The child thus adopted into the royal family was not only saved from death, but was thus placed under influences most propitious for the attainment of all the various knowledge which could fit him for the high station to which he was destined.  That helpless infant was not only to be the deliverer of Israel, but by his political institutions, his legislative enactments, his moral precepts, his inspired teachings, he was to mould the character of his own people, and to influence other nations down through all coming ages.  High was the honour allotted him as the deliverer and the lawgiver of Israel—­still higher that as the prophet of the Lord.  He was the promulgator of the great moral laws of the universe, originally engraven on the hearts of men, but now so effaced by sin as to be scarcely legible;—­he was to establish those institutions which were to perpetuate the name and the worship of Jehovah among the children of men; and that memorial which, by a long line of types and sacrifices, was at once to prefigure and prepare for the great atoning sacrifice, offered for a lost world.

Of all the fallen sons of Adam, none were ever destined to a station of more arduous responsibility, of more extensive and long-continued influence than that appointed to this Hebrew infant; and He who had marked out his destiny ordained the means which were to prepare him for it.  Transplanted into the family of Pharaoh, he was there instructed in all the “wisdom of the Egyptians,” and Egypt (as we know) was the fountain of ancient learning, science, and philosophy.  While Jehovah communicated by direct inspiration to Moses, yet the mind of the ruler and leader of Israel had been prepared by that instruction which develops the capacity, expands the mind, and enlarges the apprehension to receive and understand the institutions Jehovah gave his people, and he was thus enabled to co-operate with an enlightened mind in all the designs of God.  But if the schools of Egypt imparted that intellectual attainment, mental discipline and knowledge of legislation in its various forms, so necessary for the lawgiver, there were other influences which were needful for the perfection of the character.  There was a knowledge higher and holier than that ever taught by priests or Grecian philosophers,—­a wisdom beyond that of the Egyptians, “the knowledge of the Lord,” the God of his fathers, and the first great truths of religion should be breathed into the soul in the whispers of parental love.  The earthly parent should lead the child to the feet of the great Creator.

And then in the formation of a character which was to leave its impress upon all future ages to the close of time, the affections were to be cultivated, the sympathies awakened, and all that is pure and kind and elevated in the nature of man drawn forth.  And where is the influence which so gently moulds the character, refining, softening, and elevating it, as the affectionate, intelligent sister?  As a man advances in life, the continual influence and association of virtuous and accomplished women is felt in all the relations he is called to sustain.