A Voyage to East India, Account of voyage · Section 20
SECT. XX.
Of the tenderneſſe of that people in preſerving the lives of all other inferiour Creatures, &c.
FOr they will not (if they can help it by any means) take, but on the contrary do what they can to preſerve the lives of all inferiour Creatures, whence (as before I told you) they give large money to preſerve the lives of their Kine (a reaſon for this you ſhall have afterward) and I have often obſerved, that when our Engliſh boyes there have out of wantonneſſe been killing of Flies (there ſwarming in abundance) they would be very much troubled at it, and if they could not perſwade them to ſuffer thoſe poor Creatures to live, they would give them mony, or ſomething elſe to forbear that (as they conceived) cruelty.
As for themſelves (I mean a very great number of them) they will not deprive the moſt uſeleſſe, and moſt offenſive Creatures of life, not Snakes, and other venomous things that may kill them, ſaying, that it is their nature to do hurts, and they cannot help it, but as for themſelves they further ſay, that God hath given them reaſon to ſhun thoſe Creatur…s, but not liberty to deſtroy them.
And in order to this their conceit, the Banians (who are the moſt tender hearted in this caſe of all that people) have Spittles (as they ſay) on purpoſe to recover lame birds & beaſts.
Some ground for this their tenderneſſe happily proceeds from this conſideration; that they cannot give life to the meaneſt of the ſenſible Creatures, and therefore think that they may not take the lives of any of them: for the pooreſt worm, which crawleth upon the face of the earth, tam vita vivit, quam Angelus, (as one of the ancients ſpeaks) live for the preſent as much as the Angels, and cannot be willing to part with that life, and therefore they imagine that it is moſt injurious by violence to take it.
But (as I conceive) the moſt principal cauſe why they thus forbear to take the lives of inferiour Creatures, proceeds from their obedience unto a precept given them by one of their principal, and moſt highly eſteemed Prophets and Law-givers they call Bremaw; others, they have in very high eſteem, and the name of one of them is Ram, of another Permiſſar. I am ignorant of the names of others, and I conceive that my Reader will not much care to know them. But for him they call Bremaw, they have received (as they ſay) many precepts, which they are carefull to obſerve, and the firſt of them. This
Thou ſhalt not kill any living Creature whatſoever it be, having life in the ſame, for thou art a Creature, and ſo is it, thou art indued with life, and ſo is it, thou ſhalt not therefore ſpil the life of any of thy fellow-Creatures that live.
Other precepts (they ſay) were delivered unto them by their Law-giver about their devotions, in their waſhings and worſhippings where they are commanded.
To obſerve times for faſting, and hours for watching, that they may be the better fitted for them.
—Other directions they have about their feſtivals wherein they are required,
To take their food moderately, in not pampering their bodies.
—Concerning Charity they are further commanded.
To help the poor as far as they are poſſibly able.
—Other precepts (they ſay) were given them likewiſe in charge; as
Not to tell falſe tales, nor to utter any thing that is untrue.
Not to ſteal any thing from others, be it never ſo little.
Not to defraud any by their cunning in bargains, or contracts.
Not to oppreſſe any, when they have power to do it.
Now all thoſe particulars are obſerved by them with much ſtrictneſſe; and ſome of them are very good, having the impreſſion of God upon them, but that ſcruple they make in forbearing the lives of the Creatures made for mens uſe, ſhews how that they have their dweling in the dark, which makes them by reaſon of their blindneſſe to deny unto themſelves that liberty, and Soveraignty which Almighty God hath given unto man over the beaſts of the field, the fowles of the Air, and the fiſhes of the Sea, appointed for his food, given unto him for his ſervice and ſuſtenance, to ſerve him, and to ſeed him, but not to make havock and ſpoil of them.
However, the tenderneſſe of that people over inferiour Creatures ſhall one day riſe up in judgement againſt all thoſe, who make no ſcruple at all in taking the lives, not of ſenſible Creatures, but men, not legally to ſatisfie good and known Laws, but violently to pleaſe their cruel and barbarous luſts.
Hiſtories are fill'd with many inhumane, and ſtrange examples of this kinde. Valerius writes of Lucius Sylla (whoſe cruelty and thirſt after bloud, made him a Monſter of mankinde, a very Prodigy of Nature) that when he had cauſed ſome thouſands of men to be put to death, or (more properly) to be murdered in one day, he preſently gave command that this monſtrous fact of his ſhould be recorded, leaſt the memory of ſo honourable an action (for ſo he call'd in) might be forgotten.
He kill'd a Gentleman of Rome at the ſame time for not enduring the ſight of an innocent man of quality, whom he ſaw cauſeleſly murdered. Never (ſaith the Author) was it heard of before, that pity ſhould be puniſhed, and that it ſhould be thought a Capital offence to behold a Murder with grief.
For that Sylla, it might have been ſaid of him as it was afterward of Nero, that he was a Creature made up of dirt and bloud, a Monſter ſet upon miſchief, who had ſo much malice and cruelty in his Nature (as any other may have left in his bloud) that Valerius writes thus further of him, ut in dubio eſſet Syll…ne prior, an iracundia Syll… ſit extinct…, that it was a queſtion whither himſelf, or anger were firſt extinguiſhed, moſt ſtrange and turbulent perturbations and ſtorms, o anger, and malice, and miſchief, quando ir a mortalium debet eſſe mortalis (as Lactantius well ſpake) when the anger of mortal men ſhould be mortal like themſelves.
And ſo moſt barbarous and cruel are all they whatſoever they be, who have their hearts (ſo bound and confirm'd as it were with ſinews of iron) that they delight in nothing ſo much as in the ſlaughter of men whatſoever they be, whither ſtrangers, or brethren, and then make their boaſts and brags, I have knockt ſo many on the head, ſaith one, and I have kill'd ſo many ſaith another, and I ſo many ſaith a third, and others ſo many, and ſo many, which clearly ſhews that they are Children of their Father the Devil, who was a murderer from the beginning: for his language is ever in their mouths, ure, ſeca, occide, burn, cut, kill, do execution, and take no pity, ſpare not, ſparo none, whether ſtrangers, or known perſons, old, or young, men, women, children, brethren, or whoſoever elſe comes and croſſeth them in their way, as it was in the dayes of that monſtrous Sylla before named, when
Gray-heads, young Orphans, Virgins, pregnant wives,
All died: 't was crime enough that they had lives:
That Empreſſe was of a far better minde, who wiſely advertiſed her husband, ſitting and playing at Tables, & minding his Game more than the Priſoners before him, on whom he pronounced the ſentence of death: his wife (I ſay) thus ſpake unto him as Aelian reports, non eſt vita hominum talorum ludus, &c. the life of man is not as a Game at Tables, where a woodden-man is taken away by a blot, and thrown aſide, and after taken again into the play, and there is no hurt done; but the life of a living man, once loſt is irrecoverable.
When Vedius Pollio a Roman, at a Supper provided for Auguſtus the Emperour, would have drown'd his ſervant, becauſe he had broken a cup of Chriſtal, the Emperour (though an Heathen) withheld him, and controuled him in theſe words (as Plutarch reports) ſaying, Homo cujuſcunque conditionis quatenus homo, &c. a man of what condition ſo ever he be, if for no other cauſe, yet becauſe he is a man, is more to be valued than all the Cryſtal cups in the world. And doubtleſſe he deſerves not the name of a man, who knows not how to value a man.
But how is mankinde in theſe laſt ages of the world become degenerate, and wilde from that which Nature firſt ſhaped it unto. For man was made in the beginning to man, as Moſes was made to Aron, Ex. 4. 16. in ſome ſenſe a God, for ſuccour and comfort: but how contrary to this rule do moſt men walk; ſo that we may juſtly complain with that noble and virtuous French-man Philep Morney, ſaying, what is more rare amongſt men than to finde a man, that is, (as he interprets himſelf) amongſt men, how many beaſts are there for want of the uſe of reaſon, and for not uſing reaſon well, how many Devils. Lions, (ſaith Plini…) fight not againſt Lions, Serpents bite not Serpents, but the moſt miſchief man ſuſtains comes from man.
Thou art deceived (ſaith Seneca) if thou giveſt credit unto the looks of thoſe that meet thee, who have the faces of men, but the qualities of wilde beaſts. Some like the Crocodiles of Nilus that can flatter and betray, weep and murder, cry and kill. Oh how hath mankinde in theſe latter ages juſtified the madneſs of the moſt ſavage and untractable beaſts, and ſteel'd their affections with more cruelty, than ever Lions, or Serpents could learn in the wildernes.
But certainly that crying clamouring ſin of bloud, or murther, unleſſe it be waſhed away with a floud of tears, iſſuing from a bleeding, and a broken heart, and died into another colour by the bloud of Chriſt, will in concluſion bring woe and miſery enough upon them that ſhed it. For there was never any drop of innocent bloud ſpilt upon the earth, from the bloud of righteous Abel to this preſent hour, or that ſhall be ſhed ſo long as there are men, and malice, and miſchief in the world, but it ſwells as big as the Ocean Sea in the eyes of God, and cannot be waſhed away by all the waters therein. And further, neither the heat of the Sun, nor the duſt of the ground ſhall ever be able to drie, and drink it up till it be either avenged▪ or pardoned; unleſſe the earth and heavens, and all that are therein can be bribed to keep ſilence, and to take no notice thereof.
Without all doubt, when God ſhall make inquiſition for bloud, he will remember: for he that bottles up the tears of his poor people, cannot forget their bloud. Whence it comes to paſſe by the righteous judgement of Almighty God, that they, who delight in bloud, have uſually enough of it before they die, or if bloud do not touch bloud for the preſent, it will deny a man … peace after the fact committed. Had Zim… peace; who ſlew his Maſter? 2 King. 9 31. no he had no peace, no more have any guilty of that ſin, if their conſciences be not for the preſent …oof'… over: if the mouth of them be not for the preſent bung'd up. But as it was in that firſt plague of Egypt, wherein Pharaoh and the Egyptians were ſmitten, all their waters in their Rivers, Ponds, and Pools, as in their Veſſels of wood & ſtone were changed into bloud: So in the minde and conſcience of a murtherer, there uſually remains a plague of bloud; His eyes ſhall behold no other colour but Sanguine, as if the air were died into it; The viſions of his head in the night ſhall caſt a boul of bloud in his face, all the cogitations and thoughts of his heart ſhall overflow with the remembrance of that bloud he hath ſpilt. The conſideration of which, (methinks) ſhould be enough to trouble and affright men that lie under the guilt of this ſin, if they fear either guilt, or conſcience, which will firſt, or laſt fly in their faces.
Plutarch writing de ſerâ numinis vindictâ of the late but ſure revenges executed upon men by divine juſtice, hath this ſtory of the Delphians, who made no ſcruple to murder Aeſop amongſt them, but after this when they were moſt grievouſly plagued by variety of heavy judgements, they, who had imbrued their hands in his bloud, walked up and down in all the publick aſſemblies of Greece, and cauſed this to be proclaimed by noiſe of Criars, that whoſoever would, ſhould be avenged on them for Aeſops death. They believing themſelves, the procurers of thoſe plagues which were then upon them. Deus patiens redditor, God is a patient rewarder, whoſe revenges are ſlow, but ſure. Fortis▪ …ſt Deus, Deus retributionum. Jet. 51. 56. the Lord God of recompences ſhall ſurely requite, who is many times long before he ſtrike, but, tarditatem ſupplicii gravitate compenſat; the ſeverity of his juſtice ſhall at laſt make a full amends for the ſlowneſſe thereof.
'Tis ſad to conſider that Heathens (as before was obſerved) ſhould have ſo much tenderneſſe in their Nature, and any bearing the names of Chriſtians ſo much cruelty: that Heathens ſhould make ſo much ſcruple in taking away the lives of baſe inferiour Creatures, of thoſe which are not onelyonly uſeleſſe but offenſive, and men called Chriſtians ſo forward by wayes of violence to cut off the lives of men, never▪ enquiring into the juſtice of their quarrel, but the rate of their pay, and (as if their own lives, and the bloud of others were not worth the valuing) will adventure to kill, or be kill'd for a dayes wages. Thus making havock of men as fearfully made, as dearly redeemed, as tenderly cheriſhed, & brought up as themſelves yet occidendi cauſa occidunt, they kill, becauſe they take pleaſure in killing, and are no more troubled at the death of a man, than if a Dog had fallen before them.
'Tis true that Lions will tear, and Dogs will bark and bite, and Serpents will ſting, becauſe it is in their nature ſo to do; yet men, Chriſtians muſt do otherwiſe; and not make the ſlaughters of men, of multitudes of people profeſſing Chriſt, delightfull arguments of their ordinary diſcourſe, or Table talk, as if it were a relation that had pleaſure in it, as if there were no difference 'twixt the cutting down of men, and the mowing of Straw and Stubble.
I confeſſe that when men have an immediate commiſſion from God, to execute vengeance on thoſe he would have deſtroyed, they may do execution with boldneſſe, without pity, or regret: for it is as great a fault to ſpare when God bids deſtroy (for he wrongs the innocent, who ſpares the gu…lty) for which very thing Saul payes dear, 1 Sam. 15.) as to deſtroy when God bids ſpare. The Iſraelites had ſuch a Commiſſion often granted, and renewed, for the rooting out of thoſe Nations, which God would have grubb'd up root and branch, and then they were to deſtroy without pity. But afterward that people, becauſe they did ſo much abuſe their proſperity, and ſucceſſe, and after both, their peace, they periſh themſelves by the Sword of War. Jeruſalem had many-many warnings; but would not take them, before the woe took hold of it. And therefore after all thoſe monitions, Titus the Son of Veſpatian the Emperour was made inſtrumental to fulfill thoſe many Propheſies, which threatned Jeruſalems … overthrow. But that Commander, and Conqueror, though a ſtranger… an adverſary, and a profeſt enemy to the Jews, and ſent to deſtroy them, when he ſaw (as Joſephus reports) the ſpoyl and ſlaughter which fell upon that wofull, and moſt miſerable City, he calls his Gods to witneſſe that he was exceedingly troubled at it. He that is glad at calamity ſhall not be unpuniſhed, Prov. 17. 5. And if an Heathen, a forraign enemy ſent to deſtroy, could take no pleaſure in executing of puniſhment, though upon enemies, but the contrary: men which enjoy the light, ſhould be by much more troubled, in the beholding of ſlaughters, which happen among themſelves, or brethren. And therefore Tully writing to Atticus ſpeaks exceeding wiſely in telling him thus, extremum eſt malorum omnium bells civilis victoria. His reaſon, becauſe men having done much miſchief already in thoſe unnatural engagements, are fleſh't and heartened to go on, and to do more miſchief ſtill. Hence it was that the very Heathens were not wont to make any triumphs for victories gain'd in their Civil Wars, as Lucan ſpeaks.
Bella geri placuit nullos habitura Triumphos.
And there is very much to this purpoſe in that ſad, but very remarkable ſtory of the Iſraelites and Benjamites, as we may obſerve in the of Judges, Chapters 20. and …1. Some Benjamites there at Gebiah had committed an abominable wickedneſſe, the reſt of that Tribe, inſtead of puniſhing, did patronize it, and choſe rather to die in the reſiſting of juſtice than live, and proſper in the furthering thereof.
It is one of the mad principles of wickedneſſe, that when men have once reſolv'd to do a thing, be it never ſo bad, and to ſay they will do it, it is very great weakneſſe to relent, therefore they will chuſe to ſuffer, to die rather then yield, or go back from their reſolutions, thinking that cauſes, whatſoever they be when they are once undertaken, muſt be upheld, although with bloud. And from this falſe ground, the Benjamits there put themſelvesin Arms, and will be Champions to defend the leud…ſſ… of their brethren, and make themſelves worſe by the ab…tting of a monſtrous ſin, than the others were by the commiſſion thereof. Becauſe the laſt was done upon reſolution, and ſo probably was not the other. Now that no man may conclude a cauſe therefore good, becauſe the ſucceſſe is ſo, the Tribes of Iſrael that went againſt the Benjamits had by far the better of the cauſe: But the Benjamits for the preſent the better in their ſucceſs, for the wickedneſſe of Benjamin ſped better for a time, than the honeſty of Iſrael. Twiſe was the better part foil'd by the leſſe and worſe, the good cauſe was ſent back with ſhame: The evil returned with victory and Triumph. But wickedneſſe could never brag of any long proſperity. The triumphing of the wicked is ſhort. And wickedneſſe cannot complain of the lack of payment, for ſtill God is even with it at the laſt, as we may obſerve in the ſtory of thoſe Benjamits, who in concluſion were made to pay extreamly dear for their ſin. In whoſe example we may take notice, that the retaliations of the Lord are ſure and juſt. But after all this, when the reſt of the Tribes of Iſrael (being ſo highly provoked) had ſlain ſuch a very great number of the Benjamites, almoſt to the utter ruine of their Tribe, for acting and abetting ſuch a monſtrous wickedneſſe, obſerve how the reſt of Iſrael behaved themſelves towards their Brethren, they did not rejoyce, and make Triumphs for that their victory▪ but they weep over their dead bodies, Judg. 21. 2. and ſtudy how that breach a mong the Benjamites (which their ſin and provocation had enforced the reſt of Iſrael to make) might be made up again.
The Prophet Oded gave good counſel (in a caſe which was ſomething parallel to this) and it was well followed, 2 Chr. 28. for when they of Samaria had taken a very great number of their brethren of Judah & Jeruſalem Captives▪ two hundred thouſand, and much ſpoil, and were carrying it, and them to Samaria; the Prophet (I ſay) gave this counſel, that they ſhould not ſtrip, and ſtarve, but put cloathing on their loins, and ſhoes on their feet, and meat, and drink in their bellies, and ſend them home again; and ſo they did.
There are very many who walk quite contrary to theſe rules, and dare do as thoſe wicked ones (mentioned in the ſecond Chapter of the book of wiſdom) ſaying, let us oppreſſe and let our ſtrength be the rule of Juſtice, as if there were no power, either in Earth, or Heaven to contradict them. But however let others, who obſerve the courſes of Gods Providence, and withall ſee the oppreſſion of the poor, and the violent perverting of judgement and juſtice in a Province, not marvel at the matter: for he that is higher than the higheſt regardeth, and there be higher than they.
In that Parable, Luke 16. Dogs are mentioned, and why ſo? that their tongues might condemne the mercileſſe bowels of their Maſter, who ſhewed pity in their kinde. When their Maſter had no Compaſſion on the poor Lazar, he not conſidering that there is a mercy, a pity, and a care due unto the moſt deſpicable piece of humanity. Fruſtra miſericordiam petit, qui miſericordiam non facit; in vain ſhall they one day hope for mercy and pity that will not now exerciſe it.
Undoubtedly there is nothing becomes power and greatneſſe better than bowels, and inwards of pity and mercy. Theſe make the faces of men in power to ſhine, and themſelves to reſemble God, who is moſt properly called optimum, maximum, firſt by the name of his goodneſſe, and then by the name of his greatneſſe, firſt by the name of his mercy, and then by the name of his might.
But the ignorance of thoſe Indians (before ſpoken off) makes them more pitifull than they need to be: and if they had knowledge to make doubt of) and to ſcruple other things as they ſhould, I might have ſpared my next Section, which will acquaint my Reader by telling him further.