The minds of animals are so much unlike ours that they do not know the difference between right and wrong. Some suppose that a dog will not do certain things because he knows that it is wrong to do them. But this is not so. He is afraid to do what he would be whipped for. If he sees a piece of meat on a table, he will not take it simply because he knows his master would not like it, and not because he knows that it is wrong to steal.
What some wise men are foolish and wicked enough to say.
I have told you that the mind uses the brain in thinking. Now some learned men have been so foolish as to say that it is the brain itself that does the thinking, just as if our brains, and the brains of all animals, are only so many machines that make thoughts and feelings. Of course, such men do not believe that, after death, the mind or soul of man leaves the body and lives separate from it. They believe that when the body dies there is an end to every thing. But God has told us differently from this in his word, and he knows all about such things; and those that pretend to know that it is not as God says it is, show great wickedness as well as folly.
Questions.—What is said about the learning of animals? Tell about the shepherd’s dog. What is said about the contrivance of animals? Why do they have no new fashions? What is said about instinct? Tell about the hen’s hatching duck’s eggs. Tell about her sitting on pieces of chalk. What is told about the beaver? What is one reason that animals do not know as much as we do? What things do they know nothing about? Do they know the difference between right and wrong? What is said about the notions of some learned men?
CHAPTER XXXII.
WHAT SLEEP IS FOR.
The machinery of the body needs seasons of rest for repairing.
All animals have their times for sleeping. It would not do for their minds to use the machinery of the body all the time; if they did, the machinery would soon wear out. The brain, and nerves, and muscles, etc., are all repaired during sleep, so that they may be ready for use again.
When you feel tired, it is because your mind has worn the machinery of the body by using it. Now, when you lie down and sleep, the muscles stop working; no messages pass through the nerves, and the brain is at rest, because the mind pretty much stops thinking. But all this time that you sleep the blood keeps circulating, and the breathing goes on. What is this for? It is that the repairing of the machinery may be done, so as to get the brain, and nerves, and muscles ready for the work and the play of to-morrow. The repairing, you know, is all done with the blood. This is the material for repairing as well as for building, and therefore it must be circulating every where while you are asleep, and the breathing must go on to keep the blood in good order.
The repairing of the body is going on all the time while you are awake as well as when you are asleep. But it goes on more briskly when the machinery is not in use than when it is. So we may say that when you are asleep the machinery is lying by for a full repair.