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Animal Rights History Timeline » [1837-1901] Victorian Age » Charles John Vaughan

Charles John Vaughn

Memorial of Harrow Sundays, A Selection of Sermons

Cultivation of the Feeling of a Christian Duty

[1858] Charles John Vaughan, Sermon XII, Cultivation of the Feelings of a Christian Duty, Sunday after Ascension Day, May 16, 1868 in Memorials of Harrow Sundays, A Selection of Sermons Preached in the Chapel of Harrow School (London, 1859; Google Books: Online Library of Free eBooks).

The text [Thou shall not seethe a kid in his mother's milk] I have remarked, does not directly forbid cruelty; does not expressly forbid, I mean, the infliction of actual pain, or the wanton deprivation of life, even in the case of the inferior creation.…The precept therefore starts at a higher point than that which we commonly understand by the prohibition of cruelty. My brethren, the first lesson which I shall enforce upon you is the form of a question, Are we yet ready for the precept? In other words, can we be quite sure that none of us need a lower precept, that which the text presupposes as already obeyed, the charge to beware of cruelty? Yes, we must ask the question firmly and earnestly, Is cruelty to animals a thing unknown here? Do not answer hastily: think again. I shall not descend into particulars: but I do charge it upon you all to observe how God here manifests His care to animals: subjected though they are to man, for his use and for his comfort and for his convenience, they are not subjected to man for neglect or torture, and, if in any case they be so used, He who concerns Himself to direct us here, in a rule thrice repeated, thrice recorded in the Book of His Revelation, how a lifeless creature is not to be treated, will most surely bring that wicked work into judgment; first, by the operation of His ordinary laws, under which such acts lead to a gradual hardening of the heart in all its aspects; and, secondly, if they be not thoroughly repented of, by calling them to account in the day of judgment. (141)