204 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. 



drink ftlU more artificial, and as unnatural as can be conceived ; I 

 mean fpirits, which are made by diftillation from fermented liquors, 

 and are fo far from being fit for the drink of any animal, that they 

 are fuel for fire, and produce a moft fudden and violent flame. And 

 not only do we ufe this moft unnatural liquor, unknown to the an- 

 tients, but %ve do not ufe wine as they did, that is, mixed with wa- 

 ter, but we ufe even wine and brandy, that is, what is called Por/, 

 without any mixture of water. 



The ufe of thefe ftrong liquors, being an unnatural drink, not 

 only hurts the body, but alfo the mind ; and, indeed, taken to ex- 

 cefs, they deprive us altogether of what is moft valuable in our 

 mind, and which diftinguifhes us from all the other animals of this 

 earth, that is, our intelligence. 



That a wife and good God fhould have deftined fuch a diet, fo 

 dcftrudtive both to mind and body, for the principal animal here 

 on earth, and fo different from that which he has allotted to inferior 

 animals, is altogether incredible, and, I think, impious to believe. 

 But, if there were any doubt in theory, the lives of the Antedeluvian 

 Patriarchs make it evident from fa£t. Of thefe I have fpoken at 

 fome length in Vol. III. of this work*. Feeding upon the natural 

 fruits of the earth, they lived to a very great age, fome of them 

 above 900 years. But, after the deluge, when men ate flefh and 

 drank wine, the length of their lives gradually decreafed. And if 

 we are fuch unbelievers as not to credit what we are told in our 

 bible, of the length of the lives of thofe antient patriarchs, while 



they 



* Page 1 2 1 and following. — It may be obferved, that there is a greater colIeiSlion, in 

 that 3d volume, concerning the various ways of men living in the different ages of the 

 world, the length of their lives, their health and their fize, than, I believe, is to be 

 found in any one book extant ; and which, I think, is worth the readers perufing from 

 curiolity merely, if he were to draw no philofophical conclufions from it. 



