Messenger of the Lord

Adventist Life Style

These fundamental principles became the clear, sensible, practical outline of what has become known worldwide as the Seventh-day Adventist life style. ⁴⁵ Ellen White often amplified these core principles, probably most clearly in her 1905 volume, The Ministry of Healing. One of her graphic statements that has galvanized millions is: “Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, rest, exercise, proper diet, the use of water, trust in divine power—these are the true remedies.” ⁴⁶ MOL 284.25

For Adventists living in 1864, these health principles were indeed electrifying. Adventists had read and heard some of these principles before but not within Ellen White’s spiritual context. Furthermore, Adventists now had a concise, coherent outline of health laws separated from the excesses and frivolities of others who were promoting life style changes. MOL 284.26

The Whites knew that Adventists would need all the help possible in educating themselves and others concerning the laws of life. James White used the church paper to draw attention to books and lecturers then available that would support his wife’s first article on “Health“: “Our people are generally waking up to the subject of health.... And they should have publications on the subject to meet their present wants, at prices within the reach of the poorest.” ⁴⁷ MOL 284.27

He was referring to books by Mann, Jackson, Trall, Coles, Lewis, Shew, Graham, Alcott, and others. ⁴⁸ For years these writers had been trying to get the attention of their world. Each of them emphasized certain aspects of healthful living that Ellen White recommended. But their books were often technical, voluminous, costly, and, at times, merely personal opinion floating in oceans of verbiage. And none of them had placed healthful living within the context of the Third Angel’s Message, preparing a people to meet the Lord. MOL 284.28

So innovative James White moved ahead with his usual enthusiasm. He announced that since Adventists had an urgent need for health literature “to meet their present wants” and “at prices within the reach of the poorest,” six pamphlets were being prepared and would be published under the title, Health, or How to Live. Mrs. White would “furnish a liberal chapter in each number on health, happiness, and miseries of domestic life, and the bearing which these have upon the prospects of obtaining the life to come.” ⁴⁹ The six “chapters” unfolded the basic message of her earlier message, “Health.” In addition, in the second article Ellen White wrote specific counsel regarding the relationship between husbands and wives and the proper care of infants and young children. In article four she gave added counsel to those who cared for the sick. MOL 285.1

New material on the subject of dress for women and children appeared in the fifth and sixth articles. ⁵⁰ MOL 285.2