and seeing no one near, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

The next day he went out and saw two of the Hebrew men fighting, and found fault with the one who did the wrong.

The man said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Dost thou intend to kill me as thou didst the Egyptian? And Moses was afraid, and said, Surely this thing is known.

When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to slay Moses. But

Moses fled to the land of Midian; and he found a wife there, and took care of the flock of Jethro his father-in-law.

One day as he led the flock up to Mount Horeb he looked and saw a bush on fire, and yet it was not burnt up. And

Moses said, I will go nearer and see this great sight, and why the bush is not burnt. And a voice spoke to him out of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

And the voice said, Draw not nigh, but put thy shoes from

off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. God told him that he had heard the cries of the children of Israel, and had come down to set them free from the Egyptians. And he told Moses that he would send him to Pharaoh to tell him to let the children of Israel go. And Moses should lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and bring them to this mountain.

But Moses was afraid, and said, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? God said, Certainly I will be with thee.

And God commanded Moses to say to the children of Israel, that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, had sent him to bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey. After this, Moses was to go to Pharaoh and ask him to let the children of Israel go. Moses said they would not believe in him or listen to him. Now Moses had a rod in his hand. And the Lord said to him, What is that in thy hand? Moses said, A rod. The Lord said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran away from it. The Lord told Moses to take it by the tail, and he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod once more.

Then the Lord told Moses to put his hand in his bosom, and he put it in, and when he took it out it was like a dead hand, and as white as snow. And the Lord said, Put thy hand in thy bosom again. And he put it in, and when he drew it out it was like the rest of his flesh.

The Lord told him if the people would not believe these two signs nor listen to him, then he was to take water out of the river and pour it on the dry land, and it would change to blood.

But Moses was still afraid to go, and said he was a man of few words and slow of speech, and for that reason unfit for such a work. God said, Do not I make the deaf, dumb, and blind? And he commanded Moses to go, and said, I will be with thee, and will teach thee what to say.

Still Moses held back and begged God to send some one else, who could act as speaker.

God was angry with Moses, and said, Is not Aaron, the son of Levi, thy brother? I know that he can speak well. Take him, and he shall be thy spokesman, and I will tell you both what ye shall do.

After the Lord had done speaking, Moses went back to

THE SERVITUDE OF THE ISRAELITES.

Jethro, and asked permission to go to Egypt and visit his brethren. Jethro said to him, Go in peace.

God commanded Aaron to go out and meet Moses; and he met him on Mount Horeb, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord, and all the miracles he had commanded him to do. And they both went down among the children of Israel and spoke with the elders. And the children of Israel believed that God had sent

Moses and Aaron, and that He would free them from the hands of Pharaoh.

Afterwards Moses and Aaron told Pharaoh what the Lord had said, and begged him to let the children of Israel go. But Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. And he gave the poor Hebrews harder tasks to perform, and

set them to making bricks without straw. And the taskmasters beat them and treated them most cruelly.

The Lord told Moses to speak to the children of Israel and tell them that God would free them from their bondage to the Egyptians, and bring them into a good and pleasant land. But the children of Israel were so cast down that they cared nothing for what Moses said.

Then the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron to go before