11. And it seems strange that Pharaoh should have horses enough for six hundred "chosen chariots" (Exod. xiv. 7) after they had all been killed, three or four times by some of the plagues of Egypt. 12. It is not strange that Aaron's rod should swallow up the others as represented; for he had such a start in the business, and had made such a large serpent, he had probably used up most of the materials, and left nothing but scraps for making others. 13. The Christian who can lay down his Bible after reading such stories as this, and not feel his natural and instinctive love of honesty, justice, and morality weakened, must be wrongly fortified by nature against moral corruption. CHAPTER XXIX.--CHARACTER OF ABRAHAM, MORAL DEFECTS OF. A brief history of the father of the Jewish tribe will tend to illustrate and indicate the character of the whole nation, as children usually inherit the qualities of their parents. 1. We will first notice the great promise which Jehovah made to Abraham with respect to the boundless extent of his future dominion. His seed were to be as the dust of the earth or the sands of the sea for multitude (Gen. xiii. 16). And how has this promise been fulfilled? Why, after a faithful compliance with the command to "multiply and replenish the earth" for more than three thousand years, his whole tribe only numbers about six million souls, which is less than one in two hundred of the entire population of the globe. It would take but a few handfuls of dust to furnish the particles to represent the number, instead of all the dust of the earth as promised or predicted. 2. Jehovah promised Abraham, in the second place, all the country "from the river of Egypt to the great river,--the River Euphrates" (Gen. xv. 18). And yet, after the lapse of three thousand years, we do not find many occupying a foot of it. Another failure to execute his promise. 3. "To thee will I give it [the promised land], and to thy seed for ever" (Gen. xiii. 15). It will be observed here, that the title and possession was to be perpetual,--to the end of the world, "_for ever_." And yet it has been in the possession of other nations five or six times; and now not many of the Lord's holy people can be found there. Another signal failure.