often happens to us (as Joseph said of the conduct of his brethren) that when men think evil against us God means it unto good."

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The Israelites had then been one hundred and twenty years in Egypt; they had adopted the habits and customs of the country, they were neglecting the worship of the true God, they had forgotten the promises made to their forefathers-in a word, they had become corrupt, and were going the way that leads to perdition. It was necessary in order that God might do them good, that he should begin by afflicting them, for the purpose of correcting them, and making them turn their hearts from Egypt.

To understand this narrative clearly we must find out in what year of the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt the events here related took place. This is not difficult to discover. It was not long before the birth of Moses. Pharaoh made them build two treasure cities, Pithon and Raamses; this must have taken several years-fifteen or twenty, perhaps. And what age was Moses when it "came into his heart" to deliver them? Full forty years old, we are told by Stephen.

And after Moses had been obliged to flee out of Egypt, how long did he live as a shepherd in the land of Midian? Forty years more. It was probably about ninety or one hundred years before the deliverance of the Israelites that the events stated here took place. But how many years was it after their arrival in Egypt? To know this it is necessary to find out how long they remained there.

We are told by St. Paul that

1 Gen. 1. 20.

between the calling of

2 Acts vii. 23.

Abraham and the going out of Egypt there were four hundred and thirty years. Of these four hundred and thirty years, exactly the half (namely, two hundred and fifteen years) passed away between the calling of Abraham and the arrival of Jacob and his sons. Thus the Israelites lived in this country two hundred and fifteen years. From these two hundred and fifteen take away ninety-five, there remain one hundred and twenty. It was then about the one hundred and twentieth year of their sojourn in Egypt that the persecutions commenced, and Joseph must have been dead about fifty years, as can be easily calculated. He was thirty years of age when he was sent for by Pharaoh to interpret the dreams; to these thirty years must be added the seven years of great plenty and the two years of famine (for there were yet five years to pass, when he made himself known to his brethren). Joseph was thirty-nine or forty years old when his family came to live in Egypt, and as he lived to the age of one hundred and ten, he protected them there for seventy years; from the one hundred and twenty years take away these seventy, and there remain fifty, which passed between his death and the reign of the wicked Pharaoh, which explains why the latter did not pay any regard to the memory of Joseph, nor to his great services. Besides, we learn from monuments that during this interval a great revolution, which had changed the race of kings, had taken place in Egypt. The kings of Upper Egypt, who reigned at Thebes, had made themselves masters of Lower Egypt, where the Israelites were, and the kings of which lived at Memphis.

Gal. iii. 17.

ye." We ought to submit to the consequences of disobedience to man for the sake of obedience to God. "Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty."

Pharaoh then gave a second order to all subjects, commanding that every infant son of the Israelites was to be cast into the river; none were to escape death. This order appears to us almost beyond belief, but even in our days we read and hear of wicked and cruel deeds which show the natural evil of the heart of man. When we remember what takes place in heathen lands, in our own time, we can hardly wonder at the cruelty of Pharaoh.

The events described in Exodus happened a very long time ago. They took place about five hundred years before the siege of Troy, that is to say, before what is called in history the "fabulous age" of the Greeks. Pictures or representations of some of these events have been discovered on some of the monuments of Egypt. The people of this country were in the habit of paying even greater attention to their tombs than to their houses. These sepulchres were either caves cut out of the rock, or were pyramids or temples. In the halls or corridors of these vast buildings the kings and noblemen had caused to be engraved or painted, from year to year, the events in their lives. A great number of these tombs have recently been discovered, and there were found well preserved upon the walls paintings which, although they had been there for three thousand years, are in good preserva. tion, owing to the dryness of the climate.

Learned men have discovered how to read the hieroglyphics or characters of the Egyptians' writing,

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caused them to think of the God of their fathers, disposed them to listen to Moses, and fly from the land of bondage. God made use of Pharaoh to do them good, as a doctor makes use of medicine to cure a sick child. Therefore, my children, when you hear of persecutions think of these things. Look not at the designs of the idolatrous rulers, look rather to the purposes of God. Think that whatever evil things governments or nations may purpose or intend against Christians, yet God will order all things to work for their good. He weans

them by these means from many evil things, he exercises their courage and faith, he glorifies his gospel, and raises up labourers and witnesses devoted to his word. A father of the church (that is to say, one of its most ancient teachers) thus wrote to the Roman Senate: "Senators, you sentence us to death; but thus, in reality, you cause us to increase, for the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."

But see to what cruelties the malignity of persecutors may lead them when they begin to make war against God, and the people of God. Pharaoh at first caused the Israelites to labour beyond measure; then he summoned before him the nurses of the Hebrews who took care of all the young children, and commanded them to kill every boy which should be born. The Hebrew nurses, Shiphrah and Puah, whose names are preserved to us in holy Scripture, feared God more than the king, and preferred exposing themselves to his wrath to aiding him in his cruelty.

We ought to obey our rulers, dear children; but if they command us to do wrong we ought to say as the apostles did: "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge

ye." We ought to submit to the consequences of disobedience to man for the sake of obedience to God. "Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty."

Pharaoh then gave a second order to all subjects, commanding that every infant son of the Israelites was to be cast into the river; none were to escape death. This order appears to us almost beyond belief, but even in our days we read and hear of wicked and cruel deeds which show the natural evil of the heart of man. When we remember what takes place in heathen lands, in our own time, we can hardly wonder at the cruelty of Pharaoh.

The events described in Exodus happened a very long time ago. They took place about five hundred years before the siege of Troy, that is to say, before what is called in history the "fabulous age" of the Greeks. Pictures or representations of some of these events have been discovered on some of the monuments of Egypt. The people of this country were in the habit of paying even greater attention to their tombs than to their houses. These sepulchres were either caves cut out of the rock, or were pyramids or temples. In the halls or corridors of these vast buildings the kings and noblemen had caused to be engraved or painted, from year to year, the events in their lives. A great number of these tombs have recently been discovered, and there were found well preserved upon the walls paintings which, although they had been there for three thousand years, are in good preserva. tion, owing to the dryness of the climate.

Learned men have discovered how to read the hieroglyphics or characters of the Egyptians' writing,