regions of hell, there to endure merited torments; according to 2 Peter, ii. 4, "GOD cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment." Or as the apostle St. Jude has informed us, ver. 6, "They are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."

Him the Almighty power

Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion down

To bottomless perdition, there to dwell

In adamantine chains and penal fire.-MILTON.

At an early period of man's existence the arch-rebel was (by the will

And high permission of all-ruling heav'n
That with reiterated crimes he might

Heap on himself damnation while he sought
Evil to others: and enrag'd might see
How all his malice serv'd but to bring forth
Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy shewn
On man, by him seduc'd, but on himself

Treble confusion, wrath, and vengeance pour'd)-MILTON. permitted to behold the happiness of our first parents, and of the whole creation connected with them, and being filled with envy at their blessedness, and burning with inveterate hate and revenge to GOD, the infernal serpent plotted their ruin.

"He it was, whose guile

Deceiv'd the mother of mankind."

And having unhappily succeeded in seducing her by "foul revolt," to transgress the positive command of GOD. From hell he brought the monster of cruelty! introduced it into the garden of Eden on purpose to brutalize the human heart; consequently the first-born of

the human race became a murderer; instruments of cruelty and death were brought into horrid employment; and men began by inventions peculiar to the spirit of cruelty, which Satan had infused into them, to train the animal creation to destroy and to devour each other. "To particularize," says a learned and pious writer of the present day, " instances of cruelty thus wantonly inflicted, to specify what animals are treated with savage barbarity, either by their merciless owners, or unfeeling menials, is unnecessary; all nature cries aloud against such conduct. The tenants of air, earth, and water, arraign the sanguinary tyrant man, for innumerable wrongs committed upon them. The domestic bird that feeds before your door, that is most signalized for his noble and courageous spirit, after being mutilated and armed with weapons of inhuman invention, is matched to lacerate and kill his heroic adversary, who, in like manner, is mutilated and armed for the inglorious contest. And all this is done for what? To make sport for, perhaps to ruin, an unfeeling multitude! to induce them to hazard the profits of industry, or the wellearned fortunes of their ancestors; to provoke the shocking oath; the fierce dispute, the murderous battle of beings in human shape, who call themselves Christians !--Christians! O holy Saviour, are these the characteristics of thy followers, and the actions which will meet thy approval at the day of judgment; are these persons "the merciful," who shall be "blessed," by obtaining "mercy?" the peace makers, who "shall be called the children of

GOD?" Alas! these honourable distinctions are not their due. And what will be their doom, if they die without repenting of their sinful, their cruel, their unchristian conduct? Let them hear the word of GOD and tremble! James ii. 13, "They shall have judgment without mercy, who have shewed no mercy."*

But let us hope the reign of cruelty will speedily have an end, when a kingdom of mercy will then be established, and then will Satan, the author of cruelty, "with linked thunderbolts," be transfixed to the bottom of that dread lake of

"Ever burning sulphur unconsum'd," which God, his omnipotent and almighty conqueror, has " prepared for him and his angels."

Almighty God, cut short his pow'r,

Let him in darkness dwell;

And that he vex the earth no more,

Confine him down to hell.

All inen have by nature what is called a besetting sin. One man is remarkable for swearing, another for lying, a third is a great drunkard, &c. But in the love and practice of cruelty, all the fallen and unregenerate children of Adam are united; here Satan, the enemy of God, and the spoiler of his works, triumphs to the utmost extent of his wishes. The peculiar delight, the strong sensation of pleasurable feeling, manifested by all wicked persons, on beholding the dumb creation suffering an extremity of pain

*The Rev. Dr. Booker's Sermon "On Humanity to the Brute Creation," from the 56th Psalm, verse 8, "Are not these things noted in thy book!”

from excessive torture, is an awful proof of the strong hold Satan, the author of wickedness and cruelty, has upon the unregenerate heart. Hence cruelty, like a contagious pestilence, infects the whole earth. Hence bull-baiting, bear-baiting, badger-baiting, cock-fighting, dogfighting, and savage practices of various kinds, are seen to be so prevalent as to become the fashionable amusements of the age; and thousands of wicked parents are to be seen, with their infants in their arms, and their elder children by their sides, attending these horrid, these abominable and diabolical scenes of cruelty. But let such parents remember, that by such brutal conduct, they are not only cruel to the poor animal they are tormenting, but they are cruel to the best interests of their own children, both in this world and that which is to come; for they are most assuredly leading them in that path which has a tendency to bring their bodies to the scaffold, and their neverdying souls to eternal burnings.

To stem this torrent of savage wickedness, to root out from the earth this darling attribute of Satan, and to rescue the rising generation from the power of this demon of hell, this adversary of God and man, I do, in the name and on behalf of that creation which "groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now," call upon the ministers of religion, of every denomination, parents of families, masters and mistresses of day and Sunday schools, to obey the positive command of God,-Prov. xxii. 6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Let the teach

ers of Sunday schools in particular be anxious to fulfil this command of GOD. Let them constantly endeavour to instil into the tender minds of the children committed to their care, a love of humanity, and an hatred to cruelty. Let this important branch of infant training form a part of their Sabbath-day's labours; let the attention of the children be constantly directed to it, let it never be omitted, (nor will a faithful discharge of their duty allow them to omit it) and an harvest of good will abundantly crown those labors. But a single lesson, a solitary address, will not be sufficient, it will not avail. The gardener having bent the twig, keeps it bent, that it may retain the position he intends it; and children, like young twigs, may be bent any way and all those who have the care of them, should be anxious to instil into their youthful minds, early impressions of humanity and virtue. Mark the servants of Satan, when an object which requires training is to be obtained, all the rules of the system are strictly adhered to, and the severest discipline is enforced.

"If," says the eloquent pleader before quoted, "to those inferior animals, with which God has so bountifully stored creation for our use, which live to alleviate our toils by their labour, or die to satisfy our hunger, by affording us food, if to these, we can persuade men to extend kindness, and to forbear torturing them with unnecessary pain, we are surely fulfilling the designs of that God who rejoices in the happiness of all his creatures-who, 'when the morning stars sang together,' and

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