sitting by a well, when seven young women came thither to draw water for their father's sheep. In those days, young women took care of sheep. Moses helped them, and they went home and told their father of it. Their father, whose name was Jethro, desired them to call Moses into the house, that he might thank him, and give him some food.

When they had called Moses, he went into the house; Jethro afterwards invited him to live with him; and Moses married one of Jethro's daughters: her name was Zipporah. Moses took care of sheep for his father-in-law. While Moses lived in Midian, the king of Egypt died; and the poor Hebrews suffered many hardships and God pitied them.

God sent a messenger to Moses, to tell him how unhappy the Hebrews were, and that he meant they should leave Egypt, and go back to the country of Canaan, where their father Jacob had lived; and that Moses must go back to Egypt, and go with his countrymen to Canaan, and help them to turn out the people who now live in Canaan. After this, because God commanded him, Moses took his wife, and his children, and returned to Egypt.

Moses had a brother in Egypt, whose name was Aaron. Aaron was very glad to see Moses; Moses told Aaron all that God had commanded; and Aaron was glad to assist Moses to help the Hebrews. The two brothers called the Hebrew men together, and told them that God pitied them, and that they must all go to Canaan. The people were grateful to God, and

they bowed their heads, and worshipped, or praised God.

Moses did as. God had told him. He went to the king, and begged that the people might go into the desert to worship God; but the king would not allow the Hebrews to leave their work. He gave them more work, and treated them worse than ever. God brought many plagues upon the Egyptians, because they had injured the Hebrews.

Some time after, Moses and Aaron bade the Hebrews take their sheep, and all the things in their houses, and all their children, and march out of Egypt. The Egyptians were willing. the Hebrews should go, because they believed that the Hebrews had caused them a great deal of trouble, and they were afraid they might cause much more.

The Hebrews 'did as Moses and Aaron had commanded. They left Egypt four hundred and thirty years after their father Jacob went thither. Seventy men went into Egypt-six hundred thousand men departed out of Egypt. Besides these, were women and children.

The Hebrews always afterwards made a feast on that day of the year on which they came out of Egypt. This feast was called the feast of the Passover. God showed the Israelites the way they must take; he went before them as a cloud in the day, and a fire in the night.

Though the Egyptian people allowed the Hebrews to go, the king was not willing they should go; and when he heard that they were gone, he was angry, and determined to go after them, and to punish them.

The king took with him a great number of men, and followed the Hebrews. When the Egyptians came to the place where they were, near to the Red Sea, the Hebrews were very much afraid, but Moses told them God would save them.

The Hebrews passed over a dry place of the Red Sea, which the waters left. The Egyptians followed after them; but the waters flowed back, and drowned all the Egyptians. When they were safe on the other side, the Hebrews looked back, and saw the dead bodies of the Egyptians; they felt very grateful to God who preserved them. Moses sung a beautiful song in praise of God. His sister Miriam played on an instrument called the timbrel; and all the women played upon timbrels, and danced for joy, and sung praises to God. God gave them food to eat in the wilderness; and he gave them the ten commandments; and laws, about what they should eat, and wear, and how they should worship him. They wandered about in the wilderness forty years. They had many wars with people who stopped them as they marched along, and their leader, Moses, died when they came in sight of Canaan.

God told them, if they were wicked he should punish them, and that if they were good, and obeyed his law, he would make them happy. He told them if they were wicked, and became good afterwards, he would forgive them. He tells all people so; Jesus Christ told them so many years after Moses died, and it has always happened so to every body.

When Moses came near Canaan, he went up

into a high hill, called Mount Pisgah, and saw the country where the Hebrews were to live. Here Moses praised God, blessed the people, and died. The people were afflicted, and mourned for him very much they had been very wicked, and had troubled him often; now they were grieved to lose such a benefactor and friend. Aaron had died before.

After Moses died, Joshua took care of the Hebrews; he went with them into Canaan. They were obliged to kill a great many people, who lived there, before they could have the country; at length they took possession of it, and lived there many hundred

years.

The country of Canaan was afterwards called Judea; it is now called Palestine; and is in Turkey, in Asia. It is easy to find upon a map where these events happened. This part of the history of the Hebrews is to be found in the Old Testament, in different chapters, from the beginning of the book of Exodus, to the twenty-third chapter of the book of Joshua.

DAVID.

Moses died about fourteen centuries and a half before the birth of Christ. After his death Joshua led the Israelites into the country of Canaan. God commanded the Israelites to kill the wicked inhabitants of Canaan, and to take possession of their country. The Israelites killed great numbers of the different tribes of

people who dwelt in Canaan, and divided the land among their own tribes. A tribe of the Hebrews consisted of all those persons, men and women, who were descended from one of Jacob's sons. The descendants of Judah formed the tribe of Judah-the descendants of Gad were the tribe of Gad, &c.

For about three hundred years the Israelites were governed by the laws which God gave to Moses, administered by the priests-by the chiefs, called princes of the tribes; and by a supreme magistrate, who was sometimes a military officer, and sometimes a civil governor, and who was called a Judge. Samuel was the last judge. During Samuel's life, the Israelites asked him to give them a king to fule over them. The neighbouring nations, the Syrians, Egyptians, and others, had kings, and the Israelites desired one. Their first king was Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin.

Some years after Saul was made king, God informed Samuel, it was not his will that the posterity of Saul should reign over his people, as the Israelites were called. At the same time, God commanded Samuel to repair to the dwelling of Jesse, an old man of the tribe of Judah, who lived in Bethlehem, and there to anoint one of the eight sons of Jesse to be king of Israel. At first Samuel was unwilling to do as he was commanded, lest Saul should hear of it, and kill him for anointing a king in his place. But God promised to instruct him how to act when he should arrive at Bethlehem; and Samuel trusted that he should be safe under the divine protection. Samuel was first command