluvian learning, imperfectly transmitted by the great patriarch to the renewed world, or whether it were the fruit of the incessant application of the Egyptian priests, we can only conjecture; but the first supposition acquires some credit from the fact that the Egyptians omitted to place among the constellations some of the most remarkable of the animals which they adored; while they acknowledged the figures of the bear and the lion, animals which t..ey could be acquainted with only by description.

The Egyptians could scarcely be ignorant of the use of the mechanical powers in the age of Amasis. That monarch erected at Saïs a splendid building in honour of Minerva; "but, what in my opinion," says Herodotus, "deserves the greatest admiration, is an edifice of a single stone, brought from the city of Elephantine, a distance of about twenty days' journey. Two thousand men, chosen from the class of boatmen, were employed for the space of three years in transporting it to Sais. Its external length is twenty-one cubits, its breadth fourteen, and height eight; and, in the inside, it measures eighteen cubits and twenty digits in length, twelve in breadth, and five in height. It stands near the entrance of the temple; and the reason of its being left in this spot was that the architect, wearied with the tedious duration of the undertaking, had been heard to fetch a deep sigh, while they were employed in dragging it forward; upon which Amasis, who happened to be present, gave orders they should stop and carry it no further. Some, however, affirm, that one of the men while moving it with a lever was crushed to death, and that on this account they were ordered to desist." From Elephantine to Assouan, where the granite quarries may still be seen, to Saï, is about 700 miles by land; the river must have been crossed once at least. Many monuments still exist in different parts of Egypt, bearing the name of Amasis, presenting memorials of the encouragement which he gave to architecture, and other branches of art. May we not rejoice when we read that this monarch died six months before the invasion of Cambyses? Having reigned forty-four years, feared and respected, and having succeeded in the latter part of his reign in freeing his country from the Babylonian tribute, he was spared the misery of seeing Egypt fall under a more oppressive conqueror even than Nebuchadnezzar; a conqueror who amply fulfilled the sacred prophecy, that Egypt should be utterly waste and desolate. It shall be the basest of kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations." The Persian iconoclasts doomed to destruction the monuments of Egyptian learning and science; and it has been truly said that it was the superstition, and not the science, of Egypt, that survived the iron rule of her Persian despots."

:

Of the fine arts in Egypt little need be said. We have seen that they were acquainted with painting their linen and embroidery, we learn in the Bible, were highly esteemed; the corselet given by Amasis to the temple of Minerva at Lindus was "of linen, but there were interwoven in the piece a great number of animals richly embroidered with cotton and gold: every part of it deserved admi. ration: it was composed of chains, each of which contained three hundred and sixty threads distinctly visible." Glass was in use with the Egyptians for various purposes; Herodotus, who lived about a century after Amasis, says, that in Ethiopia it was so abundant that coffins were made of it; it has even been said that the Egyptians knew the art of making glass malleable. It is probable that they were even acquainted with the formation and use of lenses.

As early as the time of Moses, the Egyptians understood the arts of tanning and dyeing. Josephus says that the purple dye was obtained from a flower; but it was the Ichthyophagi who presented the purple robe to Cambyses, according to Herodotus, and this makes it more likely to have been procured from a species of murex. The lately explored remains of Petra show that the Edomites knew that water will rise to its own level; and we might almost imagine, from the account of Herodotus, that the Arabians supplied the army of Cambyses with water upon the same principle.