Why stoops the lady? What meets her eye She bends to gaze on a baby fair, In his bulrush-cradle sleeping there. He wakes, but it is not his mother dear, queen, As she hastens to soothe the weeping child, 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?" 'Pardon, great princess, I crave thy grace,— Wilt thou a nurse of the Hebrew race?" "Go, seek me one," and the maid has flown Behold the babe into manhood grown, C 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, 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, The world without, the flesh within; But age may whiten that clustering hair, May shade with its furrows that open brow, 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 |