Page:Bible testimony, on abstinence from the flesh of animals as food.pdf/35

 having for a helmet the hope of salvation, and girded with the sword of the spirit, which is the. Yet contend not my Christian Friends in the temper of angry controversy, for the battle is the Lord's, and he demands of us the spirit of meekness and holiness, the spirit of supplication and prayer, the spirit of a diligent co-operation with him, the spirit of benevolence and an affeciionate solicitude for the souls of all men. Fear not then, that the rays of this heavenly doctrine, if faithfully mirrored in the lives of our little community, will be wholly lost in the darkness that surrounds us on this subject. In such case we shall know and feel that we have strength and power from on High; and we cannot doubt that the sober wishes of the moral, the intellectual and the virtuous of every creed, will always be with us. We are not indeed to expect that immediate and complete success is to crown our infantile exertions in this self-sacrificing cause. of human prejudices and erroneous sentiments first  before the  of Christian clemency, meek-eyed mercy and child-like humanity can be beneficially heard. Our aim is not to snatch the fatal knife frorn the bloody hands of the butcher, nor ruthlessly to tear the  from the teeth of the .—Our high object is to instruct; to correct general sentiment and to determine the principles of public habits so as to cherish universal humanity; believing that in proportion as the minds of the moral and intellectual among our fellow mortals are sufficiently awakened to the importance of the  of the Bible, they will withdraw themselves from a system of cruel habits, which involves a portion of the animal creation in needless suffering and untimely death; and which has unquestionably a baneful effect upon the physical existence and the intellectual, the moral and religious powers of man.