Our further remarks have reference to the other position wo hold, that the Vegetarian system of diet is essential to the har- monious relation intended to exist between man and the external INTRODUCTION. 41 world. We have here little to say, since, if the preceding fea- tures of our argument he established, this must almost follow as a neeessary eonsequence. It seems to us that it is only beeauso man, in his depravity, perverts the order and ends of Provi- dence, that any doubt can be experieneed as to the adaptation of the external world to the philosophieal and merciful princi- ples inherent in man’s nature. It is sometimes argued that Vegetarianism is impracticable, from the supposition that the Esquimaux, and some other inha- bitants of the earth, eannot adopt it. But we have no right to reason from savage or depraved courses of life, back to the rela- tions of man’s intellectual and moral nature, to condemn the teaching these would of themselves prescribe, since these states of disadvantage and unhappiness are but the results of wander- ing from the original condition of man’s being. And we have a right to say, that had man never fallen from the order of his nature, he would never have been found in the various phases of degraded humanity, but would have maintained and carried with him, in all passages of his existence, the peaceful resources which would have enabled him to live in accordance with his true natural constitution. The virtue of this reform, however, like that of all others, is best arrived at, not by the force of reasoning, but by the practice of the system. It is thus that Vegetarianism, from whatever motive it may have been adopted, communieates to the indi- vidual an intuitive perception in accordance and identity with the higher principles of nature. This, perhaps, accounts for the fact that those who have pursued the system but for a time, whether from accidental circumstances or from conviction of its importance, commonly recur to their experience of that period with evident satisfaetion. And this is natural, considering that the system is establislied in truth ; and it is not surprising that to have rarried it out only to a limited extent should thus give that satisfaction which invariably attends adherence to the moral and upward-tending courses of life. In this ligh1>-the result of experience — one by one do the difficulties to the pre- valence of the practice in the world disappear ; till from adher- ence to the system from limited or inferior motives in the first 42 INTRODUCTION. instance, the full breadth and importance of the question come at length to be recognised and appreciated.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Our further remarks have reference to the other position wo hold, that the Vegetarian system of diet is essential to the harmonious relation intended to exist between man and the external world. We have here little to say, since, if the preceding features of our argument he established, this must almost follow as a necessary consequence. It seems to us that it is only because man, in his depravity, perverts the order and ends of Providence, that any doubt can be experienced as to the adaptation of the external world to the philosophieal and merciful principles inherent in man’s nature. It is sometimes argued that Vegetarianism is impracticable, from the supposition that the Esquimaux, and some other inhabitants of the earth, cannot adopt it. But we have no right to reason from savage or depraved courses of life, back to the relations of man’s intellectual and moral nature, to condemn the teaching these would of themselves prescribe, since these states of disadvantage and unhappiness are but the results of wandering from the original condition of man’s being. And we have a right to say, that had man never fallen from the order of his nature, he would never have been found in the various phases of degraded humanity, but would have maintained and carried with him, in all passages of his existence, the peaceful resources which would have enabled him to live in accordance with his true natural constitution. The virtue of this reform, however, like that of all others, is best arrived at, not by the force of reasoning, but by the practice of the system. It is thus that Vegetarianism, from whatever motive it may have been adopted, communicates to the individual an intuitive perception in accordance and identity with the higher principles of nature. This, perhaps, accounts for the fact that those who have pursued the system but for a time, whether from accidental circumstances or from conviction of its importance, commonly recur to their experience of that period with evident satisfaction. And this is natural, considering that the system is establislied in truth ; and it is not surprising that to have rarried it out only to a limited extent should thus give that satisfaction which invariably attends adherence to the moral and upward-tending courses of life. In this light—the result of experience — one by one do the difficulties to the prevalence of the practice in the world disappear ; till from adherence to the system from limited or inferior motives in the first instance, the full breadth and importance of the question come at length to be recognised and appreciated.

Vegetarian cookery