furnace of Egypt, to the green fields and vine-clad mountains of the land of Canaan. Faith alone could recognize in those oppressed slaves, toiling in the brick-kilns of Egypt, the heirs of salvation, and the objects of Heaven's peculiar interest and favor. Thus it was then, and thus it is now. "We walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Cor. v. 7.) "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." (1 John iii. 2.) We are "here in the body pent," "absent from the Lord." As to fact, we are in Egypt, yet, in spirit, we are in the heavenly Canaan. Faith brings the heart into the power of divine and unseen things, and thus enables it to mount above everything down here, in this place "where death and darkness reign." O, for that simple childlike faith that sits beside the pure and eternal fountain of truth, there to drink those deep and refreshing draughts which lift up the fainting spirit and impart energy to the new man, in its upward and onward course! The closing verses of this section of our book present an edifying lesson in the conduct of those God-fearing women, Shiprah and Puah. They would not carry out the king's cruel scheme, but braved his wrath, and hence God made them houses. "Them that honor Me I will honor, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." (1 Sam. ii. 30.) May we ever remember this, and act for God, under all circumstances! CHAPTER II. 1-10. This section of our book abounds in the weightiest principles of divine truth--principles which range themselves under the three following heads, namely, the power of Satan, the power of God, and the power of faith. In the last verse of the previous chapter, we read, "And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, 'Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river.'" This was Satan's power. The river was the place of death; and, by death, the enemy sought to frustrate the purpose of God. It has ever been thus. The serpent has at all times watched with malignant eye those instruments which God was about to use for His own gracious ends. Look at the case of Abel, in Genesis iv. What was that but the serpent watching God's vessel and seeking to put it out of the way by death? Look at the case of Joseph, in Genesis xxxvii. There you have the enemy seeking to put the man of God's purpose in the place of death. Look at the case of "the seed royal," in 2 Chronicles xxii; the act of Herod, in Matthew ii; the death of Christ, in Matthew xxvii. In all these cases, you find the enemy seeking, by death, to interrupt the current of divine action.