Observations Upon the Plagues Inflicted Upon the Egyptians

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OBSERVATIONS

UPON

THE PLAGUES

İNFLICTED UPON

THE EGYPTIANS.

IN WHICH IS SHEWN

THE PECULIARITY OF THOSE JUDGMENTS,

AND

THEIR CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE RITES
AND IDOLATRIES OF THAT PEOPLE.

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED

A PREFATORY DISCOURSE,

CONCERNING THE GRECIAN COLONIES FROM EGYPT.

BY JACOB BRYANT, ESQ.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR T. HAMILTON AND R. OGLE; J. OĠLE, EDINBURGE;
M. OGLE, AND J. STEVEN & CO. GLASGOW;

AND T. JOHNSTON, DUBLIN,

1810.

V7901

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FEB

Res 5.1907

PREFACE.

THE following Treatise, together with those
with which it is accompanied, was written
many years ago for my own private amuse-
ment and satisfaction. For I then had form-
ed no design of having them published to the
world. But since I have been induced to
make my thoughts in some other instances
public, it has led me farther than I at first
purposed, and given me encouragement to
produce these likewise to the world, that if
any the least good can result from them, I
may have the happiness of seeing it in some
degree take place. The principal subjects
which I have undertaken to elucidate, have,
I believe, been considered by me in a light
quite new.
For I do not recollect that any
person before has followed the same mode of

illustration. Particularly in respect to the plagues in Egypt, it does not appear that any writer has observed that correspondence which seems to subsist between the offence and the punishment, as well as between the people and their customs. It will afford me great satisfaction if this correspondence should appear universally obvious and precise, and founded in truth. As what I here present to the public is a small part of a large collection, I may possibly, if I live, venture to produce other observations upon similar subjects, and of a like tendency, For my chief labour has been, ever since I have had opportunities of reading, observing, and forming an unbiassed opinion, to do honour to the religion which I profess, and to authenticate the Scriptures upon which it is founded.

CONTENTS.

OF Egyptian Rites, and of the Colonies by which they

were introduced very early into Greece

Concerning the Judgments of God in Egypt, and of their

Page 1

Propriety

PART FIRST.

OF THE PLAGUES INFLICTED UPON THE EGYPTIANS.

The First Plague-THE RIVER TURNED TO BLOOD

Antiquity of Worshipping Rivers

The Peculiarity of the Punishment by this Plague

The Destruction of the Aquatic Tribes