that "there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph." This king was the first of a new family. He belonged to a different part of the country, a long way to the south; so he would care nothing about Joseph, and perhaps knew nothing of the good he had done to the kings that went before him. When the new king Pharaoh came down and saw the land of Goshen so fruitful and full of people, he was displeased and jealous that the strangers in the land should be so many, and in such a thriving condition. So he proposed to the Egyptians around him that the Israelites should be brought down, saying, "Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass that when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land." The king did not pretend that the Israelites had been troublesome or rebellious, or had done anything wrong, only they might do so some day, and therefore they were to be trampled on and cruelly treated. Pharaoh did not wish to destroy them, or drive them away out of the country; they were far too useful for that; but he wanted to crush all the spirit out of them, and grind them into slaves and beasts of burden, to fetch and carry and toil for him and his people. We read in the Acts (vii. 19), that when Stephen was reminding the council of the Jews of the his

tory of their nation from its very beginning, he came to speak about their bondage in the land of Egypt, and told them this very story. He said, "The king dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil-entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live." And king Pharaoh thought he was doing very wisely when by his unjust, inhuman conduct, he had brought them to such a pass. But he little knew what he was doing, or what misery and ruin he was helping to bring on his kingdom. He thought he was doing a clever thing to crush an innocent people who had never harmed him, but were growing too many and too strong for him to bear with; he has soon to find out what folly he had been guilty of in meddling with the Lord's people. Brethren! notice this, wrong-doing is never wise. It is never wise in the long run to do wrong, whatever profit we may think to make by it. When we do wrong, we are sinning against God, and if we only knew it, that is the maddest folly that men can be guilty of.

The new king changed the just and reasonable service that the children of Israel had been used to render to the kings of Egypt into a hard and bitter bondage. They were set to brick-making and building cities, as well as all kinds of field work; and they were kept at it like slaves, under the lash of savage inhuman taskmasters. The land of Egypt, which had once been a place of

refuge for them, where they had lived in peace and plenty, is now become a place of cruel suffering. Their brutal masters hoped to break their spirit, and wear them out by every kind of bad usage; but it would not do. The children of Israel had a life and a vigour about them that their merciless enemies could not destroy. Yes, and they have it to this day. Their lives were made bitter, indeed, with hard bondage: but the more they were afflicted" the more they multiplied and grew." How was that? Just because the Lord had chosen them for His own, and he would not let their enemies get the better of them. He stretched out His arm to help, and the king of Egypt could do nothing against them.

That was the same Almighty arm that, long after, was cast round three God-fearing young sons of Israel, who were thrown, bound hand and foot, into a fiery furnace, because they would not dishonour their heavenly Father at the king's command. The Son of God was with them in the fire, and His arm kept them safe among the flames. The fire did not burn His servants, but it burned their bonds off, and left them free to walk with their Saviour. The same arm was round Daniel, the faithful servant of God, in the court of a heathen king. By the malice of his enemies, he was thrown into the den where the hungry lions were; but he was not afraid, because his Saviour was with him, and the fierce beasts felt the presence

of their Maker, and became as gentle as lambs. My friends, it is just the same now. Though you cannot see Him with your bodily eyes, the Saviour is very near; He is watching over every one of His own people, that nothing shall set on them to hurt them. There is nothing so strong or so safe as even the weakest child of God is, though all the world were against him, because he leans on a better strength than his own. Remember this, that when you have cast yourselves on Jesus, when you believe in him as your Saviour, when you belong to Him as His own, faith has joined you to Him as closely as the branch is joined to the tree, and He cannot let anything really hurt you; not even death, for when it comes it only takes you to be happy with the Lord. See how the king of Egypt used all his power to hurt and weaken the children of Israel, and the more he abused and ill-treated them, the more they grew and multiplied in spite of him. God had promised Abraham that his children should be as many as the stars of heaven, and Pharaoh may do what he likes, he cannot hinder them. Just so, the Lord has taken care of His church on earth. The more it was persecuted by the powers of the world and the devil, the more it spread and increased; and many a ruler besides king Pharaoh has had to find out what a folly it is to try and curse where the Lord has blessed.

When things were in this sad state for the

children of Israel, we read that a child was born among them, whose birth could be little joy to his parents, as he was doomed to death by the king's cruel order to his people, "saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive." He had before ordered that all the boys born to the Hebrews should be murdered at their birth, but he could not get his brutal command obeyed, for those who were to do it feared God more than the king; so now he changes the form of it, and orders that all the sons shall be drowned as soon as they are born. They were to be thrown into the river Nile. When a son, who was a very fine child, was born to a couple belonging to the tribe of Levi, who was Jacob's third son, his parents with trembling hearts determined to try and save him. And when his mother saw "that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink." She left her babe there with a believing but an anxious heart, and set his sister to watch and see what became of him. The little girl soon saw something to look at. "The daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.