Miriam.

It would be wrong to omit Miriam in these brief notices of the women of the Bible. We cannot help regarding her with reverence, not only as being the sister of the great Moses, but the first prophetess of whom we have any record. She could not have been less than ten years the senior of Moses, inasmuch as she was, doubtless, the sister that watched him when exposed in the ark of bulrushes, and aided so materially in carrying out the stratagem for his preservation. After this, we hear no more of Miriam until just after the Exodus, and amid the festivities and rejoicings consequent upon the escape of the Israelites, and the destruction of their enemies and pursuers in the Red Sea. At this time she must have been, at least, ninety years of age; and, of course, was venerable for years, as well as for the position she held, as associated with her two brethren in the leadership of Israel. That such was her official relation, seems hinted by the scenery of the rejoicings already alluded to. For while Moses led the great chorus of the sons of Israel, in the song of triumph over Pharaoh,-Miriam, on the other hand, at the head of all the women, with timbrels and dances, answered back the glad notes of praise unto God. And while the Psalmist presents the people of God as led, like a flock, by the

hand of Moses and Aaron-regarding them as the principal leaders-the prophet Micah adds Miriam, by name, to her two brothers, as being associated with them in this great commission. We may recognize an entire fitness in such an arrangement, and especially as connected with Eastern customs, relative to the separation of the two sexes in their assemblies, joined, also, in the case of the Israelites, with their itinerating position. As a prophetess, she doubtless instructed the female portion of the community, as her brothers instructed their own sex,-while the record of the difficulty at Hazeroth seems to afford additional proof of their joint, though not equal, participation in leading and teaching the people.

From this view, it seems fair to assign to Miriam a very elevated place among the women whose names appear upon the inspired page. An elder and only sister of two of the most distinguished and honored of all men-herself partaking with them of the prophetic illumination-and bearing so important a part as leader of the women of Israel, not only in their songs and rejoicings, but also as a divinely-appointed instructress-she deserves a place in our thoughts, in sacred association with her illustrious brothers. If we assign to Moses the mediatorship of the great legal dispensation,—and to Aaron the first place in the Levitical priesthood,-so also to Miriam we are to accord the honor of being the earliest of the recorded prophetesses, as well as the most distin

guished of all the daughters that danced in triumph over the spoiling of their Egyptian foes.

Yet a shade appears upon the fair fame of Miriam.

She evinces to us that, with all her advantages and dignity, she is but human, and subject to human frailties.

In common with her brother Aaron, she appears not to have fancied the wife of Moses-her whom he had married in Midian, and whom he had returned, for a season, to her father, previously to the judgments that fell upon Egypt. During the stay of the Israelites in the vicinity of Sinai, Zipporah returned to her husband, accompanied by her father and her two sons. This was, probably, the first interview between the sister and wife of Moses, and shortly after arose the difficulty, whose results were so alarming, and so disreputable to Miriam. We are taught that she, in connection with Aaron, found fault with Moses by reason of his alliance with a woman of another nation, while their displeasure on this account very naturally associated itself with envy at his pre-eminence as a prophet of God. This displeasure and envy broke forth into bitter words and dark questionings between Miriam and Aaron, touching their brother. Lord, what is man—or what is woman! Had they not seen the great distinction which God had so obviously given to their brother? Had they forgotten the awful judgments of Egypt, and the part he acted in those frightful manifestations? Had not the thun

ders of Sinai just ceased-voices so terrible, that those who heard them entreated that they might hear them no more? Was not the pillar of cloud and fire suspended with unearthly sublimity over the encampment? Needed they to be reminded that Moses was the appointed agent in these great movements, and the presiding genius amid this strange scenery? Must those great and distinguished personages suddenly receive a public and terrible admonition? Must God come down —and Aaron and Miriam be called forth, and instructed by special communication, as to the position of their brother, and his universal faithfulness and reminded that he was the one, such as there was no other; to whom the Lord spake face to face, and mouth to mouth? With amazing emphasis, therefore, must the question have come home: "Why, then, were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" And there was the kindling of God's anger-and his departure—and the uplifting of the cloud from the tabernacle; and lo! the great prophetess-the most eminent of her sex through all that assembled nation-Miriam-poor Miriam, was a leper! "Heal her now, I beseech thee," cried the injured brother; and his was a prayer that almost always was greatly availing with God. She was healed, though doomed to a temporary exclusion from the camp; and seven days all Israel waited for Miriam amid the wilds of Hazeroth.

Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed

lest he fall! Amid exaltation or depressionprosperity or adversity-how wise, how necessary to guard our spirit, and set a watch upon the door of our lips, lest, in an evil hour, Satan shall gain an advantage over us. The blemish of Miriam should instruct every one-her own sex especially -to speak advisedly-to repress the earliest risings of vanity or impure ambition-to look well-each one-to her own ways; and, in a quiet and contented spirit, fulfill, with dignity and pleasure, the appropriate duties of her own sphere of action. Providence and revelation both have assigned their respective places to man and to woman, and all attempts at interference, the one with the other's special province of action, will infallibly insure the contempt of all enlightened spectators, and the displeasure of Him who rules that every one move "in his own order."

After the events above referred to, we hear little of Miriam. She survived to the great age of, at least, one hundred and thirty years; and when the congregation of Israel, after long wanderings, came to Kadesh, there they buried, presently, the distinguished and only sister of Moses and Aaron. Her aged brothers followed her in haste. Aaron slept on Mount Hor, about four months after the death of Miriam at Kadesh ;and just twelve months after her death, the nation of Israel were passing over Jordan,-and Moses, of course, was absent! From the heights of Pisgah he had seen the pledged inheritance stretching