r, Aaron, Moses asked Pharaoh to liberate the
children of Israel, but after several vain attempts to dazzle Pharaoh
with his skill as a magician, he was met with an obstinate refusal.
Moses before Pharaoh descends to the level of a vulgar sorcerer, armed
with a magic wand, whose performances only draw our smiles. This
charlatanry having been unsuccessful, the wizard connives with his
accomplice Jehovah to have inflicted upon the Egyptians the ten plagues.
Then the loving and kind Father, having killed innumerable Egyptians, as
the story relates, so terrorizes the minds of his other children in
Egypt, that Pharaoh is finally convinced that he must allow the Chosen
People to leave his domain. The Israelites quitted Egypt carrying away
with them the gold and silver of their oppressors. They then entered
the desert.

The magic art of Moses enabled them to pass dry-footed through the Red
Sea, whereas the Pharaoh who was pursuing them was engulfed with his
whole army. Again the Chosen People are liberated by means of the death
of multitudes of Egyptians. Truly, Jehovah at that time must have loved
them well, or did some other Deity form the Egyptians? It matters not
that the crossing of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh are
romantic incidents, not only unknown to the Egyptian texts, but even to
the earliest of Hebrew prophets. It matters not, for the story is the
important thing, even though it is an inspired story, inspired by the
Jehovah who tortured and killed the Egyptians to show how well he loved
_his_ people.

This Wild West story, with its multitudes of slaughters, proceeds to the
wilderness of Sinai; and there again, the Prophet Moses goes into a
secret seance and finally announces that God had delivered laws to him,
which had been issued from the clouds.

What a great showman was this Prophet! Barnum must have been a devoted
admirer of Moses, for Moses was the first to create the two-ring circus;
for these laws given by Jehovah are described in two places, and the
circus varies in both places. Exodus XX and Exodus XXXIV are the two
texts which differ considerably.

To further convince the Children of Israel, Moses tells them the story
of how he had cajoled Jehovah into allowing him to see what no man had
hitherto seen, the form of Jehovah, for it appears that Jehovah was so
pleased with this murderer, charlatan, and wizard that he allowed him to
glimpse His hind quarters. At least, Jehovah had a sense of h