Page:Fruits and Farinacea the Proper Food of Man.djvu/47

Rh and, finally, with their flesh: subjecting, also, the juices of vegetables to the process of fermentation; and extracting from them liquors which recruit his exhausted strength, but which, when indulged in to excess, intoxicate and deprive him of reason. He exhibits to us the duration of life diminishing in proportion as he created to himself new wants."

30. adduced all the evidence I have been able to find, in sacred and profane history, respecting the primitive diet of man, I shall now proceed to show that the state of innocence in which man was created is a strong argument in favor of vegetable diet. We are told that "God created man in his own image; in the image of God created He him." (Genesis i. 27.) Now, where shall we find this divine image, except in that state of innocence and moral perfection in which man originally existed? Upright in mind, holy in heart, and righteous in action, the very thoughts of killing or of cruelty could find no place in him. At peace with the whole animated creation, his presence would excite neither the fears of the timid nor the resentment or ferocity of the strong. The dominion he held over every living thing would be regulated by benevolence and kindness; mercy would restrain him from doing injury to any one of the animals by which he was surrounded; pity would move him to relieve every appearance of distress or pain; a universal sympathy would characterize all his actions; and his supreme pleasure and enjoyment would consist in serving his God and in rendering all creatures endowed with life and sensation happy and contented. The delicious fruits of Paradise would abundantly satisfy every craving of appetite; and no motive could exist in his pure mind for shedding blood or inflicting pain. "Before the Deluge," says Bossuet, "the nourishment which men derived from fruits and herbs was doubtless a remnant of the primitive innocence and gentleness in which we were formed."

31. Even in our degenerate state, the man of cultivated moral feeling shrinks from the task of taking the life of the higher grade of animals, and abhors the thought of inflicting pain and shedding blood; how much