walk in his footsteps, and imitate with all their ability, his bright and glorious example? His Forerunner, John the Baptist, the messenger to prepare his way before him, lived on locusts, (the fruit of the locust tree,) and wild honey, and yet it is emphatically said of him that "of those born of woman there has not arisen a greater than John." "Be ye wise as serpents," says our Redeemer, when instructing his disciples, "and harmless as doves." The Serpent is described by Naturalists as one of the most watchful of all animated existences; and the Dove as an innocent and inoffensive creature, that feeds only on the productions of the vegetable world. Such then it appears to us, should the followers of the meek and humble Jesus be;—such the circumspection of character, and such the dietetic conduct of all his faithful followers.
Soon after the commencement of the Christian Church the Apostles held a council, whence was subsequently promulgated a decree to the Churches, composed principally at that period of Gentile converts. In that important document, the members of the first Christian Council declare, "It seemeth good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burthen than these necessary things: that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, (that is, the blood cf the grape, in your religious feasts, when rendered intoxicating by fermentation,) and from things strangled"—or, in other words, "which have suffered a violent death." But do not all animals which fall a sacrifice to the butcher's knife suffer a violent death? Are we not then, as Christians, enjoined to abstain from eating such things, as a necessary part of our "obedience unto the faith?" The light in which the Apostle Paul apprehended this decree is easily perceived. He was a member of the Council, and subsequently one of those deputed by its authority to deliver the decree to the Churches. He yoluntarily took upon him the fulfilment
