it may be observed that rewards are fre quently offered to those who will procure them for the chase; that large woods or covers are frequently allotted them, that they may breed, and perpetuate their species for the same purpose; and that a poor man in the neighbourhood of a fox-hunter would be sure to experience his displeasure, if he were caught in the destruction of any of these animals.

With respect to the mode of destroying them in either of these cases, it is not as expeditious as it might be made by other means. It is, on the other hand, peculiarly cruel. A poor animal is followed, not for minutes, but frequently for an hour, and sometimes for hours, in pain and agony. Its sufferings begin with its first fear. Under this fear, perpetually accompanying it, it flies from the noise of horses and of horsemen, and the cries of dogs: it pants for breath, till the panting becomes difficult and painful: it becomes wearied even to misery, yet dares not rest: and, under a complication of these sufferings, it is at length overtaken, and often literally torn to pieces by its pursuers.

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Hunting,

Hunting, therefore, does not appear, in the opinion of the Quakers, to be followed for any of those purposes which alone, according to the original charter, give mankind a right over the lives of brutes. It is neither followed for food, nor for prevention of injury to man, or to the creatures belonging to him. Neither is life taken away by means of it as mercifully as it ought to be, according to the meaning of the great condition*. But if hunting be not justifiable when examined upon these three principles, it can never be justifiable, in the opinion of the Quakers, when it is followed on the principle of pleasure. All destruction of animal life upon this last principle must come within the charge of wanton cruelty, and be considered as a violation of a moral law.

* The netting of animals for food is perfectly unobjectionable upon these principles.

VOL. I.

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SECTION

SECTION III.

Diversions of the field judged, secondly, by the morality of the New Testament-The renovated man, or Christian, has a clearer knowledge of creation and of its uses-he views animals as the creatures of God-hence he finds animals to have rights, independently of any written law— he collects, again, new rights from the benevolence of his new feelings-and new rights, again, from the written word of Revelation.

THE Quakers try the lawfulness of these diversions, again, by the morality of the New Testament. They adopt, in the first place, upon this occasion, the idea of George Fox and of Edward Burroughs, which has been already stated; and they follow it up in the manner which I shall now explain.

They believe that a man under the new Covenant, or one who is really a Christian, is a renovated man. As long as Adam preserved his primæval innocence, or continued in the image of his Maker, his spiritual vision was clear. When he lost this image, it be, came dim, short, and confused. This is the case, the Quakers believe, with every apo

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state or wicked man. He sees through a vitiated medium. He sees, of course, nothing of the harmony of the creation. He has but a confused knowledge of the natures and ends of things. These natures and these ends he never examines as he ought, but, in the confusion of his moral vision, he abuses and perverts them. Hence it generally happens that an apostate man is cruel to his brute. But in proportion as he is restored to the divine image, or becomes as Adam was before he fell, or in proportion as he exchanges earthly for spiritual views, he sees all things through a clearer medium. It is then, the Quakers believe, that the creation is opened to him, and that he finds the Creator has made nothing in vain. It is then that he knows the natures of things, that he estimates their uses and their ends, and that he will never stretch these beyond their proper bounds. Beholding animals in this sublime light, he will appretiate their strength, their capacities, and their feelings; and he will never use them but for the purposes intended by Providence. It is then that the creation will delight him. It is then that he will find a growing love to the animated

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animated objects of it. And this knowledge of their natures, and this love of them, will oblige him to treat them with due tenderness and respect. Hencé, all animals will have a security in the breast of every Christian, or renovated man, against oppression - or abuse. He will never destroy them wantonly, nor put them to unnecessary pain. Now the Quakers are of opinion that every person who professes Christianity ought to view things as the man who is renovated would view them, and that it therefore becomes them in particular, as a body of highly professing Christians, to view them in the same manner. Hence, they uniformly look upon animals not as brute-machines, to be used at discretion, but as the creatures of God, of whose existence the use and intention ought always to be considered, and to whom duties arise out of this spiritual feeling, independently of any written law in the Old Testament, or any grant or charter, by which their happiness might be secured.

The Quakers, therefore, viewing animals in this light, believe that they are bound to treat them accordingly. Hence, the instigation of two horses by whips and spurs,

for