Meat-Eating

I was somewhat surprised at your argument as to why a meat-eating diet ept you in strength, for if you put yourself out of the question, your own reason will teach you that a meat diet is not of such advantage as you suppose. You know how you would answer the tobacco devotee if he urged as a plea for the use of tobacco, the arguments you have advanced as a reason why you should continue to use the flesh of dead animals for food.SpM 38.2

In California there is an abundance for the table, in the shape of fresh fruit, vegetables, and grains, and there is no necessity that meat be used. The weakness you experience without the use of meat is one of the strongest arguments I could present to you as a reason why you should discontinue its use. Those who eat meat feel stimulated after eating this food, and they suppose they are made stronger. After he discontinues the use of meat, he may for a time feel a weakness but when his system is cleansed from the effect of this diet, he no longer feels the weakness, and will cease to wish for that which he has pleaded for as an essential to strengthen him.SpM 38.3

I have a large family which often numbers sixteen. In it there are men who work at the plow, and who fell trees. These have most vigorous exercise, but not a particle of the flesh of animal is placed on our table. Meat has not been used by us since the Brighton Campmeeting. It was not my purpose to have it on my table at any time, but urgent pleas were made that such an one was unable to eat this or that, and that their stomach could take care of meat better than it could anything else. Then I was enticed to place it on my table. The use of cheese began to creep in, because some liked cheese; but I soon controlled that. But when the selfishness of taking lives of animals to gratify a perverted appetite was presented to me by a Catholic woman, kneeling at my feet, I felt ashamed and distressed. I saw it in a new light, and I said, I will no longer patronize the butcher; I will not have the flesh of corpses on my table.SpM 38.4

You have told me what the advantage of a meat diet is to you. I must tell you what a non-flesh diet has done for me. Ever since the stone was thrown in my face, when I was nine years old, I have had difficulty. At that time I nearly lost my life through the loss of blood. Dropsy then set in, and since I have suffered very much from kidney affliction.SpM 38.5

After a long sickness of eleven months of malarial fever and rheumatism, I was not able to ride without the most easy spring seat. Even when this was made as easy as possible, with soft cushions, it was a torture to my hip and lower part of my spine to ride.SpM 39.1

I prayed much over this matter. I sought the Lord during the night hours, and He heard me. Some months ago a new spring seat was made for me. One day I said, “Take that spring seat and put it in the store room; I shall not need it any more.” This was done by faith, and never since have I needed it. The difficulty which made it agony for me to sit in meeting or in the carriage, was taken away. After I had suffered for years, the Lord healed me. My hip continues to trouble me, but I think my health is better than it has been all through my lifetime. I prayed much in regard to the affliction of the kidneys, and I am healed of that trouble also. Some four years I was dependent upon the use of a syringe in order to make a movement of the bowels, but after the lower part of my spine was healed, I have no need to resort to artificial means.SpM 39.2

I eat only two meals, and can not eat vegetables or grains. I do not use meat: I can not go back on this. When tomatoes, raised on my land were placed on my table, I tried using them, uncooked and seasoned with a little salt or sugar. These I found agreed with me very well, and from last February until June they formed the greater part of my diet. With them I ate crackers, here called biscuits. I eat no dessert but plain pumpkin pie. I use a little boiled milk in my simple homemade coffee, but discard cream and butter and strictly adhere to a limited amount of food. I am scarcely ever hungry, and never know what it is to have a feverish, disagreeable feeling in my stomach. I have no bad taste in my mouth.SpM 39.3

All who come to my table are welcome, but I place before them no meat. Grains, vegetables, and fresh and canned fruit constitute our table fare. At present we have plenty of the best oranges, also plenty of lemons. This is the only fresh fruit we can get at this season of the year, which is winter. We ride about five miles into the country to get this fruit, for which we pay three pence per dozen (six cents in American money). We enjoy picking the large golden fruit from the trees. Lemons in California, I should enjoy them far more than I do the oranges. I manage to keep a box of apples for my own use, but they are inferior to the apples we get in America. I pay $1.75 at this season of the year for a box of apples, holding less than a bushel.SpM 39.4

I have written this to give you some idea of how we live. I never enjoyed better health than at the present time, and never did more writing. I rise at three in the morning, and do not sleep any during the day. I am often up at one o'clock, and when my mind is especially burdened, I rise at twelve o'clock to write out matters that are urged upon my mind. I praise the Lord with heart and soul and voice for the great mercy toward me.SpM 39.5

I have felt urged by the Spirit of God to set before several the fact that their suffering and ill health were caused by a disregard of the light given them upon the health reform. I have shown them that their meat diet, which was supposed to be essential, was not necessary, and that as they were composed of what they ate, brain, bone, and muscle were in an unwholesome condition because they lived on the flesh of dead animals. Their blood was being corrupted by this improper diet. The flesh which they ate was diseased, and their entire system was becoming gross and corrupted. More than this, I set before them the fact that by placing several kinds of food in the stomach at one meal, they were causing disease which was not attributed to the food eaten. I told them that they would realize much benefit if they would eat only two meals a day.SpM 40.1

There is an alarming lethargy shown on the subject of unconscious sensualism. It is customary to eat the flesh of dead animals. The human family is under the despotism of custom and false education, of hereditary and cultivated habits. Appetite reigns as a king over the mind and reason. The animal propensities are allowed to become a controlling power. And proportionately as nature's laws are transgressed, physical suffering and disease of every stripe and type is seen; for every transgression of the laws of physical life is a transgression of the laws of God.SpM 40.2

If appetite, which should be strictly guarded and controlled, is indulged to the injury of the body, the penalty of transgression will surely be the result. As nature's laws are transgressed, mind and soul become enfeebled.SpM 40.3

Christians should regard a transgression of these laws as a sin against God, to be accounted for in the day of Judgment, when every case shall come in review before God.SpM 40.4

The world today is full of pain and suffering and agony. But is it the will of God that such a condition shall exist?—No. God, the Creator of our bodies, has arranged every fiber and nerve, and sinew and muscle, and has pledged himself to keep the machinery in order, if the human agent will cooperate with him, and refuse to work contrary to the laws which govern the physical system.SpM 40.5

God's law is written by His own finger upon every nerve, every muscle, every faculty which has been entrusted to man. These gifts were bestowed upon him, not to be abused, corrupted and abased, but to be used to His honor and glory. Every misuse of any part of our organism is a violation of the law which God designs shall govern us in these matters, and by violating this law human beings corrupt themselves; sickness and disease of every kind, ruined constitutions, premature decay, untimely deaths, these are the results of a violation of nature's laws.SpM 40.6

The living organism is God's property. It belongs to Him by creation and by redemption: and by a misuse of any of our powers we rob God of the honor due Him.SpM 40.7

The need of healthful habits is a part of the gospel which must be presented to the people by those who hold forth the word of Life. The importance of the health of the body is to be taught as a Bible requirement. “I beseech you, brethren, therefore,” writes Paul, “That ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”SpM 40.8

This is a sermon which needs to be presented to the people. The question of health reform is not agitated as it must and will be. A simple diet, and the entire absence of drugs, leaving nature free to recuperate the wasted energies of the body, would make our sanitariums far more effectual in restoring the sick to health. The intellectual and moral energies of Christians need to be awakened. Far less money and time should be given to the table, and more to the advancement of missionary work in our land. Cooks should be thought of, and their strength saved as much as possible, for they have souls to save. The many dishes usually prepared for dessert should be dispensed with.SpM 41.1

Every minister who preaches the gospel to the people should study the laws of physical health. He should carefully consider what effect eating and drinking have upon the health of the soul. By precept and example, by a life of obedience to nature's laws, he can present the truth in a favorable manner. The teachers and workers in our sanitariums should not only preach, but practice, abstinence from food which stimulates fleshly lusts which war against the soul.SpM 41.2

“Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” Nearly all of the human family eat more than the system requires. This excess decays, and becomes a putrid mass. Catarrhal difficulties, kidney disease, headache, and heart troubles, are the result of immoderate eating. Even so-called health reform needs reforming upon this point. When men and women cease to indulge their appetites by eating too largely of food of a questionable quality, when they treat their stomach as respectfully as it deserves to be treated, when they relieve it of one-half to two-thirds of the laborious task they require it to perform, when nature is more respected than taste and perverted appetite, then there will be a change for the better in health and morals.SpM 41.3

If more food, even of a simple quality, is placed in the stomach than the living machinery requires, this surplus becomes a burden. The system makes a desperate effort to dispose of it, and this extra work causes a tired, weary feeling. Some who are continually overeating call this all-gone feeling hunger, but it is caused by the overworked condition of the abused digestive organs.SpM 41.4

At too many tables, when the stomach has received all that it requires to properly carry on its work of nourishing the system, another course, consisting of pies, puddings, and highly flavored sauces, is placed upon the table. Society has sought out many inventions and she has decreed that the food be placed upon the table in different courses. Not knowing what is coming next, one may partake of a sufficiency of food which perhaps is not the most suited to him. Then the last course is brought on. This may be composed of articles of food which, if they had been placed on the table at the first, would have added much to his enjoyment of the food. Many, though they have already eaten enough, will overstep the bounds, and eat the tempting dessert, which, however, proves anything but good to them.SpM 41.5

The custom of placing different courses of food upon the table would better never have been invented. Let that which is provided for the meal be placed upon the table at the beginning, and then let each one eat that which will be the most healthful for him. Let each have an opportunity to choose what shall compose his meal. If the extras which are provided for dessert were dispensed with altogether it would be a blessing.SpM 42.1

Another custom which has been instituted is, that which requires all to keep their places at the table till the last one has finished. But this makes eating a burden to those who eat no more than they feel their stomachs can properly care for. Health reformers need not observe these inventions of fashion. If you are where those eating to excess continually pass the tempting dishes, it is well to break human rules and pass quietly from the table.SpM 42.2

Eating merely to please the appetite is a transgression of nature's laws. Often this intemperance is felt at once in the form of headache and indigestion and colic. A load has been placed upon the stomach that it cannot care for, and a feeling of oppression comes. The head is confused, the stomach is in rebellion. But these results do not always follow overeating. In some cases the stomach is paralysed. No sensation of pain is felt, but the digestive organs lose their vital force, the foundation of the human machinery is gradually undermined, and life is rendered very unpleasant.SpM 42.3

By indulging in a wrong course of action in eating and drinking, thousands upon thousands are ruining their health. And not only is health ruined, but their morals are corrupted, because diseased blood flows through their veins.SpM 42.4

I have a suggestion to make to those who have moral courage and self-control enough to try it. If your work is sedentary, take exercise every day, and at each meal eat only two or three kinds of simple food, taking no more of these than will satisfy the demands of hunger. Make up your mind that this is all the food you will give your stomach. For some days perseveringly carry out your determination to eat less than you have in the past. See how this will work. Strong, hearty men, who are engaged in active physical labor, can eat food which those of sedentary habits can not eat without injury to their health. Those engaged in active physical labor are not compelled to be so careful as to the quantity or quality of their food. But even this class of people could have better health by practicing earnest self-control in eating and drinking. But one's stomach cannot be made the rule for measuring the diet of every one else.SpM 42.5

It is the positive duty of physicians to educate, educate, educate, by pen and voice, all who have the responsibility of preparing food for the table. Teach them to bind about their ambitious desires to place before their family and before visitors a variety of tempting dishes. It would be much better to eat only two or three different kinds of food at each meal, than to overload the stomach with many varieties.SpM 43.1

There are many kinds of intemperance in this world. Overeating is intemperance just as surely as liquor-drinking. Intemperate eating mars the system, producing a morbid appetite, which enslaves men and women. The stomach must have careful attention. It must not be kept in continual operation. Give this much used and much abused organ some peace and quiet and rest. After it has done its work for one meal, do not crowd more work upon it before it has had a chance to rest, and before a sufficient quantity of gastric juice is provided. Five hours at least should be given between each meal, and always bear in mind that if you would give it a trial, you would find that two meals would be better than three.SpM 43.2

The sin of the Noatic world was intemperance, and today this sin, exhibited by intemperance in eating and drinking, is so marked that God will not always tolerate it. By eating and drinking we sustain life, and in themselves, if kept within the bound of temperance, they are of no harm, but a blessing. But when eating and drinking are carried to excess they come under the head of intemperance. Man carries to excess that which is lawful, and his whole being suffers the results of the violation of the laws which the Lord established.SpM 43.3

Intemperance in eating and drinking is on the increase. Tables are spread with all kinds of food, with which to satisfy the epicurean appetite. Suffering must follow this course of action. The vital forces of the system can not bear up under the tax placed upon it, and it finally breaks down.SpM 43.4

God is greatly dishonored by the way in which man treats his organs, and He will not work a miracle to counteract a perverse violation of the laws of health. The Lord Jesus purchased man, paying for him the infinite price of His own life. Man should estimate himself by the price which has been paid for him. When he places this value upon himself, he will not knowingly abuse one of his physical or mental faculties. It is an insult to the God of heaven for man to abuse his precious powers, by placing himself under the control of Satanic agencies, and besotting himself by indulging in that which is ruinous to health, to piety and spirituality. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”SpM 43.5

When man educates the appetite to desire the flesh of dead animals and to love wine and strong drink he becomes a body of corruption. Oh, how little God is honored by them, how little He is brought into their thoughts. Gluttony and strong drink degrade the beings who are God's property by creation, His property because He has given His only begotten Son for their redemption. Look at that party of judges, lawyers, and ministers, who claim to be the servants of God and co-workers with Jesus Christ, united at the festive board. Through the indulgence of perverted appetites, they have made themselves a set of driveling fools bereft of reason. And these are men for whom Christ died that it might be possible for them to have a life of usefulness, to wear Christ's yoke, and to show their loyalty to God.SpM 43.6

Satan is the destroyer; and God is the restorer. He calls upon us to cooperate with Him by doing our utmost, by precept and example, to restore the moral image of God in man. It is our duty to engage in the work of helping our fellow men to stand in their God-given freedom, men of self-control, vessels unto honor. We can show ourselves of much value as colaborers with God by elevating the standard of temperance, by trying to raise our brethren from degradation, so that Christ shall not have died for them in vain. Thus we show our nobility as sons of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and manifest our fitness for the immortal inheritance, which Christ has gone to prepare for us. All this we may be and do if we submit to the control of God.SpM 44.1

But oh, how fast the world is rushing on in their madness, hastening the day of retribution. “As the days of Noah were, so also shall the days of the coming of the Son of Man be.” Each day man is forming his own destiny. Every day his account is passed by the heavenly Watcher into the record books of heaven. The time will come when each one must meet the history of his life. But how much of the money which God has given to man, the money which should be used to restore the obliterated image of Jesus, is used to gratify appetite and ambition, to prepare extravagant festivals, and to build and furnish grand houses.SpM 44.2

One soul saved for Jesus Christ is of more value than the whole world. Then how God would be honored if He could see that the physical, mental, and moral powers of men and women were kept free from every unnatural appetite, every wrong practice, every species of intemperance, tobacco-using, liquor drinking, or gluttony. Let men and women obey the work of God and they will bring heaven very near to earth.SpM 44.3

I feel deeply over the existing state of things. It is today “as it was in the days of Noah.” Then they ate and drank and planted and builded, with an enthusiasm from beneath stirring them. This made them intensely active to follow the evil imaginations of their own heart, and that continually. There was violence in the land. What do we see now in 1896? Men work in the same manner as in Noah's day, forgetful of God, educating themselves in habits and practices which corrupt soul and body. We see terrible calamities coming upon our world because of iniquity. Thousands are being killed by floods, by terrible tornadoes, by earthquakes. Ships that are upon the great deep perish in the angry billows. Yet in spite of this men continue to act in opposition to God.SpM 44.4

My brother, there is need that economy be practiced in every line of our work. There is need of prayer, earnest, heartfelt, sincere prayer. There is need that temperance in eating, drinking and building shall be practiced. There is need to educate the people in right habits of living. Put no confidence in drug medicine. If every particle of it were buried in the great ocean, I would say Amen. Our physicians are not working on the right plan. A reform is needed which will go deeper and be more thorough. Meat-eating is doing its work, for the meat is diseased. We may not long be able to use even milk. The very earth is groaning under the corrupted inhabitants. We need to consider closely our habits and practices, and banish our sinful, darling indulgences. I have had light from God on this subject, and I have been endeavoring to give this light to our people in this country. I could write you pages upon pages of this; but I feel so deeply over these things that I scarcely dare to take my pen in my hands.SpM 44.5

I tell you, my brother and sister, we are living in the Laodicean state of the church. If any ever needed to fall upon the rock and be broken, it is the people of California and all through our church in America. We need to arouse and act as one man. We need to be earnest and alive. Horrors upon horrors are following upon the destruction of human life. Yet these things receive only a few remarks. The world will not be warned: but the day of the Lord is coming unawares, as a thief in the night.SpM 45.1

E. G. White