NOTE. THE writer does not wish to pass unnoticed the remarks of some who have kindly taken an interest in the foregoing chapters, as they have appeared in a somewhat abridged form in Burns' Magazine for the Young. A doubt has been expressed as to the expediency, or rather the propriety, of the allusions here and there to legends and traditions which must be at least uncertain; lest children should, on the one hand, receive them as a matter of fact, giving a colouring of fancy to the brief and simple narrative of Scripture; or, on the other hand, lest they should thus be led to speculate for themselves, sitting in judgment as to what is, or what is not likely; a habit of mind which it was rightly suggested would be furthest from the writer's wish to encourage. Her desire was, however, to meet that tendency which is found in children of lively imaginations to fill up the details of a narrative which they realise as a fact; and thus, almost unconsciously, to form a picture of it in their own minds; and yet, while helping their imagination, (which, as a faculty given us of God, is to be rightly and reverently used,) most carefully to keep in view the marked difference between a fact and a tradition; between the words, the very words of Scripture, and our imaginings about them. And the writer cannot but think that there is as little cause of fear that children brought up in faith and reverence should confound the two, as there is in giving them pictures of sacred subjects, lest they should reverse the right order, and interpret the story by the picture, or lest they should take the different representations of our Lord and of His saints for so many exact likenesses. The remark of a little girl upon the sculptured figure of the Holy Child sleeping upon the cross, mentioned in page 134, may serve as an example in this matter. 66 Another suggestion was, that it might be better to quote the authorities; in other words, to give chapter and verse more frequently. But the writer's own childish recollections of the vexatious and profitless interruption in the reading of a book, by constantly recurring references of this kind, made her more careful to avoid it. She remembers the amusing remark of a little brother, whose scrupulous exactness prevented him from passing over a word in a book, even when reading to himself; and who having got hold of one in which many Latin writers were referred to, after repeating in a low and puzzled tone from time to time, tom. 1. cap. 2." and so on, looked up at last, and somewhat impatiently exclaimed, Mamma, what does it mean by so many Toms and Caps? Why don't it say for once at the beginning, By Tom and Cap, instead of interrupting one so often?" To meet, however, what may have been in the minds of those by whom this suggestion was made, the writer would remind them, that while she has been desirous only to bring forward what she has herself been taught, and not in any way to lean upon her own understanding, the sanction of her book to the little ones for whom it is intended must be the authority of those parents or teachers by whom it is put into their hands, or read to them, and without whose help and explanation it will probably be found to be above the understanding of those to whom it is addressed: an objection which has also been made by one or two; though others have observed that very young children have listened to the chapters when read to them, with an interest which shewed that they could in some degree enter into the subject. Of her own deficiency in the simplicity and perspicuity of style suited to their years, the writer is very conscious; and yet the verses taken as a motto at the commencement of a former work for children may serve, when slightly altered, to explain a seeming negligence in this matter : "Dim or unheard the words may fall, And yet the heaven-taught mind And if some tones be false or low, Lispings of babes, that cannot know Half the deep thought they breathe?" It seems to the writer as needless, as it is indeed impracticable, to ascertain whether children understand, or have, indeed, any definite idea of the meaning of every word that they read, or hear; and in these days of 'Reading made easy,' the fear is rather lest in explaining down heavenly things to them, we should explain away their depth and fulness, ministering to reason only, and to the pride of reason, while faith is starved; and so offend against those little ones, of whose faith we should rather be the guardians and the helpers. There is a great difference, though it is one which is often lost sight of, between the apprehension and the comprehension of things declared to us; and perhaps we have yet to learn how the faith of a baptized child may apprehend those truths which no powers of intellect in riper years can fully comprehend. The mother does not shrink from telling the wondrous story of the Babe of Bethlehem, and His Virgin Mother, because the mind of the child cannot grasp the mystery of the Incarnation, (which to us also is, and must be, a mighty mystery): and do we not forget, when we would take such pains to bring down the truths of Scripture to our fancied standard of a child's capacity, into what high and holy nearness to the Lord they are lifted up, whose cradle is the bosom of the good Shep herd, and whose angels do always behold the face of our Father which is in heaven? It is not all at once that heavenly things are learned; but it is by here a little, and there a little, that in the hidden parts God makes us to know wisdom. How many a thought that flashed upon our musings in childhood, how many a holy word that then fell dimly upon our ear, has been laid up in the inmost recesses of our heart, to spring up after many days, and gladden us by its unfolding life! And this is what no mental effort can forestall; for it is even as the seed cast into the ground, which in due time springs up, and grows, we know not how. The full-blown flower is folded up in the tiny bulb, and the spreading oak in the acorn; but it is surely a grievous fault to deal with the minds of children, as those who would lay open the yet colourless and scentless leaflets of a bud, to read within its bosom the richness of the future flower. And it is not thus that the bright hues and fragrancy which shine and shower might have unfolded at the length, can be forestalled; for all that such haste and officiousness on our part can do, is to mar the promise, and to see the bud fade and wither in our grasp. And if we could indeed so handle the mind of a child, and so adapt our explanation to the child's capacity, as to insure the understanding of every word, do we not ever find that the knowledge which, as it were, leaves us no more to learn, but which we can fully express in so many set phrases, whose meaning we have fathomed, is to us henceforth only a memory of the past, a tale that is told, whose interest for us, and influence over us, is exhausted? But we may rejoice that it is not thus with the truth of God; and that in this matter, to think that we so know any thing is only the proof that we know nothing yet as we ought to know. The same word which is milk to us in infancy, is meat for us in riper years, and strong meat for those that are of full age, who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. It is written to children, as well as to young men and to fathers; and while all that is written is to the end that believing we may believe, going on, so to speak, from faith to faith; how much at last remains untold, may be learned from the testimony of the disciple whom Jesus loved: "There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written;" and it seems as if to reassure us of the truth, when startled at the largeness of the word, that the apostle ends it with, Amen. It was beautifully said of the word of God by a holy bishop, that it was deep enough for the elephant to swim in, yet shallow enough for the little child to sport in. And as some of the fathers have spoken of it under another figure, it is like the manna, suited both in quality and measure to the need and appetite of each; and because they wist not what it was, they called it manna, which means, What is it? And how, then, can we tell it out to children, save as we bid them " taste and see?"-not see and taste, after the way of man's wisdom, but taste and see, that the Lord is good, and so prove the sweetness of that life-giving, life-sustaining word, which is in us, and around us, and above us still, life everlasting, life more abundantly, flowing in fuller measure as our hearts are enlarged to receive it. And even when we shall see face to face, and know even as also we are known, eternity will be but a continuous unfolding of the breadth and length and depth and height of the Love which passeth knowledge, and yet is summed up in this, that "the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us. One may well love to think how those words of the Psalmist shall one day be fitted in the lips of the redeemed: "Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which |