He speeds him afar to the desert of Nod,

A vagabond, smote by the vengeance of God!

8.

All nature, to him, has been blasted and banned, 4
And the blood of a brother yet reeks on his hand;

And no vintage has grown, and no fountain has sprung,
For cheering his heart, or for cooling his tongue.

9.

The groans of a father his slumber shall start,

10.

And the tears of a mother shall pierce to his heart,
And the kiss of his children shall scorch him like flame,
When he thinks of the curse that hangs over his name.
And the wife of his bosom-the faithful and fair-
Can mix no sweet drop in his cup of despair;
For her tender caress, and her innocent breath,
But stir in his soul the hot embers of death.

11.

And his offering may blaze unregarded by Heaven;
And his spirit may pray, yet remain unforgiven;

And his grave may be closed, yet no rest to him bring;-
O, the wrath of the Lord is a terrible thing!

1 AN'-NALS, records of events.

2 HŎM'-I-CIDE, a person who kills another.

13 BRAND, a mark burnt in.
BAN'NED, cursed.

KNOX.

LESSON II.

HAGAR IN THE WILDERNESS.

1. It was several hundred years after the time of Cain that the wicked were destroyed by a flood, an account of which is given in the seventh chapter of Genesis. Then follows the history of Noah and his sons, the building of the tower of Babel, the calling of Abraham, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

2. Although Isaac, the younger son of Abraham, was the child of promise, in whom "the nations of the earth were to be blessed," yet Abraham had an elder son Ishmael, who was born of Hagar the Egyptian, the bond-maid of his wife Sarah. But Ishmael was jealous of Isaac, who had destroyed his hopes of inheriting his father's rank and property; and when Sarah saw Ishmael mocking her son Isaac, she said to Abraham, "Cast out this bond-woman and her son."

3. Then Abraham, being directed by the Lord, rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water,

and gave it unto Hagar and the child, and sent them away. We can well imagine the feelings of sadness with which the aged patriarch parted with these members of his household, and how he turned him to his tent in sorrow as the dejected Hagar took her departure. How beautifully do the following lines describe this parting scene:

"Why bends the patriarch as he cometh now
Upon his staff so wearily? His beard
Is low upon his breast; and his high brow,
So written with the converse1 of his God,
Beareth the swollen vein of agony.
His lip is quivering, and his wonted2 step
Of vigor is not there; and though the morn
Is passing fair and beautiful, he breathes
Its freshness as it were a pestilence.
He gave to her the water and the bread,
But spoke no word, and trusted not himself
To look upon her face, but laid his hand
In silent blessing on the fair-hair'd boy,
And left her to her lot of loneliness."

4. And Hagar departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. And when the water was spent in the bottle,

and Ishmael was sore athirst, and his blue eyes were dim and bloodshot, she bore him in her arms, and laid his head

"Beneath the shadow of a desert shrub;

And, shrouding3 up her face, she went away,
And sat to watch, where he could see her not,

Till he should die; and, watching him, she mourn'd:

5.

6.

7.

8.

"God stay thee in thine agony, my boy'!
I can not see thee die'; I can not brook1
Upon thy brow to look,

And see death settle on my cradle joy'.
How have I drunk the light of thy blue eye'!
And could I see thee die' ?

"I did not dream of this when thou wast straying,
Like an unbound gazelle, among the flowers;
Or whiling the soft hours,

By the rich gush of water-sources playing,
Then sinking weary to thy smiling sleep,
So beautiful and deep.

"Oh no! and when I watch'd by thee the while,
And saw thy bright lip curling in thy dream,
And thought of the dark stream

In my own land of Egypt, the far Nile',

How pray'd I that my father's land might be
A heritage for thee'!

"And now the grave for its cold breast hath won thee'!
And thy white, delicate limbs the earth will press';

9. And the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, "What aileth thee, Hagar'? Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation." And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

10. "She stood beside the well her God had given To gush in that deep wilderness, and bathed

The forehead of her child until he laugh'd

In his reviving happiness, and lisp'd

His infant thought of gladness at the sight

Of the cool plashing of his mother's hand."

N. P. WILLIS.

11. And God was with the lad Ishmael; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. From him descended the nations of the Arabians, who have always been a wild people, as was foretold of them by the angel of the Lord, when he said of Ishmael, "He will be a wild man: his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him."

1 €ŎN'-VERSE, conversation; familiar inter-4 BROOK, endure; bear.

course.

2 WONT'-ED, accustomed.

3 SHROUD'-ING, covering.

5 WHIL'-ING, beguiling; deceiving.

6 HER'-IT-AGE, inheritance.

7 PIL'-LOWED, resting upon, as on a pillow.

LESSON III.

THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA.

1. FROM Jacob, the son of Isaac, were descended the people called Israelites, whose history occupies a great portion of the Old Testament. Jacob was the father of that Joseph who was sold into Egypt, and who became governor of the land under Pharaoh. But the descendants of Joseph and his brethren were reduced to bondage by the Egyptians, and treated with great cruelty.

2. At length the Lord raised up Moses to deliver the Israelites from bondage; and, in answer to the prayers of Moses, great plagues fell upon the Egyptians; but it was not until the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt,

P

save the first-born of the Israelites, and filled the land with mourning, that Pharaoh the king consented to let the people of Israel go.

3. But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh again, and he said, "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us ?" And with a great army of chariots and horsemen he pursued the children of Israel, and overtook them encamping by the Red Sea. Then the pillar of cloud, which had led the people of Israel by day, removed, and stood between them and the Egyptians; and it was a cloud and darkness to Pharaoh and his host, but it gave light to the children of Israel.

4. And the Lord commanded Moses, and he stretched out his rod over the waters, and the waters of the sea divided, and rose up as a wall on the right hand and on the left, and the Israelites passed over on dry ground. But when the host of Pharaoh pursued, the waters flowed back upon the Egyptians and overthrew them, so that "there remained not so much as one of them alive."

5. "He comes-their leader comes! the man of God
O'er the wide waters lifts his mighty rod,

And onward treads. The circling waves retreat,
In hoarse, deep murmurs, from his holy feet;
And the chased surges, inly roaring, show
The hard wet sand, and coral hills below.
With limbs that falter, and with hearts that swell,
Down, down they pass-a steep and slippery dell.

6. "Around them rise, in pristine1 chaos' hurled,
The ancient rocks, the secrets of the world;
And flowers that blush beneath the ocean green,
And caves, the sea-calves' low-roofed haunts, are seen.
Down, safely down the narrow pass they tread;
The beetling3 waters storm above their head;
While far behind retires the sinking day,
And fades on Edom's hills its latest ray.
Yet not from Israel fled the friendly light,

Nor dark to them, nor cheerless, came the night;

Still in their van, along that dreadful road,

Blazed broad and fierce the brandished torch of God.

7. "Its meteor glare a ten-fold lustre gave On the long mirror of the rosy wave;