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which the law requires ; the latter denotes goodness flowing beyond the law , and shewing a kindness for which a man is honoured because it was not exacted of him . Now there is actually this difference , as to the treatment of animals , between those who live under the laws of England , and those who were governed by the insfitutions of Moses . The attempts made in our
legislature to repress cruelty to the inferior animals have , probably , in not more than a single instance , and that an unsuccessful one , been founded on any assumption of a ri ^ ht in the animals themselves to good treatment ; they have regarded those animals merely as the property of man , and prohibited cruelty because it diminished their worth to the owner , on the same principle that the violation of any other kind of property exposes the depredator to make reparation or suffer punishment . This is a very different principle of
legislation , although it may undoubtedly serve the cause of humanity . It is not the cruelty that is ( directly ) repressed ; but the theft , or destruction , or injury of property . It is not the animal that is protected , but the owner . Moreover , it seems , incidentally , to sanction , with the right of property , the right of barbarity also . The kind-hearted man , therefore , who thinks that whatever lives should enjoy life , that whatever feels should feel pleasurably , and acts upon the notion , does more than the British law requires ; he is
more than just or righteous ; he is merciful . But this was not the case in Judea , at least as to many cases ; there , a humane conduct was legislated for ; care for animals was commanded ; its exercise was not free and spontaneous mercy , as with us , but justice or righteousness ; it was obedience to the laws ; a duty by the laws of the land , as it ever must be by the laws of God , which make kindness a duty , and mercy itself justice , which we are bound to render , as we cannot be saved but by its reception .
Michaehs , in his Commentaries on the Laws of Moses , has exhibited in the following brief paragraph , the spirit of that code as to the treatment of animals : " It was , then , enjoined by Moses , that when a man saw even his enemy ' s beast lying under the weight of his burden , he must help up with him ( Exod . xxiii . 5 ) ; that the ox must not be muzzled while treading- out the corn ( Deut . 4
xxv . ) ; that on no account must any beast be castrated ( Lev . xxii . 24 ) ; that a cow , ewe , or goat must not be killed on the same day with her young ( Lev . xxii . 28 ) ; that a kid was not to be dressed with its mother ' s milk , that is , with butter made of milk , but with oil ( Exod . xxiii . 19 ); that when a inan found a bird ' s nest without the limits of his own land , he was not to take tlie dam with the young , but allow her to escape ( Deut . xxii . 6 , 7 ) ; that their cattle were , as well as themselves , to enjoy the rest of the sabbath ( Exod . xx . 10 ); and that even the game was to have a jubilee on the sabbatical year , and be allowed to feed in the fallow-fields unmolested . ( Lev . xxv . 7 . )"
It is not , however , from the formal adoption of the Mosaic principle in our legislation that we hope for the suppression of those disgraceful scenes which so frequently occur in this country . Our reliance rests on the improving state of the public opinion and feeling . Much good has been done in enforcing the existing laws upon this subject , by the " Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals , " instituted in London in 1824 ; but
perhaps the most efficient measure they have adopted has been that of influencing the public mind by " appeals from the press , and the delivery of discourses from the pulpit . " Dr . Drummond , amongst others , has been moved by their request to labour in this field of utility , and the result is before us in a sermon well worthy of his great name and talents . After adverting to the terms of the grant made to Adam , and renewed to
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216 Humanity to Animals *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1830, page 316, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2584/page/28/
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