all the sons of God shouted for joy, beheld with a divine complacency, the works which he had made, and gloried in their goodness and perfection.

"Whatever has a tendency to destroy, or even to diminish this common happiness, whatever occasions an avoidable pang to any creature which God has endued with feeling or sensation, is doubtless offensive to this great and good Being, 'who hath regard to all the works of his hand.' Not only every act of cruelty from man to man, but every act of cruelty from man to the brute creation, is noted in that book, whose awful records will determine the fate, the everlasting fate of the human race."

A benevolent mind rejoices in the happiness of all created beings. The expression of felicity, wherever seen or heard, affects it with delight. A good man will not willingly inflict a moment's suffering even on the vilest and most loathsome of creatures; for even these, as well as those he esteems the most beautiful, are the creatures of God, and a love for the Creator teaches a regard for the thing created.

"Taught by that Pow'r that pities him
He learns to pity them."

Conscious of his inability to bestow life, he will not wantonly destroy it. He will take none which is not required for his sustenance, convenience or safety. And where a principle of genuine love to God actuates the mind, it will extend its benevolent regards even to the lowest orders of animated nature. The benevolent law of the Creator extends to every order

of his creatures, and instructs us, that we should not only abstain from torturing and unnecessarily depriving them of life, but we should endeavour to promote their comfort and enjoyment. Solomon lays it down as a moral maxim, that "the righteous man regardeth the life of his beast." Benevolence will display itself in the shape of tenderness and humanity towards every creature that is endued with feeling and sensation; but it cannot be supposed to have any influence over those who can wantonly torture a poor fly, lash a poor feeble old horse, wound a bird, or a hare, for mere sport; twirl a cockchafer on a crooked pin, or even intentionally trample under foot a snail or worm, that is doing them no injury. The merciful man rejoices in the happiness of all creation around him, and in the indulgence of his benevolent emotions, he shares no common joy; for the bliss of God himself consists in the constant exercise of his love to angels and to men, and to every thing into whom he has infused his vital spirit; and were this disposition universally to prevail, cock-fighting, dog-fighting, bull-baiting, and all cruel and degrading sports, would for ever be abolished. "Man would no more go forth and act as a demon, commissioned to kill, to destroy, and to cause to perish : he would no more taste the diabolical delight of seeing creatures pant, and foam, and writhe in agony, nor boast himself on the extent of the havoc caused by his murderous shot. Nature protests against such cruel deeds; humanity deplores them; while religion lifts her awful voice, and declares that they shall not escape

the punishment of an all-seeing, a righteous, and sin avenging God!"

The groans of our dumb animals are daily wearying heaven, and their blood crieth to it from the ground; and it is a duty incumbent on Christian ministers, more than any other class of men, to endeavour to repress this great evil. From what place more suitable can such duties be enforced than the pulpit? What day so appropriate for the blessed work as the Sabbath? which is a weekly testimony of the tenderness with which the Almighty regards that injured portion of his creatures. Make it

then your delight to mitigate the horrors of cruelty. It is a duty you can neither postpone nor neglect. You cannot plead ignorance; the aboundings of cruelty, the outraged feelings of humanity, the dictates of conscience, and the laws of God, demand it at our hands, The spirit of cruelty is daring, and is daily growing more so; and if our religion and our moral principles are weak and lukewarm, given to connive, and to apologize, and to compromise, they will never be able to cope with it, much less successfully to withstand it. And if examples of successful perseverance in this good cause are necessary to stimulate to exertion, the following will, I trust, be amply sufficient.

Staffordshire, for ages, has been notoriously distinguished for bull-baiting, and the numerous collieries of Tipton and its vicinity have produced thousands of beings, who being trained in their infancy to the love and practice of bullbaiting, possess nothing human (when arrived at man's estate) but the form. Ignorant,

vulgar, and wicked to excess, their ferocious rage for this cruel and barbarous amusement knew no bounds, would brook no controul. Against these, the Rev. John Howells, the clergyman of that parish for twenty years, with unceasing zeal, "warred a good warfare," and so successful were his exertions to rescue the poor suffering bull from these demons in human shape, that the year 1827 was gloriously distinguished by the total extirpation of the cruel sport. Not a bull was to be found in the whole parish kept for the purpose of being baited at the wake. Thus he gave most convincing proof what great things may be accomplished by zealously persevering in the cause of God, and established the truth of the exhortation of the apostle, Gal. vi. 9, "Be not weary in welldoing, for in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not,"

Mrs. Manby (a very pious lady lately deceas ed) for several years superintended the Female National School, at Horseley Heath, Tipton, and she regularly, on the Sabbath morning, directed the attention of the children to this very important subject, and in a little time her labours were crowned with abundant success; (to which I can bear pleasing testimony) the birds built their nests, and reared their young unmolested within the walls of the school; nay, while the classes were employed, the pleasing, harmless creatures descended among them, to pick up the crumbs which the admiring children had thrown for them. If, by chance, a butterfly entered this asylum of mercy, the boys eagerly strove (contrary to the natural propen

sity of children) which should with the greatest care set it at liberty; and if they perceived an insect upon the floor, they instantly made a way that it might pass them in safety. As a contrast to this, let me add, that some children, from another school, once attended, by appointment, my school, at Horseley Heath, who took an opportunity, during my absence, to plunder a bird's nest, then within the school, and to throw the naked young ones about the room in sport!

The Rev. Richard Amner, (my beloved tutor) fifty years ago, regularly preached a sermon to the youth of his congregation against cruelty to animals on the Sunday preceding Shrove Tuesday (a day particularly set apart for the horrid practice of cock-fighting.) And in those sermons he pointed out the different species of cruelty youth were prone to indulge in; such as twirling cockchafers on a pin, pulling the legs and wings from flies, killing butterflies, pelting and bruising frogs, &c., in addition to what are called the more manly sports, such as bull-baiting, cock-fighting, dog-fighting, and the tying a poor harmless cock to a stake, and then throwing at him with sticks, till his legs were broken, or the creature killed! And there are numbers now living, whom I well know, who bear testimony to the good effects of those practical sermons.

On Sunday, Nov. 4, 1833, (being Sedgley wake) the Rev. John Hill, Minister of the Independant Chapel, Gornal, in the parish of Sedgley, preached a sermon to his congregation on cruelty to animals, particularly bull-baiting :