LETTER X.
City of the Sun.
My dear Father:
Scarcely had I reached the confines of Goshen, after the threatened judgment of God upon Pharaoh, when I heard, as it were in the air, a voice speaking, which I knew to be the voice of Moses; and behind me I heard, instantly, loud thunders uttering their voices, and the earth shook beneath my chariot-wheels. To the right of me, at the same moment, I beheld Moses and Aaron standing, side by side, on the tower of the ruined fountain of Jacob, beneath which I was driving; the former stretching forth his hands, and his rod therein, northward towards the city of Pharaoh, upon the obelisks of which the sun was then brilliantly shining, and was also reflected in splendor from the shield of gold upon the lofty tower of the temple of Osiris. Leaping from my chariot, and leaving it with my servants, whom I commanded to hasten further into the land of the Hebrews, I drew reverently near the men of God, feeling greatly awed by their presence, but assured that near them was safety,—though they were the visible sources of God's terrible wrath upon Egypt. I stood not far off, and beheld, with expectation. Moses, his rod extended, and waving eastward, and northward, and westward, stood with a majestic and fearful aspect, his eyes raised to the heavens, which were already answering his voice by far-off thunderings. He continued, as I drew near, in these words:
"And let thunder, and hail, and fire, O Egypt, descend out of heaven from God upon thee, and let the fire mingle with the hail, and smite throughout all the land of Egypt, all that is in the field, both man and beast, and every herb in the field, and break every tree! Only in the land of Goshen let there be no hail."
No language, my dear father, can convey to you any idea of the terrible power and godlike authority with which he spake. To his words, Aaron pronounced a loud "A-men,"—the Hebrew word for expressing full assent and confirmation.
Then I looked, with expectant awe, towards the land of Egypt, over which the thunders rolled without a cloud; when, lo! from the north came rolling onward a black wall of darkness, which I perceived was a mighty cloud from the great sea. It advanced with the swiftness and roar of ten thousand war-chariots rushing to battle. Out of it shot forth lightnings, and its increasing thunders shook Egypt. In a moment it had filled half the heavens, and still onward it rolled. Beneath it moved its shadow, dark as itself, extinguishing the light upon obelisk, tower, and pylon. I am told that Pharaoh, from the top of his palace, witnessed this scene also. Directly the sun was blotted out, and the city of On became invisible. Then I saw fire pour down upon the earth out of the cloud, as if lightnings could not fast enough exhaust its angry power; and I heard the voice of falling hail like the voice of the sea when lashed by a storm. A million of Hebrews, who had gathered in Goshen, stood and beheld what I did. The roads, the fields, the plain were covered with people flying from the terror towards Goshen.
Onward marched this awful servant of the Almighty, more terrible than an army with banners. Fire ran along the ground before it, and red forked lightnings shot far out beyond its advancing edge athwart the blue sky, while, in a moment afterwards, the cloud of blackness rolled beneath, like the sulphurous smoke that the priests of Egypt say forever rolls above the fiery regions of Typhon!
Each instant it enlarged its compass, until from east to west it enveloped Egypt, while fire, mingled with hail, ran along the earth beneath it. Now behold, my father, the power of God! The vast pall which Jehovah had thus begun to draw over Egypt, no sooner had reached in the height of heaven over the borders of Goshen, casting its very shadow, and pouring its stones of hail, and sending its tongues of fire almost to the foot of the tower whereon Moses stood, than it ceased to move! It became stationary in the air a mile high, and there hung beetling over the verge of Goshen like a crag, its edge working and agitated by the wildest commotion, and shooting its lightnings into the blue calm sky over Goshen, but restrained from advancing further by the power of Him who commandeth the heavens, who maketh the clouds His chariot, and who keepeth the lightnings in His quiver!