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Moses from his infancy, and which, even in the strange land where he now sought refuge, raised him a friend and protector, in a priest named Jethro; who gave the fugitive his daughter Zipporah to wife, and made him the keeper of his flocks in Midian. The Lord had a high mission in reserve for the foundling; and it was here, on the borders of the wilderness, by Mount Horeb, where He chose to reveal His presence. As young man was tending the cattle of his father-in-law, the angel of God appeared to him in a flame of fire, issuing from a bush, which, though it burned, was not consumed; and as Moses drew nigh to see, the voice of the Lord from the midst of the bush called to him, saying, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. I am the God of thy father; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob"

Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon the divine manifestation. But the Lord encouraged and comforted him, and declared that He had chosen him to be a special messenger to Pharaoh, and to be the instrument through which the children of Israel should be released from their grievous bondage. The Lord further declared that, as a token to Pharaoh, to the Egyptians, and to the Israelites themselves of the truth of his mission, many miracles and

wonders should be wrought in the earth, by the hand of Moses. As a surety that it was indeed the Lord that spake to him, Jehovah commanded him to cast his shepherd's rod on the ground, and when he had done so it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.

The Lord then said, "Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail."

And when Moses obeyed, the serpent again became a rod. God gave him also another sign; rendering his hand leprous and sound again, by merely placing it twice in his bosom. But Moses was still desirous of renouncing his high office, till the Lord joined with him Aaron, his elder brother, born in Egypt before the enforcement of the law which ordained the destruction of all Hebrew male children; an eloquent man, and one zealous to serve God. Then Moses, relying on the promised assistance, no longer delayed, but returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and solicited permission to return to Egypt, with his wife, and a son named Gershom, who had been born to him in Midian; and Jethro said, "Go in peace." Moses, however, sometime afterwards sent back his wife and child, together with a second son, named Eliezer, to his fatherin-law, their presence interfering with his new duties.

As he journeyed by Horeb, the mount of God, Moses was met by Aaron, who, directed to that end by the Almighty,

had come forth to welcome his brother, and to bear part in his divine errand. And when Moses had informed him of all that the Lord had said, and of his signs and tokens, and the promises of certain deliverance which He had made in behalf of the children of Israel, Aaron hastened and gathered together the people, that they might hear and rejoice at the salvation which drew nigh. Bright were the words of hope and of freedom then uttered; and the Hebrews were blessed in believing.

When the demand for liberty, however, was made to the king (not that Pharaoh who had sought to slay Moses, for he was dead; but his successor, a stranger to the murder of the Egyptian), the monarch, in pride and indignation, exclaimed, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice, to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go."

The Egyptians, it should be borne in mind, were idolaters; worshipping many imaginary divinites, under names conferred by the priesthood, expressive of powers and attributes assigned to the sun, the moon, the stars, to certain animals, and even to reptiles, rivers, trees, and plants. Everything, indeed, animate and inanimate, save only the living God, was to them as a deity. Pharaoh, therefore, said truly that he knew not the Lord; and his vainglory and obstinacy were such, as to hold him in ignorance till the day of his death.

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