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London's (Bishop of) Sermon-"God's Ancient People not

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Winslow on Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul ... 558

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THE

CHRISTIAN LADY'S MAGAZINE.

JULY, 1843.

THE TOUCHSTONE OF HISTORY.

CHAPTER I.

FEW Christian ladies are excluded from opportunities of influencing, if they cannot in any measure direct, that most important of all works, early education. It is, indeed, the peculiar province of woman, and one in which man rarely interferes, save as the occasional helper of her work; and that, too, in goodhumoured subordination to her temporary rule: for we suppose that just in proportion to his sense of manly superiority will be the gentleman's indisposition to assume the active government of the nursery. There, he delegates his authority to the weaker vessel, and delights, or ought to delight, in seeing her handle the reins, so willingly entrusted, pro tempore, to her. She holds local rank, by his appointment, or rather by the gracious, loving appointment of their JULY, 1843.

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heavenly King, who has mercifully disposed man's heart to recognize, and thankfully to ratify, this limited female prerogative.

Here, among the little inmates of the nursery and of the domestic school-room, not only the mother but the elder sister, the aunt, the cousin, and the family friend, may enjoy a sphere of influence so important in its actual bearings and probable results, that were due consideration bestowed on the matter, it would become a subject of daily prayer with every Christian female, that she might be endowed with heavenly wisdom to improve any possible opportunity of thus promoting the glory of God among the lambs of our fold. It is a fact too little kept in mind, yet incontestible when fairly considered, that this is the enemy's great seed-time: his bag of tares is always at hand, and many a handful does he scatter, while maternal watchfulness, all engrossed by the bodily concerns of her infant charge, is too apt to slumber over their spiritual interests. That most fatal of all delusions, the vain notion that a little, a very little child cannot, without preparatory steps, be treated as an heir of immortality, comes from Satan, to promote his own purposes; but upon this we shall not now enter, having in view a stage somewhat advanced beyond mere infancy, when elementary books, or familiar lessons on general history and biography are introduced: when with the very first notions imparted to a child of the divisions of the earth, are, almost necessarily, connected the names and deeds of distinguished individuals. Thus, the mention of America, as a matter of course, introduces Columbus: that of England, Julius Cæsar and the Romans: that of Asia, Mohammed; and so forth. After a while,

these things are farther enlarged upon: the child hears of the four great empires: he learns something of Grecian learning and refinement; of Roman prowess and prolonged sovereignty: and he is probably told that the Jews, of whom the Bible is full, still exist, a scattered and oppressed, and scorned race; a living monument of divine vengeance; retained in this mysterious, miserable state, in order that he, the child, and other children, may see, and believe that the Bible is true. As education advances, he hears how a very holy Bishop of Rome, deputed a very pious Saint, called Augustine, to convert the Aborigines of these isles to Christianity: how the enterprizing mariners and daring warriors of Spain introduced the same Christian faith into the new world: how, when the Saracens and other barbarous unbelievers had conquered the land of Canaan, and built a mosque on the site of the glorious Temple, and desecrated the holy edifices that the piety of early Christian kings and queens had founded in Jerusalem, certain gallant and zealous men, called Crusaders, undertook the reconquest of that sacred soil, and for a time succeeded. Then, as to Russia, he is taught to venerate the name of Peter the Great, who stooped his royal person so low in order to raise his empire to a height unthought-of by preceding Czars. We do not go beyond the truth, in numbering these, and a few similar points of instruction, among the early lessons imparted, either through easy books or by oral communication, to children of the upper and middle classes, before they complete their fifth year.

The foundation being thus laid, the superstructure proceeds in accordance therewith; and we do assert,

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