practised, Job vii. 6; Isaiah xxxviii. 12. Most likely, as was the case in England about seventy or eighty years since, many families, in villages, and in the country especially, spun and wove their own garments. Homer describes Eumeas, the steward of Ulysses, as making his own shoes."

"But did not the Jews carry on a large trade with other countries ?"

Ezekiel

"We have no reason to think so. describes at large the articles in which the merchants of Tyre trafficked; but only wheat, honey, oil, and balm are mentioned as the produce of Judea, Ezek. xxvii. Solomon was obliged to send to Hiram, king of Tyre, for persons who were sufficiently skilled to make the ornaments for his temple," 2 Chron. ii. 7, 13.

"The first mention of trade in the Scrip

tures is in reference to the Midianites and the Ishmaelites, who were carrying into Egypt spices, and balm, and myrrh, which were greatly used for embalming dead bodies."

"But, they dealt in slaves as well?"

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"I rather think they were ready to buy any thing of which they could make a profit. To buy or to sell a man is expressly contrary to God's command, He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death,' Exod. xxi. 16; and yet we know they traded in slaves.”

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Tyre seems to have been superior to any other country at the time it flourished, as to commerce. The words of the prophet are remarkable, and are very applicable to our own land; Her merchants were princes, and her traffickers the honourable of the earth,' Isaiah xxiii. 8. But they dealt in slaves, Ezek.

xxvii. 13. and were defiled, as we read, by the iniquity of traffic;' so God declared that He would punish and destroy this proud and wicked city."

"And I read the account of its destruction

in Rollin, the other day."

"I know you did, Harry. The historian has well described the fulfilment of the prophecy."

"Where is the prediction you refer to, father?"

"In Ezek. xxvi. 4, 5. We read, They shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets, in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God."

"This prophecy has indeed been most completely fulfilled. Bruce, the celebrated tra

veller, tells us, that when he passed by the spot where this flourishing city once stood, all he saw was, 'two miserable-looking fishermen, who had just closed their labours, about to spread their nets upon the rocks.""

"You say, father, that the Jews were not engaged much in commerce; but Solomon had ships."

"It is true, Harry; but Hiram, king of Tyre, sent workmen to build them, and sailors to manage them. It appears that Solomon

took much interest in this business, because he went himself to Ezion-geber, and Elath, to witness the fitting out of the vessels, 2 Chron. viii. 17. These were the only sea ports the Hebrews possessed; and by means of the traffic which was carried on through them, silver was so plentiful in Judea, that 'it was nothing accounted of in the days of

Solomon,' 1 Kings, x. 21, 27. This famous king also traded in horses, and chariots, and linen, very extensively, with the Egyptians, 1 Kings x. 28, 29, compared with 1 Kings iv. 26. But the sea-ports which I have alluded to, were taken away from the Jews by Ziglathpileser, the Assyrian monarch, and thus their foreign traffic was completely destroyed," 2 Kings xvi. and 2 Chron. xxviii.

"If Solomon brought so much silver into his kingdom, money must have been very plentiful."

"It does not appear, Harry, that the Jews coined any money, till long after their return from Babylon, in the time of Judas Maccabeus. It is true, money is often mentioned in the Scriptures; but there is reason to believe that it merely consisted of pieces of metal, which were valued according to their weight,

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