The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-01-26
Be YE MERCIFUL
A Wears Sermon on
Cruelty to Animals.
Observation of Sir Edwin Arnod-Mo
hammed'S Decree - The
Dumb Animals.
(By Rev. W J. Hooking, Vicar of All
Saints. Tufnell Park, LOndOn.)

(By Rev ". ]. Hooking, Vicar of All
Saints. Tufnell Park, LOndOn.)
"A righteous man regardeth the life
of his beast, but the wicked are cruel"
BE We therefore merciful."
1t has been laid at the door of the
Christian religion-sometimes as a slur
by the scoffer, sometimes as an indict-
ment by the skeptic, sometimes as a
matter of deepest regret by Christians
themselves, that the animal kingdom
outside man finds no recognitions in
its creeds, its moral maXims or it's
ethical dogmas; that animals are sell
dom mentioned except as the servants
of. or as food for, the lord of creation.
Sir Edwin Arnold says: All Chris
tian peoples stand for the most part a
sadly long way behind those of the
East in their conduct to animals. Good
Buddhists never intentionally take
away life at all. By a single decree OF
Mohammed the whole of Islam acts a
thousand times more kindly to animals
than Christendom."
1t is narrated of MOhammed that one
day a young Meccan peasant brought
to him two young pigeons which the
feathered mother had followed all the
way from the nest. ''See!" said Mo-
manned, ''she has more courage than
the stoutest of my spearsmen! She
braves instant death for her young
lings! Do you dream Allah created the
heart of a dove like this, that you
should carelessly spill the love and life
forth from it at your fancy? bid We
give back her couplets to that mother
bird, and henceforth never shall any
true believer presume to Stay Dlrd or
a beast for food without first asking
pardon from God and patience for the
victim, repeating these words: In the
name of God. the Compassionate To
the credit of Mohammedanism be 1t
said never since that day has any de-
vout Mussulman tasted the flesh of
bird or beast over which the hallal has
not thus been pronounced. Is there not
tenderness enough in our Christian
sentiment to effect a similar thing?
Are the followers of the gentle Christ
to be less gentle than the Mussulman?
| want YOU to think of mans relation
to the animal world. And first grasp
this fact that man and every other Nv
ing creature have a common origin.
do not care what theories you hold as
TO life improvement; l do not care
whether you follow Moses or Darwin IN
accounting for the phenomena of life
upon earth-this is a fact which cannot
be gainsaid, that man shares with
every animal that lives the primal and
the constituent elements of life.
WOndrOuS similarity also exists be-
tween many of the organs and organic
functions in man and those of other
animals Speaking of ourselves we say
in the language of the old Hebrew
poet, For l am fearfully and wonder
fully made; but the smallest insect
that spreads its gossamer wings under
the glowing rays of the summers sun
EQUALS if it does not surpasS, us in the
fearfulness and wonderfulness of its
creation There is evidence of as much
creative skill, as much marvellous de-
sign, in the bee, the butterfly, the hum
and the eagle, as in what
calls 1.-The paragon of ami
mails man. The deniZenS of the
mighty depths of ocean, as well as
those that skim and float and fly in the
vaulted dome of heaven, vie with man
in Witnessing to the studious care dis
played by God in the adaptation OF
faculty to function and function 10 en-
AS far, too, as provision
for their mere animal wants is concern
ed, it is as abundant for the brute as
for the man. OF the birds of the air
Christ said: Your heavenly father
feedeth them" and we read also, 1.-The
eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou
givest them their meat in due season.
He filleth all things living with plen-
Secondly, l want to emphasize the
fact that animals possess, along with
man, though not in the same degree,
he powers of volitiOn for constructive,
and pleasurable ends.
Time was when men disputed that
animals had minds; instinct was al
owed them, but reason denied them.
That disputatiOn has now been remov-
ed into the limbo of dead fOllies. Not
o ignore the tremendous difference
between the pOtentialitieS and attain
nentS of human reason and those or
he reason of the brutes, we have come
o discern-and that so clearly as to
cave no room for dOubt-that animals |
1etray intelligence. and in many cases |
Of a very marked and high degree; !
hat they share with us many of the !
liner feelings and emotions; that they /