her, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay thee thy wages,"
was not the interest of the queen and the nurse the same? In nursing him
for the queen, that devoted mother nursed him also for herself; and in
doing this, she was also promoting the welfare of her son, and executing
the will of God concerning him. This illustrates the principle of
stewardship in the Christian home. Of every child, God says to its
parent,--

"Go nurse it for the King of heaven,
And He will pay thee hire."

Here is the important trust; here, too, is the duty of the steward. It is
a trust from God, and the nursing is for God. The child is a tender plant,
an invaluable treasure, more priceless than gold, or pearls, or diamonds.
Your duty as a steward, is to nurse it, to cultivate it, to polish the
lovely gem, to take care of it. And in doing this for God, are you not also
doing it for the child,--yea, if you are Christian parents,--for
yourselves? Will not even natural affection, as well as the discerning eye
of faith, like that of the mother of Moses, detect in this stewardship an
identity between the interest of the Master and that of the steward? It was
not the simple compensation which stimulated the mother of Moses to accede
to the proposition of Pharaoh's daughter. What cared she for the "hire," if
she could but save her son! This was her great reward.

Thus the interest of the child should be the reward of the parent. God
will, it is true, reward the faithful steward of the family; but He
specially rewards and blesses parental faithfulness in making His purposes
concerning home, identical with the parent's and the children's welfare. In
this domestic stewardship,