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But There Was One Health Reformer
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June 9 - But There Was One Health Reformer

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And the Lord will take away from you all sickness. Deut. 7:15, RSV.

Joseph Bates, as in so many other areas of Sabbatarian Adventism, was the movement's pioneer health reformer. As a sea captain in 1921 he had abandoned hard drink when he realized that he looked forward to his daily dram more than he did food. Soon the discarded wine in 1822, tobacco in 1823, and all other forms of alcohol in 1824. Then in 1831 he swore off tea and coffee because "it is poison." "It had such an effect upon my whole system," he wrote, "that I could not rest nor sleep until after midnight."

Next to go were flesh foods. "In February 1843," he recalled, "I resolved to eat no more meat. In a few month after, I ceased using butter, grease, cheese, pies, and rich cakes."

He had first become alerted to the advantages of a vegetarian diet in 1820 when he discovered that two potato-eating Irish laborers could outwork seven or eight of his meat-eating men. Later such writers as Sylvester Graham led him further toward a complete vegetarian diet.

Bates' life was a good advertisement for the benefits of health reform. In contrast to most of the other early Sabbatarian leaders, he had exceptional health. From the time that he left the sea in the late 1820s, he was ill only two times that we know of. And both episodes were apparently malaria.

In his seventy-ninth year he testified to a health convention regarding his early health reform experiences and on the excellent health that had resulted, "Contrary to my former convictions, that if I was ever permitted to live to my present age, I should be a suffering cripple from my early exposure in following the sea, thanks be to God. . . , whose rich blessing ever follows every personal effort to reform, that if I continue to reform, and forsake every wrong, I shall, with the redeemed followers of the Lamb, 'stand without fault before the throne of God.'"

Before the early 1860s however, Bates was a silent health reformer. When asked why he did not use certain foods, his usual reply was "I have eaten my share of them" James White reports that "he did not mention his views of poper diet in public at that time, nor in private, unless questioned upon the subject."

That would change in 1863.

But before moving on, we should reflect on the connecting link between healthful living and vigorous health. The relationship was not accidental in Bates' life. And it isn't in ours, either.

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He has an honest heart who yields to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. He confesses his guilt, and feels his need of the mercy and love of God. He has a sincere desire to know the truth, that he may obey it(COL 58).
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