Seventh Argument.

SEVENTH ARGUMENT.

IF by nature mankind know not the Lord to be their God, is it surprising that beasts should not know mankind to be their lords? Nevertheless, reason agrees with Scripture in maintaining, that man, by far the noblest work of God here below, should, according to the reason and fitness of things, bear rule over all the sublunary creation. But, alas! even in this respect, “how is the crown fallen from his head!” Inferior animals have as little regard for him as he has for his God.

Notwithstanding his artful contrivances, greedy birds and mischievous beasts eat up, trample down, or destroy, part of the fruit of his rural labour. In warmer climes, armies of locusts, more terrible than hosts of men, frequently darken the air, or cover the ground, and equally mock at human power and craft. Wherever they light, all verdure disappears, and the summer’s fruitfulness is turned into wintry desolation.

If locusts do not reach this happy island, caterpillars, and a variety of other seemingly insignificant, but really formidable insects, make a more constant, though less general attack upon our trees and gardens. In vain are they destroyed by millions; they cannot be fully conquered; and the yearly returning plague forces the considerate spectator to acknowledge the finger of a sin-avenging Providence.

Happy would it be for man, if rebellious animals were satisfied with the produce of his fields and orchards: but, alas! they thirst after his blood, and attack his person. Lions, tigers, rattlesnakes, crocodiles, and sharks, whenever they have an opportunity, impetuously attack, furiously tear, and greedily devour him. And what is most astonishing, the basest reptiles are not afraid to breed in his stomach, to live in his very bowels, and to consume his inward parts: while swarms of flying, leaping, or creeping insects, too vile to be named, but not to humble a proud apostate, have the insolence to fix upon his skin; and by piercing or furrowing his flesh, suck his blood, and feast upon him from his cradle to the grave. Domestic animals, it is true, do man excellent service. But, is it not because he either forces, or bribes them to it, by continual labour and expense, with which he breaks and maintains them? What business have multitudes of men but to serve the drudges of mankind? What are smiths, farriers, farmers’ servants, grooms, hostlers, &c, but the slaves of brutes, washing, currying, shoeing, feeding, and waiting upon them both by day and by night?

And yet, notwithstanding the prerogative granted to Noah’s piety, Genesis 9:2, and the care taken of domestic animals, do they not rebel as often as they dare? Here, sheep, deemed the quietest of all, run astray, or break into the field of a litigious neighbour. There, the furious bull pursues and gores, or the raging dog sets upon and tears the inoffensive traveller. To-day you read that an impetuous, foaming steed hath hurried away, thrown off, and dragged along his unfortunate master, whose blood sprinkling the dust, and brains dashed upon the stones, direct the search of his disconsolate friend: and to-morrow you may hear that a vicious horse has darted his iron-fenced hoof into his attendant’s breast or forehead, and has lamed or killed him on the spot.

And would the wise Governor of the world, the kind Protector of his obedient creatures, permit this rebellion, even of the tamest animals, and basest vermin, against man, if man himself was not a daring rebel against him?

EIGHTH ARGUMENT.

That a contemptible insect should dare to set upon, and be able to devour a proud monarch, a Herod in the midst of his guards, is terrible: but the mischief stops not here. Numerous tribes of other base animals are armed with poisonous tongues or stings, and use them against mankind with peculiar rage. To say nothing of mad dogs, have not asps, vipers,f21 tarantulas, scorpions, and other venomous serpents and insects, the destructive skill of extracting the quintessence of the curse which sin, our moral poison, hath brought upon the earth? When we come within their reach, do they not bite or sting us with the utmost fury? And by infusing their subtle venom into our blood, spread they not anguish and destruction through our agonizing frame? Answer, ye thousands who died in the wilderness of the bite of fiery serpents; and ye multitudes, who, in almost all countries, have shared their deplorable fate.

Let us descend to the vegetable world. How many deceitful roots, plants, and fruits, deposit their pernicious juices in the stomach of those who unwarily feed upon them! Did not Elisha, and the sons of the prophets, narrowly escape being poisoned all together, by one of them fatally