"Yes, father, I am sure of this. John is your favourite in the New Testament."

66

'Perhaps there is some truth in what you say, Harry; though I greatly value the whole of the Book of God."

"Do they ever muzzle the oxen in the East ?"

"No; it is a remarkable fact, that they never were, nor are they muzzled to this day."

"What is meant by the command that we are not to muzzle the ox ?"

"The Apostle applies the text to the ministers of the Gospel, as an intimation, that it is becoming, that those who prepare food for others, should not be denied a portion for themselves. But to return more particularly to the subject; Shaw informs us, that in Barbary the cattle are employed in treading out the

corn."

“But you have not said any thing about the barns of the people in the East, father."

"Their threshing floors were usually, and still are, round level plats of ground in the open air. This was evidently the case with Gideon's floor; and also that

Are oxen muzzled in the East? What is meant by the command that we are not to muzzle the ox? What does Shaw tell us? What were the threshing floors of the East?

of Araunah, or else he could not have had an altar on it, to offer sacrifice. This made them very convenient for winnowing, as they had all the advantage of the free gales.

"Homer describes the method of threshing, which was common in his times;

'As with autumnal harvests cover'd o'er,

And thick bestrewn lies Ceres' sacred floor,
When round and round, with never-wearied pain,
The trampling steers beat out th' unnumber'd grain.'

Iliad, xx. 495.

"In Egypt," says Sonnini, "the use of the flail is unknown. To separate the grain from the straw, the inhabitants prepare with a mixture of earth and pigeons' dung spacious floors, well beat, and very clean. The rice is spread thereon in thick layers; they have then a sort of cart, formed of two pieces

What does Homer say of this mode of threshing? How is threshing per formed in Egypt?

of wood joined together by two cross pieces; it is. almost in the shape of sledges, which serve for the

conveyance of burdens in the streets of our cities. Between the longer sides of this sledge are fixed transversely three rows of small wheels, made of solid iron,

man sits, driving two oxen, harnessed to the machine. The whole moves on slowly, and always in a circular direction, over every part of the heap of rice, until there remains no more grain in the straw.

When it

is thus beaten, it is spread in the air to be dried. Several men walk abreast to turn it over, each of whom, with his foot, makes a furrow in the layer of grain; so that, in a few moments, the whole mass is moved, and that part which was underneath is again exposed to the air."

"The people in the East, father, do not seem to have made much improvement in things; though so many years have passed away."

"This is the truth. Yet the sameness of their customs and manners finely illustrates the meaning of the Scriptures, and proves even the minute fidelity of the sacred penmen. The people in the eastern part of the world appear to be stationary in every thing. They go on precisely in the track of their ancestors. They make but very little improvement in any thing, and no discoveries in science. Europe, though not to be named with Asia, in reference to population, is yet a far more important part of the world, in almost every point of view. Our little island, you know, holds an

What is said of the manners and customs of the people in the East?

immense portion of the East under its dominion. I scarcely know a more striking illustration of the famous axiom of Bacon, that knowledge is power."" "Then, father, we should try to know every thing, -should we not?"

"Yes, Harry; we should be constantly endeavouring to excel in knowledge. This is one important point, in which the human race is distinguished from the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air. They acquire no information worthy of being mentioned as knowledge. But man is capable of examining and of knowing all things, and especially he has a mind capable of knowing and of loving God. The spirit of the Almighty hath given him understanding.""

"You said, father, that knowledge is one thing, by which we are distinguished from the animals around us. Will you tell me some other ?"

"Think, yourself, Harry, and you will find many. I will however mention one. Man has a capacity of distinguishing between right and wrong, of approving the one, and of abhorring the other; hence he is the subject of God's moral government, and evidently be

Do they make any discoveries in science? How does Europe compare with Asia? What does Bacon say of knowledge? How is the human race distinguished from beasts and birds? What hath the spirit of the Almighty given to man? In what other way is man distinguished from the brute?