would have war with Amalek from generation to generation, and that he would "utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek." When it is said God hath sworn, it means that he speaks very solemnly, and with a fixed resolution; and it always deserves particular notice, for it relates to something very important. And in the fifteenth chapter of the first book of Samuel you will read of the fulfilment of this threat, when the Amalekites having become so wicked that they were a curse to the earth on which they lived, God told King Saul to "go and utterly destroy the SINNERS, the Amalekites."

The Giving of the Law.

EXODUS XX.

About three months after God had delivered his people from the tyrant Pharaoh, he spake to Moses, and desired him to remind them of the great favours he had bestowed upon them; and to tell them that if they would obey his voice, and keep his covenant or agreement that he would make with them, then he would always do them good, and he would keep them with as much care as a man would keep his treasures of silver and gold, and they should be a particular nation sacred to his service.

Moses told the Israelites what God had said to him. "And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do."

Then Moses having returned the words of the people unto the Lord, he was ordered to warn them to be ready by holy and solemn preparation, such as washing their clothes, as a sign of putting off everything that was impure, and in three days he would come down and show his glory in the sight of all of them upon Mount Sinai, which is a mountain in Arabia.

He also ordered Moses to set bounds to keep the people from going too near to the foot of the mountain; as every one who touched even its borders should die.

"And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the Mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled." "And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole Mount quaked greatly."

And God spake all the words of his commandments, and from the Mount they were heard by all the people.

These commandments are ten in number.

The first is against idolatry, and teaches us to love nothing more than God. The second is against worshipping images for God.

The third is against cursing and swearing.

The fourth is against Sabbath-breaking, and idleness in the other days of the week.

The fifth is against disrespect and disobedience to parents.

The sixth is against murder: he that HATETH his brother is a murderer. The seventh is against everything that is indecent in word or behaviour. The eighth is against stealing and cheating.

The ninth forbids false stories about our neighbours, and tending to do them harm, by making people think badly of them.

The tenth commandment is against covetousness, or desiring what does not belong to us.

Laws given to the Israelites by Moses.

EXODUS XXI., XXII., XXIII.

In these chapters there are a great many laws which God told Moses to command the Israelites to keep.

We have also some commands given to the Hebrews to keep several feasts.

In the twenty-third chapter, and the fourteenth and following verses, God commands the Hebrews, "Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year."

The first feast was the feast of unleavened bread, or the PASS-OVER, to remind them of their great deliverance out of Egypt. Then they were to kill a lamb, and feast on it; to call to mind how God saved them by the sprinkling of the blood of a lamb on their door-posts, on the night when he slew all the first-born in Egypt; and pious men would, by faith, look for salvation in Jesus Christ, who is called the "Lamb of God," when God shall destroy the wicked world in the last day. Part of the time of this feast they were to eat unleavened bread, as they did when they escaped from Egypt. The first day was, indeed, properly the Passover, and seven days following, the feast of unleavened bread. This bread not being pleasant to the taste, was to remind the Israelites how bitter was their bondage in Egypt when God delivered them.

When this feast was kept, the children would often ask what it meant,

and they were answered, "Children, we were all servants, like this maidservant, or this man-servant who waiteth"-pointing to some servant in the family," and on this night, many years ago, the Lord redeemed us and brought us to liberty;" and he who sat at the head of the table returned thanks, and said, "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, King everlasting, who hast redeemed us, and redeemed our fathers out of Egypt, and brought us to this night to eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs."

Another yearly feast of the Hebrews was the Feast of Harvest, sometimes called the Feast of Weeks, but better known by the name of The Feast of PENTECOST. The Jews then offered thanks to God for the bounties of the harvest, in bread baked of the new corn. the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. the Passover.

On that day, too, they celebrated This feast was kept fifty days after

The Feast of Tabernacles was the third great feast. This was sometimes called The Feast of Tents, and The Feast of the In-gathering. This feast was to call to memory the way in which Israel lived when God protected them in the wilderness, in moveable tents or tabernacles, something like what you see put up sometimes in gardens, to screen people from wet and heat, or in fields at fairs, or reviews. This feast, like the Passover, lasted for a week, during which time the people all lived in booths or arbours, made of the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook. This feast, being at the close of harvest, was also a yearly thanksgiving for God's goodness in giving them an opportunity of getting it in.

The Tabernacle, its Furniture, and Priests.
EXODUS XXV. 8, 9.

Moses told all the people the laws of God, and they promised, "all the words which the Lord hath said we will do." And Moses wrote down all the words in a book, called the book of the covenant or agreement, and he made offerings to God, and he took of the blood of the sacrifices and sprinkled on the people, which was an understood sign that they solemnly engaged to keep their promise to God, and that if they did so, God would do everything for their good.

After this Moses and Aaron, and Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, went up Mount Sinai, and the glory of God