One day, when Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush. And Moses said, “I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.” Then God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. And the Lord commissioned him to deliver his people Israel. But Moses was afraid when he heard what God commanded him to do; because he thought himself unworthy of such an office, and unfit for it. But it pleased God to assure him, that he would be with him, to guide and protect him. The Plagues of Egypt. [Illustration] Exodus viii. 1. Now Moses and Aaron went as the Lord commanded them, and told the people all that the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did wonders before them. And Moses and Aaron went in and said to King Pharaoh, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.’” And Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” And from that day Pharaoh made the children of Israel work harder than they had ever done before, desiring that they might no longer have straw given them to make their bricks of, but that they should from that time be obliged to find their own straw, and at the same time get done as much work as they did when they had straw given them. Then when God saw the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart, he commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he took his walk by the river, and to take his rod in his hand, and to smite the waters of the river before him, which should all be turned into blood. And the fish that were in the river died, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. Seven days did this sad change in the waters last; but still Pharaoh would not listen to the voice of Moses and Aaron. Then God told Moses to stretch forth his hand over the river, and over all the waters, and to bring frogs over all his people: and Moses did so; and frogs came over all the land of Egypt, as the Lord said. Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may so sacrifice unto the Lord.” But no sooner did the Lord hear the voice of Moses, and take away this evil from Pharaoh and his people, than the king forgot what he had suffered, and would not let the Israelites go. Great and dreadful were the plagues that the Lord brought upon the land of Egypt before the King would let the children of Israel go. At one time, he covered the whole land, both man and beast, with the most disgusting kind of insects--at