It was early in the morning at Elmshaven, Ellen White’s residence in northern California. As usual, she was up before sunrise, writing and working on her manuscripts. Although she was seventy-seven years of age, her pen was still busy sending messages and writing books and articles, just as she had been shown. This year, 1905, climaxing more than forty years as a popular speaker on health and temperance subjects, Mrs. White was putting the final details into her monument on health. Called The Ministry of Healing, this 500-page book was destined to reach around the world with translations into several major languages, a medical and health book that would never really go out-of-date.
The early experiences of Ellen White and her family in the use of natural remedies were born of necessity. Many common infectious diseases were taking their toll. Persons in the prime of life succumbed to what today would be called “minor illnesses.” Vaccinations were not yet available. Antibiotics were decades in the future. Antisepsis and skilled hospital care were in their infancy. And so diphtheria, pneumonia, typhoid, tuberculosis, and many other devastating diseases ripped into families, snuffing out lives of babies and children, as well as of parents.
It was fortunate for the struggling group of pioneer Seventh-day Adventists that light was given in regard to healthful living. One of Ellen White’s earliest published health series comprised six articles, one for each of a series of pamphlets compiled from various writers and called How to Live. In light of today’s modern science, it is amazing how accurate each observation was, down to minute clinical details. In that Victorian age, antedating modern scientific discoveries, the use of toxic drugs was widespread. Physicians understood little of physiology, let alone nutrition. Their scientific training was often confined to a few weeks of formal study, plus a short apprenticeship. A popular misconception prevailed that their drugs cured disease.
From this unusually gifted woman, writing in the prime of motherhood and a happy marriage, there came as a medical bombshell the words, “Drugs never cure disease. They only change the form and location. Nature alone is the effectual restorer, and how much better could she perform her task if left to herself.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 451. Her statement challenged the entire medical profession to come up with better answers. Fortunately, some solutions were found.
In upstate New York, even before the Civil War, Dr. James C. Jackson was receiving publicity for his unusual cures in “Our Home on the Hillside.” One of the leading water-cure institutions in America, this center at Dansville, New York, developed hydrotherapy (the treatment of disease by the external use of water) to a science, and in combination with natural foods and rest, achieved amazing results. Patients from all over the East came in search of health and restoration. Shortly after the close of the Civil War, Seventh-day Adventists would have their own institution, located in Battle Creek, Michigan. Originally the “Western Health Reform Institute,” the name was changed after ten years to the “Battle Creek Sanitarium.” Under Dr. John Harvey Kellogg’s dynamic and enthusiastic leadership, it became the pacesetter of the world in hydrotherapy and natural healing.
But it is to Ellen White that this natural-healing movement is primarily indebted for insights on health with a balance seldom manifested by fledgling idealists. Drugs such as mercury, calomel, opium, and nux vomica (the source of strychnine) were commonly used for all manner of diseases. It was thought that the hand of “Providence” and “Divine Grace” permitted the sufferer to go finally to his rest. But in Ellen White’s articles the curtain was pulled aside, and the finger of guilt clearly pointed to such toxic and destructive drugs as the culprit in too many premature deaths.
Charcoal
Then there was her experience with charcoal. On one occasion powdered charcoal was put into water and given to a man sick with dysentery. Upon drinking this mixture, the patient improved within a half hour. Poultices of powdered charcoal mixed with flaxseed were successfully used on painful swellings, bruises and boils. Writing to Dr. Kellogg, Ellen White shared this advice: “One of the most beneficial remedies is pulverized charcoal, placed in a bag and used in fomentations. This is a most successful remedy. If wet with smartweed, boiled, it is still better.” [Smartweed is a summertime plant commonly found in open fields. It induces dilation of blood capillaries in the skin and makes the treatment even more effective.] Selected Messages, Book 2, 294. Also, “The most severe inflammation of the eyes will be relieved by a poultice of charcoal, put in a bag, and dipped in hot or cold water, as will best suit the case. This works like a charm.” The Place of Herbs in Rational Therapy, 144. And with a bit of humor, always understanding as to the prejudices of her audience, she added, “I will expect you will laugh at this; but if I could give this remedy some outlandish name that no one knew but myself, it would have greater influence.” Ibid.
The list of simple remedies used by Ellen White goes on and on. We cite them only to observe that these remedies, though a legacy from a former generation, are being rediscovered by medical science today. Emergency rooms a decade ago were stocked with the “universal antidote” for the treatment of poisoning. Now all contain activated charcoal.
Balanced Counsels
In her emphasis on the simple, readily available remedies Ellen White was not against the progress in scientific medicine. On one occasion she even wrote to Dr. D. H. Kress, “There is one thing that has saved life—an infusion of blood from one person to another; but this would be difficult and perhaps impossible for you to do. I merely suggest it.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 303. How interesting to find such a modern lifesaving measure suggested to a physician even before blood typing and crossmatching had been conceived!
Ellen White also took some X-ray treatments for a skin cancer and was grateful for the successful results. However, the therapeutic use of radiation was still in its infancy and she cautioned physicians to be careful about X-rays, for she had been shown their dangers.
The climax of Ellen White’s counsels on healthful living, mentioned earlier, was The Ministry of Healing published in 1905.
“The only hope of better things is in the education of the people in right principles. Let physicians teach the people that restorative power is not in drugs, but in nature. Disease is an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the laws of health. In case of sickness, the cause should be ascertained. Unhealthful conditions should be changed, wrong habits corrected. Then nature is to be assisted in her effort to expel impurities and to re-establish right conditions in the system.” The Ministry of Healing, 127.
Ellen White always offered “something better,” and some of the natural remedies recommended, often summarized as “nature’s eight doctors,” are as follows:
“Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, rest, exercise, proper diet, the use of water, trust in divine power—these are the true remedies. Every person should have a knowledge of nature’s remedial agencies and how to apply them. It is essential both to understand the principles involved in the treatment of the sick and to have a practical training that will enable one rightly to use this knowledge.
“The use of natural remedies requires an amount of care and effort that many are not willing to give. Nature’s process of healing and upbuilding is gradual, and to the impatient it seems slow. The surrender of hurtful indulgences requires sacrifice. But in the end it will be found that nature, untrammeled, does her work wisely and well. Those who persevere in obedience to her laws will reap the reward in health of body and health of mind.” Ibid. [Emphasis supplied.]
Perspective
In the last few years scientific research has demonstrated much value in each of these remedies. Physical exercise is definitely a lifesaver, with today’s trend toward moderation. Walking is not only safer, but even more healthful than marathons, triathlons, and competitive body building. And Ellen White’s concerns about the influence of coffee on the heart have been validated. Injurious addictive properties in opiates are unquestioned. Tobacco is under attack by major health organizations, even the AMA (American Medical Association). And smoking is even recognized as a potential cause of the sudden-infant-death syndrome. In 1864 Ellen White said:
“The infant lungs suffer, and become diseased by inhaling the atmosphere of a room poisoned by the tobacco-user’s tainted breath. Many infants are poisoned beyond remedy by sleeping in beds with their tobacco-using fathers. By inhaling the poisonous tobacco effluvia, which is thrown from the lungs and the pores of the skin, the system of the infant is filled with the poison. While it acts upon some as a slow poison, it affects the brain, heart, liver, and lungs, and they waste away and fade gradually, upon others it has a more direct influence, causing spasms, fits, paralysis, palsy, and sudden death.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 467.
Yes, second-hand smoke, side-stream smoke, even the body odor of smokeless tobacco users is hazardous to your health.
Scientists and public health authorities all vote for fresh air, adequate ventilation, vaccinations (see Selected Messages, Book 2, 303), and regular bathing—measures that were little understood or appreciated in her day, but which Ellen White was promoting a century ago.
Nutritionists agree that reducing the amount of fat in the diet, cutting down on salt, and using less sugar are sensible preventive measures against heart disease and cancer. Growing numbers of vegetarians are evidence of concern regarding inadequate animal-inspection standards and burgeoning diseases. What Ellen White has written is as current as tomorrow in the area of diet.
“Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design—that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 380.
“From the light God has given me, the prevalence of cancers and tumors is largely due to gross living on dead flesh.” Ibid., 388.
How could she consistently be on the right side of issues that were largely unknown, not only to her, but also to the medical and scientific community of her day? One of her oft-used expressions, “The Lord has shown me,” reveals the source of her remarkable insights.
For this reason her books are enthusiastically sought and read, inspiring health professionals and instructing everyone, while increasing our confidence in the spiritual gift possessed by this remarkable American woman. It is one thing to be a pioneer; it is another to be a pacesetter. In Ellen White you will find the best of both combined.
Recommendations to Reduce Cancer Risk |
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| Summarized from American Cancer Society and National Academy of Science Publications | Information provided more than a century ago through the writings of Ellen G. White |
| 1. Eat plenty of high fiber foods such as whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables. | 1896: “Cancers, tumors, and all inflammatory diseases are largely caused by meat eating. From the light God has given me, the prevalence of cancer and tumors is largely due to gross living on dead flesh.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 388. |
| 2. Eat plenty of foods that are high in vitamins A and C, such as dark green and deep yellow vegetables, citrus fruits, and yellow/orange fruits. | 1896: “Both the blood and the fat of animals are consumed as a luxury. But the Lord gave special directions that these should not be eaten. Why? Because their use would make a diseased current of blood in the human system. The disregard for the Lord’s special directions has brought a variety of difficulties and diseases upon human beings.” Ibid., 393, 394. |
| 3. Eat more cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower). | 1905: “Fine-flour bread is lacking in nutritive elements to be found in bread made from whole wheat.” The Ministry of Healing, 300. |
| 4. Maintain proper body weight. | 1890: “Fruits, grains, and vegetables, prepared in a simple way, free from spice and grease of all kinds, make, with milk or cream, the most healthful diet.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 314. |
| 5. Reduce dietary fat intake to no more than 30 per cent of total calories. | 1871: “Alcohol and tobacco pollute the blood of men, and thousands of lives are yearly sacrificed to these poisons.” Temperance, 57. |
| 6. Avoid salt-cured, smoked and nitrite-cured meats. | 1905: “Tobacco is a slow, insidious, but most malignant poison.” The Ministry of Healing, 327.
*Later, Mrs White wrote: “Let the people be taught how to prepare food without the use of milk or butter. Tell them that the time will soon come when there will be no safety in using eggs, milk, cream, or butter, because disease in animals is increasing in proportion to the increase of wickedness among men.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 346. |
| 7. Don’t smoke. | |
| 8. Alcohol is not recommended, but if it is used, go easy on consumption, especially if you also smoke or chew tobacco. | |
| 9. Guard against overexposure to sunlight. | |
Health for Today, Hope International, 1991, Richard A. Hansen, M.D., 18–20.
Dr. Richard Hansen is a family medicine doctor in Creswell, Oregon. He received his medical degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 20 years. He was formerly the Medical Director of Wildwood Lifestyle Center and Hospital.