Rev. John Wesley (1703-1791), a vegan Anglican clergyman and the founder of Methodism, laments that humans, without any necessity, choose to abuse, torment and brutalize animals, that humans are more evil and cruel than carnivores like lions and tigers, who kill and eat their preys just for the sake of survival. This is a rather modern viewpoint. The idea that humans can thrive on a vegan diet, and the question of why they should choose to enslave, abuse, rape (artificially inseminate), and murder innocent animals, is shared and proclaimed by many 21st-century animal rights activists, e.g., Tash Peterson, Earthling Ed, Joey Carbstrong, and Jamie Logan. Below please find Wesley’s original statement:-
During this season of vanity, not only the feebler creatures are continually destroyed by the stronger; not only the strong are frequently destroyed by those that are of equal strength; but both the one and the other are exposed to the violence and cruelty of him that is now their common enemy, -- man. And if his swiftness or strength is not equal to theirs, yet his art more than supplies that defect. By this he eludes all their force, how great soever it be; by this he defeats all their swiftness; and, notwithstanding their various shifts and contrivances, discovers all their retreats. He pursues them over the widest plains, and through the thickest forests. He overtakes them in the fields of air, he finds them out in the depths of the sea. Nor are the mild and friendly creatures who still own his sway, and are duteous to his commands, secured thereby from more than brutal violence; from outrage and abuse of various kinds. Is the generous horse, that serves his master''s necessity or pleasure with unwearied diligence, -- is the faithful dog, that waits the motion of his hand, or his eye, exempt from this? What returns for their long and faithful service do many of these poor creatures find? And what a dreadful difference is there, between What they suffer from their fellow-brutes, and what they suffer from the tyrant man! The lion, the tiger, or the shark, gives them pain from mere necessity, in order to prolong their own life; and puts them out of their pain at once: But the human shark, without any such necessity, torments them of his free choice; and perhaps continues their lingering pain till, after months or years, death signs their release.(Wesley 1872, II.6)
Wesley reminds us that as God does not forget any single one of His creatures, we should follow suit and soften our heart towards all the animals (Wesley 1872, II.10). Wesley, however, has a cowardly side. Despite his doctor's advice, he once interrupted his vegan diet in order to avoid offending his “brothers”, in particular, the Bishop of London, and to show that veganism is a health choice rather than a moral issue (Wesley 1747/1931:2-4).
This article's link: https://www.hkbnews.net/post/rev-john-wesley-laments-that-humans-choose-to-brutalize-animals-unnecessarily-by-dr-chapman-chen
Source:
Wesley, John (1872). “The General Deliverance (Sermon 60).” In Thomas Jackson, ed., The Sermons of John Wesley, pp. 241-256. London: Wesleyan Conference Office. https://www.wordsofwesley.com/libtext.cfm?srm=60
Wesley, John (1747, June 11/1931). “Letter to Dr. Gibson, Bishop of London.” In John Telford, ed., The Letters of John Wesley, pp. 2-4. London: Epworth Press. Available online: http://wesley.nnu.edu/Letters/1747.htm as part of http://wesley.nnu.edu/Letters/
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