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SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



in the time of Solomon, that he observes in one of his proverbs 

 4 Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, (or rather empty ;) but much 

 increase is by the strength of the ox,' Prov. xiv. 4. The ass, in the 

 course of ages, was compelled to bend his stubborn neck to the yoke, 

 and share in his labors ; but still the preparation of the ground in the 

 time of spring, chiefly depended on the more powerful exertions of 

 the latter. This might be fairly inferred from the text, in which a 

 preference, as might be expected, is given to the ox : ; The oxen 

 likewise, and the young asses, that ear (or till) the ground, shall eat 

 clean provender.' The same inference rnay be drawn from the 

 proverb of Solomon, already quoted, in which he takes no notice 

 of the ass, although it is more than probable he had been yoked in 

 the plough long before his reign. The superior importance of the 

 ox, even in the light and sandy fields of Syria, is clearly signified 

 in these words of Arnos, 'Shall horses run upon the rock? Will 

 one plough there with oxen ? ' Amos vi. 1*3. 



The laws of Moses, which prohibited his people to join in the 

 same yoke the ox and the ass ; and the notice which the afflicted 

 patriarch Job, who flourished long before his time, gives us of the 

 * oxen ploughing,' clearly prove, that the person who invented the 



plough, and instructed the ox, existed very early in the history of 

 the world. We rnay, with the page of inspiration for our guide, 

 trace the invention to the first descendants of our common father, 

 one of whom was a shepherd, and the other a cultivator of the soil. 

 Nor is the believer in revelation permitted to assign the honor chief- 

 ly to them ; he is directed to ascribe it to the Spirit of the only wise 

 God : ' Give ye ear, and hear my voice ; hearken, and hear my 

 speech. Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow? Doth he 

 open and break the clods of his ground ? When he hath mads 



