THE

LIFE OF MOSES.

CHAPTER I.

MOSES DISCOVERED IN THE ARK.

As many of my little readers, I make no doubt, are well acquainted with the name of Moses, from repeating it in their Catechism, and from learning to answer, Moses, when asked, Who was the meekest man? I think it will be pleasant and improving to them, to read the different events of his life, as we find them recorded in the Bible.

When Moses was born, the children of Israel were under great affliction; the king of Egypt, we are told, knew not Joseph, and he perceived the Lord was with the Israelites; their children increased, and he feared that if they should still continue to do so, they might. join with the enemies of Egypt, and overcome him and his people. He oppressed them, and laid on them very heavy tasks, but still the Lord was with them, and he found that the more grievously he used them, the more they prospered. By this we may learn, my little children, to fear God, and him only. The

pious David says, Psalms, cxviii. 6. lvi. 4. "In God I have put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do unto me." The Lord protected his people, and prevented their sinking under the wrath of Pharaoh, then king of Egypt. This king made a law that all the male children of the Hebrews should be slain, and if the parents should be found trying to hide their little boys they should also be put to death.

You, my dear children, who are living in this happy country, where there is no one to make you or your parents afraid, who are blessed above all, in the enjoyment of the knowledge and comforts of the Gospel, you can hardly feel for these poor people, the pity their sad condition deserved. Among the Israelites there was a man of the tribe of Levi, who had married a wife of the same tribe; they had a little son given to them by God, he was fair and beautiful, and his mother's heart was bound up in the child. Notwithstanding the law of the king, she hid him, and kept him three months without being found out; but the child began to grow, and her heart failed her, and besides we have reason to believe she had faith in the Lord, and no doubt, while making a little kind of boat, (called an ark in the Bible) out of the rushes, she offered many a fervent prayer to the God of her fathers, for her poor babe. The Lord was very gracious to her, and soon after she had

placed her little babe in his rushy cradle, and left his weeping sister to watch and see what might become of the poor little child, Pharaoh's daughter with her maids came down to the river to bathe. In Egypt the people, and particularly the women, bathe very often, as the great heat makes it very refreshing.

This princess came to the river, and heard the cries of the infant, and she had pity for it. She knew the law against the children of the Hebrews, and thought, very rightly, that it belonged to that oppressed people; but that did not hinder her from ordering her maids to draw him out of the water; they did so, and brought it to her. She saw the child was very "fair to look upon," and declared her determination to adopt and bring him up. She or

dered a nurse to be sought for, and the sister of Moses coming forward, offered to procure a woman to nurse the babe. I need not tell you, she ran and fetched her mother, who received the child, her own beloved little one, from the hands of Pharaoh's daughter, who told her to be careful of it, and she would give her wages. Think, only think, my dear little readers, with what gratitude she returned to her dwelling, and with what heartfelt joy she and her husband must have offered their thanks to God, their preserver. They no doubt felt encouraged to hope, that the Lord, who had thus preserved their child, would continue by his providence to protect him.-We may believe,

that the pious parents of Moses, began, from the earliest time he could understand their instruction, to teach him to love and fear the only true God. They taught him to pity and love the oppressed Hebrews, although by the mercy of God, he was spared from being their fellow

sufferer.

The child grew, and his mother (when he was weaned) gave him again to Pharaoh's daughter, and she adopted him for her son, and had him taught all the knowledge of the Egyptians. But still his heart turned towards his brethren; and as he was walking one day in the field, looking perhaps at their labors, he saw an Egyptian beating and ill-treating an Israelite; his indignation rose, and he assisted his brother, and slew the Egyptian, and buried him in the sand. Perhaps some of my little readers may say, Was not this very wicked? It would have been so, had Moses slain the man from anger or cruelty; but it was neither. He felt a presentiment, (it may be) from the Spirit of God, that the Lord was about to deliver his people, and that he had been preserved to lead them. He thought perhaps, also, to attract the attention of his brethren, and to arouse their feelings, in order that they might throw off the yoke of Egypt, which so bitterly oppressed them. On the next day, walking in the same place, he saw two Hebrews who were fighting. He strove to separate them, telling them they were fellow coun

try-men; but instead of thanking him, one rose up and said, "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian?" Exod. ii. 14. At this Moses was afraid, and the thing being told to the king, he was very angry, and if Moses had not fled, he would have killed him. The God of his fathers preserved him, and he got safe away to the land of Midian; there, weary no doubt, and sorrowful, he sat down by a well. He was a lonely stranger, his only hope and trust was in his God; to Him he had prayed, and the Lord blessed him, and provided him with friends, and with a home.

In those times it was usual for the young women to fetch water in the evening, and soon after he had seated himself, the seven daughters of the priest or prince of Midian, (for it here means both,) came to water their father's flocks. There were shepherds there, and they drove away the young women. Moses, always ready to help those in trouble, drove away the shepherds and watered the flocks for the young women. They returned, and their father wondering to see them so early, asked them the reason. They told him that an Egyptian (which Moses appeared to be,) had helped them. Their father asked why they left him without, and why they had not asked him to come and eat bread with them. Upon this they went and called Moses, and he came and remained with them, and finding them to be