A Response to an Urgent Testimony
By Doctor Charles Stewart
8
A Catholic Woman Led Mrs. White to Quit The Use of Meat
HEALTH REFORM
Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 3, Nos. 21-25, p. 21, written in 1870:
"Above all things we should not with our pens advocate positions that we do not put to a practical test in our own families, upon our own tables. This is dissimulation, a species of hypocrisy." . . .
Testimony written Aug. 30, 1894:
"When the selfishness of taking the lives of animals to gratify perverted appetite was presented to me by a Catholic woman, I felt ashamed and distressed. I saw it in a new light, and I said, "I will no longer patronize the butcher, I will not have the flesh of slain animals on my table."
"We bear positive testimony against tobacco, spirituous liquors, snuff, tea, coffee, flesh meats, butter, spices, rich cakes, mince pies, a large amount of salt, and all other exciting substances used as articles of food."
Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2, No. 18, p. 487, written in 1868:
"I have a well-set table on all occasions. I make no change for visitors whether believers or unbelievers. . . . No butter or flesh meats of any kind come on my table."
Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2, No. 18, p. 371, written in 1869:
"I have not changed my course a particle since I adopted the health reform. I have not taken one back step since the light from heaven upon this subject first shone upon my pathway. I broke away from everything at once—from meat and butter and from three meals. . . . I left off these things from principle. I took my stand on health reform from principle and since that time, brethren, you have not heard me advance an extreme view of health reform that I have had to take back. I have advanced nothing but what I stand to to-day."
Sunnyside, Cooranbong, Oct. 5, 1898:
"I have had workmen clearing land, building houses, breaking up the soil, doing the hardest. kind of work, and these have sat at my table, but not a particle of meat has been upon my table in any shape for the last five years. I found that I could take no half and half ground I must be firm and decided in regard to my diet.
In the testimony written in 1868 you say, "No butter or flesh meats of any kind come on my table." In the testimony written the following year you state, "I have not changed my course a particle since I adopted the health reform. I have not taken one back step since the light from heaven upon this subject first shone upon my pathway. I broke away from everything at once— from meat and butter and from three meals. I left off these things from principle. I took my stand on health reform from principle and since that time, brethren, you have not heard me advance an extreme view of health reform that I have had to take back. I have advanced nothing but what I stand to to-day."
In 1894, you state, "When the selfishness of taking the lives of animals to gratify a perverted appetite was presented to me by a Catholic woman, I felt ashamed and distressed. I saw it in a new light, and I said, I will too longer patronize the butcher, I will not have the flesh of slain animals on my table."
Three parties, all Seventh-day Adventists, two of them officially connected with the denomination, state that for a number of years after you received the light on health reform, that you ate meat and oysters. Two of these persons within the past ninety days told me personally that you ate oysters in their own home, on one occasion as late as 1890. Another stated that he saw you eating oysters in a restaurant.
If you deny that you ate oysters and state that the statements of these two men are false, I will make an affidavit to this statement and give you the names of the two persons referred to so that they can be asked for an explanation.
In a testimony to Elders Irwin, Prescott, Waggoner, and Jones, Feb. 21, 1899, you state as follows: "Dr. Kellogg needs the help of those who will co-operate with him, who will counsel with him. He has these now, but those who do not accept the light God has given on health reform, who subsist on the flesh of dead animals, who use narcotics and stimulants, can not represent the truth to others. God gave the light on health reform, and those who rejected it rejected God."—Series B, No. 6, p. 31.
In patronizing the butcher and having meat on your table, were you in so doing practicing dissimulation, a species of hypocrisy in that you were advocating a position with your pen that you did not put to a practical test in your own family and upon your own table?
Since you ate meat and oysters after the "light on health reform first shone upon your pathway," and in so doing took a "backward step" and went contrary to the light God had given you on health reform, were you in doing this in the same position as those described in your testimony of Feb. 21, 1899 to Elders Irwin as follows: ". . . those who do not accept the light God has given on health reform, who subsist on the flesh of dead animals … can not represent the truth to others? —Series B, No. 6, p. 31.
" God gave the light on health reform and those who rejected it, rejected God."
During the period between 1868 and 1894 in which you ate meat and oysters and served meat on your table and in so doing, going contrary to the light God had given you—were your testimonies, other writings, and speeches just as truly and purely from the Lord as when you were living up to all the light you had?