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Why stoops the lady? What meets her eye
In the waving flags, as she passes by?

She bends to gaze on a baby fair,

In his bulrush-cradle sleeping there.

He wakes, but it is not his mother dear,
He starts at the sight of a stranger near;
By her look dismay'd, though a smile serene
Plays o'er the face of the bright young

queen,

As she hastens to soothe the weeping child,
And calm his fears with her voice so mild.
But her eye has a look of sadness now,

And a shade of passes over her queenly brow"Another victim, poor helpless thing!

Vainly thy hands to the cradle cling;

Soon, soon must thou sink in the rising Nile, A prey for some greedy crocodile;

And those dimpled limbs,-but it shall not

be,

Though a Hebrew child,-I will rescue thee!"

The lady turns, for a maid draws nigh,

With a trembling tear in her anxious eye. "What would'st thou, girl, with thy brow so meek,

Thy faltering tongue, and thy pallid cheek?"

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'Pardon, great princess, I crave thy grace,— Wilt thou a nurse of the Hebrew race?"

"Go, seek me one," and the maid has flown
To the spot where a woman weeps alone.
A moment more, and the babe is prest,
With anxious love to his mother's breast.

Behold the babe into manhood grown,
With a noble bearing, and dauntless tone;
He fears not the wrath of the cruel king,
For all his hopes to Jehovah cling;
And a godlike spirit has filled his soul,
With a high ambition beyond control,
As he sees his brethren's woes, and longs
With a holy fervour to heal their wrongs.

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Speed, speed on thy journey, and linger not near, To hear the glad music, the festival song,

In the gay haunts of pleasure, but shun them with fear,

Resist the temptation, and hasten along.

A guerdon awaits thee, a heavenly crown,
Unfading, eternal, is held to thy view;

Which the world would depise, and reject with a frown,

But Christ shall bestow on the faithful and true.

Then haste on thy journey, and look not behind thee,

But cast the first 'thought of temptation away; That Christ when He cometh in glory, may find thee

Still watchful, still faithful, and call thee away.

THE CROSS AND THE CROWN.

"THEN said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."-Matt. xvi. 24.

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing "-2 Timothy iv. 7, 8.

YES, Lord, there is a cross below,
A thorny path, a life of woe,
A tempter urging me to sin,

The world without, the flesh within;
The powers of hell my soul engage,
And Satan tries his utmost rage,
Till oft I sink beneath the strife,
And my worn spirit gasps for life.

But age may whiten that clustering hair,
And leave the traces of sorrow there,

May shade with its furrows that open brow,
And dim the eye that shines brightly now.
Then seek, dear child, in thy life's young bloom
A home of glory beyond the tomb :
In its early freshness yield the bud
Of unfolded days, to thy Maker God.
Seek Jesus first, and thy lot shall be
Happy through time and eternity.

MOSES.

"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: ard, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrew's children.

"Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall

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