The departure--Sarcophagus containing the embalmed body of Joseph--The Shekinah--Succoth--Etham--Pi-hahiroth--Migdol--Hebrews inclosed between the mountains and the sea--Calm confidence of Moses--Fulfilment of prophecy--Pharaoh determines to destroy the entangled Hebrews--Gathers a mighty host and follows in pursuit--Dismay of the Hebrews--The Egyptian army comes in sight--The elders reproach Moses--He calls upon God--The Voice of the Lord--The Pillar of Cloud and the Pillar of Fire--The sea--Israel in the midst of the sea--The procession--The pursuit--Frantic terror of Pharaoh and his army--Their destruction--Israel filled with awe and gratitude--They go into the wilderness--The bitter waters--Journey abounding in miracles--The rock in Horeb--God's awful presence on Horeb--Moses disappears in the mount of God--The people murmur--They demand a god--They sacrifice to a molten calf--An indignant God!--Terrible vengeance upon the offenders--Joshua--pp. 576-596. APPENDIX. The author to the scholar and critic--pp. 597-600. THE PILLAR OF FIRE, OR ISRAEL IN BONDAGE. LETTERS OF SESOSTRIS TO QUEEN EPIPHIA. LETTER I. PRINCE SESOSTRIS TO HIS ROYAL MOTHER, EPIPHIA, QUEEN OF PHŒNICIA. At length, my dear mother, I have reached the "Land of the Seven Rivers," and do now write to you from her gorgeous capital, ON, The City of the Sun. How shall I describe to you the grand and solemn magnificence of this city of divine temples, and convey to you a just idea of its palaces that seem rather to have been erected for the abodes of gods than of men! Wheresoever I turn my eyes, I realize that I am in mighty Egypt; for everywhere I behold grandeur and glory, excellency and perfection. Every object illustrates the power, munificence, and taste of the imperial princess who now sits on the throne of the Pharaohs, and the splendor of whose reign has raised Egypt above the mightiest empires of the earth. And all that I behold recalls the ancient glory, my dear mother, of our own land, the once princely Palestina and Phœnicia,--twin kingdoms which of old gave conquerors, and rulers, and laws to Egypt, under the short but brilliant dynasty of her Shepherd Kings! But, though fading with age, Phœnicia still lives in the beauty, pride, and power of her daughter Egypt. I will not lament over the waning glory of my own dear land, my royal mother, while I can see it revived here with increased magnificence. Phœnicia is not dead while Egypt lives. Every ruin in my own kingdom is restored with augmented beauty and splendor on the green plains of this land of the shining River, whose fountain-head is underneath the throne of Thoth, far in the southern sky.