thus overruled to join in afflicting the despisers of Jehovah. How long did the plague of blood last?

MARY. Seven days, Mama. A long time I should think.

MAMA. Long, indeed, Mary, in a hot country like Egypt, and sufficient, almost without a fresh miracle, to bring on the disease and pestilence which followed. What was the next judgment threatened on this devoted people?

MARY. The plague of frogs, Mama.

MAMA. Before proceeding to consider it, let us notice a circumstance manifestly inconsistent with the painful idea of a desire on God's part to "harden" Pharaoh; while it is quite in character with all we know of him who is ever saying, "Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?" I mean the previous intimation graciously given of almost every impending plague, to afford the king of Egypt an opportunity to repent and escape it. I do not think this is sufficiently attended to by those who rashly charge that God who " tempteth no man," with the guilt of Pharaoh's sin.

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MARY. I think, Mama, the plague of frogs was almost as bad as the other. The idea of having one's house full of such creatures, makes one's flesh creep!

MAMA. Yes, and again the evil was made to

arise from the sacred river, and to bring upon the Egyptians their special abomination of animal putridity. But was it at all likely for frogs, even if thus abundant, to come out of their natural element, and spread themselves in cities and houses?

MARY. Oh! no. God must have changed their very nature before they could do so. I wonder this did not convince Pharaoh !

MAMA. It did, Mary, while the infection lasted; you must have overlooked his momentary penitence. He promised, if the frogs were removed, to let the people go, and Moses, in the true forbearing spirit of the God whom he served, complied with his abject entreaties; after precisely naming a time, that chance might be seen to have no share in the wished-for relief. Did Pharaoh, on his part, adhere to the agreement?

MARY. Oh! no; " when he saw that there was respite he hardened his heart."

МАМА. Yes, that heart which God had done so much to soften, but had foreseen would be wrought on in vain! This time warning seems to have been withheld as superfluous; the plague of lice, subtle, noiseless, yet irresistible, came unannounced.

MARY. And this time, Mama, the magicians "could do nothing," but told Pharaoh it was the finger of God."

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MAMA. This corroborates our opinion, that their former attempts were mere deceptions. Serpents and blood and frogs were all tangible things, and might be brought to aid in deceiving the spectators. But over the "dust of the earth," or the air in which it floated, the sorcerers of Egypt could have no power; while its proud and effeminate priesthood groaned under an infliction more loathsome to them than even to us. Did Pharaoh listen to the warnings of his own baffled magicians ?

MARY. No, no; it was just the same as ever. So the Lord sent "swarms of flies" next to punish his obstinacy. Mama! it occurs to me this might have something to do with the "King of Flies,” the false god you told me many nations worshipped under the name of Baalzebub.

MAMA. Very well remembered indeed, my dear. But the Egyptian superstition was more abject and degrading still; for they worshipped the insects themselves! and it is expressly said, the whole idolatry connected with them originated in Egypt, probably from its vicinity to Ethiopia and Nubia; the countries travellers tell us, most naturally exposed to the scourge here inflicted upon Egypt. Was it general over the whole land?

MARY. No, the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was free.

MAMA. A most wonderful distinction! when we consider that it lay between two parts of Egypt both afflicted by the flies; and still more when we are told by Bruce and other travellers that the exemption of that favoured pastoral region continues to this day, affording a resource to the tortured cattle of neighbouring districts. What effect had this judgment on Pharaoh?

MARY. He came down a little, and said the Israelites might worship their God where they

were.

MAMA. And what did Moses object to this? MARY. That they could not "sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes."

MAMA. Meaning thereby, sheep, goats, and, above all, oxen, all of which, the latter especially, were in some way or other, held sacred by the Egyptians. But here let us stop, Mary, to notice a wonderful circumstance, not often considered by casual readers. How miraculously had the idea of animal sacrifice, as acceptable to Jehovah, been kept up for four hundred years among a nation, who evidently had for most of that time been forced by tyranny to relinquish it! Many people are apt to look upon sacrifices as first in

troduced as a regular part of worship by Moses, forgetting that they are coeval with man's fall, the express institution of God, and indissolubly connected, in the whole Old Testament history, with the future economy of redemption. Of this we have a strong proof in the indelible memory of them impressed upon the enslaved Israelites, and their determined resolution to resume them at the first moment of emancipation. Where did Moses now propose doing so?

MARY. "Three days' journey in the wilderness;" not to give offence to the Egyptians. I suppose it was an excuse to get away altogether.

MAMA. So Pharaoh seems to have regarded it; for the moment the flies were dispersed at his entreaty, he "refused to let the people go."

The length of this day's reading, my dear, leaves room for little application, indeed we have made it as we went along. Humility, a deep sense of the depravity of man and majesty of God, is the chief lesson of this eventful history. Let us beware lest we also harden our hearts against the judgments yet abroad in the world; and remember that the end of all chastisement is to rescue us, like Israel of old, from idolatry, and bondage, and death.