I have wondered that the inhabitants of the earth were not destroyed, like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. I have seen reason enough for the present state of degeneracy and mortality in the world. Blind passion controls reason, and every high consideration with many is sacrificed to lust. (2SM 417.1) MC VC

The first great evil was intemperance in eating and drinking. Men and women have made themselves slaves to appetite. (2SM 417.2) MC VC

Pork although one of the most common articles of diet, is one of the most injurious. God did not prohibit the Hebrews from eating swine’s flesh merely to show his authority, but because it was not a 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. (2SM 417.3) MC VC

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. (2SM 417.4) MC VC

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 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. (2SM 417.5) MC VC