Israel, we also find that he remembered animals, and protected them by special laws; one of these was, "Thou shalt not

muzzle the ox."

Who can doubt, then, that God regards and takes care of the beasts of the earth, though man may regard them as insignificant beings? And if he thus takes care of them, he certainly must be displeased with those who inflict injury upon them. Suppose, young reader, that it was in your power to create a bird, and that you should do it. You watch over it with tender care, provide it with food, protect it, and endeavor to make it happy. Now, how should you like to have some rude hand laid upon this favorite, inflicting upon it cruelty and torment? You would be greatly displeased. And shall not God be displeased, when he sees the hand of cruelty laid upon any of his creatures?

Another reason why we should never inflict torture upon animals, is, their usefulness to man. Look at the horse, the ox, the cow, the dog, and the cat,-of how much service are they to man! The two

former spend all their lives, in hard toil for him. They obey his will, and quietly submit to him. And the cow, though she does not labor, is by no means the least important. Take her away, and we lose many of the luxuries of life. The faithful dog, also, is ever at his master's side, ready to assist him in the hour of danger; and many a man's life has been saved by a dog. Pussy, too, is ever awake,-the terror of all evil-minded rats and mice. Many other animals, besides these, are domesticated, and live with man, in different countries. Nor are domestic animals the only ones which serve man; for we can hardly find a living creature that does not, in some manner, benefit and assist him. How ungrateful, then, to treat these faithful servants of man with cruelty! How ungrateful to reward their services with the lash, and their faithfulness with blows!

One other reason why animals should be treated with kindness, is, they have no soul, or moral nature, and of course can have no enjoyment from this source. When man is afflicted with bodily suffering, he

has numerous other springs of enjoyment. He may be afflicted like Job, and yet he may see in it the righteous hand of God. He may suffer all the hardships that Paul endured, and yet "rejoice in tribulation." He may feel the unutterable agonies with which Payson was visited, at the close of his life, and yet seem to float in a sea of glory." This is because he has a soul,— an immortal MIND, of which his body is but the tabernacle.

Not so with the brute.

Deprive him of his bodily enjoyment, and you deprive him of every thing. He has no other fountain from which may flow the stream of happiness, but is consigned to hopeless misery, having nothing to comfort or console him. Remember, my young friends, that when you inflict pain upon a brute, you take from him all his enjoyment.

On examination, we find that God regards this distinction between men and beasts. To the latter he has given a constitution almost entirely free from pain, and has exempted them from most of the ills of life; and when their time comes to die, they die comparatively quick and easy.

He has done this, because this world is their home, and their only place of existence or enjoyment. Not so with man. To him, this life is a "pendulum betwixt a smile and tear." A thousand diseases are on every side, ready to assail him with their malignant shafts. This is so because this world is not man's home, and to prepare him for better mansions above.

The manner in which heathen nations have sometimes treated animals, is curious and remarkable. With some, many animals have been held sacred. Among the ancient Egyptians, for example, cats and dogs were held in such veneration, that when one of these animals died, belonging to a family, the family showed the greatest marks of sorrow, and fasted and prayed for several days; and he who had the hardihood to kill a cat, paid for it by the forfeiture of his own life. And even now, the Banians, in India, dare not kill the smallest reptile, however offensive. When they meet a fisherman or hunter, they beseech him to desist from his employment. If he refuse, they offer him money for his gun or

net; and when no offers will avail, they trouble the water, to frighten away the fish, and cry with all their strength, to put the birds to flight.

But this seeming kindness of the heathen to animals, is to be attributed to their superstition and idolatry, and is not for our imitation. As to animals that are given us for food, we know that "every creature of God is good, and is to be received with thanksgiving," as we may need; and others not given for food, are yet serviceable, though it is to be observed respecting these, also, that they are to be treated with kindness, and not with severity.

It is a very good rule to treat others as we would have them treat us, were we in their circumstances; and we may apply it as well to animals as to men. It is an excellent rule to treat animals as we would wish to be treated ourselves, were we in their place. To illustrate this, I will relate an anecdote. Soon after the close of the long French war, a sailor, who was passing over one of the bridges in London, observed a boy, with a number of small