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Selected Messages Book 2
proper article of food for man. It would fill the system with scrofula,
and especially in that warm climate produced leprosy, and disease of
various kinds. Its influence upon the system in that climate was far
more injurious than in a colder climate. But God never designed the
swine to be eaten under any circumstances. The heathen used pork
as an article of food, and American people have used pork freely as
an important article of diet. Swine’s flesh would not be palatable to
the taste in its natural state. It is made agreeable to the appetite by
highly seasoning, which makes a very bad thing worse. Swine’s flesh
above all other flesh-meats, produces a bad state of the blood. Those
who eat freely of pork can but be diseased. Those who have much
out-door exercise do not realize the bad effects of pork eating as those
do whose life is mostly in-doors, and whose habits are sedentary, and
whose labor is mental.
But it is not the physical health alone which is injured by pork-
eating. The mind is affected, and the finer sensibilities are blunted by
the use of this gross article of food. It is impossible for the flesh of any
living creature to be healthy when filth is their natural element, and
when they will feed upon every detestable thing. The flesh of swine
is composed of what they eat. If human beings eat their flesh, their
blood and their flesh will be corrupted by impurities conveyed to them
through the swine.
The eating of pork has produced scrofula, leprosy, and cancerous
humors. Pork-eating is still causing the most intense suffering to the
human race. Depraved appetites crave those things which are the most
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injurious to health. The curse, which has rested heavily upon the earth,
and has been felt by the whole race of mankind, has also been felt by
the animals. The beasts have degenerated in size, and length of years.
They have been made to suffer more than they otherwise would, by
the wrong habits of man.
There are but few animals that are free from disease. Many have
been made to suffer greatly for the want of light, pure air, and whole-
some food. When they are fattened, they are often confined in close
stables, and are not permitted to exercise, and to enjoy free circulation
of air. Many poor animals are left to breathe the poison of filth which
is left in barns and stables. Their lungs will not long remain healthy
while inhaling such impurities. Disease is conveyed to the liver, and
the entire system of the animal is diseased. They are killed, and pre-