the family, and establishes them
in the land of Goshen, as shepherds, apart from the Egyptians. Here
they multiplied fast; but after Joseph's elevation they were cruelly
treated by the Egyptians, who became afraid of their rapid increase, and
eventually the kings of Egypt gave orders that all the male children of
the Jews should be destroyed. It was at this time, when they were so
oppressed and cruelly treated by the Egyptians, that God interfered and
sent for Moses. Moses, like all the rest of the Jews, knew nothing of
the true God, and was difficult to persuade; and it was only by miracles
that he was convinced."

"Why did God keep the Jews apart from the Egyptians, and have them
thrown in bondage?"

"Because he wished to prepare them to become his own peculiar people.
By their being descended from Abraham, and having never intermarried
with other nations, they had become a pure race; by being in bondage and
severely treated, they had suffered and become united as a people. They
knew no gods, but those worshipped by the Egyptians, and these gods it
was now the intention of the Almighty to confound, and prove to the Jews
as worthless. At the same time he worked with his own nation in
mystery, for when Moses asked him what God he was to tell his people
that He was, the Almighty only replied by these words--`I am:' having no
name like all the false gods worshipped by the Egyptians. He was now
about to prove, by his wonderful miracles, the difference between
himself and the false gods."

"What are miracles?"

"A miracle is doing that which man has no power of doing, proving that
the party who does it is superior to man; for instance--to restore a
dead man to life is a miracle, as none but God, or those empowered by
God, could do so. Miracles were necessary, therefore, to prove to the
Jews that the Almighty was the true God, and were resorted to by Him in
this instance, as well as in the coming of Our Saviour, when it was also
necessary to prove that he was the Son of God. When the Almighty sent
Moses to Pharaoh to demand that the Israelites should have permission to
sacrifice in the desert, He purposely hardened the heart of Pharaoh that
he might refuse the request."

"But why did he so?"

"Because he wanted to prove to the Israelites that He was the only true
God; and had Pharaoh consented to their going away, there would have
been no opportunity of performing those miracles by which the Israelites
were t