Page:The Cry of Nature.pdf/164

 the face of the earth, and deſtroyed the green herb which God had given to the human race for food. In this deplorable ſtate the children of Noah were compelled to lay their hands on the life of the cattle of the field, and God found it neceſſary to deliver to the Patriarch a new precept. "Every moving thing that liveth ſhall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things."—Gen. ch. ix. ver. 3.

Thus we find that nothing ſhort of the moſt conſummate diſtreſs could compel the human race to ſubſiſt by the murder of other animals. Unfortunately for every order of life the horrid act of violence, ſuggeſted by a lawleſs neceſity, had become