The Everlasting Covenant

Beasts Share the Curse with Man

The beasts of the earth are affected by the curse the same as man is, only to an inferior degree, since they did not sin, but only share in the evil that man brought upon all creation. Their physical strength has not deteriorated to the extent that man’s has; they are much stronger proportionally than their master. Their vicious tendencies, although plainly manifested, are not so marked as in man. It is true that in some animals, as the tiger, cruelty seems to be more strongly developed than in man; but it is not really so. Nothing on earth can exceed man in refinement of cruelty, or in baseness of lust, when once he gives way completely to evil passions; for he uses his superior intellect to devise means of sinning, which the beasts know nothing of. No beast ever debases himself as does fallen man. And yet in all animals, even in the beautiful birds, we see cruelty, hatred, selfishness, envy, deceit, jealousy, etc. EVCO 246.1