Many factors common to New Englanders in the mid-nineteenth century determined their lifestyle:
1. Eating habits. There was very little store-bought food except meat, potatoes, salt, and sugar. Winters were long and cold. The people made up for the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables with rich breads and pastries. Cakes, pies, and doughnuts were common as breakfast foods. There were no vegetable oils or shortenings. Meat was expensive, and pork the most available.
2. Clothing. There was very little store-bought clothing. Cold winters necessitated heavy clothing and bedding.
3. No indoor plumbing. No electricity. No washing machines.
4. Heat. Homes were heated by wood-burning stoves and fireplaces. Windows were tightly closed at night. Night air was considered injurious.
5. Use of tea, coffee, alcohol, tobacco, and cider. These were just as habit-forming then as now. In lives with little recreation or change, they offered a solace of sorts!
6. Life expectancy. In 1900 in the United States the average was 47.3 years.
7. Proneness to disease. Caused by appalling ignorance of hygiene, sanitation, and the cause of sickness. The relation of diet and the care of the body to health and the causes of disease was not realized.
Quite early in the years following the Disappointment, as the believers met together there was recognition of the evils of liquor and tobacco. In 1851 one man wrote to Ellen White asking if she had seen in vision that it was wrong to use tobacco. She replied on December 14:
I have seen in vision that tobacco was a filthy weed, and that it must be laid aside or given up. Said my accompanying angel, "If it is an idol, it is high time it was given up, and unless it is given up, the frown of God will be upon the one that uses it....
I saw that Christ will have a church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing to present to His Father, ... as He leads us through the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem.... After Jesus has done so much for us, will anyone be undecided whether to deny himself of the filthy weed for His sake?
We must be perfect Christians, deny ourselves all the way along, tread the narrow, thorny pathway that our Jesus trod, and then if we are final overcomers, heaven, sweet heaven will be cheap enough (Letter 5, 1851).
Ellen White wrote understandingly of the struggle some will have to leave off the use of tobacco, and suggested that they do as S. W. Rhodes did when he was battling to break away from its use. "He called for the brethren to pray for him, and we did. He was cured and has desired none since."
In 1856 there were a number of Sabbathkeeping Adventists still plagued with the use of tobacco in one form or another.
On February 7 the Review carried an article that included a compilation of statements by physicians on the use of tobacco. One in April written by J. N. Andrews, entitled "The Use of Tobacco a Sin Against God," drove the matter home. In a short editorial, James White, in an indirect way, indicted a good many of his fellow church members. He inquired of those who claimed to be too poor to pay for the church paper, "Do you use tea, coffee, and tobacco?"
Then in 1861 when the matter of church organization began to crystallize, the question came up:
How do you manage in forming a church about taking in members who use tea, coffee, tobacco, and wear hoops, and some who do not believe in Sister White's visions? (The Review and Herald, November 5, 1861).
Loughborough worked very closely with James and Ellen White, and White was editor of the Review, where the answers would be published. So we may be certain there was some counseling together on these points--what appeared in print represented the mind of the three.
The reply was that no one, not even those who had been united in worshiping on Sabbath with a company of believers, should be taken into the church as a member unless he or she was in full harmony with the beliefs of the church.
It took time to lead people to recognize the importance of following sound health principles.
The Otsego Vision
Of the visions given to Ellen White, one of those most remembered was that of June 6, 1863, * at Otsego, Michigan--the health reform vision. Otsego is about 30 (50 kilometers) miles northeast of Battle Creek. To give support to
R. J. Lawrence and M. E. Cornell in their evangelistic meetings, James and Ellen White started for the place by carriage on Friday morning, June 5, along with Mr. and Mrs. George Amadon and several other families.
The Whites were entertained at the Aaron Hilliard home a few miles west of town. The Amadons and others came in for worship as the Sabbath was beginning.
Ellen White was asked to lead in prayer. She did so, pleading fervently with God. As she prayed for James, who was close by, she moved to his side, laid her hand on his shoulder, and poured out her heart. Then her voice changed, and she was heard to exclaim, "Glory to God!" Martha Amadon, daughter of John Byington, the newly elected president of the General Conference, commented:
Many who have witnessed these things have often wished a description could be given of the servant of God when thus under the influence of the Holy Spirit--the illumination of the countenance, the graceful gestures of the hands, the dignity attending every movement, the musical intonations of the voice sounding as from a distance, and many, many other things which give an eyewitness confidence in their heavenly origin.... She was in vision about forty-five minutes (DF 105, "The Otsego Vision of 1863").
Many matters were opened to her in this vision, but the vision is noted particularly for what was shown to her in regard to health--the responsibility of all to live in harmony with principles that would prevent sickness and yield good health.
I saw that now we should take special care of the health God has given us, for our work was not yet done. Our testimony must yet be borne and would have influence. I saw that I had spent too much time and strength in sewing and waiting upon and entertaining company. I saw that home cares should be thrown off. The preparing of garments is a snare; others can do that. God had not given me strength for such labor....
I saw that we should encourage a cheerful, hopeful, peaceful frame of mind, for our health depends upon our doing this....
I saw that when we tax our strength, overlabor and weary ourselves much, then we take colds and at such times are in danger of disease taking a dangerous form. We must not leave the care of ourselves for God to see to and to take care of that which He has left for us to watch and care for. It is not safe nor pleasing to God to violate the laws of health and then ask Him to take care of our health and keep us from disease when we are living directly contrary to our prayers.
I saw that it was a sacred duty to attend to our health, and arouse others to their duty, and yet not take the burden of their cases upon us. Yet we have a duty to speak, to come out against intemperance of every kind--intemperance in working, in eating, in drinking, and in drugging--and then point them to God's great medicine, water, pure soft water, for diseases, for health, for cleanliness, and for a luxury (Manuscript 1, 1863).
Then there was a call for an active ministry on the part of James and Ellen White along health lines. What Ellen White had been shown in the vision at the Hilliard home was so different from concepts commonly held at the time that it was with hesitancy she faced the bidding in the vision to take the lead in guiding Seventh-day Adventists and others to a way of life in harmony with nature's laws. When she was in the home of Dr. H. S. Lay, he pressed her to tell him what she had been shown. She explained that much of what was presented to her was so different from the ordinarily accepted views that she feared she could not relate it so that it could be understood. She protested that she was not familiar with medical language and hardly knew how to present it. In the conversation that followed, she set forth in simple language what she later reduced to writing in the extended chapter entitled "Health," now found in Spiritual Gifts,, Volume IV.
General Counsels On Health
She began with eating habits. These included the use of meat--she referred to the risks incurred of contracting disease thereby, because of the increasing prevalence of disease among animals. She also detailed the harmful effects of overeating and of eating too frequently.
She mentioned the use of stimulants and narcotics, speaking particularly of alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee. She emphasized the importance of cleanliness of person and of the home and its premises; the importance of physical exercise and of the proper exercise of the will. She told of what she was shown concerning the value of water and of pure air and sunshine. She spoke of how those who looked only to God to keep them from sickness, without doing what was in their power to maintain good health, would be disappointed, for God intended they should do their part.
For the medical world, and for almost everyone, these were days of great ignorance in health lines. Bacteria and viruses were unknown. When disease struck, the symptoms were treated with poisonous drugs, such as strychnine, mercury, and calomel; also alcohol, blisters, and bleeding.
In the vision of June 6, 1863, not only was there opened to Ellen White the basic principles of healthful living, but a solemn commission was given to her that would have a bearing on her work and that of her husband for many years to come. She and James were to be teachers of health reform. But before they could teach they must know what to teach. Though they were adults, parents, and alert, their knowledge in health lines was but little different from the average--and these were days of general ignorance.
The Review and Herald, edited by James White and Uriah Smith, occasionally carried items such as rest, fresh air, and exercise, selected from other journals or from the writings of a Dr. Dio Lewis. Quite often articles and admonition discouraging the use of tobacco, tea, and coffee were included. But in connection with the scourge of diphtheria in the winter of 1862 and 1863, although the obituary notices kept before its readers the death of many children, up to February 1863, the Review had little to offer terrified parents but the application of a poultice of "Spanish flies and turpentine."
Then there came to the attention of James and Ellen White Dr. James C. Jackson's method of treatment of diphtheria, embodying simple, rational methods in the proper use of water, fresh air, and rest. Earnestly employed, these remedies saved two of the White boys when stricken, and also Moses Hull's boy; but upon the recovery of the children the experience was soon forgotten. Then in the vision of June 6, 1863, among a number of situations and matters opened up to Ellen White, health was an important one. Many of its features were to her so revolutionary that she was for a time bewildered.
When James and Ellen were in Boston, some three months later, James saw some books on health advertised in a periodical called the Voice of the Prophets, published by Elder J. V. Himes. He ordered the works and received them at Topsham, Maine. But he was too busy to read them, and they remained in their wrappers for some time.
Ellen had been working under heavy pressure to complete writing out the vision before she and her husband would visit the "Home on the Hillside" of Dr. Jackson in Dansville, New York. But she was determined that before leaving she would cover in that book the main points that had been shown to her in the health reform vision. She did not want it to be said that what she presented as shown to her in vision could have been influenced by Dr. Jackson or anyone else.
She made an interesting statement of what she did not read before first writing out what the Lord had revealed to her:
That which I have written in regard to health was not taken from books or papers.... My view was clear, and I did not want to read anything until I had fully completed my books. My views were written independent of books or of the opinions of others (Manuscript 7, 1867).
She had talked freely with Dr. Lay and many others upon the things shown her in vision in reference to health, but she had not read a paper dealing with health.
First Visit To Dansville
Having completed the work on "Laws of Health," which was to be a part of Volume IV of Spiritual Gifts,, Ellen and James were now ready to make the trip to Dansville to spend a few weeks in learning all they could about health reform and new methods in the care of the sick. For weeks they had looked forward to visiting Dr. Jackson's "Our Home on the Hillside" at Dansville, New York. James White wrote regarding this health institution:
In the month of September, 1864, Mrs. White and self spent three weeks at the health institution at Dansville, Livingston County, New York, called "Our Home." Our object in this visit was not to take treatment, as we were enjoying better health than usual, but to see what we could see and hear what we could hear, so as to be able to give to many inquiring friends a somewhat definite report (Healthful Living, 12, No. 1).
The institution was well located, and the guest list ran about 300. The physicians on the staff were listed as James C. Jackson, M.D., physician-in-chief; F. Wilson Hurd, M.D.; Miss Harriet N. Austin, M.D.; Mrs. Mary H. York, M.D.; and Horatio S. Lay, M.D.
Dr. Lay was the Seventh-day Adventist physician of 17 years' experience at Allegan, Michigan, with whom Ellen White had talked soon after the health reform vision. This visit had encouraged him to take his ill wife to the institution and to learn what he could of the so-called rational methods. At Dansville he was soon taken onto the staff, which gave him an excellent opportunity to study the practices and procedures employed there.
Accompanying James and Ellen White to Dansville were Edson and Willie, and also Adelia Patten. They were given routine physical examinations by Dr. Jackson. As to James and Ellen's health report, no data is available. But they conversed freely with the doctor and listened to his lectures, took treatments, observed the attire of the women there, and dined at the institution's tables. Both gave good reports on the general atmosphere, the dietary program, and the courses of treatments.
They observed the various forms of water therapy, as the half-bath, the "plunge," the cold sheet pack, the compresses, and fomentations. Ellen White said:
I do think we should have an institution in Michigan to which our Sabbathkeeping invalids can resort (Letter 6, 1864).
James White found the food program equally appealing and wrote of it in some detail:
The tables are spread with an abundance of plain and nourishing food, which becomes a daily luxury to the patients, as the natural and healthful condition of the taste is restored. The glutton, who gratifies his
depraved appetite with swine's flesh, grease, gravies, spices, et cetera, et cetera, on looking over Dr. Hurd's tract on cookery, may in his ignorance regard this style of living as a system of starvation.
But a few weeks' experience at "Our Home" would correct his appetite, so that he would eat plain, simple, and nutritious food with a far better relish than he now does that which is unnatural and hurtful. We never saw men and women gather around tables more cheerfully, and eat more heartily, than the patients at Dansville. The uniformity and sharpness of appetite was wonderful for a crowd of patients. It was the general leanness and lankness of these persons alone that could give the idea that they were sick.
Besides the usual rounds of excellently cooked wheat-meal mushes, wheat-meal biscuits, cakes, and pies, and occasionally other varieties, we found the tables bountifully loaded with the fruits of the season, such as apples, peaches, and grapes. No one need fear of starving at "Our Home." There is greater danger of eating too much.
The appetite of the feeble patient, who has been pining with loss of appetite over fashionable food, becomes natural and sharp, so that simple food is eaten with all that keen relish with which healthy country schoolchildren devour plain food. The food being nutritious, and the appetite keen, the danger of that class of patients who have become feeble by self-indulgence is decidedly in the direction of eating too much (Healthful Living, 14, 15, No. 1,).
James recognized that changing from the common meat-eating diet to one that was plain and healthful could, with some, call for time to accomplish. He warned against sudden, sweeping changes. Dr. Jackson made a deep impression upon him as a physician who was a "master of his business," a "clear and impressive speaker," and "decidedly thorough" in whatever he undertook. James closed his report on a positive note, recommending the institution to those suffering critically. As to others he had this to say:
To those who are active yet suffering from failing health, we urgently recommend health publications, a good assortment of which we design to keep on hand. Friends, read up in time to successfully change your habits, and live in harmony with the laws of life.
And to those who call themselves well, we would say, As you value the blessings of health, and would honor the Author of your being, learn to live in obedience to those laws established in your being by High Heaven. A few dollars' worth of books that will teach you how to live may save you heavy doctor bills, save you months of pain upon a sickbed, save you suffering and feebleness from the use of drugs, and perhaps from a premature grave (Ibid., 18).
Active Teachers of Health Reform
In the three weeks they spent at Dansville, James and Ellen White found what they were needing and seeking--a practical application of the principles of healthful living that would fit them for the position they were called to fill as teachers of health. There was still much to learn, but with open minds they continued their search for what would be a help to them and to the believers generally. Together they visited churches and met with the general public. When the Whites met seasoned believers, they dealt with the subject of disease and its causes, and reforms in habits of life. Their messages were well received.
The Health Reformer
At the General Conference session in mid-May 1866, a resolution called for Dr. H. L. Lay to furnish a series of articles through the Review on the subject of health reform. In the days following the conference, plans were quickly laid and implemented to publish a monthly health journal, which Dr. Lay would edit. The Review of June 5, 1866, carried this notice:
Prospectus of the Health Reformer: The first number of a monthly periodical, with the above title, sixteen pages, magazine form, with cover, will be issued at the Western Health Reform Institute, Battle Creek, Michigan, August 1, 1866....
It will advocate the cure of diseases by use of nature's own remedies, air, light, heat, exercise, food, sleep, recreation, et cetera.... Price $1.00 per volume of twelve numbers (The Review and Herald, June 5, 1866).
In his editorial in the first number, published in August, Dr. Lay restated the aims and objects of the Health Reformer. He added that "its contributors will be persons of experience and of high mental and moral attainments. Its selections will be of the choicest kind."
Shortly after the launching of the journal, Ellen White wrote:
The Health Reformer is the medium through which rays of light are to shine upon the people. It should be the very best health journal in our country. It must be adapted to the wants of the common people, ready to answer all proper questions and fully explain the first principles of the laws of life and how to obey them and preserve health (Testimonies for the Church, 1:552, 553).
Extremes Taught In The Health Reformer Bring Crisis
The publishing of extreme views in the Health Reformer in the summer of 1870 brought on a crisis, and at the camp meeting in Pleasanton, Kansas, in October the situation was more than ever clearly seen. In his report of that meeting, James White wrote of the unfortunate results of Ellen White's virtual silence on the subject of health because of his prolonged illness. The believers in the Midwest, having read the extreme positions being advocated in the Reformer, which would ban the use of milk, sugar, and salt, were asking:
How do the friends of health reform live at Battle Creek? Do they dispense with salt entirely? If so, we cannot at present adopt the health reform. We can get but little fruit, and we have left off the use of meat, tea, coffee; and tobacco, but we must have something to sustain life (Testimonies for the Church, 3:20).
Both James and Ellen White made it clear they could not stand by the extreme positions taken in the Health Reformer, especially by the non-Adventist contributing editor, Dr. R. T. Trall, and the editor, William C. Gage, a layman who did not in his own home carry out what he advocated in the journal. Explaining why Ellen White spoke often on health reform, her husband wrote:
Since we have become active again, Mrs. White oftener feels called upon to speak upon the subject of health reform because of existing extremes of health reformers than from any other reason. The fact that all, or nearly all, of the existing extremes upon health reform among our people are supposed to receive her unqualified sanction is the reason why she feels called upon to speak her real sentiments (The Review and Herald, November 8, 1870).
Ellen White's Moderate Positions
James White explained the moderate positions they held. He embodied this in his report from the Kansas camp meeting:
In reference to the use of tobacco, tea, coffee, flesh meats, also of dress, there is general agreement. But at present she is not prepared to take the extreme position relative to salt, sugar, and milk. If there were no other reasons for moving carefully in reference to these things of so common and abundant use, there is a sufficient one in the fact that the minds of many are not prepared even to receive the facts relative to these things....
It may be well here to state, however, that while she does not regard milk, taken in large quantities as customarily eaten with bread, the best article of food, her mind, as yet, has only been called to the importance of the best and most healthy condition possible of the cow ... whose milk is used as an article of food. She cannot unite in circulating publications broadcast which take an extreme position on the important question of milk, with her present light upon the subject (Ibid.; italics supplied).
Turning particularly to sugar and salt, he set forth her middle-of-the-road stance:
Mrs. White thinks that a change from the simplest kinds of flesh meats to an abundant use of sugar is going from "bad to worse." She would recommend a very sparing use of both sugar and salt. The appetite can, and should, be brought to a very moderate use of both (Ibid.).
Then he sounded warnings in another line, that of making abrupt changes:
While tobacco, tea, and coffee may be left at once (one at a time, however, by those who are so unfortunate as to be slaves to all), changes in diet should be made carefully, one at a time. And while she would say this to those who are in danger of making changes too rapidly, she would also say to the tardy, Be sure and not forget to change (Ibid.).
James and Ellen had spent most of the summer and fall of 1870 attending camp meetings. They had observed that the cause of health reform had been more or less left to flounder as those who had led out in teaching it looked on helplessly.
Lifesaving Therapy For The Health Reformer
Going to the Review office, after a long absence from Battle Creek, James White found unoccupied both the Review editor's room and that of the editor of the Health Reformer. The latter was ill at home. "Our hands are full of business that has been waiting our return," James wrote, "and editing our periodicals" (Ibid., November 15, 1870). Warren Bacheller, connected with the Review office since he was a teenager, was, with some assistance from traveling James White, keeping the Review going, but as for the Health Reformer, it stood not only waiting, but seemingly dying. James White, never reticent to get involved in time of special need, took the paper under his wing. He saw that if it was to survive, changes must be made quickly. Without formal authorization he took over, pulling things together for the already-late November issue. He furnished an editorial for this and succeeding issues, and Ellen White helped meet the emergency by furnishing an article for each of four monthly issues. These articles followed his editorials.
James had three objectives in view for the magazine: "First, to raise the interest of the journal; second, to increase its circulation; third, to establish a strict pay-in-advance system" (The Health Reformer, April, 1871).
In White's editorials he reviewed the rise and progress of health reform among Seventh-day Adventists. He made it plain that the journal was nonsectarian, but that it had its roots in the experience and convictions of Seventh-day Adventists. Ellen White's articles, keyed to experiences and observations in traveling, developed certain lines of practical counsel under such titles as "Creatures of Circumstance" in the November 1870 issue, followed in succeeding issues by "Convenient Food," "Willpower," and "Mothers and Their Daughters." The journal was enlarged from 20 pages to 32.
At the General Conference session held in February 1871, James White was elected editor of the Health Reformer. In his reorganization of the journal he continued Dr. Trall's Special Department and introduced a new one, Mrs. White's Department. Having observed the efficacy of his wife's work with the general public at camp meetings, he persuaded her to take hold with him in attempts to save the paper.
The changes James White instituted in behalf of the Reformer soon began to bear fruit. His editorials and articles added interest. He was able to persuade Dr. R. T. Trall to modify his stances, which were tending to extremes. Mrs. White's Department was well received. He solicited articles from Adventist ministers who had adopted the health reform program, and by May he had 12.
But the best barometer was in the increased circulation--300 new subscriptions were received in 25 days. By December the subscription list had almost doubled, at 5,000. The Reformer was generally conceded to be the best health journal in America (The Review and Herald, December 12, 1871).
Practicing New Light
The year previous to the Whites' first visit to Dansville had been full of anxious days in which they had learned firsthand of the value of the light they were receiving on the care of their bodies and the treatment of the sick. First, in the winter of 1863, was a battle with the dreaded diphtheria. Helplessly physicians and parents reached out for means of combating the disease. The Review of January 13, 1863, reprinted an item, taken from an Illinois paper, under the title "The Diphtheria Scourge in Western Illinois." A portion read:
The diphtheria has been raging throughout the country to an alarming extent, and seems, to a great extent, to baffle the skill of physicians. It is confined almost exclusively to children, and when once under headway, death is almost certain to be the result. It will pass through whole towns, missing scarcely a family, and in some instances whole families of children have been swept away by it.
Two of The Three White Children Stricken
There was anxiety in every home in Battle Creek. Would the dread disease strike and lay low some of the precious children?
Then it happened! In the first week of February two of James and Ellen White's three boys complained of severe sore throats and high fever; they could hardly utter a word--undeniable, frightening symptoms. They had diphtheria.
Fortunately--in the providence of God, no doubt--there had come into their hands, probably through an "exchange" of papers at the Review office, either the Yates County Chronicle, of Penn Yan, New York, or some journal quoting from it, an extended article entitled "Diphtheria, Its Causes, Treatment and Cure." It was written by Dr. James Jackson, of Dansville, New York. Eagerly James and Ellen White read it. It made sense, and they immediately followed its treatment in every detail. The treatment outlined was simple--it required only a washtub, towels, sheets, and blankets--but demanded diligent attention and earnest labor. In great detail Dr. Jackson pointed out the procedures that would bring relief and finally a cure. These were attained by the simple means we today call hydrotherapy--with proper baths, packs, rest, fresh air, and, above all, absence of anxiety.
Jackson reported that over a period of years, while employing these means in hundreds of cases involving young and old, not one patient had died. The methods he set forth were those that he, a physician with a good understanding of physiology, had reasoned out and put together. He stated:
Our success has been so great, while as yet our plan of treatment has been so simple, as really to introduce a decided change in the medical practice in the particular disease, in this locality. I do not know of a physician of any school in this town who has not practically abandoned the administration of cathartics in cases of diphtheria, and ... adopted, in fact, our method (Ibid., February 17, 1863).
To James and Ellen White, who already highly valued "air, water, and light" as "God's great remedies" (Ibid., February 10, 1863), what Dr. Jackson wrote made more sense than either drugs or a poultice of Spanish flies compounded with turpentine. The symptoms had overtaken their children very rapidly, and the Whites lost little time in carrying out--scrupulously--the directions of Dr. Jackson. They had appointments to speak in Convis, Michigan, on Sabbath and Sunday, February 7 and 8. By following Jackson's method of treating diphtheria, which involved the better part of Friday night, on Sabbath morning they saw that they could safely leave the sick children in the hands of those who helped in the home. They drove the 15 miles (24 kilometers) to Convis Sabbath morning and took services both morning and afternoon, meeting with new converts to the Adventist message.
Sabbath evening they returned to Battle Creek for another night of broken sleep as they treated and watched over the children. Sunday morning they were off again to Convis for morning and afternoon meetings, as promised (Ibid.).
While the White children were making a speedy recovery, Ellen White was called one evening to the home of Moses Hull and his wife. Their oldest child, 6 years old, had been suddenly and severely stricken. The parents were in Monterey, holding evangelistic meetings. As reported by James White in the Review, "Mrs. White pursued the same course of treatment as with our own children, and the child appeared well the next morning" (Ibid., February 17, 1863).
Henry: Death From Pneumonia
Six months after the health reform vision in Otsego, Henry, 16, their oldest son, took sick with pneumonia. James and Ellen were in Brookfield, New York, visiting the Abbeys. They were in good spirits planning to spend two or three more months in Maine, where Ellen would have opportunity to complete the third volume of Spiritual Gifts,.
While in Brookfield, New York, Elder White received impressions from a dream, which led him to feel that all was not well with the children, and that they must return to Maine without delay. Each day they anxiously waited for the arrival of the mail, but news from Topsham reported "all well." This did not satisfy their minds, and in accordance with their convictions of duty, when they had filled their appointments, they immediately returned to their children (An Appeal to the Youth, 23).
When on Friday, November 27, the parents reached Topsham, they found their three sons and Adelia waiting for them at the depot. Apparently all were in good health, except for Henry, who had a cold. But by the next Tuesday, December 1, Henry was very ill with pneumonia. Years later Willie, his youngest brother, reconstructed the story:
During the absence of their parents Henry and Edson, under the supervision of Brother Howland, were busily engaged in mounting the charts on cloth, ready for sale. They worked in a rented store building about a block from the Howland home. At length they had a respite for a few days while they were waiting for charts to be sent from Boston....Returning from a long tramp by the river, he [Henry] thoughtlessly lay down and slept on a few damp cloths used in backing the paper charts. A chilly wind was blowing in from an open window. This indiscretion resulted in a severe cold (WCW, "Sketches and Memories of James and Ellen G. White," The Review and Herald, December 10, 1936).
As the cold turned to pneumonia, a kindly, experienced physician was summoned, and Henry was treated in the conventional manner, which called for the employment of poisonous drugs. The attending physician was ignorant of hydrotherapy, which was just then being pioneered by a few practitioners. Although earlier in the year, following Dr. James Jackson's guidance, two of the boys had been nursed back to health from diphtheria by an appropriate use of water, fresh air, and rest, Ellen and James were not yet prepared to use hydrotherapy as a means of treating other illnesses, and the disease now confronting them was pneumonia.
Henry failed rapidly. Though the Whites and Howlands prayed earnestly for his healing, he grew worse. His parents did not hesitate to talk with him about death, and even to prepare for it. Henry's faith in Jesus remained firm. He had an opportunity to meditate on his life, and he deeply regretted that in Battle Creek he had set an example short of what it should have been. This he confessed to God, his parents, and brothers. As he confessed his waywardness and sins, he was drawn nearer and nearer to God and enjoyed peace of mind and the blessing of the Lord. His faith grew ever more firm.
One morning while his mother was attending him he said:
"Promise me, Mother, that if I die I may be taken to Battle Creek, and laid by the side of my little brother, John Herbert, that we may come up together in the morning of the resurrection" (An Appeal to the Youth, 26).
He was given the assurance that this would be. From day to day he grew weaker. Medical science had little to offer in treating pneumonia, and it now seemed certain there would be no recovery. The record is:
On the fifth [day], burdened with grief, his father retired to a place of prayer, and after returned to the sickroom, feeling the assurance that God would do all things well, and thus expressed himself to his suffering son. At this his countenance seemed to light up with a heavenly smile, and he nodded his assent and whispered, "Yes, He will" (Ibid., 27).
In one conversation he said:
"Father, you are losing your son. You will miss me, but don't mourn. It is better for me. I shall escape being drafted, and shall not witness the seven last plagues. To die so happy is a privilege" (Ibid., 29).
On several occasions Henry dictated short messages of admonition and assurance to young friends in Battle Creek. The deathbed scene was recorded by Adelia Patten:
He said to his mother, "Mother, I shall meet you in heaven in the morning of the resurrection, for I know you will be there." He then beckoned to his brothers, parents, and friends, and gave them all a parting kiss, after which he pointed upward and whispered, "Heaven is sweet." These were his last words (Ibid., 31).
Funeral Services In Topsham And Battle Creek
During the three months Henry and his brothers had been in Topsham he had made a number of acquaintances. At their request a funeral service was held in the Baptist church just across the street from the Howland home. M. E. Cornell, at that time working in Maine, was asked to officiate. Then the family took Henry's body, in a "metallic burial casket," back to Battle Creek. There Uriah Smith presided at the funeral, which was attended by many friends of the family. Henry's former schoolmates were there; in the closing exercises they sang a hymn and then accompanied the family and friends to Oak Hill Cemetery. Looking back at the experience, Ellen White wrote:
When our noble Henry died, at the age of 16--when our sweet singer was borne to the grave, and we no more heard his early song--ours was a lonely home. Both parents and the two remaining sons felt the blow most keenly. But God comforted us in our bereavements, and with faith and courage we pressed forward in the work He had given us, in bright hope of meeting our children who had been torn from us by death, in that world where sickness and death will never come (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 165, 166).
Willie's Bout With Pneumonia
Ellen and James had learned something of the value of water in the treatment of disease in their encounter with diphtheria when the plague struck Edson and Willie; they also had learned the futility of drug medication when they lost Henry to pneumonia. Then, two months later, during the second week of February 1864, when Willie was stricken with pneumonia, they were confronted with a dilemma that could mean life or death to one of their two remaining children. Ellen White reported their daring decision:
We decided that we would not send for a physician, but do the best we could with him ourselves by the use of water, and entreat the Lord in behalf of the child. We called in a few who had faith to unite their prayers with ours. We had a sweet assurance of God's presence and blessing (Spiritual Gifts, 4a:151).
Nor was there any delay in making a beginning:
The next day Willie was very sick. He was wandering. He did not seem to see or hear me when I spoke to him. His heart had no regular beat, but was in a constant agitated flutter. We continued to look to God in his behalf, and to use water freely upon his head, and a compress constantly upon his lungs, and soon he seemed rational as ever. He suffered severe pain in his right side, and could not lie upon it for a moment. This pain we subdued with cold water compresses, varying the temperature of the water according to the degree of the fever. We were very careful to keep his hands and feet warm (Ibid., 4a:151, 152).
The anxious parents watched over him day and night until they were both nearly worn out. It was very clear that the application of hydrotherapy in such a case called for tireless effort. But it produced good results. Ellen White wrote later:
We expected the crisis would come the seventh day. We had but little rest during his sickness, and were obliged to give him up into others' care the fourth and fifth nights. My husband and myself the fifth day felt very anxious. The child raised fresh blood, and coughed considerably. My husband spent much time in prayer.
We left our child in careful hands that night. Before retiring, my husband prayed long and earnestly. Suddenly his burden of prayer left him, and it seemed as though a voice spoke to him and said, "Go lie down; I will take care of the child."
I had retired sick, and could not sleep for anxiety for several hours. I felt pressed for breath. Although sleeping in a large chamber, I arose and opened the door into a large hall, and was at once relieved, and soon slept.
I dreamed that an experienced physician was standing by my child, watching every breath, with one hand over his heart, and with the other feeling his pulse. He turned to us and said, "The crisis has passed. He has seen his worst night. He will now come up speedily, for he has not the injurious influence of drugs to recover from. Nature has nobly done her work to rid the system of impurities."
I related to him my worn-out condition, my pressure for breath, and the relief obtained by opening the door. Said he, "That which gave you relief will also relieve your child. He needs air. You have kept him too warm. The heated air coming from a stove is injurious, and were it not for the air coming in at the crevices of the windows, would be poisonous, and destroy life. Stove heat destroys the vitality of the air, and weakens the lungs. The child's lungs have been weakened by the room being kept too warm. Sick persons are debilitated by disease and need all the invigorating air that they can bear to strengthen the vital organs to resist disease. And yet in most cases air and light are excluded from the sickroom at the very time when most needed, as though dangerous enemies" (Ibid., 4a:152, 153).
What consolation this dream, and the assurance that came to her husband a few hours before, brought to them! She reported:
We found in the morning that our boy had passed a restless night. He seemed to be in a high fever until noon. Then the fever left him, and he appeared quite well, except weak.
He had eaten but one small cracker through his five days' sickness. He came up rapidly, and has had better health than he has had for several years before (Ibid., 4a:153).
She added the significant words "This experience is valuable to us." What contrasting, thought-provoking object lessons James and Ellen White had experienced in just 11 weeks! Now, more than ever, they knew that they must dig deep, learn how to combat disease, and discover sound dietetic principles. In this experience they had learned the importance of clean, fresh air in the treatment of sickness.
To learn ways to prevent disease was just as important in the care of the body as treatment during illness.
Ellen White Tries The Meatless Diet
In the vision at Otsego, Michigan, light was given to Ellen White on major changes that would improve their health. She was shown the contrast between the human race today and Adam and Eve in Eden. Our first parents were noble in stature, perfect in symmetry and beauty, sinless, and in perfect health. "I inquired," she stated, "the cause of this wonderful degeneracy, and was pointed back to Eden" (Ibid., 4a:120). It was the disobedience of our first parents, leading to intemperate desires and violation of the laws of health, that had led to degeneracy and disease. She called for reform in eating habits; these included eliminating meat from the diet. She referred to the risks of contracting disease because of the increased prevalence of disease among animals.
I have thought for years that I was dependent upon a meat diet for strength. I have eaten three meals a day until within a few months. It has been very difficult for me to go from one meal to another without suffering from faintness at the stomach, and dizziness of the head.... Eating meat removed for the time these faint feelings. I therefore decided that meat was indispensable in my case.
But since the Lord presented before me, in June, 1863, the subject of meat eating in relation to health, I have left the use of meat. For a while it was rather difficult to bring my appetite to bread, for which, formerly, I have had but little relish. But by persevering, I have been able to do this. I have lived for nearly one year without meat. For about six months most of the bread upon our table has been unleavened cakes [gems], made of unbolted wheat meal and water, and a very little salt. We use fruits and vegetables liberally. I have lived for eight months upon two meals a day. I have applied myself to writing the most of the time for above a year. For eight months have been confined closely to writing. My brain has been constantly taxed, and I have had but little exercise. Yet my health has never been better than for the past six months (Ibid., 4a:153, 154).
In an address given in Battle Creek on March 6, 1869, Ellen White further described her experiences as a health reformer:
I suffered keen hunger. I was a great meat eater. But when faint, I placed my arms across my stomach and said: "I will not taste a morsel. I will eat simple food, or I will not eat at all." Bread was distasteful to me. I could seldom eat a piece as large as a dollar. Some things in the reform I could get along with very well, but when I came to the bread I was especially set against it.
When I made these changes, I had a special battle to fight. The first two or three meals, I could not eat. I said to my stomach: "You may wait until you can eat bread." In a little while I could eat bread, and graham bread, too. This I could not eat before; but now it tastes good, and I have had no loss of appetite (Testimonies for the Church, 2:371, 372).
She continued:
I left off these things [meat, butter, and three meals] from principle. I took my stand on health reform from principle. And since that time, brethren, you have not heard me advance an extreme view of health reform that I have had to take back....
I do not regard it a great privation to discontinue the use of those things which leave a bad smell on the breath and a bad taste in the mouth.
Is it self-denial to leave these things and get into a condition where everything is as sweet as honey; where no bad taste is left in the mouth and no feeling of goneness in the stomach? These I used to have much of the time. I have fainted away with my child in my arms again and again.
I have none of this now, and shall I call this a privation when I can stand before you as I do this day? There is not one woman in a hundred that could endure the amount of labor that I do. I moved out from principle, not from impulse. I moved because I believed Heaven would approve of the course I was taking to bring myself into the very best condition of health, that I might glorify God in my body and spirit, which are His (Ibid., 2:372).