no

puerile. But this alters not the law of God, nor the punishments which he inflicts upon nations for the violation of it. This punishment I suppose to be war. I believe aggression from a foreign nation to be the intimation from God that we are disobeying the law of benevolence, and that this is his mode of teaching nations their duty, in this respect, to each other. So that aggression seems to me in manner to call for retaliation and injury, but rather to call for special kindness and good will. And still farther, the requiting evil with good, tends just as strongly to the cessation of all injury, in nations as in individuals. Let any man reflect upon the amount of pecuniary expenditure, and the awful waste of human life, which the wars of the last hundred years have occasioned, and then I will ask him whether it be not evident, that the one hundredth part of this expense and suffering, if employed in the honest effort to render mankind wiser and better, would, long before this time, have banished wars from the earth, and rendered the civilized world like the garden of Eden. If this be true, it will follow, that the cultivation of a military spirit is injurious to a community, inasmuch as it aggravates the source of the evil, the corrupt passions of the human heart, by the very manner in which it attempts to correct the evil itself.

I am aware that all this may be called visionary, romantic, and chimerical. This, however, neither makes it so, nor shows it to be so. The time to apply these epithets will be, when the justness of their application has been proved. And if it be said, these principles may all be very true, but you can never induce nations to act upon them; I answer, If they be true, then God requires us thus to act; and if this be the case, then that nation will be the happiest and the wisest, which is the first to obey his commandments. And, if it be said, that though all this be so, yet such is the present state of man, that until his social character be altered, the necessity of wars will exist; I answer; first, it is a solemn thing to meet the punishments which God inflicts for the transgression of his laws. And, secondly, inasmuch as the reason for this necessity arises from the social wickedness of man, we are under impera

OUR DUTY TO BRUTES.

397

tive obligations to strive to render that wickedness less; and, by all the means in our power, to cultivate among nations a spirit of mutual kindness, forbearance, justice and benevolence.

NOTE. I should be guilty of injustice to one class of my fellow-creatures, if I should close this treatise upon human duty, without a single remark upon our obligations to brutes.

Brutes are sensitive beings, capable of, probably, as great degrees of physical pleasure and pain as ourselves. They are endowed with instinct which is, probably, a form of intellect inferior to our own, but which, being generically unlike to ours, we are unable to understand. They differ from us chiefly in being destitute of any moral faculty.

We do not stand to them in the relation of equality. "Our right is paramount, and must extinguish theirs." We have, therefore, a right to use them to promote our comfort, and may innocently take their life, if our necessities demand it. This right over them, is given to us by the revealed will of God. But, inasmuch as they, like ourselves, are the creatures of God, we have no right to use them in any other manner than that which God has permitted. They, as much as ourselves, are under his protection.

We may, therefore, use them, 1. For our necessities. We are designed to subsist upon animal food; and we may innocently slay them for this purpose.

2. We may use them for labor, or for innocent physical recreation, as when we employ the horse for draught, or for the saddle.

3. But, while we so use them, we are bound to treat them kindly, to furnish them with sufficient food, and with convenient shelter. He who cannot feed a brute well, ought not to own one. And when we put them to death, it should be with the least possible pain.

4. We are forbidden to treat them unkindly on any pre

398

OUR DUTY TO BRUTES.

tence, or for any reason. There can be no clearer indication of a degraded and ferocious temper, than cruelty to animals. Hunting, in many cases, and horse-racing, seem to me liable to censure in this respect. Why should a man, for the sake of showing his skill as a marksman, shoot down a poor animal, which he does not need for food? Why should not the brute, that is harming no living thing, be permitted to enjoy the happiness of its physical nature unmolested? "There they are privileged; and he that hurts or harms them there, is guilty of a wrong.

5. Hence, all amusements which consist in inflicting pain upon animals, such as bull-baiting, cock-fighting, &c., are purely wicked. God never gave us power over animals for such purposes. I can scarcely conceive of a more revolting exhibition of human nature, than that which is seen when men assemble to witness the misery which brutes inflict upon each other. Surely, nothing can tend more directly to harden men in worse than brutal ferocity.

END.

Gould, Kendall, & Lincoln's Publications.

PALEY'S THEOLOGY, New Edition, illustrated by Forty Plates, and Selections from the Notes of Dr. Paxton; with additional Notes, original and selected, for this Edition; with a Vocabulary of Scientific Terms. Edited by JOHN WARE, M. D. Boston.

This work is now used as a Text-Book, in most of the Colleges throughout the country. The addition of forty illustrations by Paxton, with notes by an eminent Physician of Boston, cannot but enhance its value. The demand for this work has more than doubled the last year.

OPINION OF THE PRESS.

The work before us is one which deserves rather to be studied, than merely read. Indeed, without diligent attention and study, neither the excellences of it can be fully discovered, nor its advantages realized. It is therefore gratifying to find it introduced, as a text-book, into the colleges and literary institutions of our country.

The edition before us is superior to any we have seen,—and, we believe, superior to any that has yet been published. On the whole, we have seldom received a volume with more pleasure than this, or one which we can more cordially recommend to the public.-Spirit of the Pilgrims.

Perhaps no one of our author's works gives greater satisfaction to all classes of readers,-the young, the old, the ignorant, and the enlightened,-than the Natural Theology. Indeed, we recollect no book in which the arguments for the existence and attributes of the Supreme Being, to be drawn from his works, are exhibited in a manner more attractive and more convincing. The vocabulary of scientific terms appended to the volume by the editor, will be found very convenient to most readers; and the few notes which he has given, are so appropriate, judicious, and well written, that we regret that he has not favored us with more. The plates, no doubt, add to the interest of the work, even where the argument was sufficiently intelligible without them, and serve to impress on the memory the statements they are intended to illustrate.-Christian Examiner.

We hail the appearance of this edition of Paley's Theology with unfeigned pleasure. No man is an atheist after reading the work. Infidelity changes its character, and becomes downright and wilful opposition to the truth, after it has gone over the pages before us. We recommend to all the young men who may see this article to procure a copy of it forthwith; we advise parents to procure it for their sons and for their daughters.Trumpet.

5

THE CLASS BOOK OF NATURAL THEOLOGY, or the Testimony of Nature to the Being, Perfections, and Government of God. By the Rev. HENRY FERGUS.Revised, enlarged, and adapted to Paxton's Illustrations; with Notes, selected and original, Biographical Notices, and a Vocabulary of Scientific Terms. By the Rev. Charles HENRY ALDEN, A. M., Principal of the Philadelphia High School for Young Ladies. Third Edition.

OPINION OF THE PRESS.

We are glad to see this work of Fergus brought before the public with advantages likely to engage attention, and sure to promote its usefulness. We are especially pleased, that this has been done by one whose reputation and devotion in the cause of female education will be a sufficient recommendation of it to those whom it seems to have been his particular design to bene fit. A growing attention to this branch of education, and considerable improvements in it, have of late appeared.

The book, as now presented, is better fitted for a class book on natural theology, than any with which we are acquainted. The style of it is free and easy, yet concise, and withal exceedingly chaste and classical,—the production of a well-disciplined, wellstored and pure mind. The author treats of the origin of the world, the evidences of design in nature, the perfections of the Deity. These, and his various topics, are illustrated by Paxton's admirable plates, heretofore published in connection with Dr. Paley's work on the same subject. These, together with the notes and explanations of the American editor, are impor tant additions, and contain much valuable information. Besides these, there is inserted a lecture of Dr. Mitchell, of Philadelphia, on "the wisdom of God in the formation of water," which is consonant with the general spirit of the work, and abounds in wise and happy reflections.-Episcopal Recorder.

The general plan of the work is excellent, and the details, so far as we can judge, are good. We take a delight in running our eye over such a work as this; it reconciles us with our lot, and vindicates "the ways of God to man." It serves to awaken curiosity in the young student, to extend and gratify inquiry, and to lead him from the objects of creation around him," to Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being.' It is a most admirable study for schools. “The proper study of mankind is man."-United States Gazette.

We do not hesitate to pronounce the work one of the best class books we have examined. It must have an extensive sale when known.-Journal of Belles Lettres.