ee lying under his burden, and wouldest
forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him," Ex. xxiii. 5; and
in the 12th verse we read a reason given for keeping holy and quiet the
Sabbath day, "that thine ox and thine ass may rest."

This is a long chapter; but I had a good deal to say in it, and I hope
you are not tired, and that you will think it over, and pray God to
enable you to profit by it.

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CHAPTER V.

BEARS, MONKEYS, RATS.

Now, I think, you are laughing at the heading of this chapter, and
wondering what I can have to say about such creatures; but wait a
little, and you will find I am not afraid to put in a good word for
them. You must know that I once had a young bear, a mere cub, which was
given to me by one of the wild Indians, as they are called. These
Indians, by the way, are not half so wild as some boys of my
acquaintance, who are a great deal better taught; and they were very
fond of me--merely because it pleased God to keep me mindful of a
gracious command which he has given us. You will find it in the first
Epistle of Peter, chap. ii., verse 17: "Honour all men." Man, whether he
be black, or white, or tawny; whether he be rich or poor, bond or free;
man was at first made in the image of God, and would have kept the image
if Adam had not sinned and lost it; so that none of his posterity are
now born in that holy, happy state in which Adam was created. But then,
lost as man is, and deprived of all honour, it pleased the eternal Son
of God to take upon Him the name and the nature of man, free from all
its sinfulness, though deprived of its first glory, and this he did that
he might, by suffering death, atone for the sin of the world. So now, as
there is no person so miserable, so despised, or even so sinful, that by
coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, and believing in Him alone, he may not
have his sins blotted out, and himself made an inheritor of the kingdom
of heaven, I am sure that every man ought to be treated with some
respect, as one of that race whom God created, and for whom Christ died.
Indeed, it would be enough for me, if only the Bible said, "Honour all
men," without my being able to see why I ought to do so. It is my duty
to obey every one of my Lord's commands: but it is very pleasant to
think about his gracious commandments, and to see, as we must then do,
how very lovely they are. Now you know why I treated the wild Indians of
the woods w