had arrived at the conclusión. Now, however, the case is altered. Every part of the world, almost, is visited and explored by some enterprising traveller: as soon as he comes home, he puts his notes into the hands of some (though in a different way) enterprising publisher; and thus, sitting at home by our own fire-side, we seem to be journeying east, and west, and north, and south, and becoming familiar with the most remote regions. It was a favourite occupation of the poet Cowper, in his seclusion, to read to his family circle the voyages and travels published in his day, those of Captain Cook, Bruce, and so on. But travellers are now so multiplied that readers may begin to be fastidious, and content themselves with a selection which, as to numerical amount, will far exceed the entire quantity to which Cowper had recourse. We must not forget Mr. Paxton: but just turn to one of the volumes of the recently published Lives of Cowper ;-read this paragraph.

George. "I return you many thanks for Boswell's Tour." (To the Hebrides, I suppose.) "I read it to Mrs. Unwin after supper, and we find it amusing. There is much trash in it, as there must always be in every narrative that relates indiscriminately all that passed. But now and then the Doctor speaks like an oracle, and that makes amends for all."

Minister. We will now turn to Mr. Paxton. I will select a few passages, which you shall read, making your own observations upon them. Read this, on the fortythird page.

George. "There was near this place, which was on the edge of the plain, a most noble threshing-floor. It was a large space of several acres, and there may have been from a dozen to twenty floors, without any partition between them. On some of them, people were employed in threshing the grain, others separating the straw and chaff from the wheat; on others lay great piles of grain, some clean, and others mixed with the chaff and straw. They separate the wheat by throwing it up and letting the wind blow the chaff away. Of course they must wait for a

wind. I saw no instrument to make wind. The threshing instrument is a board, about three feet in width, and six or eight feet in length; and at the fore-end it is turned up, a little like a sleigh. The board is about three inches in thickness. On the under-side many holes are cut in it, from an inch-and-a-half to two inches, and in these are fastened pieces of stone, flint, or iron; these project nearly an inch from the face of the board, and serve as teeth to tear the heads of the grain in pieces. Oxen are fastened to the front of these boards, and driven round the floor, drawing this instrument after them. The driver of the oxen usually sits or stands on the instrument. This is the common threshing-machine used in these countries. I see it every where, and I have seen no other. The oxen are usually without muzzles, and often, as they pass around, take up a few straws and feed on them."

Minister. Do you not perceive the light shed on many passages of Scripture by this description?

George. I recollect several. As, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." (Deut. xxv. 4.) And, "Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff." (Isai. xli. 15.)

Minister. This last passage, you will see, is very descriptive of power and dominion on the one side, and weakness and subjection on the other. It is therefore added, "Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them." (Ib.16.) A strong wind, passing over an exposed floor of this kind, would soon disperse all the chaff. ›..11^*

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George. So it is said in the first Psalm, that the ungodly “are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” › Minister. There is another passage which, after reading Mr. Paxton's account of the threshing-floor, you will understand even to its more minute allusions. When David hade sinned, by numbering the people, and the pestilence had been sent as a punishment, he was directed to sacrifice to the Lord "in the threshing-floor of Araunak

the Jebusite." Turn to 2 Samuel xxiv. 18, &c. Read particularly the twenty-second verse.

George." And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the King take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood."

Minister. But let us pass on to another subject. You will at once remember the almost continual allusions to the irrigation of plants, gardens, and fields.

George. O yes. Such as," He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.” (Psalm i. 3.)

Minister. Read, then, here; on the fifty-second page.

George. "We had a fine sample of irrigation here. The corn-fields are from time to time covered with water. It is let in upon a field, and runs until the ground is well saturated; then turned off to another field, which in its turn gives place to another; and thus the water is transferred from field to field, and garden to garden, to the no small benefit of the trees, and vegetation of all kinds. Nothing can thrive in these lands without being from time to time thus watered."

Minister. Turn to Isaiah i. 8.

George." And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city."

Minister. The idea intended to be conveyed is that of loneliness and isolation. Now read on Mr. Paxton's one hundred and forty-fifth page.

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George. "The hills in the immediate vicinity of Bethlehem were finely terraced, and many olive and fig trees planted. I could not but notice the number and beauty of the watch-houses, or little towers, which were placed in the vineyards. Some of them were round, and some square, made of stone, from ten to fifteen or twenty feet high. These serve as places from which a watch is kept on the vineyards during the season of the grape. It is common to watch in this way their gardens and fruit-trees, as otherwise they might be pillaged."

Minister. Turn to page two hundred and forty-eight.

Mr. Paxton is there sailing up the Nile ; but many of the customs of the country are similar to those of Palestine. You will see that these watch towers are not always built of stone.

George. "There were along the rivers a great many water-melons, cucumbers, and other vegetables. It reminded me of the complaint of Israel in the wilderness, that they were deprived of the melons and cucumbers of Egypt. (Num. xi. 5.) There was usually a small place in these garden-spots built to protect a person from the rain, whose office it is to prevent pillage, and sell the vegetables to boatmen and passengers ;-for almost all the travelling from Alexandria to Cairo is done in boats on the Nile."

Minister. Read this passage on the two hundred and forty-fifth page.

George." In passing up the canal, and the same was true after entering the river,-I could not but notice how the people and the animals loved to be in the water. The children and youth were seen in it; and the cattle seemed to have a passion, not only for wading in the waters, but for lying down in it, so as to cover their whole bodies, except a small part of their heads. This may, in part, have been to keep off the flies; but mainly, I judge, to enjoy the coolness which the water imparted to them. I never before understood the force of the expression in Pharaoh's dream, where it is said, he saw seven kine coming up out of the river.' It is true to the life. They lie in the water until satisfied, then come up and feed on the low grounds or meadows near it.”

Minister. As another instance, which will enable you to understand several allusions in the Old Testament, read on the two hundred and fourteenth page.

George. "Bhamdoon is surrounded with vineyards. There are several houses that seem to be common property, where they express the juice of the grape. They have, along one side of the house, a row of large vats, into which the grapes are thrown; and beside these, stone troughs, into which the juice flows. Men get in the vats, and tread the grapes with their feet. It is hard work, and

their clothes are often stained with the grape. The figures found in Scripture, taken from this, are true to the life." Minister. Here are one or two. Read them.

George. "Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiments." (Isai. Ixiii. 2, 3.)

Minister. Recollect what you read about the threshingfloor, where the gathering of the harvest would be; and read this striking picture of desolation in Jeremiah xlviii. 32, 33.

George. "The spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage. And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab'; and I have caused wine to fail from the wine-presses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.” Minister. Mr. Paxton would furnish us with many other instances; but those to which we have attended will be sufficient for my two objects. First, to show you how you may read these oriental travellers to advantage, in reference to the study of holy writ: and, second, to show you the unaffected naturalness of Scripture language. This proves, at all events, that the Bible has not in it a single feature that might excite a suspicion of European forgery. Besides, when such allusions as have now been commented upon, and others similar to them, are thoroughly understood, they give both a point and a beauty to Scripture language, which, otherwise, we might be in some danger of overlooking. But the more closely the Bible is examined, the greater number of evidences of its truthfulness and value will be perceived.

THE goshawk is at once distinguished from the falcons by the lobe or festoon, instead of the sharp tooth on the