For different Meats do hurt;
Remember how
When to one Diſh confin'd, thou
healthier waſt than now:
was Oſellus's Memorandum in the Poet.
Not that variety (which God has certainly ordain'd to delight and aſſiſt our Appetite) is unneceſſary, nor any thing more grateful, refreſhing and proper for thoſe eſpecially who lead ſedentary and ſtudious Lives; Men of deep Thought, and ſuch as are otherwiſe diſturb'd with Secular Cares and Buſineſſes, which hinders the Function of the Stomach and other Organs: whilſt thoſe who have their Minds free, uſe much Exerciſe, and are more active, create themſelves a natural Appetite, which needs little or no Variety to quicken and content it.
And here might we atteſt the Patriarchal World, nay, and many Perſons ſince; who living very temperately came not much ſhort of the Poſt-Diluvians themſelves, counting from Abraham to this Day; and ſome exceeding them, who liv'd in pure Air, a conſtant, tho' courſe and ſimple Diet; wholſome and uncompounded Drink; that never taſted Brandy or Exotic Spirits; but us'd moderate Exerciſe, and obſerv'd good Hours: For ſuch a one a curious Miſſionary tells us of in Perſia; who had attain'd the Age of four hundred Years, (a full Century beyond the famous Johannes de Temporibus) and was living Anno 1636, and ſo may be ſtill for ought we know. But, to our Sallet.
Certain it is, Almighty God ordaining [84]Herbs and Fruit for the Food of Men, ſpeaks not a Word concerning Fleſh for two thouſand Years. And when after, by the Moſaic Conſtitution, there were Diſtinctions and Prohibitions about the legal Uncleanneſs of Animals; Plants, of what kind ſoever, were left free and indifferent for every one to chooſe what beſt he lik'd. And what if it was held undecent and unbecoming the Excellency of Man's Nature, before Sin entred, and grew enormouſly wicked, that any Creature ſhould be put to Death and Pain for him who had ſuch infinite ſtore of the moſt delicious and nouriſhing Fruit to delight, and the Tree of Life to ſuſtain him? Doubtleſs there was no need of it. Infants ſought the Mother's Nipple as ſoon as born; and when grown, and able to feed themſelves, run naturally to Fruit, and ſtill will chooſe to eat it rather than Fleſh and certainly might ſo perſiſt to do, did not Cuſtom prevail, even againſt the very Dictates of Nature: Nor, queſtion I, but that what the Heathen [85]Poets recount of the Happineſs of the Golden Age, ſprung from ſome Tradition they had received of the Paradiſian Fare, their innocent and healthful Lives in that delightful Garden. Let it ſuffice, that Adam, and his yet innocent Spouſe, fed on Vegetables and other Hortulan Productions before the fatal Lapſe; which, by the way, many Learned Men will hardly allow to have fallen out ſo ſoon as thoſe imagine who ſcarcely grant them a ſingle Day; nay, nor half a one, for their Continuance in the State of Original Perfection; whilſt the ſending him into the Garden; Inſtructions how he ſhould keep and cultivate it; Edict, and Prohibition concerning the Sacramental Trees; the Impoſition of [86]Names, ſo appoſite to the Nature of ſuch an Infinity of Living Creatures (requiring deep Inſpection) the Formation of Eve, a meet Companion to relieve his Solitude; the Solemnity of their Marriage; the Dialogues and Succeſs of the crafty Tempter, whom we cannot reaſonably think made but one Aſſault: And that they ſhould ſo quickly forget the Injunction of their Maker and Benefactor; break their Faith and Faſt, and all other their Obligations in ſo few Moments. I ſay, all theſe Particulars conſider'd; Can it be ſuppoſed they were ſo ſoon tranſacted as thoſe do fancy, who take their Meaſure from the Summary Moſes gives us, who did not write to gratifie Mens Curioſity, but to tranſmit what was neceſſary and ſufficient for us to know.
This then premis'd (as I ſee no Reaſon why it ſhould not) and that during all this Space they liv'd on Fruits and Sallets; 'tis little probable, that after their Tranſgreſſion, and that they had forfeited their Dominion over the Creature (and were ſentenc'd and exil'd to a Life of Sweat and Labour on a curſed and ungrateful Soil) the offended God ſhould regale them with Pampering Fleſh, or ſo much as ſuffer them to ſlay the more innocent Animal: Or, that if at any time they had Permiſſion, it was for any thing ſave Skins to cloath them, or in way of Adoration, or Holocauſt for Expiation, of which nothing of the Fleſh was to be eaten. Nor did the Brutes themſelves ſubſiſt by Prey (tho' pleas'd perhaps with Hunting, without deſtroying their Fellow Creatures) as may be preſum'd from their long Secluſion of the moſt Carnivorous among them in the Ark.
Thus then for two thouſand Years, the Univerſal Food was Herbs and Plants; which abundantly recompens'd the Want of Fleſh and other luxurious Meats, which ſhortened their Lives ſo many hundred Years; the [87] μακρο-βιοτη-α