THE

YOUTHS' MAGAZINE;

OR

Evangelical Miscellany.

NOVEMBER, 1842.

TEMPLE OF AMADA.

ISAIAH distinctly prophesies that the people of Egypt shall, at some future day, "speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of Hosts;" and the building which we have selected for this month's illustration, though not, strictly speaking, situate within the confines of Egypt, has been regarded with considerable interest as exhibiting an illustration of this prediction.

The village of Amada, in Nubia, is situate on the western shores of the Nile, almost opposite to Koroskoff. "I landed there," says Norden, "to go and see an ancient Egyptian temple, which in length of time had got into the hands of Christians. They have made a church of it: of which the walls afford a very plain proof, since we see there, paintings representing the Trinity, the apostles, and divers other saints; and in the places where the plaster had fallen off the hieroglyphics that are underneath begin to appear." According to Major Sherer, similar paintings are to be found among the ruins of Thebes, VOL. V. 4th SERIES.

I i

accompanied by an inscription recording the meeting in council of "some humble persecuted Coptic bishops."*

Without hazarding any conjecture as to the particular cities referred to by Isaiah, we shall conclude this notice with the prophecy itself, as rendered by Bishop Lowth.

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"In that day there shall be few cities in the land of Egypt

Speaking the language of Canaan,

And swearing unto JEHOVAH, God of Hosts:

One of them shall be called the City of the Sun.
In that day there shall be an altar to JEHOVAH
In the midst of the land of Egypt;

And a pillar by the border thereof to JEHOVAH.

And it shall be for a sign and a for a witness

TO JEHOVAH, God of Hosts, in the land of Egypt:

That when they cried unto JEHOVAH, because of oppressors,

He sent unto them a saviour and a vindicator, and he delivered them.

And JEHOVAH shall be known to Egypt,

And the Egyptians shall know JEHOVAH in that day;

And they shall serve Him with sacrifice and oblation,

And they shall vow a vow unto JEHOVAH, and shall perform it. And JEHOVAH shall smite Egypt, smiting and healing her;

And they shall turn unto JEHOVAH, and he will be entreated by them, and will heal them.

In that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria;
And the Assyrian shall come into Egypt; and the Egyptian into
Assyria:

And the Egyptian shall worship with the Assyrian.

In that day Israel shall be reckoned a third,

Together with Egypt and Assyria;

A blessing in the midst of the earth:

Whom JEHOVAH, God of Hosts, hath blessed, saying:

Blessed be my people, Egypt,

And Assyria, the work of my hands;

And Israel, mine inheritance."""

ISAIAH xix. 18-25.

A RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

THE children of the present age," says Dr. Watts, cr are the hope of the age to come. We who are now acting our several parts on the busy scenes of life, are fast hastening off the stage,

*See our vol. for 1834, page 283.

and time is continually laying some of us asleep under ground; the circle of about thirty years will plant another generation in our room, and then another set of mortals will fill the world with blessings or with mischiefs. Should we not then consider what we can now do to prevent those evils, and to entail blessings on our successors. What shall we do to secure wisdom, goodness, and religion, amongst the next generation of men? Have we any concern for the glory of God in the rising generation? Let us, then, hearken to the voice of God, and train up children in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it. Let them have a good education in the younger part of life, and that is the most likely way to establish them in virtue and piety in their older years; I mention religious instruction, in the first place, not only because it is a matter of the highest importance to each individual, and to mankind at large, but because it may be taught, at least the theory of it, in the early part of life."

Nothing could be more seasonable to Mrs. Manderstone than the above remarks. Not content with one reading, she perused them repeatedly, and determined to be guided by the judicious maxims recommended. She had married an officer in the army, who had been influenced, by a desire for promotion, to accept a military appointment in India; the delicate health of his wife prevented her from accompanying him, and she was left in the house of her widowed mother, Mrs. Darlington, with her two boys, one aged eight, and the other ten years. In their disposi tions there was a decided difference; George, the elder, being mild and studious, and Robert, the younger, turbulent and untractable, impatient of restraint, and indisposed to reading and study. Mrs. Manderstone had endeavoured to instil into their minds a love for religion, which she considered as the basis of all morality and good conduct: they were not only well acquainted with Scripture history, but had clear views of its important doctrines. She had taught them to venerate the Sabbath, and on no account to profane it; she accompanied them every Lord's day to the house of God, and on their return made them repeat the text, and as much of the discourse as they could remember. She enforced also the necessity of adhering to truth, and avoiding every thing like equivocation, or evasive answers which were not in strict accordance with fact.