justice to think that now their father was dead, he would perhaps hate them, and revenge himself upon them for their former offences. So they sent a message to him, saying, "Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive now, I pray thee, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin, for they did unto thee evil :' and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the GoD of thy father."

When Joseph heard this he wept, and his brethren came and fell on their faces before him, and wept too; and they said, “Behold, we be thy servants.' Then Joseph comforted them, and spoke very kindly to them, reminding them that they had offended one greater than he was, and saying, "Fear not, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but GOD meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now, therefore, fear ye not: I will nourish you and your little ones.'

Joseph continued all the rest of his life in Egypt, and he saw his great grandchildren grow up beside him. When he was a hundred and ten years old, he felt that his time was come, and he spoke for the last time to his brothers,

and said, "I die; and GOD will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which He sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."

He also made his children swear that they would take him to his own land for burial, as had been done for his father Israel. After this Joseph died; and the same respect was shown to him, in embalming him, and in funeral rites, as he had shown to his father.

THE BIRTH OF MOSES.

YEARS passed on, and all Jacob's sons, and their generation, were dead and gone; but their children had increased greatly, and they had become very powerful, and filled the land of Egypt. Joseph and all the services he had done to the Egyptians, were quite forgotten, and the king, (who was also called Pharaoh, as were all the kings of Egypt) only thought how he might oppress and keep down this foreign people, of whom he was very much afraid. He saw that they were very numerous and powerful, and he was afraid that if any war arose, they might join with his enemies. But yet he

not wish these Israelites to leave Egypt,

because by their riches and their skill they helped to make it great and wealthy. So king Pharaoh consulted with his chief officers how to oppress and afflict the Israelites, and they were made to work as slaves, and to build new cities for the king, and were very hardly treated.

Still their numbers kept on increasing, in spite of all that Pharaoh could do; for GoD had promised that they should increase and be a mighty nation, and what could Pharaoh do against GOD? Then the king thought of another way of keeping them down, and he gave orders that whenever any of the Hebrew women had a son born to them, he should be thrown into the river and drowned.

Now there was a certain man of the tribe of Levi, (Levi was Jacob's third son) called Amram, and his wife's name was Jochebed; and they had one son and one daughter born before this cruel law of king Pharaoh's. But afterwards GOD gave them another child, a very beautiful baby, and for three months his mother contrived to hide him, so that he was not drowned. But at the end of this time Jochebed found that she could no longer hide him and yet her mother's heart yearned to save her beautiful boy. So at last she deter

mined to make a little ark of bulrushes or reeds, and to make it water-tight by covering it with pitch; and then to put the little boy in the ark, and see if he would be saved. So the poor mother sorrowfully laid her child in the ark, and placed it among the reeds and flags that grew at the river's brink. Jochebed could not bring herself to watch what would happen, but she left her elder daughter Miriam at a distance, to see what would befal her baby son.

Before long the princess of Egypt, Pharaoh's daughter, came down to the river to bathe, and she and her maidens walked along the river's side. Then the princess saw the ark among the flags, and she was curious to know what was in it, and she sent a maid to fetch it. So the ark was brought to the princess, who opened it, and found the Hebrew baby inside. Most likely he was cold and hungry, for the poor child wept, and that filled the lady's heart with pity and tenderness for the little creature, and knowing the cruel laws her father had made, she guessed quickly how it all was, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."

The women had gathered round in their curiosity to see what was in the little ark, and

Miriam had ventured to come quite near with them; so that now when she saw the princess interested about the baby, she ventured to ask, "Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee ?"

Pharaoh's daughter was pleased with the thought, so Miriam ran quickly, and called the baby's own loving mother, Jochebed. How happy they must both have felt when the princess said to the baby's mother, "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give

thee thy wages." Jochebed would feel quite

safe now that her boy would not be taken from her, since Pharaoh's daughter adopted him. So she took her child away, and nursed him ; and the princess watched him, and considered him as her own son. She called him Moses, which means " drawn out," saying, "Because I drew him out of the water."

MOSES IN EGYPT.

THUS Moses was brought up, considered as the princess's son, and honoured accordingly; but he did not become an Egyptian in heart, he still cared most for his own people, and was very