described to us in those sublime terms which are peculiar to the Scripture. Thou makest darkness that it may be night; wherein all the beasts of the forest do move. The lions roaring after their prey do seek their meat from God. The sun ariseth, and they get them away together, and lay them down in their dens. (Then) man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening; and those serviceable worthy creatures, which are the conpanions of his labour, go along with him—O Lord, how manifold are thy works; in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches! All creatures wait upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. When thou givest it them, they gather it; and when thou openest thine hand they are filled with good. How great is this idea! the hand of man scatters food to the few creatures that are about him; but when the hand of God is opened, a world is fed and satisfied.

The usefulness of cattle to the support, comfort, and convenience of man, is a topic which would carry us out to a great length. The state of man, as an inhabitant of this world, could not be maintained without them. From cattle we have food, and raiment, and assistance, and employment. How wisely and mercifully is it ordained, that those creatures which afford us wholesome nourishment are disposed to live with us, that we may live upon them: their milk is so agreeable to the human constitution, and so pleasant in itself, that it is celebrated among the first blessings of the promised land. The wool of the sheep gives us clothing, such as the world cannot equal; and late discoveries explain to us an essential difference between the vegetable clothing and the animal; the former of which draws off, the latter retains and promotes animal heat; and is found to assist in the cure of some very critical distempers. What would

the labour of man avail, without the strength and patience of beasts to assist him in the cultivation of the earth, and the necessary business of life? even the fiercest of creatures made to be taken and destroyed *, have their use; for, in taking and destroying them, man is employed; and so one great purpose of his present life is answered. Whoever considers this, will find, that the true state of nature is a state of society; in which men necessarily unite against the beasts of the field, which would otherwise prevail against them and he is fittest to be a leader in natural society, who can best defend others against their natural enemies the beasts. Thus from the nature of wild beasts arises one of the employments of man, which is that of hunting; to which war is nearly allied, as another sort of hunting; and it should never be entered upon, but for reasons the same with those which arm us against the beasts that would devour us; that is, for self-defence; though it is too true in fact, that men hunt men for their spoils, as they hunt wild beasts for their skins; and the scalps of men are the trophies of some, as the scalps of foxes are nailed up by others against the wall.

Hunters and warriors make a great figure in the world; but he that feeds the sheep is more honourably employed than he who pursues the lion. The attendance of man upon those innocent creatures which God hath ordained for his use, is an employment which succeeded to the life of Paradise. The holy patriarchs and servants of God were taught to prefer the occupations of shepherds. Their riches consisted in flocks and herds: and it was their pleasure, as well as their labour, to wait upon them in tents, amidst the various and beautiful scenery of the

2 Pet. ii. 12.

mountains, the groves, the fields, and streams of water. The fancy of man hath always been delighted with the simple pleasures of the pastoral life; which probably afforded matter to the first poetry before the tumultuous scenes of war and slaughter had been celebrated in verse. Whatever the improvements of modern times may be, the imagination has a pleasure in resigning them all, to dwell upon the less improved manners of those who lived in the purer ages. O happy state of health, innocence, plenty, and pleasure; plenty without luxury, and pleasure without corruption! How far preferable to that artificial state of life, into which we have been brought by overstrained refinements in civilization, and commerce too much extended! where corruption of manners, unnatural, and consequently unhealthy modes of living, perplexity of law, consumption of property, and other kindred evils, conspire to render life so vain and unsatisfactory, that many throw it away in despair, as not worth having. A false glare of tinselled happiness is found amongst the rich and the great, with such distressing want and misery amongst the poor, as nature knows nothing of; and which can arise only from the false principles and selfish views and expedients of a weak and degenerate policy.

It hath been made a question, whether the world and the creatures that belong to it were made for the benefit of man: which question was well argued, and wisely determined in the affirmative, by the philosophical orator of Rome: but the modern infidel, to make man an inconsiderable being, has a strong propensity to the negative; and some poets, in their way of arguing, have attempted to make the subject ridiculous. We see that even the fiercest creatures have their use, by driving men into society for their mutual defence. All creatures in general are the sub

jects of man, whose dominion is established by a charter from heaven. By the reason and understanding of man the swiftest are overtaken, and the strongest are overpowered: he can take them as his property, manage them as his servants, confine them as his captives, and destroy them at his pleasure: they are impressed with a fear and dread of him, as if they were sensible of his power. Most of them serve to some natural use; but all have their intellectual use, in giving necessary ideas and lessons of wisdom to the mind of man. The goodness of God is no where more manifest than in this intellectual application of brute animals and their properties; no one creature upon earth can make that use of man, which man makes of all the rest; in rendering himself, if he will, a better reasoner, a better citizen, a more devout worshipper of God. This is so important a part of our present subject, so curious in itself, and so necessary to the improvement of the human understanding, that I must beg your attention, while I dwell upon it as far as the time will permit.

1. First then, we borrow from beasts, cattle, and creeping things of the earth, many of our best ideas of moral good and evil. As it was said by Solomon, "Go to the ant, consider her ways and be wise;" so might it be said, with parity of reason, go to the sheep for a pattern of submission and obedience; go to the ox for an example of patient labour; go to the swine; consider its stubborn disposition, its intemperance, and beastly uncleanness; and thence learn to abhor and avoid them. The passage taken by St. Paul from the the poet Callimachus contains a plain allusion to the unprofitable character of this beast-" The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies *:" for the

# Κρήτες αει Ψευται, κακα θηρία, γαςέρες αργα. Τit. i. 12.

swine of the Eastern countries drags its belly upon the ground, and is so incapable of speed, that it can scarcely walk. And such is man, if he is a slave to his bodily appetites; his feet are retarded by the heaviness of his nature, and he can make no progress in any work that is good, useful, or ingenious.

The first man was instructed in Paradise from the qualities of brute creatures, which God summoned before him for his observation. The first writing in the world was by pictures and forms of animal life, for the conveying of religious and moral truth to the mind, before alphabetical writing was in use. These forms or likenesses had been abused by the idolaters of Egypt; so God forbad the use of them, and appointed the alphabetical signatures in their stead; which still retain some traces of the old animal forms*. The moral fables of antiquity are chiefly founded on the properties and manners of brute creatures, which are made to converse and reason according to the views and tempers of each, and so to give notice of the ways of different sorts of men. Thus also did God instruct his people in the law of Moses, by ordering their diet as they were to order their conversation. The unclean, and the rapacious, were prohibited, and, as it were, excommunicated; the useful, gentle, and obedient were selected for food and sacrifice. The prophets explain things in the same way. Isaiah describes the conversion of cruel and immoral heathens to the Gospel of peace under the figure of a miraculous reformation amongst the wild beasts of the earth; when the lion should eat straw like the ox, the wolf and the lamb should feed together, and all the sa

* See some very ingenious observations on the Origin and Progress of Alphabetic Writing, by the Rev. Mr. Davy, printed for Cadell.