June 7 - Ellen White And The Health Reformers

God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us. . .That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Ps. 67: 1, 2.

Those with a knowledge of Ellen White's counsels on health will recognize that she was in harmony with most of the reforming views of the health reformers. Thus she stood in good company when she rejected the "use of poisonous drugs," "which, in place of helping nature, paralyzes her powers"(MH 126;MM 224).

In a more positive line, Ellen White supported the reforemers in her recommendation of natural remedies: "pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, rest, exercise, proper diet, the use of water, trust in divine power"(MH 127).

The early Adventists were aware of both Ellen White's agreement with the helath reformers of her day and her specifically Adventist contributions. Thus J. H. waggoner could write in 1866 that "we don not profess to be pioneers in the general principles of health reform. The facts on which this movement is based have been elaborated, in a great measure, by reformers, physicians, and wirter on physiology and hygiene, and so may be found scattered through the land. But we do claim that by method of God's choice [Ellen White's counsel] it has been more clearly and powerfully unfulded, and is thereby producing an effect which we could not have looked for from any other source.

"As mere physiological and hygienic truths, they might be studied by soem at their leisure, and by others laid aside as of little consequence; but when plcaed on a level with the great truths of the third angel's message by the sanction and authority of God's Spirit, and so declared to be the means whereby a weak people may be made strong to overcome, and our diseased body cleansed and fitted for translation, then it comes to us as an essential part of present truth."

While Ellen White largely agreed with the health reformers of her day, one of her contributions in the area of health was to integrate the message of health reform into Adventist theology.

From the time that she first began to write on the topic in 1863 to the present, Seventh-day Adventists have had a distinctive lifestyle. It has resulted in healtier bodies and longer lives. That longevity has been a demonstration to the world, as illustrated recently in the National Geographic magazine and other places. The witness of the church should be that of health in all areas of life.