2. Review and Herald—1867

We find another such effort in the The Review and Herald, October 8, 1867. There she gives answers to a series of questions that had been posed. Let’s look at them as she did.HPEGWW 9.3

The first question was: “Did you receive your views upon health reform before visiting the health institute at Dansville, New York, or before you had read works on the subject?” In reply, she pointed out that her vision on health reform came on June 6, 1863, and she said, “I did not visit Dansville till August, 1864, fourteen months after I had the view.” She adds, “I did not read any works upon health until I had written Spiritual Gifts, Volumes III and IV, Appeal to Mothers, and had sketched out most of my six articles in the six numbers of How to Live.”HPEGWW 9.4

Some readers had noticed similarities between her counsel and that of contemporary health reformers. She answered this question: “After I had written my six articles for How to Live, I then searched the various works on hygiene and was surprised to find them so nearly in harmony with what the Lord had revealed to me.” This suggests at least two important points: (1) truth was not always the exclusive possession of the prophet, and (2) that which is uninspired was tested by the inspired.HPEGWW 10.1

Another question was: “Does not the practice of the sisters in wearing their dresses nine inches from the floor contradict Testimony #11, which says they should reach somewhat below the top of a ladies’ gaiter boot? Does it not also contradict Testimony #10 which says they should clear the filth of the street an inch or two without being raised by the hand?”HPEGWW 10.2

She replied:HPEGWW 10.3

The proper distance from the bottom of the dress to the floor was not given to me in inches….I was not shown a ladies’ boot….but I was left to describe the length of the proper dress in my own language the best I could.—(Emphasis supplied)

She follows with the thought: “Having become fully satisfied that nine inches comes the nearest to the sample shown me, I have given this number of inches in [Testimony] #12, as the proper length in regard to which uniformity is very desirable.” An interesting insight into her method of writing!HPEGWW 10.4

She then talks of wearing a reform dress of her own design, and that many of the women “have received my testimony, and have followed my example from principle, and not as a result of being urged.” Another important point!HPEGWW 10.5

The fourth question in the article was: “Is there not danger of brethren and sisters taking extreme views of the health reform?” Her answer to this question is brief and direct: “This may be expected in all stirring reforms.” She follows with a rather pungent comment: “It is the duty of those everyway qualified to teach it, to make people believe and obey and all others should be silent and be taught.”HPEGWW 10.6

A fifth question: “Is there not danger of urging the health reform upon others before they are prepared to receive it?” Again her answer is to the point and direct: “There is.” She then reminds readers that the Lord gradually opened up this truth and “has led us with a gentle hand and tender care, step by step, until we have reached the reform in health.” She urges others to do the same. The counsel is still pertinent today!HPEGWW 11.1

The sixth question: “If the visions are so important for the church, why so long before the subject of health reform was brought out?” Her answer again illustrates her method of working. She says she “had written thousands of pages” since her last health vision of “personal testimony which most of our people know nothing about,” and “hundreds of letters relative to the establishment of a health institute of which still more are ignorant.” This reference to thousands of pages and hundreds of letters is interesting to us at the White Estate because all communication went out in handwritten form and was not preserved by Ellen White. But she does make an important point. She had been circulating the messages, the best way that she knew—by personal counsel.HPEGWW 11.2

A seventh and final question is a curious one. A Conference Committee asks about a rumor that she played certain games and that “you play checkers, and carry a checker board with you as you visit the brethren from place to place.” The reply is again very direct. She denies playing any of the games, stating that she does not even know “how to play the games mentioned.” She then proceeds to tell of her personal experience at Dansville, New York, a non-Adventist medical institution where she had taken her sick husband for treatment after a physical breakdown.HPEGWW 11.3

At this institution physical labor had been discouraged for invalids and playing cards, chess, checkers, and dancing had been urged as a means to restore health. This procedure she had been shown in vision to be false, and after a short stay at Dansville, she left. Within days after leaving, she had been shown again in vision (Dec 25, 1865) that Adventists should establish their own medical facilities with practices in harmony with what she had been shown. This included education as well as healing. The Western Health Reform Institute was opened in Battle Creek, and a health journal also appeared, both in that same year.HPEGWW 12.1

Her giving of context helps us to understand the counsel more clearly. The story of her personal efforts to bring her husband back to health is well known. This effort was made more difficult because of what her husband in his weakened condition accepted at Dansville.HPEGWW 12.2