the Hebrews, we are told that they did this by fuith; believing that God, who, for wise purposes, had permitted Pharaoh to go on in his course of oppression and cruelty, could easily, in the case of their infant, defeat his design, and preserve the object of their affections and prayers.

For three anxious months they were successful. In some way the mother was able to conceal the child from the knowledge of those who would destroy it; and it continued to entwine itself round her affections with a closer and stronger grasp. Often as she pressed it to her bosom in its secret hiding-place, and gazed upon its happy countenance, so tranquil and fearless, would she start, and look round with shrinking apprehension, lest the sounds that fell upon her ear might prove to be the signal of what she so much dreaded. And then looking up to heaven, with a tearful eye and throbbing heart, her faith in God would control her agitated feelings, and his strength made perfect in her weakness, restore peace and resolution to her soul.

A greater trial approaches. The faith of the parents, and more especially of the fond mother, must endure a severer test. She perceives indications of danger. They become clearer and stronger. They reveal, at length, the distressing truth that she can hide the child no longer from the eagleeyed scrutiny of the destroyer. A day, or even a

few hours, may bring about the catastrophe. What is to be done? Her only refuge is in God. She resolves, with the consent and co-operation of her husband, to place their little one under the more immediate care of its Heavenly Father, by giving it up to his providential oversight and direction. Her plan is soon put into execution. It is formed in faith and with prayer. The result she leaves with God, though cheered with strong hopes of

success.

On the banks of the Nile, and not far from her dwelling, there grew a plant of such a size and texture, that the Egyptians used to construct with it small boats, or vessels, that would float very safely on the waters. They took a piece of wood from some of their trees as a keel, to which the plants, having been first sewed to each other, were joined lengthwise, and then gathered up at the stem and stern by means of a strong ligature that bound their ends together. This plant, or bulrush, was called papyrus, and from it the Egyptians also manufactured a kind of paper for writing. Its substance and form were singularly curious and useful, as appears from the valuable purposes to which it was applied.

This plant furnished the simple materials with which the anxious mother, weaving and binding its stalks and filaments together, formed a little boat, or ark, of sufficient size to contain her infant. That

she might be sure to make it firm and buoyant, she cemented it with a pitchy, glutinous substance that was found floating in the marshes on the banks of the river; and spread the same substance all over it, filling up every crevice so as to keep out the

water.

In this little basket-boat, thus carefully prepared, the child, unconscious of what it all means, is gently laid. A weeping group surround it. It is about to leave them, perhaps for ever. It is to be carried away and left by the brink of the neighboring stream, there to wait the issues of that Providence, in whose hands its parents, (for this is now their only resource,) would submissively leave it. The father, and sister and brother, give it the last embrace; and its innocent smile, happy yet and fearless while seeing its wonted protectors around it, but aggravates their anguish. The mother's farewell is deferred a little; but ah! it will come too soon.

She hurries herself from them with her treasure in her arms. She hastens to the banks of the Nile. She commends the child to God, in earnest and importunate supplication. Her faith sustains her. She inpresses a trembling kiss upon its lips, and, giving it her parting blessing, lays it down among the tall, green flags that skirt the margin of the river. One long, lingering look of deep and anxious love, and the mother tears herself away from the child of her bosom, and leaves it in its lonely solitude.

Returning to her home, who can tell the anguish. she endures; as the sad scene through which she has just passed, begins to assume in her mind its fearful reality, and she finds, as she enters the dwelling, that the babe, the young and the lovely one, is not there!

But God was with the mother to comfort her, and with the child to protect it. The breeze was to breathe gently through the flags that surrounded it. The flowing Nile was to roll harmlessly along; and no ravenous animal from the deep waters, or the sedgy banks, was to molest the helpless infant. There it reposed in its ark of bulrushes, as safely and calmly as if it had been in its mother's arms. For God had put it there. All that happened was brought about by the wonderful workings of his Providence. He was preparing to fulfil the promise which, through the dying lips of Joseph, he had made to the children of Israel. He was coming to visit them in mercy, and to rescue them from the oppression of the Egyptians. Some more years must, indeed, roll away before his designs would all be ripe for execution. The helpless babe that its mother had thus cast upon God in her extremity, he had already chosen as the favorite instrument of his purposes. Its life was sacred; and before that life should close, this infant in the ark of bulrushes would become the deliverer of its own kin dred and people.

How safe it is, to be in the hands of God. There we should submissively and calmly leave ourselves and all who are dear to us. When we have done our duty;-when we have used all the means that God has placed within our reach, to extricate ourselves or friends from any impending evil, looking to him for his blessing, and yet no relief is found; and the chill of hopelessness comes over us; still, like the Israelitish mother, we should not sink down in despondency. Faith has its resources in this hour of extremity. We should trust the wisdom and justice, the goodness and mercy, of that Being who orders all things right, and peacefully and cheerfully give ourselves up, and all that affects or interests us, to his disposal; saying from the heart, let him do with me and mine us seemeth good in his sight.

CHAPTER III.

Moses is found by the daughter of Pharaoh, and afterward, as her adopted son, educated at the court of Pharaoh.

MIRIAM, the young and tender-hearted sister, had watched, at a distance, the steps of her mother, as she was carrying the ark of bulrushes, and her