the Profe-Writers fell into them. Diodorus Siculus fuppofes the Lives of the first Men to have been far from abounding with Eafe and Plenty; Having Houses

" to build, (a), Clothes to make, and not "having invented proper Inftruments to "work with, they lived an hard and la"borious Life; and many of them not "having made a due Provifion for their "Suftenance, perifhed with Hunger and "Cold in Winters." This was his Account of the Lives and Condition of the first Men. The Art of Husbandry is now fo generally understood, and fuch Plenty is produced by a due and proper Tillage, that it may feem no hard matter for any one, that has Ground to work on, to produce an ample Provifion for Life; but even still, fhould any Family not used to Husbandry, nor supplied with proper Tools and Inftruments for their Tillage, be obliged to raise from the Ground as much of all forts of Grain as they should want, they would find their Time taken up in a variety of Labours. And this was the Condition of the first Men; they had not only to Till the Ground, but to try, and by feveral Experiments to find out the best and most proper Method of Tilling it, and to invent and make all fuch Inftruments as they had occafion for; and we find them con

(a) Lib. 1.

feffing

feffing the Toil and Labour that was laid upon them, in the Words of Lamech, at the Birth of Noah, This fame Shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our bands, because of the ground which the Lord hath curfed (a). Lamech was probably informed from God, that his Son Noah fhould obtain a Grant of the Creatures for the Ufe of Men; and knowing the Labour and Inconveniencies they were then under, he rejoiced in forefeeing what Eafe and Comfort they fhould have, when they should obtain a large Supply of Food from the Creatures, befides what they could produce from the Ground by Tillage.

But Secondly, God reftrained them from eating Blood (b), But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, Shall you not eat. What the Defign of this Reftraint was, or what the very Restraint is, has been variously controverted. Mr. Selden (c) in his Book De Jure Gentium juxta Difciplinam Hebræorum, has a very learned Chapter upon this Subject, in which he has given us the feveral Opinions of the Rabbins, tho' I think they give us but little true Information about it. The Injunction of not eating Blood, has in the Place before us no Circumftances to explain its meaning; but if we look into the

(a) Gen. v. 29. (b) Chap. ix. ver. 4. (c) Lib. 7. c.1.

Jewish Law, we find it there repeated, and fuch a Reafon given for it as feems very probable to have been the first original Reafon for this Prohibition; (a) Whatsoever man there be of the houfe of Ifrael, or of the ftrangers that fojourn amongst you, that eateth any manner of blood, I will e ven fet my face against that foul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people; for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given you that upon the Altar to make an atonement for your Souls; [or it might be translated, I have appointed you that to make atonement upon the Altar for your Souls; for it is the Blood that maketh an atonement for the Soul.] An ancient Jewish Commentator upon the Books of Mofes (b) paraphrafes the Words pretty_juftly: "The Soul

(fays he) of all Flesh is in the Blood, " and for that Reafon I have chofen the "Blood of all the Beafts to make an A

tonement for the Soul of Man." This is by far the best Account that can be gi ven of the Prohibition of Blood: God appointed that the Blood of the Creatures fhould be offered for the Sins of Men, and therefore required that it fhould be religiously fet apart for that Purpose. we examine the Mofaical Law, we fhall

If

(a) Levit xvii. 10, 11. (b) Chauskunni: and Eufebius hints the fame Reafon, Dem. Evang. Lib. 1. c. 10. find

find it ftrictly agreeable to this Notion. In fome Places the Blood is appointed to be offered on the Altar, in others, to be poured on the Ground as Water; but thefe Appointments are eafily reconcilable, by confidering the Reafon of each of them. Whilft the Jews were in the Wilderness, and the Tabernacle near at hand, they were ordered never to kill any thing to eat, without bringing it to be killed at the Door of the Tabernacle, in order to have the Blood offered upon the Altar (4). But when they came into the Land of Canaan, and were spread over the Country, and had a Temple at Jerufalem, and were commanded strictly to offer all their Sacrifices there only, it was impoffible to obferve the Injunction before named; they could not come from all Parts to Jerufalem to kill their Provifion, and to offer the Blood upon the Altar. Against this Difficulty Mofes provided in the Book of Deuteronomy, which is an Enlargement and Explanation of the Laws in Leviticus. The Subftance of what he has ordered in this Matter, is as follows (b): That when they fhould come over fordan to dwell in Canaan, and there should be a Place chofen by God, to cause his Name to dwell there, they were to bring all their Offerings to that Place (c), and to

(a) Levit. xvii. 3, 4. (6) Deut. xii. (c) Ver. 11, 12.

take

take heed not to offer any Offerings elfewhere (a). But if they lived fo far from the Temple, that they could not bring the Creatures up thither which they killed to eat, they had leave to kill and eat what foever they had a mind to, only instead of offering the Blood, they were to pour it upon the Earth as water, and to take care that they eat none of it (b). Thus the pouring out the Blood upon the Earth was appointed, where Circumftances were fuch that an Offering of it could not be made; and agreeably hereto, when they took any thing in Hunting, which probably might be fo wounded as not to live until they could bring it to the Tabernacle to offer the Blood upon the Altar, they were to kill it, and pour out the Blood, and cover it with Duft (c). And we may from hence fee the Reason for what David did, when his three Warriors brought him Water from the Well of Bethlehem, at the extreme Hazard of their Lives (d); looking upon the Water as if it were their Blood, which they hazarded to obtain it, he refused to drink it, and there being no Rule or Reafon to offer fuch Water upon the Altar, he thought fit to do what was next to offering it, he poured it out before the Lord.

(a) Deut. xii. 13. (d) i Chron. xi, 18.

(b) Ver. 21. (c) Levit. xvii. 13.

There