proportion in which he neglects to cultivate the law of kindness. I ask my readers to go with me to the investigation, and apply this thought to our own circumstances; bring it into the domestic circle, let it be the test of the most intimate communication between husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, master and servant, superior and inferior, friend and friend, pastor and people, visitors of the sick, distributors of bounty, all who by various means seek to benefit others, and bring them to Christ. Let the inquiry be but honestly made, and we shall be constrained to confess, that a more steadfast adherence to the law of kindness would have proved, in all these associations, a very bond of perfectness. Do we want a master-key to every affection of the heart, a lever to remove every impediment, a main-spring to keep every amiable feeling in action, and an ambassador of peace to precede us in all our approaches to our fellow-sinners ? We shall find them all in a tongue wherein is the "law of kindness."

But I must not conclude, without giving some consideration to the force of the term law-the law of kindness. This is a point I believe to be very much lost sight of; kindness is too frequently considered as a voluntary and an arbitrary act, governed only by our own impulse and gratification; this I think very far removed from the Law of kindness; I should rather say it is of a self-denying character. It is one of the steps in which we are called to follow Him, who is kind to the unthankful and the evil : kindness as a law will be permanent, impartial, universal. It will enjoin its own observation, and forbid every opposite tendency. And, oh, if the believer

were more continually to remember, that in this respect, he is not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, we should not be so often pained, with the severe censure, the ungracious rebuke, the haughty crimination, the unkind inuendo, the bitter sarcasm, the repulsive coldness, and the unfriendly accusation-these things ought not so to be.

I desire to estimate very highly the value of a Preached Gospel, and the efficacy of the Word and Sacrament as means of Grace, but I am bold to rank next to these in usefulness, the law of kindness shewing forth in the conversation, and regulating the conduct of the people of God. And if I have been correct in the arraignment brought against myself and others: if it be true that were we now to be addressed as were the churches in Asia, this would be one, not, we fear, of the few, but of the many things, which our blessed Lord would have against us. Does it not become us, each and all, to remember wherein we have fallen, and to repent? Should we not strengthen the things which remain, which are ready to die? Let us then suffer the word of exhortation, let us provoke one another to love and to good works. In this thing we have given great occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme, and have caused the way of truth to be evil spoken of. For the sake, then, of the cause of God and truth in the world, for the peace and prosperity of Zion, for the promotion of personal usefulness and happiness, I solemnly entreat the attention of my dear readers to this interesting subject. For myself, the Lord being my helper, I have said "I will take heed unto my ways, that I offend not with my tongue."

J. J. C.

CRUELTY.

THE sufferings of the brute creation form a mystery which no finite mind can solve. The evil has its origin in the fall of Adam, the federal head of the whole human race. Before he fell, creation, animate and inanimate, shone forth in primeval beauty, and all nature teemed with blessings rich and fruitful. God placed man in the garden of Eden (in a limited sense) as sovereign lord of the universe; but by one act of disobedience he forfeited all the rights and privileges which belonged to him as such, and at the same time involved the whole creation in suffering and death.

As one of the direful effects of the fall, we read in the book of Genesis, chap. iv. 8., that the hand of Cain was lifted against his brother Abel, and this murderous act is but too just a picture of the evil passions which reign uncontrouled in the hearts of the wicked. When we contemplate the happy state of the brute creation in paradise, when they all passed before Adam, and he called them each by name, and contrast their present degraded and suffering condition, truly may we say, What has sin effected? To reason on a subject which is in fact beyond our reason-the permission of evil, and its entrance into the world-would be to impugn God's prerogative, and call in question his sovereignty and justice; but that evil does exist, and that its con

sequences are most fearful and appalling, is a truth which none can doubt or deny. We feel the evil that works within our own heart, and we see its effects in all around us. There cannot be a more certain proof of the depravity of the human heart, than in the exercise of cruelty towards the brute creation. It pourtrays some of the worst feelings of our nature, and places man not on a level, but far below the brutes; for man endowed with sense and reason, acts in many instances with more ferocity than is depicted in their nature. Whoever is acquainted with history, and with facts which come before us from time to time, must be convinced that man, in a wild uncivilized state, has not the noble qualities which seem to be displayed in various instances among the animal tribe towards the human species, and towards each other. Man in an unregenerate state is ever man sensual and devilish.

To a Christian mind there arises very often a difficulty in reconciling the ill treatment and sufferings of animals; for although all creation groans under the sad effects of man's transgression, and even the ground is cursed for his sake,-yet unless we adopt the millennarian view, we are led to believe they are excluded from a state of future happiness; they suffer here, without reward hereafter. We know that the oppression and cruelty of man towards them will be visited in the way of retribution here, or at a future day; but this affords no alleviation to their sufferings, no benefit present or future. It then appears a mystery why man, tyrannical man, should have the power placed in his hand of inflicting so much pain and misery upon the comparatively innocent part of God's creation, who not only suffer cor

poreally the same as ourselves, but who have an instinctive dread of the tyranny which is thus exercised over them. Oh, how painfully is that declaration manifested," And the fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, and upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered." Gen. ix. 2.

The contemplation of animal suffering is overwhelming it is a mystery upon which even scripture throws little light. The savage nature of man is here most fearfully developed: the blows, the oaths, the injuries, which unoffending animals have to endure, is but too just a proof of the awful state of man by nature. The tender mercies of the wicked are indeed cruel. If animals generally were gifted, like Balaam's ass, with the power of speech, Oh, what a universal cry would burst upon us from day to day! How would it thrill the heart with now untold agonies which they have to endure, in every shape and degree! The cruelty which is practised in this great metropolis, during the course of one night only, would ring in our ears a peal of suffering, the sound of which would scarcely die away. It is declared in scripture that God made man upright; but he has sought out many inventions, and surely it is not one of the least wicked inventions, that of torturing poor defenceless animals. There is, however, no adequate remedy to meet this satanic feature in man's character, but that change of heart which is alone effected by the power of the Holy Spirit; then, and not till then, will be fully understood that exhortation, "Be ye merciful, as your Father in heaven