(2 Chron. iv. 1-3.) It was covered with thick plates of brass, and filled with rough stones, having on the east side an easy ascent leading up to it.

After the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, and the building of the second temple by Zerubabel, their altars differed a little from those in use before the captivity. Prideaux remarks, that from this time the altar of burnt-offerings was a large pile built all of unhewn stones, thirty-two cubits square at the bottom, and twenty-four at the top; the ascent was by a gentle rising, thirty-two cubits in length, and sixteen in breadth.

66

Upon these altars rivers of animal blood were thus poured forth for hundreds of years! And why? 'For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." Why, then, all this suffering and slaughter? If the young reader will read carefully the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, especially the 9th and 10th chapters, he will soon discover why all this was done. These animals, thus sacrificed, were intended as figures, or types, of the Lamb of God who should come to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The cross was the altar on which Jesus was sacrificed. There he died the just for the unjust, to bring us unto God. "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

"Jesus, my great High Priest,

Offer'd his blood and died;

My guilty conscience seeks

No sacrifice beside.

His powerful blood did once atone,
And now it pleads before the throne."

THE SEEDS.

DID you ever think what a wonderful thing a seed is? The plant wrapped up in a little grain. The shoot, or more properly, the germ of the plant is so delicate, that to touch it is to break it; but it is covered up and protected so nicely,

that you may take up a number of seeds, rub them and throw them about, shovel them into heaps, toss them into sacks, and they are not at all injured. This is one of the proofs that God, who made this beautiful earth, cares also for a simple seed. If you take up one when it has just shot in the gronnd, you will see the little root going downwards into the earth, and young leaves springing upwards seeking the light and air. You may look at thousands, and not find one making a mistake. Then just think what a great tree will grow from a little seed. Some seeds have something like a feather wing fastened to them, so they fly away when they are ripe, and sow themselves over the country. Of some of these kinds the small birds are very fond; so their food is scattered all about. The groundsel and the thistle are of this kind. The poet Thomson thus writes:

"See the light tenants of the barren air—

To them nor stores nor granaries belong;
Naught but the woodland, and the pleasing song;
Yet your kind heavenly Father bends his eye
On the least wing that flits along the sky.
To Him they sing, when spring renews the plain,
To Him they cry in winter's pinching reign:
Nor is their music, or their plaint, in vain.
He hears the gay and the distressful call,
And with unsparing bounty fills them all.
If ceaseless then the fowls of heaven He feeds;
If o'er the fields such lucid robes He spreads,
Will He not care for you, ye faithless, say?
Is He unwise, or are ye less than they !"

Would you not like to learn this by heart? it might lead you sometimes to cheer up in trouble when you see the pretty little birds so happy, and hear then sing so sweetly, and when you see their food thus scattered all around them.

Many feed on insects and worms, as well as on seeds. But we were talking about the thistle. It is said that one plant of the common thistle will produce, at the first crop, twenty-four thousand seeds! Now we may see. by this, that if we wish our gardens not to be smothered by them, we must be careful to destroy them before they go to seed. There is an old saying, “One year's seeding makes seven years' weeding." It is a nice employment for children to weed their gardens; and things grow much better when other plants do not crowd against them, and take the goodness out of the soil. So dont be afraid of a little work. Remember what is said of the sluggard :

"I pass'd by his garden, and saw the wild briar,
The thorn and the thistle grew broader and higher:
The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags,
And his money still wastes, till he starves or he begs."

It does not always prove that a sluggard lives where the weeds grow; but where there is a nice garden, withcut weeds, we should be ready to say, "They must be rice, clean, industrious people that belong to this." One word more about the seeds. In a single head of poppy thirty thousand have been found. And we read about the wheat

GLORIOUS HARVEST! Joyful Harvest! What a glad scene does our land present in the season of harvest! For then "the valleys also are covered over with corn;

they shout for joy, they also sing;”—“and the little hills rejoice on every side."

And truly this beautiful language of the pious Psalmist, though highly figurative, is exceedingly appropriate; for what on earth presents such a delightful scene as the valleys covered over with corn, waving in the wind in graceful beauty, ripe and ready for gathering? The husbandman cast in the seed, perhaps, on a dark and cloudy day shrouded skies frowned on him, and wintry winds howled around; no signs of life for a long time appeared, and when they came, a nipping frost checked their further progress. But the showers and sunshine of returning spring encouraged their rising growth; and now the full corn in the ear appears, to gladden the heart and reward the toil of the patient and laborious husbandman.

Array'd in living green,

The hills and valleys shine,
And man and beast are fed

By Providence divine:

The harvest bows its golden ears,
The copious seed of future years.

Harvest is therefore an anxious season. The labourers must not loiter when the corn is ripe. They must be in the field early and late. "He that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame." Shameful indeed it would be to neglect securing the fruit of a whole year's labour! But we believe that very few could be found who merit such a reproach. In harvest time, as soon as ever the corn is thought fit for cutting, all hands are ready to engage, and all hearts are happy, in the delightful work. They shout for joy, they also sing."

66