159
was questioned concerning this, he answered that his disciples fasted not while he remained with them. That some of them fasted afterwards we know from other parts of the history; and also that Jesus did not forbid the practice; only desiring those who used it to make no vain display of their self-denial. Yet, as he nowhere gave command that any one should fast, and as other Jewish customs were then used by Christians, which are abolished at this day, many among the Christians believe, as I do, that it is no part of religion to restrain the body from the food which it requires. Neither do we believe, like the followers of Moses and those of Mohammed, that any kind of food or drink is more holy than another. That it was rightly declared to be so by Moses we know; but since Christ gave perfect freedom in the outward forms of religion, we refuse the commands of Mohammed to refrain from drinking the wine of which Jesus himself drank, or to refuse the wholesome meats which God has given to nourish the body. Yet while we feel ourselves thus far free, we know that excess in food is sin, and that drunkenness is to be abhorred.
Havilah replied, Not only did Mohammed command men to be temperate, by abstaining
