ilderness of Zin, and the brothers buried her. There
is a peculiar sadness in this separation, occurring, as it evidently
did, not long before the close of their various pilgrimages.

As we follow the inspired narrative, we are naturally impressed by the
care with which Jehovah selects and prepares those whom He intends as
the instruments of advancing the welfare of his people and his own
glory; and while this may be more clearly traced in the case of the
highly distinguished legislator and prophet of Israel, we may be
assured that it extends not less certainly to the lowest and the
humblest.

The influences by which the lawgiver of Israel was so early surrounded,
we are willing to accept as a divine attestation to the power and value
of female culture in the formation of the character.

Three women are brought distinctly before us, as connected with the
early history of Moses. The mother's high duty and privilege it was (as
it ever is) to instil into his opening mind those great truths and first
principles which are at the foundation of all excellence. Had the nurse
of Moses been an Egyptian idolatress, the character of the man had
doubtless been very different. While Moses owed all his worldly
advancement to the princess of Egypt, he derived other advantages from
being brought under the familiar influence of one who preserved, amid
the corruptions of a court, the best sympathies of our nature. A
knowledge of human character and a power of adaptation to all the
circumstances of his eventful life were thus imparted, and which could
be hardly elsewhere acquired, yet they were very needful to one who was
to fill the office allotted to him.

God has graciously ordered that while the parents and guardians are to
pass away, there are early ties which are enduring. Where families are
properly regulated, added years strengthen the bonds of natural
affection. Through all the vicissitudes of his life, the brother and
sister of Moses clung to him. We first see Miriam watching the
cradle-ark in which the infant was concealed, and she never appears
except some event in his career brings her into view. Yet, through their
long lives she was his companion and helper, participating in his
labours, soothing his sorrows, and aiding and encouraging him in his
work. She is a type of a large class--we mean the daughters and the
sisters who are not wives. Her life shows that a woman may be
honourable, useful, distinguished, and happy, an