and reflection which we now en→ joy; and other Beings, in human fhape, fhould take upon them to torment, abuse, and barbarously ill treat us, because we were not made in their shape; the injustice and cruelty of their behaviour to Us would be felf-evident: and we fhould naturally infer, that, whether we walk upon two legs or four; whether our heads are prone or erect; whether we are naked or covered with hair; whether we have tails or no tails, horns or no horns, long ears or round ears; or, whether we bray like an ass, fpeak like a man, whistle like a bird, or are mute as a fish; Nature never intended these diftinctions as foundations for right of tyranny and oppreffion. But, per

haps, it will be faid, it is abfurd to make fuch an inference from a meer supposition that a man might have been a brute, and a brute might have been a man; for, the fuppofition itself is chimerical, and has no foundation in nature; and all arguments fhould be drawn from fact, and not from fancy of what might be or might not be. To this I reply in few words, and in general; that all cafes and arguments, deduced from the important and benevolent precept of Doing to others as we would be done unto, neceffarily require fuch kind of fuppofitions; that is, they fuppose the cafe to be otherwise than it really is. For inftance; a Rich man is not a Poor man; yet, the duty plainly arifing from the Precept,

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cept, is this,-The man who is now rich, ought to behave to the man who is now poor, in fuch a manner as the Rich man If he were poor would be willing that the Poor man If he were rich fhould behave towards him. Here is a cafe which in fact does not exist between thefe two men, for the rich man is not a poor man, nor is the poor man a rich man; yet the Suppofition is neceffary to enforce and illuftrate the precept, and the reafonableness of it is allowed. And if the fuppofition is reasonable in one case; it is reasonable, at least, not contrary to reason, in all cafes to which this general precept can extend, and in which the duty enjoined by it can and ought to be performed. Therefore though

it

it be true that a man is not a horse; yet, as a horse is a subject within the extent of the precept, that is, he is capable of receiving benefit by it, the duty enjoined in it extends to the man, and amounts to this,-Do You that are a Man SO treat your horfe, AS you would be willing to be treated by your master, in cafe that You were a Horfe. I fee no abfurdity nor false reasoning in this precept, nor any ill confequence that would arife from it, however it may be gainfaid by the barbarity of Custom.

But there is no cuftom, whe-heure ver

ther barbarous or abfurd; nor,

in

deed any vice, however detestable, but will find fome abettors to juftify

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tify, or at least to palliate it; though the vindication itself is an aggravation of the crime. When we are under apprehenfions that We Ourfelves fhall be the fufferers of pain, we naturally fhrink back at the very idea of it: we can then abominate it; we deteft it with horror; we plead hard for Mercy; and we feel that we can feel. But when MAN is out of the queftion, Humanity fleeps, and the heart grows callous. We no longer confider ourselves as Creatures of fenfe, but as Lords of the creation. Pride, Prejudice, Averfion to fingularity, and contracted Mifreprefentations of GOD and Religion do all contribute to harden the heart against the natural impreffions and foft feelings of compaffion.