"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)
On Sabbath, June 6, 1863, Elder White and his wife attended a tent-meeting held by Elders Cornell and Lawrence in Otsego, Mich. Mrs. White was there given a vision which opened before her the subject of health reform. From that time, articles on health and healthful living were published in the Review, and she began to write what had been revealed to her on health. Some of this appeared in Testimony No. 11, and in a work entitled, How to Live.
The subject of healthful living and its proper relations to physical, mental, and spiritual development, was brought prominently before the people. In the Review of Oct. 25, 1864, Elder J. N. Andrews made the following important suggestions on the subject:-
J. N. Andrews on Healthful Living
"To leave off every injurious article of food, and to lead lives of temperance under the influence of good instruction and of conscience toward God, are among the things most essential to good health. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. That we may truly glorify him in our bodies as in our spirits, how requisite that we possess in full vigor all the powers of our physical being! Thank God that this subject is now being especially set before our people. Health and strength are among the things most valuable to us, and of greatest consequence to those who shall witness the grand events of the time of trouble."
The subject of Bible hygiene and Christian temperance was advocated, not only through the columns of the Review, but by our ministers.
At the General Conference, May 20, 1866, the following instruction was given through Mrs. White (the same is found in Testimony No. 11):-
A Health Institution to be Provided
"I was shown that we should provide a home for the afflicted, and those who wish to learn how to take care of their bodies that they may prevent sickness. . . .
"As unbelievers shall resort to an institution devoted to the successful treatment of disease, and conducted by Sabbath-keeping physicians, they will be brought directly under the influence of truth. By becoming acquainted with our people and our real faith, their prejudice will be overcome, and they will be favorably impressed. By thus being placed under the influence of truth, some will not only obtain relief from bodily infirmities, but will find healing balm for their sinsick souls.
Prediction of Results
"As the health of invalids improves under judicious treatment, and they begin to enjoy life, they have confidence in those who have been instrumental in their restoration to health. Their hearts are filled with gratitude, and the good seed of truth will the more readily find a lodgment there and in some cases will be nourished, spring up, and bear fruit to the glory of God. One such precious soul saved will be worth more than all the means needed to establish such an institution. . . .
"Some who go away restored, or greatly benefited, will be the means of introducing our faith in new places, and raising the standard of truth where it would have been impossible to gain access had not prejudice first been removed from minds by a tarry among our people for the object of gaining health."
It was decided by a unanimous vote of our people assembled, that as soon as practicable a health institution should be opened in or near Battle Creek, and that it should be under the medical management of Dr. H. S. Lay, who had, in addition to his former medical education, spent over a year at an Eastern water-cure to learn the hydropathic methods of treating disease.
Site for a Sanitarium Purchased
The establishing of such an institution at that time looked like a great undertaking; and had it not been for this encouraging testimony concerning the result, there would have been some delay in taking hold of the work. Instead of delay, however, only a few days passed after the close of the conference before the spacious dwelling house of Judge Graves, with eight acres of land, constituting his beautiful place of residence in West Battle Creek, was purchased. Adjoining this building a two-story addition was at once constructed to serve as bath-rooms. In these buildings the Health Reform Institute was opened.
In the Review of June 19, 1866, the first general call for stock in the institution was made. In the same number of the paper a statement was made that stock had already been subscribed by the churches of Battle Creek, Mich., and Olcott, N.Y., to the amount of $2,625, or 105 shares of $25 each. As there was no law in the State of Michigan under which a corporation for managing health institutions could be formed, the property was held in trust for a time, until an incorporation could be effected.
A Health Journal Started
The first of August there was also begun by the managers the publication of a monthly health journal, sixteen pages with cover, in magazine form. This was called the Health Reformer. This journal is still continued, under the name Good Health, and is now the leading health magazine of the world. This journal not only treated on health and temperance principles, but was also a means of advertising the health institution, which was formally opened for patients and boarders on the 5th of September, 1866. So here was the institution, purchased, equipped, and in running order less than four months from the time the subject was first mentioned to our people; and the sum of $11,000 was subscribed to stock, a large proportion of which was already paid.
A Medical Corporation Organized
During the winter of 1866-67 a law was passed by the Michigan Legislature under which a corporation for managing the health institution could be formed.
May 17, 1867, this step was taken, by-laws were adopted, and the real estate and other property passed over to duly elected trustees. The whole amount of stock subscribed up to that date was $26,100, of which $18,264.87 was paid. The institution had a competent corps of physicians and helpers, and the buildings were nearly full of patients, several of whom had already embraced our faith, having learned of us as a people and of the truth after coming to the institution.
Healthful Dress
In all ages and in all countries the natural heart is susceptible to the influence of the world, with its pride of life, its follies and fashions. The year 1863, in our own land, when the health and dress question was shown to Mrs. White, was not an exception, as will be seen by the infatuation of the ladies in following the prevailing fashion of wearing hoops, the dimensions of which made many of them look as if walking in an inverted balloon. About the same time two other extremes in dress were introduced which excited much discussion. A brief notice of these will, perhaps, prepare the reader to better understand a testimony given by Mrs. White on the subject of dress, found in Testimony for the Church, No. 10.
Extremes in Dress Condemned
The first extreme was that of wearing dresses made with a trail, or train, from ten inches to half a yard or more in length, according to the fancy of the wearer. These were often left to drag upon the ground, and were denominated by the gentlemen as "street sweepers." The second extreme was exactly the opposite, and was in a style as nearly like that worn by the men as possible. This fashion was adopted by those following in the wake of Miss Bloomer, and hence was called the "bloomer dress." Finally the name was changed to the "American Costume." Conventions were held from place to place by the advocates of this costume, and many of our sisters were in favor of adopting it. Some did wear it.
A Testimony on the Dress Question
Concerning what was shown Mrs. White on the dress question, I will quote a few paragraphs from Testimony No. 11:-
"God's loyal people are the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and they should ever remember their influence is of value. Were they to exchange the extreme long dress for the extreme short one, they would, to a great extent, destroy their influence. Unbelievers, whom it is their duty to benefit and seek to bring to the Lamb of God, would be disgusted. Many improvements can be made in the dress of women in reference to health without making so great a change as to disgust the beholder.
The Reform Dress
"The form should not be compressed in the least with corsets and whalebones. The dress should be per- fectly easy that the lungs and heart may have healthy action. The dress should reach somewhat below the top of the boot, but should be short enough to clear the filth of the sidewalk and street, without being raised by the hand. A still shorter dress than this would be proper, convenient, and healthful for women when doing their housework, and especially for those who are obliged to perform more or less out-of-door labor.
The Body to be Evenly Clothed
"Whatever may be the length of the dress, their limbs should be clothed as thoroughly as are the men's. This may be done by wearing lined pants, gathered into a band and fastened about the ankle, or made full and tapering at the bottom; and these should come down long enough to meet the shoe. The limbs and ankles thus clothed are protected against a current of air. If the feet and limbs are kept comfortable with warm clothing, the circulation will be equalized, and the blood will remain pure and healthy, because it is not chilled or hindered in its natural passage through the system."
The length of this dress was presented as a commendable medium between the dress with a trail and the American costume. It was not said that any one must put it on, but that they must not take a course to cut off their influence, and disgust those they should help. It was not said that they must clothe their ankles in the manner here described, but that it might be done in that way. If the same object is accomplished in some other manner, as with long undersuits and knitted leggins, it would be in perfect harmony with that testimony.
Five Points Essential to Healthful Dress
It will be noticed that in the style of dress recommended there are five points essential to healthful clothing, viz.:-
- Discarding corsets and all compression of the waist.
- Dispensing with all bands on arms or limbs that would hinder the free circulation of the blood.
- Clothing all parts of the body equally, especially the feet and ankles.
- Suspending the skirts from the shoulders, and in no case allowing them to hang upon the hips, with bands.
- The length of the dress.
The first four points are now advocated by every intelligent physician, and as to the fifth, the trail and the extreme short dress are now both discarded.
Mrs. Jenness-Miller on Dress
During the year 1890 Mrs. Jenness-Miller, of New York, in the most scientific hygiene dress journal of the age, advocated that women shorten their dresses little by little, so as not to make too abrupt a change, until they are brought up to about the top of a lady's boot,-just the length that Testimony No. 11 advocated.
Dr. Trall's Endorsement
In 1868 it was arranged for Dr. R. T. Trall, of the Hygieotherapeutic College of Florence Heights, N.J., to give a week's course of lectures before our ministers in Battle Creek, Mich., the last of May. During the course the doctor was the guest of Elder White. Mrs. White did not attend the lectures, but as the doctor would ride out daily in the carriage with Elder White and his wife and Elder J. N. Andrews, it was understood that he was to listen to her ideas of hygiene, disease and its causes, the effects of medicines, etc. She simply talked what had been shown to her in vision, not telling, however, the source whence she derived her knowledge. The doctor stated that medical science was in harmony with the ideas expressed by her. Elder Andrews told me that on concluding the conversation of the second day the doctor asked Mrs. White where she graduated in medical science. He was surprised on learning that she had never studied these things, but was giving him the result of what had been shown to her in Ostego, Mich., June 6, 1863. He assured her that her ideas were all in the strictest harmony with physiology and hygiene, and that on many of the subjects she went deeper than he ever had. After about five days of such rides and talks the doctor wanted to know of Elder White why he was invited to leave his college to lecture before the ministers in Battle Creek. Said he, "Mrs. White is just as well prepared to give them the needed instruction in hygiene as I am."
Medical Science Approves
Her numerous writings on the various branches of practical hygiene have been for years before the public, and many of them are now compiled in a volume entitled "Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene." Some of the best educated physicians have declared, after a careful examination of these writings, that medical science is in perfect accord with them. With her they are not the result of study, but simply the writing out of what the Lord has revealed to her in vision.
Dr. Kellogg's Testimony
As a testimonial of how the researches of medical science accord with what was opened in vision before Mrs. White in 1863, I will quote from the preface to Christian Temperance words written by J. H. Kellogg, M.D., who stands at the head of the world-famous sanitarium of Battle Creek, Mich. He says:-
- "At the time the writings referred to first appeared, the subject of health was almost wholly ignored, not only by the people to whom they were addressed, but by the world at large.
- "The few advocating the necessity of a reform in physical habits, propagated in connection with the advocacy of genuine reformatory principles the most patent, and in some instances, disgusting errors.
- "Nowhere and by no one was there presented a systematic and harmonious body of hygienic truths, free from patent errors and consistent with the Bible and the principles of the Christian religion.
"Under these circumstances the writings referred to made their appearance. The principles taught were not enforced by scientific authority, but were presented in a simple, straightforward manner by one who makes no pretense to scientific knowledge, but claims to write by the aid and authority of the divine enlightenment."
The Principles Have Stood the Test
"How have the principles presented under such peculiar circumstances and with such remarkable claims stood the test of time and experience? is a question which may very properly be asked. Its answer is to be found in facts which are capable of the amplest verification. . . . The principles which a quarter of a century ago were either entirely ignored or made the butt of ridicule have quietly won their way into public confidence and esteem, until the world has quite forgotten that they have not always been thus accepted. New discoveries in science and new interpretations of old facts have continually added confirmatory evidence, until at the present time every one of the principles advocated more than a quarter of a century ago is fortified in the strongest possible manner by scientific evidence.
Proof of the Divine Origins of the Visions
"It certainly must be regarded as a thing remarkable, and evincing unmistakable evidence of divine insight and direction, that in the midst of confused and conflicting teachings, claiming the authority of science and experience, but warped by ultra notions and rendered impotent for good by the great admixture of error,-it must be admitted to be something extraordinary, that a person making no claims to scientific knowledge or erudition should have been able to organize, from the confused and error-tainted mass of ideas advanced by a few writers and thinkers on health subjects, a body of hygienic principles so harmonious, so consistent, and so genuine that the discussions, the researches, the discoveries, and the experience of a quarter of a century have not resulted in the overthrow of a single principle, but have only served to establish the doctrines taught." Dated, "Battle Creek, Mich., 1890."
The Health Institution Enlarged
Under the management of J. H. Kellogg, M.D., who became connected with the institution as a physician-in-chief in 1876, it was found that the demand for treatment was so great that in the spring of 1877 more room must be provided. The name of the institution was in 1876 changed from Health Reform Institute to the Medical and Surgical Sanitarium, and in 1878 a new main building was erected.
This structure was 136 x 46 feet in size, four stories above the basement. It was heated throughout by steam, and lighted by gas. Shortly after its opening it was nearly filled with patients and guests.
Up to that time what had been predicted in 1866 by the testimony of Mrs. White respecting the institution had been most strikingly fulfilled. Scores had already accepted the light of present truth whose attention had first been called to this people by their coming to the institution in pursuit of health.
Rural Health Retreat
In the Signs of the Times of Nov. 22, 1877, M. G. Kellogg, M.D., half-brother of J. H. Kellogg, announced that he had secured grounds on the side of Howell Mountain, two and a half miles northeast from St. Helena, Napa County, Cal., and was about to erect a building to be called the "Rural Health Retreat," located by the side of Crystal Springs. During the winter of 1877-78 a building was erected, and was opened for the treatment of patients in the early part of 1878. This health retreat, like the parent institution, the sanitarium in Battle Creek, has not only grown in proportions, but has also been a place where very many have been brought to the knowledge and acceptance of the message.
The Pacific Health Journal
The summer of 1885 was quite an eventful period of progress in the cause of the third angel's message. The first of May the Rural Health Retreat at St. Helena was placed under the medical management of a regularly graduated physician. In the month of June was begun the bi-monthly issue of the Pacific Health Journal and Temperance Advocate, a 24-page magazine under the editorial supervision of Elder J. H. Waggoner. By these agencies new life came to the health institution, which, instead of losing, as in previous years, began to show, from year to year, a net profit in its workings of from $2,000 to $4,000 per year, until the year which closed April, 1891, it showed a net gain of over $12,000.
At the meeting of the Rural Health Retreat Association, at St. Helena, 1887, the following statement was made in reference to the finances of the institution: May 1, 1885, the net worth of the institution was only $5,322.76, or $2,547.24 less than all the stock that had been issued up to that date. In other words, the institution had consumed all of its earnings and $2,547.24 of its capital stock. April 1, 1887, the value of the institution above all its debts was $21,372.64, or a gain in twenty-three months of $16,049.88. Of this sum, stock had been taken to the amount of $5,280, and donations had been made to the institution to the amount of $2,497.60; so on the workings of the institution there was a net gain of $8,272.28. About this time, the Pacific Health Journal was issued as a 32-page monthly, with a cover, and was found to be of still greater service in advancing the interests and principles of the institution.
Charitable Work
In the Medical Missionary for January, 1891, speaking of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, Dr. J. H. Kellogg said:-
"The charity treatment administered during the quarter of a century which the institution has existed amounts to considerable more than $100,000, several times more than the capital stock originally invested.
"In addition to the charity work referred to, the institution has sent out lecturers, nurses, instructors in cooking schools, and other persons who have been trained for various lines of missionary work."
A Plea for the Orphans
At the General Conference, March 8, 1891, Dr. Kellogg made a very earnest plea in behalf of the orphans. He said: "I find myself appointed 'a delegate at large,' and I am going to represent the unrepresented-the orphans, who have no one to care for them."
Mrs. Haskell's $30,000 Gift
In the Home Missionary for January, 1892, a strong plea was made for means with which to provide a home for the orphan children. In that journal were the names of those whose pledges for the home amounted to $17,716-too small an amount, the promoters of the enterprise thought, for so large an undertaking, hence a delay in the execution of the work was feared. But He who sees the end from the beginning, and who owns the "cattle upon a thousand hills," so ordered events that a wealthy lady not of our faith, Mrs. Caroline E. Haskell, of Chicago, widow of Mr. Frederick Haskell, on hearing of this contemplated work of charity, at once placed at the disposal of the building committee the sum of $30,000, with the simple stipulation that it be wholly used in building an orphanage according to the plans previously outlined, that it be conducted in a broad and liberal spirit, and that the institution be called the Haskell Memorial Home in memory of her deceased husband.
With means thus furnished the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association was enabled, during the year, to erect and open the building as an orphans' home. This building was dedicated Jan. 25, 1894. For much of the time since that date the family, consisting of orphans, helpers, and teachers, has averaged one hundred.
The James White Memorial Home
Besides the care and support of these orphans, this association has the management of another charitable institution, called the James White Memorial Home, where more than a score of aged and homeless people are cared for and made comfortable.
Medical Missionaries
In this line of work, another aggressive step was taken when the training of medical missionaries was undertaken. In commendation of this effort for the uplifting of humanity, Mrs. White, when writing from Preston, Australia, Sept. 16, 1892, said:-
"I could wish that there were one hundred in training where now there is one. It ought to be thus. Both men and women can be more useful as medical missionaries than as missionaries without a medical education."
The number taking a course of instruction preparatory to entering a life service of this character has been largely augmented since the above was written.
Growth of the Health Work
In the Medical Missionary for January, 1894, is a brief statement setting forth interesting facts respecting the growth of the health work. It reads as follows:
"The Health Reform Institute was organized in 1866. . . . A modest frame house was purchased, a private residence in a pleasant and healthful location on the higher grounds of Battle Creek, one of the grow-ing cities of Michigan. Two doctors, two bath attendants, one nurse (untrained), three or four helpers, one patient, and any amount of inconveniences, and a great deal of faith in the future of the institution and the principles on which it was founded this was the beginning of the present enterprise. It was known as the Health Reform Institute.
"On the site of the original cottage there now stands a building 312 feet long and 100 feet deep, six stories high, which accommodates three hundred guests, furnished with every appliance that modern science can suggest for the care and restoration of the sick. Ten physicians, most of whom are specialists in their respective lines, constitute the medical faculty. Nurses and other helpers form a family of more than three hundred, and the patronage of the institution represents every State in the Union, and many guests from other lands. Its doors are always open to the missionary, home or foreign, of whatever name, and the family is rarely without one or more of these guests.
The Sanitarium Hospital
"The hospital was erected in 1888, a building 100 x 60 feet, five stories high. Three of the upper floors of the building are used for the surgical department of the sanitarium, patients rooms, and wards. Offices for the charitable work of the institution are also found here. Twenty cottages, several of which are heated by steam, and lighted, like the main building, with electricity, cluster about it, and are filled with either patients or students. A school for the training of medical missionary nurses was organized July 1, 1884. During the first six months thirtyfive students were enrolled."
Prediction of Workers Going Forth
In speaking of the health institution located at St. Helena, Cal., Mrs. White, in a communication written from Tramelan, Switzerland, Feb. 6, 1887, says:-
"God has said that if the men connected with this institution would walk humbly and obediently, doing the will of God, it would live and prosper; and from it would be sent forth missionaries to bless others with the light God has given them. These will in the spirit of Jesus demolish idols in high places; they will unveil superstition, and plant truth, purity, and holiness where now are cherished only error, self-indulgence, intemperance, and iniquity."
We quote these words, as they apply with equal force to other institutions.
Success in Health Work Promised
In a special testimony given to the church in 1891, we read: "Gods blessing will rest upon every effort made to awaken an interest in health reform; for it is needed everywhere. There must be a revival in regard to this matter; for God purposes to accomplish much through this agency.
The American Medical Missionary College
Step by step the light advanced on the rational mode of treating disease until in June, 1895, a demand was created for the organization of a medical educational institution. In compliance with this demand, the American Medical Missionary College was organized for the special purpose of training physicians to work under the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, in home and foreign fields. The inauguration exercises were held in Battle Creek, Sept. 30, 1895, and the college was opened the following day, October 1, with a class of forty students.
In the college announcement we read: "The college is incorporated in Chicago, under the laws of the State of Illinois. The course of study will be as thorough as that of the best medical schools in the United States. The instruction will be given partly in Chicago, and partly in Battle Creek, Mich."
Concerning those preparing for medical missionary work we read the following in the Medical Missionary of August, 1895: "The class of nurses now in training at the Battle Creek Sanitarium Training-School for Nurses numbers over 250; every one of these who is now competent to engage in medical missionary work has a position assigned him. Nurses are wanted for the South Sea Islands, India, the West Indies, South America, twenty-five or thirty for the Southern States of the United States, and for our large cities."
Growth of the Medical Missionary Work
At the graduating exercises of the Sanitarium Missionary Nurses class, held in the Tabernacle, Nov. 5, 1895, Dr. Kellogg said:
"A dozen years ago, at an exercise of this kind, two nurses graduated. At the present time there is a corps of between three and four hundred nurses. There are nineteen physicians at the sanitarium, and twenty-two at similar institutions, more or less connected with the sanitarium, and under the supervision of the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association. Fifty-three of our nurses are in different foreign countries,in Sweden, Old Mexico, Gold Coast of Africa, Australia, South Africa, Denmark, India, New Zealand, Samoa, and British Guiana. There are sixty-three medical students now in training. Forty-one of these are here, twenty-two at the University of Michigan and other schools. Twenty-two nurses graduate here to-night who are fully prepared to go forth as approved nurses.
In tracing the growth of our health institutions to 1902, we find the Battle Creek Sanitarium, with its medical college and training school for nurses, to be the largest institution of the kind in the world owned by Seventh-day Adventists.
The Main Buildings Burned
On the night of Feb. 18, 1902, the large main building, with its fine equipments, and the commodious hospital, were consumed by fire. There were four hundred invalids and guests in the buildings at the time, but through the heroic efforts of the doctors, nurses, and helpers, and with the special protection of the Lord, these were all gotten out of the buildings without serious injury.
The New Sanitarium
Another building, larger and more substantial than the former, has been erected on the site of old buildings. The corner-stone of the present structure was laid May 12, 1902, and the building was dedicated May 31, 1903. The managers of the institution say of the new edifice that "it is as solid and enduring as a building can be made with iron, stone, brick, and cement.
"The equipment of the institution is in all particulars the most modern, complete, sanitary, convenient, and substantial to be obtained; and it is believed that, as it now stands, completed, the Battle Creek Sanitarium offers facilities and conveniences for invalids which are certainly not surpassed.
"The aim of the managers of the institution has been to gather together in one place and under favorable conditions, all the new methods and appliances for the treatment of the sick which are recognized in rational medicine, and to utilize those methods in a conscientious and intelligent manner.
Many Sanitariums to be Established
The light communicated to this people is that the Lord would have many sanitariums, moderate in size, distributed over the world, rather than to have a few mammoth institutions. We are glad to note that a beginning has been made in opening small sanitariums in various parts of the world, especially during the last decade. In the General Conference Year Book for 1904 is a list of over half a hundred of these smaller institutions.
List of Sanitariums
While it might be a matter of interest to relate the circumstances which have led to the establishment of these, we must, in our limited space, content ourselves with a list of the countries where they are located, and the number in each country. We find in the United States, 35; Great Britain, 3: Germany, 1; Switzerland, 1; Denmark, 1; Norway, 1; Sweden, 1; South Africa, 1; Australia, 2; New Zealand, 1; Island of Samoa, 1; Old Mexico, 1; India, 1; Japan, 1.
List of Treatment Rooms
Besides these sanitariums there are twenty-two treatment rooms, seventeen of which are in the United States; one in Jaffa, one in Jerusalem, Palestine; one in Guadalajara, Old Mexico; one in Kimberley, South Africa; and one in Rockampton, Australia. In addition to these there are twenty-six vegetarian restaurants where people can obtain pure hygienic food, and also receive more or less instruction respecting the proper mode of living.
These statistics respecting the progress of health reform principles show how the Lord can "accomplish a great work through this agency," as divinely predicted in 1866; and they also show, as foretold in 1863, how "the principles of health reform" may act a part in "fitting up a people for translation at the coming of the Lord." So may these health institutions increase to a hundred-fold, and soon accomplish that for which they were appointed and designed.