OPINIONS OF GREAT AUTHORS 85 



entirely and hopelessly separated from that animal 

 world in which many of the deepest of our inter- 

 ests are to be found. It would seem strange to us 

 to think that man should have this world as his 

 home, and should form those wonderful and beauti- 

 ful relations with many of the animals below him 

 that he now does, and then afterwards, in the new 

 earth, these relations should cease, and that God is 

 then to be looked on henceforth as the God of hu- 

 man beings only, and not of the animal creation. 

 But when we think of animals as being objects of 

 God's creative love, it at once puts us in a new rela- 

 tion towards them and gives us a new hope about 

 their future." 



Kev. H. Kirby, of England, says : " "We are led 

 to conclude that the suffering, violence, and death 

 which animals have to endure, either at the hand 

 of man or of other animals, did not exist until 

 after the fall of man, and that therefore they are 

 one of the consequences of sin. In other words, 

 the lower animals, who themselves are not guilty 

 of any sin, are nevertheless, undergoing a share of 

 the punishment due to man's sin. 



" This would lead us to suppose, from what we 

 know of God's goodness, justice, and equity, that if 



