Purpose and Objectives of Seventh-day Adventist Institutions

2. Medical: Battle Creek Sanitarium

In a vision which came to Ellen White December 25, 1865 at Rochester, New York, the Lord gave instruction which led to the founding of our first medical institution in Battle Creek. POSDAI 64.3

“I was shown that our Sabbathkeeping people have been negligent in acting upon the light which God has given in regard to the health reform; that there is yet a great work before us; and that, as a people, we have been too backward to follow in God’s opening providence, as He has chosen to lead us….While some feel deeply and act out their faith in the work, others remain indifferent and have scarcely taken the first step in reform.—Testimonies for the Church 1:485, 486. (First published in January, 1867.)”—The Story of Our Health Message, 140. POSDAI 64.4

She then wrote of plans that should be formulated and carried out in the creation of our first health institution: POSDAI 64.5

“‘I was shown that we should provide a home for the afflicted and those who wish to learn how to take care of their bodies that they may prevent sickness….

“‘Sabbathkeepers should open a way for those of like precious faith to be benefited without their being under the necessity of expending their means at institutions where their faith and religious principles are endangered, and where they can find no sympathy or union in religious matters….

“‘Our people should have an institution of their own, under their own control, for the benefit of the diseased and suffering among us, who wish to have health and strength that they may glorify God in their bodies and spirits which are His.’—Testimonies for the Church 1:489-492.”—The Story of Our Health Message, 142.

Note that the institution to be built was to be a place of healing and an educational center “for the afflicted and those who wish to learn how to take care of their bodies that they may prevent sickness.” POSDAI 65.1

To Seventh-day Adventists it was to be an “institution of their own, under their own control.” This is an important point to remember—“under their own control.” It was to be uniquely an Adventist institution, “an institution of their own.” POSDAI 65.2

Those who were ill among Seventh-day Adventists were to be benefited by this institution. It was to be operated for the world, to be sure, but Seventh-day Adventists were also to be included as the beneficiaries of this institution—the Adventist sick were to come here for healing as well as others. At that time Adventists were nearly as ignorant of the laws of health as were their neighbors and friends not of their own faith. POSDAI 65.3

Dores Robinson wrote also of the early days of the institution which was founded September 5, 1866, in Battle Creek: POSDAI 65.4

“Two months after the opening of the institution, Dr. Lay reported its prosperity as ‘far beyond our most sanguine expectations.’ Patients had been received from ‘Canada, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa,’ and it had become necessary to secure rooms nearby for such as were able to walk a short distance, leaving the rooms in the main building for the accommodations of the more feeble ones. (The Health Reformer, November, 1866.)

“At the inception of this enterprise, at the very time when it was so signally blessed of God, and when the people were enthusiastically rising to its support, there came counsels from a divine source, calling for the maintenance of the high standard that had been adopted at that time. Mrs. White wrote with seeming foresight of the perils of the future, saying:

“‘I saw that in an institution established among us, the greatest danger would be of its managers departing from the spirit of the present truth, and from that simplicity which should ever characterize the disciples of Christ.’”—Testimonies for the Church 1:560. (Italics mine.)

“‘God forbid,’ she added, that the patients ‘should ever be disappointed and grieved in finding the managers of the institute working only from a worldly standpoint, instead of adding to the hygienic practice the blessings and virtues of nursing fathers and mothers in Israel.’—Testimonies for the Church 1:561.”—The Story of Our Health Message, 154, 155.

The influence of Battle Creek was not to be limited or restricted or circumscribed. All were to benefit by its healing ministry—Adventists and non-Adventists. The institution was intended to be a denominational enterprise and under denominational ownership and control. That there was a well-defined purpose both for members and for nonmembers of the church is clearly set forth in these words from the Spirit of Prophecy: POSDAI 66.1

“Our people should have an institution of their own, under their own control, for the benefit of the diseased and suffering among us who wish to have health and strength that they may glorify God in their bodies and spirits, which are His. Such an institution, rightfully conducted, would be the means of bringing our views before many whom it would be impossible for us to reach by the common course of advocating the truth. As unbelievers shall resort to an institution devoted to the successful treatment of disease and conducted by Sabbathkeeping physicians, they will be brought directly under the influence of the truth. By becoming acquainted with our people and our real faith, their prejudice will be overcome and they will be favorably impressed. By thus being placed under the influence of truth, some will not only obtain relief from bodily infirmities, but will find a healing balm for their sin-sick souls.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:492, 493. (Italics ours.)

It is well known that a health institution at Dansville, New York, which practiced good hygienic principles of treatment was available for the sick among Seventh-day Adventists, but the card playing and dancing, the attendance at theatrical performances, the advocacy of extremes in dress reform, etc., were not beneficial, but rather detrimental to health building. The religious influences were not such as to promote genuine health. In writing regarding these convictions that she had concerning the Dansville institution, good as it was in many ways, Mrs. White said: POSDAI 66.2

“We should provide a home for the afflicted and those who wish to learn how to take care of their bodies that they may prevent sickness….Sabbathkeepers should open the way for those of like precious faith to be benefited without their being under the necessity of spending their means at institutions where their faith and religious principles are endangered, and where they can find no sympathy or union in religious matters.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:489, 490.

The Western Health Reform Institute therefore, created by Seventh-day Adventists in 1866, was really a reaction to Dansville! Our institution was to be a church institution in which hygienic principles and good medicine as we might call it today, would be practiced, and also in a larger sense where high religious principles and lofty ideals could be maintained both by the lives of the sanitarium personnel who had to do with the personal treatment of the patients and also freely advocated as a way of life in the institution itself. In other words the sanitarium was to be a healing institution, an educational center, where the light and the knowledge of Christian principles combined with healthful principles could be taught side by side. The institution was to be a Bethel, a “house of God.” (See Testimonies for the Church 6:252.) POSDAI 67.1

These principles have ever been held before sanitarium leaders down through the century. Seventh-day Adventist institutions have been able to preserve a strong religious influence in their own environment. Secularization of these Christian health centers would cloud the scene and obscure the light of heaven. POSDAI 67.2

In honor of the occasion of the celebration of the centennial of the Battle Creek Sanitarium September 5, 1966, the House of Representatives of the State of Michigan passed a resolution, No. 470, a tribute to the Battle Creek institution, its objectives, and its long record of service. Note this key “whereas”: “Whereas, its original focus on treating indissolubly the mind, body and spirit of each patient is the Sanitarium’s keystone, vindicated fully in current medical knowledge and practice, surviving as long as humankind; now therefore be it resolved by the house of representatives, that by these presents there is offered a tribute of esteem and gratitude of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and its administrators and staff,” etc. POSDAI 67.3

The world about us knows that the “keystone” of success in all Seventh-day Adventist medical practice is in our historical three dimensional treating of the whole man—mind, body and spirit—thus making man whole. To be concerned with mind and body cures alone is inadequate. POSDAI 68.1

A clue to the purpose of all Seventh-day Adventist sanitariums and hospitals is found in these words already alluded to: POSDAI 68.2

“Every sanitarium established among Seventh-day Adventists should be made a Bethel. All who are connected with this branch of the work should be consecrated to God.”—Testimonies for the Church 6:252.

The word Bethel means house of God (Genesis 28:10-22; John 1:51). The sanitarium is to be a place where the ladder of Jacob has a firm footing on earth and is connected with heaven. The angels of God ascend with the prayers of patients and sanitarium personnel and the answers come down on this ladder, which is Jesus Christ. The idea of the sanitarium being a house of prayer is illuminating—prayer for the sick who are ill in body, mind and in spirit, with the healing of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit supplementing the best medical practice as the answer. See Appendix A “A Distinctly Seventh-day Adventist Institution.” POSDAI 68.3

In a letter to M. G. Kellogg, first medical director of the Sydney Sanitarium in Australia, Mrs. White wrote: POSDAI 69.1

“Those who have no burning desire to save souls are not the ones to connect with our sanitariums.”—Letter 159, 1902. (Medical Ministry, 191)

“A work of reformation is to be carried on in our institutions. Physicians, workers, nurses, are to realize that they are on probation, on trial for their present life, and for that life which measures with the life of God. We are to put every faculty to the stretch in order to bring saving truths to the attention of suffering human beings. This must be done in connection with the work of healing the sick. Then the cause of truth will stand before the world in the strength which God designs it to have. Through the influence of sanctified workers the truth will be magnified. It will go forth ‘as a lamp that burneth.’”—Testimonies for the Church 6:253.

In the year 1900 the following appeared from the pen of Sister White (note the emphasis upon combining “scientific ability,” “spiritual power,” and “reform”) POSDAI 69.2

“The Lord years ago gave me special light in regard to the establishment of a health institution where the sick could be treated on altogether different lines from those followed in any other institution in our world. It was to be founded and conducted upon Bible principles, as the Lord’s instrumentality, and it was to be in His hands one of the most effective agencies for giving light to the world. It was God’s purpose that it should stand forth with scientific ability, with moral and spiritual power, and as a faithful sentinel of reform in all its bearings. All who should act a part in it were to be reformers, having respect to its principles, and heeding the light of health reform shining upon us as a people.

“God designed that the institution which He should establish should stand forth as a beacon of light, of warning and reproof. He would prove to the world that an institution conducted on religious principles, as an asylum for the sick, could be sustained without sacrificing its peculiar, holy character; that it could be kept free from the objectionable features found in other health institutions. It was to be an instrumentality for bringing about great reforms.”—Testimonies for the Church 6:223.