Purpose and Objectives of Seventh-day Adventist Institutions

Ellen G. White

Copyright © 2018, Ellen G. White Estate, Inc.

Table of Contents

Information about this Book

An Explanation Of This Document

Chapter 1—Why God Called the Church to Establish and Operate Institutions

Chapter 2—The Object of our Publications and our Publishing Houses

Chapter 3—Objectives of SDA Medical Institutions

Chapter 4—Objectives of our Educational Institutions

Chapter 5—The Historical Setting of the Counsels Relating to the First Seventh-day Adventist Institutions

APPENDIX A—A Distinctly Seventh-day Adventist Institution

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Ellen G. White (1827-1915) is considered the most widely translated American author, her works having been published in more than 160 languages. She wrote more than 100,000 pages on a wide variety of spiritual and practical topics. Guided by the Holy Spirit, she exalted Jesus and pointed to the Scriptures as the basis of one’s faith.

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by Ellen G. White

Some of the more important statements defining the heaven ordained purpose of Seventh-day Adventist institutions together with pertinent historical information about our early Battle Creek establishments.

“Every institution that bears the name of Seventh-day Adventist is to be to the world as was Joseph in Egypt, and as were Daniel and his fellows in Babylon. In the providence of God these men were taken captive, that they might carry to heathen nations the knowledge of the true God. They were to make no compromise with the idolatrous nations with which they were brought in contact, but were to stand loyal to their faith, bearing as a special honor the name of worshipers of the God who created the heavens and the earth.”—Testimonies for the Church 8:153. (See “God’s Purpose for His Institutions,” Testimonies for the Church 8:153-157.)

“As our work has extended and institutions have multiplied, God’s purpose in their establishment remains the same. The conditions of prosperity are unchanged.”—Testimonies for the Church 6:224.

The Ellen G. White Estate

September 1969

An Explanation Of This Document

In response to requests from leading officers of the General Conference we here provide a grouping of statements from the pen of Ellen G. White concerning the purpose and objectives of Seventh-day Adventist institutions. There are many many statements on these points which expressed at various times and often repeated give through their content, their repetition and their emphasis a clear picture of what God called for through the messages given through His servant, Ellen G. White.

A statement of historical background relating to the starting of the three major lines of institutional endeavor appears as Section V, and should not be overlooked.

The White Estate staff in its attempt to meet a close deadline have not been able to do an exhaustive work. More might be added from periodical articles and E. G. White manuscript files. It is their opinion, however, that the statements appearing here portray an accurate picture. It is our hope that what is presented may serve church leaders well.

Arthur L. White and D. A. Delafield

The Ellen G. White Estate

Washington, D. C.

September 9, 1969

1. Chapter 1—Why God Called the Church to Establish and Operate Institutions | 3
2. Chapter 2—The Object of our Publications and our Publishing Houses | 5
3. Chapter 3—Objectives of SDA Medical Institutions | 10
   Objectives As First Enunciated | 10
   Advertised Objectives Of Our First Sanitarium | 13
   Through The Period Of Expansion | 20
   Objectives Restated 1900-1914 | 26
   Dangers Of A Disproportionate Work | 38
4. Chapter 4—Objectives of our Educational Institutions | 46
5. Chapter 5—The Historical Setting of the Counsels Relating to the First Seventh-day Adventist Institutions | 54
   1. The First Publishing Institution | 56
   2. Medical: Battle Creek Sanitarium | 64
   3. Educational: Battle Creek College | 69
6. APPENDIX A—A Distinctly Seventh-day Adventist Institution | 78

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Chapter 1—Why God Called the Church to Establish and Operate Institutions

Instrumentalities for Proclaiming the Three Angel’s Messages.—The three angels of revelation 14 are represented as flying in the midst of heaven, symbolizing the work of those who proclaim the first, second, and third angels’ messages. All are linked together. The evidences of the abiding, everliving truth of these grand messages, that mean so much to the church, that have awakened such intense opposition from the religious world, are not extinct….

The influence of these messages has been deepening and widening, setting in motion the springs of action in thousands of hearts, bringing into existence institutions of learning, publishing houses, and health institutions. All these are instumentalities of God to co-operate in the grand work represented by the first, second, and third angels, the work of warning the inhabitants of the world that Christ is coming the second time with power and great glory.—Testimonies for the Church 6:17, 18.

Nearness of the End Impels Us to Establish Institutions.—A great work must a done all through the world, and let no one conclude that, because the end is near, there is no need of special effort to build up the various institutions as the cause shall demand….

When the Lord shall bid us make no further effort to build meetinghouses and establish schools, sanitariums, and publishing institutions, it will be time for us to fold our hands and let the Lord close up the work; but now is our opportunity to show our zeal for God and our love for humanity. We are to be partners in the work of God throughout the world; wherever there are souls to be saved, we are to lend our help, that many sons and daughters may be brought to God….

Schools must be established, that the youth may be educated, that those engaged in the work of the ministry may reach higher attainments in the knowledge of the Bible and the sciences. Institutions for the treatment of the sick must be established in foreign lands, and medical missionaries must be raised up who will be self-denying, who will lift the cross, who will be prepared to fill positions of trust and be able to educate others.—Testimonies for the Church 6:440.

God’s Instrumentalities.—Our institutions are to be regarded as God’s instrumentalities for the furtherance of His work in the earth. We must look to God for guidance and wisdom; we must plead with Him to teach us how to carry the work solidly. Let us recognize the Lord as our teacher and guide, and then we shall carry the work in correct lines. We need to stand as a united company who shall see eye to eye. Then we shall see the salvation of God revealed on the right hand and on the left. If we work in harmony, we give God a chance to work for us.—Fundamentals of Christian Education, 531, 532.

For the Spread of the Truth and the Salvation of Souls.—January 3, 1875, [4] I was shown many things relative to the great and important interests at Battle Creek in the work of the Publishing Association, the school, and the Health Institute. If these institutions were properly conducted, they would greatly advance the cause of God in the spread of the truth and in the salvation of souls.—Testimonies for the Church 3:468.

Effectual Means of Soulsaving.—Our institutions were established to serve as an effectual means of advancing the work of soulsaving. Those connected with them are to study how they can help the institution, not how they can take the most out of the treasury. If they grasp more than is their due, they hinder the cause of God.—Selected Messages 2:183.

God’s Special Warning to be Given Through All Our Institutions.—The third angel’s message, the great testing truth of this time, is to be taught in all our institutions. God designs that through them this special warning shall be given, and bright beams of light shall shine to the world. Time is short.—Testimonies for the Church 6:128.

The Holy and the Profane.—There are many who recognize no distinction between a common business enterprise, as a workshop, factory, or cornfield, and an institution established especially to advance the interests of the cause of God. But the same distinction exists that in ancient times God placed between the sacred and the common, the holy and the profane. This distinction He desires every worker in our institutions to discern and appreciate.—Testimonies for the Church 7:191.

Established for the Dissemination of Light.—The institutions which God has established as centers of influence for the dissemination of light are not blending their interests and working together as God would have them. The managers of these institutions should know that their very first work is to harmonize with their fellow workers.—Testimonies for the Church 8:77.

To Save Souls and Promulgate Truth.—In the providence of God we have institutions established among us to advance the promulgation of truth, but they do not reach the efficiency they might if the workers were wholly consecrated to God. The Lord has made every provision that these institutions may reach a high standard, that they may attain to a larger growth and wider usefulness, and that those employed in them may possess Christian virtues and graces.

But those connected with these instrumentalities are not all devout and spiritual. They do not represent the spirit and character of Christ. They are not ensamples to those connected with them, because they do not live in communion with God, earnestly seeking by faith and fervent prayer to know His will that they may do it.

These instrumentalities are missionary institutions. The Lord designed that they should be a power for good; and if all who are connected with them are consecrated, if they are meek and lowly in heart, Christ will give them most precious lessons in His school. In our health institutions, our publishing houses, our schools, all should work harmoniously to carry out the purpose of God, and everything connected with the institutions should tend toward reform. [5]

The managers and helpers should have the true missionary spirit as a daily, abiding principle; for they are in a field that requires the highest kind of missionary work. Our institutions, properly conducted, will exert a far-reaching influence, and if the managers and workers are Christians, they will be as shining lights. They will educate those connected with them in the principles of truth.

A responsibility to spread the knowledge of right principles rests upon all who have received the light. This responsibility should be felt by every man and woman who claims to be a Seventh-day Adventist, and much more by those who are connected with our institutions. All should realize that these institutions are an important part of the Lord’s great work for the salvation of souls. Let it be the aim of all to be laborers together with God for the uplifting of humanity. All should be educators by precept and example.—Selections from Testimonies to the Managers and Workers in our Institutions, 3, 4. [6]

Chapter 2—The Object of our Publications and our Publishing Houses

Object of Publications to Exalt God.—The great object of our publications is to exalt God, to call men’s attention to the living truths of His word. God calls upon us to lift up, not our own standard, not the standard of this world, but His standard of truth.

It is only as we do this that His prospering hand can be with us. Consider God’s dealings with His people in the past.—Counsels to Writers and Editors, 12.

God’s Means of Keeping Truth Before the People.—Papers and books are the Lord’s means of keeping the message for this time continually before the people. In enlightening and confirming souls in the truth, the publications will do a far greater work than can be accomplished by the ministry of the Word alone. The silent messengers that are placed in the homes of the people through the work of the canvasser, will strengthen the gospel ministry in every way; for the Holy Spirit will impress minds as they read the books, just as He impresses the minds of those who listen to the preaching of the Word. The same ministry of angels attends the books that contain the truth as attends the work of the ministry.—Evangelism, 161, 162.

Books Containing Present Truth.—Let all have more to teach, to write, and to publish in regard to those things that are now to be fulfilled, and that concern the eternal welfare of souls. Give meat in due season to the old and the young, to saints and to sinners. Let everything that can be said to awaken the church from its slumbers be brought forward without delay. Let no time be lost in dwelling on those things that are not essential, and that have no bearing upon the present necessities of the people….

Let more time be given to the publication and circulation of books containing present truth. Call attention to books dwelling on practical faith and godliness and to those that treat on the prophetic word. The people are to be educated to read the sure word of prophecy in the light of the living oracles. They need to know that the signs of the times are fulfilling. It is God alone who can give success either in preparing or in circulating our publications.—Counsels to Writers and Editors, 13, 14.

To Proclaim Saving Truths and Coming Judgments.—The publications and periodicals that come from our presses have a definite and far-reaching work to do. These papers are not to repeat and discuss the errors that are all the time coming in to divert the mind from what is truth. Let the articles deal with the truths of the word of God, giving clear instruction regarding the saving truths for this time, and warning of the near approach of the judgments of God and the end of all things:—Counsels to Writers and Editors, 14,

To Break Down Prejudice.—I have been shown that the publications already have been doing a work upon some minds in other countries, in breaking down the walls of prejudice and superstition. I was shown men and women studying [7] with intense interest papers and a few pages of tracts upon present truth. They would read the evidences so wonderful and new to them, and would open their Bibles with a deep and new interest, as subjects of truth that had been dark to them were made plain, especially the light in regard to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. As they searched the Scriptures to see if these things were so, a new light shone upon their understanding, for angels were hovering over them, and impressing their minds with the truths contained in the publications they had been reading.—Counsels to Writers and Editors, 180, 181.

To Strengthen the Pillars of the Faith.—The work of bookmaking is a grand and good work; but it as not always stood in the high and holy position that God designed it should occupy, because self has been interwoven with the work of some who have engaged in it. The book work should be the means of quickly giving the sacred light of present truth to the world. The publications that come forth from our presses today are to be of such a character as to strengthen every pin and pillar of the faith that was established by the word of God and by the revelations of His Spirit.

The truth that God has given for His people in these last days, should keep them firm when there come into the church those who present false theories. The truth that has stood firm against the attacks of the enemy for more than half a century must still be the confidence and comfort of God’s people.—Testimonies for the Church 9:69, 70.

Danger of Inferior Books.—Unless care is taken, the market will be flooded with books of a cheap order, and the people will be deprived of the light and truth which it is essential they should have to prepare the way of the Lord. This has been done and will be done again unless right principles control in the publishing work.—Letter 43, 1899. (In Counsels to Writers and Editors, 148.)

That Prepare the People to Stand.—The larger books….contain present truth for this time,—truth that is to be proclaimed in all parts of the world. Our canvassers are to circulate the books that give definite instruction regarding the testing messages that are to prepare a people to stand on the platform of eternal truth, holding aloft the banner on which is inscribed, “The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”—Manuscript 136, 1903. (In Counsels to Writers and Editors, 144.)

Established to Accomplish the Specific Purpose of Warning Men.—Our publishing work was established by the direction of God and under His special supervision. It was designed to accomplish a specific purpose. Seventh-day Adventists have been chosen by God as a peculiar people, separate from the world. By the great cleaver of truth He has cut them out from the quarry of the world and brought them into connection with Himself. He has made them His representatives and has called them to be ambassadors for Him in the last work of salvation. The greatest wealth of truth ever entrusted to mortals, the most solemn and fearful warnings ever sent by God to man, have been committed to them to be given to the world; and in the accomplishment of this work our publishing houses are among the most effective agencies.

These institutions are to stand as witnesses for God, teachers of [8] righteousness to the people. From them truth is to go forth as a lamp that burneth. Like a great light in a lighthouse on a dangerous coast, they are constantly to send forth beams of light into the darkness of the world, to warn men of the dangers that threaten them with destruction.—Testimonies for the Church 7:138-139.

To Accomplish the Work of the Angel of Revelation 18:1.—And in a large degree, through our publishing houses is to be accomplished the work of that other angel who comes down from heaven with great power and who lightens the earth with his glory.

Solemn is the responsibility that rests upon our houses of publication. Those who conduct these institutions, those who edit the periodicals and prepare the books, standing as they do in the light of God’s purpose, and called to give warning to the world, are held by God accountable for the souls of their fellow men. To them, as well as to the ministers of the word, applies the message given by God to His prophet of old: “Son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at My mouth, and warn them from Me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” Ezekiel 33:7, 8.—Testimonies for the Church 7:140.

Established to Make Plain Principles at Stake.—To every human being in the wide world who will give heed, we are to make plain the principles at stake in the great controversy—principles upon which hangs the eternal destiny of the soul. To the people far and near we are to bring home the question: “Are you following the great apostate in disobedience to God’s law, or are you following the Son of God, who declared, ‘I have kept My Father’s commandments’?”

This is the work before us; for this our publishing institutions were established; it is this work that God expects at their hands.—Testimonies for the Church 7:141, 142.

God’s Instrumentality.—God has always had a care for His institutions. We should look at the work He has done, the reforms He has wrought. We should gather up the evidences of Heaven’s blessings, the tokens for good, saying: “Lord, we believe in Thee, in Thy servants, and in Thy work. We will trust in Thee. The publishing house is Thine own instrumentality, and we will not fail or be discouraged. Thou hast honored us by connecting us with Thy center. We will keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment. We will act our part by being true to the work of God.”—Testimonies for the Church 7:211.

God’s Intent—Christ to Stand at the Head of Our Publishing Houses.—Our publishing institutions are to stand before the world as an embodiment of Christian principles. In these institutions, if God’s purpose for them is fulfilled, Christ Himself stands at the head of the working forces. Holy angels supervise the work in every department. And all that is done in every line is to bear the impress of heaven, to show forth the excellence of the character of God…. [9]

In all our work, even in mechanical lines, God desires that the perfection of His character shall appear. The exactness, skill, tact, wisdom, and perfection which He required in the building of the earthly tabernacle, He desires to have brought into everything that shall be done in His service.—Testimonies for the Church 7:142.

Potential Magnitude not Yet Realized.—Our publishing houses are God’s appointee centers, and through them is to be accomplished a work the magnitude of which is yet unrealized. There are lines of effort and influence as yet by them almost untouched in which God is calling for their cooperation.

As the message of truth advances into new fields, it is God’s purpose that the work of establishing new centers shall be constantly going forward. Throughout the world His people are to raise memorials of His Sabbath, the sign between Him and them that He is the One who sanctified them. At various points in missionary lands publishing houses must be established. To give character to the work, to be centers of effort and influence, to attract the attention of the people, to develop the talents and capabilities of the believers, to unify the new churches, and to second the efforts of the workers, giving them facilities for more ready communication with the churches and more rapid dissemination of the message—all these and many other considerations plead for the establishment of publishing centers in missionary fields.

In this work it is the privilege, yea, the duty, of our established institutions to participate. These institutions were founded in self-sacrifice. They have been built up by the self-denying gifts of God’s people and the unselfish labor of His servants. God designs that they shall manifest the same spirit of self-sacrifice and do the same work in aiding the establishment of new centers in other fields.—Testimonies for the Church 7:144, 145.

To Be Educational Centers.—God designs that our publishing houses shall be successful educating schools, both in business and in spiritual lines. Managers and workers are ever to keep in mind that God requires perfection in all things connected with His service. Let all who enter our institutions to receive instruction understand this. Let opportunity be given for all to acquire the greatest possible efficiency. Let them become acquainted with different lines of work so that, if called to other fields, they will have an all-round training and thus be qualified to bear varied responsibilities.

Apprentices should be so trained that, after the necessary time spent in the institution, they can go forth prepared to take up intelligently the different lines of printing work, giving momentum to the cause of God by the best use of their energies and capable of imparting to others the knowledge they have received.

All the workers should be impressed with the fact that they are not only to be educated in business lines, but to become qualified to bear spiritual responsibilities. Let every worker be impressed with the importance of a personal connection with Christ, a personal experience of His [10] power to save. Let the workers be impressed with a sense of the high privilege proffered them in this last work of salvation, to be used by God as His helping hand. Let each be taught to work for others, by practical labor for souls just where he is. Let all learn to look to the word of God for instruction in every line of missionary effort. Then, as the word of the Lord is communicated to them, it will supply their minds with suggestions for working the fields in such a way as to bring to God the best returns from all parts of His vineyard.—Testimonies for the Church 7:147, 148.

Diverted from Objectives by Commercial Work of Questionable Character:—The work of printing and circulating stirring appeals for the truth, which should have been placed first, to which the time and the talent of the workers should have been devoted, has received little or no attention. The commercial work, some of it of a most objectionable character, has gradually assumed the supremacy.

This work has absorbed the energies which should have been devoted to the publication of literature of the purest quality and the most elevating character. Time has been wasted, talent misapplied, and money misappropriated. The work which ought to have been done has been left undone. Satan’s sentiments have been exalted. His theories have been printed by presses which should have been used to prepare the truth of God for circulation. Men have coveted promotion when their principles were under the ban of God’s displeasure. Loss is infinitely better than dishonorable gain.

Oh, what will God do with the timeservers? Think you that Jesus will stand in the printing establishment, to work through human minds by His ministering angels, to make the truth coming from the press a power to warn the world that the end of all things is at hand, while Satan is allowed to pervert the minds of the workers right in the institution? The light I have is: Refuse to print another line of this pernicious matter….Let this class of work be forever excluded from our publishing houses. Give more time to the publication and circulation of the books containing present truth. See that your work in this line reaches perfection. Do all in your power to diffuse throughout the world the light of heaven.—Testimonies for the Church 8:92-93.

A Fruitful Work.—God will soon do great things for us if we lie humble and believing at His feet….More than one thousand will soon be converted in one day, most of whom will trace their first convictions to the reading of our publications.—Counsels to Writers and Editors, 181. (*Words spoken to our workers in Europe in 1885 when the outlook for the publishing work was dark.—A. L. White) [11]

Chapter 3—Objectives of SDA Medical Institutions

Objectives As First Enunciated

The over-all Objective.—The health reform, I was shown, is a part of the third angel’s message and is just as closely connected with it as are the arm and hand with the human body. I saw that we as a people must make an advance move in this great work. Ministers and people must act in concert. God’s people are not prepared for the loud cry of the third angel. They have a work to do for themselves which they should not leave for God to do for them. He has left this work for them to do. It is an individual work; one cannot do it for another....

In order to be fitted for translation, the people of God must know themselves. They must understand in regard to their own physical frames that they may be able with the psalmist to exclaim: “I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:486, 487. (Dec. 25, 1865.)

December 10., 1871, I was again shown that the health reform is one branch of the great work which is to fit a people for the coming of the Lord. It is as closely connected with the third angel’s message as the hand is with the body.—Testimonies for the Church 3:161. (1871.)

The Demand for a Medical Institution.—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. We should not remain indifferent and compel those who are sick and desirous of living out the truth to go to popular water cure institutions for the recovery of health, where there is no sympathy for our faith. If they recover health it may be at the expense of their religious faith. Those who have suffered greatly from bodily infirmities are weak both mentally and morally. As they realize the benefit derived from the correct application of water, the right use of air, and a proper diet, they are led to believe that the physicians who understood how to treat them so successfully cannot be greatly at fault in their religious faith; that as they are engaged in the great and good work of benefiting suffering humanity, they must be nearly or quite right. And thus our people are in danger of being ensnared through their efforts to recover health at these establishments.

Again I was shown that those who are strongly fortified with religious principles and are firm to obey all God’s requirements cannot receive that benefit from the popular health institutions of the day that others of a different faith can. Sabbathkeepers are singular in their faith. To keep all God’s commandments as He requires them to do in order to be owned and approved of Him is exceedingly difficult in a popular water cure. They have to carry along with them at all times the [12] gospel sieve and sift everything they hear, that they may choose the good and refuse the bad....

I was shown that Sabbathkeepers should open a way for those of like precious faith to be benefited without their being under the necessity of expending their means at institutions where their faith and religious principles are endangered, and where they can find no sympathy or union in religious matters,—Testimonies for the Church 1:489, 490. (Dec. 25, 1865.)¹

To Prepare Heart for Eternal Truths Through Improved Health.—God would have a health institution established which will in its influence be closely connected with the closing work for mortals fitting for immortality, one that will have no tendency to weaken the religious principles of old or young and which will not improve the health of the body to the detriment of spiritual growth. The great object of this institution should be to improve the health of the body, that the afflicted may more highly appreciate eternal things. If this object is not continually set before the mind and efforts are not made to this end, it will prove a curse instead of a blessing, spirituality will be regarded as a secondary thing, and the health of the body and diversion will be made primary.

I saw that the high standard should not be lowered in the least in order that the institution may be patronized by unbelievers. If unbelievers choose to come while its conductors occupy the exalted spiritual position which God designs they should, there will be a power that will affect their hearts. With God and angels on their side, His commandment-keeping people can but prosper. This institution is not to be established for the object of gain, but to aid in bringing God’s people into such a condition of physical and mental health as will enable them to rightly appreciate eternal things and to correctly value the redemption so dearly purchased by the sufferings of our Saviour.—Testimonies for the Church 1:564, 565. (Dec. 25, 1865.)

The True Objective Restated.—It should ever be kept prominent that the great object to be attained through this channel [the sanitarium] is not only health, but perfection, and the spirit of holiness, which cannot be attained with diseased bodies and minds. This object cannot be secured by working merely from the worldling’s standpoint. God will raise up men and qualify them to engage in the work, not only as physicians of the body, but of the sin-sick soul, as spiritual fathers to the young and inexperienced.—Testimonies for the Church 1:554. (1867.)

Restorative Agencies Employed at the First Institution.—Let no one obtain the idea that the Institute is the place for them to come to be raised up by the prayer of faith. That is the place to find relief from disease by treatment and right habits of living, and to learn how to

¹Note: Elder and Mrs. White had just left the “Home on the Hillside,” a popular health institution operated by Dr. J. C. Jackson. This was their second visit, James White being ill. The first visit in 18614 was exploratory. A.L.White

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avoid sickness. But if there is one place under the heavens more than another where soothing, sympathizing prayer should be offered by men and women of devotion and faith it is at such an institute. Those who treat the sick should move forward in their important work with strong reliance upon God for His blessing to attend the means which He has graciously provided, and to which He has in mercy called our attention as a people, such as pure air, cleanliness, healthful diet, proper periods of labor and repose, and the use of water. They should have no selfish interest outside of this important and solemn work. To care properly for the physical and spiritual interests of the afflicted people of God who have reposed almost unlimited confidence in them and have at great expense placed themselves under their care will require their undivided attention.—Testimonies for the Church 1:561, 562. (1867.).

Physical Therapy Also.—I saw the beneficial influence of outdoor labor upon those of feeble vitality and depressed circulation, especially upon women who have induced these conditions by too much confinement indoors. Their blood has become impure for want of fresh air and exercise. Instead of amusements to keep these persons indoors, care should be taken to provide outdoor attractions. I saw there should be connected with the Institute ample grounds, beautified with flowers and planted with vegetables and fruits. Here the feeble could find work, appropriate to their sex and condition, at suitable hours. These grounds should be under the care of an experienced gardener to direct all in a tasteful, orderly manner.—Testimonies for the Church 1:562. (1865.)

Curative Preventive Evangelistic Objectives.—A suitable home should be fitted up for the reception of invalids that they may, by the use of proper means and the blessing of God, be relieved of their infirmities and learn how to take care of themselves and thus prevent sickness....

There is now a good opportunity for them [SDA’s] to use their means for the benefit of suffering humanity and also for the advancement of the truth.—Testimonies for the Church 1:494. (1865.)

Advertised Objectives Of Our First Sanitarium

The Western Health Reform Institute (Sept. 1866)

Battle Creek, Mich.

This Institution was opened for the reception of Patients and Hygienic Boarders, on the 5th of September, 1866.

Diseases are here treated on Hygienic Principles, and instruction is imparted both theoretically and practically, to patients and boarders, on the important subject of Preserving Health as well as Recovering from Disease. In the treatment of the sick, no Drugs whatever will be administered; but only such means employed as Nature can best use in her recuperative work, such as Water, Air, Light, Heat, Food, Sleep, Rest., Recreation, etc.

Vegetables, Grains, and Fruits which are found in great variety and abundance in this vicinity, will constitute the staple articles of diet. [14]

This Institute is admirably located on a site of over seven acres, in the highest part of the pleasant and enterprising city of Battle Creek, commanding a fine prospect, and affording ample opportunities for entertainment, quiet, and retirement. With a competent corps of physicians and helpers this institution offers to the sick all the inducements to come and be cured, that are presented by any other establishment.

Battle Creek is an important station on the Michigan Central R.R., and is easy of access from all parts of the country. All trains stop. Those who are afflicted with any of the ills that flesh is heir to, are invited to avail themselves of the benefits here offered for the recovery of that lost treasure, Health. Charges below the average of other first-class Institutions of this kind. For further particulars, see Circular, sent free on application. Address Dr. H. S. Lay, Battle Creek, Michigan.—Health Reformer, Vol. 1., No. 2, p. 34.

A Unique Missionary Agency if Rightly Conducted.—Our people should have an institution of their own, under their own control, for the benefit of the diseased and suffering among us who wish to have health and strength that they may glorify God in their bodies and spirits, which are His. Such an institution, rightly conducted, would be the means of bringing our views before many whom it would be impossible for us to reach by the common course of advocating the truth. As unbelievers shall resort to an institution devoted to the successful treatment of disease and conducted by Sabbathkeeping physicians, they will be brought directly under the influence of the 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 a healing balm for their sin-sick souls.

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 will not have enough moral courage to yield to their convictions. They may be convinced that Sabbathkeepers have the truth, but the world and unbelieving relatives stand in the way of their receiving it. They cannot bring their minds to the point to sacrifice all for Christ. Yet some of this last-mentioned class will go away with their prejudice removed and will stand as defenders of the faith of Seventh-day Adventists. 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 been first removed from minds by a tarry among our people for the object of gaining health.—Testimonies for the Church 1:492, 493. (1865.) [15]

Why Unbelievers Are Admitted.—The health reform is a branch of the special work of God for the benefit of His people. I saw that in an institution established among us the greatest danger would be of its managers departing from the spirit of the present truth and from that simplicity which should ever characterize the disciples of Christ. A warning was given me against lowering the standard of truth in any way in such an institution in order to help the feelings of unbelievers and thus secure their patronage. The great object of receiving unbelievers into the institution is to lead them to embrace the truth. If the standard be lowered, they will get the impression that the truth is of little importance, and they will go away in a state of mind harder of access than before.—Testimonies for the Church 1:560. (1867.)

To Bring About Dress Reform.—God designed that the sanitarium which He had established should stand forth as a beacon of light, of warning and reproof. He would prove to the world that an institution conducted on religious principles as an asylum for the sick could be sustained without sacrificing its peculiar, holy character; that it could be kept free from the objectionable features that are found in other institutions of the kind. It was to be an instrumentaliy in His hand to bring about great reforms. Wrong habits of life should be corrected, the morals elevated, the tastes changed, the dress reformed.

Disease of every type is brought upon the body through the unhealthful, fashionable style of dress, and the fact should be made prominent that a reform must take place before treatment will effect a cure. The perverted appetite has been pampered until disease has been produced as the sure result. The crippled, dwarfed faculties and organs cannot be strengthened and invigorated without decided reforms. And if those connected with the sanitarium are not in every respect correct representatives of the truths of health reform, decided reformation must make them what they should be, or they must be separated from the institution. Testimonies for the Church 4:582., (1881.)

To Prepare Minds to Discern Sacred Truth.—All are bound by the most sacred obligations to God, to heed the sound philosophy and genuine experience which He is now giving them in reference to health reform. He designs that the great subject of health reform shall be agitated and the public mind deeply stirred to investigate; for it is impossible for men and women, with all their sinful, health-destroying, brain-enervating habits, to discern sacred truth, through which they are to be sanctified, refined, elevated, and made fit for the society of heavenly angels in the kingdom of glory.—Testimonies for the Church 3:162. (1872.)

Employees Are Missionaries—Brought into Contact with All Classes.—It is of the highest importance that this asylum for those who are diseased in body and mind shall be such that Jesus, the Mighty Healer, can preside among them, and all that is done may be under the control of His Spirit. All connected with this institution should qualify themselves for the faithful discharge of their God-given responsibilities. They should attend to every little duty with as much fidelity as to matters of great importance. All should study prayerfully how they can themselves become most useful and make this retreat for the sick a grand success.

We do not realize with what anxiety patients with their various diseases [16] come to the sanitarium, all desiring help, but some doubtful and distrusting, while others are more confident that they shall be relieved. Those who have not visited the institution are watching with interest every indication of the principles which are cherished by its manager.

All who profess to be children of God should unceasingly bear in mind that they are missionaries, in their labors brought in connection with all classes of minds. There will be the refined and the coarse, the humble, and the proud, the religious and the skeptical, the confiding and the suspicious, the liberal and the avaricious, the pure and the corrupt, the educated and the ignorant, the rich and the poor; in fact, almost every grade of character and condition will be found among the patients at the sanitarium. Those who come to this asylum come because they need help; and thus, whatever their station or condition, they acknowledge that they are not able to help themselves. These varied minds cannot be treated alike; yet all, whether they are rich or poor, high or low, dependent or independent, need kindness, sympathy, and love. By mutual contact our minds should receive polish and refinement. We are dependent upon one another, closely bound together by the ties of human brotherhood....

It is through the social relations that Christianity comes in contact with the world. Every man or woman who has tasted of the love of Christ, and has received into the heart the divine illummination, is required of God to shed light on the dark pathway of those who are unacquainted with the better way. Every worker in that sanitarium should become a witness for Jesus. Social power, sanctified by the Spirit of Christ, must be improved to win souls to the Saviour.—Testimonies for the Church 4:554, 555. (1881.)

With Scientific Ability and Spiritual Power.—A special effort should be made to secure the services of conscientious, Christian workers. It is the purpose of God that a health institution should be organized and controlled exclusively by Seventh-day Adventists; and when unbelievers are brought in to occupy responsible positions, an influence is presiding there that will tell with great weight against the sanitarium. God did not intend that this institution should be carried on after the order of any other health institution in the land, but that it should be one of the most effectual instrumentalities in His hands of giving light to the world. It should stand forth with scientific ability, with moral and spiritual peer, and as a faithful sentinel of reform in all its bearings; and all who act a part in it should be reformers, having respect to its rules, and heeding the light of health reform now shining upon us as a people.

All can be a blessing to others if they will place themselves where they will correctly represent the religion of Jesus Christ. But there has been greater anxiety to make the outward appearance in every way presentable that it may meet the minds of worldly patients, than to maintain a living connection with heaven, to watch and pray, that this instrumentality of God may be wholly successful in doing good to the bodies and also to the souls of men.—Testimonies for the Church 1:556, 557. (1881.)

Heaven Approved Method of Medical Practice.—There are many ways of practicing the healing art, but there is only one way that heaven approves. God’s remedies are the simple agencies of nature that will not tax or debilitate the system through their powerful properties. Pure air and water, cleanliness, a proper diet, purity of life, and a firm trust in God are remedies for the want of which thousands are dying; yet these remedies are [17] going out of date because their skillfully use requires work that the people do not appreciate. Fresh air, exercise, pure water, and clean, sweet premises are within the reach of all with but little expense; but drugs are expensive, both in the outlay of means and in the effect produced upon the system.

The work of the Christian physician does not end with healing the maladies of the body; his efforts should extend to the diseases of the mind; to the saving of the soul....

The physician should know how to pray. In many cases he must increase suffering in order to save life; and whether the patient is a Christian or not, he feels greater security if he knows that his physician fears God. Prayer will give the sick an abiding confidence; and many times if their cases are borne to the Great physician in humble trust, it will do more for them than all the drugs that can be administered.

Satan is the originator of disease; and the physician is warring against his work and power. Sickness of the mind prevails everywhere. Nine tenths of the diseases from which men suffer have their foundation here. Perhaps some living home trouble is, like a canker, eating to the very soul and weakening the life forces. Remorse for sin sometimes undermines the constitution and unbalances the mind....

The physician needs more than human wisdom and power that he may know how to minister to the many perplexing cases of disease of the mind and heart with which he is called to deal. If he is ignorant of the power of divine grace, he cannot help the afflicted one, but will aggravate the difficulty; but if he has a firm hold upon God he will be able to help the diseased, distracted mind. He will be able to point his patients to Christ and teach them to carry all their cares and perplexities to the great Burden Bearer.—Testimonies for the Church 5:443, 444. (1885.)

Importance of Psychosomatic Medicine.—To deal with men and women whose mind as well as bodies are diseased is a nice work. Great wisdom is needed by the physicians at the Institute in order to cure the body through the mind. But few realize the power that the mind has over the body. A great deal of the sickness which afflicts humanity has its origin in the mind and can only be cured by restoring the mind to health. There are very many more than we imagine who are sick mentally. Heart sickness makes many dyspeptics, for mental trouble has a paralyzing influence upon the digestive organs.

In order to reach this class of patients, the physician must have discernment, patience, kindness, and love, A sore, sick heart, a discouraged mind, needs mild treatment, and it is through tender sympathy that this class of minds can be healed. The physicians should first gain their confidence, and then point them to the all-healing Physician. If their minds can be directed to the Burden Bearer, and they can have faith that He will have an interest in them, the cure of their diseased bodies and minds will be sure.—Testimonies for the Church 3:184. (l872.)

Danger of Losing Sight of Objectives.—Physicians who would be successful in the treatment of disease should know how to minister to a diseased mind. They can have a powerful influence for good if they make God their trust. Some invalids need to be relieved of pain before the mind can be reached. After relief has come to the body, the physician can frequently the more successfully appeal to the conscience, and the heart will be more susceptible to the influences of the truth. There is [18] danger of those connected with the Health institute losing sight of the object for which such an institution was established by Seventh-day Adventists, and working from the worldling’s standpoint, patterning after other institutions....

One of the great objects of our Health Institute is to direct sinsick souls to the Great Physician, the true healing Fountain, and call their attention to the necessity of reform from a religious standpoint, that they no longer violate the law of God by sinful indulgences. If the moral sensibilities of invalids can be aroused and they see that they are sinning against their Creator by bringing sickness upon themselves and by the indulgence of appetite and debasing passions, when they leave the Health Institute they will not leave their principles behind, but will take them with them and be genuine health reformers at home. If the moral sensibilities are aroused, patients will have a determination to carry out their convictions of conscience; and if they see the truth they will obey it. They will have true, noble independence to practice the truths to which they assent. And if the mind is at peace with God, the bodily conditions will be more favorable.—Testimonies for the Church 3:169, 170. (1872.)

A Great Popular Work not Our Objective.—Let those to whom are committed the physical and also to a great extent the spiritual interests of the afflicted people of God, beware how they, through worldly policy or personal interest or a desire to be engaged in a great and popular works call down upon themselves and this branch of the cause the frown of God. They should not depend upon their skill alone. If the blessing, instead of the frown, of God be upon the institution, angels will attend patients, helpers, and physicians to assist in the work of restoration, so that in the end the glory will be given to God and not to feeble, shortsighted man. Should these men work from a worldly policy, and should their hearts be lifted up and they feel to say, “My power, and the might of my hand path done this,” God would leave them to work under the great disadvantages of their inferiority to other institutions in knowledge, experience, and facilities. They could not then accomplish half as much as other institutions do.—Testimonies for the Church 1:562. (1867.)

Conditions of God’s Blessings.—The great work of reform must go forward. The Health Institute has been established at Battle Creek to relieve the afflicted, to disseminate light, to awaken the spirit of inquiry, and to advance reform. This institution is conducted upon principles which are different from those of any other hygienic institution in the land. Money is not the great object with its friends and conductors. They conduct it from a conscientious, religious standpoint, aiming to carry out the principles of Bible hygiene. Most institutions of the kind are established upon different principles and are conservative, making it their object to meet the popular class halfway and to so shape their course that they will receive the greatest patronage and the most money.

The Health Institute at Battle Creek is established upon firm religious principles. Its conductors acknowledge God as the real proprietor. Physicians and helpers look to Him for guidance, and aim to move conscientiously, in His fear. For this reason it stands upon a sure basis. When feeble, suffering invalids learn in regard to the principles of the directors, superintendent, physicians, and helpers at the Institute that they have the fear of God before them, they will feel safer there than at popular institutions.

If those connected with the Health Institute at Battle Creek should [19] descend from the pure, exalted principles of Bible truth to imitate the theories and practices of those at the head of other institutions, where only the diseases of invalids are treated, and that merely for money, the conductors not working from a high, religious standpoint, God’s special blessing would not rest upon the Institute. This institution is designed of God to be one of the greatest aids in preparing a people to be perfect before God. In order to attain to this perfection, men and women must have physical and mental strength to appreciate the elevated truths of God’s Word and be brought into a position where they will discern the imperfections in their moral characters. They should be in earnest to reform, that they may have friendship with God. The religion of Christ is not to be placed in the background and its holy principles laid down to meet the approval of any class, however popular. If the standard of truth and holiness is lowered, the design of God will not then be carried out in this institution.

Other health institutions are looking with a jealous eye upon the Health Institute at Battle Creek. They work from the world’s standpoint, while the managers of the Health Institute work from a religious standpoint, acknowledging God as their proprietor. They do not labor selfishly for means alone, but for the sake of Christ and humanity. They are seeking to benefit suffering humanity, to heal the diseased mind as well as the suffering body, by directing invalids to Christ, the sinner’s Friend. They do not leave religion out of the question, but make God their trust and dependence. The sick are directed to Jesus. After the physicians have done what they can in behalf of the sick, they ask God to work with their efforts and restore the suffering invalids to health. This He has done in some cases in answer to the prayer of faith. And this He will continue to do if they are faithful and put their trust in Him. The Health Institute will be a success, for God sustains it. And if His blessing attends the Institute, it will prosper and will be the means of doing a great amount of good. Other institutions are aware that a high standard of moral and religious influence exists at our Institute. They see that its conductors are not actuated by selfish, worldly principles, and they are jealous in regard to its commanding and leading influence.—Testimonies for the Church 3:165, 166, 184, 185. (1872.)

To Copy no Other Institution.—If this institution is what God designed it should, as His instrumentality, it will not copy any institution in our land in its practices or moral standing. It will stand as a peculiar institution, governed and controlled after the Bible standard. No motive will be of sufficient force to move those engaged here from the straight line of duty. It will be reformatory in all its teachings and practice. There will be no uniting in closer harmony with the world in order to receive worldly patronage. Manuscript 4a, 1885. (Released in Tract.)

To Take Its Rightful Place.—The health reform is closely connected with the work of the third message, yet it is not the message. Our preachers should teach the health reform, yet they should not make this the leading theme in the place of the message. Its place is among those subjects which set forth the preparatory work to meet the events brought to view by the message; among these it is prominent. We should take hold of every reform with zeal, yet should avoid giving the impression that we are vacilating and subject to fanaticism. Our people should furnish means to meet the wants of a growing Health Institute among us, as they are able to do, without giving less for the other wants of the cause. [20]

Let the health reform and the Health Institute grow up among us as other worthy enterprises have grown, taking into the account our feeble strength in the past and our greater ability to do much in a short period of time now. Let the Health Institute grow, as other interests among us have grown, as fast as it can safely and not cripple other branches of the great work which are of equal or greater importance at this time. For a brother to put a large share of his property, whether he has much or little, into the Institute, so as to be unable to do as much in other directions as he otherwise should, would be wrong. And for him to do nothing would be as great a wrong. With every stirring appeal to our people for means to put into the Institute there should have been a caution not to rob other branches of the work; especially should the liberal poor have been cautioned.—Testimonies for the Church 1:559, 560. (1867.) [21]

Through The Period Of Expansion

Not to Be Run like Other Institutions.—We never proposed to establish sanitariums to have them run in nearly the same grooves as other institutions. If we do not have a sanitarium which is, in many things, decidedly contrary to other institutions, we can see nothing gained.—Letter 72, 1896.

To Treat Sick on Different Lines from Other Institutions.—The Lord years ago gave me special light in regard to the establishment of a health institution where the sick could be treated on altogether different lines from those followed in any ether institution in our world. It was to be founded and conducted upon Bible principles, as the Lord’s instrumentality, and it was to be in His hands one of the most effective agencies for giving light to the world. It was God’s purpose that it should stand forth with scientific ability, with moral and spiritual power, and as a faithful sentinel of reform in all its bearings. All who should act a part in it were to be reformers, having respect to its principles, and heeding the light of health reform shining upon us as a people.

God designed that the institution which He should establish should stand forth as a beacon of light, of warning and reproof. He would prove to the world that an institution conducted on religious principles, as an asylum for the sick, could be sustained without sacrificing its peculiar, holy character; that it could be kept free from the objectionable features found in other health institutions. It was to be an instrumentality for bringing about great reforms.—Testimonies for the Church 6:223. (1900)

A Practical Demonstration of Our Principles.—The work of advocating the principles of health reform is not to be a haphazard work; it is a work which is deep and broad and high, an essential work, the credentials of which are its practical workings. Because we are health reformers, we are not to make a raid upon people’s habits and practices. This is striking too directly at the gods they worship. Instead, we are to offer them something better. Why have we established health reform institutions? That we may give people a practical demonstration of the principles we advocate....

The heavenly angels are intensely interested in those who are fighting the good fight of faith. Our Saviour is watching earnestly the warfare between good and evil agencies. Satan is working constantly to bring in interests that will so absorb men’s minds that they will lose eternity out of their reckoning. Those in high places are so deeply taken up with that which concerns common, worldly enterprises that they have no sense of their spiritual needs. For this reason the Lord has directed the establishment of institutions upon a plan entirely different from that followed by the world.

It is God’s will that sanitariums shall be erected. These institutions are to be conducted on gospel principles. The gospel is to give character to every sanitarium that shall be established among Seventh-day Adventists….

Every sanitarium established among Seventh-day Adventists should be made a Bethel. Those who are connected with this branch of the work should be consecrated to God....

The light upon health reform must be given to the world. Educate, educate, educate, in the sanitarium and out of it. Lead all with whom you come in contact to think of Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.—Manuscript 165, 1899, pp. 10, 11. [22]

To Reform Habits Appetites and Passions.—The Lord desires through His people to answer Satan’s charges by showing the result of obedience to right principles. He desires our health institutions to stand as witnesses for the truth. They are to give character to the work which must be carried forward in these last days in restoring man through a reformation of the habits, appetites, and passions. Seventh-day Adventists are to be represented to the world by the advance principles of health reform which God has given us.

Still greater truths are unfolding for this people as we draw near the close of time, and God designs that we shall everywhere establish institutions where those who are in darkness in regard to the needs of the human organism may be educated, that they in their turn may lead others into the light of health reform.—Medical Ministry, 187. (1899.)

How We Began.—The treatment we gave when the sanitarium was first established required earnest labor to combat disease. We did not use drug concoctions; we followed hygienic methods. This work was blessed by God. It was a work in which the human instrumentality could cooperate with God in saving life. There should be nothing put into the human system that would leave its baleful influence behind. And to carry out the light on this subject, to practice hygienic treatment, and to educate on altogether different lines of treating the sick, was the reason given me why we should have sanitariums established in various localities. I have been pained when many students have been encouraged to go to Ann Arbor, to receive an education in the use of drugs. The light which I have received has placed an altogether different complexion on the use made of drugs than is given at Ann Arbor or at the Sanitarium. We must become enlightened on these subjects.—Letter 82, 1897. (to Dr. Kellogg)

To Reform Medical Practices.—As to drugs being used in our institutions, it is contrary to the light which the Lord has been pleased to give. The drugging business has done more harm to our world and killed more than it has helped or cured. The light was first given to me why institutions should be established, that is, sanitariums were to reform the medical practices of physicians.—Medical Ministry, 27. (1898)

Our Sanitariums and Preventive Medicine.—God desires suffering human beings to be taught how to avoid sickness by the practice of correct habits of eating, drinking, and dressing. Many are suffering under the oppresive power of sinful practices, who might be restored to health by an intelligent observance of the laws of life and health, by cooperating with Him who died that they might have eternal life. This is the knowledge that men and women need. They need to be taught how to study the divine laws given by Christ for the good of all mankind. This is the work that is to be done in our sanitarium.—Counsels on Health, 221.

An Educating and Evangelistic Power.—In the preparation of a people for the Lord’s second coming a great work is to be accomplished through the promulgation of health principles. The people are to be instructed in regard to the needs of the physical organism and the value of healthful living as taught in the Scriptures, that the bodies which God has created may be presented to Him a living sacrifice, fitted to render Him acceptable service. There is a great work to be done for suffering humanity in relieving their sufferings by the use of the natural agencies that God has provided and in [23] teaching them how to prevent sickness by the regulation of the appetites and passions. The people should be taught that transgression of the laws of nature is transgression of the laws of God. They should be taught the truth in physical as well as in spiritual lines that “the fear of the Lord tendeth to life.” Proverbs 19:23. “If thou wilt enter into life,” Christ says, “keep the commandments.” Matthew 19:17. Live out “My law as the apple of thine eye.” Proverbs 7:2. God’s commandments, obeyed, are “life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.” Proverbs 4:22.

Our sanitariums are an educating power to teach the people in these lines. Those who are taught can in turn impart to others a knowledge of health-restoring and health-preserving principles. Thus our sanitariums are to be an instrumentality for reaching the people, an agency for showing them the evil of disregarding the laws of life and health, and for teaching them how to preserve the body in the best condition. Sanitariums are to be established in different countries that are entered by our missionaries and are to be centers from which a work of healing, restoring, and educating shall be carried on.—Testimonies for the Church 6:221., 225. (1900.)

Sowing Seeds of Truth.—We are to labor both for the health of the body and for the saving of the soul. Our mission is the same as that of our Master, of whom it is written that He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by Satan. Acts 10:38….

Our sanitariums in all their departments should be memorials for God, His instrumentalities for sowing the seeds of truth in human hearts. This they will be if rightly conducted.

The living truth of God is to be made known in our medical institutions. Many persons who come to them are hungering and thirsting for truth, and when it is rightly presented they will receive it with gladness. Our sanitariums have been the means of elevating the truth for this time and bringing it before thousands. The religious influence that pervades these institutions inspires the guests with confidence. The assurance that the Lord presides there, and the many prayers offered for the sick, make an impression upon their hearts. Many who have never before thought of the value of the soul are convicted by the Spirit of God, and not a few are led to change their whole course of life. Impressions that will never be effaced are made upon many who have been self-satisfied, who have thought their own standard of character to be sufficient, and who have felt no need of the righteousness of Christ. When the future test comes, when enlightenment comes to them, not a few of these will take their stand with God’s remnant people.

God is honored by institutions conducted in this way. In His mercy He has made the sanitariums such a power in the relief of physical suffering that thousands have been drawn to them to be cured of their maladies. And with many, physical healing is accompanied by the healing of the soul. From the Saviour they receive the forgiveness of their sins. They receive the grace of Christ and identify themselves with Him, with His interests, His honor. Many go away from our sanitariums with new hearts. The change is decided. These, returning to their homes, are as lights in the world. The Lord makes them His witnesses. Their testimony is: “I have seen His greatness, I have tasted His goodness. ‘Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.’” Psalm 66:16. [24]

Thus through the prospering hand of our God upon them our sanitariums have been the means of accomplishing great good. And they are to rise still higher. God will work with the people who will honor Him.—Testimonies for the Church 6:225-227. (1900.)

Patients Never Forget Prayers and Songs.—In His mercy God has made the sanitarium such a power in the relief of physical suffering that thousands are drawn to it to be cured of their maladies, and very often they are not only cured physically, but from the Saviour they receive the forgiveness of their sins, and they identify themselves completely with Christ, with His interests, His honor. Their sins are taken away, and are placed at Christ’s account. His righteousness is imputed to them. The healing balm is applied to the soul. They receive the grace of Christ, and go forth to impart to others the light of truth. The Lord makes them His witnesses. Their testimony is, He was made “to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” They never forget the prayers, the songs of praise and thanksgiving, that they heard while at the sanitarium.—Medical Ministry, 27. (1899)

Best Way to Reach Higher Classes.—Twenty-five years ago the Lord revealed to me that the best way in which to reach the higher classes is through our sanitariums. These institutions are to be located away from the cities, and are to be surrounded with land enough to enable fruit and produce to be grown.

In the sanitarium which we are about to erect in New South Wales, provision must be made for all classes. The accomodation and treatment must be such that patients of the higher class will be attracted to the institution. Rooms must be fitted up for the use of those who are willing to pay a liberal price. Rational methods of treatment must be followed. The patients must not be given alcohol, tea, coffee, or drugs; for these always leave traces of evil behind them.

By their stay at the sanitarium, the patients are to become acquainted with Seventh-day Adventists and the reasons of their faith. Physicians and nurses are to manifest a deep interest in the physical sufferings of those to whom they minister. As efforts are made to remove suffering and disease, the hearts of the patients will be softened. Every physician should be a Christian. In Christ’s stead he is to stay by the suffering one, ministering to the needs of the sin-sick soul as well as to the needs of the diseased body. To us as a people God has given advanced light, and we are to seek to gain access to souls, that we may give them this truth. As the physicians and nurses in our sanitariums hold out to the patients the hope of restoration to physical health, they are also to present the blessed hope of the gospel, the wonderful comfort to be found in the Mighty Healer, who can cure the leprosy of the soul. Thus hearts will be reached, and He who gives health to the body will speak peace to the soul. The Life-giver will fill the heart with a joy that will work miraculously.—Letter 50, 1900.

Mrs. Henry an Example.—The sanitarium will be a memorial for God, if it is conducted in all lines as it should be. Many who come to the sanitarium will receive their impression of the truth, as did Sister Henry. She was one of God’s precious ones, and through your skill which has been given you of God, His truth was magnified. This is as it should be. All the influence you can give to the sanitarium is none too much.

The medical missionary work might better be named the Missionary Health Restoration Work.—Letter 77, 1900.

Not to Conceal Our Peculiar Characteristics.—When brought in contact with the higher classes of society, let not the physician feel that he must conceal the peculiar characteristics which sanctification through the truth gives him. The physicians who unite with the work of God are to cooperate [25] with God as His appointed instrumentalities; they are to give all their powers and efficiency to magnifying the work of God’s commandment-keeping people. Those who in their human wisdom try to conceal the peculiar characteristics that distinguish God’s people from the world will lose their spiritual life and will no longer be upheld by His power.—Testimonies for the Church 6:250. (1900)

S.D.A. Principles to Be Magnified and Exalted.—God looks not upon outward display, but upon the heart. Well-advised movements must be made. Nothing must be invested extravagantly. It is not because we desire to exalt ourselves that we are seeking to build up a sanitarium, but because we desire to honor God and properly represent the truth, which has been misrepresented. In this institution our peculiar religious principles are to be magnified and exalted. Never are they to be hidden.—Medical Ministry, 168. (1900)

To Represent Jehovah No Compromise with Idolaters.—Every institution established by Seventh-day Adventists is to be to the world what Joseph was in Egypt and what Daniel and his fellows were in Babylon. As in the providence of God these chosen ones were taken captive, it was to carry to heathen nations the blessings that come to humanity through a knowledge of God. They were to be representatives of Jehovah. They were never to compromise with idolaters; their religious faith and their name as worshipers of the living God they were to bear as a special honor.

And this they did. In prosperity and adversity they honored God, and God honored them.—Testimonies for the Church 6:219. (1900)

Stretch Every Faculty to Bring Saving Truths to Suffering.—A work of reformation is to be carried on in our institutions. Physicians, workers, nurses, are to realize that they are on probation, on trial for their present life, and for that life which measures with the life of God. We are to put every faculty to the stretch in order to bring saving truths to the attention of suffering human beings. This must be done in connection with the work of healing the sick. Then the cause of truth will stand before the world in the strength which God designs it to have. Through the influence of sanctified workers the truth will be magnified. It will go forth “as a lamp that burneth.”

—Testimonies for the Church 6:253. (1900)

When the Banner of Truth is No Longer Honored.—God has given direction that sanitariums ought to be established in different places. These institutions are to be His agencies for reaching a class of people that nothing else will reach. In these instrumentalities the light of truth is to burn brightly...

The sanitarium is to be the Lord’s memorial, a witness to the efficacy of the truth. Those who come to the institution are to see that in it the fear of the Lord is known to be the beginning of wisdom. When the banner of truth is no longer the honored, respected banner of the institution, the Lord will withdraw from the institution His keeping power.—Letter 413, 1900.

If Not Soul Saving Why Erect Sanitariums?—The work to be done by our sanitariums is to labor for the salvation of the men and women who come for treatment….

To bring men and women to a belief of the truth is the work which is to be done by all our institutions. If this cannot be done in our sanitariums, why should we be at the expense of erecting them?—Letter 11, 1900. [26]

To Stand In Advance of All Other Institutions.—The Lord revealed that the prosperity of the Sanitarium was not to be dependent alone upon the knowledge and skill of its physicians, but upon the favor of God. It was to be known as an institution where God was acknowledged as the Monarch of the universe, an institution that was under His special supervision. Its managers were to make God first and last and best in everything. And in this was to be its strength. If conducted in a manner that God could approve, it would be highly successful, and would stand in advance of all other institutions of the kind in the world. Great light, great knowledge, and superior privileges were given. And in accordance with the light received would be the responsibility of those to whom the carrying forward of the institution was entrusted. Testimonies for the Church 6:223. (1900) [27]

Objectives Restated 1900-1914²

To Relieve Sick, Awaken Inquiry, Disseminate Light, Advance Reform.—I have been instructed that our medical institutions are to stand as witnesses for God. They are established to relieve the sick and the afflicted, to awaken a spirit of inquiry, to disseminate light, and to advance reform. These institutions, rightly conducted, will be the means of bringing a knowledge of the reforms essential to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord, before many that otherwise it would be impossible for us to reach.—Testimonies for the Church 7:104. (1902.)

Medical and Surgical Work.—Sanitariums are needed, in which successful medical and surgical work can be done. These institutions, conducted in accordance with the will of God, would remove prejudice, and call our work into favorable notice. The highest aim of the workers in these institutions is to be the spiritual health to the patients. Successful evangelistic work can be done in connection with medical missionary work. It is as these lines of work are united that we may expect to gather the most precious fruit for the Lord.—Medical Ministry, 26, 27. (1903)

Not Primarily as Hospitals.—The purpose of our health institutions is not first and foremost to that of hospitals. The health institutions connected with the closing work of the gospel in the earth stand for the great principles of the gospel in all its fullness. Christ is the One to be revealed in all the institutions connected with the closing work, but none of them can do it so fully as the health institution where the sick and suffering come for relief and deliverance from both physical and spiritual ailment. Many of these need, like the paralytic of old, the forgiveness of sin the first thing, and they need to learn how to “go, and sin no more.”

If a sanitarium connected with this closing message fails to lift up Christ and the principles of the gospel as developed in the third angel’s message, it fails in its most important feature, and contradicts the very object of its existence.—Medical Ministry, 27, 28. (1914.)

To Employ Psychosomatic Medicine.—In the treatment of the sick, the effect of mental influence should not be overlooked. Rightly used, this influence affords one of the most effective agencies for combating disease.—The Ministry of Healing, 241. (1905.)

Let every physician and every nurse learn how to work for the alleviation of mental as well as physical suffering. At this time, when sin is so prevalent and so violently revealed, how important it is that our sanitariums be conducted in such a way that they will accomplish the greatest amount of good. How important that all the workers in these institutions know how to speak words in season to those who are weary and sin sick. Medical Ministry, 192. (1905.)

I tried to make it plain that sanitarium physicians and helpers were to cooperate with God in combating disease not only through the use of the

²Note: The items comprising this chapter may seem repititious. In presenting the complete Spirit of prophecy picture, this repetition is significant.—A. L. White

[28]

natural remedial agencies He has placed within our reach, but also by encouraging their patients to lay hold on divine strength through obedience to the commandments of God. Medical Ministry, 55. (1906.)

We Have the Needed Science to Soothe the Sick.—There is then no necessity to search for some mysterious science to soothe the sick. We already have the science which gives them real rest—the science of salvation, the science of restoration, the science of a living faith in a living Saviour.—Medical Ministry, 116. (1901.)

To Instruct SDA’s and Reach the World.—In the light given me so long ago, I was shown that intemperance would prevail in the world to an alarming extent, and that everyone of the people of God must take an elevated stand in regard to reformation in habits and practices....Then, in after years, the light was given that we should have a sanitarium, a health institution, which was to be established right among us. This was the means God was to use in bringing His people to a right understanding in regard to health reform. It was also to be the means by which we were to gain access to those not of our faith. We were to have an institution where the sick could be relieved of suffering, and that without drug medication. God declared that He Himself would go before His people in this work.—General Conference Bulletin, Vol. IV, Extra No, 9, p. 203. (1901.)

To Teach Better Way of Living.—There are many in our world who are slaves to intemperate habits, which are destroying soul and body. It is God’s purpose that in our sanitariums such ones shall learn a better way of living. Under the influence of Bible truth many will be won to Christ.

The third angel’s message is to be carried to all parts of the world. Our sanitariums are one of the means by which truth is to be brought to those who know it not. We must reach the people where they are. In the highways and the byways the call to the supper is to be given. All must hear the invitation to the banquet prepared for them at infinite cost. As unbelievers are brought under the influence of truth, angels of God will impress their hearts.—Letter 305, 1904.

To Treat Without Drugs.—Institutions for the care of the sick are to be established, where men and women suffering from disease may be placed under the care of God-fearing physicians and nurses, and be treated without drugs….

It is the Lord’s purpose that His method of healing without drugs shall be brought into prominence in every large city through our medical institutions.—Testimonies for the Church 9:168, 169. (1909.)

To Teach Healthful Living.—Our sanitariums are one of the most successful means of reaching all classes of people. Christ is no longer in this world in person, to go through our cities and towns and villages healing the sick. He has commissioned us to carry forward the medical missionary work that He began; and in this work we are to do our very best. Institutions for the care of the sick are to be established, where men and women may be placed under the care of God-fearing medical missionaries, and be treated without drugs. To these institutions will come those who have brought disease on themselves by improper habits of eating and drinking. These are to be taught the principles of healthful living. They are to be taught the value of self-denial and self-restraint. They are to [29] be provided with a simple, wholesome, palatable diet, and are to be cared for by wise physicians and nurses.—The Review and Herald, March 23, 1905.

To Teach How to Dress, Breathe, and Eat.—The light given me was that a sanitarium should be established, and that in it drug medication should be discarded, and simple, rational methods of treatment employed for the healing of disease. In this institution people were to be taught how to dress, breathe, and eat properly—how to prevent sickness by proper habits of living.—Letter 79, 1905.

To Prescribe Exercise in Open Air.—I have been instructed that as the sick are encouraged to leave their rooms and spend time in the open air, cultivating flowers, or doing same other light, pleasant work, their minds will be called from self to something more health-giving. Exercise in the open air should be prescribed as a beneficial, life-giving necessity. The longer patients can be kept out of doors the less care will they require. The more cheerful their surroundings, the more hopeful will they be. Surround them with the beautiful things of nature; place them where they can see the flowers growing and hear the birds singing, and their hearts will break into song in harmony with the song of the birds. Shut them in rooms, and, be these rooms ever so elegantly furnished, they will grow fretful and gloomy. Give them the blessing of outdoor life; thus their souls will be uplifted. Relief will come to body and mind.—Testimonies for the Church 7:82, 83. (1902.)

To Counteract Causes That Produce Disease.—We have received great light on health reform. Why, then, are we not more decidedly in earnest in striving to counteract the causes that produce disease? Seeing the continual conflict with pain, laboring constantly to alleviate suffering, how can our physicians hold their peace? Can they refrain from lifting the voice in warning?—Testimonies for the Church 7:74, 75. (1902.)

To Educate the Public.—The blessings that attend a disues of tobacco and intoxicating liquor, are to be plainly pointed out. Let the patients be shown the necessity of practicing the principles of health reform, if they would regain their health. Let the sick be shown how to get well by being temperate in eating and by taking regular exercise in the open air.

It is that people may become intelligent in regard to these things that sanitariums are to be established. A great work is to be done. Those who are now ignorant are to become wise. By the work of our sanitariums, suffering is to be relieved and health restored. People are to be taught how, by carefulness in eating and drinking, they may keep well. Christ died to save men from ruin. Our sanitariums are to be His helping hand, teaching men and women how to live in such a way as to honor and glorify God. If this work is not done by our sanitariums, a great mistake is made by those conducting them.

Abstinence from flesh meat will benefit those who abstain. The diet question is a subject of living interest. Those who do not conduct sanitariums in the right way lose their opportunity to help the very ones who need to make a reform in their manner of living. Our sanitariums are established for a special purpose, to teach people that we do not live to eat, but that we eat to live. [30]

In our sanitariums, the truth is to be cherished, not banished or hidden from sight. The light is to shine forth in clear, distinct rays. These institutions are the Lord’s facilities for the revival of pure, elevated morality. We do not establish them as a speculative business, but to help men and women to follow right habits of living.—Letter 233, 1905.

To Encourage Healthful Living.—The great reason why we have sanitariums is that these institutions may be agencies in bringing men and women to a position where they may be numbered among those who shall some day eat of the leaves of the tree of life, which are for the healing of the nations.

“And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him.”

Our sanitariums are established as institutions where patients and helpers may serve God. We desire to encourage as many as possible to act their part individually in living healthfully. We desire to encourage the sick to discard the use of drugs, and to substitute the simple remedies provided by God, as they are found in water, in pure air, in exercise, and in general hygiene.—Manuscript 115, 1907.

Use Simple Remedies, Speak of Christ’s Power to Heal.—In no other line of the work is the truth to shine more brightly than in the medical missionary work. Every true medical missionary has a remedy for the sin-sick soul as well as for the diseased body. By faith in Christ, he is to act as an evangelist, a messenger of mercy. As he uses the simple remedies which God has provided for the cure of physical suffering, he is to speak of Christ’s power to heal the maladies of the soul.—Medical Ministry, 39. (1901.)

To Open Doors for Entrance of Truth.—Medical work is to be sacredly cherished and carefully conducted. It is as the right hand of the body, and is to open doors for the entrance of truth.—The Review and Herald, July 1, 1902.

Medical missionary work is the right hand of the gospel. It is necessary to the advancement of the cause of God. As through it men and women are led to see the importance of right habits of living, the saving power of the truth will be made known. Every city is to be entered by workers trained to do medical missionary work. As the right hand of the third angel’s message, God’s methods of treating disease will open doors for the entrance of present truth. Health literature must be circulated in many lands. Our physicians in Europe and other countries should awake to the necessity of having health works prepared by men who are on the ground and who can meet the people where they are with the most essential instruction.—Testimonies for the Church 7:59. (1902.)

To Reach All Classes.—God designs that our sanitariums shall be a means of reaching high and low, rich and poor. They are to be so conducted that by their work attention will be called to the message that God has sent to the world.—The Review and Herald, August 11, 1903.

Sanitarium work is one of the most successful means of reaching all classes of people. Our sanitariums are the right hand of the gospel, opening ways whereby suffering humanity maybe reached with the glad [31] tidings of healing through Christ. In these institutions the sick may be taught to commit their cases to the Great Physician, who will cooperate with their earnest efforts to regain health, bringing to them healing of soul as well as healing of body.—Testimonies for the Church 9:167, 168. (1909.)

Ordained of God to Reach the Higher Classes.—Cautions were given Dr. Kellogg, showing him that his work was to reach the higher classes by maintaining the very highest standard in the sanitarium. This is the only way in which the higher classes can be reached; and I felt that our people ought to feel highly honored because God had placed among us an instrumentality that could reach the higher classes....

This is the work which is to interest the world, which is to break down prejudice, and force itself upon the attention of the world.—General Conference Bulletin, Vol. IV, Extra No. 9, p. 203. (1901.)

To Reveal Power of the Truth to Transform Character.—To our sanitariums has been given the work of reaching the higher classes. This work is to be done, not by consorting with them, and providing entertainments for them, but by revealing the power of the truth to transform the character. Every human being who is sanctified through a belief of the truth becomes God’s light bearer to the world, His helping hand for the recovering of souls from transgression. He is God’s medical missionary.—Manuscript 83, 1901.

To Bring Message of Salvation to Class Reached in No Other Way.—We are to learn from the science of soul-saving. He is the mighty Healer. In our work of preaching the gospel, we are to establish small sanitariums in many places. Sanitarium work is one very successful means of bringing the message of salvation through Christ to the attention of a large class of people who can be reached in no other way. Those from the higher walks of life will come to our sanitariums for treatment, and when they go away, they will tell others of the benefits they have received. Thus others will be induced to go. It is God’s design that our sanitariums shall act an important part in giving the message of Christ’s soon coming to those in the highways and byways.—Manuscript 30, 1905.

To Break Down Prejudice Against Truth.—Our sanitariums are established to break down the prejudice which exists in the world against the truth for this time.—Letter 69, 1901.

Over and over again instruction was given that our health institutions were to reach all classes of people. The gospel of Jesus Christ includes the work of helping the sick. When I heard that Dr. Kellogg had taken up the medical missionary work, I encouraged him with heart and soul, because I knew that only by this work can the prejudice which exists in the world against our faith be broken down....

Medical missionary work is the pioneer work. It is to be connected with the gospel ministry. It is the gospel in practice, the gospel practically carried out....

I have seen that all heaven is interested in the work of relieving suffering humanity.—General Conference Bulletin, Vol. IV, Extra No. 9, pp. 203, 204. (1901.) [32]

To Remove Prejudice in New Fields.—In new fields, where the work of God has yet to be established, medical missionary work is to be done. This work removes prejudice, and prepares the way for the proclamation of the third angers message. It is the means by which doors are opened for the entrance of the special truths for this time. Medical missionary work and the gospel are one. If united, they make a complete whole.—Letter 92, 1902.

The Justification for All SDA Institutional Activity.—God’s purpose in giving the third angel’s message to the world is to prepare a people to stand true to Him during the investigative judgment. This is the purpose for which we establish and maintain our publishing houses, our schools, our sanitariums, hygienic restaurants, treatment rooms, and food factories. This is our purpose in carrying forward every line of work in the cause.—Manuscript 154, 1902.

God Calls for a Dedication of Sanitariums.—The Lord calls for a solemn dedication to Him of the sanitariums that shall be established. Our object in the establishment of these institutions is that the truth for this time may through them be proclaimed.—Medical Ministry, 207. (1905.)

The Saving of Souls in Our Medical Institutions.—Let every means be devise to bring about the saving of souls in our medical institutions. This is our work. If the spiritual work is left undone, there is no necessity of calling upon our people to build these institutions. Those who have no burning desire to save souls are not the ones who should connect with our sanitariums.—Medical Ministry, 191. (1902.)

Not Alone for the Relief of Suffering.—In all our sanitariums the work done should be of such a character as to win souls to Jesus Christ. We have a wide missionary field in our health institutions, for here people of all countries come to regain their health. The best helpers to have connected with our sanitariums are those men who desire to make the Bible their guide, those who will put forth their mental and moral powers to advance the work in correct ways.

Let the workers in the sanitariums remember that the object of the establishment of these institutions is not alone the relief of suffering and the healing of disease, bat also the salvation of souls. Let the spiritual atmosphere of these institutions be such that men and women who are brought to the sanitariums to receive treatment for their bodily ills, shall learn the lesson that their diseased souls need healing.

To preach the gospel means much more than many realize. It is a broad, far-reaching work. Our sanitariums have been presented to me as most efficient means for the promotion of the gospel message.

The work of the true medical missionary is largely a spiritual work.—Counsels on Health, 540.

To Lead the Sick to Realize Need of Spiritual Help.—In our sanitariums the sick and suffering are to be led to realize that they need spiritual help as well as physical restoration. They are to be given every advantage for the restoration of physical health; and they should be shown also what it means to be blessed with the light and life of [33] Christ, what it means to be bound up with Him. They are to be led to see that the grace of Christ in the soul uplifts the whole being.—Testimonies for the Church 7:68. (1902)

To Point Sufferers to Jesus.—We should ever remember that the efficiency of the medical missionary work is in pointing sin-sick men and women to the Man of Calvary, who taketh away the sin of the world. By beholding Him they will be changed into His likeness. Our object in establishing sanitariums is to encourage the sick and suffering to look to Jesus and live. Let the workers in our medical institutions keep Christ, the Great Physician, constantly before those to whom disease of body and soul has brought discouragement. Point them to the One who can heal both physical and spiritual diseases. Tell them of the One who is touched with the feeling of their infirmities. Encourage them to place themselves in the care of Him who gave His life to make it possible for them to have life eternal. Keep their minds fixed upon the one altogether lovely, the Chiefest among ten thousand. Talk of His love; tell of His power to save.—The Review and Herald, June 9, 1904.

A Point Often Repeated.—Why do we establish sanitariums? That the sick who come to them for treatment may receive relief from physical suffering and may also receive spiritual help.—Testimonies for the Church 7:95. (1902.)

Our sanitariums are to be established for one object, the advancement of present truth. And they are to be so conducted that a decided impression in favor of the truth will be made on the minds of those who come to them for treatment.—Testimonies for the Church 7:97. (1902.)

In our sanitariums no day should be allowed to pass without something being done for the salvation of souls.—Medical Ministry, 190. (1902.)

The sanitariums that shall be established are to be God’s memorials, agencies in the conversion of many souls.—Manuscript 33, 1901.

The conversion of souls is the one great object to be sought for in our medical institutions. It is for this that these institutions are established.—Letter 213, 1902.

Our sanitariums are to be an agency for bringing peace and rest to troubled minds.—Medical Ministry, 109. (1905.)

Our sanitariums are to be schools in which instruction shall be given in medical missionary lines. They are to bring to sin-sick souls the leaves of the tree of life, which will restore to them peace and hope and faith in Christ Jesus.—Testimonies for the Church 9:168. (1909.)

Our sanitariums have been established for the purpose of preparing a people for the second coming of our Lord and Saviour.—Letter 284, 1906.

Never are we to lose sight of the great object for which our sanitariums are established—the advancement of God’s closing work in the earth.—Counsels on Health, 233. (1905.) [34]

Plan the Work to Accomplish Our Objective.—If we are to go to the expense of building sanitariums in order that we may work for the salvation of the sick and afflicted, we must plan our work in such a way that those we desire to help will receive the help they need. We are to do all in our power for the healing of the body; but we are to make the healing of the soul of far greater importance.—Testimonies for the Church 7:96. (1902.)

Wise Soundly Converted Physicians and Workers.—In our sanitariums, of all places in the world, we need soundly converted physicians and wise workers,—men and women who will not urge their peculiar ideas upon the sick, but who will present the truths of the Word of God in a way that will bring comfort and encouragement and blessing to the patients. This is the work for which our sanitariums are established,—to correctly represent the truths of the Word of God, and to lead the minds of men and women to Christ.—Medical Ministry, 208. (1909.)

Saving of Souls the Physician’s First Work.—The Redeemer expects our physicians to make the saving of souls their first work. If they will walk and work with God, in His love and fear, they will receive leaves from the tree of life to give to the suffering. His peace will go with them, making them messengers of peace.—Medical Ministry, 37. (1902.)

Blend Physical and Spiritual Ministry.—The physician should reveal the higher education in his ability to point to the Saviour of the world as One who can heal and save the soul and the body. This gives the afflicted an encouragement that is of the highest value. The ministry to the physical and the spiritual are to blend, leading the afflicted ones to trust in the power of the heavenly Physician. Those who, while giving the proper treatments will also pray for the healing grace of Christ, will inspire faith in the minds of the patients. Their own course will be an inspiration to those who supposed their cases to be hopeless.

This is why our sanitariums were established,—to give courage to the hopeless by uniting the prayer of faith with proper treatment, and instruction in physical and spiritual right living. Through such ministrations, many are to be converted. The physicians in our sanitariums are to give the clear gospel message of soul healing.—Medical Ministry, 248. (1909.)

A Double Qualification.—You greatly need divine wisdom to enable you to serve in two positions of responsibility,—as a skillful physician, and also as a preacher of the gospel, There must be a daily conversion in order to blend successfully the work for body and soul. I cannot tell you in detail just how this should be done, but I know that you can do an important work in the ministry of the Word, in instructing the souls for whom you labor to believe in Jesus Christ.—Medical Ministry, 249. (1909.)

Spiritual Welfare of Patients.—In training workers to care for the sick, let the minds of the students be impressed with the thought that their highest aim should always be to look after the spiritual welfare of their patients. To this end they should learn to repeat the promises of God’s Word, and to offer fervent prayers, daily, while preparing for [35] service. Let them realize that they are always to keep the sweetening, sanctifying influence of the great Medical Missionary before their patients. If those who are suffering can be impressed with the fact that Christ is their sympathizing, compassionate Saviour, they will have rest of mind, which is so essential to recovery of health.—Letter 190, 1903

Agencies Fulfilling God’s Great purposes.—In the world all kinds of provision have been made for the relief of suffering humanity, but the truth in its simplicity is to be brought to these suffering ones through the agency of men and women who are loyal to the commandments of God. Sanitariums are to be established all through our world, and managed by a people who are in harmony with God’s laws, a people who will cooperate with God in advocating the truth that determines the case of every soul for whom Christ died....

All the light of the past, which shines unto the present and reaches forth into the future, as revealed in the Word of God, is for every soul who comes to our health institutions. The Lord designs that the sanitariums established among Seventh-day Adventists shall be symbols of what can be done for the world, types of the saving power of the truths of the gospel. They are to be agencies in the fulfillment of God’s great purposes for the human race.—Medical Ministry, 25, 26. (1909.)

Memorials for God.—The Lord has ordained that sanitariums be established in many places to stand as memorials for Him. This is one of His chosen ways of proclaiming the third angel’s message. By this means the truth will reach many who, but for these agencies, would never be lightened by the brightness of the gospel message. In the presentation of truth some will be attracted by one phase of the gospel message and some by another. We are instructed by the Lord to work in such a way that all classes will be reached. The message must go to the whole world. Our sanitarium work is to help make up the number of God’s people.—Counsels on Health, 248. (1912.)

Unembarrassed Worldly Confederations.—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 God’s claims so plainly set forth in His law. All our medical institutions are established as Seventh-day Adventist institutions to represent the various features of gospel medical missionary work and thus to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. We are to show that we are seeking to work in harmony with heaven. We are to bear witness to all nations, kindreds, and tongues that we are a people who love and fear God, a people who keep holy His memorial of creation, the sign between Him and His obedient children that He sanctifies them. And we are plainly to show our faith in the soon coming of our Lord in the clouds of heaven....

To bind ourselves up by contracts with those not of our faith is not in the order of God. We are to treat with kindness and courtesy those who refuse to be loyal to God, but we are never, never to unite with them in counsel regarding the vital interests of His work.—Testimonies for the Church 7:106-108. (1902.)

Distinctly Seventh-day Adventist.—It has been stated that the Battle Creek Sanitarium is not denomintional. But if ever an institution was established to be denominational, in every sense of the word, [36] 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 undenominational, in that it receives as patients people of all classes and all denominations.—The Story of Our Health Message, 253. (1902.)

Not for Hotels.—We are not building sanitariums for hotels. Receive into our sanitariums only those who desire to conform to right principles, those who will accept the foods that we can conscientiously place before them. Should we allow patients to have intoxicating liquor in their rooms, or should we serve them with meat, we could not give them the help they should receive in coming to our sanitariums. We must let it be known that from principle we exclude such articles from our sanitariums and our hygienic restaurants. Do we not desire to see our fellow beings freed from disease and infirmity, and in the enjoyment of health and strength? Then let us be as true to principle as the needle to the pole.—Testimonies for the Church 7:95. (1902.)

Not for Entertainment of Tourists.—I have a decided message for our people in Southern California. The Lord does not require them to provide facilities for the entertainment of tourists. The establishment of an institution for this purpose would be setting a wrong example before the Lord’s people. The result would not justify the effort put forth.—Testimonies for the Church 7:97. (1902.)

Not for Pleasure Seekers.—We are not to absorb the time and strength of men capable of carrying onward the Lord’s work in the way He has outlined, in an enterprise for the accomodation and entertainment of pleasure seekers, whose greatest desire is to gratify self.—Testimonies for the Church 7:97. (1902.)

Not to Cater to World’s Demand for Pleasure.—It is not necessary that we should cater to world’s demands for pleasure. There are other places in the world where people may find amusement. We need at our sanitariums substantial men and women; we need those who will reveal the simplicity of true godliness. When the sick come to our institutions, they should be made to realize that there is a divine power at work, that angels of God are present.—Counsels on Health, 293. (1909.)

If Rightly Conducted.—Our sanitariums have in the past, and will continue to be, if righty conducted, a means of blessing and uplifting to humanity. If the truth is rightly represented, those who patronize our sanitariums will learn much regarding its principles, and many will be converted. These institutions have been represented to me as beacon lights, showing forth the truth as it is in Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the great Minister of healing, and His presence in our institutions has been a savor of life unto life. Christ came to the world as the Great Physician of mankind. Our sanitariums, wherever they are established, should be made educational forces. The Lord would be pleased to have you with chosen helpers build up your work to do a more special work in religious lines. [37]

Wonderful has been the working out of God’s plan in the establishment of so many health institutions. Intemperance of every kind is taking the world captive, and those who are true educators at this time, those who instruct along the lines of self-denial and self-sacrifice, will have their reward. Now is our time, now is our opportunity, to do a blessed work.—Medical Ministry, 25. (1909.)

The Objectives Reviewed and Restated in 1908.—In letters received from our brethren, the questions are asked, “Why do we expend so much effort in establishing sanitariums? Why do we not pray for the healing of the sick, instead of having sanitariums?”

There is more to these questions than is at first apparent. In the early history of our work, many were healed by prayer. And some, after they were healed, pursued the same course in the indulgence of appetite that they had followed in the past. They did not live and work in such a way as to avoid sickness. They did not show that they appreciated the Lord’s goodness to them. Again and again they were brought to suffering through their own careless, thoughtless course of action. How could the Lord be glorified in bestowing on them the gift of health?

When the light came that we should begin sanitarium work, the reasons were plainly given. There were many who needed to be educated in regard to healthful living. As the work developed, we were instructed that suitable places were to be provided, to which we could bring the sick and suffering who knew nothing of our people and scarcely anything of the Bible, and there teach them how to regain health by rational methods of treatment without having recourse to poisonous drugs, and at the same time surround them with uplifting spiritual influences. As a part of the treatment, lectures were to be given on right habits of eating and drinking and dressing. Instruction was to be given regarding the choice and the preparation of food, showing that food may be prepared so as to be wholesome and nourishing, and at the same time appetizing and palatable.

In all our medical institutions, patients should be systematically and carefully instructed how to prevent disease by a wise course of action. Through lectures, and the consistent practice of the principles of healthful living on the part of consecrated physicians and nurses, the blinded understanding of many will be opened, and truths never before thought of will be fastened on the mind. Many of the patients will be led to keep the body in the most healthy condition possible, because it is the Lord’s purchased possession....

It is to save the souls, as well as to cure the bodies, of men and women, that at much expense our sanitariums are established. God designs that by means of these agencies of His own planting, the rich and the poor, the high and the law, shall find the bread of heaven and the water of life. He designs that they shall be educated in right habits of living, spiritual and physical. The salvation of many souls is at stake. In the providence of God, many of the sick are to be given the opportunity of separating for a time from harmful associations and surroundings, and of placing themselves in institutions where they may receive health-restoring treatments and wise instruction from Christian nurses and physicians. The establishment of sanitariums is a providential arrangement, whereby people from all churches are to be reached and made acquainted with the truth for this time.—Counsels on Health, 469, 470. (1908.) [38]

Purposes and Condition of Prosperity Unchanged.—As our work has extended and institutions have multiplied, God’s purpose in their establishment remains the same. The conditions of prosperity are unchanged.—Testimonies for the Church 6:224. (1900.) [39]

Dangers Of A Disproportionate Work

Note: In presenting the full Spirit of prophecy picture of the objectives of our medical work, the counsels, cautions, and reproofs regarding a disproportionate work must appear. At the turn of the century an unbalance threatened simultaneously in four ways to limit the effectiveness of our medical ministry:

1. Overbuilding, erecting institutions too large to accomplish an effective work.

2. A trend to make the work undenominational—a popular Christian work.

3. A very large work in the slums of great cities to rescue the fallen and outcasts.

4. A centralization of the work in a few great centers.

Into this disproportionate work Dr. Kellogg was channelling men and means to bolster a spectacular but in some way an unproductive endeavor. Hence the following testimonies.—A. L. White.

Never to Eclipse the Third Angel’s Message.—Medical missionary work is in no case to be divorced from the gospel ministry. The Lord has specified that the two shall be as closely connected as the arm is with the body. Without this union neither part of the work is complete. The medical missionary work is the gospel in illustration.

But God did not design that the medical missionary work should eclipse the work of the third angel’s message. The arm is not to become the body. The third angel’s message is the gospel message for these last days, and in no case is it to be overshadowed by other interests and made to appear an unessential consideration. When in our institutions anything is placed above the third angel’s message, the gospel is not there the great leading power.

The cross is the center of all religious institutions. These institutions are to be under the control of the Spirit of God.—Testimonies for the Church 6:240, 241. (1900.)

It would not be right for all the strength of the body to go into the right hand, and neither would it be right for all the strength of the cause of God to be used in medical missionary work. The ministry of the Word must be sustained: and there must be unity, perfect oneness, in God’s work.—Testimonies for the Church 8:166. (1904.)

The Need of Equalizing the Work.—The whole world is the Lord’s vineyard, and He would have every part of it worked. Those who have been placed as stewards of the Lord’s goods should see that everything is managed in such a way as to bring the Lord the greatest revenue. A wise steward will not select a few portions of the vineyard and absorb in them the means which God has intended for the entire field. He will open the eyes of his understanding to see the necessity of equalizing the work, that beauty and harmony and solidity may be seen in every part.

“It is the spirit of selfishness,” said the Teacher who was giving us instruction, “which leads men to absorb everything in that work which [40] is under their own supervision, that their portion of the field may be enriched to the neglect of other portions. This is a species of selfishness which many do not discern. Large accumulations are drawn to one section of the world as though that were the only part which the Householder designs to have worked.”

God designs that not one thread of selfishness shall be woven into His work. Every man’s work is to be done with reference to his fellow laborers; for all have their appointed work. The vineyard must be cultivated, vines must be planted, that crops may be gathered. To every man is not committed the same task, and the work in the different lines must be done in unselfishness. The minds of the workers are first to be moulded by God through His appointed agencies; the Word of the Lord is to be communicated to men, to supply their minds with suggestions and methods for working the field in such a way as to present to God the very best returns from all parts of His vineyard.—Manuscript 109, 1899.

God’s Vineyard the Whole World. (A Message to Dr. Kellogg.)—I have been shown that there was too much reaching out in medical missionary lines, that this work was swelling to such large proportions, that there was danger of making the General Conference bankrupt, as it almost is now....

Unwise management has been manifested by those who have erected school buildings and sanitariums, when the General Conference was already involved many thousands of dollars in debt. Had these men possessed sanctified eyesight, they would have seen that the money used in these enterprises was needed in foreign fields. These matters call for careful consideration. There are fields all white to the harvest, and yet the standard of truth has never been lifted in them, although the need has been kept before the people. The vineyard takes in the whole world, and every part of it is to be worked. God’s workers must view matters sensibly, and with eyes anointed with heavenly ointment see things afar off in destitute fields as well as in America. When they do this, they will be impressed with the work that is needed to be done....

The medical missionary work is just as much a necessity in this part of the world as it is in America. If we had one quarter of the money here [Australia] that you have had to handle in Battle Creek, we could place those who have received an education in medical lines where they could work to good advantage. The General Conference, at the solicitations of Dr. Kellogg and A. R. Henry, established an institution in_____, which cost eighty thousand dollars. Twenty thousand dollars would have erected a sanitarium here, and the brethren in this field would have given to the extent of their ability to furnish the building. This would have placed us several years in advance of where we now stand. God sees all this.

The Lord does not work with partiality. There is a work to be done in Australia which you have neglected in order to multiply your advantage in America. God says to you in America, Bind about your spreading interests. Share your facilities with those who need your help in establishing the work in the needy portions of the vineyard. This is the message God gives me for you who are pushing the work so heavily in one line to the neglect of other fields which stand ready to be worked. There are not funds enough among Seventh-day Adventists to sustain so [41] large a work. The workers in other portions of the world need the means that they may prepare to work still in other parts.

It is God’s design that those fields which have abundant facilities shall share their advantages with more needy fields. This is the principle ever to be observed in all our institutions. God requires that there shall be less planning and devising for buildings in America and in Battle Creek, and that the means shall flow into fields where there is nothing to rely upon, where the work is carried on under great disadvantages for want of facilities. But the spirit of selfishness has been manifested in centralizing so much. Into the fields where there is already an abundance of facilities, the workers have gathered from every possible resource. Again I would say to those who have influence, Do the work that has been neglected.—Letter 149, 1899.

Reproof for an Unbalanced Work.—If the mammoth sanitarium at Battle Creek was divided and subdivided, and its strength put in different parts of the vineyard, where there is nothing to represent the truth, the Lord would be much better pleased. He does not endorse the sentiment and methods that have withheld means from a country so greatly in need of help as Australia is. There are able men, men of experience, on the ground, but they cannot accomplish one half of what they could accomplish if the sanitarium were erected and ready for patients.

A work that takes much money to keep it in operation has been allowed to consume the means that God designed should be used in opening new fields and planting the standard in new territory, in the unworked parts of His vineyard. Dr. Kellogg, you have been pouring so much money into one channel, that the work in new fields has been hindered. The Lord did not tell you to take upon you the burden that you have taken,—a burden that has prevented your doing a work that needed your attention. The determination to do a work that has been neglected,—a work that all the church should have united in doing, led you at first to take this burden. But you have gone too far. You have made this work the whole body, instead of only the arm and hand of the body, and misapplied your forces.

For the last fifty years the Lord has given me instruction as to how His work should be carried forward. Camp meetings and tent meetings are to be held, and meeting houses are to be erected. Special efforts are to be made to reach the higher classes. Not all our means and talent are to be spent in the effort to reach those in the lowest depths of degradation. The enemy would be pleased with this class of work, because the representation would in no case be favorable to the truth. God does not design that His work should be thus carried forward. Money and talent are thus consumed with so little being produced. One twentieth part of the means thus consumed, used where it should have been, would have set men and women at work in God’s appointed way, and the truth would have reached people in the darkness of error who are calling and praying for light, people who are hungering and thirsting for the bread of life and the water of salvation.

Shall these people be left out of our plans? Shall all our means and all our efforts be expended for a class from which very few will be brought into the truth? We cannot depend on converts from this class to represent the people of God as a wise, noble people. Very few of them will become light-bearers to the world. God does not choose them as men of dependence. Some of them will become sons and daughters of God, but the number saved will be small in comparison with the efforts put forth. [42]

Unless care is taken, the work of God will be bound up just as Satan will be pleased to have it bound up. Were all our means spent in labor for the lawless, depraved, corrupted class, where would be the work that should be done to bring into the truth a class of people who would properly represent the truth for this time? How could we show that we are a chosen, God-fearing people, who are loyal to God’s commandments?

The Lord has a work to be done for rich and poor. There are honest souls to be reached who have not so corrupted body, soul, and spirit, that there is no soundness in them.

In Revelation the messages that are to be given to the world are plainly stated. When the Lord’s servants fail, as they will, to gain admission to the churches, they are to reach the people by holding camp meetings and by distributing our literature. The truth for this time is to shine forth in clear, steady rays.

Those who are of the household of faith come first, not the depraved, polluted men, who have destroyed themselves, filling soul and body with iniquity, as did the antedeluvians and as did the inhabitants of Sodom. Yet for these Dr. Kellogg has labored, while those with whom he should have linked up in perfect harmony he has treated as offensive.

My brother, over and over again I have written you this. Why, my dear brother, have you refused to receive or hear the word of the Lord? Why have you pressed on in the face of the warnings that God has given? You have blanketed the third angel’s message, until to many it has lost its significance.—Letter 177, 1900.

Time to Define Medical Missionary Work.—The Lord sees that things are swaying heavily in medical missionary lines, while the work in other branches is calculated to give wrong impressions which will not easily be effaced from the mind....

The so-called medical missionary work gathers into the net both good and bad; and the larger proportion of these will not stand as overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. It is very necessary that we keep before the degraded the law of God, as the standard of righteousness. “Holiness unto the Lord” must be our standard, else the work of rescuing this class will lower their ideas of what God requires in practical character building. There can be no such thing as a cheap class of Christians who like Moab, keep their scent in themselves, because they have not changed from vessel to vessel—from character to character.

The time has come for us to have a decided understanding of what shall be comprehended in medical missionary work, what shall go forth by pen or voice to be discredited, and what to be exalted. As the train of human reasoning is heard, it will be made apparent that the character must be determined by the inward work of grace upon the heart. If the law of God is written in the heart men will prove the excellence of their resolutions. Their conduct will be after the divine similitude....

No advice or sanction is given in the Word of God to those who believe the third angel’s message to lead them to suppose that they can draw apart. This you may settle with yourselves forever. It is the devisings of unsanctified minds that would encourage a state of disunion. The sophistry of men may appear right in their own eyes, but it is not truth and righteousness....The children of God constitute one united whole in Christ, who presents His cross as the center of attraction. All who believe are one in Him. Human feelings will lead men to take the work into their own hands and the building thus becomes disproportionate. The Lord therefore [43] employs a variety of gifts to make the building symmetrical. Not one feature of the truth is to be hidden or made of little account. God cannot be glorified unless the building, “fitly framed together, groweth into an holy temple in the Lord.” A great subject is here comprehended, and those who understand the truth for this time must take heed how they hear and how they build and educate others to practice.—Manuscript 109, 1899.

Diverging from True Medical Missionary Work. (A Message to Dr. Kellogg.)—I must caution you to restrain the influence you may exert in a wrong direction, under the name of the medical missionary work. Be careful lest this work become the body, rather than the arm of the body. Your conclusions must be guarded. Your plans in any one line must not become all-absorbing. Your large plans for rescuing the unfortunate will gather to you responsibilities which you will be unable to carry. You make desperate efforts to push forward a line of work which will make—which is already making, I may say—the medical missionary work the all of the gospel. The men in the ministry are demerited, while medical missionary enterprises are extolled. The Lord has instructed me to tell you that we must consider the work in all its bearings, that it may be proportionate, and not one-sided. Many men are being drawn into the medical missionary work who should be engaged in the ministry....

My brother, you need to call a halt. God has given you a work to do. He has honored you by placing you in the position which you now hold, and uniting with you men who will cooperate with you in the interests of that line of work for which the sanitarium was brought into existence. This institution has a work to perform as the Lord’s appointed agency, and God is working with and through you. When you make Him your Guide and Counsellor, He designs that this work of health reform shall be an entering wedge, to prepare the way for the saving truth for this time, the proclamation of the third angel’s message; but it is not to eclipse that message, or hinder its designed success, for then you work against truth. This message is the last warning to be given to a fallen world. The medical missionary work is to occupy its rightful place, as it ever should have done, in every church in our land....

The sanitarium was brought into existence to call men to a knowledge of the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, to educate as Christ Himself was directed, teaching them the laws of the kingdom of God. This is, and always will be, the only true higher education....

True medical missionary work will exalt every agency that God has set in the church to preach the gospel, for this was the work of Him who made man, and lent him talents to use, an intellect to originate, a heart to be the seat of His throne, affections to flow out in blessing all with whom he shall come in contact, a conscience to convict of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, because he is worked by the Holy Spirit of God....

My brother, I tell you in the name of the Lord that the medical missionary work is to be the arm, and not the body. The idolatrous world must have the message. I have been shown that many who are now being educated in medical lines should be giving the last warning to the world. God will be the instructor of His workers.—Letter 86, 1899.

Medical Missionary work not to Become All-absorbing.—The church of Christ is very precious in His sight. It is the case which contains His jewels, the fold which encloses His flock. He places His people in church capacity, and makes them responsible for the medical missionary work which [44] should be done. They are to minister to the sick and the needy.

Many have chosen to work in medical missionary lines to the neglect of other work. Appeals have been made for medical missionary workers, and they have considered this a call from God, and have thought that it would be wicked for them to refuse to go. But God does not design that this work shall become all-absorbing. There is a great work to be accomplished in our camp meetings, where all, rich and poor, educated and ignorant, are to hear the message of warning.³ Every child of God should have sanctified judgment to consider the work as a whole and the relation of each part to the other....

We are not to build the tower without first considering what it will cost, and what effect the expenditure will have on other portions of the field. This large planning is closing the way for the erection of necessary buildings in other places....It is not as though we as a people had hoarded up wealth; for we have been constantly drawn upon, and must continue to impart. The immense buildings which have been reared by the people in Battle Creek and other places bear witness against them; for while they have every facility, other portions of the Lord’s vineyard lie barren and desolate. Some places must be centers, in which workers can be prepared for the different fields. We must have centers for the education of the youth. This will require more facilities than may be needed in other places. But in every undertaking let us count the cost.

I have been called to behold things nigh and afar off, and at the sight my head is dizzy and my heart sick. God has not ordered things as they now stand. Are we not too fond of doing, when God would have us stand as minute men, watching and praying, prepared to do what He commanded through consecrated agencies? Men who want to do something for God say, “We will do this or that”: and so a line is marked out for all to follow. Thus selfishness is growing all the time. Man is grasping all the advantages possible, bringing in all the material he can obtain for the work he wants to do, while he deprives his fellow workers of that which they need. Let not the men in responsible positions grow selfish and ambitious to accumulate buildings in one locality. The command is given, “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” If men would work in Christ’s lines, they must yoke up with Him in meekness and lowliness of heart, pleading earnestly, “Lord, teach me Thy way. What is Thy purpose and will?” and asking at every step, “Am I trying to live for God or for myself?”

Work we must, and work cheerfully. We often neglect to work at the very time when our help is most needed and when a prompt attendance to duty would bring glory to God. Men interpose self between God and the work He could have done. My brethren, cut away from your large plans for any one place, and give a portion of your facilities to the more destitute fields. Consider that the lord is impartial in all His work. If you will place your mind where God can come in and control, if you will prepare Him a place and give Him an opportunity to work, currents of life and truth will flow to all the barren places of the earth.

Men bring upon themselves great and unceasing responsibility, and tax both brain and body, in seeking to carry the many plans they have devised. This is one of the greatest disadvantages we have to meet, and one the

³Note: At this time SDA camp meetings were largely evangelistic, drawing a large non-Adventist attendance.—A. L. White

[45]

solving of which will wear out the human energies. Activity is needed in God’s cause, but let not this talent be misdirected. When men learn to be servants of Jesus Christ, they will understand that in every church workers are to be set to work to take the oversight of things. Pastors and teachers are to work intelligently in their lines, instructing church members how to work in medical missionary lines. When the professed followers of Christ have an indwelling Saviour they will be found doing as Christ did. They will have no opportunity to rust through inaction. They will have enough to do. And the work which they do under the auspices of the church will be their greatest means of communicating light. The man who is working according to God’s plan will pray, “Let it be known this day in my work for suffering humanity that there is a God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant. Let it be seen that I am working not according to my own impulse and wisdom, but according to Thy Word.” When man places himself in this attitude, and realizes that he is working out God’s plan, and that God is working out His plan through him, he is in possession of divine power, which knows nothing of defeat. All the power of counter-agencies is of no more account than the chaff of the threshing floor.

We must recognize God’s absolute ownership of us. Our mind, our talents, our skill and money, are to be put to the best use to advance His work, that His character may be revealed in clear lines in every part of the world. God has given to every man his work, and He does not excuse those in high positions who get out of their place, and through some neglect get their work into a tangle. Let each man stand at his post of duty, and keep in right relation to God. There is important work to be done, and no man is to neglect his work in order to take hold of the work which belongs to another. God is not honored by such a course. There are some workers who feel superior in wisdom. They feel that they do not need to seek counsel from God. Nor do they consider whether their fellow workers have facilities with which to work. God needs all-sided men, men who will keep the windows of their soul heavenward, and let His light shine into the chambers of the mind. The Lord has a large interest in His servants, and especially in those Who are lowly in heart....

God expects every man to be faithful in his stewardship. Self is not to be glorified. The man who is faithful to his trust will not stop to consider if he is going to be honored by any course of action, but will ask, Will God be honored? His soul will be filled with a holy desire to see God magnified. When something tries his patience, he will pray, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.”

We are very eager to have our work present a good appearance, and if our plans and methods receive approbation, we are satisfied. If they languish, we groan in spirit. We cannot see afar off. The water must run freely in our pools, if other pools have to go dry as the hills of Gilboa. It is not easy for us to remember that the great fountain is from God....

God will show us many ways in which we can work. Sometimes matters will so shape themselves that we cannot doubt they are of God. At others they will run contrary to our ideas and feelings. The Lord surprises us sometimes by revealing our duty in lines altogether different from what we have planned for, and we declare, It is not so. This is untrue. But nevertheless, it is true to the letter; and the message will not come to men again until they can discern the work of God. When they are ready to see and comprehend, the Lord will speak to them again. If we would have divine supplies, if we would keep step with the divine plan, we must move [46] under divine guidance. The Lord wants us to yield to His moulding, to be emptied of self and surrendered to God, that Christ may pervade the soul. The fire can only burn when we purify the altar according to the Word of God.—Manuscript 115, 1899.

The Work God Has Assigned.—Seventh-day Adventists have a special work to do in building sanitariums in our world as necessity demands. These buildings are to be small or large, as is appropriate to the situation and the surrounding circumstances. Our work is to be aggressive, and is to belt the world....

The work of the people of God is to enlighten the world, in accordance with the directions given in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. Here is presented the plan of work which is to be carried on in every place where the truth takes hold of minds and hearts. In connection with the proclamation of the message is to be done the work of relieving families who are in distress. Those who take their position on the Lord’s side are to see in Seventh-day Adventists a warm-hearted, self-denying, self-sacrificing people, who cheerfully and gladly minister to the needy. Especially are those who suffer because they have had moral courage to accept the truth, to be helped. Those who are cast out are to receive attention.

But the work of providing for all the depraved, all the drunkards, and all the prostitutes, has not and never will be given by the Lord to Seventh-day Adventists.—Letter 41, 1900.

A Balanced Relationship as Arm to Body.—The medical missionary work has never been presented to me in any other way than as bearing the same relation to the work as a whole as the arm does to the body. The gospel ministry is an organization for the proclamation of the truth and the carrying forward of the work for sick and well. This is the body, the medical missionary work is the arm, and Christ is the Head over all. Thus the matter has been presented to me.—Medical Ministry, 237. (1900.)

It would not be sensible or right that all the strength of the body should go into a hand. Neither would it be right for all the strength of the working agencies in the cause of the Lord to be used in the medical missionary work. The ministry of the Word must be sustained, and there must be unity in the movements of the whole body, all parts united in carrying out God’s plan for the advancement of His work. All the members of the body are to be the Lord’s working agencies, every part joined harmoniously with every other part.—Letter 50, 1908. [47]

Chapter 4—Objectives of our Educational Institutions

God’s Instrumentality to Make Himself Known to Man.—I wish I could find language to express the importance of our college. All should feel that it is one of God’s instrumentalities to make Himself known to man.—Testimonies for the Church 4:425. (1879.)

Highest Attainments of Science and Moral Culture.—God designs that the college at Battle Creek shall reach a higher standard of intellectual and moral culture than any other institution of the kind in our land. The youth should be taught the importance of cultivating their physical, mental, and moral powers, that they may not only reach the highest attainments in science, but, through a knowledge of God, may be educated to glorify Him; that they may develop symmetrical characters, and thus be fully prepared for usefulness in this world and obtain a moral fitness for the immortal life.—Testimonies for the Church 4:425.

To Counteract Influences of Public Education.—One reason why it was necessary to establish institutions of our own was the fact that parents were not able to counteract the influence of the teaching their children were receiving in the public schools, and the error there taught was leading the youth into false paths. No stronger influence could be brought to bear upon the minds of the youth and children than that of those who were educating them in principles of science. For this reason it was evident that schools must be established in which our children should be instructed in the way of truth. In our schools it was specified that the youth were to be taught in the principles of Bible temperance, and every influence was to be brought to bear upon them that would tend to help them to shun the follies of this degenerate age, which were fast making the world as a second Sodom.—Fundamentals of Christian Education, 285, 286.

Established to Teach Sciences and Instruct in Bible and Practical Subjects.—Generally speaking, the youth have but little moral strength….The religion of the Bible is the only safeguard for the young. Morality and religion should receive special attention in our educational institutions.

...Our school was established, not merely to teach the sciences, but for the purpose of giving instruction in the great principles of God’s word and in the practical duties of everyday life. This is the education so much needed at the present time.—Testimonies for the Church 5:24, 25.

The Reason,—Mental and Physical Culture.—Brain, bone, and muscle will acquire solidity and strength in using them to a purpose, doing good hard thinking, and in devising plans which shall train them (the youth) to develop powers of intellect and strength of the physical organs, which will be putting into practical use their God-given talents with which they may glorify God. This was plainly laid out before….our college as the forcible reason why they should be established among us.—Selected Messages 2:321.

Object to Show Harmony of Science and Religion.—Our school is to take a higher position in an educational point of view than any other institution of learning, by opening before the young nobler views, aims, and objects [48] in life, and educating them to have a correct knowledge of human duty and eternal interests. The great object in the establishment of our College was to give correct views, showing the harmony of science and Bible religion.—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 220.

College Founded to Train in Self-Control, Application, and Self-Reliance.—It is the boast of the present age that never before did men possess so great facilities for the acquirement of knowledge, or manifest so general an interest in education. Yet despite this vaunted progress, there exists an unparalleled spirit of insubordination and recklessness in the raising generation; mental and moral degeneracy are well-nigh universal.

Popular education does not remedy the evil. The lax discipline in many institutions of learning has nearly destroyed their usefulness, and in some cases rendered them a curse rather than a blessing. This fact has been seen and deplored, and earnest efforts have been made to remedy the defects in our educational system.

There is urgent need of schools in which the youth may be trained to habits of self-control, application, and self-reliance, or respect for superiors and reverence for God. With such training, we might hope to see the young prepared to honor their Creator and bless their fellow men.

It was to secure these objects that our own College at Battle Creek was founded. But those who endeavor to accomplish such a work, find that their undertaking is fraught with many and grave difficulties. The evil which underlies all others, and which often counteracts the efforts of the best instructors, is to be found in the home discipline.—Fundamentals of Christian Education, 64.

Object to Educate Beyond Book Knowledge.—Our college is designed of God to meet the advancing wants for this time of peril and demoralization. The study of books only cannot give students the discipline they need. A broader foundation must be laid. The college was not brought into existence to bear the stamp of any one man’s mind. Teachers and principal should work together as brethren. They should consult together, and also counsel with ministers and responsible men, and, above all else, seek wisdom from above, that all their decisions in reference to the school may be such as will be approved of God.

To give students a knowledge of books merely is not the purpose of the institution. Such education can be obtained at any college in the land. I was shown that it is Satan’s purpose to prevent the attainment of the very object for which the college was established. Hindered by his devices, its managers reason after the manner of the world and copy its plans and imitate its customs. But in thus doing, they will not meet the mind of the Spirit of God….The character must receive proper discipline for its fullest and noblest development. The students should receive at college such training as will enable them to maintain a respectable, honest, virtuous standing in society, against the demoralizing influences which are corrupting the youth.—Testimonies for the Church 5:22, 23. [49]

To Separate Youth from Influence of the World.—One of the great objects to be secured in the establishment of the college was the separation of our youth from the spirit and influence of the world, from its customs, its follies, and its idolatry. The college was to build a barrier against the immorality of the present age, which makes the world as corrupt as in the days of Noah.—Testimonies for the Church 5:59, 60.

To Guard Against Corrupting Influences.—In our institutions of learning there was to be exerted an influence that would counteract the influence of the world, and give no encouragement to indulgence in appetite, in selfish gratification of the senses, in pride, ambition, love of dress and display, love of praise and flattery, and strife for high rewards and honor as a recompense for good scholarship. All this was to be discouraged in our schools.

It would be impossible to avoid these things, and yet send them to the public schools where they would daily be brought in contact with that which would contaminate their morals. All through the world there was so great a neglect of proper home training that the children found at the public schools, for the most part, were profligate and steeped in vice.

The work that we as a people were to do in this matter, was to establish a school, and do the work that Jesus Christ, from the pillar of cloud, had directed as the work of His people,—to train and educate our children and youth to regard the commandments of God. The manifested disregard of the world for the law of God was contaminating the morals of those who professed to be keeping the law of God.—Fundamentals of Christian Education, 286.

Established to Gain Training Different from that Given by Common Schools.—Those who attend our colleges are to have a training different from that given by the common schools of the day. Our youth generally, if they have wise, God-fearing parents, have been taught the principles of Christianity. The word of God has been respected in their homes, and its teachings have been made the law of life. They have been brought up in the nurture and admonition of the gospel. When they enter school, this same education and training is to continue. The world’s maxims, the world’s customs and practices, are not the teaching that they need. Let them see that the teachers in the school care for their souls, that they have a decided interest in their spiritual welfare. Religion is the great principle to be inculcated; for the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Wherever a school is established, there should be warm hearts to take a lively interest in the youth….All the pleasantness possible should be brought into the religious exercises….Ardent, active piety in the teacher is essential.—Counsel to Teachers, p. 501, 502.

For This Reason We Established Our Schools.—We are under solemn, sacred covenent to God to bring up our children, not for the world, not to put their hands into the hands of the world, but to love and fear God, and to keep His commandments. We are to instruct them to work intelligently in Christ’s lines, to present a noble, elevated Christian character to those with whom they associate. For this reason our schools have been established, that youth and children may be so educated as to exert an influence for God in the world. [50]

Then shall our schools become converted to the world, and follow its customs and fashions? “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”

When those who have reached the years of youth and manhood see no difference between our schools and the colleges of the world, and have no preference as to which they attend, though error is taught by precept and example in the schools of the world, then there is need of closely examining the reasons that lead to such a conclusion.

Our institutions of learning may swing into worldly conformity. Step by step they may advance to the world; but they are prisoners of hope, and God will correct and enlighten them, and bring them back to their upright position of distinction from the world.

I am watching with intense interest, hoping to see our schools thoroughly imbued with the spirit of true and undefiled religion. When the students are thus imbued, they will see that there is a great work to be done in the lines in which Christ worked, and the time they have given to amusements will be given up to doing earnest missionary work. They will endeavor to do good to all about them, to lift up souls that are bowed down in discouragement, and to enlighten those who are in the darkness of error. They will put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.—Fundamentals of Christian Education, 289, 290.

Peculiar Character to be Maintained.—Professors and teachers should reflect upon the best means of maintaining the peculiar character of our college; all should highly esteem the privileges which we enjoy in having such a school and should faithfully sustain it and guard it from any breath of reproach.—Testimonies for the Church 4:432.

If Religion Offends Let the Students Go Elsewhere.—If morality and religion are to live in a school, it must be through a knowledge of God’s word. Some may urge that if religious teaching is to be made prominent our schools will become unpopular; that those not of our faith will not patronize the college. Very well, then, let them go to other colleges, where they will find a system of education that suits their taste.—Testimonies for the Church 5:25.

If Worldly Influences Bear Sway Sell the School and Start Another.—This is the education so much needed. at the present time. If a worldly, influence is to bear sway in our school then sell it out to worldlings and let them take the entire control; and those who have invested their means in that institution will establish another school, to be conducted, not upon the plan of popular schools, nor according to the desires of principle and teachers, but upon the plan which God has specified.

In the name of my Master I entreat all who stand in responsible positions in that school to be men of God.—From a Testimony read in College Hall, December, 1881, before Conference delegates and leading workers in Review and Herald office, sanitarium, and college, and published in Testimonies for the Church 5:25, 26. [51]

True Object to Fit Men for Service.—The true object of education is to fit men and women for service by developing and bring into active exercise all their faculties. The work at our colleges and training schools should be strengthened year by year, for in them our youth are to be prepared to go forth to serve the Lord as efficient laborers. The Lord calls upon the youth to enter our schools and quickly fit themselves for active work. Time is short. Workers for Christ are needed everywhere. Urgent inducements should be held out to those who ought now to be engaged in earnest effort for the Master.

Our schools have been established by the Lord; and if they are conducted in harmony with His purpose, the youth sent to them will be quickly prepared to engage in various branches of missionary work. Some will be trained to enter the field as missionary nurses, some as canvassers, some as evangelists, and some as gospel ministers. Some are to be prepared to take charge of the church schools, in which the children shall be taught the first principles of education. This is a very important work, demanding high ability and careful study.—Counsel to Teachers, p. 493.

Object of the College to Train Workers.—The purpose of God in the establishment of our college has been plainly stated. There is an urgent demand for laborers in the gospel field.—Testimonies for the Church 5:27. (1882.)

Brought into Existence to Train Workers for God’s Cause.—At our college young men should be educated in as careful and thorough a manner as possible that they may be prepared to labor for God. This was the object for which the institution was brought into existence. Our brethren abroad should feel an interest not only to sustain but to guard the college, that it may not be turned away from its design and be molded after other institutions of the kind. The religious interest should be constantly guarded. Time is drawing to a close. Eternity is near. The great harvest is to be gathered. What are we doing to prepare for this work?—Testimonies for the Church 5:11, 12. (1882.)

Designed to Train Preachers.—The design of our college has been stated again and again, yet many are so blinded by the god of this world that its real object is not understood. God designed that young men should there be drawn to Him, that they should there obtain a preparation to preach the gospel of Christ, to bring out of the exhaustless treasury of God’s word things both new and old for the instruction and edification of the people. Teachers and professors should have a vivid sense of the perils of this time and the work that must be accomplished to prepare a people to stand in the day of God.—Testimonies for the Church 5:12. (1882.)

Instrumentality for Developing Superior Workers.—Workers are needed all over the world. The truth of God is to be carried to foreign lands, that those in darkness may be enlightened by it. God requires that a zeal be shown in this direction infinitely greater than has hitherto been manifested. As a people, we are almost paralyzed. We are not doing one-twentieth part of the good we might, because selfishness prevails to a large extent among us.

Cultivated intellect is now needed in the cause of God, for novices cannot do the work acceptably. God has devised our college as an instrumentality for developing workers of whom He will not be ashamed. The [52] height man may reach by proper culture has not hitherto been realized. We have among us more than an average of men of ability. If their talents were brought into use, we should have twenty ministers where we now have one.—Testimonies for the Church 4:426. (1880.)

To Educate for Departments of Missionary Labor.—There is hard work to be done in dislodging error and false doctrine from the head, that Bible truth and Bible religion may find a place in the heart. It was as a means ordained of God to educate young men and women for the various departments of missionary labor that colleges were established among us.

It is God’s will that they send forth not merely a few, but many laborers. But Satan, determined to overthrow this purpose, has often secured the very ones whom God would qualify for places of usefulness in His work. There are many who would work if urged into service, and who would save their souls by thus working….We want men who will push the triumphs of the cross; men who will persevere under discouragements and privations; who will have the zeal and resolution and faith that are indispensable in the missionary field.—Testimonies for the Church 5:390, 391. (1885)

A School with Unexcelled Moral Tone.—The college at Battle Creek should stand higher in moral tone than any other college in the land, that the safety of the children entrusted to her keeping may not be endangered. If teachers do their work in the fear of God, working with the Spirit of Christ for the salvation of the souls of the students, God will crown their efforts with success.—Testimonies for the Church 4:427. (1880.)

A Distinct and Superior Work.—The teaching in our schools is not to be the same as in other colleges and seminaries. It is not to be of an inferior order; the knowledge essential to prepare a people to stand in the great day of God is to be made the all-important theme. The students are to be fitted to serve God, not only in this life, but in the future life. The Lord requires that our schools shall fit students for the kingdom to which they are bound. Thus they will be prepared to blend in the holy, happy harmony of the redeemed.—Counsel to Teachers, p. 539, 540.

Distinctive Institutions with Strength in Keeping Religious Element in Ascendency.—The Lord never designed that our college should imitate other institutions of learning. The religious element should be the controlling power….The strength of our college is in keeping the religious element in the ascendency. When teachers or professors shall sacrifice religious principle to please a worldly, amusement-loving class, they should be considered unfaithful to their trust and should be discharged.—Testimonies for the Church 5:14. (1882.)

To Prepare for the Crucial Hour of Decision.—The principles necessary for our youth to cultivate must be kept before them in their daily education, that when the decree shall go forth requiring all to worship the beast and his image, they may make the right decisions, and have strength to declare, without wavering, their confidence in the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, even at the very time when the law of God is made void by the religious world. Those who waver now and are tempted to follow in the wake of apostates who have departed from the faith, “giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils,” will surely be found on the side of those who make void the law of God, unless they repent and plant their feet firmly [53] upon the faith once delivered to the saints….Prophecy and history should form a part of the studies in our schools, and all who accept positions as educators should prize more and more the revealed will of God….What education can we give to the students in our schools that is so necessary as a knowledge of “What saith the Scripture”?—Testimonies for the Church 5:525, 526.

A College Where the Bible Takes its Proper Place (Early Counsel).—When the Lord requires us to be distinct and peculiar, how can we crave popularity or seek to imitate the customs and practices of the world? God has declared His purpose to have one college in the land where the Bible shall have its proper place in the education of the youth….It may seem that the teaching of God’s word has but little effect on the minds and hearts of many students; but, if the teacher’s work has been wrought in God, some lessons of divine truth will linger in the memory of the most careless. The Holy Spirit will water the seed sown, and often it will spring up after many days and bear fruit to the glory of God.

Satan is constantly seeking to divert the attention of the people from the Bible. The words of God to men, which should receive our first attention, are neglected for the utterances of human wisdom. How can He, who is infinite in power and wisdom, bear thus with the presumption and effrontery of men!

In an age like ours, in which iniquity abounds and God’s character and His law are alike regarded with contempt, special care must be taken to teach the youth to study, to reverence and obey the divine will as revealed to man. The fear of the Lord is fading from the minds of our youth because of their neglect of Bible study….Never from cowardice or worldly policy let the word of God be placed in the background.—Testimonies for the Church 5:26, 27.

Conversion of Souls Its Object.—God devised and established this college, Battle Creek College designing that it should be molded by high religious interests and that every year unconverted students who are sent to Battle Creek should return to their homes as soldiers of the cross of Christ.—Testimonies for the Church 4:431, 432. (1880.)

A Great Soul Saving Means.—A sacred influence should go forth from the college to meet the moral darkness existing everywhere. When I was shown by the angel of God that an institution should be established for the education of our youth I saw that it would be one of the greatest means ordained of God for the salvation of souls.—Testimonies for the Church 4:419.

Science to be Viewed from Religious Standpoint.—I was shown that our college was designed of God to accomplish the great and good work of saving souls. It is only when brought under the full control of the Spirit of God that the talents of an individual are rendered useful to the fullest extent.

The precepts and principles of religion are the first steps in the acquisition of knowledge, and lie at the very foundation of true education. Knowledge and science must be vitalized by the Spirit of God in order to serve the noblest purposes. The Christian alone can make the right use of knowledge.

Science, in order to be fully appreciated, must be viewed from a religious standpoint. The heart [54] which is ennobled by the grace of God can best comprehend the real value of education….Knowledge is power only when united with true piety.—Testimonies for the Church 4:427.

When the Objective is Realized.—If the influence in our college is what it should be, the youth who are educated there will be enabled to discern God and glorify Him in all His works; and while engaged in cultivating the faculties which God has given them, they will be preparing to render Him more efficient service. The intellect, sanctified, will unlock the treasures of God’s word and gather its precious gems to present to other minds and lead them also to search for the deep things of God. A knowledge of the riches of His grace will ennoble and elevate the human soul, and through connection with Christ it will become a partaker of the divine nature and obtain power to resist the advances of Satan.—Testimonies for the Church 4:422.

To Excel in the Highest Kind of Education.—God would not have us in any sense behind in educational work. Our colleges should be far in advance in the highest kind of education….If we do not have schools for our youth, they will attend other seminaries and colleges, and will be exposed to infidel sentiments, to caviling and questionings concerning the inspiration of the Bible….

The highest class of education is that which will give such knowledge and discipline as will lead to the best development of character, and will fit the soul for that life which measures with the life of God. Eternity is not to be lost out of our reckoning.

The highest education is that which will teach our children and youth the science of Christianity, which will give them an experimental knowledge of God’s ways, and will impart to them the lessons that Christ gave to His disciples, of the paternal character of God. [Jeremiah 9:23, 24 quoted] Let us seek to follow the counsel of God in all things; for He is infinite in wisdom. Though we have come short of doing what we might have done for our youth and children in the past, let us now repent, and redeem the time.—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 45, 46. [55]

Chapter 5—The Historical Setting of the Counsels Relating to the First Seventh-day Adventist Institutions

Statement prepared by D. A. Delafield,Associate Secretary, The Ellen G. White Estate

A hand press was secured by Elder James White in 1852 and Sabbath-keeping Adventists entered upon the printing of the message with their own equipment. The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association (Review and Herald) was incorporated May 3, 1861, in Battle Creek, Michigan—thus a printing establishment was the first institution founded by this movement.

The first sanitarium, the Western Health Reform Institute, opened its doors at Battle Creek, Michigan, September 5, 1866. H. S. Lay, M.D., was in charge. This health institution became the Battle Creek Sanitarium.

The Battle Creek College opened for school work in 1874, and the newly erected college building was dedicated January 4, 1875, with 13 teachers and an enrollment of 289. Total cost of the building was $53,341.95. Later Emmanuel Missionary College at Berrien Springs, Michigan, emerged, and later still, Andrews University.

These original SDA institutions represent a response on the part of church leaders to counsels from the Spirit of Prophecy. These establishments had their origin in the mind of God, and whatever God begins has a future which serves His stated objectives and goals for His church. There is no reason to believe that any Seventh-day Adventist institution which came into existence in later years was created for any other purpose than that which motivated the original Battle Creek institutions. [56] In this document we wish to examine these goals and objectives.

First of all, let us take a look at a few of the historical developments in connection with our first printing establishment, the Review and Herald; our first sanitarium, commonly known as the Battle Creek Sanitarium; and our first college, the Battle Creek College. It is in this historical context that we see the divinely stated objectives and purposes for our institutions taking shape in the events and experiences of those early times.

1. The First Publishing Institution

The Review and Herald. At a time when the Review and Herald Publishing House had already been in existence for 46 years, and at a time when only a little over one year before a disastrous fire burned the main factory building in Battle Creek (December 1902), Ellen White said to the Review and Herald Board:

“God’s design in the establishment of the publishing house at Battle Creek was that from it light should shine forth as a lamp that burneth. This has been kept before the managers. Again and again they have been told of the sacredness of God’s office of publication and of the importance of maintaining its purity. But they have lost true understanding and have united with the force of the enemy by consenting to print papers and books containing the most dangerous errors that can be brought into existence. They have failed to see the evil influences of such erroneous sentiments on typesetters, proofreaders, and all others engaged in the printing of such matter. They have been spiritually asleep.”—Testimonies for the Church 8:90 (Nov. 1, 1901).

Note her words expressing the original purpose of the Review that “light should shine forth as a lamp that burneth.”

Consider the early November 1848 publishing vision which called the publishing house into existence—in the background of this stated objective.

“At a meeting held in Dorchester, Mass., November, 1848, I had been given a view of the proclamation of the sealing message, and of [57] the duty of the brethren to publish the light that was shining upon our pathway.

“After coming out of vision, I said to my husband: ‘I have a message for you. You must begin to print a little paper and send it out to the people. Let it be small at first; but as the people read, they will send you means with which to print, and it will be a success from the first. From this small beginning it was shown to me to be like streams of light that went clear around the world.’”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 125.

It wasn’t until the next year that Elder White began to print Present Truth in Middletown, Conn. (July 1849), our first periodical. (See Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 126, 127). The papers were reverently placed on the floor in the Belden home at Rocky Creek, Conn., where the pioneers prayed over the precious pages before they were taken to the post office by James White and mailed to interested persons.

“With the beginning of this work of publishing, we did not cease our labors in preaching the truth, but traveled from place to place, proclaiming the doctrines which had brought so great light and joy to us, encouraging the believers, correcting errors, and setting things in order in the church. In order to carry forward the publishing enterprise, and at the same time continue our labors in different parts of the field, the paper was from time to time moved to different places.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 127.

It was the message of light that the little printed papers carried. The publishing idea with the plan for printing the papers and books was intended to supplement the oral presentation of the message by the evangelists of those times. Later Ellen White wrote:

“Several speakers had addressed large and attentive congregations at the camp meeting at Rome, N.Y., on first day, Sept. 12, 1875. The following night I dreamed that a young man of noble appearance came into the room where I was, immediately after I had been speaking. He said:

“‘You have called the attention of the people to important subjects, which, to a large number, are strange and new. To some they are intensely interesting. The laborers in word and doctrine have done what they could in presenting the truth. But unless there is a more thorough effort made to fasten these impressions upon minds, your efforts will prove nearly fruitless. Satan has many attractions ready to divert the mind; and the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches all combine to choke the seed of truth sown in the heart. [58]

“‘In every effort such as you are now making, much more good would result from your labors if you had appropriate reading matter ready for circulation. Tracts upon the important points of truth for the present time should be handed out freely to all who will accept them. You are to sow beside all waters.

“‘The press is a powerful means to move the minds and hearts of the people. The men of this world seize the press, and make the most of every opportunity to get poisonous literature before the people. If men, under the influence of the spirit of the world and of Satan, are earnest to circulate books, tracts, and papers of a corrupting nature, you should be more earnest to get reading matter of an elevating and saving character before the people.

“‘God has placed at the command of His people advantages in the press, which, combined with other agencies, will be successful in extending the knowledge of the truth. Tracts, papers, and books, as the case demands, should be circulated in all the cities and villages in the land. Here is missionary work for all.’”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 216, 217.

The church was to cooperate with the denominational publishing enterprise by distributing the literature widely. This is made clear in a Volume 9 statement:

“In the night of March 2, 1907, many things were revealed to me regarding the value of our publications on present truth and the small effort that is being made by our brethren and sisters in the churches for their wide circulation.

“I have been repeatedly shown that our presses should now be constantly employed in publishing light and truth. This is a time of spiritual darkness in the churches of the world. Ignorance of divine things has hidden God and the truth from view. The forces of evil are gathering in strength. Satan flatters his co-workers that he will do a work that will captivate the world. While partial inactivity has come upon the church, Satan and his hosts are intensely active. The professed Christian churches are not converting the world; for they are themselves corrupted with selfishness and pride, and need to feel the converting power of God in their midst before they can lead others to a purer or higher standard….

“A messenger from heaven stood in our midst, and he spoke words of warning and instruction. He made us clearly understand that the gospel of the kingdom is the message for which the world is perishing and that this message, as contained in our publications already in print and those yet to be issued, should be circulated among the people who are nigh and afar off.”—Testimonies for the Church 9:65, 67.

So wide would be the use made of the missionary products that flowed from our presses that God’s servant wrote: [59]

“Our publishing work was established by the direction of God and under His special supervision.

“In a large degree through our publishing houses is to be accomplished the work of that other angel who comes down from heaven with great power, and who lightens the earth with his glory.

“I am bidden to say to our publishing houses: ‘Lift up the standard; lift it up higher. Proclaim the third angel’s message, that it may be heard by all the world. Let it be seen that “here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”’”—Christian Service, 148.

“Years ago the Lord gave me special directions that buildings should be erected in various places in America, Europe, and other lands, for the publication of literature containing the light of present truth. He gave instruction that every effort should be made to send forth to the world from the press the messages of invitation and warning. Some will be reached by our literature who would not be reached in any other way. From our books and papers bright beams of light are to shine forth to enlighten the world in regard to present truth.

“I have been shown that our publications should be printed in different languages and sent to every civilized country, at any cost. What is the value of money at this time, in comparison with the value of souls? Every dollar of our means should be considered as the Lord’s, not ours; and as a precious trust from God to us; not to be wasted for needless indulgences, but carefully used in the cause of God, in the work of saving men and women from ruin.

“The printed word of truth is to be translated into different languages, and carried to the ends of the earth.

“These publications are to be translated into every language; for to all the world the gospel is to be preached. To every worker Christ promises the divine efficiency that will make his labors a success.”—Christian Service, 148, 149.

But let us go back to another early vision to see how the publishing idea was rooted in divine instruction. Note Mrs. White’s view of the sealing:

This important vision came to her “at the commencement of the holy Sabbath, January 5, 1849.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 116. This important vision was intended to identify Seventh-day Adventists with the prophecy of the sealing angel of Revelation 7:1-3. The four angels holding the winds of strife were representative of God’s angels holding [60] the affairs of earth in the hands of providence till the Sabbath proclamation had been given to all the world.

The footnote at the bottom of page 116 where the account of the vision is given reads as follows:

“Following the return from western New York in September, 1848, Elder and Mrs. White journeyed to Maine, where they held a meeting with the believers, October 20-22. This was the Topsham conference, where the brethren began praying that a way might be opened for publishing the truths connected with the advent message. A month later they were with ‘a small company of brethren and sisters,’ writes Elder Joseph Bates in his pamphlet on ‘The Sealing Message,’ ‘assembled in meeting in Dorchester, near Boston, Mass.’ ‘Before the meeting commenced,’ he continues, ‘some of us were examining some of the points in the sealing message; some difference of opinion existed about the correctness of the view of the word ‘ascending’ [see Revelation 7:2], etc.’

“Elder James White, in an unpublished letter giving his account of this meeting, writes: ‘We all felt like uniting to ask wisdom from God on the points in dispute; also Brother Bates’s duty in writing. We had an exceedingly powerful meeting. Ellen was again taken off in vision. She then began to describe the Sabbath light, which was the sealing truth. Said she: ‘It arose from the rising of the sun. It arose back there in weakness, but light after light has shone upon it until the Sabbath truth is clear, weighty, and mighty. Like the sun when it first rises, its rays are cold, but as it comes up, its rays are warming and powerful; so the light and power has increased more and more until its rays are powerful, sanctifying the soul; but, unlike the sun, it will never set. The Sabbath light will be at its brightest when the saints are immortal; it will rise higher and higher until immortality comes.’

“She saw many interesting things about this glorious sealing Sabbath, which I have not time or space to record. She told Brother Bates to write the things he had seen and heard, and the blessing of God would attend it.

“It was after this vision that Mrs. White informed her husband of his duty to publish, and that as he should advance by faith, success would attend his efforts.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 116, Footnote.

It is clear that the Seventh-day Adventist publishing house which was built for missionary purposes was to be an illistration of what Seventh-day Adventist publishing houses around the world should be till the close of time. Theirs was to be a work of proclaiming the third angel’s message or the sealing message. Mrs. White wrote: [61]

“The publications sent forth from our printing houses are to prepare a people to meet God. Throughout the world they are to do the same work that was done by John the Baptist for the Jewish nation. By startling messages of warning, God’s prophet awakened men from worldly dreaming. Through him God called backsliding Israel to repentance. By his presentation of truth he exposed popular delusions. In contrast with the false theories of his time, truth in his teaching stood forth as an eternal certainty. ‘Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,’ was John’s message. Matthew 3:2. This same message, through the publications from our printing houses, is to be given to the world today.”—Colporteur Ministry, 3, 4.

The foregoing statement was made by Ellen White in the year 1902.

“The third angel’s message is to be given through this medium,” she wrote, “and through the living teacher.”—Colporteur Ministry, 4. Quoted from Testimonies for the Church 9:62 (1909). She also wrote in this context of missionary motivation:

“We are fast approaching the end. The printing and circulation of the books and papers that contain the truth for this time are to be our work.

“Publications must be multiplied, and scattered like the leaves of autumn. These silent messengers are enlightening and molding the minds of thousands in every country and in every clime.”—Colporteur Ministry, 5.

“From city to city, from country to country, they [canvasser-evangelists] are to carry the publications containing the promise of the Saviour’s soon coming. These publications are to be translated into every language, for to all the world the gospel is to be preached. To every worker Christ promises the divine efficiency that will make his labors a success.

“The world is to receive the light of truth through an evangelizing ministry of the word in our books and periodicals.

“From our books and papers bright beams of light are to shine forth to enlighten the world in regard to present truth.”—Colporteur Ministry, 5.

When the Review and Herald and Pacific Press became involved in commercial printing⁴ to the neglect of message-filled literature and

⁴Note: Ellen White recognized that there was a proper place for commercial work in young publishing houses in areas where the denominational printing would come short of keeping essential equipment and skilled workmen fully employed.

[62]

in printing questionable publications that were in content erroneous and evil, the fires that fell upon the institutions to cleanse them were recognized to be divine judgments.

The brethren learned that these institutions were not their own to be operated along worldly lines, but God’s very own establishments in which He was to be recognized as leader.

“God is the great proprietor of the sanitarium, of the Review and Herald office, of the Pacific Press, of our colleges. In all these institutions the managers must receive their directions from above. And wherever the temptations that come through association with the ungodly are strongest, there the greatest care must be exercised to place the workers in close connection with Christ and the influences proceeding from Him. His word must be our guide in all things; and if poverty comes because we abide by a plain, ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ we must abide by it, even at the loss of all things else. Better have poverty in temporal things, and abide in Christ, and be nourished by His word, which is spirit and life. ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ Matthew 4:4. The world may smile as we repeat this to them, but it is the word of the Son of God. He says, ‘Whoso eateth My flesh [the word that Christ speaks to us]….hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.’ John 6:54.”—Counsels on Health, 422, 423.

In November 1901, the year before the Review and Herald fire, Ellen White wrote:

“God’s design in the establishment of the publishing house at Battle Creek was that from it light should shine forth as a lamp that burneth. This has been kept before the managers. Again and again they have been told of the sacredness of God’s office of publication and of the importance of maintaining its purity. But they have lost true understanding and have united with the force of the enemy by consenting to print papers and books containing the most dangerous errors that can be brought into existence. They have failed to see the evil influences of such erroneous sentiments on typesetters, proofreaders, and all others engaged in the printing of such matter. They have been spiritually asleep.

“By some of the outside work brought into this institution the science of Satan has been presented to the minds of the workers. The printing of such matter is a dishonor to God. It has done its part in deteriorating the minds of the workers. The managers have agreed to print it at a low figure. The gain would have been loss if the very highest figure had been asked for the work. [63]

“I have received a letter from Elder Daniells regarding the addition of another building to the Review and Herald office. The answer I make to this is: No, no, no. Instead of making any additions to the buildings already erected, cleanse the office of the trash of satanic origin, and you will gain room in every way….

“You have given matter containing Satan’s sentiments into the hands of the workers, bringing his deceptive, polluting principles before their minds. The Lord looks upon this action on your part as helping Satan to prepare his snare to catch souls. God will not hold guiltless those who have done this thing. He has a controversy with the managers of the publishing house. I have been almost afraid to open the Review, fearing to see that God has cleansed the publishing house by fire.”—Testimonies for the Church 8:90, 91.

The Review and Herald fire which destroyed the main factory building came in December 1902. Wrote Ellen G. White on January 7, 1903:

“We have all been made very sad by the news of the terrible loss that has come to the cause in the burning of the Review and Herald office. In one year two of our largest institutions have been destroyed by fire. The news of this recent calamity has caused us to mourn deeply, but it was permitted by the Lord to come upon us, and we should make no complaint, but learn from it the lesson that the Lord would teach us.

“The destruction of the Review and Herald building should not be passed over as something in which there is no meaning. Everyone connected with the office should ask himself: ‘Wherein do I deserve this lesson? Wherein have I walked contrary to a “Thus saith the Lord,” that He should send this lesson to me? Have I heeded the warnings and reproofs that He has sent, or have I followed my own way?’”—Testimonies for the Church 8:101.

“When the Battle Creek Sanitarium was destroyed, Christ gave Himself to defend the lives of men and women. In this destruction God was appealing to His people to return to Him. And in the destruction of the Review and Herald office, and the saving of life, He makes a second appeal to them. He desires them to see that the miracle-working power of the Infinite has been exercised to save life, that every worker may have opportunity to repent and be converted. God says: ‘If they turn to Me, I will restore to them the joy of My salvation. But if they continue to walk in their own way, I will come still closer; and affliction shall come upon the families who claim to believe the truth, but who do not practice the truth, who do not make the Lord God of Israel their fear and their dread.’

“Let everyone examine himself to see whether he be in the faith. Let the people of God repent and be converted, that their sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Let them ascertain wherein they have failed to walk in [64] the way that God has marked out, wherein they have failed to purify their souls by taking heed to His counsels.”—Testimonies for the Church 8:102, 103.

It is clear that the safety of our institutions and their continuance and permanency lie in the maintenance of a reverent attitude of humble obedience to the counsels of the Lord. It is clear that God is determined that these institutions shall be operated as His own fortress which He holds in this revolted world and He intends that no authority shall be known in them but His own.

(See “Our Publishing Houses,” Testimonies for the Church 4:449-462; “The Tract Societies,” Testimonies for the Church 4:591-609.)

2. Medical: Battle Creek Sanitarium

In a vision which came to Ellen White December 25, 1865 at Rochester, New York, the Lord gave instruction which led to the founding of our first medical institution in Battle Creek.

“I was shown that our Sabbathkeeping people have been negligent in acting upon the light which God has given in regard to the health reform; that there is yet a great work before us; and that, as a people, we have been too backward to follow in God’s opening providence, as He has chosen to lead us….While some feel deeply and act out their faith in the work, others remain indifferent and have scarcely taken the first step in reform.—Testimonies for the Church 1:485, 486. (First published in January, 1867.)”—The Story of Our Health Message, 140.

She then wrote of plans that should be formulated and carried out in the creation of our first health institution:

“‘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….

“‘Sabbathkeepers should open a way for those of like precious faith to be benefited without their being under the necessity of expending their means at institutions where their faith and religious principles are endangered, and where they can find no sympathy or union in religious matters….

“‘Our people should have an institution of their own, under their [65] own control, for the benefit of the diseased and suffering among us, who wish to have health and strength that they may glorify God in their bodies and spirits which are His.’—Testimonies for the Church 1:489-492.”—The Story of Our Health Message, 142.

Note that the institution to be built was to be a place of healing and an educational center “for the afflicted and those who wish to learn how to take care of their bodies that they may prevent sickness.”

To Seventh-day Adventists it was to be an “institution of their own, under their own control.” This is an important point to remember—“under their own control.” It was to be uniquely an Adventist institution, “an institution of their own.”

Those who were ill among Seventh-day Adventists were to be benefited by this institution. It was to be operated for the world, to be sure, but Seventh-day Adventists were also to be included as the beneficiaries of this institution—the Adventist sick were to come here for healing as well as others. At that time Adventists were nearly as ignorant of the laws of health as were their neighbors and friends not of their own faith.

Dores Robinson wrote also of the early days of the institution which was founded September 5, 1866, in Battle Creek:

“Two months after the opening of the institution, Dr. Lay reported its prosperity as ‘far beyond our most sanguine expectations.’ Patients had been received from ‘Canada, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa,’ and it had become necessary to secure rooms nearby for such as were able to walk a short distance, leaving the rooms in the main building for the accommodations of the more feeble ones. (The Health Reformer, November, 1866.)

“At the inception of this enterprise, at the very time when it was so signally blessed of God, and when the people were enthusiastically rising to its support, there came counsels from a divine source, calling for the maintenance of the high standard that had been adopted at that time. Mrs. White wrote with seeming foresight of the perils of the future, saying:

“‘I saw that in an institution established among us, the greatest [66] danger would be of its managers departing from the spirit of the present truth, and from that simplicity which should ever characterize the disciples of Christ.’”—Testimonies for the Church 1:560. (Italics mine.)

“‘God forbid,’ she added, that the patients ‘should ever be disappointed and grieved in finding the managers of the institute working only from a worldly standpoint, instead of adding to the hygienic practice the blessings and virtues of nursing fathers and mothers in Israel.’—Testimonies for the Church 1:561.”—The Story of Our Health Message, 154, 155.

The influence of Battle Creek was not to be limited or restricted or circumscribed. All were to benefit by its healing ministry—Adventists and non-Adventists. The institution was intended to be a denominational enterprise and under denominational ownership and control. That there was a well-defined purpose both for members and for nonmembers of the church is clearly set forth in these words from the Spirit of Prophecy:

“Our people should have an institution of their own, under their own control, for the benefit of the diseased and suffering among us who wish to have health and strength that they may glorify God in their bodies and spirits, which are His. Such an institution, rightfully conducted, would be the means of bringing our views before many whom it would be impossible for us to reach by the common course of advocating the truth. As unbelievers shall resort to an institution devoted to the successful treatment of disease and conducted by Sabbathkeeping physicians, they will be brought directly under the influence of the 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 a healing balm for their sin-sick souls.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:492, 493. (Italics ours.)

It is well known that a health institution at Dansville, New York, which practiced good hygienic principles of treatment was available for the sick among Seventh-day Adventists, but the card playing and dancing, the attendance at theatrical performances, the advocacy of extremes in dress reform, etc., were not beneficial, but rather detrimental to health building. The religious influences were not such as [67] to promote genuine health. In writing regarding these convictions that she had concerning the Dansville institution, good as it was in many ways, Mrs. White said:

“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….Sabbathkeepers should open the way for those of like precious faith to be benefited without their being under the necessity of spending their means at institutions where their faith and religious principles are endangered, and where they can find no sympathy or union in religious matters.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:489, 490.

The Western Health Reform Institute therefore, created by Seventh-day Adventists in 1866, was really a reaction to Dansville! Our institution was to be a church institution in which hygienic principles and good medicine as we might call it today, would be practiced, and also in a larger sense where high religious principles and lofty ideals could be maintained both by the lives of the sanitarium personnel who had to do with the personal treatment of the patients and also freely advocated as a way of life in the institution itself. In other words the sanitarium was to be a healing institution, an educational center, where the light and the knowledge of Christian principles combined with healthful principles could be taught side by side. The institution was to be a Bethel, a “house of God.” (See Testimonies for the Church 6:252.)

These principles have ever been held before sanitarium leaders down through the century. Seventh-day Adventist institutions have been able to preserve a strong religious influence in their own environment. Secularization of these Christian health centers would cloud the scene and obscure the light of heaven.

In honor of the occasion of the celebration of the centennial of the Battle Creek Sanitarium September 5, 1966, the House of Representatives of the State of Michigan passed a resolution, No. 470, a tribute [68] to the Battle Creek institution, its objectives, and its long record of service. Note this key “whereas”: “Whereas, its original focus on treating indissolubly the mind, body and spirit of each patient is the Sanitarium’s keystone, vindicated fully in current medical knowledge and practice, surviving as long as humankind; now therefore be it resolved by the house of representatives, that by these presents there is offered a tribute of esteem and gratitude of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and its administrators and staff,” etc.

The world about us knows that the “keystone” of success in all Seventh-day Adventist medical practice is in our historical three dimensional treating of the whole man—mind, body and spirit—thus making man whole. To be concerned with mind and body cures alone is inadequate.

A clue to the purpose of all Seventh-day Adventist sanitariums and hospitals is found in these words already alluded to:

“Every sanitarium established among Seventh-day Adventists should be made a Bethel. All who are connected with this branch of the work should be consecrated to God.”—Testimonies for the Church 6:252.

The word Bethel means house of God (Genesis 28:10-22; John 1:51). The sanitarium is to be a place where the ladder of Jacob has a firm footing on earth and is connected with heaven. The angels of God ascend with the prayers of patients and sanitarium personnel and the answers come down on this ladder, which is Jesus Christ. The idea of the sanitarium being a house of prayer is illuminating—prayer for the sick who are ill in body, mind and in spirit, with the healing of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit supplementing the best medical practice as the answer. See Appendix A “A Distinctly Seventh-day Adventist Institution.” [69]

In a letter to M. G. Kellogg, first medical director of the Sydney Sanitarium in Australia, Mrs. White wrote:

“Those who have no burning desire to save souls are not the ones to connect with our sanitariums.”—Letter 159, 1902. (Medical Ministry, 191)

“A work of reformation is to be carried on in our institutions. Physicians, workers, nurses, are to realize that they are on probation, on trial for their present life, and for that life which measures with the life of God. We are to put every faculty to the stretch in order to bring saving truths to the attention of suffering human beings. This must be done in connection with the work of healing the sick. Then the cause of truth will stand before the world in the strength which God designs it to have. Through the influence of sanctified workers the truth will be magnified. It will go forth ‘as a lamp that burneth.’”—Testimonies for the Church 6:253.

In the year 1900 the following appeared from the pen of Sister White (note the emphasis upon combining “scientific ability,” “spiritual power,” and “reform”)

“The Lord years ago gave me special light in regard to the establishment of a health institution where the sick could be treated on altogether different lines from those followed in any other institution in our world. It was to be founded and conducted upon Bible principles, as the Lord’s instrumentality, and it was to be in His hands one of the most effective agencies for giving light to the world. It was God’s purpose that it should stand forth with scientific ability, with moral and spiritual power, and as a faithful sentinel of reform in all its bearings. All who should act a part in it were to be reformers, having respect to its principles, and heeding the light of health reform shining upon us as a people.

“God designed that the institution which He should establish should stand forth as a beacon of light, of warning and reproof. He would prove to the world that an institution conducted on religious principles, as an asylum for the sick, could be sustained without sacrificing its peculiar, holy character; that it could be kept free from the objectionable features found in other health institutions. It was to be an instrumentality for bringing about great reforms.”—Testimonies for the Church 6:223. [70]

3. Educational: Battle Creek College

The Battle Creek college came to birth (1875) soon after Ellen White’s earliest appeals to the church to expand the witness of the three angels’ messages to foreign countries:

“Young men should be qualifying themselves by becoming familiar with other languages, that God may use them as mediums to communicate His saving truth to those of other nations….Missionaries are needed to go to other nations to preach the truth….Every opportunity should be improved to extend the truth to other nations.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 204-206 (1871)

While in California in 1874 in a vision an angel guide said to Mrs. White:

“You are entertaining too limited ideas of the work for this time. You are trying to plan the work so that you can embrace it in your arms. You must take broader views. Your light must not be put under a bushel or under a bed, but on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house. Your house is the world.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 208-209. (1874)

Mrs. White and her husband were in Battle Creek, Michigan, for the dedication of the new college January 4, 1875. The day before, January 3, she was given an historic vision which opened before her mind the great outreach of the message to all the world. The college was to help implement the outreach of this message. W. C. White, her son, wrote of the remarks that she made concerning the college and its work as follows:

“In her remarks she spoke with great emphasis upon the necessity of our taking broader views regarding the work which God had given us to do. She dwelt upon the necessity of our laying much broader plans for the education of home and foreign workers. She said that our movements in sending workers to foreign fields were altogether too slow and inadequate. She told us that in vision she had seen, in different parts of the world, companies studying the Bible, finding there the promise of Christ’s soon return to redeem His people, and also the facts regarding the sacredness of the Seventh-day Sabbath. She saw little companies here and there keeping the Sabbath without knowing that there were any other Sabbathkeepers in the world; and she told us that as we heard of such companies, it would be our duty to send experienced ministers to labor among them, teaching them the way of truth more fully.”—The Review and Herald, February 10, 1938. [71]

“At the time when this vision was given, we had one publishing house, and were contemplating the establishment of a second one in California. We had one health institution, and were about to dedicate our first college. It was several years before we had presses of our own in Switzerland and Norway, and ten years before we had work of any kind in Australia, the country that was especially mentioned in the relation of the vision.

“The rapid growth of our work in the United States, and the beginning of evangelistic work in Scandinavia, England, and on the Continent, absorbed the attention of our people and taxed their resources to the uttermost….

“During the ten years following the vision, the Pacific Press in Oakland, a sanitarium in St. Helena, and two academies—one in Healdsburg, California, the other in South Lancaster, Massachusetts—were established. At the same time new conferences were being organized, covering nearly all the unoccupied territory of the United States.”—The Review and Herald, February 17, 1938.

In the Battle Creek College there was to be an overriding spiritual purpose in the school and every effort made to show that science and religion were compatible:

“Our school is to take a higher position in an educational point of view than any other institution of learning, by opening before the young nobler views, aims, and objects in life, and educating them to have a correct knowledge of human duty and eternal interests. The great object in the establishment of our college was to give correct views, showing the harmony of science and Bible religion.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 220

Note the last sentence especially. It is truly significant—“The great object….etc. showing the harmony of science and Bible religion.” This certainly has meaning to our schools today in this age of science and of disguised contempt of Bible religion.

Mrs. White wrote about the objectives of the school in a missionary vein:

“I was shown that our college was designed of God to accomplish the great work of saving souls. It is only when brought under full control of the Spirit of God that the talents of an individual are rendered useful to the fullest extent. The precepts and principles of religion are the first steps in the acquisition of knowledge, and lie at the very foundation of true education. Knowledge and science must be vitalized by the Spirit of God in order to serve the noblest purposes. The Christian alone can make the right [72] use of knowledge. Science, in order to be fully appreciated, must be viewed from a religious standpoint. The heart which is ennobled by the grace of God can best comprehend the real value of education. The attributes of God, as seen in His created works, can be appreciated only as we have a knowledge of the Creator. In order to lead the youth to the fountain of truth, to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world, the teachers must not only be acquainted with the theory of the truth, but must have an experimental knowledge of the way of holiness. Knowledge is power when united with true piety.”—Testimonies for the Church 4:427.

“When I was shown by the angel of God that an institution should be established for the education of our youth I saw that it would be one of the greatest means ordained of God for the salvation of souls.”—Testimonies for the Church 4:419

Note also Testimonies for the Church 4:431, 432:

“God devised and established this college, designing that it should be molded by high religious interests and that every year unconverted students who are sent to Battle Creek should return to their homes as soldiers of the cross of Christ.”

And there was to be a recognition of God’s sovereignty and control, a perception of a divine plan of education different from the world’s. In Volume 6, page 191 Mrs. White wrote, “Our schools must be conducted under the supervision of God.”—Testimonies for the Church 6:191.

But God’s design for educating youth was only vaguely conceived by most of our pioneer educators.

Mrs. White described situations that would prevail in the operation of the school by the faculty if spiritual objectives and ideals were maintained. And it cannot be said that God was really the supervisor of Battle Creek College until this objective was perceived and implemented.

Mrs. White wrote in Vol. 3, p. 157, three years before Battle Creek College was formally opened:

“Moral, intellectual, and physical culture should be combined in order to have well-developed, well-balanced men and women.” [73]

The body was to be trained and developed also in soul—not just the mind.

She recommended that the brethren build a school near Battle Creek in a rural area setting where agricultural and trade pursuits might be a part of the curriculum, and the school would be away from city influences which might tend to corrupt the soul. The brethren were not unwilling, they just did not perceive—so they bought Erastus Hussey’s 13 acre estate an N. Washington St. in the city of Battle Creek across from the Sanitarium. This was purchased as the site for the school. A. W. Spalding wrote of this as follows:

“The location of the college in the city, even though on its outskirts, was not in accordance with Mrs. White’s ideas and designs. She advocated that it be located in the country, on a farm, where agriculture might be made the basic industry in a group of industrial enterprises. In this she was supported by Professor Bell; but the main drivers of the enterprise could not see so far into the planned educational reform, and decided upon this beautiful but restricted location opposite the sanitarium. They quickly curtailed their purchase by selling off five or six acres on the south and west for residence lots, retaining but seven acres in the campus. When the decision to purchase was made, Mrs. White wept.”—Captains of the Host, p. 446.

“We are reformers”, wrote Ellen White. “We desire that our children should study to the best advantage. In order to do this, employment should be given them which will call the muscles into exercise. Daily, systematic labor should constitute a part of the education of the youth, even at this late period. Much can now be gained by connecting labor with schools. In following this plan the students will realize elasticity of spirit and vigor of thought, and will be able to accomplish more mental labor in a given time than they could by study alone. And they can leave school with their constitutions unimpaired and with strength and courage to persevere in any position in which the providence of God may place them.

“Because time is short, we should work with diligence and double energy. Our children may never enter college, but they can obtain an education in those essential branches which they can turn to a practical use and which will give culture to the mind and bring its powers into use. Very many youth who have gone through a college course have not obtained that true education that they can put to practical use. They may have the name of having a collegiate education, but in reality they are only educated dunces.”—Testimonies for the Church 3:159 [74]

Battle Creek College was to be a place where education took shape in the reconstruction of human beings in God’s physical, moral and mental image. In an article titled “Our College” (1880) Ellen White wrote:

“God designs that the college at Battle Creek shall reach a higher standard of intellectual and moral culture than any other institution of the kind in our land. The youth should be taught the importance of cultivating their physical, mental, and moral powers, that they may not only reach the highest attainments in science, but, through a knowledge of God, may be educated to glorify Him; that they may develop symmetrical characters, and thus be fully prepared for usefulness in this world and obtain a moral fitness for the immortal life.

“I wish I could find language to express the importance of our college. All should feel that it is one of God’s instrumentalities to make Himself known to man.”—Testimonies for the Church 4:425.

For 25 years or more Battle Creek College struggled on. Then calls came from the Lord to decentralize the concentrated work of the church in one town and move out of Battle Creek. The first institution to respond was Battle Creek College.

Mrs. White had spoken at the 1901 General Conference session (April 12) as follows:

“Some may be stirred about the transfer of the school from Battle Creek. But they need not be. This move is in accordance with God’s design for the school before the institution was established. But men could not see how this could be done. There were so many who said that the school must be in Battle Creek. Now we say that it must be somewhere else. The best thing that can be done is to dispose of the school’s buildings here as soon as possible. Begin at once to look for a place where the school can be conducted on right lines. God wants us to place our children where they will not see and hear that which they should not see or hear. God wants his church to take up the stones, to remove the rubbish, to clear the highway for the coming of the Lord. He wants them to prepare to meet their God.”—The General Conference Bulletin, April 14, 1901, p. 216

The move was to Berrien Springs, Michigan, to a farm of 272 acres on the banks of the Saint Joseph river. Arthur L. Spalding wrote of the significance of this move to the future of SDA education as follows: [75]

“It was a turning point in the educational history of Seventh-day Adventists. The vision and the courage and the resourcefulness which were demanded for this enterprise, breaking the bonds of custom and inertia, starting out on exploratory paths of education, breaking trail for adventurous and purposeful teaching, were worthy of all emulation by the rest of the church’s schools. And to no little degree that course was taken.

“Avondale, in Australia, had first shown the way. Under the impulsion of Mrs. White it went into the wilderness, hewed down the giant trees, turned the virgin soil, built its dwellings and its halls of learning and its modest temple of worship, and sought to follow the oracles of God in education. Berrien Springs had in some respects a harder task, because it had to break the ties which sentiment and habit had formed to hold it to the city and the headquarters of the church. It had to forsake the prestige which it had gained in Battle Creek, and to seek for and train a new order of students, students willing and eager to round out their education by uniting the hand to the head and the heart. Emmanuel Missionary College broke the fetters which were in one degree and another binding the educational work of Seventh-day Adventists to the chariot of popular education.

“Its influence was not lost. The educational system of Seventh-day Adventists was liberalized and enlightened as a result of its example. Even in those institutions which kept their seats and their ideas there appeared new thinking and new impulses toward the right. And some schools followed suit. Healdsburg College, in California, the second founded by Seventh-day Adventists, and Southern Junior College, in Tennessee, were moved within a few years to seek more favorable locations.”—Christ’s Last Legion, p. 62

This historical background is a part of the whole picture of providence and should be evaluated in any study of the future of SDA schools.

In the college at Battle Creek there would be real discipline in the school. This was an object as well as a guiding principle. She wrote in Fundamentals of Christian Education, 64, as follows:

“It is the boast of the present age that never before did men possess so great facilities for the acquirement of knowledge, or manifest so general an interest in education. Yet despite this vaunted progress, there exists an unparalleled spirit of insubordination and recklessness in the rising generation; mental and moral degeneracy are well-nigh universal. Popular education does not remedy the evil. The lax discipline in many institutions of learning has nearly destroyed their usefulness, and in some cases rendered them a curse rather than a blessing. This fact has been seen and deplored, and earnest efforts have been made to remedy [76] the defects in our educational system. There is urgent need of schools in which the youth may be trained to habits of self-control, application, and self-reliance, of respect for superiors and reverence for God. With such training, we might hope to see the young prepared to honor their Creator and to bless their fellow men.

“It was to secure these objects that our own college at Battle Creek was founded. But those who endeavor to accomplish such a work find that their undertaking is fraught with many and grave difficulties. The evil which underlies all others, and which often counteracts the efforts of the best instructors, is to be found in the home discipline. Parents do not see the importance of shielding their children from the gilded temptations of this age. They do not exercise proper control themselves, and hence do not rightly appreciate its value.”—Fundamentals of Christian Education, 64

Battle Creek College was not to be a “run of the mill” educational operation.

“The Lord opened before me the necessity of establishing a school at Battle Creek that should not pattern after any school in existence. We were to have teachers who would keep their souls in the love and fear of God. Teachers were to educate in spiritual things, to prepare a people to stand in the trying crisis before us; but there has been a departure from God’s plan in many ways. The amusements are doing more to counteract the working of the Holy Spirit than anything else, and the Lord is grieved.”—Fundamentals of Christian Education, 221.

Mrs. White foresaw the dangers of turning away from God’s plan for the school. In 1882 after the Battle Creek College had been in operation about seven years, she wrote:

“There is danger that our college will be turned away from its original design. God’s purpose has been made known, that our people should have an opportunity to study the sciences and at the same time to learn the requirements of His word. Biblical lectures should be given; the study of the Scriptures should have the first place in our system of education.

“Students are sent from a great distance to attend the college at Battle Creek for the very purpose of receiving instruction from the lectures on Bible subjects. But for one or two years past there has been an effort to mold our school after other colleges. When this is done, we can give no encouragement to parents to send their children to Battle Creek College. The moral and religious influences should not be put in the background. In times past, God has worked with the efforts of the teachers, and many souls have seen the truth and embraced it, and have gone to their homes to live henceforth far God, as the result of their connection with the college. As [77] they saw that Bible study was made a part of their education, they were led to regard it as a matter of greater interest and importance.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:21, 22

Ellen White recognized that the preparation of ministers was a prime objective:

“Too little attention has been given to the education of young men for the ministry. This was the primary object to be secured in the establishment of the college. In no case should this be ignored or regarded as a matter of secondary importance. For several years, however, but few have gone forth from that institution prepared to teach the truth to others. Some who came at great expense, with the ministry in view, have been encouraged by the teachers to take a thorough course of study which would occupy a number of years, and, in order to obtain means to carry out these plans, have entered the canvassing field and given up all thought of preaching. This is entirely wrong. We have not many years to work, and teachers and principal should be imbued with the Spirit of God and work in harmony with His revealed will instead of carrying out their own plans. We are losing much every year because we do not heed what God has said upon these points.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:21, 22.

The servant of the Lord described the perils that face the school (Note Volume 4, pages 649 to 653).

It was also a matter of concern that the institution should become too large (Testimonies for the Church 6:211-212) with too many buildings, and that too much study should be required (Fundamentals of Christian Education, 353-354), and that the teachers would fail to recognize the Holy Spirit’s workings (Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 363).

The hope was expressed, however, that if the educational work should err away from God’s purpose that there would always be a door of hope open to the leaders if they would return to the Lord’s instruction.

“Though in many respects our institutions of learning have swung into worldly conformity, though step by step they have advanced toward the world, they are prisoners of hope. Fate has not so woven its meshes about their workings that they need to remain helpless and in uncertainty. If they will listen to His voice and follow in His ways, God will correct and enlighten them and bring them back to their upright position of distinction from the world. When the advantage of working upon Christian principles is discerned, when self is hid in Christ, much greater progress will be made; for each worker will feel his own human weakness; he will supplicate for the wisdom and grace of God, and will receive the divine help that is pledged for every emergency. [78]

“Opposing circumstances should create a firm determination to overcome them. One barrier broken down will give greater ability and courage to go forward. Press in the right direction, and make a change, solidly, intelligently. Then circumstances will be your helpers and not your hindrances. Make a beginning. The oak is in the acorn.”—Testimonies for the Church 6:145.

(See “Proper Education” Testimonies for the Church 3:131-160; “Our College” Testimonies for the Church 5:21-36; “The Needs of Educational Reform” Testimonies for the Church 6:126-140; “Hindrances to Reform” Testimonies for the Church 6:141-141; also Testimonies for the Church 6:152-167.)

These are the historical backgrounds and circumstances that obtained in the beginnings and growth of our three original Battle Creek Institutions. In Section I-IV Mrs. White’s counsels and statements concerning the concepts of the Lord’s plans and purposes and objectives for the institutions built and operated by the church are set forth. [79]

APPENDIX A—A Distinctly Seventh-day Adventist Institution

Until the turn of the century and for some time thereafter the Battle Creek Sanitarium under the direction of the able superintendent, Dr. J. H. Kellogg, operated without any doubts about its identity or ownership by Seventh-day Adventists, its missionary goals and objectives. But a subtle change came when these important guidelines and perspectives became clouded and obscured in the doctor’s mind. The historical sequence and development of Dr. Kellogg’s departure from these distinctly SDA views and from the original and distinctly SDA control and direction of the Sanitarium came about as follows:

In 1899 “The Battle Creek Sanitarium was listed in the regular annual Year Book as one of the Seventh-day Adventist institutions. Its constituency, its board of management, its medical staff, and its helpers were made up of Seventh-day Adventists. It was everywhere recognized as a Seventh-day Adventist instituion. Its nurses and other workers in medical missionary lines were trained by Seventh-day Adventists and were expected to give their lives in Christian service in harmony with the principles of the church.”—Dores E. Robinson in the pamphlet The Battle Creek Sanitarium, p. 35.

In 1893 an official act of the General Conference had created a corporation known as “The SDA Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association” (Feb. 28, 1893). (See General Conference Bulletin 1893, p. 437.) Its function was to act for the denomination with legal power to own and control properties and to direct the various lines of medical missionary work conducted by the church.

“Although each institution under the direction and supervision of the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association had its own individual constituency; yet the central organization, created by the General Conference, acted as the agent of the denomination in unifying and co-ordinating the various enterprises in different parts of the world, and in holding certain properties.

“In connection with the General Conference next held in 1895, at the first annual meeting of this new Association, Dr. J. H. Kellogg, its president, spoke clearly of its functions, as follows:

“‘This Association has charge of all the medical work which is done in the name of the denomination. All of our sanitariums, those established, and those in prospect are under the supervision of this Association.’—General Conference Bulletin, 1895, p. 3. (Italics ours.)”—The Battle Creek Sanitarium, p. 37.

“The relationship between the General Conference and the Medical Missionary Board which it created is well set forth by Dr. J. H. Kellogg in the following words:

“‘There has been a feeling that the Medical Missionary Board was one thing and the conference another, but that is not true. The Medical Missionary Association is a part of the General Conference!’”—J. H. Kellogg, Medical Missionary Conference Bulletin, March 9-14, 1899, p. 61.—Battle Creek Sanitariumum, p. 38. [80]

“Thus it is clear that through the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, the General Conference did control not only the Battle Creek Sanitarium but other sanitariums, and all so-called medical missionary work. Such was clearly the relationship between the Battle Creek Sanitarium and the General Conference up to the year 1899.”—Battle Creek Sanitarium, p. 38.

Now two years earlier (1897) the charter of the Battle Creek Sanitarium expired so a new charter was adopted which made provision for the continuance of the work of the institution on the same basis as former years. The constituency was enlarged and a new corporation created by the local Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association known as the Michigan Sanitarium and Benevolent Association.

“The constituent membership was increased from about 150 to 650, all of whom were still Seventh-day Adventists and many of whom were ministers who were accepted as members, even though they had not personally made financial investments.”—Battle Creek Sanitarium, p. 39.

“In the Declaration of Principles that were signed by members of the newly organized Michigan Sanitarium and Benevolent Association, there were some features different from those of the former Health Reform Institute. Previously the privileges of membership were explicitly limited to members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Such limitation was not expressed in the new Declaration of Principles. Again, absent members might no longer be represented by proxy at the meetings of the corporation, nor was it possible for any member to have more than one vote irrespective of his original investment.

“One change, however, was to become the source of future misunderstanding. In the by laws of the former corporation there could not be found the words, ‘denominational,’ ‘un-denominational,’ ‘sectarian,’ or ‘unsectarian.’ In the new document it was stated that the institution was to perform acts ‘of an undenominational, unsectarian, humanitarian and philanthropic nature.’ All of its ‘works and acts’ were to be ‘undenominational and unsectarian, and purely charitable, benevolent, Christian, and philanthropic.’

“At the first annual meeting held in March, 1899, when this new Declaration of Principles was read, a question arose regarding the meaning of this new phraseology. One of the proposed members asked, ‘What is understood by the Association’s being undenominational?’ to which Doctor Kellogg replied:

“‘It means simply that it is to be conducted as a medical institution, that it may have the advantages of the statutes of the State; as a hospital, it must be carried on as an undenominational institution. It cannot give benefits to a certain class, but must be for the benefit of any who are sick. The institution may support any work it chooses with the earnings of the Association, but cannot discriminate against anyone because of his belief. It is not organized as a General Conference or a publishing house would be organized, but for undenominational work.’—The Medical Missionary, Extra, May, 1899 p. 5.—Battle Creek Sanitarium, p. 40, 41.

“With this explanation that its undenominational aspect pertained only to the class of people for whom Seventh-day Adventists were working through the institution, the new members signed the Declaration of Principles. The [81] Sanitarium continued to be supervised by the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association. If anything, because of its enlarged constituency, the change made it more truly representative of the Seventh-day Adventist Church than it had been before. It continued to be listed in the Seventh-day Adventist Year Book as a denominational institution.”—Battle Creek Sanitarium, p. 41.

Now, from the beginning of the sanitarium it had been the understanding of James and Ellen White that the Battle Creek institution was conducted for all people regardless of the church.

“‘This institution, though founded and managed by S.D. Adventists, is not conducted on a denominational basis. Only a small proportion of its patrons are members of the denomination. Members of all denominations, and all respectable people, are made equally welcome.’”—Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White (1880), 382.—The Battle Creek Sanitarium, p. 43.

As time went on Dr. Kellogg came to interpret certain points in the Declaration of Principles in a very different manner. Wrote Dores Robinson:

“The same one who in 1899 assured the members that the word ‘undenominational’ simply meant that the institution ‘cannot give benefits to a certain class, but must be for the benefit of any who are sick,’ gave an entirely different difinition to the term.

“Imagine the surprise with which many Seventh-day Adventists later read that, according to the charter, the word ‘denominational’ was intended to mean:

“Those things which have for their specific object the advancement of the sectarian or denominational interests; and when we say undenominational we mean that this work is doing those things which are not simply for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but which will help forward the Christian religion, and help forward the general welfare of humanity….These things are to be done, as stated by our charter, in the interests of the public; not in the interest of any church, or any set of men, but for humanity.”—The Medical Missionary, February, 1906, p. 47.—Battle Creek Sanitarium, pp. 41, 42.

The foregoing statement by Kellogg appeared in 1906.

In 1907 Dr. Kellogg asserted: “This work has ever been carried forward as an unsectarian work, and was never at any time controlled by the denomination at large or by any conference or conference committee.”—The Medical Missionary, September 11, 1907, p. 291.—Battle Creek Sanitarium, p. 42.

At this point in the development of these differences note how Ellen White in discussing the work done by the Battle Creek Sanitarium said in an address to the General Conference Committee and the Medical Missionary Board:

“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 [82] 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 undenominational, in that it receives as patients people of all classes and denominations….

“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….Those who have long known our belief, and what we teach, have been surprised by the statement that the Battle Creek Sanitarium is not denominational. No one has a right to make this statement. It does not bear the witness that God wishes His people to bear before men and angels. In the name of the Lord we are to identify ourselves as Seventh-day Adventists. If any one among us is ashamed of our colors, and wishes to stand under another banner, let him do so as a private individual, not as a representative of Seventh-day Adventist medical missionary work.”—Ellen G. White letter 128, 1902.—Battle Creek Sanitarium, pp. 44, 45.

Nothing could be produced from the Spirit of Prophecy which would better represent the objectives and purpose of the Battle Creek Medical Institution and in a larger sense of all our institutions.

“An amazing statement was attributed to Dr. J. H. Kellogg by Karl Harriman, assitant editor of the Pilgrim magazine. Under date of January 7, 1903, Mr. Harriman reported an interview with the doctor, a portion of which is as follows:

“The Sanitarium of which I have charge has no more connection with the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, as such, than you have.” Believing that I had not heard correctly, I asked the doctor to repeat the expression, which he did precisely as quoted.

“‘Who, then, is it that owns it, or runs it, or holds it in charge?’ I asked.

“‘A private association.’ he replied.

“‘And it has no connection with the church?’ Then, I suggested, ‘I even might be a member of the Sanitarium association?’

“‘Certainly,’ Suddenly the doctor raised his hand. ‘No,’ he added, laughingly. ‘No, you couldn’t either, for I detect the odor of tobacco about you. No person who smokes can be a member of the association.’

“The doctor continued:

“‘I myself drew up the institution’s articles of association. I saw to it that it should be absolutely uncertain [unsectarian]. Membership in the association governing it, is as open to a Catholic as to a Seventh-day Adventist.’”—Kalamazoo Evening Telegraph, Jan. 8, 1903.—Battle Creek Sanitarium, p. 45. [83]

The changes in ownership, control and emphasis in later years—partially into Kellogg’s hands then back to the church—represent many involved and depressing incidents. These are well described by Dores Robinson in his pamphlet The Battle Creek Sanitarium—Its Origin, Development, Ownership and Control.

One thing is clear; when Kellogg achieved partial control and tried to divorce the institution from direct identity with the SDA, the Sanitarium did not prosper.

“With the increased indebtedness incurred in the erection of the new building in 1927 and the prolonged depression which began in 1929, the relation between income and expenditure was reversed, and for several years the work was carried forward with heavy annual deficits. In 1933 there was a default in payment of interest and principal of the obligations of the Sanitarium, and a Receiver in Equity was appointed by the Federal Court in Detroit. In 1938 the Sanitarium was reorganized under Section 77B of the National Bankruptcy Act.”—Battle Creek Sanitarium, pp. 56, 57.

Later, of course, a new corporation was formed and eventually the Health Institution experienced rebirth and is now operating under the control of Seventh-day Adventists and carrying on a strong work.

The foregoing is not to suggest that successful hospital work cannot be done by non-SDA. It is simply to say that Seventh-day Adventists cannot operate hospitals as others do—and expect to have success, not with the inspired counsel we have. We operate unashamedly Seventh-day Adventist institutions with distinctive objectives and aims peculiar to our religious faith and convictions.