An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second,…

We have showed what moveth us not to assent to them, who say, that by the word Reem, we are to understand the Unicorn. And they who render it the Rhinoceros, may with no l•ss ease be refuted. And the first argument brought against the former exposition, may serve here; seeing the Rhinoceros is only bred in those remotest parts of the East, Bengata, Patane and Cambaya, all which lye beyond the River Ganges, in the utmost India. But besides this, there are two other unanswerable arguments against that interpretation. ⟨p. 352⟩First, From their horns. Those animals called Reem have very large horns, but the Rhinocerotes have very small ones: And though Martial the Poet seems to say the contrary, while speaking of the Rhinoceros, he saith, How powerful was he with his horn, who could toss a Bull with it like a Ball! And though Nicolaus Contius in his Itinerary, reports it as long as a mans arm, yet experience and eye-sight have confuted them; to which it appears, that the horn of the Rhinoceros is very thick and strong at the root, yet very short: For Gesner tells us, that his horn planted upon his Nose, riseth no higher than his Ears, and therefore it cannot be long. Bucer makes use of this argument, in his Commentary upon the 2d Psalm, affirming that the height of the horn, ascribed to that animal the Reem, will not agree with the Rhinoceros. The Second argument is grounded upon the unconquerable fierceness of that animal called Reem; whereas the Rhinoceros, though with some difficulty, may be in some measure tamed, as hath been seen in those at several times brought into Portugal. Thus laying aside (for the reasons forementioned) that interpretation, which makes this Reem to be either the Unicorn or the Rhinoceros, we are now to consider what animal this Reem should be: And surely it cannot but be some beast (Bubulo generi affinis) of the race of Bulls or Bullocks; seeing in many places of Scripture, mention is made of the Reemim and Bullocks together, as intimating that they are animals of a near cognation or likeness, Deut. 33.19. Psal. 27.6. Isa. 34.6, 7. In this last place the Prophet having named three living Creatures of one kind (ver. 6.) to wit, Lambs, and Goats, and Rams; Reason may persuade our belief, that in the 7th or following verse (which seems to run parallel with the former) the Prophet observes the same rule of speaking;