62

THE BEST RICHES.

XXIX.

JHE PEST RICHES.

HARAOH’S daughter lov-
ed Moses, and she told
the wise men of Egypt to
teach him all they knew:
for she wished Moses to
be wise. The Egyptians knew
many things, and had much wis-
dem; but not the best wisdom;
they did not know nor worship the
true God. They worshipped ani-
mals; bulls, and sheep, and dogs,
and cats, and crocodiles, and insects.
But the Israelites, who lived in
Egypt, remembered the God of
their fathers, Abraham, and Isaac,
and Jacob; and the mother of
Moses, no doubt, taught him holy
things, true wisdom, when he was a
very little boy; and she prayed for
him, that he might be kept from
sin, and that he might love and
serve the Lord. And God heard
her prayer; and taught Moses by
the Holy Spirit, that riches and
worldly things could not make him
happy, nor save his soul: that God
alone could keep him from sin;
and that he could be saved only by
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who
should at a future time, come down
from heaven, and die for sinners.
Pharaoh’s daughter called him her
son, and wished to give him great
riches; but Moses did not wish to
be rich: he chose “rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God,
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a season.” Hed. xi. 25. St.
John says, “Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the
world.” 1 John ii. 15. If we love
pleasure, cr riches, or power, or sin,

 

 

more than we love God, we cannot
be His children. We must give
him all our thoughts, all our affec-
tions, all our love. Jesus said to
his disciples, “ Lay not up for your-
selves treasures upon earth, where
moth and rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves break through and
steal; but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves do not break through,
nor steal.” Matthew vi. 19, 20.
When Moses was grown up, he
went to visit his brethren the
Israelites, who were suffering so
much in Egypt. One day he saw
an Egyptian cruelly beating an
Israelite; they were alone, but
God’s eye was upon them. God
saw the wicked Egyptian, and the
poor Israelite, and sent Moses to
help his suffermg brother. Moses
ran to the two men, and saved the
Israelite, and killed the Egyptian,
and hid the body in the sand. The
next day, Moses went out again, and
saw two men fighting. Were they
Higyptians? No, they were both
Israelites. Moses was grieved to
see them so wicked: for God’s peo-
ple ought to be kind and gentle;
brothers ought to love one another.
So Moses went to them, and tried
to make peace between them. But
the one who did the wrong, would
not attend to Moses; and said,
“Who sent thee to be a judge?
Wilt thou kill me as thou killedst
the Egyptian yesterday?” When
Moses heard this he was very much
afraid, for he thought the people