man rebelled and God condemned him to die, but at the same time announced to him the coming of the Saviour.

From this time there have been two kinds of people on the earth; the children of God, and the children of men. The children of men, like Cain, walking in the "ways of death," the children of God, like Abel, Enoch, and Noah, walking in the way that leadeth to eternal life. We afterwards read that God destroyed the whole world, but saved one family to continue the human race, for the sake of his elect and of the promised Redeemer.

When this family, which had been saved from the Deluge, had repeopled the earth, mankind again rebelled against God, despised his promises, and gave themselves up to idolatry. Then God, who until this time had chosen his ransomed ones, sometimes here, sometimes there, among the nations, decreed to choose them from one family, with the exception of some rare cases. God accordingly chose a people among whom he would preserve the knowledge of his name. He blessed them abundantly, notwithstanding their frequent infidelity, rebellion, and disobedience; and he will glorify them in the latter days. This chosen people still exists, some of them are to be found in every part of the world, and they are the only race which have been kept distinct among all other nations. Not a village is to be found in the world the inhabitants of which have been composed of a single family during a great number of years, yet the Jews have been preserved as a separate people for 3500 years. They were a very numerous people 1500 years before Jesus Christ;

1 Prov. xiv. 12.

and they are, at the present day, about seven or eight millions in number, and are increasing in every country where they are settled. They have been trodden under foot by other nations for thousands of years, and persecuted with the greatest cruelty; nevertheless, they have never been destroyed, neither have they been converted as a people. To them were committed the "oracles of God." They are witnesses to the truth of the sacred Scriptures, and their whole history is a continued and most wonderful miracle.

The book of Genesis shows us how the worship of the true God was preserved in families. The book of Exodus will show us how one of these families became a nation, and will give us an account of their early history.

We read in Genesis of the birth of Abraham, the father of this people. He lived in Mesopotamia in a family of idolaters. He was "called " by God, who told him to leave his country, and go to dwell in another land which he knew not, and in which he did not possess a single spot of ground. He obeyed, "and he went out, not knowing whither he went," 1 and dwelt in tents in this land of promise. God had said "in him shall all the families of the earth be blessed," and although Abraham was old and childless, he had faith in the Divine promise, and showed his faith by his works; so that when in after years he was a father, and God commanded him to offer up as a burnt-offering his only son, who had grown up to be a young man, he immediately went to the place to which God had told him to go; and was ready to offer up his child, because he did not doubt that God 1 Heb. xi. 8, 9.

was able to raise his son up even from the dead.1 By this faith he gave "glory to God," and this faith was "imputed to him for righteousness.

12

We now proceed to study in the book of Exodus the history of Abraham's family when it became a people. In the seventh chapter of the book of Acts, from the first to the nineteenth verse, you will find a short account of their history from the time of Abraham to the time of Moses; the period which we are now to consider.

In Exodus i. 1-4 we find the names of the sons of Jacob or Israel, who came into Egypt with him. There were only eleven of them, for Joseph was already in that country with his wife and two sons.

My children, God knows each of us by name, although the days of our lives are as a shadow, and pass away as a flower of the field.3 He forgets no one, and says of his sheep that "he calleth his own by name." 4 Ah! blessed are they "whose names are written in the book of life," 5 who are true Israelites and heirs of the kingdom of heaven.

"And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls," 6 that is to say, with Joseph, who was in Egypt, but without counting the women; or seventy-five, if some others are included, as they were by Stephen in his speech given in the Acts of the Apostles.7

2 Rom. iv. 20-22.
5 Philip. iv. 3.

3 Psa. ciii. 15, 16.
6 Gen. xlvi. 26, 27.

1 Heb. xi. 18, 19. 4 John x. 3. The number stated in Gen. xlvi. 26, 27, as coming with Jacob into Egypt, is sixty-six. Jacob, with Joseph and his two sons, who were already there, and the five descendants of Joseph, mentioned in 1 Chron. vii. 14-23, are supposed to make the seventy-five persons named by Stephen in Acts vii. 14.

We are told that this family numbered no more than seventy persons on their arrival in Egypt, in order to exhibit to us a wonderful instance of the power of God, which caused them to become a great nation in so short a time.

"And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation." Behold the manner in which the history of us all will finish! It will one day be said of every one of us, he is dead, his brothers are dead, all that generation are dead.

Joseph lived like a king in Egypt till he was more than a hundred years old, but at length he died. Joseph was the ruler over all the land. When he passed by the people cried before him, "Bow the knee," and "without thee," as Pharaoh said to him, "shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." And notwithstanding all this, Joseph died. Were we even as great as he was, we must die; "for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." 1 Oh, may God grant that we may be "found acceptable in his sight" when he shall call us, and that we may "have our loins girt about with truth," and "have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." 3

Joseph was a child of God even when quite young. When he wandered in the fields, clad in his coat of many colours, he lifted up his heart to God, and God loved him. Thus he was watched over by Him whilst in the pit, whilst in the hands of the slave dealers, whilst in the house of Potiphar, whilst in prison, and whilst he was ruler over the land of Egypt. Nevertheless after all these deliverances he died.

1 2 Cor. v. 10. 2 Eph. vi. 14.

3 Rev. vii. 14.

Dear children, "all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."1 "He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."' "2

Blessed is he who has worked for his Master and has prepared himself for eternity, "for what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

Joseph's brethren sold him for a slave when he was but seventeen years of age. Thirteen years afterwards they found him ruler over Egypt-second only to Pharaoh. And they were afraid and were troubled at his presence. But Joseph wept aloud, and said to them, I am Joseph. He embraced them, he showed them the greatest affection, he forgave them all their offences. All this is very touching, but he said something more to them. "Haste ye, and go up to my father," and tell him from me to come down unto me, and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children. I will nourish you," I will protect you, I will love you. There were no bitter reproaches, no mention of the past; all was forgiven and forgotten. But as they were leaving to return home, Joseph said to them, "See that ye fall not out by the way." How these words must have cut them to the heart! They must have often come into their minds as they journeyed along. If any of them had a quarrel against another, how he ought to forgive him. For Joseph, their benefactor, the powerful lord, who said that he was their brother, and

1 1 Peter i. 24, 25.