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TENDENCIES OF THESE CONSIDERATIONS.

their operations in the mysterious and higher order of agencies which are connected with the moral condition and destiny of men, their importance appears immeasurably increased. Invaluable spiritual benefits suited to man's fallen state were early promised, and the means of their fulfilment gradually developed until their consummation; and the same designing hand may be also distinctly traced in the preservation and perpetuation of the race that was to become the recipients of the promised blessings. There is an unvarying harmony between the moral and the material economy of nature; yet while the former has been the theme of unnumbered treatises, how few have regarded the latter in this interesting relation, as deserving a careful investigation!

Every mind that is familiar with the proofs in sacred history of the Divine regard for man's physical condition, will at once perceive the relevancy of the foregoing thoughts to the subject before us. But as they cannot be pursued, in passing we remark, that to overlook the wisdom and beneficence displayed by the Maker of the material world in the relations which he has established between it and his rational creatures, is to throw into shade some of the brightest perfections of his nature; whilst to contemplate aright his designs in these relations, is fitted to inspire reverence, awaken gratitude, invigorate faith, and impress upon moral and sentient beings a deeper sense of their obligations.As the leading objects, however, of the inspired volume, are to turn man in his ruin and departure from his Maker to the means of recovery, material things in it hold a subordinate place. But imperfect as is our information of particulars, enough has been recorded from time to time to demonstrate that God cares for man as a physical as well as moral being, and that he has formed all things for one great purpose.

CHAPTER II.

PRIMEVAL CONDITION OF MAN.

Our first knowledge of man.-His food.-Covering.-Condition.— Occupation, a hunter.-Early subjection of animals.-Occasion of the first use of milk.-The result of design.-Number of the domesticated species of animals, not increased by the lapse of time.

OUR first knowledge of man, is not a matter of conjecture, but of inspired history. His first residence was a garden, planted by the Creator eastward in Eden; his first employment was "to keep it and dress it," whilst he was divinely instructed to subsist upon its fruits. After his expulsion from paradise his first indispensable want would be food; and his first resource, most probably, such productions of the earth, as without his culture or care would yield a spontaneous supply. The choice of these would be determined by their relative abundance, and their adaptation to his necessities. Until the use of fire was known, fruits would be preferred to herbs and roots, as the latter would need artificial preparation to fit them for his everreturning wants. Hence, it is probable, that his first sustenance after his exile was derived from trees, as we know he was guided by his Maker to such a choice before that

event.

But covering to protect his body from the immediate impressions of the cold and humidity of the atmosphere, would be nearly as necessary as aliment. It is written of the first pair, "The Lord God made coats of skins and

clothed them." Whence these skins were obtained, does not clearly appear. It is certain at that time no animals. had died, for natural death had not yet entered the world. But as sacrifices at this period were appointed, it is probable that the skins of the victims which mystically prefigured the more perfect atonement, were used for this purpose. And having been once thus appropriated by the Creator himself, man in his future exigencies would not hesitate to apply them to his use.

Whatever might have been the habits and condition of man in his pristine state, we cannot with our knowledge of his constitution conclude that he was originally designed to subsist solely upon vegetable diet. His physical organization demonstrates that he is partly at least a carniverous as well as a graniverous animal; and many circumstances conspire to establish the opinion, that a mixture of animal and vegetable food is best suited for his nourishment. For reasons which are not revealed, it appears that flesh as food was not explicitly allowed before the flood; but man most probably took the liberty of using it, and in doing this, there was evidently no deviation from his original nature and destination, as without any change in these respects, he subsequently received a divine warrant for such use. In following, therefore, the instincts and propensities of his nature, he at first, most probably, became a hunter, and subsisted on the products of the forests and the waters, and the fruits of the earth. And to this mode of life he was imperatively urged, both by the peculiarities of his condition, and his pressing necessities. By nature, he is the most helpless and defenceless of all animals. The earth at this period, with its verdant hills, and vallies, and plains, and interminable forests, was an immense solitude whose silence was only broken by the

EARLY SUBJECTION OF ANIMALS.

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prowl of the wild beasts, to whose destructive ferocity he was constantly exposed. In a rude state, and with few stimulants to industry, man is ever averse to toil. But here were motives of sufficient force to overcome his native indolence. Food and clothing, but especially self-defence, would arouse his dormant energies, and excite him to activity in the chase. If the quadrupeds merely, to say nothing of other destructive animals, had increased in the ratio of their original stock, they must have outnumbered the human species more than five hundred fold, and threatened the depopulation of the globe. Motives of benevolence, therefore, might also incite to an offensive and a defensive warfare, and to the destruction of such animals as could neither be subdued nor appropriated. Hence we learn that the first heroes were destroyers of wild beasts; and being persons of remarkable energy and endowments, were ultimately regarded with idolatrous veneration. Nearly eighteen hundred years subsequent to the period under consideration, the sacred historian says, "Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord."

But if man was primitively a hunter from necessity, he would not from choice be likely to make this perilous and precarious mode of life his exclusive dependence. His superior sagacity, enabling him to subdue the inferior animals, the first permanent triumph of his intellect over the instinct of brutes, was probably evinced in the domestication of such of the larger kinds as were most tractable and remarkable for their useful properties. And where in his survey of all the subordinate tribes of animated nature could his choice be so happily directed as to the ruminant animals? Essentially herbiverous, they had no occasion

* Ger, 10: 9,

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FIRST USE OF MILK.

to war upon each other; of course, were distinguished for their comparative gentleness and docility; and yielding milk, and flesh, and clothing, with ability to labor, they were beyond all other quadrupeds endowed with such qualities as fitted them for his service. Once the acknowledged sovereign of flocks and herds, not only would his few simple wants be supplied, but he would also be furnished with many of the comforts and even luxuries of life which could be obtained from no other source.

This early subjection of the bovine tribes of animals, introduced the use of milk, which for thousands of years has constituted so important and valuable a part of human sustenance. Being ready prepared by nature for food, it could at once be appropriated by the rudest savage, as well as the more cultivated. This peculiarity indeed, in an unimproved state of society, before the arts were invented, and when culinary processes were unknown, was in itself sufficient to determine his choice in favor of this form of aliment before all other kinds, which required the intervention of cookery to fit them for use.

The first use of milk by man, doubtless grew out of the circumstances incident to his condition; but these circumstances were as certainly the result of design, as was the creation of man who was influenced by them. A late writer remarks that, "The art of domesticating animals, and so completely changing their natures as to efface the original type, requires more intelligence than we are accustomed to suppose, and it is not easy to conceive how the attempt could have been originally suggested. It is also very singular that the number of domesticated species have not been increased by the lapse of time, though at first sight there are many of the untamed animals which might seem more easy to be brought into subjection than