Name: Health; or How to Live, Number One
Author: Ellen G. White

Health; or How to Live, Number One

Ellen G. White

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · 1865

INTRODUCTION.

In introducing to the public a series of Pamphlets on health it is proper that we should distinctly state that we claim no skill to cure the sick. This is not our work. Our mission in this direction is to draw from personal experience, from the word of God, and from the writings of able and experienced health reformers, facts for the common people, which we ardently hope may teach them how to preserve vital force, live healthily, save doctor's bills, and be better qualified to bear with cheerfulness the ills of this mortal life.

We are deeply impressed with the great fact that grains and fruits are the proper food for man. These are best, and generally far the cheapest, which is a worthy consideration for the poor. Cheerful toil, or exercise, proper rest in sleep, air, water and light, are Heaven’s great remedies. To use these properly should be the study of the people. This leaving our souls with the ministers, and our bodies with the doctors, and we pass along ignorant of our real hold of either earth or Heaven, is bad business.

It is our custom to urgently invite the people to come to the Bible and to Christ, and learn the way to everlasting life for themselves. We would also invite their attention to the great fact that it is their privilege to learn how to live more healthfully and more happily.

Mrs. White designs to furnish a liberal chapter in each Pamphlet on health, the happiness and miseries of domestic life, and the bearing which these have upon the prospects of obtaining the life to come. JAMES WHITE.

HOW TO LIVE.

The Ladder with Eight Rounds:

OR BIBLE SANCTIFICATION.

“Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue; whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2 Pet. i, 1-11.

This quotation from Peter is a clear and beautiful

illustration of the advances in the Christian life which constitute Bible sanctification. In introducing this subject we call attention to the following points:

1. The apostle addresses young converts, or those who have just “obtained like precious faith,” and sets before them the victories to be obtained, or the graces to be added, in their order, necessary to insure an admittance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

2. If the apostle regarded a happy frame of mind as alone constituting sanctification, then we might expect him to illustrate the victories of the onward course in the Christian life by higher and still higher flights of feeling. But in this quotation he is silent in regard to feeling, and presents progress in well-doing as the basis of true sanctification. The love of God shed abroad in the heart, enlightening the mind, and purifying the affections, is the result of faith in Jesus Christ while living in obedience to the word. Such blessedness, resulting from walking in the self-denying path of obedience, is Bible sanctification. It is certainly the privilege of the true Christian, who walks in willing obedience to the word, to enjoy all that peace and fullness of joy expressed in the Bible. But to make flights of feeling constitute the sum total of sanctification, is to expose the minds of inexperienced disciples to the wildest freaks of fanaticism.

3. Peter’s progressive work system of sanctification is safe to embrace and follow, as it leads to all that faith and hope can grasp. It secures an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

4. The apostle teaches the young Christian to progress by the simple rule of addition, with an all-persevering hand, all the way through to the kingdom. We may illustrate his system of sanctification by a ladder with eight rounds, reaching from earth to Heaven, or from a state of sin to a condition of moral fitness for the kingdom of God. Here are the rounds of the ladder: “And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your

“1. FAITH (upon which the young disciple stands),

2. VIRTUE; and to virtue,

“3. KNOWLEDGE; and to knowledge,

4. TEMPERANCE; and to temperance,

5. PATIENCE; and to patience,

6. GODLINESS; and to godliness,

“7. BROTHERLY KINDNESS; and to brotherly kindness

“8. CHARITY,” or love, the crowning Christian grace.

The order in which the apostle has given these progressive steps is worthy of especial notice. The young disciple, who has just embraced the faith of the gospel, must first add to his faith, virtue, and then to virtue, knowledge. He may have been vicious; at least, he may have lacked the principles of real virtue. His first work is to seek for purity of thought, words, and acts. Then, in a pure mind and heart, he may add knowledge of the word of God to enable him to defend his position before the world. Some make a careless stride over the first round, and seek to add to their faith, knowledge. They neglect to cultivate virtue, and labor to store their minds with knowledge, that they may be able to argue down their neighbors. Such seldom turn men from error to truth; but frequently, from their lack of piety, disgust and prejudice those with whom they mingle. They may talk the truth, but it is poorly represented by them. The food they offer is good of itself, but tastes badly of the dish. They generally become self-righteous, and say in their hearts, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,” and they know not that they are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”

Who can but admire the order in which the apostle has given the victories in the Christian life? He continues, “and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience.” The intemperate man cannot be a patient Christian; hence he must add temperance first, then patience will be an easy victory. The man who uses intoxicating drinks is seldom a patient man. Intemperance in eating, either in quantity, or in the rich quality, or in both, deranges the system, causes dyspepsia, affects the nerves, depresses the spirits,

sours the temper, and renders the epicure unfit for the exercise of true Christian patience. We live in an unfortunate age, when men move from impulse more than from reason. The appetite must be gratified regardless of results. In the preparation of food, the taste, and not the stomach, is generally consulted.

But while we object to high-seasoned, greasy food, we would not recommend an impoverished diet, but plain, nourishing food. Thus prayed Agur, “Feed me with food convenient for me.” Prov. xxx, 8.

But we must come a little closer and speak of the filthy habit, and results of using tobacco. Probably no one at first loved the taste of tobacco. It was a task to learn to use it. Yet millions contract this strong habit, useless, inconvenient, expensive, filthy, and annoying to women, and children, and temperate men, and are slaves to it till their death.

If tobacco had been known and used by any of the descendants of Abraham in the days of Moses, or by any of the nations around them, endangering the purity of the Israelites, God would have given them a law forbidding its use, in harmony with the principles of purity and cleanliness taught that people. And when we come to the New Testament we may see that every declaration requiring purity, cleanliness, and self-denial, is a plain rebuke on tobacco-using.

But many professing Christians will continue the use of tobacco because it is not convenient to leave it off. Was it convenient for their Lord to die on Calvary? If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. What! a cross-bearing, tobacco-eating, tobacco-smoking, tobacco-snuffing, follower of the crucified One! This is but a trifle short of a burlesque upon the Christian religion.

But physicians recommend tobacco as a medicine. May God pity them! Tobacco will not remove disease. It is a cause of disease itself. It may change the form of disease in some cases; so will the small pox, and the ague and fever. But who would expose himself at the pest-house, or to the miasma of a Michigan marsh, to find relief from some of the trifling ailments to which human nature is heir?

The habitual use of tobacco is injurious to the constitution. As one proof of this we refer to those-who have become so nervous and shattered by long using this slow poison that they are compelled to abandon it. Says a veteran tobacco-user, “I have used it thirty years, and I do not see that it has much influence on me.” Well, you certainly had a good constitution on the start, or you would now probably be in your grave. But if tobacco is not deranging your system, and injuring your constitution, what makes you feel so dreadfully when your tobacco-box is emptied, and the stimulating influence of the filthy weed is gone from you? You may have been without it twenty-four or forty-eight hours. How strangely you felt. Your head seemed to you thrice its usual size. And how wonderfully numb and strange you felt around the mouth and throat. In this deplorable condition a trifle would irritate you, and make you manifest impatience, to be ashamed of afterward.

God has made us wisely, and nature will do her work well unless intruded upon, and wearied to feebleness by receiving into the system the influence of stimulating poisons. When the work of nature has been thus disturbed, and the habit fully formed, the steam must be kept up, or the poor slave to a morbid appetite is in trouble. Interrupted and enfeebled nature cannot rally in a moment to take the place of the intruder, and oh, the demand just now for a little more tobacco! But keep the base intruder back, and give nature time to rally and fill her place, and the appetite becomes natural, the hankering is gone, and health improves.

And as far as the health is injured by the use of tobacco, so far the mind is affected, and one of the evil results is impatience; hence in the onward victories of Bible sanctification, patience is preceded by temperance.

We come a little closer yet and ask, Why use tea and coffee? In point of filth these cannot be classed with tobacco; but they are as useless, and more expensive. In regard to their influence on the health, we use the same arguments as in the case of tobacco. The reason why those who have for years used strong tea, especially

females, rise in the morning with such bad feelings at the stomach and in the head, is because the stimulating influence of tea is gone, and they find relief only in a good strong cup of tea. Sleep will restore the temperate person, and to him or her, the morning hours are the clearest and the best.

The drunkard lies down upon his couch at night under the influence of liquor; the tobacco-slave casts aside his well-chewed quid to smoke his pipe before retiring to rest, and the tea-drinker goes to rest under the influence of strong tea. In the morning they rise with languid feelings, while a cloud of melancholy hangs over them, and they are in danger of getting impatient unless domestic matters move off smoothly. But the drunkard goes for his dram, and he feels better, for the steam is up again, while the others find similar relief in their morning rations of tobacco and tea.

And are any of these real Christians? Some think they are. Doubtful Christians, these! And do they think of meeting Jesus at his coming with a smile, while their lips and beard are stained with tobacco, and their whole system and soul tainted with it? May God have mercy, and help them to cleanse themselves “from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Cor. vii, 1. This is Bible holiness. When men, seeking for the grace of life, are thus cleansed from their idols, the light of Heaven will illuminate their minds, and enable them in all the walks of life to exhibit true Christian patience.

The apostle continues, “and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly-kindness; and to brotherly-kindness, charity.” He who has added to faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, has so far escaped the corruptions of this world that he may understand the principles of true godliness. His idols are slain, therefore he has no other gods before the Lord. He now loves God supremely, and delights to do his commandments.

And he who loves the Lord God with all the heart,

and with all the soul, and with all the mind, will love his brother as himself, and the manifestation of brotherly-kindness will be natural and easy. Hence he who adds godliness will also add brotherly-kindness. Charity, or the perfect love of God, next comes in as the crowning Christian grace, constituting the highest round in the ladder of Bible sanctification.

The apostle continues in language most pointed as he applies the subject to the hearts and consciences of the people of God. Weigh well his words: “For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren (margin, idle) nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things ye shall never fall, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In conclusion we notice the following points:

1. The conditions stated—“if ye do these things”—if ye ascend the ladder, step by step, and overcome and gain the specified victories. Then these things will be in you and abound. 2. In so doing there is safety—“ye shall never fall.” Then let those who are trembling with fear that at some future time they will fall, cast aside such fears, and in confidence ascend the way to life. 3. Those who lack these things are blind and forgetful. They cannot see afar off, and have forgotten that they were purged from their old sins. 4. Peter’s view of election. He does not teach that all men are elected to salvation or destruction, and that their fate is unalterably fixed before they are born, and leave them in Satan’s easy chair; but he exhorts his brethren to diligence to make their calling and election sure. 5. The reward. The apostle in his first epistle, chap. i, 2, says, “Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied.” He teaches sanctification by the rule of addition; but holds forth spiritual blessings to be enjoyed

in this life by the obedient by the rule of multiplication. But in this connection he presents before those who “do these things” their final reward. “An entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

The ministration of an abundant entrance into the city of God means something more than a mere permission to pass in. Those who have honored their lives by well-doing, and have ascended the ladder of Bible sanctification step by step, will be conducted in triumph into the metropolis of the kingdom of God. Jesus overcame, and as he ascended to the Father’s throne, attending angels in triumph shouted, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.” And in response to the inquiry, “Who is this King of glory?” they again shouted, “The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, strong in battle.” Ps. xxiv, 7, 8.

In like manner those who overcome and sit upon the throne of the Son, as he overcame and sat down upon the throne of the Father, will be escorted thither with triumph, while the voice of Jesus will be heard saying, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. Welcome to the tree of life! and the crystal waters! Welcome to all the joys of the kingdom forever.

“Our Home:”

OR THREE WEEKS AT DANSVILLE, NEW YORK.

In the month of September, 1864, Mrs. W. and self spent three weeks at the health institution at Dansville, Liv. Co., N. Y., called, “Our Home.” Our object in this visit was not to take treatment, as we were enjoying better health than usual; but to see what we could see, and hear what we could hear, so as to be able to give to many inquiring friends a somewhat definite report.

As far as location and buildings are concerned, we cannot do better than to copy from the statement of Dr Jackson addressed to Prof. Albert Hopkins, and Prof. John Bascom, Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., given in the Laws of Life for Sept. 1864, as follows:

“I doubt whether on the whole continent of America there can be found a spot better calculated, from the various combinations of health-preserving agencies, to develop good health in its population than this. In looking around to see in what direction, and to what extent, combinations of hygienic agencies exist here, we find:

“(A) Very fine and bracing air.

(B) Abundance of sunlight.

“(D) A mild climate, especially in winter.

(E) Beautiful landscape scenery.

“(F) Seclusion, or natural conditions for quiet, being located contiguous to a thriving village of about four thousand inhabitants, yet far enough from it to make us entirely independent of any unhealthful conditions which closer contact might naturally, and would almost necessarily create.

“The house we purchased at the time of our coming here had been built about four years. It consisted of the main or center part of our present group of buildings, including a kitchen attachment, was four stories high, forty feet wide, one hundred feet long, and was finished, after a fashion, in its lower and second stories, the third and fourth being simply inclosed. There was no cellar under the main building. Now, we have put under the whole length of the building a large cellar, have built on the south end of the house a fine piazza three stories high and extending across the whole breadth of it. On the north end of the building which we purchased, we have put up what we call the “new part,” consisting of a building four stories, and three stories high, eighty feet in length and thirty feet in width, giving us a work room, store room, bakery, bath and packing rooms for ladies, and large and extensive suits of rooms. Back of this, we have

built a wing, two stories high, and sixty feet in length by thirty in width, containing bath room, dressing room, packing room and lodging rooms for gentlemen.

“On the south end, connecting with the south piazza by a corridor which is sixteen feet high, ten feet wide and one hundred and fifteen feet long, which makes a beautiful place in the summer, and a warm promenade in the winter, we have erected a building and named it “LIBERTY HALL.” It is sixty-five feet long, thirty-two feet wide and eighteen feet high between joints, with a fine cupola, finished in ornate style, and both in design and construction is an honor to the architect. This Hall is our play-room, lecture room, and chapel. By means of our south piazza and corridor, persons can walk from the north end of our building to Liberty Hall—a distance of three hundred feet—without being exposed at all to currents of cold air.”

The Physicians of the institution, as stated in the Laws of Life for December, are,

“JAMES C. JACKSON, M. D., Physician-in-chief, “F. WILSON HURD, M. D., “MISS HARRIET N. AUSTIN, M. D., “MRS. MARY H. YORK, M. D. “HORATIO S. LAY, M. D. Associate Physicians.

In September there were at the Cure nearly three hundred patients. Their numbers have since increased, as we learned of Dr. Lay in December, to nearly four hundred.

Baths given at “Our Home” are not as cold, neither given as frequently, as we expected to find them. They are tempered to the conditions and diseases of patients so as generally to be regarded by them as a luxury instead of with feelings of dread. The most heroic treatment, which a score of years since caused much prejudice upon the public mind against water as a curative agent, is abandoned by all well-informed hydropathic physicians. In our opinion no one, however low and sensitive to cold, need fear being injured by water at this institution.

The tables are spread with an abundance of plain

and nourishing food, which becomes a daily luxury to the patients, as the natural and healthful condition of the taste is restored. The glutton, who gratifies his depraved appetite with swine’s flesh, grease, gravies, spices, &c., &c., on looking over Dr. Hurd’s Tract on Cookery, may in his ignorance regard this style of living as a system of starvation. But a few weeks’ experience at “Our Home” would correct his appetite, so that he would eat plain, simple, and nutritious food with a far better relish than he now does that which is unnatural and hurtful. We never saw men and women gather around tables more cheerfully, and eat more heartily, than the patients at Dansville. The uniformity and sharpness of appetite was wonderful for a crowd of patients. It was the general leanness and lankness of these persons alone that could give the idea that they were sick. Besides the usual rounds of excellently-cooked wheat meal mushes, wheat meal biscuits, cakes, and pies, and occasionally other varieties, we found the tables bountifully loaded with the fruits of the season, such as apples, peaches, and grapes. No one need fear of starving at “Our Home.” There is greater danger of eating too much. The appetite of the feeble patient, who has been pining with loss of appetite over fashionable food, becomes natural and sharp, so that simple food is eaten with all that keen relish with which healthy country school children devour plain food. The food being nutritious, and the appetite keen, the danger of that class of patients who have become feeble by self-indulgence, is decidedly in the direction of eating too much.

The change from the common meat-eating, greasy style of living, to a plain and healthful diet, is indeed a great change, and with some it requires time for its accomplishment. Those who are performing hard labor, whether physical or mental, should make the change gradually. It is distinctly taught by the physicians at the Dansville health institution that it endangers the constitution to make so great a change suddenly, while taxing the mental or physical energies. With their arrangements of pleasant exercise, and their noon season of quiet and rest, the change is

easily and safely made. As we had lived almost entirely without meat, grease, and spices, for more than a year, we were in a condition to have our wants in the line of food fully met at the tables at “Our Home.”

The manners of all connected with this institution, from the physician-in-chief down to the attendants in the bath-rooms, were affable and cheerful, in harmony with the friendly name—“Our Home.” As a physician Dr. Jackson is unquestionably master of his business. He is a clear and impressive speaker, and is decidedly thorough in whatever he undertakes.

The morning lectures, most frequently from Dr. Jackson, but occasionally from Dr. Hurd, were able, and deeply interesting. All who were able were required to attend the lectures at Liberty Hall, and perform their daily prescribed walks upon the hillside, or descend into the village. In all their amusements we could not unite. For the object for which they were intended, and when confined to the institution, these seem less objectionable. But we fear the influence of card-playing and dancing, upon young men and women, who at the same time profess to be Christians, when they shall leave the institution and be exposed to the vices so common with card-players and dancers. But it is just to say that the patients are left to the greatest freedom of conscience in these matters. The views and feelings of the most conscientious Sabbath-keeper are treated with tenderness and respect the same as those of the popular, pleasure-loving professor.

It should be understood that this is not a theological institute. It is emphatically a hygienic institution, a “Home” for the suffering invalid, where he can, if not too low, recover lost health, and learn to no longer insult his Maker by abusing the laws of his being. The religion at the institution is of about the same stripe of the popular professors everywhere, all of which; as is generally understood, we think needs reforming in about the same ratio that the able Doctors of “Our Home” think the popular practice needs reforming.

To the inquiry of many—“Are they not Spiritualists at Dansville?”—we would say that we neither saw nor heard more of Spiritualism at “Our Home,” than

we see and hear in any community where they do not profess this ism. Two things at least have a tendency to give the impression that this class of health-reformers are Spiritualists; first, the popular publications of Dr. Trall are offered for sale in connection with the most rabid works on Spiritualism and women’s rights; and second, at “Our Home” the ladies wear what is commonly called the short dress, which is so frequently worn in its ultra style by brazen-faced and doubtful female Spiritualists. These things have a tremendously prejudicial influence abroad against the invaluable good of this institution. We recognize the principles from which arise the valid objections to the present fashionable style of woman’s dress, and look for a remedy that will save to the world her appearance as a woman, and save her from public ridicule, and to herself influence. But we have serious objections to woman’s dress being so long as to constitute her a street-sweeper, and we strongly incline to the opinion that existing evils in her dress can be fully removed without adopting those extremes which we sometimes witness. More on this subject hereafter.

Some of the cures performed are marvelous. Charles Melville, the only little son of Eld. J. N. Andrews, is a case of note. This boy became lame in one of his legs. His hip and leg seemed withering, and malformation appeared to be taking place in the ankle. To see this brilliant little fellow literally drag his leg after him, was enough to touch a heart of stone. He was placed under the care of the physicians at “Our Home,” and in the period of fifteen weeks was so far recovered as to be returned to his parents. And when we saw him, a few days later, he would run and skip about the yard, as nimbly as other boys. The size of his leg was increasing, and the cure promised full restoration. Any good father or mother would, if the world were theirs, and purest gold, cut it in two and give half of it for such a cure on such a son.

A brother King, more than sixty years of age, came to “Our Home” from Massachusetts in August, 1864, with a cancer broken out upon the lip. In December following he was sent home cured. Under the popular

practice his life would have been regarded of little more worth than a three-cent postage-stamp. We might mention others, but these are the most noted.

Prices for board and treatment, though reasonable for the times, are higher than people in common circumstances in life can afford to pay for a very lengthy sojourn at Dansville, unless their cases are very urgent. Critical cases, unless beyond all reasonable hope, we would recommend to the care of the skillful physicians at Dansville. To those who are active yet suffering from failing health we urgently recommend health publications, a good assortment of which we design to keep on hand. Friends, read up in time to successfully change your habits, and live in harmony with the laws of life. And to those who call themselves well, we would say. As you value the blessings of health, and would honor the Author of your being, learn to live in obedience to those laws established in your being by High Heaven. A few dollars’ worth of books, that will teach you how to live, may save you heavy doctor bills, save you months of pain upon a sick bed, save you suffering and feebleness from the use of drugs, and, perhaps from a premature grave. God has strongly related man to life. If he will live in obedience to the laws of life, and give nature a chance, she will manifest her wondrous power in restoring the sick, and in preserving health to those who are well.

Continue reading: Flesh as Food for Man.