years; and this was consummated by the cruel edict which doomed to
death the infants of Israel; made, probably, in fear and jealousy from the
rapid increase of the Israelites. The great crimes of our world, it would
seem, are instigated by these passions, rather than hatred and malignity,
like the massacre of St. Bartholomew and the atrocities of the French
Revolution.

(M90) But a deliverer was raised up by God in the person of Moses, the
greatest man in human annals, when we consider his marvelous intellectual
gifts, his great work of legislation, his heroic qualities, his moral
excellence, and his executive talents. His genius is more powerfully
stamped upon civilization than that of any other one man--not merely on the
Jews, but even Christian nations. He was born B.C. 1571, sixty-four years
after the death of Joseph. Hidden in his birth, to escape the sanguinary
decree of Pharaoh he was adopted by the daughter of the king, and taught
by the priests in all the learning of the Egyptians. He was also a great
warrior, and gained great victories over the Ethiopians. But seeing the
afflictions of his brethren, he preferred to share their lot than enjoy
all the advantages of his elevated rank in the palace of the king--an act
of self-renunciation unparalleled in history. Seeing an Egyptian smite a
Hebrew, he slew him in a burst of indignation, and was compelled to fly.
He fled to Jethro, an Arab chieftain, among the Midianites. He was now
forty years of age, in the prime of his life, and in the full maturity of
his powers. The next forty years were devoted to a life of contemplation,
the best preparation for his future duties. In the most secret places of
the wilderness of Sinai, at Horeb, he communed with God, who appeared in
the burning bush, and revealed the magnificent mission which he was
destined to fulfill. He was called to deliver his brethren from bondage;
but forty years of quiet contemplation, while tending the flocks of
Jethro, whose daughter he married, had made him timid and modest. God
renewed the covenant made to Abraham and Jacob, and Moses returned to
Egypt to fulfill his mission. He joined himself with Aaron, his brother,
and the two went and gathered together all the elders of the children of
Israel, and after securing their confidence by signs and wonders, revealed
their mission.

(M91) They then went to Pharaoh, a new king, and entreated of him
permission to allow the people of Israel to go into the