THIS was one of the greatest and best men that ever lived. He was one of the children of Israel, born in Egypt, in the year of the world 2433, about 400 years after the time of Joseph. Another king who knew not Joseph, now reigned over Egypt, and he was very cruel to the children of Israel, who had now become a very numerous people; and fearing lest they should rise up against him, he ordered that all the babies of the Israelites that were males should be put to death. Little Moses was born at this time, and his mother Jochebed hid him three months after he was born, and when she could

hide him no longer, she made him fan ark or basket of flags or bulrushes, and covered it with pitch, and putting the poor little baby into it, she took it down to the great river Nile, and set it afloat on the waters. This was a dangerous place for the dear little creature to be in, for beside the danger of the little boat of flags sinking, there were in that river some very ugly creatures, called crocodiles, with great mouths and frightful teeth, and if they, when swimming about for something to eat had found the basket, they would soon have torn it to pieces, and crushed all the bones of the helpless baby with their great teeth. But the infant was safe. God Almighty watched over it, and so it was quite safe, and he took care it should not stay there long, for he sent a kind friend to save it, and it was in this way. The daughter of the King, who it seems was a very kind young lady, went out one morning as was her custom, to walk by the river, and seeing the little ark floating upon the water, and wondering what it was, sent her maidens to fetch it. When they opened it, behold there was a little baby in it, and the child wept, the little creature wept! as much as if it had said, “Do lady take me and save me! I am one of the Hebrew children whom your father has ordered to be killed. O save me! save me!" The Lord touched the heart of the Princess, and inclined her to save the life of the babe. Now the mother of Moses had

set Miriam her daughter to watch the floating ark in which her little brother was; and when she saw that the Princess was inclined to save the baby, she mixed among the attendants, and said she could find a nurse that would take care of it; and she ran and fetched her mother. When the mother of Moses came, the Princess said, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay thee thy wages." O how delighted would the mother of Moses be to embrace her own dear babe again! And how glad to think that she could now nurse it without fear no Egyptian daring to come and kill it, because the Princess had adopted it as her own child; and she said, his name shall be called Moses, "because I drew him out of the water." So Moses all the time he was a baby and a little boy, was in the house of his pious mother-his mother, who had wept and prayed for her darling when he was on the water, would no doubt teach him as he grew up, to fear and love that great and blessed God-the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, who had saved him from a watery grave. And no doubt little Moses listened to his mother with much attention, and greatly feared the God of his fathers, from his youth.

When Moses grew up, he was taken to the palace of the Princess, and treated as a young prince; and he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. But Moses could not be

happy in a palace whilst his countrymen were slaves. Often did he see some of the Israelites oppressed and ill-treated by the Egyptians. On one of those occasions, Moses smote an Egyptian, and for fear of the king, fled from the country into Arabia. Here he married the daughter of Jethro; and when he had been in this country twenty years, God spake to him from a burning bush, and told him to go and deliver his brethren who were in bondage in Egypt. At first Moses was afraid to go; at length he went, but the proud king would not set them at liberty. So the Lord, by the hand of Moses, did many terrible things in order to make the king let them go. He turned the river into blood-and brought swarms of frogs, and lice, and flies, and locusts; and destroyed their cattle and sent hail and fire; and made it so dark that the darkness might be felt: and yet the proud king would not let the people go. So the Lord sent his angel to destroy all the first-born of the Egyptians, and lo there was not a house where there was not one dead. Then Pharoah made haste to let the people go, for said they, we are all dead men." Moses led the people to the banks of the Red Sea. And now the wicked king arose and followed them; the Lord opened a way through the deep sea for his people, and Pharoah followed after them; but the water came down upon him, and he and all his host were drowned.

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They then went on to Mount Sinai, where God gave to Moses the ten commandments, written with the finger of God on tables of stone; and this is the first time we find writing mentioned. The people were often very disobedient, and for this the Lord would not let them enter Canaan; and so they wandered about forty years in the wilderness. Moses went up a mountain and saw the promised land afar off. He was now 120 years old, and the Lord bade him go up Mount Nebo, and he died there. There is much more said about Moses and all the wonderful things the Lord did by him in the Bible. Read it as soon as you can, and you will be much pleased.

MOSES IN THE BULRUSHES.
DARK roll'd the Nile's majestic tide,
As, at the dawn of day,

A Hebrew mother downward hied,
And placed a sedge-ark by its side,
In which an infant lay.

The mandate of a savage king

Has roused this mother's fears,

And caused her thus her son to bring,
And leave him there, an outcast thing,
Amidst a thousand tears.

Her hair his waiting sister tore,
When lo! unlooked-for joy,-

The monarch's daughter sought the shore,
And led that sedge-ark to explore,

Has found the helpless boy.