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into the balance, as more than a counterpoise to Solomon in all his glory. For let a man be ever so well dressed, his clothes are but the covering of his shame, and artificial supplies for natural defects. Every ornament he wears to grace his person, is a tacit acknowledgment, that, without that ornament, he would be less beautiful and amiable; and that, in himself, he is so imperfect, that he stands in need of invented ornaments to set him off. And even his necessary clothes are either taken from the ground which the cattle tread under their feet, or else are borrowed skins, borrowed feathers, or borrowed hair. The creatures, which we despise, wore them, before we had them, and could call them their own; whilst we are glad to be their heirs, and to wear them at second hand, when they have left them off: nor even then can we apply them to our use and service, without much contrivance and preparation. But to the brutes their clothes are suitable to

their wants; they are the endowments of Nature, and the gifts of GOD. And well for them it is, that" God "has, in this instance, been so bountiful and indulgent towards them; for, if many of the cattle were as ill clothed, as they are too often ill fed and hard wrought, they would be wretched creatures indeed." (PRIMATT'S DISSERTATION, page 148-150.) The same may be said of habitation: "The lions"-" lay them down in their dens, (PSALM civ. 21, 22.) and "the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests;" shelter more convenient and comfortable to them than man could provide, had he the heart to set about it, for them.

We proceed, then, to the subject of food. God, who created all things, assigned, at the beginning, its proper food to every thing, giving every kind of sustenance richly to be enjoyed. (1 TIM. vi. 17.) At the fall, man

was condemned to eat his food "in the sweat of his brow." Yet still "the eyes of all wait upon" God, that he may give them "meat in due season," (See PSALM cxlv. 15.) and the generality of creatures "neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet our heavenly Father feedeth them." (MATT. vi. 26.) Surely, then, those who assist man to sow and reap, and to gather for him into his barns, who, as it were, bear the greater part of "the burden and heat of the day" for him, or afford their sustenance for him, or in any way contribute to his wellbeing and comfort, have a superior claim to be well-provided for: it is with beast, as well as with man, 66 the labourer is worthy of his hire." (LUKE X. 7.; 1 TIM. v. 18.)

A provision of proper and wholesome food is, therefore, the right of the beast; and, not only a bare sufficiency, but a liberal supply, in imitation of the Great Master, who "open

eth his hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness;" (PSALM cxlv. 16.) who giveth richly to enjoy, and hath commanded not to "muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." (DEUT. xxv. 4.) It must, however, be administered with reason as well as with liberality, and not distributed either in such portions as may occasion surfeit and ill-health to the object, or waste of the provision: “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost;" or rather, administer not in such por tions as to occasion fragments, is a rule to be observed at the meal of animals, no less than at the meal of man. It is, also, to be of such kind as is suitable to the animal, and is not with-held from others for whom it would be more proper: "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to the dogs,"

(MATT. xv. 26.) is a rule no less true in the letter, than in the spiritual application.

IV. On the article of rest, I have anticipated the chief of what I had to say, when speaking of the duty of rulers and magistrates to afford protection to the brute creation. The golden rule of placing ourselves in the situation of others, and asking ourselves, "Were I really in the place of this person, and he in mine, how should I wish him to behave to me?" is applicable, in its measure, likewise, to the brute creation; and, were every master to place himself in the situation of his servant, or his cattle, (his cattle, indeed, are his servants,) there would be little difficulty in determining his case: due interchanges of labour and rest would then be the portion of all under his care. But, if any be worked beyond their strength, or more than their proper time, or denied the whole of the Sabbath, then the day which God hath blessed to them, we change into a curse. I mentioned before the case of the Jews, in their neglect of

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