manifests a concern for the comfort and happiness of the brute creation; and by it, he positively enjoins, that man should exercise. humanity towards them. Question.-GOD having ordained by a law, that man should labour but six days, and that the seventh day should be to him a sabbath of holy rest; and having in his infinite mercy and goodness to the brute creation included them in the privileges of that law, is it not a great sin, and a direct breach of his law, to make them perform journeys on the Sabbath-day, for the pleasure of their owner, or cause them to work for his profit on the Sabbath, or to do any labour on that sacred day? Answer.-Yes. God had a right to reserve the seventh day for the repose of beasts from the toils of their employment; and whoever violates that law, robs the beast of his rest, and GoD of his honour. The command to prevent the working of a horse on the Sabbath, is equally binding on man, as the observance of the Sabbath; and although judgment against the breaking of this, as well as all the other commands of God, "is not speedily executed," yet GOD is unchangeable; and he has appointed a day, which will certainly and shortly come, in the which he will vindicate the injuries and sufferings of his dumb creatures. God Almighty will visit their oppressors with vengeance, and dreadful will be their day of reckoning "when he maketh inquisition for blood." Psalm ix. 12. For then, wicked and cruel men will be brought to his judgment bar, and the just reward of their hands will be given them. Question.-Has God made any particular promise to them who show mercy to the brute creation ? Answer.-Yes. "Thou suit'st, O Lord, thy righteous ways, To various paths of human-kind; They who for mercy merit praise, With thee shall wond'rous mercy find." Matt. v. 7, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” "Who mercy show, shall mercy find; Thy pitiful and tender mind, Be, Lord, on me bestow'd: So shall I still thy blessing gain And to eternal life retain The mercy of my God."-WESLEY. Psalm xviii. 25, "With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful.” "Mercy to him that shows it, is the rule And righteous limitation of its act By which heaven moves, in pard'ning guilty man; And conscious of the outrage he commits, Shall seek it, and not find it, in his turn."-Cowfer. Question.-Has God made any other promise to those who show mercy to the dumb creation? Answer.-Yes.-He has promised them prosperity and long life. Deut. xxii. 6, 7, "If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree, or on the ground, whether there be young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the C young; but thou shalt in any wise let the dam go; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days." Question. Can you tell me why God should make the not separating two parent birds, during the time they are rearing their young, (a circumstance unimportant and simple in the eyes of short-sighted, reasoning man) the condition of man's receiving from God such great blessings as prosperity and long life? Answer.-God himself has given us the answer by the mouth of his prophet, Isaiah lv. 8, 9, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." Let it be sufficient for us to know, that whatever God says is right; and let us consider it our duty, and esteem it our privilege, to act up to it. Our blessed Saviour has also declared, that not a sparrow falls to the ground without God's notice, Matt. x. 29. Question.-Is not the tender pity, care, and compassion of God, over the lower race of his creatures, affectingly exhibited in this precept? Answer. This admirable precept, so characteristic of Deity, and ever to be esteemed for its transcendent excellence, in a beautiful manner displays the tender pity of Jehovah towards his creatures, and strongly inculcates humanity towards them, by restraining the boy, or passenger, from the aggravated cruelty of destroying the mother bird, together with her young; and that too when she is in the very act of cherishing them: commanding them not to make her parental tenderness an occasion of depriving her of life. And we may judge of the importance of the injunction, from the same blessing being annexed to it as to the fifth commandment. Question.-While the idolatrous nations of the earth were offering to their gods a service full of cruelty, must not the giving of a law, to prevent the cruelty of taking the mother-bird from her young, have a direct tendency to inspire the Jewish nation with just sentiments respecting the merciful character of that great Being whom they worshipped? Answer. That the high and lofty Jehovah should condescend to legislate for a little bird,* is an amazing display of His boundless mercy. causing the Psalmist to exclaim, “Who is like unto the Lord our God, that hath his dwelling so high, and yet humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in earth."-Psalm exiii. 5, 6. By this precept, Jehovah designed to show, that "all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight."-Heb. iv. 13. That he takes cognizance of the conduct of all mankind towards his creatures, that every act of cruelty * I trust the Christian reader will not deem me tedious on what the wicked world consider a trifle. It is my duty (and I am not ashamed) to excite the youthful mind to love and admire every act of Jehovah towards his creatures. Although the wicked may sneer, and the infidel scoff, I value not "The world's loud laugh, Which scarce the firm philosopher can scorn." : inflicted on them, however trivial it may be deemed by man, is an abomination in his sight, while mercy extended towards them shall receive a rich reward. And we may justly infer, that the teachers of the Jewish laws sadly neglected (like many in our day) an important part of their duty for had they duly explained, and zealously enforced this gracious injunction, that nation would never have "offered their sons and their daughters to devils, and shed innocent blood; even the blood of their sons and their daughters," Psalm cvi. 37, 38, as an acceptable sacrifice to a God so "rich in mercy." Question.-Did our blessed Saviour enjoin any particular precept for the exercise of humanity to brute animals? Answer. Yes. Luke vi. 36, "Be ye therefore merciful as your Father is merciful." And this great and important duty he also inculcates in his general exhortations to compassion. He tells his disciples to join the wisdom of the serpent with the harmlessness of the dove; and no man can be said to conform to the spirit of this precept, that is guilty of an act of cruelty, though to a worm or a fly. He tells us, that not a sparrow falls to the ground without the knowledge of God; a consideration well suited to teach us not to sport with the lives of God's creatures. And his beautiful allusion to the care with which God feeds the fowls of the air, Matt. vi. 26, seems to warn us against injuring what is the special object of divine regard. That humanity which our Lord inculcated, is not |