"Freely ye have received, freely give," said Jesus to His disciples as He sent them forth on their first missionary tour. This divine principle of imparting that which has been received was from the first emphasized in the instruction given to Seventh-day Adventists regarding health reform. The day following the memorable vision at Otsego, Michigan, in June, 1863, with its scenes vividly in her mind, Mrs. White wrote:
"I saw that it was a sacred duty to attend to our health, and arouse others to their duty. ... We have a duty to speak, to come out against intemperance of every kind. ... I saw that we should not be silent upon the subject of health, but should wake up minds to the subject."--E. G. White Letter 4, 1863.
To Teach the People
In the vision of December 25, 1863, where the need for a health institution among Seventh-day Adventists was presented, the plant called for was to be "a home for the sick, where they could be treated for their diseases, and also learn how to take care of themselves so as to prevent sickness." Testimonies for the Church 1:553.
Writing to the ministry at that time, Mrs. White had declared that one important part of their work was "to faithfully present to the people the health reform, as it stands connected with the third angel's message." They were to "urge it upon all who profess to believe the truth." Ibid., 469, 470.
In response to the earnest appeal of Mrs. White at the General Conference of 1866, the delegates had pledged themselves not only to live in accordance with the health principles, but to use their "best endeavors to impress their importance upon others." The Review and Herald, May 22, 1866.
Two years later, at the General Conference held in May, 1868, the delegates expressed their conviction that "the cause of health reform among our people demands that labor and attention which our preachers cannot bestow in connection with their other arduous labors." The Review and Herald, May 26, 1868. To meet this demand a graduate physician, Dr. M.G. Kellogg, was appointed to labor "in that department of the great work of preparation for the coming of the Son of man." (Ibid.)
The one thus selected was the son of J.P. Kellogg, the first to subscribe for stock in the Western Health Reform Institute (which was renamed as the Medical and Surgical Sanitarium) and an older brother of J.H. Kellogg. Some years prior to this he had joined a group of emigrants en route to California. There he was earning a good wage, but now he had left his business, sold his home, and used the proceeds to secure a medical training. "I did this," he wrote, "because I believed the work of health reform was of God, and that God had a work for me to do in the message." (Letter to Mrs. E. G. White, July 16, 1868.)
Elder and Mrs. White questioned him closely when he came to Battle Creek, after he had taken the medical course at Dr. Trall's Medical College at Florence Heights, New Jersey. They were fearful that he would bring with him some ideas that were "objectionable, either in theory or in zeal to carry some points to extremes," but in this matter they were, Elder White wrote, "happily disappointed." On the contrary, he said, "The harmony between what the Lord has revealed relative to this subject, and science, has been a theme of most interesting conversation, and mutual profit."--The Review and Herald, April 28, 1868.
A Health Lecturer in the Field
A few weeks before the conference, Elder White secured appointments for Dr. M.G. Kellogg to lecture to some of the churches. After hearing one of his lectures, he wrote: "Our ministers speak on the subject of health from a Bible standpoint. This seems right. Brother Kellogg treats the subject from a scientific view, and we think well calculated to teach the people and lead them to a practical understanding of how to live. It seems to us that the Lord has enough such men as Brother Kellogg to teach the people the science of human life, without our ministers being called from their work."--Ibid., May 5, 1868.
Dr. Kellogg attended the General Conference and was seated as a delegate from California. It was in response to his appeal that Elders Loughborough and Bourdeau soon left to introduce the message in that field, where today the medical work of Seventh-day Adventists is so prominent. Elder James White expressed his convictions regarding the need for lecturers who were qualified to present the scientific reasons for the health reform. His views met with a hearty response, and thus the way seemed to be opened for Dr. Kellogg to take up his labor among the churches.
In a note addressed to the "friends of health reform," the General Conference Committee introduced Dr. M.G. Kellogg, setting him forth as "an instructive and interesting lecturer, and one qualified to advise the sick," and urging that "all our churches should secure his labors." He was appointed to work under the direction of the General Conference Committee, who would guarantee his expenses. It was expected, however, that when he was called to labor in a place, the church placing the call would pay his traveling expenses, together with "a reasonable compensation for his time and labor in treating the sick." For an examination and prescription he should receive two dollars. If his receipts from the churches should amount to more than what was paid to a minister, the surplus that he thus received would be paid into the General Conference fund. Ibid., May 26, 1868.
The Need for a Greater Vision
It would be gratifying to be able to report that this plan was enthusiastically received by the churches, and that Dr. Kellogg's services were in continuous demand. That there was a need is beyond question. There were doubtless not a few companies of believers of whom it might be said, as one worker wrote regarding a particular church: "They are sadly behind in the health reform. ... If some thorough-going, well-informed health reformer could give them a course of lectures on health during the coming winter, I think the labor would be well expended."--Ibid., June 30, 1868.
But the churches most in need of such instruction would, naturally, be the last to realize it and to place a call, at some expense to themselves, for a health lecturer. So it was a keen disappointment both to the doctor and to the General Conference Committee to find that after filling appointments in three churches, where the lectures were highly appreciated, the doctor received no further invitations. After a few months the readers of the Review and Herald were notified that Dr. M.G. Kellogg had "returned to California, not receiving sufficient calls for help to induce him to remain in this part of the country." Ibid., August 18, 1868.
And then eight years more passed. During this time, through The Health Reformer, through lectures in the Health Reform Institute by the physicians there, or through instruction in the churches by the ministers, the work of health education was carried on with more or less effectiveness, though apparently with diminished rather than increased emphasis. The possibilities of greater success in the work of the ministry through uniting the teachings of health with those of holiness were as yet only dimly comprehended, till the Testimonies pointed to a higher conception of the value of the health principles.
A School of Health Needed
In the latter part of 1876, Testimonies for the Church, No. 27, appeared. In it reference was made to the combined work done by Jesus in healing the sick and preaching the gospel, indicating that He "devoted more time and labor to healing the afflicted of their maladies than to preaching." It was also pointed out that Christ's commission to the disciples, in sending them forth, included the healing of the sick as well as the preaching of the gospel. In caring for their physical health, the reception of truth into their minds was made more likely. When the Master shall come, it is recorded in Scripture, "He will commend those who have visited the sick and relieved the necessities of the afflicted." "We are slow," continued Mrs. White in this connection, "to learn the mighty influence of trifles and their bearing upon the salvation of souls."--Testimonies for the Church 4:225.
If these principles were to be carried out in the gospel work of the church, opportunity must be afforded whereby laymen and ministers might receive a broader education in health principles. It was natural that they should look to the sanitarium physicians for such training. Dr. J.H. Kellogg and his associates recognized the need and greatly desired to meet it, but for a time serious difficulties seemed to make it impossible. There was no place where there were facilities for the holding of a school of health. Moreover, the few physicians at the sanitarium were overwhelmed with the responsibilities of caring for the rapidly growing work. With the erection of the new building in 1877, however, the first of these difficulties was removed, and even before the work of building was completed, the medical staff felt sufficiently freed from responsibility to announce the opening of a "School of Hygiene."
The first notice of this new enterprise is found in the Review and Herald of December 20, 1877, where Elder S.N. Haskell referred to the move as another important step in the progress of present truth. In retrospect he reviewed the "broader plans" and the "additional helps" that had been progressively undertaken for the purpose of enlightening others "in regard to the solemn truths that relate to the time in which we live." He could rejoice that the publishing work had expanded till it represented an invested capital of $150,000, and that there was an organized force of missionary workers to scatter the publications that came from the presses in Battle Creek, Michigan, and in Oakland, California. Battle Creek College, now in its third year, was attended by nearly four hundred students, and workers trained for the ministry were going forth yearly from its doors. The medical work was now represented by the largest sanitarium in the world, and the health journal was finding "more readers than any other similar journal in America." After recounting these progressive steps, Elder Haskell continued:
Dr. Kellogg's Announcement
"And now a hygienic school is to be established. ... There are hundreds of our young men and women who should attend this school. Sickness is everywhere, and there is no more successful method of removing prejudice than to be able to enter the sickroom and relieve the afflicted. ...
"We speak in behalf of this hygienic school. We believe it is needed. There should be, connected with every church, individuals who understand what to do in the sickroom. They should know how to give packs, baths, etc. ... May God bless this our first effort."--The Review and Herald, December 20, 1877.
Dr. J.H. Kellogg, in announcing the opening of the School of Hygiene, spoke of the many calls that had come from the field for such opportunities as the new school would afford. "For several years," he wrote, "the managers of the sanitarium have been in constant receipt of numerous letters from persons who were desirous of acquiring a knowledge of the laws of hygiene and the application of hygienic agencies in the treatment of the sick and the prevention of disease."--The Health Reformer, December, 1877.
This desire for a practical knowledge of the laws of hygiene and of simple home remedies for the sick was prompted by a sincere interest in friends and neighbors, to whom they might minister spiritual as well as physical blessings. Although the term "medical missionary work" did not come into denominational use until the following decade, some among the ministry had been led to see in this dual service a means of removing prejudice and of coming close to the people. Thus we find in the Review and Herald the following words from a young minister:
"God is honoring us as a people, before the world, for the position we have taken upon the subject of temperance reform. We stand in the front rank of this reformation.
"If we follow the providence of God, we shall certainly avail ourselves of the influence which these truths afford us. We should seek to become intelligent upon the subject, in order that we may ... help and instruct others. ...
"A few discourses by our ministers in each of the neighborhoods where they labor, upon the laws of hygiene, Christian temperance, and sanitary rules, would awaken an interest in the minds of many when nothing else would. In no other way can we gain the confidence and gratitude of an individual so readily as by affording him relief in his distress."--G. C. Tenney, in The Review and Herald, January 3, 1878.
An Advance Step
A realization of the world "suffering for want of teachers to point out the right way," and thousands "dying daily for want of the very information which will be imparted in the course of instruction in the School of Hygiene," led Dr. Kellogg, in his appeal for entrants to the course, to voice the hope that during the coming winter there might be "a hundred lecturers in the field educating the people on the subjects which are of the most vital importance to them"--those relating to life and health. The Health Reformer, December, 1877.
The opening of such a school was truly an advance step, for it was announced as "not only the first, but the only school of the sort in America." Ibid., August, 1878.
Dr. Trall, the founder of the Hygieo-Therapeutic College, was now dead, the building where the school had been held had burned, and the commendable work that had been done there was now discontinued. So liberal were the requirements for medical training that it might still have been possible for the sanitarium to receive a charter empowering them to confer upon those finishing the course the degree of M.D. There were some who urged that this should be done, but the promoters of the enterprise were positive in their conviction that the time had passed when anything short of the most thorough and complete education should be recognized or sanctioned by those who had practiced the healing art. Regarding this matter, Dr. Kellogg wrote:
"A first-class, complete, and thorough medical education can only be obtained at some one of the large, expensively equipped institutions in the large cities, where clinical material abounds, and where practical anatomy can be studied at pleasure. The great lack in these otherwise admirable institutions is the universal lack of attention to hygiene. Only one college in the United States has a professorship of hygiene. ... It is to supply this lack, only, that this school is to be opened. It is not intended in any sense to take the place of a regular medical course, but simply to give to individuals wishing to commence the study of medicine a basis for a broad, liberal, thorough, and practical medical education, and to supply to those desiring only a limited amount of medical knowledge an opportunity to become familiar with a large share of the practical knowledge in the hands of the profession, divested of its technical dress, simplified, and put in shape to be readily utilized."--Ibid., December, 1877.
The School Opened
The school was opened January 14, 1878, with an enrollment of seventy-five students, and this number was soon doubled.
The school course continued for twenty weeks with daily lessons and class recitations. Several studies collateral to hygiene were included in the course, such as anatomy, physiology, chemistry, physics, and mental philosophy. So thorough was the course of study given in the School of Hygiene that its certificate of study and proficiency was accepted by any medical college in the United States as a part of the regular course. Drs. Fairfield and Sprague, who had just been graduated from the Bellevue Medical College, were associated with Dr. Kellogg in the teaching.
As an interesting item of comparison with the present-day cost of student expense, we note that the tuition for the twenty-week course was $25. Room and good table board were offered at the Sanitarium Students' Club for $1.60 a week, and opportunity was offered for several active young men and women to pay the entire cost of the course by working.
Some hundreds of patrons attended this excellent course of health instruction during the few years that it was offered at the sanitarium. Many of these were thereby fitted to give substantial assistance to the organization and work of the health and temperance associations that were by this time flourishing all over the country, and a number of them devoted their lives to medical missionary work.
Another advance move was made in the spring of 1883, when the sanitarium made a public call for a half dozen young women to learn "nursing, massage, the use of electricity, and other branches of the practical medical department." Good Health, April, 1883.
The period of instruction was to continue three months; but the applicants, it was stated, would be required to remain from two to five years at the institution. It was asserted that such a training would qualify for a good position whereby one might gain a livelihood. That the opportunities for engaging in the nursing profession had not yet been comprehended by Seventh-day Adventist young people is evident, for only two young ladies were enrolled in this the initial effort of the sanitarium to train its own nurses. (Medical Missionary Yearbook, 1896, p. 117.)
A Call for Recruits
Another call was made for recruits to enter "a school for the training of nurses" on the first of November, 1883. It was promised that "the course of instruction will include all the branches of practical and theoretical study necessary to qualify competent persons to become first-class professional nurses." The Review and Herald, October 23, 1883. The course was lengthened to six months. This time there was a more encouraging response; indeed so large a number of letters was received from persons who desired to attend but could not come on such short notice that the opening was postponed for two weeks. So great was the demand for trained nurses that the sanitarium physicians felt free to guarantee situations for all graduates of the school who would become proficient.
At the end of this six-month course, the period of training was lengthened to two years. The school of nursing became better known, and with each succeeding year the number of applications increased. Some came because they saw in the nursing profession a lucrative occupation, but more were prompted by their love of humanity and an earnest desire to qualify for service in God's work.
After four years, in 1888, was formed a class of eight who solemnly pledged themselves to devote their lives to missionary work. These were given more advanced instruction than those in the regular training classes. Their example was an important factor in influencing others to engage more directly in the combined ministry of health and religion. The members of this class later filled important positions, some in institutional work, others as foreign missionaries, and some as teachers.
An Urgent Appeal
In the latter part of 1889 Dr. Kellogg presented before the General Conference Committee in session in Battle Creek, Michigan, the increasing demand for efficient and consecrated laborers in the health and temperance work. Other lines of work, he said, had absorbed so many of the young people of the denomination that it was difficult to find competent persons even to man the large sanitarium. He foresaw that in time other medical institutions would be established, and competent helpers and physicians must be trained to man them. In addition to the opportunities for service in medical institutions, there were many openings in the field. Some should be trained to give instruction in hygiene and cooking at the large camp meetings. Nurses were needed for foreign missionary service, in the city missions, and in schools.
To meet these needs the sanitarium had just launched "the Health and Temperance Missionary School." The General Conference Committee endorsed the action of the sanitarium and recommended that the managers of schools, missions, camp meetings, and other denominational institutions should select as their matrons, cooks, and nurses those who had received a special training for this work at the sanitarium. It was also recommended that conference presidents and officers should select suitable young men and women to take special training in the sanitarium. Thus it was hoped that an army of matrons, cooks, nurses, and physicians might be speedily recruited.
Dan. T. Jones, the secretary of the General Conference, in reporting the action of the committee, wrote:
"One reason why the health and temperance work has not been received more favorably by our people and others is because it is not understood, and its principles have been abused by those who have had the will to carry them out in their daily living, but have not been taught how to do so properly. If competent cooks could be selected in each conference, and educated, and then allowed to visit different churches and teach the sisters to prepare their food healthfully and in a palatable manner, it would do much toward advancing the interests of health reform."--Ibid., February 18, 1890.
The Appeal Successful
The response to this appeal, we are told, was "even more successful than was anticipated by its projectors." Good Health, February, 1890. At the end of the four-month period of training, it was reported that the regular daily attendance of the class had averaged about one hundred, of which number more than twenty were prepared to enter the field immediately.
Among those who enrolled at this first Health and Temperance Missionary School were a number whose names were later to become prominent in denominational work. There was Elder W.H. Wakeham, secretary of the American Health and Temperance Association, who for many years exerted a strong influence in promoting medical missionary work. Other members were A.A. John, J.B. Beckner, G.H. Baber, W.L. Bird, M.A. Altman, and Mrs. D.H. Kress.
This enterprise, started in 1889 and progressively known as the Health and Temperance Missionary School, Health Missionary School, and Medical Missionary School, "marked the beginning of a revival of interest in hygienic subjects." (Medical Missionary Yearbook, 1896, p. 125.) At the end of five years other classes were formed, in which the course was given. By this time there were several health instructors in the field, and an earnest group of self-supporting workers were freely ministering to the poor and needy.