THE CREATION. 37 we shall shew you where the smaller parts, or kingdoms, are, such as Egypt and Judæa; and the place where the garden of Eden is supposed to have been; the mountain where the ark rested; where the Red Sea is, which the Israelites went through in so wonderful a manner; the island where the Apostle Paul was shipwrecked; the city of Babylon, where Daniel was cast into the lion's den; the town of Bethlehem, where our Saviour was born; the city of Jerusalem, where he suffered so cruel a death; the towns and cities where the Apostles preached the Gospel; and where they, and many of their followers in after ages suffered martyrdom. And afterwards we will shew you those countries which are Pagan, and worship idols; those which are Mahomedan, and believe what the great false prophet Mahomed has written; those kingdoms which are called Christian, that is such as England, where a great many of the people really believe in Jesus Christ, and endeavour to obey his commands and imitate his example; and, lastly, those countries where there are good men called Missionaries, preaching the word of God to those who are heathens. CHARLES. That will be very good, I shall like to know all that very much. TEACHER. Well, John, do you think you will like to learn these things? JOHN. I dare say it's very right we should know, but it will be a great deal of trouble for you to make us understand; and will it be of much use to us, sir? TEACHER. That's well said, John; always consider what use any thing will be before you do it. Now I will tell you what good it will do you to learn these things; it will make the best of books, the Bible, more plain and easy to you. When you read B in the Old Testament of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria and Persia; of Babylon and Jerusalem, and Sodom and Gomorrah; and of the river where the little infants of the Israelites were so cruelly drowned, and of Jordan and in the New Testament of Macedonia, Galatia, and Spain; and Corinth, Antioch, and Rome, you will understand what is meant; and you will find great pleasure in reading those parts of the Bible which are now quite difficult to you. And besides you will be able to understand better your little hymns, which that good and great man, Dr. Watts, has written for you, when they speak of Peru,' and 'Eastern or Western Indies ;' and then where the good Missionaries, and Sunday-school teachers are, aye, and Sunday-school children too, in a great many parts of the world. be of use John? Now do you think it will JOHN. Yes, sir: I see now what you mean; I will try and be as attentive as I can; and I think will be able to make us understand it. you TEACHER. Well, I hope you all will: now next time I meet you, I intend to explain to you where the Garden of Eden is supposed to have been, and where Noah's ark rested after the flood; and how the family of Noah again spread over the face of the earth; you will read about it in the 2nd, 8th, and 10th chapters of Genesis; and let me see then that you have read them attentively, and endeavoured to understand them. SCRIPTURE HISTORY. To the Editor of the Sunday Scholar's Magazine. I HAVE it in my mind to send you a series of short catechisms, the object of which shall be to make children ac THE OLD TESTAMENT. 39 quainted with the Bible. The pains which kind teachers, take to explain it to them is sometimes lost for want of a connected view of the whole; or at least many remarks and observations, more particularly with respect to the Old Testament, have not the same interest without a full knowledge of the circumstances to which they apply. Thus I suppose there are many children who have been told a great deal about the children of Israel, how they wandered in the wilderness, took possession of Canaan, &c. &c. without at all knowing in what order these things happened, or when. My plan therefore is to send you first just so many questions and answers as will comprehend, in as short a space as possible, the history of the Bible, that this may be first learned and well impressed on the minds of children; so that they should not only learn it by heart, but have it all in their thoughts at once, and be able to bear the whole connection in their minds. I shall then give you another catechism, somewhat more enlarged, which may be considered as a general history of the Church of God, which again is only intended to prepare the way for bringing together what may be called the history of Redemption. Some such plan as this I have always thought desirable for preparing children to read the Bible with advantage. There are many useful works which have this object in view, but they are either too brief or too long:-too brief to take in all that should be previously impressed on the mind; or too long to be carried away by the memory as a connected whole. My plan is intended to furnish so many stages for the acquiring of scriptural knowledge; and I would earnestly urge the teacher who may adopt the plan, to be careful that he makes sure of his ground as he advances. He might make the questions as he proceeds the subject of his conversation to his learners; and let him take the opportunity now and then to compress each series so as to bring the whole forward as it were in one view. And farther, as he advances from one series to another, in each succeeding one, he may lead the chil dren to introduce and connect with that, the facts or truths. they have learned from the former. These are but hints which will be better understood when the plan is put into practice; and therefore I shall leave them as they are, with the consideration of those among the friends of your useful publication, who from their experience in instruction, are in general more qualified to put them in force than I am to give them. Q. WHAT is the first account we learn from the Bible? A. That God created the heaven and the earth in six days; and that he formed man out of the dust of the ground. Gen. i. Q. What is the first remarkable event in the history of the world? A. After some years the world became so wicked, that God destroyed all its inhabitants by a flood, except the family of Noah. Gen. vi. 5-7. Q. What were the names of his sons? A. Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and by these the earth was peopled again. Q. What parts of the earth do their descendants occupy? A. Shem and his posterity took possession of Asia, from whom the Jews were descended; Ham and his posterity settled generally in Egypt and Africa; Japheth in Europe. Q. Did they willingly separate in this manner? Q. No: they were going to build a large city, and a very high tower called Babel, in the midst of it, on purpose that they might keep together; but God made them speak different languages, that they could not understand each other, and so they were obliged to separate. Gen. xi. 9. Q. Which of these people does the Bible chiefly speak of? A. The descendants of Shem, afterwards called Jews. Q. What is the first particular account we have of them? A. When God called Abram from being an idolater to the knowledge of the true religion, and to leave his own country to sojourn in one he meant to give to his posterity. Gen. xliii. 3. Q. What was the name of that country? A. The land of Canaan. THE OLD TESTAMENT. Q. Did Abraham and his Family live there? 41 A. Yes; but his descendants were obliged by a famine to go down into Egypt for food, and after a time were brought into bondage. Q. Did they ever return to Canaan ? A. Yes; God delivered them by the hand of Moses, and after he had driven out the wicked inhabitants, put them in possession of Canaan. Josh. iii. &c. Q. Did they continue there? A. Yes they settled there as a nation, and were governed first by judges, and afterwards by kings. Q. What is the most remarkable circumstance in their history after this time? A. Their captivity in Babylon, whither they were carried by the king of Babylon, whom God permitted to conquer them on account of their sins. 2 Kings xvi. &c. Q. How long did they remain there? A. Seventy years. Q. Who restored them to their country? A. Cyrus; after he had destroyed the Babylonian empire. The teacher should here take the opportunity of stating, that after this time there is nothing very remarkable in the history of the world connected with the Bible till the coming of Christ; that these are but a few of the principal events which it will be of use to fix in the mind, before we enter into a more minute account; and for this reason it may not be amiss to explain the following chronological particulars. From the Creation to the Birth of Christ was 4000 years; which may be divided into the following periods: From Adam to the birth of Noah 1000 years; from Noah to Abraham 1000; from Abraham to Solomon 1000; and from Solomon to Christ 1000. Or to give the dates more exactly, with some additional important 2083 The call of Abraham 3001 The dedication of Solomon's Temple 3416 The Jews carried to Babylon in captivity 4004 The birth of Christ. 4004 2948 2348 1996 |