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Beacon Lights of History, Volume 02 - Jewish Heroes and Prophets by John Lord
page 53 of 308 (17%)
nations, dating back to a mythical period. More than two thousand years
before the Christian era, and six hundred before letters were introduced
into Greece, one thousand years before the Trojan War, twelve hundred
years before Buddha, and fifteen hundred years before Rome was founded,
great architectural works existed in Egypt, the remains of which still
astonish travellers for their vastness and grandeur. In the time of
Joseph, before the eighteenth dynasty, there was in Egypt an estimated
population of seven millions, with twenty thousand cities. The
civilization of that country four thousand years ago was as high as that
of the Chinese of the present day; and their literary and scientific
accomplishments, their proficiency in the industrial and fine arts,
remain to-day the wonder of history. But one thing is very
remarkable,--that while there seems to have been no great progress for
two thousand years, there was not any marked decline, thus indicating
virtuous habits of life among the great body of the people from
generation to generation. They were preserved from degeneracy by their
simple habits and peaceful pursuits. Though the armies of the King
numbered four hundred thousand men, there were comparatively few wars,
and these mostly of a defensive character.

Such was the Egypt which Joseph governed with signal ability for more
than half a century, nearly four thousand years ago,--the mother of
inventions, the pioneer in literature and science, the home of learned
men, the teacher of nations, communicating a knowledge which was never
lost, making the first great stride in the civilization of the world. No
one knows whether this civilization was indigenous, or derived from
unknown races, or the remains of a primitive revelation, since it cannot
be traced beyond Egypt itself, whose early inhabitants were more Asiatic
than African, and apparently allied with Phoenicians and Assyrians,

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