This important truth, however, should be suggested to our minds whenever we eat of that which once had life, that it is not the food originally designed for us, and given to us by our heavenly Father, in a state of innocence, that it is sin, which has brought death into the world to animals as well as to man,that sacrifice was not appointed till after the fall, to prefigure the great sacrifice for sin; and the eating of flesh was not permitted till after "the world of the ungodly" had been destroyed by the flood, that the milder dispensation of the gospel is represented and confirmed to us by an unbloody sacrifice, and "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," gives place to THE BREAD OF LIFE. (JOHN vi. 35.; MATT. xxvi. 26.)

II. I now proceed to consider those passages of the New Testament, which, either

directly, or indirectly, teach us our duties to the brute creation.

1. At the beginning of that divine discourse of our Lord's, called the Sermon on the Mount, he enumerates those virtues which make men blessed; and, amongst these, he states mercy: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." (MATT. v. 7.) Now, that this includes mercy to animals, as well as to man, cannot be doubted, when we consider all the precepts throughout the Bible to show mercy to them, and when we consider the mercy of God, who is "good to all, and his tendermercy is over all his works;" (PSALM CXlV. 9.) and we are commanded by our Saviour, to be

merciful, as our Father also is merciful." (LUKE vi. 36.)

2. This is again evident, from the same discourse, where he bids us "behold the fowls

of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them." (vi. 26. See, also, LUKE xii. 24.) Surely, if God is thus bountiful and merciful, man should be so too!

The same tender care of God to his creatures is expressed by our Saviour in his reply to the person, who said that he would follow him whithersoever he went: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." (MATT. viii. 20.; LUKE ix. 58.) In connexion with this, though we have passed over the Book of Psalms, I cannot forbear citing that beautiful complaint of the sweet Psalmist of Israel, when obliged to fly from the holy city and the house of the Lord: "The sparrow hath found her a house, and the swallow a nest, where she may lay her young;

even thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God." (PSALM lxxxiv. iv. 3.)

3. Again, our Saviour says,

"Are not two

sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father." (MATT. x. 29.) "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?" (LUKE xii. 6.) But, if there be this "especial Providence in the fall of a sparrow," (HAMLET, Act V. Scene 2.) does it not behove us to be careful of them, and to take heed, that none fall by our means, but according to the will of the heavenly Father?

4. The Sabbath, we know, was appointed as a day of rest to man and beast, and to be kept holy to the Lord our God. But yet, an exception is made to give room for works of mercy to man and beast. Each of us may,

c on the Sabbath, loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering;" (LUKE xiii. 15.) or, "if we shall have an ass, or an ox, or a sheep fallen into a pit," we may "straightway pull him out on the Sabbathday." (LUKE xiv. 5.; MATT. xii. 11.)

5. What a variety of beautiful and tender expressions does our Lord use to represent the duty of "the good shepherd," and his own love to man under that character: "The sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And, when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice." (JOHN x. 3, 4.) "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth