THE PRAYER BOOK AND CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.
[To THE EDITOR OP TER " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—At the present moment when the question of the Revi- sion of the Prayer Book is under consideration, I think you will be willing to call attention to one omission in it. The Church of England in her services has nothing to remind her
members of their duties and responsibilities to the whole of the animal creation. No doubt this is due to the mind of the age when it was compiled;- but now is the opportunity of putting this omission right. May I suggest that one short petition should be added to the Litany ? It might take some such form as the following, which I have taken from a prayer written by the late Dr. Mackarness, Bishop of Oxford :—
" That Thou wouldest put away from us all cruelty and violence in our dealings with the creatures who are in subjection to us, and give us grace always to remember that Thy mercy is over all Thy works."
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