_Answer_. If you wish to know, read the twelfth chapter of Genesis; and if you still have any doubts as to his character, read the twentieth chapter of the same book, and you will see that he was a man who made merchandise of his wife's body. He had had 379 such good fortune in Egypt, that he tried the experi- ment again on Abimelech. _Question_. Did Abraham show any gratitude? _Answer_. Yes; he offered to sacrifice his son, to show his confidence in Jehovah. _Question_. What became of Abraham and his people? _Answer_. God took such care of them, that in about two hundred and fifteen years they were all slaves in the land of Egypt. _Question_. How long did they remain in slavery? _Answer_. Two hundred and fifteen years. _Question_. Were they the same people that God had promised to take care of? _Answer_. They were. _Question_. Was God at that time, in favor of slavery? _Answer_. Not at that time. He was angry at the Egyptians for enslaving the Jews, but he afterwards authorized the Jews to enslave other people. _Question_. What means did he take to liberate the Jews? _Answer_. He sent his agents to Pharaoh, and de- manded their freedom; and upon Pharaoh s refusing, he afflicted the people, who had nothing to do with 380 it, with various plagues,--killed children, and tor- mented and tortured beasts. _Question_. Was such conduct Godlike? _Answer_. Certainly. If you have anything against your neighbor, it is perfectly proper to torture his horse, or torment his dog. Nothing can be nobler than this. You see it is much better to injure his animals than to injure him. To punish animals for the sins of their owners must be just, or God would not have done it. Pharaoh insisted on keeping the people in slavery, and therefore God covered the bodies of oxen and cows with boils. He also bruised them to death with hailstones. From this we infer, that "the loving kindness of God is over all his works." _Question_. Do you consider such treatment of ani- mals consistent with divine mercy? _Answer_. Certainly. You know that under the Mosaic dispensation, when a man did a wrong, he could settle with God by killing an ox, or a sheep, or some doves. If the man failed to kill them, of course God would kill them. It was upon this prin- ciple that he destroyed the animals of the Egyptians. They had sinned, and he merely took his pay. _Question_. How was it possible, under the old dis- pensation, to please a being of infinite kindness? 381