must be a benevolent man, not to deem it beneath the dignity of his great talents and experience to be employed exclusively about contrivances to assuage pain, to remove nuisances, to promote comfort, to prolong life; and that nothing was overlooked by him, not the safe exercise and amusement of the little child, nor even the comfort of the little bird that sings in our parlour, or the bee that stores up its honey in our garden. Now, such indicications of beneficent care for the happiness of his creatures we discover in all the works of the Great Creator. We see the wants of all provided for,suitable food placed within the reach of all, suitable clothing provided for them with wonderful skill, the heat and cold attempered to the structure of their bodies, and to their habitat and mode of life, their inclinations and enjoyments, so that every class of animals is fully satisfied with its own condition and means of enjoyment, and exults in the exuberance of life and vigour.

If, on the other hand, on visiting the repository of a mechanician, we should see that all his machines were contrived for mischief,-for the destruction of life and property, for occasioning annoyance and discomfort,-we might fairly draw the conclusion that he was a man of a cruel, morose, and malignant spirit.

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We visit an armoury, and enter into conversation with the keeper of it. We ask, What is the use of that sharp-pointed piece of polished steel at the end of a pole?" That," he tells us, "is used in stabbing men at some distance from us."-" But here are some similar sharp-pointed instruments without the pole,what are these?" These, you observe, have a short handle, and they are made for the purpose of stabbing men when they are close upon you.' Here, again, are some pretty long steel instruments, like large carving knives, with a sharp edge, and some of them very beautifully ornamented,-what is the use of these? "These are made to cut and hew down men, especially

if the person who uses them, be on horseback, and the men to be cut down, on foot. You may observe that some of them have sharp points as well as sharp edges, so that they may be used either for cutting or stabbing, as may be found most convenient. And nothing can be more glorious than to see a long range of men on horseback, in scarlet dresses trimmed with gold, and feathers waving in their caps, cutting, stabbing, and trampling under their horses' feet a multitude of men, and the rapidity with which the work is done. At the battle of Salamanca, about 1500 men were cut down, and their blood and bones trodden into the earth in about fifteen minutes."-"We shall say nothing of the glory of such a scene at present; but what are these smaller, lighter strips of wood, with a sharp point at one end and a feather at the other?" "These are called arrows; they were shot from bows, and men could be killed by them at the distance perhaps of fifty yards. Some of them, you may see, have barbs, or a sort of sharp hooks, behind the sharp points; the use of that contrivance was to prevent an arrow, that had penetrated the body of a man beyond the barbs, from being drawn out without cutting the flesh round about the wound to a considerable extent; thus adding greatly to his torture and danger of death. A further improvement on this contrivance was, that the points of the arrows were sometimes poisoned; so that nothing could save the life of the person who was wounded with them, however slightly. But these implements of glorious warfare have long been superseded, among all well-educated, scientific, and polished nations, by machines of much greater power. You observe this iron tube fixed in a wooden stock. By putting a little of the substance called gunpowder into the tube, a bullet may be darted from it with such velocity that a man may easily be killed by it at the distance of two hundred yards, or by a random shot at a much greater distance."-" But we observe

that some of these tubes have a sharp-pointed instrument fastened to the end of the tube,-is that also darted to a distance by the gunpowder?" "O, not at all! That is a very ingenious and admirable invention. You may observe that it is fastened to the tube in such a manner that the bullet passes through the handle of it; so that if the person who uses it has attempted to shoot a man at a distance, and has missed his aim, he can then run at him, and stab him with the sharppointed instrument, which we call a bayonet, at the end of his iron tube, which we call a musket or carbine. But here is a machine of the same nature, but of much greater power. You observe the tube is much wider, and capable of receiving a much larger quantity of gunpowder. It is called a cannon, and will dart out a ball of six, ten, twenty, forty, or as high as sixty pounds' weight, so as to kill men at a vast distance, break in the sides of ships, sink them, and drown all the people on board of them, break down the ramparts of fortified places, and admit soldiers to massacre their garrisons."—" Very wonderful! But pray what is that large globe of iron, with a little hole in it?"-" That is a very ingenious machine. It is, as you may see, hollow, and when it is to be used, it is filled with gunpowder, and fired off from a short wide-mouthed cannon, called a mortar, and if it light upon a house, it is so heavy that it will break down through the roof, and through the different floors to the very ground, and then it will explode and blow the house, and every person in it, to atoms."-" But, then, might there not be women and children in the house, and might they not be destroyed at the same time?"—" Doubtless a besieging army cannot tell in what houses there may be women and children, and these must only take their chance in such cases. But the most recent and most scientific invention is this large, long, pointed thing, which we call a rocket. If these be pointed towards a city, and fire applied to

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them, they will fly off with great velocity, with a long train of fire blazing from them; they will stick to the roofs of houses, enter at windows and doors, and, as they cannot be extinguished, they will set a whole town on fire in an incredibly short space of time."- "These are all very ingenious and very wonderful machines; but who invented them?"-" Various distinguished individuals; some philosophers, some officers in the army and navy. A monk, for example, is said to have discovered the power of gunpowder; but I assure you it was not in a day that they reached their present perfection. These machines are the result of the accumulated study and skill of many centuries, especially among scientific polished Christian nations.' have observed machines similar to some of these described by Milton; but he ascribes the invention of them to the devil. He must, however, we suppose, be in error."

"We

Now, when we look abroad over the face of nature, we everywhere see the most consummate skill at work in providing for the enjoyment of all sensitive creatures, from the largest to the most minute. It is true, there are creatures furnished with formidable implements for preying upon other creatures. But, in the first place, these powers of destruction are not employed in perpetrating acts of wanton cruelty. They are given to the creatures that possess them for enabling them to procure their food. In the next place, to the creatures on which they prey, death is not the same formidable event that it is to men. None of them live under the

apprehension of it before it comes. When it does come, it appears to be accompanied, in a vast majority of cases, with very little pain. Facts have been observed, indicating that, in the tribes of fishes, reptiles, insects, and molluscs, sensitiveness to pain is very small; the loss of a limb, or even some more essential part of their body, scarcely interrupting them in eating their

food, or in the ease and freedom of their movements. But it must be admitted that there are scenes of revolting cunning and ferocity among the inferior animals, from which it is impossible for a sensitive mind not to recoil. To account for these perpetual exhibitions of cunning and ferocity, of stronger animals preying on the weaker, seizing upon them, tearing them to pieces, devouring them, or sucking their blood, we must remember that, among the highest order of creatures on the earth-the only creatures capable of moral good and evil, there is a fearful amount of moral turpitude, and violent propensity in the strong to oppress the weak-an appalling selfishness, and rapacity, and cruelty; which malignant dispositions, in rational and moral creatures created capable of being governed by the laws of justice and humanity, must be held in deep abhorrence by that Being whose operations are manifest everywhere, and whose goodness and beneficence are so unequivocally exhibited. Now, these exhibitions of apparent selfishness, and rapacity, and cunning, and cruelty in the inferior animals, are not moral evil; for the animals in which they appear are not moral agents; they are only obeying the instincts which have been given to them. But these instincts, although not moral evil, are yet images of moral evil. We cannot observe the stealthy, soft, silent creeping of the lion or cat tribe towards their prey, their furious spring, and the avidity with which they tear and devour their harmless and helpless victims; nor the similar cunning and artifices of the spider, its rush on its helpless prey, its venomous bite, the sucking of its blood, and the hanging up of its dead body near the mouth of its den; nor the sly, smooth gliding of the serpent tribe, and its sudden and deadly bite,-without having presented to our minds most striking images of the hatefulness of selfish rapacity, or wrong and violence and unfeeling cruelty, and without being moved with compassion for the helpless sufferers. In these movements