205 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III; 



God has beftowed upon lum, and which, if rightly ufed, would 

 have given him all the happlnefs of which his nature, in this ftate 

 of his exlftence, is capable. 



As to his body, it is evident, from the cafe of the brute animals, 

 that if he had lived as they do, that is in the way that God and Nature 

 had appointed he fhould live, he would have been as free of difeafe, 

 which is the greateft afflidion of body that we are liable to, as they 

 are: For the wlfdom and goodnefs of God has appointed certain ways 

 of living for the different fpeciefes of animals; and there is no natural 

 philofopher, who can doubt that every brute in the natural ftate lives 

 in a manner which is fuitable to his nature, and which makes him hap- 

 pier than he would be if he lived in any other way. The fame, I 

 fay, is the cafe of man, who, as he is the chief animal on this earth, is 

 deftined by God and Nature to purfue a manner of life which would 

 make him happier, with refped to his body, than if he lived in any 

 other way. The queftion, therefore, is, what that manner of life is? 

 And, firjl^ with refped: to his diet, as he is not an animal of prey, or 

 a carnivorous animal, as the lion or tiger is, his natural diet is not 

 flefli, like theirs, but vegetables, fuch as feed the other animals of 

 this earth that are not carnivorous. The flefh diet, therefore, is an 

 unnatural diet for man, efpecially as it is ufed by the nations of 

 Europe, that is, prepared by fire ; for, if he is to ufe it, it is much 

 better that he fhould ufe it as the wild beafts do, whofe natural food 

 it is, that is, raw and as it comes from the animal. In this way 

 our famous traveller, Mr Bruce, told me he ate flefli in Abyf- 

 finia, in the fame manner that the people of that country eat it, 

 that is, taken diredly from the animal, without any preparation by 

 fire or otherwife, and warm with the animal life ; and. he allured me 

 that he never ate flefli that he digefted better : And the Vv ild Girl, 

 whom I faw in France, told me that the firft flefh fhe ate, roafted or 

 boiled, lay upon her flomach like as much lead, and threw her in- 

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