The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-07-09
The Speech of Balaam's ASS.

The Speech of Balaam's ASS.
The long-eared brute on which the
irritable prophet rode was the representa-
tive orator of his race and not for them
only but for the whole brute creation.
In these days it is no remarkable thing
for donkeys to talk-as our public assem-
blies can testify-but their speeches have
neither the pathos nor the pith of their
four-legged compeer. Skeptics and scott
ers have made merry over the idea of an
ass uttering Ineligible words. There is
an ingenious hypothesis that as BALKAN
was diviner accustomed to interpret the
cries of birds and beasts, he interpreted
the natural sounds and movements of the
ass as remonstrance against his violent
treatment, and by strong Oriental fancy
translated them into actual speech. Very
ingenious this but the Apostle Peter had
never heard of this theory when he said
that I" the dumb ass, speaking with mans
voice, stayed the madness of the prophet"
What Peter believed can believe. Ger
tainly if the representative of an ill.used
race was ever endowed with the power of
speech even for once, he could not have
spoken more effectually than in those
pathetic words, !" Am not thine ass upon
which thou hast ridden ever since l was
thine unto this day Was l ever won't
to do 30 unto thee?" Well said poor
belabored beast of burden, who hadst
more penetration to discover the angel in
the road than had thy cruel owner blinded
with his rage The whole animal creation
found voice in thy righteous remon-
STRANGE. Assuredly if all the overloaded,
beaten, and abominably ill-used horses in
our streets could speak, each would say to
its brutal driver, {" Am not thy faithful
servant whom thou hast driven ever since
l was thine, and have ever done 80 unto
thee?" There is stately monument in
Greenwood Cemetery to the founder of the
society for the prevention of cruelty to
animals but the germ.idea of this noble
institution was born in the short and
sensible speech of Balaam's long-suffering
ass. The religion of the Bible is the only
religion that enjoins kindness to our poor
relations of the animated creation. ga
righteous man regardeth the life of his
beast" The original Hebrew word signi-
fies knoweth" the feelings of these faith
full servants. One of the most character.
istic incidents in the life of Abraham Lin.
coin occurred when he was young lawyer
riding home from court with a company
of lawyers. He espied two little birds by
the roadside that had been blown out Of
their nest. He dismounted and searched
for the nest and the mother. Half an
hour afterwards he overlook his brother
lawyers, who laughed at him but in 6
most serious tone Lincoln said to them
Gentlemen, could not have slept to
night if | had not given those little birds
back to their mother" There spake ou
the big loving heart which afterwards
throbbed in sympathy for whole ract
that lay suffering by the wsyside-
wronged and wounded by an hundred
years of bondage. We count that one o.
the finest of Lincoln's innumerabl strokes
of heart-elc quence. But Balaam's as
gave utterance to principle profoundel
and more far-reaching than that of mere.
to the speechless brutes. 1t is the principle
of so using power as to ensure justice
and kindness to all inferior. 1t brache
out into several Bible precepts. One Of
these golden exhortations is, Fathers
provoke not your children to wrath.
paul seems to have had too high al
opinion of mothers to include them in the
caution.) Many a hard.handed father
has driven hayward son to desperation
and destruction. "The nurture of tn,
Lord" means more than instruction il
Gods commandments it means also thu
patient forbearance which God extends Il
his wayward children. "Masters Civ,
unto your servants that which is just ant
equal" is another divine law of kindness
to the dependent classes. 1t is the onl,
righteous solution of the conflicts between
capital and labor. Translated into on
modern speech it reads Employers, Civ
unto your employees that which is jus
and fair-knowing that ye also have al
Employer in heaven" See to it tina
those whom you hire are neither over
worked or underpaid. If Bible religion
has given birth to Henry Bergh's nobl
charity for brutes, it has likewise pre-
duced the societies for the prevention o
cruelty to children, and early closing as
sociations for clerks, apprentices ant
shopgirls. Wider still may this prin
ciple be pushed. 1t reaches to our dali
treatment of all who are inferior in socis
position and in mental capacity. In God
sight a bootblack is on q par with
banker. 1t is good rule-when dealin
with those who do the drudgeries of lif
to take every man at his own estimate
My wood.sawyer is as much man in hi
own eyes as l can possibly be in min'
Christianity is the one rational demot
racy; for it not only recognizes the On
Fatherhood, and the common brothe
hood, but it commands the strong to bes
the infirmities of the weak. What wei
oripples and weaklings and fools mad
for? To be driven to the wall, to
cheated, and trampled on, and taken &C
vantage of No; but to be protected
the strong must guard the weak; brain
are given to some in order to provid
refuge and relief to their feebler fellow
mortals, and not to weave webs to cate
and plumber them. "Bear ye one anotl
er's burdens is the sublimest princip
, of ethics ever launched into this col
world. II is 80 heaven-born MAXI