St. Helena, California, February 16, 1901
(HFM 27)
Last night I seemed to be speaking to our people, telling them that, as Seventh-day Adventists, we must cultivate love, patience, and true courtesy. Jesus will strengthen the leaders of His people if they will learn of Him. God’s people must strive to reach the very highest standard of excellence. Especially should those who are medical missionaries manifest in spirit, word, and character that they are following Christ Jesus, the divine Model of medical missionary effort.
(HFM 27.1)
I have a most earnest desire that in every place the work shall be carried forward in accordance with His commands. I see trouble ahead as high as mountains for our people in the way in which some things are now being done, and especially in regard to the health food business. As we advance we shall have to meet very difficult problems of human invention, which will bring much perplexity. Scheming tends to dishonesty.
(HFM 27.2)
With great skill, and with painstaking effort, Dr. Kellogg and his associates have prepared a special line of health foods. Their chief motive has been to benefit humanity, and God’s blessing has rested upon their efforts. If they follow in the counsel of God, if they walk after the example of Christ, they will continue to advance; for God will give skill and understanding to those who seek Him unselfishly. In many respects improvements can be made in the health foods sent out from our factories. The Lord will teach His servants how to make food preparations that are more simple and less expensive. There are many whom He will teach in this line if they will walk in His counsel, and in harmony with their brethren.
(HFM 27.3)
To Our Brethren in All Lands
The Lord has instructed me to say that He has not confined to a few persons all the light there is to be received in regard to the best preparations of health foods. He will give to many minds in different places tact and skill that will enable them to prepare health foods suitable for the countries in which they live.
(HFM 28.1)
God is the author of all wisdom, all intelligence, all talent. He will magnify His name by giving to many minds wisdom in the preparation of health foods. And when He does this, the making of these new foods is not to be looked upon as an infringement of the rights of those who are already manufacturing health foods, although in some respects the foods made by the different ones may be similar. God will take ordinary men and will give them skill and understanding in the use of the fruit of the earth. He deals impartially with His workers. Not one is forgotten by Him. He will impress businessmen who are Sabbathkeepers to establish industries that will provide employment for His people. He will teach His servants to prepare less expensive health foods which can be bought by the poor.
(HFM 28.2)
In all our plans we should remember that the health food work is the property of God and that it is not to be made a financial speculation for personal gain. It is God’s gift to His people, and the profits are to be used for the good of suffering humanity everywhere.
(HFM 28.3)
Especially in the Southern States of North America many things will be devised and many facilities provided, that the poor and needy can sustain themselves by the health food industries. Under teachers who are laboring for the salvation of their souls, they will be taught how to cultivate and prepare for food those things that grow most readily in their locality.
(HFM 28.4)
An Evil Work
Some of our brethren have done a work that has wrought great injury to the cause. The knowledge of methods for the manufacture of health foods, which God gave to His people as a means of helping to sustain His cause, these men have disclosed to worldly businessmen, who are using it for personal gain. They have sold the Lord’s goods for personal profit. Those who have thus disclosed the secrets in their possession in regard to the preparation of health foods have abused a God-given trust. As they see the result of this betrayal of trust, some will sorely regret that they did not keep their own counsel and wait for the Lord to lead His servants and to work out His own plans. Some who obtain these secrets will scheme to hedge up the way of our sanitarium food work, and by misrepresentation will delude to their injury those who patronize them.
(HFM 29.1)
The health food business should not be borrowed or stolen from those who, by its management, are endeavoring to build up and advance the cause. Dr. Kellogg, with the help of others, has, at a large outlay of means, studied out the processes for the preparation of certain special foods, and has provided expensive facilities for their manufacture. This work has taken a great deal of precious time, for many experiments have had to be made. And it is right that those who have thus labored and invested their means should be allowed to reap the fruit of their labor. As the Lord’s steward, Dr. Kellogg should be allowed to control a reasonable income from the special products that he, by the blessing of God, has been enabled to produce, that he may have means wherewith to make appropriations for the advancement of the work of God as occasion may demand. Let no one having learned the secrets of their composition take up the preparation of these special foods and sell them for personal profit. Let no one give the impression that they are working in harmony with those who in the first place prepared these foods for sale, when they are not. No one has a right to engage in the manufacture of these foods in any selfish way. Let us all come near the Lord and with humble hearts seek to glorify Him in every act.
(HFM 29.2)
I have a warning for those who have a knowledge of the methods of manufacturing the special health foods produced in our factories. They are not to use their knowledge for selfish purposes or in a way that will misrepresent the cause. Neither are they to make this knowledge public. Let the churches take hold of this and show these brethren that such a course is a betrayal of trust and that it will bring reproach on the cause.
(HFM 30.1)
Let not those who have been and are employed in the work of making the health foods first prepared by Dr. Kellogg, or by any other pioneer in this work, disclose to others the secrets of the manufacture of the special foods; for thus they defraud the cause of that which should be used for its advancement. I beseech you, my brethren, to make straight paths for your feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way: Do not place information in the hands of those who, from lack of conscientious regard for health reform, may place impure articles on the market as health foods.
(HFM 30.2)
Stand on the side of righteousness in all your transactions; then you will not appear to disadvantage before God or man. Do not enter into any dishonest practices. Those who take up the manufacture of sanitarium health foods for personal profit are taking a liberty to which they have no right. Thus great confusion is caused. Some are now manufacturing and selling goods that profess to be health foods, but that contain unwholesome ingredients. Again, the foods are often of so inferior a quality that much harm is done to the cause by their sale, those who buy them supposing that all health foods are similar.
(HFM 30.3)
No one has any right to take advantage of the business arrangements that have been made in regard to sanitarium health foods. Those who handle the foods devised by Dr. Kellogg at large expense should first come to an understanding with him, or others who are working in harmony with him, and learn the best methods of handling these foods. He who enters selfishly into this work, at the same time giving his customers the impression that the profits on the goods he sells are used to aid benevolent enterprises, while in reality they are used for personal interests, is under the displeasure of God. By and by his business will fail, and he will get things into such a tangle that his brethren will have to buy him out to save the cause from disgrace.
(HFM 31.1)
The Lord is greatly displeased when His service is dishonored by the selfishness of those engaged in it. He wills that every part of His work shall be in harmony with every other part, joint connecting with joint.
(HFM 31.2)
The Lord wants His people to stand far above selfish interests. He wants them to conquer the temptations they meet. He calls for the communion of saints. He desires His workers to stand under His supervision. He will plane and polish the material for His temple, preparing each piece to fit closely to the other, that the building may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
(HFM 31.3)
Heaven is to begin on this earth. When the Lord’s people are filled with meekness and tenderness, they will realize that His banner over them is love, and His fruit will be sweet to their taste. They will make a heaven below in which to prepare for heaven above.
(HFM 31.4)