CHILDREN OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. MOSES.

*OSES was born in a time of great danger for the i children of his people. f

7 Pharaoh was a common name for the kings of Egypt, and there was a Pharaoh on the throne when Moses was born, of a very different spirit from the one who had shown favour to Joseph. This Pharaoh was afraid when he saw the Hebrews who lived in Egypt becoming a great nation; he thought they would be able to master the Egyptians, and so this cruel king gave orders to his officers that every baby-boy born among the Hebrews should at once be killed. At the very time when this cruel order was in force, Moses was born; and his father Amram and his mother Jochebed were grieved to think that he should be slain; so his mother hid him three months, and when she could not hide him any longer, she gathered some reeds and platted them into a basket, or little ark, and she put her child into it and carried it to the river-side, and laid it among the tall sedges on the bank. She was a woman who trusted in God, and knew that He could save her babe, and so, most likely, when she had kissed her little one to sleep, she would go home herself to weep and pray, leaving her daughter Miriam to watch and see what would become of her brother. Soon Miriam saw some ladies coming along the river-side. It was the daughter of Pharaoh and her maidens who were going to bathe. They did not see Miriam as she sat among the reeds, but she could see them and hear what they said. As they drew near the place where the baby's ark lay, Miriam would tremble lest they should see it and tell the king's officers about it, and so have the baby killed or drowned. But Pharaoh's daughter was not so cruel as her father, “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 the princess was sorry for the infant, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews' children.” (Exod. ii.6.) When Miriam heard the princess speak so kindly, she came out of her hiding-place, and said, “Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee!” Pharaoh's daughter said, “Go.” And the maid went and called the child's mother; and when Jochebed came, the princess said to her, “Take this child, and nurse it for me, and I will pay thee thy wages.” How glad the baby must have been to be in its mother's loving arms once more! How thankful the mother must have been to have it there again! How hard she must have found it not to fall at the princess's feet and say that she would

gladly nurse the babe without wages at

all, for it was her own child !

joyfully took the little Moses home again,

and nursed him as they had done before, only now they could do it openly and without fear. After a few years, when the child had grown, his mother brought him, as you see in the picture, to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son, and then she was leased when she remembered how she ad saved his life, and she gave him the name “Moses,” which means “Drawn out,” as she said, “Because I drew him out of the water.” Then the princess made the wise men of Egypt teach Moses all that they knew, so that he became very wise. She wished also to give him great riches, but he “chose rather to suffer affliction with the

they be richer, and greater, and grander than ourselves, and even though they may flatter us and be anxious that we should join them. Moses had been too well taught by his mother to be able to worship bulls, and calves, and other animals, as the Egyptians did. He loved his own kindred too well to be able to live happily in a palace, while they were treated as slaves by the servants of Pharaoh, so it was not long before he had to flee out of Egypt, because he had killed an Egyptian who was ill-using one of the Hebrews, and then Moses went to dwell in the wilderness of Midian. There God appeared to him in the bush that inj and was not consumed, and there He prepared him to be the deliverer of His own chosen people from the bondage of Egypt, and to be their leader in their way to the promised land; and He bestowed on him the high honour of giving to them the commandments and laws of God. The Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, are full of the doings and sayings of Moses, in his long life of one hundred and twenty years. The end of that life was as remarkable as the beginning. God did not allow Moses to enter into the land of Canaan because he had been disobedientin striking the rock, but from the top of a high mountain. He showed him the beautiful hills, and fields, and vineyards, and rivers, and then on that lonely mountain-top Moses died, and the Lord Himself buried him, and no man knew where or how; for, perhaps, God thus took care that the children of Israel, who were always so ready to make idols of anything, should not worship the dust or the grave of Moses.

TRUE RELIGION is to know God's character and love it; to know God's will and do it; to know God's designs and have fellowship with Him in them ; rejoicing in hope of their fulfilment; desiring to be His instrument in accomplishing them, is the sum and substance of religion.

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SMALL MERCIES.

WENT the other day to see a very old lady; she was eighty-eight years old. She lived in a small room, all by herself; and she had a small fire, and small kettle, and a small pantry, and a little round table, and a little teapot, and, best of all, a little great-grandchild, who came to wait on her and read to her. Everything about this old lady was on a small scale, to suit her small strength and her small income. She was very glad to see me when I called. I asked her, “Are you not lonely sometimes when the little girl goes to school 7" “Oh no,” she answered, in a cheerful tone, “the Lord Jesus is always with me, and He is the best company, you know.” “I suppose you think a great deal of old times, long ago?” I asked. “Yes,” she answered, “but I think a great deal more of those good times to come." “You have many mercies," I said; “goodness and mercy seem to crown your days.” “Yes, yes,” she exclaimed, “and I count it one of my great mercies that I can turn over in my bed.” Oh! I thought to myself, how easy it is for the thankful heart to find reasons for thankfulness.

THE GOOD NURSE.

NE of the nurses in a large hospital was a kindly and well-disposed woman. She had spent the greater part of her life in attending to the wants of others in body and mind, and had, in one sense at least, neglected herself. One day she went into the room of the principal doctor, and she saw a beautiful Book lying upon the table: it was bound in velvet, and fastened by richly-gilded clasps. Attracted

by the beauty of the Book, she opened it, and her eyes instantly fell upon these words:—“I will; be thou clean.” She wondered who it was that had spoken these words; and, sitting down, she read with intense interestabout the love of Jesus, our great Physician, who can cure all diseases. She read on till she came to this important question: “What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul ?” The truth flashed upon her mind. She had never before thought of her immortal soul. She closed the Book in grief

and shame. She felt very unhappy, but she determined to look into herself. She did so, and this led her to seek God's grace so that she might change her manner of life. Though her fellow-nurses would sometimes laugh at her, yet she would never permit her duties to others to interfere with her duty to herself, but would kneel down by her bedside in all humility, and pray to God for a contrite spirit. Her long-neglected Bible she now read in her leisure hours, and in it she found lasting pleasure and consolation.