Quotation (1854)

'Vegetarians argue that what was best at the beginning is best now; by distinguishing between appointment and permission harmonize God with His attributes, and with His several approvals of abstinence from flesh and his warnings to avoid it; the evidently greater reconcilement of mercy and peace with such practice than now exists, and the further assurance of prophecy that a time will come when "they shall not hurt or destroy".' From an anonymous letter published in The Vegetarian Messenger (January 1854)

Quotation: Ronald Lightowler (1951)

"It is no use just praying for an ideal state of society to appear on earth unless we are prepared to bring the pattern of our own lives into harmony with it." From 'The Vegetarian Testimony'- an article published in The Vegetarian News (Autumn 1951 edition) See also: 'Christians and Vegetarianism'

Quotation: The Rev. Dr. William Hamilton Drummond (1838)

"While we "eat the fat and drink the sweet," we never, for an instant reflect on the animal sufferings which precede the banquet;—the barbed hook, the lacerating shot, the shrieks, the groans, and the dying agony. Such reflections would embitter the taste; therefore they are excluded as enemies of our peace; and cruelties continue to be perpetrated not because we approve of them, but because we allow ourselves to become even unconscious of their existence."

From The rights of animals and man's obligation to treat them with humanity by William H. Drummond, D.D., M.R.I.A. (John Mardon publishers, 1838, p.122)At least 3 editions of the work have been re-published in recent years and the original text has been made available by Google books.

Quotation: Professor F.W. Newman (1873)

"Law cannot forbid cruelties in detail, if it allow indiscriminate slaughter. Hearts are hardened by custom, and thus the evil spreads." From an article entitled 'Rights of Animals' which was published in The Index (December 11, 1873 edition). The Francis William Newman Research Center have reproduced the entire article in pdf format: http://www.fwnewman.org/Library/Works/SPE/Index_12-11-73.pdf See also: photograph

'Christmas Contrasts'

From The Animals' Champion (October - December 1963)

Quotation: 'The Vegetarian News' (Editorial: December 1921)

"With the advent of the Christmas season comes the annual festival of slaughter of those whom we are pleased to call the "animals," and we have to lament once more that the customary proclamation of "Peace on earth and good will towards men" should be coincident with a holocaust of cruelty towards the members of the sentient creation whose only crime is that they are weaker than ourselves."

Quotation: H.W. Hales (1957)

"I believe that vegetarianism is a privileged and enlightened way of life. Let us then be tolerant with those less fortunate in spiritual understanding. We look forward with confidence and longing for the Bible's promised VEGETARIAN NEW EARTH. This will fully justify and condone our inspired way of life on this earth." From a letter, headed 'Christians and Animal Welfare' which was published in The Vegetarian News (Winter 1957 edition)

Quotation: Rev. Victor Allen Callow (1935)

"These two principles of mercy and sacrifice are in perpetual conflict. Shall I suffer or shall I let another suffer for me? I believe that I have no moral right to ask another to do for me what I am not prepared to do for myself. If I do not think it right to kill animals for food neither is it right for me to condemn another man to a trade which I consider demoralising." From a transcript of the Vegetarian Society's annual Church Service published in The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review (November 1935). Sermon conducted by a latter Minister of the Bible Christian Church of Salford.

Quotation: from 'An Open Letter to the Clergy' (1914)

"Truly did St. John say, 'the light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not.' Does our 20th century darkness comprehend it now? Does the Church understand to-day that a Christianity founded upon carnivorous customs is a contradiction in terms and the destruction of the dumb creation is a perpetual crucifixion of the Lord of life and a continual violation of the law of love?" Published in The Vegetarian (July 1914 edition)

Quotation: C.P. Newcombe (1904)

"Religion is that perfect abnegation of self which seeks its complete realisation in the mitigation of the sorrows of others. The Apostle tells us to be 'first pure, then peacable.' So we give our thoughts to the problems which tend to purity, and to us there is no peace till they are solved. We hate the cruelties of flesh-eating. We charge upon them the degradations which on all hands are so evident, and which are a shadow on the character of our best men, whether called by the name of Christian or by any other." From an essay entitled 'Are Vegetarians Christians?' which was published in The Vegetarian (September 1904)

Quotation: The Rev. James Clark (1903)

"God had given us dominion over the fowls of the air and fish of the sea, and how were we to exercise that dominion? Not as a cannibal king, who scrupled not to eat any of his subjects, nor as barbarians, who had power in that they might exercise it to the hurt of others; but truly in the spirit of the Lord Christ, who came to save and not to destroy - who came to teach us to nourish each gentle emotion in our soul." From a sermon preached at Dalmarnock Road Congregational Church, Glasgow and reported in The Vegetarian Messenger (August 1903 edition). The summary of Rev. Clark's sermon was subsequently published as a tract by the Vegetarian Society, entitled Scriptural Phase of Vegetarianism.

Quotation: Laetitia Withall (1932)

"We have not come here just to pass through this world, taking on its bad habits and leaving it no better." From a summary of a lecture delivered at the Theosophical Hall, Nottingham - published as 'On Behalf of the Creatures' in The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review (May 1932)

Quotation: E.D. Buckner, D.M. (1905)

Quotation: Mahatma Gandhi (1921)

"I claim to know and feel the truths of the essential teaching of the scriptures. I decline to be bound by any interpretation, however learned it may be, if it is repugnant to reason or moral sense."

Reprinted in The Vegetarian News (Winter 1954) from Mahatma Gandhi by Radhakrishnan (G. Allen & Unwin, 1939)

Quotation: Frances Pearson (1962)

"God has given us the dignity of being able to co-operate with Him from choice - not from compulsion. Our efforts may be infinitely small - but they are infinitely worthwhile - because they are in tune with life."

From The Vegan (Autumn 1962 edition)

The entire archive of Vegan Society journals has recently been digitized and made available at: http://www.vegansociety.com/resources/magazine/Back-issues.aspx

Highlights include the inspirational story of the Beauty Without Cruelty company by Lady Muriel Dowding (Summer 1962) and an authoritative history of the early Vegan movement by Society founder, Donald Watson (Autumn 1965).

Quotation: Moira Henry (1946)

"If one purchases an animal one may slaughter it for food; but if one omits the preliminary payment one is likely to find oneself in court for theft - for stealing thy neighbours property; not for depriving the animal of its life! Surely the law is contradictory. To take a penny, easily replaced, is theft? To take a subhuman life, impossible to replace, is no crime at all?"

From an article entitled "Thou Shalt Not Kill!" which was published in the November 1946 edition of The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review

Quotation: Rev. R.C.R. Adkins, M.A. (1964)

"Now the fact that Man has dominion over the animals is undoubtedly true, but it is also true that God has dominion over Man. If we fail, therefore, to show mercy to animals, the sovereignty over whom God has, for a time, delegated to us, we cannot expect to receive mercy from God, Who has supreme power over us."

From The British Vegetarian (September/October 1964)

Full article HERE

Quotation: Samuel Hopgood Hart (1925)

"It is of no use to cry 'Peace, Peace' where there can be no peace, and there can be no peace in partnership with cruelty and bloodshed. God's mercy is over all His works."

Excerpt taken from 'Why be a vegetarian? - some arguments from the religious standpoint' - a lecture delivered to the Croydon Vegetarian Society and published in The Vegetarian News (November 1925 edition)

Hart portrait

Quotation:'Something Lacking' (1931)

"It must always be a most serious matter for the Christian Church, should its ethic at any time prove to be less advanced than that of the secular community, or indeed of any section of it."

From the Editorial in The Vegetarian News (June 1931)

Quotation: Marjorie Waddicor (1960)

"If we strive to carry out His teachings in daily life, our conscience clearly tells us that the brutal suffering involved in the breeding of sentient animals for food is not only condemned by a God of Love but must crucify Him daily as it does all who strive to follow Him in spirit"

From a letter entitled 'Christian standpoint' which was published in the September/October edition of The British Vegetarian