In the last 400 years, English merchant and writer Thomas Tryon (1634-1703) (note 1) is the first Christian theologian to make vegetarianism a faith-and-compassion-based mandate for all (Tryon 1697/1683), declaring that “killing, violence, and oppression whatsoever, either of man or beast … is all contrary to the spirit of Jesus Christ” and God’s principle of eternal love (Tryon 1697: 247) (note 2). (Tryon is also the first person in history to use the term “animal rights” [Tryon 2022/1684]).
The following points come from Tryon’s 1697/1683 book The Way to Health, Long Life and Happiness.
1. “Dominion” (Gen. 1:26) and God’s Revenge for Animals
Like other “animal-friendly” theologians, e.g., John Calvin, John Wesley, C.S. Lewis, Karl Barth, Michael Rennie Stead, Tryon notes that God prescribed a veggie diet to humans from the very beginning (1697:13) (note 3), and interprets “dominion” (Genesis 1:26) as stewardship (1697:12) with certain responsibilities to the animals (note 4). Unlike most other animal-friendly theologians, however, Tryon stresses that those who act like a tyrant to other creatures and engage in killing and eating animals will be fiercely retaliated against by God for sure (1697: 346-7) (note 5).
2. God’s Love Principle vs God’s Wrath Principle
Based on Psalm 18:25-26, Tryon posits a dichotomy of the divine love principle of God versus the wrath principle of God (1697:287). God is a mirror of the spirit and nature in which we live (note 6). When humans live in love and mercy in relation to other sentient beings, they kindle the former; when they kill and eat their fellow creatures, they kindle the latter. Concerning the latter, it is a vicious circle (note 7). The more you kill and eat your fellow creatures, the more bloodthirsty and violent you become, and the greater God’s wrath against you grows (Tryon 1697:299).
3. Permission to Eat Meat is a Curse
The permission for killing and eating animals in Genesis 9:3 precisely proceeded from God’s fierce wrath so much so that it is essentially more like a curse than a license (Tryon 1697:287) (note 8). God’s giving quails as plague-inducing food to the flesh-greedy Israelites travelling in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt (Numbers 11) (Tryon 1697:233) (note 9), and all those animal sacrifices in the OT (Tryon 1697:299-302) (note 10), are cases in point. Only the holy principle of God's eternal love and light in Jesus Christ can allay God’s fiery wrath (Tryon 1697:302).
4. A Flesh Diet is Detrimental to Health!
Just like Tertullian, St. Clement of Alexandria, John Wesley, Dr. Will Tuttle, etc., Tryon points out the health hazards associated with a flesh diet, such as boils, scabs, leprosy, indigestion, clotted blood (Tryon1697:270) (note 11). However, probably because of the absence of factory farming in his days and ignorance about the health hazards posed by dairy and egg products, Tryon does not reject milk and eggs.
5. Conclusion
In essence, Tryon tells us that the only way to achieve global peace, happiness, health, and longevity for all is to practice love for both humans and animals in the spirit of Jesus Christ. Shedding blood, whether human or animal, will kindle our internal wrath and the external wrath of God, leading to endless violence, pain, suffering, and death. Abstinence from animal flesh is, therefore, a basic requirement of Christianity.
NOTES
1. Thomas Tryon was the first person to use the term “rights” in relation to animals (1684), as well as the first theologian in the last 400 years to mandate vegetarianism based on faith and compassion, declaring that eating animal flesh is against the spirit of Jesus Christ. Despite his humble beginnings, Tryon managed to educate himself and became a significant thinker in the tradition of animal theology. His most important work is The Way to Health, Long Life, and Happiness (1697/1683), which stresses the Bible's teachings against violence towards animals and highlights the negative impacts of flesh consumption on the spiritual, mental, and physical health of humans.
2. Below, please find an excerpt concerning how violence, whether directed against humans or animals, is all contrary to the eternal love of God and the true light of Christ.
For all that do know the power of God in themselves, and are guided by the voice of wisdom, and live in the friendly love of God, have abandoned and utterly exiled all hatred, pride, malice, backbiting, fighting, killing, violence, and oppression whatsoever, either of man or beast, and in them meek, innocent dispositions and inclinations do reign, doing unto all creatures as one would be used and done unto. For violence and all kinds of cruelty and oppression is as contrary to such natures as darkness to light. And we may affirm that never any man hath harmed, oppressed, killed, or used any kind of violence to any innocent creature from the excitement or power of this divine principle. Therefore, let everyone consider this, they that find hatred, envy, the spirit of oppression and violence to dwell in them, may certainly conclude themselves in the fierce wrath of God. For all such dispositions and inclinations do proceed from that dark root of bitterness, which is all contrary to the spirit of Jesus Christ. Great is the whole mystery of godliness, but especially Christ manifest in the flesh, that is, that the eternal love and light of God should dwell essentially in man.(Tryon 1697:247)
3. According to Tryon, Adam, the first man, was placed in a garden where the green herbs and fruit-bearing trees were given to him for food. Up until the time of the flood, the consumption of flesh was neither permitted nor practiced (Tryon 1697:13). Those who engage in acts of slaughtering, brutality, and oppression—whether against humans or animals—are acting in opposition to the divine principle of love and the spirit of Jesus Christ. By doing so, they inevitably subject themselves to God's fierce wrath (Tryon 1697:247).
4. Admittedly, God has made all animals subordinate to man (Tryon 1697:12), but the dominion referred to in Genesis 1:26 does not mean that man should act as a tyrant over the rest of God's creation. Rather, this dominion calls for man to live with love and mercy toward all creatures for their well-being (Tryon 1697:232). Being made in the image of God, according to Genesis 1:27, means that man is intended to be a compassionate ruler (Tryon 1697:346).
5. If man were to act as an absolute monarch or tyrant, violating the rights of other creatures, he would provoke God's fierce wrath, and God would avenge the wrongs done to the animals. Remember, Proverbs 12:10 states that a righteous person is merciful to their animals (Tryon 1697:346-7).
6. This metaphor is added by the author of this article.
7. It is indeed a vicious cycle—blood demands more blood (Tryon 1697: 299). Throughout this time, the principle of God's intense wrath continued to grow and strengthen despite the violence and oppression, and the same applied to all sacrifices. Through their acts of violence, humans had corrupted the earth and stirred up God's wrath, which called for revenge, just as the blood of a particular human does on an animal. All acts of violence, whether small or large, call for vengeance and retaliation unless they are confessed, repented, and renounced through the power of God's divine principle of love (Tryon 1697: 301).
8. In Genesis 6, it is written that due to humanity's desire for killing and consuming the flesh and blood of animals, God’s Wrath was awakened and he decided to eradicate the majority of them who were violent. Meanwhile, he instructed Noah the righteous man to build an ark and take aboard samples of all animals, both clean and unclean, along with all kinds of food—but no mention was made of flesh (Tryon 1697: 285). After the Deluge, God did allow humans to consume flesh. For humanity's renewed lust for killing and consuming flesh reawakened the wrath within themselves and the external wrath of God, from which came the permission for killing and eating animals (Tryon 1697: 286). Below please find Tryon’s own words in this regard:-
When man did eat of the fruit thereof, he died unto the divine life, and lived in the power of the fiery spirit of wrath, which has corrupted all flesh, even the very earth, and all things therein. It was after this was come to pass, when man had by his longing and lusts precipitated himself into the fierce spirit and wild nature that the Lord permitted him to kill and eat the flesh of the beasts. But it must be understood that this license or permission of killing or eating of flesh proceeded from the wrath of God in nature.(Tryon 1697:287)
9. From Tryon’s perspective, God’s permission for killing and eating flesh in Genesis 9:3 is similar to God’s giving quails to the Israelites as food during their travel in the wilderness after Exodus. No doubt, Yahuah did give them flesh to eat when they complained that, fed up with the vegan manna provided by God, they missed the flesh pots of Egypt. “But it was in His wrath and to their destruction, for they had awakened the centre of wrath which provoked the Lord” (233). As narrated in Numbers 11, God was so wrathful with the flesh-greedy Israelites that He said, “You want flesh, eh? Ok, I will give you flesh until it’s coming right out of your nostrils!” Consequently, while the flesh was still between their teeth, the anger of the Lord blazed forth against the people, and He struck them down with a most severe pandemic. (Numbers 11:33).
10. Following the flood, which had destroyed all of humanity except for eight people, sacrifices and the blood of animals were used to calm the wrath and make atonement for human sins, to prevent a similar severe judgment in the future. This was because the blood of animals had the closest connection to the essential qualities of human life and to the awakened wrath, both within and outside of man—the wrath principle of God. For man cannot ignite the wrath within themselves without also stirring it up outside of them. However, scripture states that the blood of bulls and similar offerings could not fully satisfy God's justice and the awakened wrath, nor could it perfectly atone for human sin (Tryon 1697: 300).
11. Tryon notes that flesh-eating gives rise to a number of physical diseases:-
Most sorts of flesh and fish as to their operation on the body and senses are not so innocent, brisk, airy, and lively as herbs, seeds, grains, fruits, and various sorts of excellent food made of them… for flesh is of a gross substance, dull, and heavy in its operation, fills the body with abundance of flimsy, corrupt juices, bad blood, and in many constitutions too great a quantity, and causes the animal spirits to be very impure. Whence arise boils, scabs, king's evils, leprosies, and sometimes clotted blood, like pieces of flesh which lie in some of the vessels of the stomach, till being gathered into hard lumps, they forcefully oppresses nature and causes distempers, which are the death of multitudes. (1697:270)
Primary Sources:
Tryon, Thomas (1697/1683). The Way to Health, Long Life and Happiness. London: Unknown Publisher. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Way_to_Health_Long_Life_and_Happines/cQ83AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
Comments