216 A LESSON OF HUMANITY. 



her to escape, the leg being considerably swollen by the 

 attempts she had made to effect it. In the above dilemma, 

 how beautiful it is to perceive that she was constantly 

 condoled with, and her wants supplied by her fellow 

 Sparrows; Sparrows of humanity and generous feeling 

 they must have been. Let mankind take the lesson. It 

 is needless to say the poor bird was let away. 



We have here the Sparrows teaching us lessons of 

 humanity, without which it was thought by a heathen 

 community a man was not worthy of a place in the govern- 

 ment of his country. Thus we read that in Athens, on a 

 certain occasion, the senate of the Areopagites being assem- 

 bled together on a mountain, without any roof but heaven, 

 the senators perceived a bird of prey, which pursued a little 

 Sparrow that came to save itself in the bosom of one of the 

 company. This man, who was naturally harsh, threw it 

 from him so roughly that he killed it ; whereat the court 

 was offended, and a decree was made, by which he was 

 condemned and banished from the senate : here the 

 judicious may observe, that this company, which was at 

 that time one of the gravest in the world, did it not for 

 the care they had to make a law concerning Sparrows, but 

 it was to show that clemency and a merciful inclination 

 were necessary in a state : that a man destitute of them was 

 not worthy to hold any place in the government, he having 

 as it were renounced humanity. 



And these birds also teach us, as do all birds, lessons of 

 dependence on the fatherly care of God. We remember 

 the words of the Divine Preacher : * Are not two Sparrows 

 sold for a farthing ? and yet one of them shall not fall to 

 the ground without your Father .... ye are of more 

 value than many Sparrows.' Yes, indeed, the birds of the 

 air teach us many great lessons, but the one of which 

 we are now writing seems to have been especially chosen 

 to symbolise or define Divine truths. Socinus, in his 

 * History of the Anglo-Saxon Church,' cites an example of 

 this, when he tells us that a certain British chief, in refer- 

 ence to the new doctrine of Christianity, set forth in a 

 solemn assembly held for its consideration, said, * The life 

 of man, king, reminds me of a winter feast, around your 



