Selected Messages Book 3

Section 8—The Health Reform

Introduction

While there is much in the E. G. White published works dealing with health and health reform, no one statement from her pen recounts the giving of the early visions on this subject. These may be noted as coming to her in 1848, 1854, and 1863. For information that there was a vision touching health points in 1848 we must turn to a James White statement in The Review and Herald, November 8, 1870, in which he declares: 3SM 272.1

“It was twenty-two years ago the present autumn, that our minds were called to the injurious effects of tobacco, tea, and coffee, through the testimony of Mrs. [White].... 3SM 272.2

“When we had gained a good victory over these things, and when the Lord saw that we were able to bear it, light was given relative to food and dress.” 3SM 272.3

The broadening counsel on cleanliness and diet is found in a testimony written in 1854. Specific reference to the June 6, 1863, health-reform vision is given in E. G. White answers to certain questions published in The Review and Herald, October 8, 1867. 3SM 272.4

The growing interest in such details as are here revealed justifies the inclusion of these items in this volume, even though they are somewhat irregular in form. 3SM 272.5

The repeated statements of her nondependence on contemporary health writers are significant not only in a discussion of how the light came to her on health reform but in a study of her work generally. 3SM 272.6

The 1881 statement on the proper use of the testimonies on health reform shows a careful balance in her work in teaching health principles. 3SM 272.7

White Trustees.