Untitled article by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, March 17, 1868

FromReview and Herald, Vol. XXXI, No. 14

CONVERSATIONS ON IMPORTANT SUBJECTS. NO. 5.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

Min. Well brethren and sisters, we have had quite a long intermission; but now will resume our investigation. Some one I think proposed to talk about the health reform.

Bro. A. Yes. I would like to ask some questions on that subject, if it will be in order.

Min. Oh yes! that is a very healthy subject to talk about, and withal very interesting to me. But before we begin, let us have this room in as healthful a condition as possible. The room is so full that we shall exhaust the oxygen in the air unless we can have a fresh supply. Please lower those windows a little. Windows should always be made to be let down from the top. Now Bro. A. we will hear you.

Bro. A. If it is wrong for us to eat meat, why did God not only allow the Jews to eat it, but sent it to them on purpose, as he did when he sent the quails?

Min. Paul once said that all things were lawful to him, but all things were not expedient. So we understand that the time has come when it is not expedient to eat flesh, even though it were lawful. All flesh is greatly diseased, and will be more and more till the end. Hence we prefer not to eat it.

Bro. A. That seems quite plausible; but health reformers tell us that flesh should not be used for food any way: that we partake of the nature of the food we eat, and hence that it tends to lower our moral faculties and make us more animal than spiritual. If this were so, would God have permitted his ancient people to eat flesh?

Min. Well, facts show that it is really so with regard to the effects of flesh when eaten. But in speaking of the Israelites eating flesh, you have used just the right word: "Why did God permit them to do it." Yes, it was only a permission, and that obtained against the declared will of God, as I will show you in a moment. What Christ said to the Pharisees about divorcing their wives is just as true concerning the eating of flesh.

Bro. A. I do not remember what he did say.

Min. The Pharisees asked him if it were lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause. Jesus argued that it was not lawful, because God did not so arrange it at the beginning. Then the Pharisees thought that they had caught him in a contradiction with Moses, the same as Bro. A. thinks we are contradicting Moses on the meat question!

Bro. A. I confess that it does look to me as though you and Moses did not agree about eating flesh; for Moses told them to eat flesh, and you say not.

Min. So thought the Pharisees about the question of divorcement. Let us hear what they say, and Jesus' answer, and perhaps it will help your mind. Matt. xix, 7, 8. "They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them," [now Bro. A. listen carefully.] "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so." It was because of the hardness of their hearts that Moses, or God through Moses, suffered them to do it. So with respect to eating flesh.

Bro. A. But how do you know? It does not say so.

Min. I think that it does say all this. Let us see. Was it so from the beginning? Did man eat flesh before the fall?

Bro. A. No he did not, I grant. God gave man every herb bearing seed, and the fruit of the trees, Gen. i, 29, but no permission to eat flesh.

Min. Very well, then as Jesus said, it was not so from the beginning, was it?

Bro. A. It would seem so.

Min. Now let us see about God's permission to the Jews to eat flesh. Turn to Num. xi, 4, 10, 13, 18-20, 31-33. "And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the flesh which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks and the onions, and the garlicks; but now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes. And the manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bdellium." * Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly. Moses also was displeased. Then Moses said to God, "Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat." Then God told Moses to say unto the people, "Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; but even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you." Then the Lord sent the quails, a great quantity of them, and the people gathered them and began to eat. "And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague."

Here we see under what circumstances the Lord suffered the people to eat flesh. They would not put up with the plain, wholesome food which God had provided for them, and upon which he wished them to live. They lusted, they murmured, they rebelled: God then gave them flesh to eat, and with it his wrath. Now Bro. A. what have you to say to this?

Bro. A. Well I declare, I guess that you have the question. I had not noticed this circumstance before. But are you sure that it was because they asked for flesh to eat, that God was angry with them?

Min. It says so very plainly. David, in Psalm lxxviii, in rehearsing this matter, says thus: "And they tempted God in their hearts by asking for meat for their lust." Verse 18. And again Verse 26-31. "He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind. He rained also flesh upon them as the dust, and feathered fowls like as the sands of the sea: and he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. So they did eat and were filled: for he gave them their own desire; they were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel."

I see no chance for dispute here.

Bro. B. No; that is so. It is very clear that it was not the will of God that they should eat flesh. He only gave it to them at last because they would have it. This has a good deal of weight in my mind with regard to God's allowing the Jews to eat flesh.

Bro. D. Does not Paul say that these things were examples to those who should live in the last days?

Min. Yes. I am glad you mentioned it. 1 Cor. x, 5-11. "But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things are examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted." What did they lust after particularly?

Bro. D. Flesh.

Min. Paul says we should not do as they did. Verse 11. "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." That must mean Adventists.

Bro. A. I guess that we meat eaters will not get much aid and comfort from the Bible at this rate!

Bro. D. Especially for eating swine's flesh!

Min. I guess not either. After the Israelites would have flesh to eat at any rate, still there were certain kinds which God would by no means allow them to eat. Among the worst of these was swine. Deut. xiv, 8. "And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto

you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcass." Who shall contradict God and say that swine is good to eat when he has so plainly said it is not?

Bro. A. Did he not have some particular reason for not allowing them to eat it at that time?

Bro. D. Yes; a very good reason; because it was not fit to eat!

Min. If swine had been good for them to eat, God would not have forbidden them to eat it. If it was not good then, it certainly is not now. At any rate God has plainly declared his mind with regard to it.

Bro. A. Does not Paul say that in the last days some will forbid to marry and command to abstain from meats which God has created to be received? Does he not say that every creature of God is good and not to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving?

Bro. D. Yes, "meats which God hath created to be received, &c." If God had created swine to be received, why did he forbid the Israelites to use it? You see, Bro. A., that it cannot cover all kinds of flesh. But he further limits it by saying, "For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." 1 Tim. iv, 1-5. Has the word of God ever sanctified a hog? No, it has pronounced him an abomination.

Bro. A. It does look so I confess. A hog is a filthy thing, I know.

Min. With regard to the last days, I find a prophecy relating to that time, which speaks of the eating of swine's flesh in no very commendable terms. Isa. lxvi, contains many allusions to the last days, as in verses 5, 8, and particularly verses 15-18. "For behold the Lord will come with fire," &c. Then it says that those who are found at that time "eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord." If this be so, I prefer not to eat it.

Bro. A. So should I, if that be so. I have noticed this passage before. But do you think that it is a sin to eat meat? Do you think that we cannot be saved if we use it?

Min. We do not think that the eating of meat is a sin like swearing, or stealing, or lying, &c. We think that there is a more excellent way; but we attach the most importance to this question in view of what is coming on the world—the seven last plagues. We think that God is preparing a people to stand in the time of trouble, and that there are many reasons why we should not use meat, especially swine's flesh; but the most important reason is the one I have already stated.

Bro. A. Then I should like to know what connection it has with our preparation for the time of trouble.

Min. Very well. We will have a short intermission, and then take up that subject in particular.