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Animal Rights History Timeline » [1785-1837] Romantic Age » Major Brooke

Major Brooke

Short Addresses to the Children of Sunday-School

[1791] Major Brooke, Short Addresses to the Children of Sunday School (1791).

[1792-May] review of "Short Addresses to the Children of the Sunday School, by Major Brooke," Monthly Review 7 (1792-Mar): 557-558; Google Books: Free Online Library of eBooks.

"[Major Brooke's kind labours are all directed to the promotion of practical piety and virtue. Among the useful topics to which he calls their attention, one is the proper treatment of inferior animals, from Prov. xii. 10—a small part of which advice we here infer:

I shall endeavour to convince you that it is your duty to treat all the brute creation with humanity, that is, with tenderness. Now by the brute creation you are to understand every creature that has life, though no reason or speech to complain, nor the power of protecting itself from the injuries which may be done to it. In the Bible you are told that God made the world, wand all that is therein. This alone should be sufficient to make you treat all creatures with compassion, and avoid doing them any injury; for you have only to ask yourself this question, By who were these defenceless animals made? The answer will be, By Almighty God. This reflection them would prevent your being guilty of any act of cruelty to them; for as they are the work of a great, good, and merciful God, to injure them, or to deface his work, must doubtless be criminal. How thankful should you be to God for hindering many animals from injuring you, which they certainly could and would do, if their divine Creator had not implanted in them a fear of man. He has given you reason to know what is right and what is wrong, and that reason forbids you to injure those helpless and innocent creatures that are in your power. It is an act of cruelty and injustice in children to deprive them of life. Since the Almighty Creator of us and them has permitted us to kill many of them for our food, proper persons may kill them for that purpose; but they should do it in such a manner as to give them as little pain as possible.

Thus our author proceeds to instruct and admonish his little auditors; he particularly takes notice afterwards of two species of cruel diversions in which children are too frequently encourages; one is, the unmanly and cowardly employment of throwing at cocks; the other, that of spinning of cock-chaffers on a thread and a pin; against which , and every kind of barbarity, he properly warns them.— review of "Short Addresses to the Children of the Sunday Schools, by Major Brooke," Monthly Review (1792-Mar): 557-558.