BOYS OF THE BIBLE; CONSISTING OF DESCRIPTIONS AND DIALOGUES. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. 1852. 101.d.579. Co the Royal Brothers, ALBERT EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, AND ALFRED ERNEST ALBERT. THE Boys of Britain often think of you. They have heard of the virtues which adorn the Court of your Illustrious Mother, and they have been taught to admire the conduct of your Honoured Father. The venerable Grandfather of the QUEEN-your Mother- -once expressed a hope that the days would come when every child in his dominions should be able to read the Bible, and have a Bible to read; and Her Majesty's beloved Father was a warm friend of those excellent Societies which are now fast filling not only Britain but the world with Bibles. The ancestors of the PRINCE CONSORT-your Father-have ever been distinguished as the firm friends of the Bible; and the Prince himself has, on various occasions, displayed a discriminating acquaintance with its sacred pages. The Bible is the glory of Britain. So long as her Princes and people are guided by its righteous precepts - loyalty and liberty-piety, peace, and prosperity, will prevail in all her borders. To awaken in British boys a yet greater desire to read the Holy Word, these sketches of some of the Boys of the Bible have been attempted, under the conviction that if the rising race of Britain reverence the Holy Scriptures, they will, when they arrive at manhood, act in conformity to their holy precepts. The Bible-loving people of Britain have heard with satisfaction and delight that the Royal Brothers have, from their childhood, known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make them wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus. Happy is the nation whose Princes in palaces, and whose peasants in cottages are equally in possession of the Word of GOD! ALBERT EDWARD, Prince of Wales, and heir to England's crown-when the time shall come- -distant may the day be!— when you shall be called to sit on the throne of your Fathers, safely and happily will you sit there, if surrounded by a Biblereading people; if your counsellors gather wisdom from its pages; and if you yourself regard its solemn admonitions. Then will your Throne be established in righteousness, and distant ages will honour the first-born son of the most justly-beloved of England's Queens. 66 ALFRED ERNEST ALBERT,-Your first name revives in English hearts the recollection of the only monarch to whom Englishmen have attached the epithet 'Great." And well did he deserve it; not only for the courage and wisdom he displayed, but for his desire to diffuse a knowledge of the Divine Word among his people. Never should this be forgotten by the Princes or people of England in these days of the universal diffusion of the Word of GOD. May you, Illustrious Prince, emulate the wisdom and virtues of the patriotic monarch whose name you bear! May blessings from HIM who ruleth over all descend upon you, on your baby-brother, and on your royal sisters. Death has not yet broken one link in the chain which unites the Royal Family of Britain. May God have you all in his holy keeping; and when, another century gone, you too shall have passed away from earthly scenes, may you every one, through the mercy of GoD in Jesus Christ our Lord, be found among those who, in the palace of heaven, shall wear a crown that fadeth not away! Leicester, June 21, 1852. |