The Story of our Health Message

Six Pamphlets on Health

The proposed series of six pamphlets soon appeared, bearing the title “Health, or How to Live.” According to a statement made some years later by Elder White, they “were devoted, one each, to the several questions of food, baths, drugs, air, clothing, and proper exercise. They each contained a lengthy article by Mrs. White on ‘Diseases and Their Causes.’ But they were made up chiefly from the most spirited and valuable articles and extracts from Trall, Jackson, Graham, Dio Lewis, Coles, Horace Mann, Gunn, and many others. A very large edition of these six pamphlets was printed, and a portion of the edition was bound in a neat volume, and has had a large sale. This work was readable and well adapted to the wants of the people. It has also had a wide circulation outside of Seventh-day Adventists, and its influence for good in calling the attention of the people to the subject of health reform can hardly be estimated.”—The Health Reformer, February, 1871. SHM 106.3

By the end of January, 1865, the first number was ready. In the first article, entitled “Sanctification,” Elder White set forth the close relationship of the physical and the spiritual. Six pages devoted to a report of the visit at Dansville concluded with the following counsel from Elder White: SHM 106.4

“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. SHM 107.1

“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.”—How to Live 1:18. SHM 107.2