A Statement of Health Principles by Frank M. Wilcox

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 29, 1916

“A Statement of Health Principles”

By Frank M. Wilcox

WE have had considerable to say of late in these columns regarding the question of healthful living, and had not expected so soon again to revert to the subject. We feel, however, that we should call attention to the statement of health principles unanimously adopted by the representatives of our medical work in the medical council at Madison, Wis., as given on page 2 of this number.

This is perhaps one of the most comprehensive statements of the kind ever adopted by any similar body. It is broad in its scope and generous in its spirit. It recognizes the fact that the question of healthful living is not confined to any one detail, but that it “embraces every principle and every detail which has to do with man's perfect mental, moral, and physical development,” and we unite with the recommendation contained in the statement, that our brethren and sisters endeavor to take this broad view of the question.

The human mind is naturally inclined to extreme positions, and many have taken a one-sided view of this question. Some have made an issue on the subject of dress; others have made fresh air the subject of their propaganda; still others have felt that health reform centers on the question of vegetarianism, or the nonuse of butter, or the use of foods in their natural state, or some other detail. But we have usually found that those who have taken some one point and placed special emphasis on that, have been inclined to neglect in their own experience the observance of other principles quite as necessary.

We well remember, years ago, a good sister, now at rest, who used to introduce her daughter, a plump and well-nourished girl, to the visiting ministers on the camp ground, with the remark, “See what health reform has done for my daughter,”; but the condition of this sister's teeth and her offensive breath showed that she had failed to recognize the principles of health reform as applying to these defects in her own physical condition.

We recall another good sister who considered it a mortal sin for a brother in the same church to drink tea and coffee, while she herself, although suffering from dyspepsia in an aggravated form, made fried doughnuts her chief article of diet. She saw truly that tea and coffee were not suitable beverages to drink, but she was quite blind to the need of a change in her diet in order to remedy her condition.

We met some years ago a good brother whose standard of health reform was abstinence from the use of dairy butter, but the constant grime on hands and face and neck and ears, and the offensive odor from his body, showed that he failed to appreciate the value of personal cleanliness.

We have attended general meetings whose managers prided themselves on the excellent and healthful diet furnished the delegates, but who were utterly oblivious to the great swarms of flies which infested kitchen and dining-room, spreading filth and disease over every food and receptacle.

And we have known many who stood radically and properly for some principle of healthful living, from whose homes and living-rooms came such foul air and offensive odors as to indicate that they had never given the question of proper ventilation due consideration.

Hence we believe that there is need of a broad and comprehensive view of the question of healthful living. We should realize that it has to do not alone with diet, although that constitutes a very important part of it; not alone with the question of fresh air, or proper bathing, or healthful dress; but that it embraces in its scope everything which concerns the health and upbuilding of the physical powers.

Let us seek to avoid cherishing narrow views on this question, but on the other hand let us be careful not to become so liberal that we discount this great and important question in its entirety, or even in its details. We are in greater danger of doing this than of erring on the side of radicalism. Indeed, it may be safely said that the indifference or active opposition on the part of many in the church to this great subject is a large contributing factor to the extreme position which has been taken by others.

We need to avoid both extremes. We need to keep in the middle of the road, and not veer to one side or the other. Indifference and opposition will make us the enemies of that which constitutes a part of the message of truth intrusted to us. Radicalism will inflict only wounds and bruises on the cause which its advocates are endeavoring to promote. We need a conscientiousness which will lead us to apply to our own individual needs the principles of truth contained in this great subject. We need a generosity which will keep us from narrowly judging our brethren because they do not conform their lives to our conceptions. We need a missionary spirit which will lead us properly and consistently to exemplify in our living and teaching the value of these principles. This threefold spirit constitutes Christianity as applied to our relationship to the subject of health reform.

F. M. W.