could not bear to think that he was to be put to death. She therefore hid him. from the cruel Egyptians for three months, and when she could not hide him any longer, she made a kind of basket or cradle of bulrushes, and daubed it all over with slime and pitch, so that it might float upon the water. the water. And when she had laid her little boy in this basket, she placed it in the flags or sedges by the side of the river; and she set one of her daughters to watch, at a short distance from the spot, that she might know what would happen to it.

After a short time, the daughter of king Pharaoh came to bathe; and as she walked along the side of the river, she saw the basket among the flags, and sent one of her maidens to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child; and she was very sorry for it, for it was crying, and she was sure that it must be a child of one of the Hebrew women, and that it must have been put

there, that it might not be killed, as her cruel father had commanded.

When the sister of the little boy saw that he was found, she went up to Pharaoh's daughter, and asked her whether she should call one of the Hebrew women to be the child's nurse. Pharaoh's daughter told her that she might. So she went and called her own mother, who took it and nursed it; and when it was grown an older boy, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, who was as kind to him as if he had been her own

son.

The name which the king's daughter gave to this child was Moses, which means that which is drawn out-" because," said she, "I drew him out of the water." It was this same Moses, who delivered the children of Israel from the hands of king Pharaoh, and led them through the Red Sea, and across the Desert, till at last, after many wanderings, they arrived in sight of the land

which God had promised to their fathers.

It was very good of Almighty God to deliver Moses from danger, instead of suffering him to perish. He saved Moses by means of Pharaoh's daughter; and so does he also save us from many troubles and perils. He watches over us by day and by night, and is always doing us good. Let us, therefore, praise Him for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men; let us put our trust in Him, and be ready at all times to submit to his holy will.

THE DESTRUCTION OF PHARAOH AND HIS HOST.

(Exodus ii. 23-xiv.)

WHEN the people of Israel were very ill-treated by Pharaoh, God told Moses that he would deliver them, and bring them into a land which flowed with

milk and honey; and he directed Moses to go to Pharaoh and ask him to let them go.

So Moses went to Pharaoh, and said, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness."" But this wicked king replied, "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."

Then God gave power to Moses and Aaron his brother to perform many wonderful works, that they might see whether they could not persuade Pharaoh to let the people go. They turned the water of the river into blood, and turned the dust into gnats, and brought a pestilence among the cattle, and storms of hail, and locusts, which destroyed every green thing.

Pharaoh was so much alarmed by these things, that he kept continually promising to let the Israelites go; but

he never would do what he promised; till at last God sent his angel, who destroyed all the eldest children of the Egyptians, and all the first-born of their cattle, while those of the Israelites were spared. When the king and his people saw such a terrible calamity as this come upon them, they were greatly terrified, and they feared that something still more dreadful might befal them, if the children of Israel remained in Egypt; so they urged them to go away as quickly as they could.

The people of Israel were very glad to be freed from their bondage, and they set out towards the desert with all their families, and their flocks, and herds. But Pharaoh soon changed his mind; and though he had sent them away a few days before, he now wanted to bring them back; and accordingly he followed after them with six hundred chariots and a great number of armed men.

When the Israelites saw him coming