SUNDAY READING

Taranaki Daily News, 7 October 1916, Page 10

SUNDAY READING

THE ANIMAL CREATION.

SERMON' PREACHED BY REV. A. H. COLVILE, M.A., at St. Mary's Ohurcli, New Plymouth, on Sunday, September 24.

"The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. The creature itself shall be delivered."—Romans, viii., 19-21.

I ask you to think with me for a few minutes this evening of that part of God's creation which we call the "animal," of those living creatures other than man between whom and ourselves there is a mysterious barrier of silence, but with- whom we have many things, feelings, needs and emotions, in common, whose happiness and well-being are to a great extent in our power, and whose very existence makes our own lives fuller, purer, sweeter and better worth the living. "Animal Sunday," as it is now called, is by this "time an established institution in many dioceses in England, and I am looking forward to the time when it shall be informally recognised in the dioceses of New Zealand, so that no year shall go by without at least one plea from the pulpit for those who can ma'ke no plea for themselves. I never like to speak in criticism of my brother clergy; God knows they get quite enough of that sort of thing wherever men and women —congregate, and wherever a newspaper is published which encourages the delicious irrelevances of anonymous correspondents; hut this I am bound: to say, that our clergy in this country have been as a whole but poor champions of God's dumb creatures, and if public opinion is still to a large extent uneducated and unenlightened concerning the wrongs and sufferings endured so often by these, humble friends and servants of man, 'wo clergy can by no means plead "not guilty" to the charge of neglect. Many preachers hold that such an appeal is a waste of time; the pulpit, they say, should he dedicated to the eternal truths of God, that the business of the clergy is with men and women who have souls to be saved, and not with "the beasts that perish." Now, setting aside the question of the immortality of animals other than man ; in which John Bishop Butler and many other theologians and divines strongly believed, how can anyone seriously assert that they are outside the gospel of Jesus Christ? v Lord told us that ' :; )j. " NOT ONE OF THEM IS FORGOTTEN BEFORE GOD," and that "not even a sparrow shall fall to the ground without your Father." Surely these words, even if they stood alone, would be an assurance that all living things arc included within the mighty sweep of Christ's glorious gospel of salvation; surely no more direct command is needed to constrain not only accredited ministers of religion hut all >who believe in God the Father, Maker of Heaven and Earth, to protect His creatures from unnecessary cruelty and suffering, and to "open their mouths for the dumb." And, again, we must remember that the mission of Jesus Christ was to. develop within man himself those qualities which should manifest him, show him forth as a true son of God, and the chief of these is the quality of.mercy,j of pity. "Be ye merciful,"' said our Lord, "as your Father in Heaven is merciful," which words were surely in the mind of Shakespeare when he wrote* of the same virtue, "It is an attribute o< God Himself.'' It is--not only for ,tnc sake of others, 'but for our own sakes, that we are pitiful and merciful in our dealings with man or beast. It is because the exercise of compassion brings us nearer to God and makes us more like Him Whom we love to think ofj/and to Whom nve pray as "our Father." And let us remember, my friends, that pity is not sentimentalism. Sentimenfailism is the burlesque or caricature of pity. The sentimentalist turns pity into foolishness. He is often nervously susceptible to the sight of pain, bat does not trouble much about pain that he cannot see. He lacks imagination, a sense of proportion and a sense of hu-mor-—qualities which every lover of animals should industriously cultivate—and his pity too often dissolves into mere gush and gas. True compassion, my friends, is not a weak and a foolish but a-strong and virile quality. It is the aiark of the real man, the true sportsnian, the good Christian. Compassionate men and women dislike intensely to see or to know of cruelty inflicted wantonly on helpless creatures, but they don't stop there, still less do they cover up their eyes that they may not see it. On the contrary, they stand out as champions of the sufferer; they will not rest until they have done what they can to relieve the pain, and see that for his own good, no less than for the welfare of his victims, the inlflicter of cruelty is restrained from doing any further wrong. Such men and women are the true friends and lovers of animals. Through them the will of-tiod is done. "The earnest expectation nf the creature," says St. Paul, "waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God," which few words tell us much about GOD'S METHOD OF GOVERNING THE WORLD. He has created us not machines but responsible beings, and He works through us. The happiness and progress of the world, of the whole creation, defends on the developing, the .evolirmg witr.in man, of the sense of responsibility, and those qualities which shall make better and happier the lives of all his feilowcreatures. "Why," people ask sometimes, "does God allow helpless creatures to suffer 1" We can see sometimes that a man brings his pain and {misery on himself. "He has only hiinsjlf to thank for it," we say. At all eve-its, lie has got a voice and he has got a vote, and if he is wronged he can make known his wrongs with some chance of redress. But that the innocent and helpless should suffer, suffer unconsciously without knowing why, and suffer often at the hands of man, seems to us very strange and daunting. Yet the very fact that we find it so should reveal to us the plan and purpose of (Jou by forcing home to us our own responsibility, *»nd until a man realises tJiie he is an undeveloped being. And God's purple is\our development. Look at the picture St. Paul presents to us in the words of the text. He sees the whole creation, all that God once made "very good," now in the "bondage of corruption," "groaning and travailing in pain," burdened by much injustice, suffering countless cruelties and wrongs, and waiting—think, all the dumb creatures of Qpd's love, all those patient friends and servants of, man waiting in pathetic silence until man, their roaster, in whose hands he lias placed them, shall have de-

veloped within himself that mighty power of compassion which alone fits an individual or a nation to have dominion over others. Are we going to put away our responsibility in this matter, hmsh it aside as of no importance? ' Only at the risk of hindering our own development and baulking the will and purposa of God. You cannot say, my 'riends, that you have no encouragement and help. Your efforts need not be confined to isolated PROTESTS AGAINST CRUELTY or to private remonstrances. T'icr? exists in this town a branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which has done good work in this district during the last four yeaTs, and epuld have done much better work if it had been consistently supported as it ought to be and as it deserves to be. Isolated protests and remonstrances are good; every humane and thoughtful person, whether they belong to this society or not, can take up the cudgels for an ill-treated animal, a tradesman's horse, for example, overdriven, unnecessarily and continually flogged by callous, irresponsible youth s and boys (unfortunately not at all an uncommon sight in this town), for half-starved or crippled sheep and cattle which limp past our doors to the saleyards, for every victim l of thoughtless, wanton or interested cruelty that may be found everywhere, and everywhere appeal silently to our compassion, to our sense of justice, and to the true sportsman's instinct for fair play. Hut such efforts have a greater force and weight when it is known that behind them there is a powerful society ready and willing to investigate all cases of cruelty, to warn offenders, and, when necessary, to bring those offenders before a court of justice. Now, our Society in this town is not powerful by reason of its num'bers or its wealth. When it first came into existence it was enthusiastically received. It was launched at once of the best-attended meetings I have seen since I came to New ■Plymouth. The local papers lent the Society their powerful aid. Many promises of support were made and much good-will was expressed. But the enthusiasm was not sustained. A comparatively small proportion of the inhabitants of this town are members. Consequently the usefulness of the Society is not as |great as it might be. Yet it does do what work it oan, and its very existence and the knowledge of its existence acts as a deterrent, as a restraint. It is at least a -brave attempt to champion the rights of animals, to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and to answer the earnest expectation _ of the creature that "waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." I do appeal here and now for a wider sympathy and a more general and generous\support for our efforts. I appeal to all good patriots who have already given much good money and much hard work in connection with the war. Our hearts have gone out in real compasison towards those who have suffered and are suffering to-day the poor homeless people of Belgium and Servia, the men wounded, blind, crippled, with health shattered and bodies maimed, who have risked for us all that men can risk, the fatherless children and widows, the bereaved parents, the stricken hearts and homes of thousands of innocent people. We have thought with compassion of all, we have striven to htip them all,; for we owe them much. And do we not owe a debt, and a big debt, too, to the animals we- have used in this war, who as many of our men testify, have been more than servants, true comrades and friends, "blind obedience" must surely appeal as nothing else could appeal to what is fine and true and compassionate in the nature of man. Surely in tins war.. ANIMALS HAVE ESTABLISHED A CLAIM. UPON US that wo may not forget.' That claim has been already recognised. It is good to know that in no previous war have horses been cared for as they have been in this. The Blue Cross has followed ,the Red Cross on to the' battlefields to succor the animals who suffer there side by side with the soldiers. In Auckland and the big towns of New Zealand the Blue Cross is recognised as well deserving of a place among the war charities. There has been in Auckland a "Blue Cross Day," when street collections were made for the care of horses and other animals avounded in the war. Such an effort might very well bo made here. But the Blue Cross is for a special purpose; the R.S.P.C.A. exists for the protection of all animals, and if we value the work of the one wo should steadily support the work of the other. But apart from all societies and institutions wc must surely recognise that the animal creation has established in this war another claim upon, our compassion, has added to our responsibility, and to the debt we already owe, and more, has appealed to our sense of fellowship so irresistibly that we may not as children of our Father disregard that unconscious but "earnest expectation" that "waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." My appeal for the aniinxi creation is to the highest instincts of. our natures. I have tried to show, too, that at this time especially the patriotic instinct should urge us to pity and help. I wish now to make one appeal to the sporting instinct in both men and women. What is the sporting instinct? What is "a good sport"? The phrase has been much misused and abused. It does not seem to be recognised that a man can be a "good sport," even if he has never made a bet or "shouted" an unnecessary drink in his life. The characteristics of the real sportsman are his readiness to take the weaker side, his passion for fair play_ and .his desire to keep his favorite spore or pastime clean and pure. The good sportsman, therefore, will strive always to avoid all unnecessary cruelty, and endeavor to give a fair deal to those he meets, whether man or bird or beast. Many of these sports of our ancestors were both brutal and unfair. No one would wish to revive them. No one, for instance, would tolerate the spectacle of a chained bear set upon by savage dogs. All would agree that such an exhibition was both degrading and brutalising for the spectators and cruel to the animals concerned. Long ago such sports were abolished by law. But in our own district even to-day the coursing of hares in enclosures and the shooting of half-tame pigeons released from a trap, discredited by good sportsmen, have been lately revived and are still permitted by law (though I believe they will not be so for long). These things are excresences; they serve no good purpose at all; they are opposed to all ordinary canons of fair sport and fair play; they are a blot upon our neighborhood, and it only needs an aroused and enlightened public opinion to sweep them away altogether. And, my friends, the instinct of the true sportsman which protests against such abuses will, if it

be encouraged in ourselves and carefully fostered in the young help on towards the more humane treatment of all God's living creatures and hring nearer that complete manifestation of the sons of God for which- "the earnest expectation of the creature'' still waiteth.

Finally, let us remember God's great and wonderful promise, ir Elie creature shall be delivered." There is no "perhaps" in this declaration; it is the direct assertion of a divine "shall" which nothing in heaven or earth or under the earth can ever alter. Misuse of human will and human powers may prolong the process and delay the coming of the time, but God Almighty, the Great Creator, who made and loveth all, has said "shall," and it is enough. For that day let us all work and pray for the deliverance of all living creatures from the bondage of corruption, from the bondiige of cruelty and wrong; work and pray with uplifted hearts, raising the.strain of joy and praise to Him Who has created all things, Who loves all that He has made, and has promised to all His creatures a great and mighty deliverance.