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"HAST thou given the horse strength?

Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?

Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper?

The glory of his nostrils is terrible.

He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength:

He goeth on to meet the armed men.

He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted;

Neither turneth he back from the sword,
The quiver rattleth against him,

The glittering spear and the shield.

He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage;
Neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha;

And he smelleth the battle afar off,

The thunder of the captains, and the shouting."

Job xxxix. 19-25.

"The

THE Horse is universally allowed to be the most noble, beautiful, and useful of the four-footed animals that God has put in subjection to mankind. noble largeness of his form, the glossy smoothness of his skin, and the exact symmetry of his shape, have taught us to regard him as the first and most perfectly formed." Though less sagacious than the elephant or the dog, he possesses very much of that quality, especially when properly trained. There is a difference, too, in the disposition of horses, as of human beings; but they are generally generous, mild, and affectionate in return for good treatment; and so docile, that "a little child may lead them." How kind is the Creator to subject, so completely, so strong and courageous an animal to the dominion of a child!

It is not easy to ascertain the country from which the horse originally came; but Arabia and Persia appear to have the fairest claim, as it is there found in its wild state in the greatest perfection. Numerous herds of horses are seen wild among the Tartars. They are very small, but remarkably fleet, and capable of eluding their most vigilant pursuers. It is said that these will not admit a tame horse into their society, but instantly surround him and compel his retreat; while those of South America, which are

found in herds of ten thousand together, use all their efforts to seduce the domestic horse, and frequently with success, to the loss of the owners.

Egypt, from an early period, as you may gather from the scriptures, was famous for its horses. The Israelitish rulers were forbidden to multiply their horses, or go to Egypt for that purpose; but that command was not strictly obeyed; for Solomon carried on a trade with Egypt in horses. He had fourteen hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; and he is noticed as giving for an Egyptian horse a hundred and fifty shekels of silver, that is, about seventeen pounds; a vast sum in those days. It does not appear to have been the practice of the ancients to shoe their horses, as is now done. Hence the strength and solidity of its hoof was of so much importance, and one of the first qualities of a horse. A writer, in an account of Morocco, says, that the Arabs have an adage, that "if a cavalcade be passing through a stony country, the grey horses will break the stones with their feet." This opinion appears to be founded on experience; for, in the stony districts of the East, a much greater proportion of grey horses is found than of any other colour. "Their feet are so hard," says the writer, "that I have known them to travel a two days' journey through the stony defiles of Atlas, without shoes, over roads full of loose broken stones and basaltic rocks."

Many heathen nations have dedicated horses to the sun, which they worshipped as a deity, and represented as riding in a chariot drawn by the most beautiful and swiftest horses in the world. The Jews, in their idolatrous age, have fallen into this sin; and their kings are said to have given horses to the sun. These good Josiah removed, and abolished the idolatrous practice.

For size and beauty the English horses are now become superior to those of every other part of the

world; travelling at a greater speed, bearing greater fatigue, and performing greater feats of strength than those of any other age or nation. An ordinary racer is said to be able to go at the rate of a mile in two minutes. One, of the name of Childers, is reported to have frequently run at the rate of nearly a mile in a minute, and to have run round the course at Newmarket, which is nearly four miles, in six minutes and forty seconds.

Any lengthened description of an animal so well known in this country, would be in a measure superfluous. Though the inventions and improvements, in the way of steam engines, have lessoned, exceedingly, the value of horses, for the purposes of travelling, and the conveyance of goods, as well as for the manufacturing of them, still for agricultural and many other purposes, they render most essential service, which all the inventions of the world will never entirely supersede. TILER.

Bristol.

TO A SQUIRREL.

LITTLE Squirrel bright and gay,
Always full of sportive play:
In some turning swinging cage
Thou might'st half the world engage:
With thy merry pretty play

I might pass an hour away.

And you crack your nuts so neat,
To watch you it is quite a treat;
Little squirrel with me stay,
Do not, do not run away;

For I would not catch you, though
You seem to think I'd serve you so.

I love to watch you leaping free,
In merry mood from tree to tree,
But my pen will no more tell
So pretty squirrel fare-thee-well.

E. W.

HISTORY OF THE BIBLE.

OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE CREDIBILITY OF THE

BIBLE ANSWERED.

CONCERNING the seeming inconsistencies between sacred and profane writers. We should be inclined to say to these objectors, “There is good proof of the divine authority of the Bible, and therefore everything contained in it must be true; and if any statement contained in the Bible differ from that of a profane writer, the preference should be given to the Bible, for as it is inspired by God it must be infallibly true." We will, however, consider these seeming differences, and try to explain or reconcile them.

I. Moses's account of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt does not agree with the account given by Justin. Justin says that the Israelites were driven from Egypt because they had the itch and the leprosy. But whose account is most to be credited, Justin's, who wrote eighteen hundred years after the event took place, or Moses's, who was eye witness to it himself? Surely the latter. What would we think if a person were to write a book now, concerning events that took place in the time of Christ, and the evidence of that book brought forward against the New Testament, or any other book that was written at that time? Justin received his information from the Egyptians, who would naturally try to make the account appear most favourable to their own country, but Moses witnessed it all himself, and never tried to hide the faults of the Israelites.

2. The accounts of Assyria by Herodotus and Aesias say that Assyria was a very large empire, capable of raising an army of a million of men, at a certain period that could have been only one hundred and fifty years after the flood. The same answer

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