The Story of our Health Message

An Official Response

At the conclusion of Mrs. White’s stirring address before the conference assembly, the delegates and others present indicated by a rising vote their acceptance of the counsel and pledged themselves to endeavor to walk in the light. The official action covering this response appears in the conference minutes as follows: SHM 145.3

“WHEREAS, the subject of health is now attracting much attention among us as a people, and we are now learning the great truth that the proper way to avoid disease, or to recover from it, is to adopt correct habits of life, therefore SHM 146.1

“Resolved, That this conference request our Brother Dr. H. S. Lay, whom we deem fully competent so to do, to furnish through the Review a series of articles on the health reform. SHM 146.2

“Resolved, That we acknowledge the health reform as set forth in the testimony of Sister White, as part of the work of God incumbent on us at this time; and that we pledge ourselves to live in accordance with these principles, and that we will use our best endeavors to impress their importance upon others.”—The Review and Herald, May 22, 1866. SHM 146.3

These resolutions reveal a profound conviction on the part of those present that the light on health reform was of paramount importance. Not only did the ministers pledge themselves to adopt “correct habits of life,” but to assume the work of education in these principles as a “part of the work of God incumbent” on them. To this cause they promised their “best endeavors,” and the story of the ensuing year bears witness to their faithfulness in fulfilling these resolutions. SHM 146.4

It is frequently the case that men would be better esteemed if judged by their resolutions rather than by their subsequent actions. But in some respects the framers of these resolutions did far more than they specifically pledged themselves to do. One will indeed look through the Review and Herald in vain for the proposed series of articles on health reform by Dr. H. S. Lay. Instead of this, however, the readers of that paper soon saw Dr. Lay’s name as editor of a new sixteen-page monthly periodical called The Health Reformer, which was issued at the Western Health Reform Institute in Battle Creek, Michigan. SHM 146.5

The two names—The Health Reformer and Health Reform Institute—then added to the vocabulary of Seventh-day Adventists sprang quickly into their speech and their writings. In his prospectus for The Health Reformer, Dr. Lay stated that its purpose was “to aid in the great work of reforming, as far as possible, the false habits of life so prevalent at the present day.” It would advocate the cure of diseases, not by a single means, but by the “use of nature’s own remedies, air, light, heat, exercise, food, sleep, recreation, etc.” It would conscientiously hold up to light the “best methods, so far as ascertained,” for maintaining health, in order that man might glorify God in body as well as in spirit, “both of which are equally His, and should be regulated according to His will.” “In short,” concludes the statement, “we aim to publish a first-class health journal, interesting in its variety, valuable in its instructions, and second to none in either literary or mechanical execution.”—The Review and Herald, June 5, 1866. SHM 147.1