on'd up and aggravated thro' so many elaborate
Pages, cannot all of them be supposed to belong to the _Original
Constitution_ of Things, but might be partly owing to the Effect of
Time and Accident, as well as to the Folly and Wickedness of
particular Persons and Nations. This Objection, drawn from the
Sufferings of Brute Animals, the Doctor endeavours to answer: I
wonder _Adam_ is not considered (for the sake of putting an End to
the Difficulty) as their Federal Head. He thinks, however, that
Brutes must be some way or other included in the _Curse;_ and may be
punished, as Man's Property: But has Man, because they are his
Property, a Right to grieve and afflict them? They were bestowed as
a Blessing, for reasonable Service and Delight, not for cruel
Treatment and Abuse. The Doctor's Rule of Faith will tell him, _A
merciful Man will be merciful to his Beast_. If their being Man's
Property will not justify him in abusing or cruelly handling them;
it can be no Reason or Argument, why another should do it, even the
Almighty himself. Consider Beasts, then, as God's own Property; will
that render it a whit more equitable? No: This the Doctor himself,
in the Case of Infants, allows would be cruel, and contrary to the
Divine Justice and Goodness: and the Argument is the same as to
Brutes. But the Doctor, sensible of the Weakness of this Argument,
has recourse to another, which I believe will always be admired as a
standing Mark of _extraordinary Invention_, to get rid of difficult
and perplexing Questions. Brutes may, it seems, contrary to common
Experience, have Sensations _less Quick_ and _Painful_ than ours. I
wonder he allows them any Sensation at all; nay, 'tis doubtful if he
does allow it. Noise, or Crying out, in them, is, it seems, no Mark
of Pain, because some Brutes, under the same Circumstance, remain
quiet and still. But will the Doctor say, they have therefore no
painful Sensations? Are there no Marks of Pain besides those of
crying aloud? Did the Doctor never know a Man sometimes bear a
pretty deal of Pain without crying out at all; and give many
external Tokens of Pain, at another Time? Did he never perceive a
_gaul'd Horse_ wince, upon the most gentle Approach of the Hand; and
discover Signs of the greatest Fear, and most _exquisite Pains?_ Do
not some Brutes take as much Pains to avoid the Discipline of the
Whip, as tho' their Sensations were the same as ours? I am ashamed
to waste Time upon such a Subject; th