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OH for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
Some boundless contiguity of shade,
Where rumour of oppression and deceit,
Of unsuccessful or successful war

Might never reach me more! my ear is pained,
My soul is sick with every day's report

Of wrong and outrage with which earth is filled.
There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart,
It does not feel for man. The natural bond
Of brotherhood is severed as the flax

That falls asunder at the touch of fire.

OW these are the names of the children of Israel, which

NOW

came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.

Now when these fathers both were dead,

And still their seed did grow,

There rose a Pharaoh in his stead,

That did not Joseph know.

He, tyrant-like, with heavy hand

Of bondage pressed them downe,

And gaue the midwiues strait command
The males to kill or drowne.

And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

Thus man devotes his brother and destroys;
And worse than all, and most to be deplored,

As human nature's broadest, foulest blot,

Chains him, and tasks him, and exacts his sweat

With stripes, that mercy with a bleeding heart

Weeps when she sees inflicted on a beast.

Then what is man? And what man seeing this,

And having human feelings, does not blush

And hang his head, to think himself a man?

And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, and he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men-children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men-children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

I would not have a slave to till my ground,
To carry me, to fan me while I sleep,
And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth
That sinews bought and sold have ever earned.
No: dear as freedom is, and in my heart's

Just estimation prized åbove all price,

I had much rather be myself the slave

And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him.

CHAPTER LVII.

MOSES THE INFANT, THE PRINCE, THE AVENGER, AND THE EXILE.

A

NOT chain hereditary, not the trust

Of frank election;

Not even the high anointing hand of Heaven

Can authorize oppression; give a law

For lawless power; wed faith to violation;

On reason build misrule, or justly bind
Allegiance to injustice.

ND there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to

:

wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

Thus what thou art foreshows to me
How greater far thou soon shalt be;
And while amid thy garlands blow
The winds that warbling come and go,
Ever within, not loud but clear,
Prophetic murmur fills the ear,
And says that every human birth

Anew discloses God to earth.

And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side:

and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

All places that the eye of Heaven visits
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.
Teach thy necessity to reason thus:

Go

say, I sent thee forth to purchase honour, And not, the king exiled thee.

And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to-day? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock. And he

said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

Are we not one? are we not joined by Heaven?
Each interwoven with the other's fate?

Are we not mixed like streams of meeting rivers,
Whose blended waters are no more distinguished,
But roll into the sea one common flood?

And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

The free-born man thus shrunk into a slave,
His passive limbs to measured looks confined,
Obeyed the impulse of another mind;

A silent, secret, terrible control,

That ruled his sinews, and repressed his soul.
Not for himself he waked at morning light,
Toiled the long day, and sought repose at night;
His rest, his labour, pastime, strength, and health,
Were only portions of a master's wealth.

CHAPTER LVIII.

MOSES COMMISSIONED AT THE BURNING BUSH.

FAR seen across the sandy wild,

Where, like a solitary child,

He thoughtless roamed and free,

One towering thorn was wrapped in flame -
Bright without blaze it went and came :

Who would not turn and see?

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