We have now traced the growth of the work of health reform education among Seventh-day Adventists to the time of the establishment of the medical school at Chicago and Battle Creek. So far our narrative has centered about only one medical institution, the Battle Creek Sanitarium. But few of the physicians have been named. We have now reached an era of rapid expansion, and it would be impossible, within the limits of this volume, to continue the story in detail.
Within a very few years from the time when the number of Seventh-day Adventist physicians might easily have been counted on the fingers of the hand, there were to be found scores of persons whose lives were dedicated to Christian service in behalf of the needy and suffering.
In the Directory of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for 1901, only six years after the opening of the American Medical Missionary College, there are listed 286 medical missionaries, of whom 111 were qualified as physicians. Besides the parent institution at Battle Creek, Michigan, there were sanitariums in the states of California, Nebraska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, Iowa, Ohio, and Washington. As the work of the denomination extended into other lands, the medical missionaries, if they did not accompany the pioneer group, soon followed to unite their efforts with the evangelistic workers.
The Voyage of the "Pitcairn"
In October, 1890, the missionary ship "Pitcairn" sailed from San Francisco, California, with a company of Seventh-day Adventist missionaries to visit the island after which it was named, as well as other islands in the South Pacific. None of the first company were physicians or trained nurses, but they carried with them a medicine chest containing a box of mustard and a box of baking powder. To these were added fomentation flannels, a fountain syringe, a fever thermometer, and a few other simple appliances.
One of the company, Mrs. A.J. Read, some years later related how, despite their lack of technical training, they engaged in medical missionary work in the islands. In their limited library they carried a full set of Dr. Kellogg's works, a good "anatomy," Dr. Beech's "Practice," and Clara Weeks's textbook on nursing. Whenever a case was presented to us, she says, "we studied it up first in the 'Anatomy,' then in the 'Home Hand Book,' and so on through all the books in our collection; then when visiting the case, we would try to carry out to the best of our ability the instructions so gained."--The Medical Missionary, February, 1895.
Because of their frequent use of the fountain syringe in treating the large number of fever cases, they soon gained the reputation of being "pump doctors."
An Expanding Field of Labor
On the second voyage Dr. M.G. Kellogg sailed with the group and located on the island of Tonga. On later trips the "Pitcairn" carried Dr. J.E. Caldwell to Raratonga, and Dr. F.E. Braucht to the Fiji Islands.
Early in 1894 Dr. Lillis Wood went with a company of missionaries to Guadalajara, Mexico. The following year a sum of $12,000 was voted by the Foreign Mission Board for the construction and equipment of a sanitarium in that city.
A number of physicians practicing under the direction of the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association were leading out in institutional work in northern and central Europe.
A strong work was started in Skodsborg and in Frederikshavn, Denmark; in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway; in Friedensau, Germany; and in Basel, Switzerland.
In Australasia a sanitarium was operated near Sydney, and one at Christchurch, New Zealand.
The pioneer missionaries in India made a call for medical workers for that country, and soon a sanitarium was opened in Calcutta.
In South Africa treatment rooms were early opened in Cape Town, and soon work was begun in a well-equipped building at Claremont.
Several of the main sanitariums conducted branches. And there were treatment rooms in many of the leading cities of the United States and in such foreign cities as Cairo in Egypt, and Jaffa and Jerusalem in Palestine.
Under the auspices of the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association were conducted both a large orphanage known as the Haskell Memorial Home and the James White Memorial Home for the Aged. Strong efforts were maintained in what was termed "Christian help work" not only on a large scale in some of the cities, but in local church societies.
Counsels from the Spirit of prophecy repeatedly urged that the medical missionary work and the gospel ministry should work together in the closest harmony. This unity was to be maintained on the one hand by the ministry, who should accept and teach the health principles, and on the other hand by the medical workers, who should accept and teach the gospel truths especially committed to Seventh-day Adventists.
A Vision Given to Mrs. White
On the part of both of these groups there was largely a failure to carry forward a combined ministry. This failure was the occasion for earnest words of reproof from the Lord's messenger. The first decided message emphasized the failure on the part of the gospel ministry and was read with comments in the General Conference session of 1897 by the leader of the medical work. The communication was dated January 11, 1897, and there was just time for this communication to travel from Australia to reach its destination when the conference convened at Lincoln, Nebraska. The opening sentence indicates the reason for the writing of the message and is illustrative of the manner in which these messages were so often divinely timed to arrive at a date when they were especially opportune.
"I was awakened at 11:30 last night," wrote Mrs. White, "and commenced writing. We were [as seen in vision] in meeting where important instruction in many lines was being given. Among those assembled were physicians, editors, publishers, ministers, and a large number of other persons. We were considering many things in regard to health reform."--The General Conference Daily Bulletin, March 1, 1897.
One morning during the conference Dr. J.H. Kellogg stood before the delegates, holding in his hand a nineteen-page manuscript which began by quoting the foregoing statement. The unreserved acceptance, by the doctor and those present, of such messages from this source as having been sent by the Lord to His remnant church is indicated by a statement made two days earlier by Dr. Kellogg:
"I believe that every person here has faith and confidence that the words that I am going to read to you are from the Lord; that they came from divine impression; that they are the result of inspiration; that they are instruction sent to us, which we ought to receive."--The General Conference Daily Bulletin, February 18, 1897.
Now he states again: "If you look over the matter that Sister White has given us during the last twenty-five or thirty years, you will see that there is more relating to the proper care for the body than there is relating to any other one subject."--Ibid., March 1, 1897.
Referring to the communication from Sister White of January 11, 1897, he said further, "This testimony seems to be meant for the particular occasion upon which we are meeting here especially, as you will see when I begin reading."--Ibid.
The Testimony
A few quotations from the testimony referred to indicates the tenor of its message deploring a disregard of the principles of health reform on the part of many, both ministers and laymen. Speaking of the assemblage she had seen in vision, which included physicians, editors, publishers, and ministers, Mrs. White said:
"The matters of exercise and reformatory methods in regard to the foods we eat were under discussion. Some were advocating a flesh-meat diet. Speaking in support of this diet, they said that without it they were weak in physical strength. But the words of our Teacher to us were, 'As a man thinketh, so is he.' The flesh of dead animals was not the original food for man. ...
"The educational work in the medical missionary line is a great advance step toward awakening man to his moral responsibilities. Had the ministers taken hold of this work in accordance with the light that God has given them in various lines, there would have been a most decided reformation in eating, in drinking, and in dressing. But there are those who have stood directly in the way of the advance of health reform. They have held the people back by their indifference or depreciatory remarks and their supposed pleasantries and jokes. They themselves and a large number of others have been sufferers, even unto death, but all have not yet learned wisdom.
"The Lord would vindicate the word He has given to His servants. Had all united to walk in the light from the time the light was first given on this subject, there would have been an army of sensible arguments employed to vindicate the work of God. But it has been by the most aggressive warfare that any advance has been made."--Ibid.
The ministers were urged anew to become acquainted with the "laws that govern physical life, and their bearings upon the health of mind and soul." "All who claim to be teachers should urge, both by precept and example, the necessity of abstaining from fleshly lusts, that war against the soul."--Ibid., March 2, 1897.
Mrs. White's Appeal
In the concluding paragraphs of the message sent to the conference, Mrs. White made an appeal to all church members to heed the instructions that had been sent regarding the preservation of health. She said:
"God calls for reform in our churches. Satan is playing the game of life for every soul. He is seeking to brutify humanity whom God values. But when the appetite is held under the control of an intelligent, God-fearing mind, there will be a cultivation of pure, spiritual attributes. There will be a refusal to be led into a slavery that kills both physical, mental, and moral worth and leaves the human agent, for whom Christ has paid so high a price, crippled, worthless, and tossed about with temptation. ...
"From the first dawn of reason, the human mind should become intelligent in regard to the physical structure. Here Jehovah has given a specimen of Himself, for man was made in the image of God. It is Satan's determined work to destroy the image of God in man. He would make the intelligence of man, his highest, noblest gift, the most destructive agent, to pollute with sin everything he touches."--Ibid.
There was a cheering response on the part of some of the members of the conference before which this testimony was read, and undoubtedly there were many who were thereby influenced to give heed to the solemn counsel. Among others, Elder A.T. Jones supplemented the presentation and read the following counsel written by Mrs. White to a minister and his wife:
"The Lord has given His people a message in regard to health reform. This light has been shining upon their pathway for thirty years, and the Lord cannot sustain His servants in a course which will counteract it. He is displeased when His servants act in opposition to the message upon this point, which He has given them to give to others. Can He be pleased when half the workers laboring in a place teach that the principles of health reform are as closely allied with the third angel's message as the arm is to the body, while their co-workers, by their practice, teach the principles that are entirely opposite? ...
"The light which God has sent on health reform cannot be trifled with, without injury to those who attempt it; and no man can hope to succeed in the work of God while, by precept and example, he eats in opposition to the light which God has sent. The voice of duty is the voice of God--an inborn, heaven-sent guide--and the Lord will not be trifled with on these subjects. He who disregards the light which God has given in regard to the preservation of health revolts against his own good and refuses to obey the One who is working for his best good."--Ibid., March 8, 1897.
A Call for Co-operation
Thus it was that at this General Conference of 1897 the ministry were strongly urged, as they had been in the earlier days (in 1866), to manifest themselves wholeheartedly in union with health principles, making them a part of their own lives, and recognizing in them a vital part of the threefold message they were giving to the world.
Two years passed and the General Conference was again in session at South Lancaster, Massachusetts, in March, 1899. Again timely messages relating to the medical work were received from Mrs. White in Australia. This time they pointed out serious misconceptions of the nature of medical missionary work on the part of the leaders in that branch of the cause, and they were read by Elder G.A. Irwin, president of the General Conference. On the morning of March 1, 1899, he stood before the delegates, who were expecting a resumption of the business proceedings, and said: "Some communications for the conference came in the mail from Australia this morning. Shall they now be read?"--Ibid., March 2, 1899.
There was a general response of "Certainly," and the president proceeded to read: "We are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Prophecies are fulfilling. The last great conflict will be short, but terrible. Old controversies will be revived. New controversies will arise."--Ibid.
The message proceeded to point out that decided efforts were now to be made to bring the message for this time prominently before the people. There was to be "no change in the features of our work." There was to be "no confederacy with the world, supposing that by so doing we could accomplish more." "No line of our faith that has made us what we are is to be weakened." As the work should advance, dangers would arise that needed to be guarded against. "As new enterprises are entered upon, there is a tendency to make some one line all-absorbing; that which should have the first place becomes a secondary consideration." (Ibid.)
This tendency to give an undue attention to a line of work good in itself, but threatening to absorb a disproportionately large amount of means and number of workers, was shown in the "great interest" that had been "aroused for the poor and outcast classes," "the uplifting of the fallen and degraded." "There is danger," Mrs. White warned, "of loading down everyone with this class of work, because of the intensity with which it is carried on." "We are not to strain every spiritual sinew and nerve to work for the lowest classes and make that work the all in all. There are others whom we must bring to the Master." (Ibid.)
"Not to Become the Whole Body"
The relationship of the medical missionary work to the third angel's message was again stated to be "as the right arm is to the body," but "the right arm is not to become the whole body. The work of seeking the outcasts is important, but it is not to become the great burden of our mission." (Ibid.)
Mrs. White now took occasion to urge, as she did so many times before and since, that there be a close co-operation between the ministry and the medical missionary work: "The Lord's people are to be one. There is to be no separation in His work. ... Satan will invent every possible scheme to separate those whom God is seeking to make one. We must not be misled by his devices. ... The education of students in medical missionary lines is not complete unless they are trained to work in connection with the church and the ministry. ...
"The medical missionary work is not to take men from the ministry, but to place them in the field. ... Young men who have received an education in medical missionary lines ... should be encouraged to speak, not only on these special lines, but also upon the points of present truth, giving the reasons why we are Seventh-day Adventists. ...
"There must be no belittling of the gospel ministry. No enterprise should be so conducted as to cause the ministry of the Word to be looked upon as an inferior matter. It is not so. Those who ignore the ministry are ignoring Christ. The highest of all work is the ministry in its various lines, and it should be kept before the youth that there is no work more blessed of God than that of the gospel minister.
"Let not our young men be deterred from entering the ministry. There is danger that through glowing representations some will be drawn out of the path where God bids them walk. Some have been encouraged to take a course of study in medical lines who ought to be preparing themselves to enter the ministry."--Ibid.
One Point at Issue
One point at issue between the medical and the evangelistic workers of the church had been the result of a difference of some of the leaders over the use of the word "denominational" as applied to the institutions and work of the medical missionary association. The Seventh-day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, created in February, 1893, by act of the General Conference, had succeeded the earlier Health and Temperance Association. By 1896 the first part of the name had been changed from "Seventh-day Adventist" to "International." At first this seemed to be a result of the spread of the work from the United States to other countries in the world. But another reason for the change was indicated in the comments made in the early part of 1898, when it was stated:
"The International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association is a unique organization in the fact that it is, as far as we know at least, the only association which has undertaken to organize and carry forward medical and philanthropic work independent of any sectarian or denominational control, in home and foreign lands."--Dr. J. H. Kellogg, in The Medical Missionary, January, 1898.
The agents of the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association were said to be "here as Christians, and not as Seventh-day Adventists." They were not here "for the purpose of presenting anything that is peculiarly Seventh-day Adventist in doctrine." In other words, it was stated to be "simply the un-denominational side of the work which Seventh-day Adventists have to do in the world."--Medical Missionary Conference Bulletin, May, 1899. Extra.
Not a New Position
As in the light of later developments we read statements written earlier by the editor of Medical Missionary, who was Dr. Kellogg himself, we see that this was no new position taken by him. Six years before this and in an article under the head of "Fraternity in Missionary Work," he had made a call for recruits to become well-trained medical missionaries, both physicians and nurses, and had said:
"A hundred could be set to work at once in this country alone. Such missionaries are wanted, not to engage in proselyting men and women to a creed, not for the purpose of disseminating a doctrine or doctrines, but to help lift fallen men and women to a higher moral level through the alleviation of their physical sufferings, and the amelioration of their physical wants and necessities, working in the spirit of the Master, who gave to His disciples the commission to preach the gospel and heal the sick. In this beneficent work we can fraternize with every man and every woman who is engaged in the work of blessing, comforting, and helping fallen and suffering humanity. ...
"If Christians would only tear themselves away from the narrowness of self and the bigotry of church pride and denominationalism, and devote themselves to earnest work for their fellow men, each beginning with his next-door neighbor, or the most needy fellow mortal nearest to him, the gibes of the infidel and the scorner would soon be silenced."--Ibid., March-April, 1893.
Again in announcing the opening of the American Medical Missionary College, in 1895, the same writer stated: "This is not a sectarian school. Sectarian doctrines are not to be taught in this medical school. It is a school for the purpose of teaching medical science, theoretically and practically, and gospel missionary work. It is not to be either a Seventh-day Adventist or a Methodist or a Baptist, or any other sectarian school, but a Christian medical college--a missionary medical college, to which all Christian men and Christian women who are ready to devote their lives to Christian work will be admitted."--Ibid., October, 1895.
Only a few weeks after the opening of the American Medical Missionary College, which was thus announced to the world as un-denominational, there was written by Mrs. White, addressed to the medical superintendent of the sanitarium, a message which emphasized the fact that "the remnant people of God" were to "glorify His name by proclaiming the last message of warning." The only way in which God's people could fulfill His expectations was "by being representatives of the truth for this time." (E. G. White Letter 40, 1895. Quoted in Testimonies for the Church 8:153.)
"To Be Tested and Tried"
In this letter Mrs. White pointed out that having "stood nobly for the faith once delivered to the saints," Dr. Kellogg was to be tested and tried as he had "never yet been, only more sorely." (E. G. White Letter 40, 1895.)
The doctor's danger at that time was symbolically represented in vision as described in the following words of warning:
"I saw you holding up the banner on which are written the words, 'Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.' Revelation 14:12. Several men, some of them those with whom you are connected in the sanitarium, were presenting to you a banner on which was a different inscription. You were letting go the banner of Seventh-day Adventists and were reaching out to grasp the banner presented to you. ...
"I was instructed that you and your fellow laborers were in danger of hiding the principles of our faith in order to obtain large patronage. Every jot done in this line, instead of extending the influence of the truth, will hinder its advance."--Testimonies for the Church 8:153, 154.
Further counsel urging no concealing of the distinctive truths was given in the same letter, as follows:
"God is to be recognized and honored by the people calling themselves Seventh-day Adventists. In the past the truth has, to the honor of God, been proclaimed with convincing power by the physicians and helpers in our sanitariums. God will accept no less of you, but will expect far more. You and your associates are to labor on in faith and firmness, to prevent decline and to insure progress.
"There must be no narrowing down of your work, no concealing of the principles of truth; there must be a widening of the base of operations. ... There must be no covering up of any phase of our message. The truth for this time must be given to the souls ready to perish. Those who in any way hide the truth dishonor God. Upon their garments will be the blood of souls."--Ibid., 155.
In regard to admitting Christian young men and women of other denominations to the medical college, Mrs. White recommended that they be accepted provided it was thought that "they would not exert an influence that would draw other students away from the truth." But it was further stated clearly that "in the studies given, there should be no concealment of one principle of Bible truth. If admitting to your classes those not of our faith will lead to silence on the great themes that concern our present and eternal good--themes that should ever be kept before the mind--let them not be admitted. In no case is principle to be sacrificed or the peculiar characteristics of our faith hidden in order to add outside students to our classes."--Ibid., 156.
For the Needy in Chicago
Reference has been made to the beginnings of an extensive work conducted in Chicago for the poor and the outcasts. This work was broadened until there were in that city not only the two dispensaries already spoken of, but also the branch sanitarium, the Workingmen's Home, the Star of Hope Mission, the Life Boat Mission, and other enterprises.
All this, although carried forward in a self-sacrificing way by the scores of workers, called for a very heavy outlay of means. Messages through the Spirit of prophecy continued to arrive, deploring the extension of this line of work to a degree that made it disproportionate to the worldwide work of the denomination. Mrs. White did not devaluate the work that should be done for the poor and needy. In 1898 she cautioned the physician-in-chief:
"Take heed that in the work you are doing, you do not misapply your powers, giving all you have to a work which is not a whole, but only a part of the work to be done. Keep the part you are doing in symmetrical proportion with the other lines of the work, that the structure we are building may be firm and solid, able to withstand the stress of circumstances and temptation."--E. G. White Letter 126, 1898.
Repeated counsels were given, urging that this line of work be given only its proportionate attention in a worldwide evangelistic effort. And when there was no evidence of a change of plans, she, in harmony with her counsel, urged that the great unentered or needy mission fields be no longer crippled, while large sums of money and many workers were used in the city mission work.
"To Be Denominational"
These divisive issues that were being so prominently brought to the front during the late nineties and in the early part of the present century were not healed. Among the ministry and laity there was not a full, wholehearted acceptance of the health principles. And the attitude of the medical leaders became an increasing source of perplexity to the conference laborers. On the one hand sanitarium work and medical missionary work were regarded as un-denominational, while repeated counsels were sent to the contrary and accepted by the conference leaders. With positive convictions Mrs. White wrote:
"It has been stated that the Battle Creek Sanitarium is not denominational. But if ever an institution was established to be denominational, in every sense of the word, this sanitarium was. Why are sanitariums established if it is not that they may be the right hand of the gospel in calling the attention of men and women to the truth that we are living amid the perils of the last days? And yet, in one sense, it is true that the Battle Creek Sanitarium is un-denominational, in that it receives as patients people of all classes and all denominations. ...
"Now and ever we are to stand as a distinct and peculiar people, free from all worldly policy, unembarrassed by confederating with those who have not wisdom to discern the claims of God, so plainly set forth in His law. We are not to take pains to declare that the Battle Creek Sanitarium is not a Seventh-day Adventist institution, for this it certainly is. As a Seventh-day Adventist institution it was established, to represent the various features of gospel missionary work, thus to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord."--E. G. White Letter 128, 1902.
The men called to leadership in the denomination stood firmly against the disintegrating forces. With pen and voice they sought to keep before the church members the principles involved. Thus we note such utterances as the following from an editorial in the church paper:
"There has been a strong tendency of late to treat lightly, and almost with ridicule, the idea that this denomination has been entrusted with a special work, and that it was raised up for this purpose. This view has been persistently made to appear as narrow and tending to bigotry. We have been exhorted to take a broader view of things, and there are some among us who seem to delight in emphasizing the statement that their work is an un-denominational work, and that the institution with which they are connected is an un-denominational institution. ...
"This denomination is a voice in the earth to prepare the way of the Lord, and it must give to the world the very message which the Lord has designed for this generation. In order to accomplish this mission in the world, it is not necessary for this people to assert that the Lord does not use any other persons or agencies in the working out of His purposes, but it will be fatal to the success of this movement, so far as we are concerned, to take the position that we should keep our specific message in the background, and that we should lose our denominational identity on the broad platform of un-denominational Christian effort."--The Review and Herald, October 22, 1903.
A Summary of Variant Views
The variant views regarding health reform and the medical missionary work that were to become the forerunners of a wider divergence may be summed up as follows:
1. A trend on the part of ministers and lay church members to ignore or to oppose some of the principles of health reform as they had been accepted and taught in the earlier days.
2. An increasing spirit of independence on the part of leaders in the medical missionary work and a spirit of criticism against the evangelistic workers.
3. The tendency on the part of the medical workers to consider theirs as an un-denominational work--philanthropic and humanitarian--but not primarily as a factor in the dissemination of the distinctive truths committed to Seventh-day Adventists.
4. A disproportionate expenditure of energy and means in work for the unfortunate and degraded classes in a few large cities, in view of the worldwide call to medical missionary evangelism.
5. The calling of too large a number of youth from training in evangelistic lines to that of professional health and philanthropic work. This was too often effected by a belittling of the importance of the work of the ministry.
Other differences in fundamental doctrinal teachings and in conflicting plans of organization as they became more manifest will be considered later. Yet notwithstanding the regrettable variances of belief and policy, the training of scores and hundreds of devoted Christian nurses and physicians went rapidly forward. And when, as will be seen later, these differences became so prominent as to lead to separation, the great majority stood conscientiously and understandingly with the denomination and were prepared to take their places in the reorganized medical work of later years.