Sister White

Chapter Seven—Care for Your Body

Nobody ever knows everything. It is good to know little at first, and to learn a little more every day. That is the way children grow in knowledge and wisdom and grace, and that too is the way older people grow. You remember the Bible says that Jesus, when a boy, “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” SWhite 60.1

It is not good to stay in ignorance. There is so much we need to know and do to keep ourselves in health of body and mind, and to do the work God has given, that no one can afford to waste any time. The Lord has been very good to give us the light of life, and whoever loves darkness rather than light despises the goodness of God. We are to fill our minds with good and useful knowledge, and then use it. We are to delight our souls with beauty and purity and love, and so to serve others and to please God. We are to know the laws of health and keep our bodies in the best possible state, as temples for the Spirit of God. SWhite 60.2

When James and Ellen White began to teach this truth they did not know all truth. They did not know the laws of health and how to keep themselves in good condition. In that they were like the people around them. Their parents had not taught them, because their parents did not know. And even the doctors in that time knew very little about the laws of health. Instead of teaching people how to live, they waited until they were sick, and then they gave them pills and pills and more pills. There was a great deal for people to learn, and the Lord was ready to teach them. SWhite 60.3

One man whom the Lord taught very early how to live, was Joseph Bates. He had been a sea captain, sailing ships over the ocean; and sailors were not noted for good habits. But Captain Bates longed to know the Lord, and the Lord taught him. Almost everybody, and sailors especially, drank alcoholic liquors—wine, rum, or whisky; but Captain Bates saw what great harm it did to people, and with the Lord’s help he gave up drink. He formed one of the first temperance societies in America, and sought to get others to give up drinking. A good many did too. SWhite 61.1

Then he decided that tobacco was bad. He had smoked and chewed tobacco, but he saw it was a filthy habit, and he threw his cigars and all his tobacco into the sea. Then he found that drinking tea or coffee kept him awake at night, and he gave them up. SWhite 62.1

After a while he discovered that eating hog’s flesh was forbidden by the Bible, and he stopped eating that. It was not long until he gave up eating all meat. For a while he lived on only bread and water; and like the four Hebrew children in Babylon, he “appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.” But pretty soon he learned that the fruits and vegetables as well as the grains, which in the beginning God gave to man for food, were just as good for him as for Adam. SWhite 62.2

And, do you know, Joseph Bates had the best health of anybody around. When the third angel’s message began he was twice as old as young James and Ellen White and most of the others. But for all that, he was stronger and more enduring than any of them. He was almost never sick, and if he did get a fever, he was quickly over it. So they had much to learn from Brother Bates. SWhite 62.3

They were rather slow in learning, though. They were so busy doing the Lord’s work that they didn’t take time to learn His will about caring for their bodies. They worked too long, often going without sleep when they should have been asleep, and so they overtaxed their strength. They ate whatever they liked, including a great deal of meat and fried things, pickles, and sugary pies and cakes. Everybody did as everyone else did, and nobody knew any better. SWhite 62.4

Of course they didn’t drink wine, cider or whisky, and they didn’t use tobacco. They were ahead of Joseph Bates in refraining from those things, because once he had used them. And soon they learned from him to give up tea and coffee. But they all kept on eating the wrong things, and they continued to overwork. So they were sick much of the time. SWhite 63.1

However, they began to see the bad effects of drugs in sickness. So when, in the winter of 1863, two of Brother and Sister White’s children fell ill with diphtheria (dif-ther-i-a), they did not call a drug-dosing doctor; but Sister White nursed them through their illness, with water treatments, liquid food, fresh air, and good care. Other children in the neighborhood fell ill with diphtheria, and Sister White was called to give them the same treatment. They all got well. SWhite 63.2

Then came summer. In June, Brother and Sister White, with some others, drove from Battle Creek up to Otsego, Michigan, where two ministers were holding a tent meeting. All the workers gathered at the beginning of the Sabbath in the farmhouse of Aaron Hilliard, where they held a prayer meeting. In the midst of the meeting, while Sister White was praying, she was taken into vision, and the Lord gave her a wonderful message on health. SWhite 63.3

This message laid the foundation for the great and blessed health work, which has ever since been a part of the mission of Seventh-day Adventists. “We have a duty,” said Sister White, “to come out against intemperance of every kind—intemperance in work, in eating, in drinking, in drugging; and then point them to God’s great medicine, water, pure, soft water, in diseases, for health, for cleanliness, for luxury.” SWhite 64.1

In diet, the message said that we should leave off meat of every kind, and fried foods, rich pies, and so on, and go back to the simple fare that God gave in the beginning, of fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables. Drinks may include milk (when it is pure and clean) and fruit juices, but best of all, pure water. SWhite 64.2

There should be perfect cleanliness, with frequent baths, clean and neat persons, homes, and grounds. Clothing should be simple, neat, and healthful. The fashions of that day had many things in dress that were wrong and harmful, and so too are some of the fashions today. God made for us beautiful bodies, and the less we deck them with foolish frills and jewelry and paint, like the heathen, the more pleasing we make ourselves and the better able we are to give God’s message. SWhite 64.3

It is good to work. God gave man work to keep him out of mischief. It helps to keep children out of mischief too; so children should have work suited to their age and strength. And, of course, work is what keeps the world going. But we should not overwork, and we should have recreation. SWhite 64.4

Do you know what that big word means? Look! The last part of it is creation, and the first part of it, re means “again.” So recreation (pronounced rek-re-a-shun) is really re-cre-a-shun, a creating again. SWhite 65.1

God created us in the beginning, and so our bodies and souls are the creation of God. Now, when a part of one’s body becomes tired, or a part of one’s brain becomes tired, it needs to be re-created; and that is recreation. By using other parts of the body or mind we let the tired parts grow strong again. It is the power of God in our bodies and our minds that does this, but we help Him by following His rules of recreation. SWhite 65.2

It is very foolish for us to drug ourselves when we are tired. And it is very foolish to wear ourselves out with the kinds of play that tear down our bodies and our minds, instead of building them up. We need recreation, but we must be sure that it is true recreation. SWhite 65.3

The soothing influence of nature is a means of true recreation—watching, listening, studying, helping, playing, working. And listening to the sound of good music is recreation. The reading of the Bible and other good literature is also recreation. We can run and jump and climb and shout and lift and throw and catch, and do all sorts of things, and be recreated. But sometimes just to sit still and think is recreation too. Well, Sister White wrote about all these things, and she taught the people the way to obey the Word of the Lord. The message that came to her changed her own way of living in some things. She stopped eating meat and fried foods and sugary things, and she came back to a simple diet of fruits, grains and vegetables. SWhite 65.4

Then pretty soon, in about three years, she got the church to start a health home, or sanitarium, to cure sick people and to teach them the laws of health. The Health Reform Institute, which was afterward named Battle Creek Sanitarium, was started in 1866. And at the same time they began printing a health magazine called the Health Reformer. We have had health magazines ever since, which teach the laws of health to all who will read. And we have opened many sanitariums, health homes, and treatment rooms, so that wherever the message of Jesus’ coming goes, around the world, the message of caring for our bodies goes with it. SWhite 66.1

The Bible tells us that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that if any man defiles this temple, he shall be destroyed. God tells us how to keep this temple pure and clean, and He tells how to build it up if any part becomes weak. SWhite 66.2

This is the message that God gave to Sister White on June 6, 1863, in the house of Aaron Hilliard, at Otsego, Michigan. And this is the message that Jesus gives to us, to help us onward and upward in the cause of God: Care for your body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. SWhite 66.3