Page:The Cry of Nature.pdf/154

 "Every moving thing that liveth ſhall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.—Geneſis, Chap. 9.

"I will, as the Almighty hath commanded, kill a young lamb. Haſte my love, and chuſe the fineſt flowers to ſtrew the ſacrifice. I took the beſt of my flock; but my children, it is impoſſible to give you a deſcription of what I felt, when I went to deprive the innocent creature of life. It trembling ſeized my hand; I was ſcarce able to hold the ſtruggling victim, and never could I have brought myſelf to give it death, had not my reſolution been animated by the expreſs command of the author of life. The very remembrance of its endeavours