Our Pioneers and the Task They Faced

One-hundred-fifteen years ago this coming October, the third angel’s message began to sound. In the providence of God and in the fulfillment of prophecy, in the years closely following 1844, there came into being the Seventh-day Adventist church. In 1848, at the five notable Sabbath conferences, there were brought together and bound together the truths we hold so dearly today. And there began to dawn upon our forefathers their responsibility to proclaim the message—to give to others the truths so dear to their hearts. Their numbers were so few. Their resources so small. Their task so large. “We have the truth,” they declared, “and we know it.” But what could they do with it? They were just a little scattered group of men and women in poverty and widely separated. Communications was their problem. The first efforts were through the spoken word in personal visitation. And when opportunity afforded, in preaching.SPCSSW 3.1

And then the message was sent out through the printed page. Of the beginnings of our publishing work we might say much. “I have a message for you,” said Ellen White to her husband, after the important vision at Dorchester, Massachusetts in November 1848, “You must begin to print a little paper and send it out to the people. Let it be small at first; but as the people read, they will send you means with which to print, and it will be a success from the first. From this small beginning it was shown to me to be like streams of light that went clear round the world.” (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 125.)SPCSSW 3.2

The next major step was the health reform and our medical work. First, for the benefit of the members of the church, and then as a means of evangelism, Seventh-day Adventists were led into the health reform and the health work. It was in 1848 that light was given that called our people away from the use of tobacco, tea, and coffee. Then in 1854 our attention was directed to cleanliness and the importance of a simple and natural diet. But it was not until shortly after the organization of the General Conference in 1863, that the comprehensive health reform vision was given, calling for sweeping reforms in the treatment of the sick and in the dietetic practices and health habits of the people. There was an immediate response to the light given. And gradually most of the 3,500 Seventh-day Adventists changed their ways of life, and benefited greatly thereby.SPCSSW 3.3

On Christmas day, 1865, a vision was given to Ellen White calling for the establishment of a health institution. Here are the words:SPCSSW 3.4

“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.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:489.

This institution, established essentially to serve Seventh-day Adventists and then the world, soon became an important adjunct to the work of the church. For, stated Ellen White, “The great object of receiving unbelievers into the institution is to lead them to embrace the truth.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:560. As the medical work of the church grew, the objectives were more clearly delineated. And these may be summed up as: first, the relief of the infirmities of mankind (vol. 1, page 494); second, to learn how to care for the body so as to prevent sickness (vol. 1, page 489); third, good public relations—to create an atmosphere favorable for the reception of the truths we hold (Counsels on Health, 271). And, fourth, to acquaint men and women with the third angel’s message. This Ellen White emphasized again and again in such statements as the following:SPCSSW 3.5

“It is to save the souls, as well as to cure the bodies, of men and women, that at much expense our sanitariums are established.... The establishment of sanitariums is a providential arrangement, whereby people from all churches are to be reached and made acquainted with the truth for this time.”—Counsels on Health, 470.

With the medical work well established, and with the church about to launch into a world-wide mission program, there was a call for the development of institutions for the training of our youth for this life and for the life to come. Workers must receive an adequate training for service. This called first of all for a college, then for academies and church schools. The fruit of this line of endeavor is so abundant and so apparent that we need not linger on this point.SPCSSW 4.1