Chapter 7—Learning A New Lifestyle

Many factors common to New Englanders in the mid-nineteenth century determined their lifestyle:WV 101.1

1. Eating habits. There was very little store-bought food except meat, potatoes, salt, and sugar. Winters were long and cold. The people made up for the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables with rich breads and pastries. Cakes, pies, and doughnuts were common as breakfast foods. There were no vegetable oils or shortenings. Meat was expensive, and pork the most available.WV 101.2

2. Clothing. There was very little store-bought clothing. Cold winters necessitated heavy clothing and bedding.WV 101.3

3. No indoor plumbing. No electricity. No washing machines.WV 101.4

4. Heat. Homes were heated by wood-burning stoves and fireplaces. Windows were tightly closed at night. Night air was considered injurious.WV 101.5

5. Use of tea, coffee, alcohol, tobacco, and cider. These were just as habit-forming then as now. In lives with little recreation or change, they offered a solace of sorts!WV 101.6

6. Life expectancy. In 1900 in the United States the average was 47.3 years.WV 101.7

7. Proneness to disease. Caused by appalling ignorance of hygiene, sanitation, and the cause of sickness. The relation of diet and the care of the body to health and the causes of disease was not realized.WV 101.8

Quite early in the years following the Disappointment, as the believers met together there was recognition of the evils of liquor and tobacco. In 1851 one man wrote to Ellen White asking if she had seen in vision that it was wrong to use tobacco. She replied on December 14:WV 101.9

I have seen in vision that tobacco was a filthy weed, and that it must be laid aside or given up. Said my accompanying angel, “If it is an idol, it is high time it was given up, and unless it is given up, the frown of God will be upon the one that uses it....WV 101.10

I saw that Christ will have a church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing to present to His Father, ... as He leads us through the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem.... After Jesus has done so much for us, will anyone be undecided whether to deny himself of the filthy weed for His sake?WV 101.11

We must be perfect Christians, deny ourselves all the way along, tread the narrow, thorny pathway that our Jesus trod, and then if we are final overcomers, heaven, sweet heaven will be cheap enough (Letter 5, 1851).WV 102.1

Ellen White wrote understandingly of the struggle some will have to leave off the use of tobacco, and suggested that they do as S. W. Rhodes did when he was battling to break away from its use. “He called for the brethren to pray for him, and we did. He was cured and has desired none since.”WV 102.2

In 1856 there were a number of Sabbathkeeping Adventists still plagued with the use of tobacco in one form or another.WV 102.3

On February 7 the Review carried an article that included a compilation of statements by physicians on the use of tobacco. One in April written by J. N. Andrews, entitled “The Use of Tobacco a Sin Against God,” drove the matter home. In a short editorial, James White, in an indirect way, indicted a good many of his fellow church members. He inquired of those who claimed to be too poor to pay for the church paper, “Do you use tea, coffee, and tobacco?”WV 102.4

Then in 1861 when the matter of church organization began to crystallize, the question came up:WV 102.5

How do you manage in forming a church about taking in members who use tea, coffee, tobacco, and wear hoops, and some who do not believe in Sister White's visions? (The Review and Herald, November 5, 1861).WV 102.6

Loughborough worked very closely with James and Ellen White, and White was editor of the Review, where the answers would be published. So we may be certain there was some counseling together on these points—what appeared in print represented the mind of the three.WV 102.7

The reply was that no one, not even those who had been united in worshiping on Sabbath with a company of believers, should be taken into the church as a member unless he or she was in full harmony with the beliefs of the church.WV 102.8

It took time to lead people to recognize the importance of following sound health principles.WV 102.9