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Sarah. The Jews were not allowed to inflict more than forty stripes, save one, on those whom they punished.

Olympas. But of these forties only a part, like the numbers three and seven, are of mysterious or allusive import. Such as Moses' forty days in the Mount twice repeated, Elijah's fast of forty days, Christ's fast and temptation of forty days and nights in which he abode on earth, the forty years' sojourn in the wilderness.

The numbers three and seven, as well as forty, are sacred numbers, and of frequent occurrence. In reference to days, they are both more frequent than forty; but in their mysterious and allusive character, they seem to be equally distinguished. There is, then, reason to think that some most interesting and important forty, as well as three and seven, gave rise to the frequent and mysterious use of that number; and as a very old tradition has pervaded Asia that Adam only continued forty days in Paradise, it is probable that it may have allusion to that; if not, there is no event known to man to which it does relate.

We must leave the geographical allusions and facts in these chapters to another time. But a few general questions which I shall propose to you all for volunteer answer, must close our present lessons. Is there anything peculiar in the creation of man, from that of other animals?

Edward. Yes, God breathed into his nostrils that which made him a living soul-not a mere animal; for they are never said to become living souls. A breath of life they have; but a breath of lives, as you say it is in Hebrew, they have not received, which makes them living souls.

Olympas. Can any of you explain what was the power of the Tree of Life?

Thomas Dilworth. It did not give, but preserve life. Without it, Adam in Paradise must have

grown old and died. It therefore had the power of always renewing his age, or making him young again as respected his worn or wasted energiesjust as ordinary fruit has the power of making us strong after exhaustion.

Olympas. And why was the Tree of Death called the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?

William. Because it gave the experience of evil and of good, and introduced man into a mixed state of good and evil here, to be terminated by death.

Olympas. In what sense did Adam die, in the day of his transgression?

Reuben. He was sentenced or condemned to die; and in law was dead, just as you once told us the antediluvians became spirits in prison, whenever the sentence of limitation to one hundred and twenty years respite was pronounced upon them. To" become mortal " and to die, are said to be two modes of the same expression among Jews.

Olympas. How many things appear to have been taught Adam before his fall?

Edward. The art of speaking, of naming things, what to eat for health and comfort, and how to employ his faculties.

Olympas. We shall resume the subject in the morning, and now let us sing our evening hymn.

CONVERSATION III.

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THE fourth chapter of Genesis being read, Olympas called upon the junior class for the facts in the lesson for the morning. Tell me," says he, Susan, how many sons of Adam and Eve are named in this chapter?”

Susan. There are three-Cain, Abel, and Seth. Olympas. We shall leave out Seth for the present, and attend to the history of Cain and Abel? What were the employments of Cain and Abel?

James. Cain was a farmer, and Abel a shepherd. Olympas. And what, Henry, was the employment of Adam their father?

Henry. He was a gardener.

Olympas. And so the three most ancient callings in the world were gardening, farming, and keeping sheep. Certainly, then, they were simple, innocent, and pleasing employments. But what need was there for pursuing any calling? Was not Adam very rich? How rich was Adam, Susan?

Susan. He had dominion over all the earth, and all the beasts and cattle and fowl. He was as rich as the whole world.

Olympas. And why did he work? Do people, Edward, that are now called very rich, labour at any calling?

Edward. Adam was commanded to dress and keep the garden of Eden, and he most likely commanded his sons to select some business and pursue it.

Olympas. True, he was commanded to dress and preserve the garden as God gave it to him. The reason of this is, there is no happiness in being idle. Indeed, there is no enjoyment but in employment. If we do not look, our eyes afford no pleasure; if we do not listen, our ears cannot charm us; unless we use that wonderfully constructed instrument the hand, we can neither admire nor enjoy it. Goodness, then, ordained that man should work. Every wise and good father will teach his sons and daughters to employ themselves in business, that they may enjoy themselves-that they may be useful and happy. For this reason it is that I am at so much pains to teach my sons agriculture and horticulture; and that your mother employs her daughters in domestic affairs. If king Adam, the richest sovereign that ever lived, made his children labour, who were joint heirs of all the goods and chattles, of all the real and personal property on the terraqueous globe, can it ever be a disgrace to any other king's son to be industrious? What say you, William ?

William. I should rather think it a disgrace to be idle. Indeed all the idle boys at our school are bad boys; and Mr. Turner, our teacher, says all the young men in this parish who have no trades, and whose parents think it a disgrace for them to use their hands, are vicious and likely to be an injury to society.

Olympas. What think you of Eve, William? Was she a good woman?

William. If to acknowledge the Lord in every thing, and to teach religion to one's children, be the marks of a good woman, I think Eve was a

good woman; for she acknowledged the Lord when Cain was born, and taught her sons to worship God; and that is all we know of her.

Olympas. How do you know that she so instructed her sons, Eliza?

Eliza. So soon as Cain and Abel are next heard of, they were employed in worshipping God by presenting sacrificial offerings. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord, and Abel also brought some of the best lambs in his flock. Now unless their parents so taught them, I cannot see how they would set about making such religious presents to the Lord.

Olympas. Can any of you tell why these offerings were presented to the Lord? Did he need them? Did he ask them? Or were they offered of their own accord ?

Reuben. The Lord can need nothing, because his is the heavens and the earth; and he imparts to all whatever they possess and enjoy. But he must have either asked or commanded these offerings; else I know not how they could have thought of presenting either bread or flesh to the Lord who created them for man's use. Please, uncle, explain this subject to us?

Olympas. There is, indeed, no record of the institution of these offerings to the Lord; but that they were divinely ordained cannot be doubtednot only from the impossibility of demonstrating how a rational being could conclude by any fair process of reasoning that such things could be pleasing to God who first gave them, more especially in the immediate family of Adam; but also and still more evidently from the fact, that God accepted Abel's and rejected Cain's offering. Now

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