Book: The Human Side of Animals

R >> Royal Dixon >> The Human Side of Animals




In the following sentences from the Book of Jonah, it is plainly seen
that the Deity has not failed to take notice of the animals: "And should
I not spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score
thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their
left hand; and also much cattle?" Again, in the Psalms, "Every beast of
the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the
fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine."
Other passages that proclaim God as the protector of beasts, as well as
man, might be cited, for the Bible makes frequent mention of them. Each
of these Scriptures unquestionably proves that God has an interest in
all His creatures, and that each shares His universal love.

No one can deny that Genesis, ninth chapter and fifth verse, refers to a
future life for beasts as well as man; it is a part of the law which was
given to Noah and which was the forerunner of the fuller law handed down
through Moses: "Surely, your blood of your lives will I require; at the
hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of every man; at
the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man."
According to the Mosaic law, an ox which kills a man is subject to
death, exactly as a human murderer. Why should the animal be punished by
death, if he has no soul to be forfeited?

It should be remembered that while there are no Scriptural passages that
definitely promise immortality to animals, there are many which infer
it. Moreover, we should not expect to gain definite information on the
subject from the Bible, for it was written for human beings and not for
animals. If there are few direct references to the future life of man,
surely there must be still fewer to that of animals!

But just as man has for countless ages had within himself an everlasting
witness to his own immortality, so do we find that all who have really
become acquainted with the lower animals, with their unselfishness,
parental love, devotion to duty, generosity, wonderful mentality, and
self-sacrifice--all those who know them realise that they are subject to
the same moral law as man and share with him a future life.

Lamartine beautifully expresses a future hope for his faithful dog:

"I cannot, will not, deem thee a deceiving,
Illusive mockery of human feeling,
A body organized, by fond caress
Warmed into seeming tenderness;
A mere automaton, on which our love
Plays, as on puppets, when their wires we move.
No! when that feeling quits thy glazing eye,
'Twill live in some blest world beyond the sky."

Who can say that from the depths of the wide ocean, from regions
unknown, and lands unexplored by man; from the remotest islands of the
sea, and even from the far icy North, there are not animal voices ever
rising in praise of our common Creator? The Bible says: "The Lord is
good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works," and, "All
Thy works shall praise thee, O Lord,"--surely these endorse the above
statements. And why should man define the limit of God's goodness, His
love, care, and attention to the wants and needs of all His creatures?

The distinguished animal authority, Dr. Abercrombie, admitted that
animals have an "immaterial principle" in them, which is distinct from
matter. But he does not say that this principle, or soul, will live
after death, as it is supposed to in man. However, many scholars both of
ancient and modern times hold this opinion. Broderip, in his _Zoological
Recreations_ devotes much space in referring to ancient philosophers and
poets, Christian Fathers, and Jewish Rabbis that have believed in the
immortality of animals. The heroes of Virgil have horses to drive in the
Elysian fields; the Greek poets gave to Orion dogs. Rabbi Manesseh,
speaking of the resurrection, says, "brutes will then enjoy a much
happier state of being than they experienced here," and a number of
scholars, like Philo Judaeus, believe that ferocious beasts will in a
future state lose their ferociousness. Among more recent scholars who
hold this belief is Dr. John Brown, who boldly says: "I am one of those
who believe that dogs have a next world; and why not?" The Rev. J. G.
Wood said: "Much of the present heedlessness respecting animals is
caused by the popular idea that they have no souls, and that when they
die they entirely perish. Whence came that most preposterous idea?
Surely not from the only source where we might expect to learn about
souls--not from the Bible, for there we distinctly read of 'the spirit
of the sons of man,' and immediately afterwards of 'the spirit of the
beasts,' one aspiring, the other not so. And a necessary consequence of
the spirit is a life after the death of the body. Let any one wait in a
frequented thoroughfare for one short hour, and watch the sufferings of
the poor brutes that pass by. Then, unless he denies the Divine
Providence, he will see clearly that unless these poor creatures were
compensated in a future life, there is no such quality as justice."

Eugene T. Zimmerman says: "I cannot help but think that my faithful dog,
and playmate of my younger days, will have some form of a future life."

We do not recognise an absolute spiritual barrier of separation between
man and animals. Man is an animal--the first of animals; but it does not
of necessity follow that he will always continue to be so. By what right
does he presume to deny a soul and a continued spiritual existence to
lower animals? Are we not all of us fellows and co-workers, partakers of
the same universal life, sharing alike a common source and destiny? This
has always been the faith and insight of the child, whose simple wisdom
we ever turn to for truth and guidance. And in our clearer realisation
of the oneness of all life, we will extend to all creatures the Golden
Rule, showing them the love and consideration we would have shown to
us.


* * * * *


The HUMAN SIDE of BIRDS.

By ROYAL DIXON With 4 illustrations in color and 32 in black-and-white.
Cloth, 8vo.

With every statement based on fact, and every fact of unusual interest,
the author shows that many qualities of and occupations in the human
world have their parallels in the bird world.

_Here is bird study from a new angle--instead of treating our bird
neighbors as labeled specimens to be described in scientific terms,
they are treated as friends, and a careful study is made of their
disposition, character, emotions and "thought processes."_

Mr. Dixon tells of birds who are policemen, athletes, divers, bakers;
birds who maintain courts of justice and military organizations and many
other curious types.

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