p. 6 | Man's Experience, by Elder W. H. Wakeham

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 15, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 49.

Man's Experience,

By Elder W. H. Wakeham

VEGETARIANISM. NO. 2.

BY ELDER W. H. WAKEHAM.

IN article No. 1 the subject of a non-flesh diet was discussed from the standpoint of "God's original plan." In this article a few observations, based on facts drawn from the scriptures pertaining to this subject, concerning

Man's Experience,

will be presented. We have seen that for the first two thousand years of human history God gave man no permission to eat the flesh of animals. But in Gen. 9:3 we find the following statement recorded: "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." This, as the connection shows, was spoken to Noah after he came out of the ark. What were the circumstances under which this permission was given? The flood of waters, which had been upon the earth for nearly a year, had swept away every particle of vegetation. See Gen. 7:11, 21-23; 8:13. Everything upon which man could subsist had been destroyed, and for this reason the Lord in mercy permitted Noah and his family in their necessity to eat of the clean animals which Noah had taken with him into the ark. But is it therefore reasonable or logical to conclude that because, under peculiar circumstances, which were brought about as a consequence of sin, the Lord permitted one family to use flesh meats, to preserve the race from extinction, therefore all men are at liberty to eat flesh whenever their perverted appetites demand it? This is the inference many seem to draw; but when closely examined, such an argument may be compared to a large structure erected upon a very small foundation. All that can reasonably be deduced from the Noachic permission is that one may, in case of necessity, partake of the flesh of animals in order to sustain life, for "the life is more than meat." Matt. 6:25.

We are now ready to consider the effect of the use of flesh meats upon the race. When man came from the hand of God, he enjoyed perfect health and a vitality that resisted the influences of decay and death almost one thousand years. The average length of life of the patriarchs before the flood for nine generations was nine hundred and twelve years. See Genesis 5. The next nine generations, after man began the use of flesh meats, men lived, on an average, three hundred and thirty-two years. See Genesis 11. What a wonderful falling off! The next four generations, one hundred and fifty-three years. And when we reach the time of Moses, we find it recorded that "the days of our years are threescore years and ten." Ps. 90:10. The average human life at the present time is less than one-half of what it was in the days of Moses. That the use of flesh meats tends directly to shorten life, and therefore must have been a potent agency in the terrible deterioration of the race noted above, is readily understood when we remember that the flesh of animals is classed among the stimulating foods. The poisonous, excrementitious matter always found in the tissues of flesh, when taken into the system excite various organs to abnormal activity, and the vital machinery of the body, running at a higher tension, prematurely wears out. The effect of all stimulating articles is to shorten life.

Another incident in the experience of Noah must not be overlooked in this discussion, for it has an important bearing on the question under consideration. It is a universally recognized principle in human experience that the continued use of a mild stimulant tends to create an appetite for something stronger; and this desire grows, until the victim craves the strongest stimulants, and ends his life in the gutter. There is no doubt that many a downward course in intemperance began at the table, by the use of things that seemed harmless in themselves. As

"Ill habits gather by unseen degrees, As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas," so little dietetic errors, a passive yielding to the demands of perverted appetite, tend to weaken the moral powers of resistance, and one becomes the slave to his own lusts ere he is aware. Is there not some significance in the fact that the next thing recorded in the life of Noah, after he began the use of flesh foods, is, "And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard; and he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent." Gen. 9:20, 21. The experience of Noah contains a lesson for us that many temperance workers have yet to learn.

We now come to the history of the children of Israel; and of their varied experiences the apostle to the Gentiles writes: "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." 1 Cor. 10:11. When Israel dwelt in Egypt, they "sat by the flesh pots," and partook of the abominations of the idolatrous Egyptians. But when God delivered them from the thraldom of slavery, he promised to bring them into a "land flowing with milk and honey," not blood. They were to be delivered not only from the service of Pharaoh, but from the bondage of sin, which included the slavery of appetite. It was the design of the Lord to give them food better suited to their needs than the stimulating diet of Egypt; so

he sent them bread from heaven. They were not satisfied with this wholesome diet, which the Psalmist denominates "angels' food," and the "corn of heaven" (Ps. 78:24); but they murmured against the Lord, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt. How many are doing the same thing to-day! The Lord heard their complainings and "gave them that they lusted after." Ps. 78:29, Revised Version. "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." Verses 30, 31.

Is not there a lesson in this for us? The children of Israel lusted for flesh meats. Paul, commenting on this fact, says, "Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted." 1 Cor. 10:6. Will we heed these examples? Will we be admonished by these experiences? Or shall we close our eyes to the light now shining from the sacred page, and, following in the ways of rebellious Israel, bring upon ourselves, as they did, "leanness of soul"? Ps. 106:15.

If it be asked why the Lord gave them flesh if it was not good for them, a sufficient answer may be found in the words of Christ when asked why men were permitted to put away their wives under the Levitical law. "Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept." Then he calls attention to the fact that this was not the original design of God: "For from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female." Mark 10:5, 6. Or, as recorded by Matthew, "From the beginning it was not so." Chapter 19:8.

Our attention is here directed to God's original design as the rule for this time; and as it was not his plan from the beginning for man to put his wife away, and that rule holds good now, so, as it was not God's plan for man to eat flesh in the beginning, it would be well for all to abstain from it now. We close this brief discussion of this interesting question with the admonition of the apostle Peter: "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." 1 Peter 2:11.