Her mind was
already attuned to heavenly thoughts. She already believed that she
was fulfilling a sacred mission. Tancred could not be blind to the
importance of such a personage as Astarte in the great drama of divine
regeneration, which was constantly present to his consideration. Her
conversion might be as weighty as ten victories. He was not insensible
to the efficacy of feminine influence in the dissemination of religious
truth, nor unaware how much the greatest development of the Arabian
creeds, in which the Almighty himself deigned to become a personal
actor, was assisted by the sacred spell of woman. It is not the Empress
Helene alone who has rivalled, or rather surpassed, the exploits of the
most illustrious apostles. The three great empires of the age, France,
England, and Russia, are indebted for their Christianity to female lips.
We all remember the salutary influence of Clotilde and Bertha which bore
the traditions of the Jordan to the Seine and the Thames: it should not
be forgotten that to the fortunate alliance of Waldimir, the Duke of
Moscovy, with the sister of the Greek Emperor Basil, is to be ascribed
the remarkable circumstance, that the intellectual development of all
the Russias has been conducted on Arabian principles.
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