from Haran to Canaan, and from Canaan to Egypt, without any firm possession, even so much as of a burying-place. He rebuked for Abraham's sake, when he sojourned in their land, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and Abimelech, king of the Philistines, saying to Abimelech in a dream, 'Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine.' And again, He rebuked Laban for the sake of Jacob; for His providence is ever watchful over His elect. 16. Moreover, He called for a dearth upon the land and destroyed all the provision of bread. 17. But He had sent a man before them : even Joseph, who was sold to be a bondservant; 18. Whose feet they hurt in the stocks: the iron entered into his soul; 19. Until the time came that his cause was known the word of the Lord tried him. : 20. The king sent, and delivered him : the prince of the people let him go free. 21. He made him lord also of his house : and ruler of all his substance; 22. That he might inform his princes after his will and teach his senators wisdom. : Yet at the same time that He gave the promise : to Abraham and to his seed, He added a warning of those things by which He would try them, saying, 'Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge and afterwards they shall come out with great substance.' And this His decree concerning them His all-ruling providence marvellously brought about,-by the envy of the sons of Jacob against Joseph their brother, by their selling him to the Midianites, by his being wrongfully accused by his wicked mistress, by his imprisonment in the dungeons of Pharaoh, by his interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams, by his being raised to the second place in the kingdom, by his providing sustenance in abundance of corn and bread for the people, while Egypt and Canaan were afflicted with dearth and scarcity. And in all these things was Joseph not only an instrument in bringing about the beforedetermined course of providence, but he was also a type of Him Whom his brethren betrayed, and slew, and buried, and Who was raised from the dungeon of the grave to be Lord of all, and to teach all the earth the true wisdom. Yea, and shall not we, like the guilty sons of Israel, be ashamed and confounded in that day when Christ, the true Joseph, shall make Himself known unto us, and shall say, I am your Brother, Whom ye sold and crucified? 23. Israel also came into Egypt and Jacob was a stranger in the land of Ham. 24. And He increased His people exceedand made them stronger than their ingly enemies ; 25. Whose heart turned so, that they hated His people and dealt untruly with His ser vants. First by the desire of buying food, and next by the longing to see Joseph once again, were Jacob and his children, with all their possessions, brought down into the land of Egypt. They dwelt in Goshen, and increased in numbers and strength, until a Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph, and who had forgot how he had preserved the Egyptians from famine. Then this king oppressed the children of Israel, and made them slaves, slaying their male children, and making their lives bitter in toil and misery. Like man under the captivity of sin, so was Israel in the captivity of Egypt, left without any help or hope, except the working out of the before-ordained decrees of God's salvation. : 26. Then sent He Moses His servant and Aaron whom He had chosen. 27. And these shewed His tokens among them and wonders in the land of Ham. 28. He sent darkness, and it was dark : and they were not obedient unto His word. 29. He turned their waters into blood : and slew their fish. 30. Their land brought forth frogs : yea, even in their kings' chambers. : 31. He spake the word, and there came all manner of flies and lice in all their quarters. 32. He gave them hailstones for rain and flames of fire in their land. : 33. He smote their vines also and fig-trees : and destroyed the trees that were in their coasts. 34. He spake the word, and the grasshoppers came, and caterpillars innumerable : and did eat up all the grass in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. 35. He smote all the firstborn in their land even the chief of all their strength. At length the appointed time drew nigh that the people of the covenant should be delivered, and Egypt should be judged; and God looked down and saw their oppression, and He sent Moses the prophet from the land of Midian, with Aaron the priest, his brother, to deliver them. By the mighty signs and wonders shewn upon Egypt, upon her gods, and upon her river, and her land, at last was the pride of Pharaoh brought down, and his hardness of heart was crushed. The tyrant had to eat of the fruit of his ways; he who had slain the little ones of Israel, felt the loss of his own first-born by death: as he had done to others, so was it done to him. 36. He brought them forth also with silver and gold: there was not one feeble person among their tribes. 37. Egypt was glad at their departing for they were afraid of them. Thus severely chastised, 'the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.' And when Israel departed, strong in their God, though not in themselves, they exacted a tribute of the Egyptians, jewels of silver and jewels of gold, as conquerors exact a tribute of the conquered, and they spoiled the Egyptians.' : 38. He spread out a cloud to be a covering and fire to give light in the night-season. 39. At their desire He brought quails and He filled them with the bread of heaven. : 40. He opened the rock of stone, and the waters flowed out so that rivers ran in the dry places. Nor did the love of their God cease with their deliverance. The sign of His presence abode with them continually, in the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, which was a guide to them, and a shelter from their enemies. He led them towards the land which He had promised to them, giving them by the way tokens of His love, and foreshadowings and types of the sacraments of His grace; He filled them with the bread of heaven, the foretaste of the true Bread Who was to come as the Life of the |