hristian use" (_De Doct. Chr._, 60, 61).

And the main lesson of the story lies so plainly upon the surface that
one scarcely needs to state it. What God requires _must_ ultimately be
done; and human resistance, however stubborn and protracted, will only
make the result more painful and more signal at the last.

Now, every concern of our obscure daily lives comes under this law as
surely as the actions of a Pharaoh.

_THE EXODUS._

xii. 37-42.

The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. Already, at
the outset of their journey, controversy has had much to say about their
route. Much ingenuity has been expended upon the theory which brought
their early journey along the Mediterranean coast, and made the
overthrow of the Egyptians take place in "that Serbonian bog where
armies whole have sunk." But it may fairly be assumed that this view was
refuted even before the recent identification of the sites of Rameses
and Pi-hahiroth rendered it untenable.

How came these trampled slaves, who could not call their lives their
own, to possess the cattle which we read of as having escaped the
murrain, and the number of which is here said to have been very great?

Just before Moses returned, and when the Pharaoh of the Exodus appears
upon the scene, we are told that "their cry came up unto God, ... and
God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant ... and God
saw the children of Israel, and God took knowledge of them" (ii. 23).

May not this verse point to something unrecorded, some event before
their final deliverance? The conjecture is a happy one that it refers to
their share in the revolt of subject races which drove Menephtah for
twelve years out of his northern territories. If so, there was time for
a considerable return of prosperity; and the retention or forfeiture of
their chattels when they were reconquered would depend very greatly upon
circumstances unknown to us. At all events, this revolt is evidence,
which is amply corroborated by history and the inscriptions, of the
existence of just such a discontented and servile element in the
population as the "mixed multitude" which came out with them repeatedly
proved itself to be.

But here we come upon a problem of another kind. How long was Israel in
the house of bondage? Can we rely upon the present Hebrew text, which
says that "their sojourning which they sojourned in Egypt, was four
hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the