thee up, for to show in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth." After this, destruction by hail was threatened upon all who did not take shelter from it, and there came the storm of thunder and hail, and the fire ran along the ground," "upon man and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt," "and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail." Pharaoh begged to be spared, but directly the visitation was over, his heart was hardened, "as the Lord had spoken by Moses." Then the Lord sent Moses to him again, premising, however, and saying, "I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show my signs before him; that ye may know that I am the Lord.' After this locusts were threatened, which should eat up all that had escaped the hail. Pharaoh then said that they might go, but asked who were to go. Moses said, all must go, old and young, with all their flocks and herds, to "hold a feast unto the Lord." Pharaoh said the men only might go, and then drove them from his presence. The locusts accordingly came, and devoured every green thing that remained in the land. Pharaoh succumbed, but directly the plague was removed hardened his heart again. After this darkness was sent, even darkness which may be felt." "And there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." Pharaoh then offered to let all go but the cattle, but Moses insisted that "not an hoof" should "be left behind," saying these were necessary for "sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God." Pharaoh, however, again got hardened, and said he would kill Moses if he troubled him with his presence again. On this God told Moses that he had "one plague more" for Pharaoh, the effect of which would be that he would be glad to get rid of them, and would "thrust" them out "altogether." God then told him, preparatory to this exodus, to "let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold ;" and he promised to favour the measure. After this, "at midnight, the Lord smote all the firstborn in

the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle." This caused a great wailing among the Egyptians, "for there was not a house where there was not one dead." Then Pharaoh gave the Israelites leave to "go and serve the Lord," as they had said, taking with them their flocks and herds, and, notwithstanding all that had happened, asking Moses and Aaron to leave him their blessing. The people were off immediately, but first, "according to the word of Moses, they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment and the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required, and they spoiled the Egyptians." They thus went out "a mixed multitude," with "very much cattle." God led them out, showing them the way with a pillar of cloud by day, and one of fire by night. He would not, however, take them "through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near," being apprehensive, should "they see war," that they might "return to Egypt;" but he took them " through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea." God thus brought them to the sea-side, and then said, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord." Upon this Pharaoh came in pursuit with his horses and chariots, and overtook them. Pharaoh was behind, and the sea in front, and the Israelites were in great fear. Then God told Moses to command the children of Israel to go forward, and to lift up his rod, and stretch his hand over the sea, and divide it, which Moses accordingly did; and by means of a strong wind, which blew all night, the sea was thrown back, "and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left." The Egyptians incautiously followed, but in some way God "took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily;" upon which, by God's command, Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the waters returned to their place and engulphed Pharaoh and all his host, so that " there remained not so much as one of them." The Israelites were then led into the

wilderness, and kept wandering there for forty years. During
this lengthened period they were fed with manna from heaven,
and occasionally water was drawn for them out of the rocks.
All this time, moreover, their "raiment waxed not old," neither
did their feet "swell," nor did their "shoes
wax old upon their
feet." And after this long pilgrimage, Jordan was miraculously
divided for them, and passing across its dry bed they entered
the promised land.

P. Is the whole of this wonderful story generally believed? S. It is so, implicitly, by multitudes, and in fact is viewed as the foundation of God's dealings with the Israelites and the corner stone of their faith.

P. You surprise me. The narrative seems to me to team with improbabilities, and at every turn to give a false representation of the characteristics of God.

S. Please then to state your objections to this history.

P. It seems incredible to me that the offspring of seventy General men should have mounted up to two or three millions in four criticisms. generations; that after Moses was satisfied he had come into personal communication with God, the enactment of wonders before him was considered necessary to prove to him what God was capable of doing; that while he must have been aware of the promises made to the patriarchs, and that the set time. for fulfilling them had arrived, and found himself selected as God's honoured agent for fulfilling these promises, he should then have attempted to evade this duty, notwithstanding that God had thus specially revealed himself to him in power; and that, although thus selected and commissioned for this important task, God should have waylaid him and sought to kill him in an inn, but was turned aside from this purpose by his wife. These are positions so much at variance with all reasonable probability that I cannot think they belong to any true history.

Then I find it impossible to believe that God would cause sufferings for the mere purpose of displaying his power; or that, for any end, he could deliberately lay such plans for the destruction of Pharaoh and his people as are here described. Before any message is sent to Pharaoh, God is said to concert with Moses his ruin. He says he will send the message, and then harden Pharaoh's heart that he may disobey it, upon

which he will proceed to punish him without mercy; and that such was the process is carefully explained, stage by stage, through all these horrible visitations; and even if Pharaoh had been in wilful resistance, why should so many innocent persons, and harmless animals, have been involved in suffering because of his guilt? In the last act of killing off the first-born, every family in the land was struck at, the blow falling even upon the poor helpless prisoners in the dungeons. These cannot have been the acts of God. Some man, ignorant of what God really is, must have concocted the tale, thinking to magnify the importance of his own people by alleging such marvellous interventions in their favour.

Then Moses, in going with God's message to Pharaoh, goes really with a lie in his mouth. The object in view is a final evacuation of Egypt, to settle nationally in another land; and yet he pretends that he merely wants a few days leave for the people, to take them out into the wilderness to sacrifice to God; adding the further falsehood, that this was to avert the wrath of God, "lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword." And this misrepresentation is kept up throughout the whole ordeal. The movement contemplated was a most important one. Pharaoh had to part with a host of bondsmen, who represented so much property inherited by him from his predecessors. Compensation, especially from the inexhaustible treasury of God's bounty, might have been offered him. The British Government, for instance, in liberating a number of Africans who were in slavery, did so by means of a very heavy payment. At all events, Pharaoh should have been told that this was a movement which God had long before ordained, and was determined to accomplish, and as special hardening of his heart was resorted to in order to ensure his resistance, it is fair to suppose that he might have proved compliant, had he been left to himself, and matters been put before him in their true light. But what was he to make of the pretence of a whole host of people, including women and children, and every head of cattle they possessed, wanting to go out three days journey into the wilderness to sacrifice? The poor man actually said that they might sacrifice where they were, but this was not agreed to. He could but see that the proposition was a mere device to overreach him, and his resistance, even had

his heart not been subjected to special hardening, was but natural.

Then, in keeping with this duplicity practised upon Pharaoh, was the expedient of taking valuables from his people, on the pretence of borrowing them, when there was no intention of returning what was so borrowed. And this fraud is made a subject of glorification, and called "spoiling the Egyptians." A human judge would visit such an act with severe consequences, and a divine one cannot have had an obtuser sense of right and wrong. But God is said not merely to have countenanced this fraud, but to have counselled and effectuated it. He is represented at one time to be hardening Pharaoh's heart so as to make him a transgressor, and at another to be softening the hearts of his people that they might become the victims of spoliation. It is impossible for me to believe that such action as this came from God.

I observe, further, that on Pharaoh's first refusal to let the people go, Moses does not hesitate to reproach God with the failure. How is this to be reconciled with the alleged plot laid between God and Moses, that Pharaoh's heart should be hardened in order that he might so refuse, and then reap the consequences? Moreover, is it likely that a human being would venture thus to reproach God, especially such a God as this who had just before aimed at his life, without note or warning, at the inn? would he still demur?

And when God repeated his orders,
Moses appears to me to have been far

more rebellious than Pharaoh.

Then God is said to have made Moses a god to Pharaoh. What this may mean I am at a loss to think. How was Moses to influence Pharaoh, especially when God was hardening him to resistance?

Nor can I understand how God should have condescended to enter into competition with Pharaoh's magicians, nor how the contest should for a time have been perfectly equal. Are we to believe that these men could exercise divine power, namely, in converting one substance into another, and in creating animal life? And if we are to reject their wonders as unreal, what is to prevent our rejecting, as equally unreal, the marvels opposed to theirs? Neither can I understand the subsequent failure of the magicians. If they could call frogs