the face of the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food." This primeval law of Divine Revelation was undoubtedly given to direct the families of mankind in the selection of their appropriate food. That food, according to the precept, was to be wholly vegetable. The productions of the earth alone were to be to them for meat. These, the Creator of all things deemed fully sufficient to sustain his new formed creature, man. And who will presume to be wiser than the Omniscient? Were not the regulations of this original Law such as were calculated to preserve the healthy to support the vigor, sustain the power, and secure the physical happiness of the human race? Have after ages ever disputed the reality of the enjoyments of the primitive race of men, especially whilst they continued in their integrity? Encompassed as they were, by the lovely scenes of Paradise, and guided and influenced by the mild principles of this divine law, whether they contemplated the glorious vault of heaven, or their eyes reposed on the beautiful verdure of the earth;—whether they listened to the sweet music of the murmuring brook, or they wandered in pleasing reflections amid the umbrageous solitude of the forest, their enjoyments would doubtless be more intellectual, more spiritual, and every way superior to any thing experienced in our day by degenerated human nature. So entirely have men, in all subsequent times been persuaded of the truth of this view of the subject, that the period has been emphatically denominated the Golden Age.
Men of the Golden Age, who fed on fruit,
Nor durst with bloody meals their mouths pollute;
Then birds, in airy space might safely move,
And tim'rous hares on heaths securely rove;
Nor needed fish the guileful hook to fear—
For all was peaceful and that peace sincere."
What then, Christian Friends, shall we say more con-
