Reverend T. B. Thater
Cruelty to Animals
Ladies Repository, A Universalist Monthly Magazine
「1871-May」 Rev. T. B. Thater, “Cruelty to Animals,” Ladies Repository: A Universalist Monthly Magazine 45「Google Books」(1871-May): 453-457.
And there is another point in this discussion which is mostly ignored, and yet is of no little weigh—I mean the rights of animals. Every creature, however humble and weak, has its natural rights as well as man. No living thing that God has made is left without its just privileges ,and its right to be exempted from all necessary suffering. Many people seem to think that in abusing animals they violate no moral law; that it is merely a matter of feeling whether they will or not, but not a question of moral or religious right or obligation.
But this is a great mistake, for the government of God, his laws and his protection are extended over all his works; and the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the cattle on a thousand hills, and the myriad insects floating in the atmosphere and crawling on the earth all have the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, each in its own way, as well as man. And any injustice or cruelty to them is as much a sin against the divine law of righteousness and mercy, as the same act toward man. The fact that animals are inferior creatures, and cannot assert their rights, nor defend themselves, instead of provoking injury and inviting wrong, is only, a generous mind, a more eloquent appeal against it— a stronger argument for human protection and kindness. (454)
Let parents and all good men discourage this practice, and set their faces against every species of cruelty to harmless and unoffending animals. Children should be specially instructed on this point, and their generous feelings and tender sympathies nurtured and developed into activity. tEach them that every creature God has made has its rights and privileges, and is entitled to protection, kindness and just treatment; and that cruelty to the least of these is a sin against the law of God, as much as a theft or falsehood. (456)
