62 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with 

 the fan.' Isaiah xxx. 24. la these words he foretels a season of 

 great plenty, when the cattle shall he fed with corn better in quality, 

 separated from the chaff, and (as the term rendered clean in our ver- 

 sion properly signifies) acidulated, to render it more grateful to their 

 taste. The evangelist clearly refers to the practice which was com- 

 mon in Palestine, of ploughing with the ass, when he calls him a 

 creature subject to the yoke, Matt. xxi. 5. 



In rice grounds, which require to be flooded, the ass was em- 

 ployed to prepare them for tho seed, by treading them with his feet. 

 It is to this method of preparing the ground that Chardin supposes 

 the prophet to allude, when he says, ' Blessed are ye that sow be- 

 side all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass,' 

 Isaiah xxxii. 20. They shall be blessed under the future reign of 

 the promised Messiah. In times anterior to his appearing, their 

 country was to be made a desolation ; briers and thorns were to en- 

 cumber their fields ; their sumptuous dwellings were to be cast 

 down ; their cities and strong-holds were to be levelled with the 

 dust. But when Messiah commences his reign, times of unequalled 

 prosperity shall begin their career. The goodness of Jehovah shall 

 descend in fertilizing showers, to invigorate their fields, and to swell 

 the streams which the skill and industry of the husbandman con- 

 duct among his plantations, or with which he covers his rice- 

 grounds. Secure from the ruinous incursions of aliens, and in the 

 sure hope of an abundant harvest, he shall scatter his rice on the 

 face of the superincumbent water, and tread it into the miry soil, 

 with 'the feet of the ox and the ass.' Prosperous and happy him- 

 self, he will consider it his duty, and feel it his delight, * to do good 

 and communicate,' to succor the widow and the fatherless, to 

 open his doors to the stranger, to diffuse around him the light of 

 truth, and to swell, by the diligent and prudent use of all the means 

 that providence has brought within his reach, the sum of human 

 enjoyment. 



But the services of this useful animal were not sufficient, even in 

 times of primitive simplicity, to save him from every kind of abuse. 

 At one time he suffers from neglect, at another, from oppressive 

 labor ; and seldom experiences from ungrateful man the kindness 

 and indulgence to which he is fairly entitled. From the watchful 

 care of the Creator, however, he has not been excluded : even to his 

 subsistence, comfort, and ease, the gracious attention of heaven has 

 been directed. See Exod. xxiii. 12 ; Zee. xiii. 5 ; xiv. 5. The man 

 of benevolence, who treats even his uss with kindness, shall not lose 

 his reward : besides the approbation of God and his own conscience, 

 he shall be attended with the affectionate attachment of the animal 

 itself. Dull and stupid as he is, the ass, according to Buffon, smells 

 his master at a distance, searches the places and roads which he 

 used to frequent, and easily distinguishes him from the rest of man- 

 kind. An equal degree of gratitude is not always to be found among 

 rational beings towards their greatest and best Benefactor. The 



