sorry those must have felt to part with the good old patriarch, who had seen their fathers nourished and comforted by him whom they had injured!

One must feel that such a loving, forgiving temper as that of Joseph, has its reward even in this life, as we know that it will in another. How much happier he was, than if he had revenged himself on his brothers! Some people tell you that they can forgive, but they cannot forget, the harm their enemies have done to them. But Joseph not only seemed himself to forget, but to be so anxious that his brothers should forget their sin towards him. He was always excusing them, and telling them not to reproach themselves-in truth, putting in practice the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, which were heard on the mountains of Judea two thousand years afterwards, "I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven."

Another thing we learn, is the misery that follows the commission of such a crime as that of which these brothers were guilty. Their lives must have been wretched at first, from the fear of being found out, and even after all was known, and Joseph had not only forgiven them, but had loaded them with gifts, still they never seem to have had an easy moment. The Bible tells us that "our sin will surely find us out." You may sometimes see bad people, who appear to be very happy, but you little know what they may be suffering in their own

minds, when they remember their sins. God has given to every one of us a conscience, and none are so hardened as not to feel sometimes when they have done wrong, as those sons of Jacob did, when they said one to another, "Verily we are guilty concerning our brother."

EXODUS.

THE death of Joseph ends the book of Genesis. We then come to Exodus. The word means "going out," "departing," and it describes the Israelites going out of Egypt, and wandering in the wilderness, on their way to the promised land. A wilderness is a place where people cannot live, where there are no farms and fields, or gardens, or houses, only trees, and grass, and rocks, and mountains. Often, little water is to be found there, and in a hot country that is a dreadful want. You know how thirsty you are on a very hot day, and how you long for cold water. God had promised to take them through this wilderness, where they were often tired and hungry and thirsty, to a land which was flowing with milk and honey, that is, to a country where there was plenty of everything, where corn would grow to make bread, and grass to feed cows, and flowers for the bees who would make honey-a place where any one would be glad to live. The man that God sent to lead them out of Egypt was Moses.

The Israelites found a great change for the worse in their condition after Joseph died. We are told that

"there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph;" and the Pharaoh of that day treated the Israelites as slaves. He began to fear that now there were so many of them, they might rise against their masters, as slaves often do. "Come on," he said, "let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us. Therefore did they set over them taskmasters, to afflict them with their burdens."

field." Their bricks Some of those found are about the size

The Egyptians were very fond of building, and they insisted on their slaves making bricks for building "treasure-cities" strong places where they could lay up gold and silver, as well as corn and oil. We are told "they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the were much larger than ours. amongst the ruins of Egypt, of thirteen English bricks. Some doors are to be seen which were made of one single brick. The clay was found on the shores of the river Nile, and it was mixed with chopped straw to stiffen it before it could be baked. We find now figures carved on old ruined buildings there, which show that the Egyptians treated all foreigners as slaves. They are represented as digging, mining, and baking the clay.

But the king not only ill-used them; he wished to put an end to the Israelites altogether. He gave orders that every boy born to them should be killed at once. The girls only might

live. Are not you glad that we live in better times and in a happier country? You often hear people grumble that work is scarce, and that times are hard, but Queen Victoria herself could not hurt one hair of the head of a baby belonging to the poorest beggar in the kingdom. The Israelites had to see their infants put to death before their eyes, by the order of their king.

MOSES.

THERE was amongst the Israelites a woman named Jochebed, who had a beautiful boy born to her, and she continued to hide him from the Egyptians for three months. When she could conceal him no longer, she made for him an ark, or basket in the shape of a boat, of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, to prevent the water getting into it, and put the child therein, and laid it amongst the flags, that is, the tall rushes by the edge of the river. And his sister Miriam stood afar off to watch what would become of him. Perhaps his mother guessed what might happen. The daughter of Pharaoh came down to the river to wash herself. This sounds odd to us, who would not expect to find one of our princesses washing herself in a river, but it was according to the custom of that country.

When she saw the ark amongst the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. "And when she had opened it she saw the child, and behold the babe wept."

No doubt it was crying for its mother. And the

princess had compassion upon him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go.” And she went and called the child's mother, and the princess said, "Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son, and she called his name Moses."

The word Moses means "drawn out of the water;" a Hebrew signifies one who has passed over from the other side of the Euphrates. They were always considered foreigners by the Egyptians; just as the French are by us.

It was common at that time for people who had no children of their own to adopt infants. They took them from their parents, if they were willing to give them up, and were at all the expense of feeding and clothing them, treating them in every respect as if they were their own children. So Moses was safe from ill-usage. As a child, his mother would have taught him all she knew of the true religion; but when he grew up, he lived at the court of Pharaoh—that is, in the king's palace. In the New Testament we are told that he was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians."

In the Epistle to the Hebrews we read that "by faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,