Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

man's neck, or like some trifling Pharisee who shall "pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and omit the weightier matters of the law; judgment, mercy and faith." (Mat. xxiii. 23.) In other words; may not a man be righteous in his own way, or in any particular relation that he may happen to fancy, and not in others? St. James says, No; or, what is equivalent to it, " If ye have respect to persons ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all :" (Jam. ii. 9, 10:) and if he be not guilty toward every man in offending one, nor toward one man in every shape by offending in one, toward God he is in all; because, as the apostle observes," he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." (Ib. 11.) And the same all bountiful Creator having delivered also a commandment in favour of other his vassals inferior to man, the same distinction will also apply to them in comparison; as for example, If thou be not cruel to thine own species, yet if thou be cruel to other parts of my creation, thou art become a transgressor of the commandment. For to be righteous is not to be so in one respect as far as may be, and unrighteous in another, but to be righteous in all.

Yet we should not be too much alarmed at the evident magnitude or multiplicity of the subject; crying out with our Saviour's disciples, "Who then can be saved?" (Mat. xix. 25:) as from that very circumstance there is more hope of allowance to the blessed few "who do hunger and thirst after righteousness," (Ib. v. 6,) and also do what they can to attain it.

Another part too is also expected from some in this behalf, besides doing righteousness and desiring it for themselves; which is, to promote the same as far as possible in others,-" to consider one another (as the apostle says) to provoke unto love and good works." (Heb. x. 24.)

And accordingly in the spirit of my text and a corresponding sense of duty, "I will not (as St. Peter tells the church) be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things" (Pet. II. i. 12:) having now taken upon myself to advocate the cause of every inferior animal before one which I have represented elsewhere as their vice-governor under the Supreme Being: which may be allowed perhaps for once, as well as the advocacy of a suit between man and man. I may also observe, that the suit now alluded to is rather peculiar, the subject being seldom heard of as one that will support a plea, though its title, Humanity, can hardly be new, I should think, to any one. And such is the title of human righteousness in relation to the other creatures of the earth,-the duty of mankind to the inferior animals. I believe the term Humanity is not new in this acceptation, any more than it is limited to the same; being considered in its widest sense, as the friendly part or duty of superiors to inferiors generally-without their own kind as well as within: whence the title may well bear the meaning here assigned, and also well deserve it. We may consider mankind, generally speaking, but not precisely by any means, as an intermediate order of beings, and the inferior creatures, or some of them, as objects for their use, and consequently for their protection in the present state; if not also, to train and exercise their guardian qualities for some higher trust in the world to come. And such are some to be, we may hope; but not all for strictly speaking, mankind are oftener objects of government themselves to each other; and have enough to do only to keep each other in their places.

But the dominion over other creatures, and even over the stubborn soil having been originally intrusted to man, as well as the code of life for his self-government, by the Creator on founding his kingdom upon earth, it became a secondary or subordinate duty for him, after governing

• In Sermon I. of the former Series.

well himself, to govern and subdue or ameliorate the soil and its productions as well animal as vegetable by his courage, skill and industry: though it be a question now whether men do not begin at the wrong end in some countries, by governing other things better than themselves. And that notwithstanding the advantage of an enlightened ministry-enlightened however as far as they are "taught of God," to stimulate those who are susceptible of improvement in the way of righteousness, especially towards 'inferiors of their own kind, as it is said, "The poor have the gospel preached to them." (Mat. xi. 5.) Wherefore one of that order may well stand forward as the gratuitous advocate, likewise of inferiors in any other kind, as the advocate of some that are poorer than the poor-OF THE POOR DUMB CREATURES.

66

And if I am thought by any one to bestow more attention in this case than such humble objects as some of these creatures are particularly can deserve, I may remind him of that which is bestowed on the same by a higher Authority, even by a bountiful Providence according to our Saviour; who has signified, that not one of those creatures that we hold so cheap as to sell two of them for a farthing, can fall to the ground without its observation. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? (said he to his disciples) and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." (Mat. x. 29.) 'He chose David also his servant to look after some of those inferior creatures, and to do what might be necessary for them before he took him away from the sheep-folds;" (Ps. lxxviii. 71;) training him in that humble sphere for the pastorship of Israel; as by this same pastorship he might train him again for a still higher part and wider sphere in some future world. And there can be no doubt, that David as he was following the ewes great with young (lb. 72) did carry the same spirit then to that humble trust, as subsequently in feeding Jacob, or at any time in harping praises to Jacob's God. For a good

[ocr errors]

man is a good man every where, and in little things as well as in great, like the servant whom our Lord commends in his parable: (Mat. xxv. 19, &c. :) a man after God's own heart in one sphere will always be the same in another, not being the mere creature of circumstances Is he a king, a priest, or any other sort of superintendent-" he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." (Isai. xl. 11.) Kings may be thought above such cares: but some of them have respected the pets of others, if they had none of their own; as David the poor man's lamb, (Sam. II. xii. 5,) and Solomon only a mule that his father rode; (Kings I. i. 44;) though Solomon had no scarcity of horses and chariots-leave alone asses and mules.

It could not be thought a light instance of the consideration of divine Providence for dumb things, when the ass of one prophet was miraculously enabled to reprove him by word for his tyranny or inhumanity; (Num. xxiii. 28, 29;) nor on another occasion when the fierceness of a lion was subdued before the ass of another prophet, while the prophet himself lay extended in death before the savage beast, a signal judgment for his disobedience. (Kings I. xiii. 24.) And these single instances of divine protection for a pitiful creature are but poor precedents compared with the legal provisions which God made by Moses for some of the sort, thereby indicating his tender, and, if I may so say, affectionate consideration for all. If, for example, a bird's nest was found by chance in any tree or on the ground, whether it had eggs or young ones, and the dam sitting, the dam was not to be taken with her young according to the Mosaic code. (Deut. xxii. 6.) If the ox was set to tread out the farmer's corn, as he used to be in Israel, and is still I understand in many parts of

See Chron. II. i. 14.

the East, he was not to be muzzled; (Ib. xxv. 4;) he was to have some chance for a bit. Which shews by positive enactments, how their benign Creator may be supposed to look on such humble creatures. And if this last example should seem to be made void by St. Paul's application of the same to a higher object, there is still room to conceive that the commandment had a respect also to the beast though nothing in comparison with that to the order of rational beings insinuated by St. Paul: so that it might be answered to the apostle's query, "Doth God take care for oxen?" (Cor. I. ix. 9,) Yes, for our sake; as he takes care for us on account of him to whom we belong, his beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

And not only God, whose example is all-sufficient, but man likewise may be cited in point as a precedent for attending to the wants and liabilities of those inferior creatures. As witness the superstitious regard that is shewn to them in some countries: or witness what seems more to the purpose, because more sober and Christianlike, the account which our own legislature makes of the same creatures, and of that sort of conduct in relation to them which is properly called Humanity,-constituting all together such a precedent as will bear me out, I trust, in the few particular observations that I have now to make on the subject, i. e., on Humanity-regarding 1, its Theory; 2. its Practice.

§ 2. In the Theory of humanity, we have the doctrine of the subject now to be considered: and namely, as to 1, its Subject; 2, Object; 3, Foundation; 4, Duties. I begin with,

1. The Subject of humanity: because Humanity itself is an abstract term, and as much a mere nothing without such subject as any thing can be. The practiser, possessor, enjoyer of humanity is its subject: and as St. John said of righteousness generally, "He that doeth righteousness is righteous," (John I. iii. 7,) so we may say of this beautiful species of righteousness in particular,

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »