This king laid upon them many hardships, and treated them as slaves. They had to make brick, and build cities, and had task-masters set over them, who treated them very cruelly; and many of their children were put to death.

There was one little boy among the Jews, whose name was Moses, whom his parents hid three months. Then, fearing they might be found out, they made a cradle with rushes, in which they placed the child, and laid it on the edge of the river, leaving his sister to watch, and see what would become of their poor little treasure.

Soon after this, the king's daughter came near, and her maidens with her. She saw something lying among the weeds, and sent one of them to see what it was; and when she opened it and saw the babe crying, she had compassion, took the child, and said she would bring him up as her son. Then the child's sister came forward, and asked if she should fetch a nurse for it; and when leave was given to her, she ran and called his own mother, to whom the child was given in charge.

And here I would point out to you the goodness of God, who rules all our actions for the best. It must have been a great grief to the mother of this little boy to leave her child by the side of the river, as she thought, to die; but she did not dare to keep him any longer, for she knew that if the Egyptians found it out, he would be taken from her and put

to death. She therefore left him to the mercy of her God, whose kind providence it was that the king's daughter should take pity on him. Thus his life was saved, and it was the will of God that this child, who had been so wonderfully preserved, should lead his people from the land. where Pharaoh had made them slaves, back to Canaan.

When Moses grew up, he showed his friendly disposition to his countrymen, although he had been brought up in Pharaoh's house, by taking their part against a cruel taskmaster. This so offended the king, that he sought to kill nim; but Moses fled out of the country.

When he had been a few years absent, and the king whom he had offended was no longer alive, the Lord one day appeared to him, when he was keeping sheep at the foot of mount Horeb, and told him to return to Egypt, stand before the king, and ask of him leave for all the Israelites to go three days' journey into the wilderness to sacrifice unto their God.

Moses did as he was commanded, and, with his brother Aaron, appeared before the king and made the request; they were refused, and the people were treated worse than before.

Then the Lord brought upon the Egyptians ten plagues, which were very hard to bear. Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron, if they would pray to their God to stay the plagues,

they should go; but his fear was no sooner removed, than he hardened his heart, and would not perform his promise.

The tenth and last plague was very terrible. The Lord declared that if Pharaoh did not let the people go, he would cause the first-born of every family to die at midnight.

Accordingly, in one night was heard in all the houses of the Egyptians, a noise of mourning and weeping; in every house there was one dead.

Then Pharaoh rose up in haste and sent the children of Israel away, lest the Egyptians should all become dead men. The Israelites arose, took with them their flocks and herds, and not forgetting the remains of Joseph, they left that land where their ancestors had been so joyfully welcomed, and they themselves so cruelly treated.

THE STORY OF MOSES AND THE ISRAELITES CONTINUED.

AFTER the Israelites left Egypt, they had a long, dangerous, and weary journey before them: they were a great multitude. The little food which they took with them could not be expected to last long, and they had the prospect of passing through a dreary desert, where neither meat nor drink was easily found.

But that God who had caused Pharaoh to let them go, wonld not permit the people to want: He led them over the pathless sands, by means of a cloudy pillar, which moved before them all day, and a pillar of fire, which shone on their path by night. When they were to rest, these guides stood still; when they were to proceed, they again moved on. Now when they were gone, the king of Egypt was sorry that he had suffered them to depart, and took all his chariots and horsemen, and went after them. When the Israelites saw them coming, they had arrived on the shores of the Red sea, which they had no means of crossing. Behind

hem were their enemies, and before them the water. They feared to go on; but Moses commanded them to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Then God caused the waters of the sea to divide, and the people passed through on dry ground. But when the Egyptians attempted to pursue them, the waters returned to their place, and the whole of Pharaoh's host was drowned.

If I were to attempt to relate to you all that befell this wonderful people, this would be a very long letter; but as you have heard how they first came into Egypt, perhaps you may like to hear what they met with on their return to that land where Jacob had lived the peaceful life of a shepherd.

God worked many miracles for them on their

way, besides

that of causing them to pass through the Red sea without even wetting their feet. After they had thanked the Almighty for thus wonderfully preserving them, He told them that He would cause food to fall every morning around the camp; which they gathered, each man for himself, and called it manna.

They were commanded not to gather more than enough for one day at a time; most likely in order that they might learn to place their daily dependence upon him who can alone preserve us. The day before the Sabbath, they were to collect twice as much as common, that they might not have to work on that day which was set apart to the Lord. Although they had these mercies daily in view, they often complained when any new difficulty arose. They sometimes wanted water, and when they came to a rock in Horeb, where the Lord appeared to Moses when he was a shepherd, and commanded him to go into Egypt, the people were very angry with him, because they could get nothing to drink; but God told Moses to strike the rock, and water should flow. This he did, and the water gushed out abundantly.

Thus they went on, meeting with many miraculous escapes, and led by an all-powerful arm, until they came to the foot of mount Sinai, where we will leave them for a short time, while I endeavor to explain the meaning of a miracle.