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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



authority to be taken away when these animals are 

 necessary for our food, or when they endanger our 

 existence. This permission was first granted, im 

 mediately after the flood, to Noah arid his descen 

 dants. v God said to Noah and his sons ; every 

 thing that moveth shall be meat for you ; even 

 as the green herb have I given you all things.&quot; 

 Without such a positive grant from the Creator, 

 man could have had no more right to take away 

 the life of an ox or a sheep, than he has to imbrue 

 his hands in the blood, or to feast on the flesh of 

 his fellow-men. To takt the life of any sensitive 

 being, and to feed on its flesh, appears incompa 

 tible with a state of innocence ; and, therefore, no 

 such grant was given to Adam in paradise ; nor 

 does it appear that the Antedeluvians, notwith 

 standing their enormous crimes, ever feasted on 

 the flesh of animals. It appears to have been a 

 grant suited only to the degraded state of man 

 after the deluge ; and, it is probable, that as he 

 advances in the scale of moral perfection, in the 

 future ages of the world, the use of animal food 

 will be gradually laid aside, and he will return 

 again to the productions of the vegetable kingdom, 

 as the original food of man, and as that which is 

 best suited to the rank of rational and moral 

 intelligence. And, perhaps, it may have an in 

 fluence, in combination with other favourable 

 circumstances, in promoting health and longevity. 

 But, although the inferior animals are, in the 

 mean time, su jected to our use, no permission 

 is granted to t eat them with harshness or cruelty, 

 or to kill them for the sake of sport and amuse 

 ment. And, therefore, the man who wantonly 

 takes away the lives of birds, hares, fishes, and 

 other animals, for the mere gratification of a 

 taste for hunting or fishing, can scarcely be ex 

 culpated from the charge of a breach of this com 

 mandment. 



The above are the principal exceptions which 

 the Creator has made in reference to the law 

 under consideration. And it may not be impro 

 per to remark, that, besides the direct act of 

 murder, every thing that leads to it, or that has 

 a tendency to endanger life, is to be considered 

 as forbidden in this commandment. All un- 

 kindness and harsh treatment exercised towards 

 servants, dependants, and brute animals, by 

 which life may be shortened or rendered intole 

 rable all furious and revengeful passions, which 

 may lead to acts of violence all quarrelling, 

 fighting, and boxing, either for bets, or for the 

 gratification of hatred or revenge all wishes for 

 the death of others, and all contrivances either 

 direct or indirect to compass the destruction of 

 our neighbour all criminal negligence by which 

 our own life or the life of others may be endan 

 gered or destroyed and all those actions by 

 which murder may be committed as a probable 

 effect, as the burning of inhabited houses, and 

 the throwing of the instruments of death into the 

 midst of a crowd are to be regarded as involv 



ing the principle of murder, as well as the direct 

 acts of suicide, duelling, and assassination ; and, 

 consequently, as violations of that law which 

 extends to the secret purposes of the heart, as 

 well as to the external actions. Even unreason 

 able anger, malice, and scurrility are declared 

 by our Saviour to be a species of murder : &quot; Who 

 soever is angry with his brother without a cause, 

 shall be in danger of the judgment, and whoso 

 ever shall say to his brother, Raca&quot; that is, ihou 

 worthless empty fellow, &quot; shall be in danger of 

 the council.&quot;* Life is desirable only as it is 

 connected with enjoyment, and, therefore, when 

 a man treats his brother with such a degree of 

 hatred and scurrility, as to render his existence 

 either unpleasant or intolerable, he ought to be 

 ranked among the class of murderers. For the 

 apostle John declares, without the least limita 

 tion, that &quot; whosoever hateth his brother is a 

 murderer, and he that loveth not his brother 

 abideth in death.&quot; And, if this criterion be ad- 

 milted, a train of murderers will be found exist 

 ing in society far more numerous than is gene 

 rally supposed. 



It would be needless to attempt an illustration 

 of the consequences which would ensue, were 

 the breach of this law to become universal. It 

 is obvious, on the slightest reflection, that were 

 this to happen, human society would soon cease 

 to exist. That prophecy which was given forth 

 respecting Ishmael would then receive a most 

 terrible and extensive accomplishment, in the 

 case of every human agent : &quot; His hand shall be 

 against every man, and every man s hand against 

 him.&quot; Every man would assume the character 

 of an infernal fiend ; every lethal weapon would 

 be prepared and furnished for slaughter ; every 

 peaceful pursuit and employment nould be in 

 stantly abandoned ; the voice of wailing and the 

 yells of fury and despair, would be heard in every 

 family, in every village, in every city, in every 

 field, in every kingdom, and in every clime. 

 Every house, every street, every valley, every fo 

 rest, every river, every mountain, and every con 

 tinent would be strewed with fearful devastation, 

 and with the mangled carcasses of the slain. The 

 work of destruction would go on with dreadful 

 rapidity, till the whole race of man were extir 

 pated from the earth, leaving this vast globe a 

 scene of solitude and desolation, an immense 

 sepulchre, and a spectacle of horror to all supe 

 rior intelligences. And, let it be remembered, 

 that such a picture, horrible and revolting as it 

 is, is nothing more than what would be the no- 



Math. v. 22. Christ, in this passage, refers to a 

 court among the Jews, composed of twenty-three 

 men, wherein capital sentences might be passed 

 on which a malefactor might he strangled or be 

 headed : this was called the Judgment. But the 

 Sanhedrim, or Council, was the supreme Jewish 

 court, consisting of seventy-two; in which the 

 highest crimes were tried, which they, and the? 

 alone, punished with stoning, which was conskwr- 

 ed a more terrible death than the former. 



