ABSTRACT
S H E E P are one species of cattle, which God, in the first generation of things, commanded the earth to produce and sustain, with a power to increase and multiply after their kind. Of these, Abel, the second son of our grand parent Adam, became eminently a keeper; and after him, Cain's grandson, Jabal. They were, no doubt, become very numerous before the flood; but all perished in those waters, except a reserve of seven in the ark; one, as is supposed, for the sacrifice which Noah was afterwards to offer; the other six to replenish the new world, by breeding abundantly, in proportion to their future use, for the service of God and man; viz. their carcases for sacrifice and food, their wool and skins for clothing Noah and his descendants. As such, they constituted no small part of the wealth and grandeur of the
greatest personages in the Old Testament; where, likewise, are short hints about spinning wool, weaving, fulling, and dyeing cloth. These, chiefly in Egypt and Asia, that part of the globe being first peopled ; whence succeeding generations spread themselves by degrees throughout the face of the whole earth; art and science; some animals and vegetables, following, though but slowly, and by unequal paces.
