fluttering about; and it was a troublesome thing when a man went abroad to be hit on the face by ́those creatures, so that there was no opening one's mouth but some would get in. Yet all this was nothing, for when we were to eat, these creatures gave us no respite; and when we cut a bit of meat, we cut a locust with it; and when a man opened his mouth to put in a morsel, he was sure to chew one of them. I have seen them at night, when they sit to rest them, that the roads were four inches thick of them, one upon another; so that the horses would not trample over them, but as they were put on with much lashing, pricking up their ears, snorting and treading fearfully. The wheels of our carts and the feet of our horses bruising these creatures, there came forth from them such a stench as not only offended the nose, but the brain. I was not able to endure it, but was forced to wash my nose with vinegar, and hold a handkerchief dipped in it continually at my nostrils."

Similar to this, only much more horrible and destructive, was the plague of locusts inflicted by God upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

"The Lord most high is terrible." "At his wrath, the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation." To those that obey unrighteousness, God will render indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil.-Flee, then, flee from the wrath to come.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The plague of darkness. Pharaoh in a rage orders Moses from his presence.

At the urgent call of the king of Egypt, Moses and Aaron again appeared before him. With apparent humility, he exclaimed; "I have sinned against Jehovah your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat Jehovah your God, that he may take away from me this death only "-this deadly plague, bringing famine, and pestilence, and a general mortality, as he feared, among the whole nation.

Moses again prayed, and deliverance came. "The Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt."

And now, may we not expect, at length, that Pharaoh will cease to contend against that almighty Being whom he thus finds to be so terrible in his judgments? No; nothing moves him from his purpose. All the dealings of God with him but harden his heart the more, and still he will not let the children of Israel go.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt."

The feeling of this intense darkness, probably consisted in the sensible impression which was made on the touch by the thick, clammy mist, or fog of condensed vapors that attended it.

It came, as soon as Moses stretched out his hand, black and gloomy; involving every thing in impenetrable obscurity, and casting its terrific shade. over the whole land of Egypt, for three days; while the children of Israel were cheered with the continuance of light in all their dwellings.

The Egyptians saw not one another, neither could any of them leave their dwellings, to attend to their customary occupations. Probably they could kindle no lights of sufficient power to be of any use. Their very attempts to do this, may have been defeated by the moisture of the vapors of. which the air was full; and they must have had, while this judgment lasted, the most fearful forebodings at the strange and mysterious darkness which surrounded them.

Relieved, in some measure, from utter dismay by its termination, "Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve Jehovah; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you." Mean and selfish tyrant!

He would retain, if nothing else could be held within his cruel grasp, the very cattle of the oppressed and persecuted Israelites. He would send six hundred thousand men, besides women and children, on a journey of three days into the wilderness, without their flocks and herds, which they needed to furnish milk for their little ones, and sustenance for so great a multitude, and without any other adequate means of procuring it.

Moses would sanction no such proposal. We will not only go, said he, but "Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice unto Jehovah our God. Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve Jehovah our God; and we know not with what we must serve Jehovah until we come thither."

This demand enkindled strongly both the avarice and fury of Pharaoh. His purpose not to let the children of Israel go, was more firm in his hardened heart than ever, and he gave Moses a peremp tory and stern refusal, while his rage broke out ir this bitter denunciation ; "Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die."

And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more."

But before he left the presence of the king, he had another and the last message to convey to him

from the God of Israel. It was of portentous import, and might well make the ears of the haughty monarch tingle. "Thus saith Jehovah, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt. And all the first-born in the land of Egypt shail die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast; that ye may know how that Jehovah doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, (that is, unto Moses,) and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out."

With this prophetic announcement of a judgment upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians, more severe and afflictive than any which had preceded it, Moses, we are told, "went out from Pharaoh in a great anger," being moved with a just indignation at the repeated falsehoods of the king; at his mercenary and cruel disposition; and at the indignant manner in which he had just been treated by him. Moses was now to wait the issue of the tenth and last plague. God had told him what that issue