M E 
animal is to be killed, it mud be performed by a Ikilful per- 
fon, becaufe of the circumftances to be obferved. For, the 
time mult be proper for thea< 5 tion ; the knife mult be very 
lharp, and without notches, that the blood may run with¬ 
out interruption : they let it run out on the ground, or on 
alhes, and take it up again afterwards. They put the 
meat into fait for an hour, before they boil it, that the 
blood may quite run out; but, if the meat is to be roafted, 
this is not neceifary. As the liver abounds with blood, 
they commonly roaft before they boil it. They take great 
care to cut away the finew of the thigh of fuch animals as 
they intend to eat, according to Gen. xxxii. 32. and in 
feveral places in Germany and Italy, the Jews will not eat 
any of the hind quarter, becaufe great nicety is required 
in taking away this finew properly, and few know how to 
doit correctly. From Lev. vii. 23. it would appear as if 
the Jews were allowed to eat no manner of fat, of ox,or offfeep, 
or of goat ; but, taking that verl'e in conjunction with the 
two following, they think, that, with the exceptions there 
noted, they may eat the fat which is intermixed with the 
other parts of the flefli ; and this feems to be a reafonable 
latitude of interpretation. 
In the Chrilfian church, the cultom of refraining from 
things Hrangled, and from blood, continued a long time. 
In the council of the apoltles, held at Jerufalem fome 
years after the afcenlion of our Saviour, it was declared, 
that the Gentiles, i. e. the converts from Paganifm, fliould 
not be fubjeft to the legal ceremonies, but that they fliould 
refrain from idolatry,from fornication, from eating of blood, 
and from fuch animals as were ftrangled, and thereby their 
blood retained in their bodies. Actsxv. 20,29. xxi. 25. This 
defiree was obferved formanyages by the church. See the 
Apologies of Tertullian, Athenagoras, Minutius Felix, 
and Juftin Martyr, for the Chrilfian religion. The holy 
martyr Biblis, who fuffered about A. D. 79, in anfwer to 
the Pagans, who accufed the Chriftians of killing children 
and drinking their blood in their affemblies, made this 
defence 5 “ That the Chrilfian religion would not fo much 
as allow them to drink the blood of any animal whatever, 
much lefs human blood.” The council of Gangre, A.D, 
324. the council of Trullo, A. D. 692. the fecond council 
of Arles, A. D. 533. that of Worms, A. D. 868. the fifty- 
eighth conlfitution of the emperor Leo ; and pope Zachary, 
Ep. xiii. writing to Boniface in 751. unanimoully relate, that 
the prohibition of eating blood and things ftrangled was 
obferved in their times. St. Jerome notices, that in his 
timealfo they rigoroufly abltained from things ltrangled 
and blood in all the Oriental and Romifh churches. Un¬ 
der pope Leo IX. in the eleventh century, cardinal Hum¬ 
bert, his legate at Conffantinople, making reply to the 
Grecians, declares that in the church they refrained from 
creatures that were ftrangled by the negligence of men, 
dead of themfelves, or drowned ; and that they impofed a 
fevere penalty on fuch as without any preffing necefuty 
a£ted contrary to thefe rules. But at the fame time he ac¬ 
knowledges, that they made no fcruple of eating birds 
taken in hunting, and wild fowls caught with dogs; and 
that in this they only followed the precepts of the apoftles, 
who appointed that men fliould eat indifferently of all 
things fold in the ftiambles, and of every thing fit to eat, 
notafking any queftionsfor confcience-fake. 1 Cor. -x. 27. 
St. Auguttine, who was much more ancient than cardinal 
Humbert, affirms, that in the church they obferved the 
diftindtion of certain foods, fo long as the wall of fepara- 
tion was kept up between the converted Jews and the 
converted Gentiles; but that, after there were no longer 
any Ifraelites according to the flefli, there were no longer 
any perfons who fcrupied eating of animals that were 
killed without letting the blood run out; and that thole 
who retained any fuperftition in this matter were exp'ofed 
to the raillery of others. Aug. Cont. FauJl. lib. xxiii. cap. 13. 
This fl’.ows the fentiments of this father, and the praffice 
of the chureh-of Africa in his time. In many other places 
they obferved the canon of the apoftles, down to the tenth 
and eleventh century. The Greeks to this day will not 
VOL. XIV. No. 998. 
a t. m 
eat the blood after it is parted from the flefh; and fome 
learned men, in the 17th century, contended that the pro¬ 
hibition ought ftill to be in force. Of this opinion were 
Salmafius, Blondell, de Courcelles, Gerard Voffius, and 
Grotius; and there are a few confcientious Chriftians at 
this day who are of the fame mind. 
At the firft fettling of the churches, there were great dif- 
putes concerning meats offered to idols. 1 Cor. viii. Some 
newly-converted Chriftians, convinced that an idol was 
nothing, and that the dilfindlion of clean and unclean 
creatures was abolifhed by our Saviour, ate indifferently of 
whatever was ferved up to them, even among Pagans, 
without enquiring whether thefe meats had been offered to 
idols or not. They took the fame liberty in buying meat 
fold in the markets, not regarding whether it was pure 
or impure, according to the Jews, or whether it had been 
offered to idols. Foramong the heathen, as well as among 
the Jews, there were feveral facrifices, in which a part only 
was offered on the altar, the reft belonging to him that 
offered it, which he difpofed of at pleafure, or ate with his 
friends. But other Chriftians, weaker or lefs inftrutfed, 
were offended at this liberty, and thought that to eat of 
meat that had been offered to idols was a kind of par¬ 
taking of that wicked and facrilegious offering. This 
diverlity in opinion produced fome fcandai, to which St. 
Paul thought it behoved him to provide a remedy : he 
determined, therefore, that all things were clean to fuch 
as were clean, and that an idol was nothing at all. That 
a man might fafely eat of whatever was fold in the ftiain- 
bles, and need not f'crupuloufly enquire from whence it 
came. That, if an unbeliever fliould invite a believer to 
eat with him, the believer might eat of whatever was let 
before him. Rom. xiv. Tit. i. 15. And yet it is certain, 
that Chriftians generally abftained from eating meat that 
had been offered to idols. See Revelation ii. 20. where 
the Holy Gholt reproves the angel of Thyatira for fuffer- 
ing a Jezebel in his church, who called herfelf a prophetefs, 
feduced the fervants of God, prevailed with them to com¬ 
mit impurity, and to eat of meat that had been confecrated 
to idols. Tertullian fays, dejejunio, that St. Paul has put 
the key of the flelh-market into our hands, by allowing us 
the ufe of all forts of meat, except that which has been 
offered to idols. We know that, in the perfecutions of the 
Roman emperors, they often polluted the flefli fold in the 
(hambles, by confecrating it to idols, that they might 
reduce the Chriftians to the necellity of purchafing that, 
or totally abftaining from flefli. Theodoret Hijl. Eccl. lib. iii. 
The principal and molt neceffary food among the an¬ 
cient Greeks, was bread, which they called aflos, and 
produced in a wicker bafket called xanoi/. Their loaves 
were fometimes baked under 'allies, and fometimes in an 
oven. They alfo ufed a fort of bread called Maza. (See 
that word.) Barley-meal was ufed amongft the Greeks, 
which they called ceytpilov. They had a frequent difti 
called Qgtov, which was a compofition of rice, cheeie, eggs, 
and honey, wrapped in fig-leaves. The MvtWIov was made 
of cheefe, garlic, and eggs, beaten and mixed together. 
Their bread, and other lirbltitutes for bread, were baked 
in the form of hollow plates, into which they poured a 
fauce. Garlic, onions, and figs, feem to have been a 
very common food amongft the poorer Athenians. The 
Greeks, efpecially in heroical times, ate flefli roafted ; boiled 
meat feldom was ufed. Fifh feems not to have been ufed 
for food in the early ages of Greece. The young people 
only, amongft the Lacedemonians, ate animal food; the 
men and the old men were fupported by a black foup 
called [/.iyec typos, which to people of other nations was 
always a difagreeable mefs. Grafs-hoppers, and the extre¬ 
mities or tender (hoots of trees, were frequently eaten by 
the poor among the Greeks. Eels dreffed with beetf 
root was efteemed a delicate difti; and they were fond of 
the jowl and belly of fait fifh. Neither were they without 
their fweetmeats ; 4 jie defert conlilted frequently of fruits, 
almonds, nuts, figs, peaches, See. In every kind of food 
we find fait to have been ufed. 
7 P 
The 
