The summer heat of June 1840 hung heavily over the brick streets of Philadelphia. Inside the Bible-Christian Church on North Third Street in West Kensington, a small but dedicated congregation gathered for their anniversary. Standing before them was the Reverend William Metcalfe, a man whose quiet determination had already spent over two decades challenging the eating habits of a young, meat-obsessed nation. On that day, Metcalfe delivered an address that would soon be published as a booklet, sending shockwaves through the religious and medical establishments of the Jacksonian era. His text, “Bible Testimony on Abstinence from the Flesh of Animals as Food,” was a radical attempt to dismantle the theological defenses of the slaughterhouse.
Metcalfe spoke to an America that was practically swimming in grease and alcohol. The typical nineteenth-century diet was a heavy, relentless parade of hams, beefsteaks, and heavily spiced dishes, washed down with gallons of brandy and port wine. This was a time when cities routinely banned the sale of fresh fruits and vegetables during cholera outbreaks, operating under the tragic medical delusion that fresh produce caused disease. Yet, amidst this culinary chaos, a counter-cultural health revolution was brewing. Men like Sylvester Graham, the famous orator who popularized whole wheat flour, and Dr. William Alcott, a pioneering physician, were urging Americans to look to the laws of nature for physical salvation. Metcalfe, a homeopathic doctor himself, was their spiritual ally. He believed that physical health and spiritual purity were deeply connected.
While Graham and Alcott argued from physiology and anatomy, Metcalfe knew that for a deeply religious nation, the ultimate authority was the Bible. Christian meat-eaters had long used scripture as a shield, pointing to the numerous times Jesus of Nazareth was associated with fish. In the Gospels, Jesus feeds the multitudes with loaves and fishes, and after his resurrection, he cooks fish over a charcoal fire for his disciples. How could a Christian argue for a meat-free life when the Savior himself seemed to condone the catching and eating of aquatic creatures? This was the monumental hurdle Metcalfe set out to leap.
Metcalfe bypassed the English translations of his day and dove directly into the original Greek of the New Testament. He consulted the highly respected Greek Lexicon of John Parkhurst, an English theologian. What he discovered was a revelation. In the Gospel of John, particularly in the story of the post-resurrection breakfast, the word translated as “fish” is opsarion. Parkhurst noted in his lexicon that it was not natural to translate opsarion as animal fish. Instead, the Greek term referred to a savory relish or condiment designed to be eaten with dry bread. In first-century Palestine, this relish was frequently made from pickled seaweed or aquatic plants, commonly known as “fish-weed”. To Metcalfe, Jesus prepared a simple, compassionate meal of bread and seasoned marine plants instead of grilling animal flesh on the beach.
This linguistic detective work led Metcalfe to another startling conclusion regarding the disciples. Peter, James, and John were famous as fishermen, but Metcalfe argued that the term had a much broader meaning in antiquity. He pointed out that the ancient world was home to various kinds of fishermen, including pearl fishers, coral fishers, and those who harvested submarine vegetation. If Jesus and his followers advocated a life of absolute harmlessness, it stood to reason that these disciples were gatherers of sea-plants rather than killers of living fish. The “fish” in their nets represented the bountiful, non-violent harvest of the sea rather than gasping, sentient beings.
Metcalfe extended his radical analysis far beyond the seas. He constructed a sweeping narrative of biblical history that painted God’s original vision as entirely vegan. He pointed to the first chapter of Genesis, verse twenty-nine, where God explicitly gives humanity every seed-bearing herb and fruit-yielding tree for food. He argued that this primeval law was never meant to be altered. When critics raised the divine allowance given to Noah in Genesis 9, verse 3, to eat “every moving thing,” Metcalfe offered a fascinating counter-argument. He asserted that the Hebrew phrasing referred to the grapevine or creepers, noting that Noah immediately planted a vineyard afterward. Furthermore, God’s very next decree warned against consuming flesh with its lifeblood.
For Metcalfe, the Sixth Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” was an absolute, universal law. He argued that human presumption had narrow-mindedly limited this precept to the murder of other humans. A truly merciful God, Metcalfe wrote, would never exclude the rest of His animal creation from this protective shield. He also drew on the prophets, noting that Isaiah had described the coming Messiah as one who would eat “butter and honey” so that he might choose the good and refuse the evil. In Metcalfe’s eyes, Jesus was the ultimate example of this prophecy, a Savior who walked a path of absolute non-violence.
The publication of Metcalfe’s book provoked immediate reactions. Some reviewers dismissed his arguments as far-fetched, while others praised his dedication to the cause of mercy. While the mainstream Christian church of his day resisted his conversion efforts, his voice was far from silent. Alongside Sylvester Graham and William Alcott, Metcalfe would go on to help establish the American Vegetarian Society in 1850. His own family became a living testament to his beliefs, thriving across three generations without ever tasting fish, flesh, or fowl. In an era that viewed disease as a mysterious punishment from God, Metcalfe and his fellow reformers offered a message of self-empowerment. They proved that salvation, compassion, and physical health could be cultivated every single day, starting with the very food on one’s plate.
Bibliographic Information
- Title: Vegetarian America
- Subtitle: A History
- Authors: Karen Iacobbo and Michael Iacobbo
- Foreword Author: Reverend Professor Andrew Linzey
- Publisher: Praeger Publishers (An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.)
- Place of Publication: Westport, Connecticut, and London, United Kingdom
- Publication Year: 2004
- Edition: First Edition
- ISBN: 0-275-97519-3 (alk. paper) / 0-275-97579-3
- Historical Period Covered: Early 18th century (Colonial America) to the early 21st century (circa 2003/2004)
- Main Subject Areas: History of Vegetarianism, Social Reform History, Animal Rights/Welfare, American Foodways, Natural Hygiene, Hydropathy/Water Cures, Progressivism, Counterculture, Nutrition Science, and Religious Reform.
(Ch. 3, p. 67)