purest azure, broken only by the presence of one large snowywhite cloud. Quite involuntarily he began to question himself: "What if my Lord and Master were to come to earth this day? What if I should behold Him now on this white cloud? Should I be ready to meet Him?" Then after a pause, "Should I wish Him to find me just as I am this moment - with my pipe in my mouth?"

Such questionings were not uncommon among the believers, and the idea of the Lord's imminent appearing brought no dismay to sincere and earnest souls who were longing for the great event. But in the present instance the thought was a little disquieting, considered from the viewpoint of his immediate occupation. The question, "Should I like to have my Saviour come and find me smoking?" presented some ground for doubt. The more the man thought about it, the less he felt that he could honestly answer in the affirmative. There was a contrast between that filthy clay pipe and the pure white cloud,- his eye told him that; moreover, his heart told him that there was a deeper spiritual contrast between the expected Saviour and any habit intended primarily to satisfy the cravings of a perverted appetite.

The man was not much given to dreamy reverie. His mind was soon made up. He rose from his meditations, laid his pipe and his tobacco pouch in the furrow by his side, put in the plowshare, turned over the sod, and buried his idol. That evening there was a prayer meeting in the neighborhood, and this brother, when his turn came for testifying, told of his morning's meditation in the field, and of its result. He did not argue, he only told his experience,- what he had thought and what he had done. The other brethren saw the matter in the same light that he did, and they, too, buried their pipes.

It was a small thing in itself, but it was a beginning on right lines, and it opened the way for other reforms, which were to come at the proper time. The principle that had actuated these farmers in giving up their well-loved pipes was a fruitful one. There was no better way for them to decide whether or not a given habit should be continued, than to ask, "Is it in harmony with the profession of one who is looking for the return of his Lord? Is it a help toward the higher life? Does it make for purity and holiness? or is it a mere means of gratifying the senses?

The same principle continued to lead in the further reforms that were identified with the advent movement, although in time, with the more general spread of a knowledge of hygienic prin

ciples, scientific reasons came in for their full share of attention. As lovers of truth, the Adventists did not turn a deaf ear to the teachings of science concerning the proper care of the body.

The foregoing experience in the giving up of tobacco occurred among Adventist believers in the spring before the disappointment, in the autumn of 1844. And while abstinence from tobacco early became somewhat general among the Adventists who kept the seventh day, it was not till the early fifties that articles against its use began to appear in the columns of the Review. In a selected article in the issue of Dec. 13, 1853, we find the following:

"The person that uses tobacco cannot be as good a Christian as he could be without it. Religion, for its full development, demands all our mental powers. . . This drug impairs them. It accordingly must follow that, in proportion to their derangement will be the defect of their action; so that in this sense it may be said with truth, that the person that uses tobacco cannot be as good a Christian as he could be without it."

In the same year, Mrs. White, in the supplement to her book, Experience and Views," referred to tobacco using as a habit that must be given up. She further suggested that if all should "study to be more economical in their articles of dress, depriving themselves of some things which are not actually necessary, and should lay aside such useless and injurious things as tea and coffee, giving to the cause what these cost," they would be blessed in so doing.

About two years later there appeared in the Review (Dec. 4, 1855, page 79) the following record of an action taken at a Vermont conference:

"At a general church meeting held at Morristown, Vt., Oct. 15, 1855, at which there were delegates from most of the churches in the State, the subject of the use of tobacco by members of the church was introduced.

"After hearing remarks from several portions of Scripture, such as 2 Corinthians 7:1; James 1:21; 1 Corinthians 10:31, and some of the sayings of Christ on the subject of self-denial, to enforce the above; and some other portions of inspiration; it was, without a dissenting voice,

"Voted, That the use of tobacco by any member is a serious and bitter grief, and greatly lamented by the church; and after such members have been labored with, and properly admonished, às long as duty seems to require, if they do not reform, the church will then deem it their duty to withdraw from them the hand of fellowship.

"By order of the church.

(Signed) "STEPHEN PIERCE."

J. H. Waggoner, who had himself experienced great benefit from giving up tobacco, was an enthusiastic advocate of the reform. For over ten years the columns of the Review were used to educate the Adventist people to a view of their calling

and work which would exclude tobacco, and the effort was successful.

Tobacco fully out of the way, attention began to be devoted to other physical reforms; but it took time and patience to achieve results. The first Seventh-day Adventist to practise health principles comprehensively and to advocate them in a wise and tactful way, was Joseph Bates. Something has already been said of his faithful labors in behalf of the 1844 movement, and later in advocating the claims of the Bible Sabbath. It remains to study the man somewhat in the character of a health reformer.

Thrown at an early age among sailors, he was disgusted with their intemperate habits, and kept himself from excess; but it was not till he had become master of a vessel that he finally gave up the use of spirituous liquors. In the course of a long voyage to South America, he noticed that he had a greater desire for the one glass of ardent spirits that he was allowing himself daily than for his dinner, and he became alarmed. After reflection he decided that he would take no more of it. A year later he also gave up wine, and still later all other intoxicants, including cider and beer.

It is a little apart from the subject of this chapter, but it may not be out of place to mention that the next reform in the captain's life was to give up the use of profane language; then he threw away his tobacco, and after winning moral victories on all these points, he was brought fully under the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit, and became a converted man. His life thus illustrates what may be said to be a cherished belief of Seventh-day Adventists, as it has come to be of many thoughtful men and women,- that when a man accepts the health principles, he puts himself in an attitude of mind more favorable to the reception of spiritual truths.

Upon returning from the voyage during which he had given his heart to God, Captain Bates remained at home for more than a year, devoting his energies to various religious and philanthropic enterprises. On the day of his baptism, which occurred in the spring of 1827, he solicited the aid of the minister who performed the ceremony in the formation of a temperance society. Failing to interest him, he started out alone. The Congregational minister put down his name, likewise the two deacons, and others to the number of twelve. Then a meeting was called, and the Fairhaven Temperance Society was the result. The members were largely sea captains who had had abundant opportunity to observe the evil results of liquor drinking. At

first the pledge obligated the signer to "abstain from the use of ardent spirits as a beverage." Later it was found necessary to exclude the use of all intoxicating drinks except for medicinal purposes. This caused the members to be known as "teetotalers."

The society thus formed in Fairhaven was one of the earliest organizations of the kind in this country, and rapidly grew in numbers and in favor with the public. Many of the citizens of New Bedford attended the meetings, and from the interest thus aroused, a society was formed in that town, and others in other places. Then came the Bristol County Temperance Society, and this was soon followed by the Massachusetts State Temperance Society, whereupon, temperance papers, tracts, and lecturers began to multiply throughout the land.

Captain Bates made one more voyage, sailing out from New Bedford in the late summer of 1827. Not long after his return, he organized, with the aid of associates, the Fairhaven Seaman's Friend Society, and interested himself in various religious and philanthropic enterprises, at the same time proceeding to improve a small farm which his father had bequeathed to him.

His next step in hygienic reform was to give up tea and coffee, finding that they had a slightly stimulating effect upon his system. It was somewhat later that he discontinued the use of flesh meats and of all richly seasoned viands, and adopted a diet of plain, wholesome food. He was of a modest and retiring nature, and never mentioned his dietetic habits unless questioned. When asked why he did not eat meats, rich pastries, and condiments, he usually replied: "I have eaten my share of them." But though he practised his principles very unobtrusively, he never swerved from them, often when traveling making his principal meal a very meager one in preference to partaking of things he believed to be injurious.

Of the effects of this wholesome régime, maintained oftentimes under difficulties, James White, who met the retired sea captain for the first time in 1846, has the following to say:

"When I first became acquainted with Elder Bates, he was fifty-four years of age. His countenance was fair, his eye was clear and mild, his figure was erect and of fine proportions, and he was the last man to be picked out of the crowd as one who had endured the hardships and exposure of sea life, and who had come in contact with the demoralizing influences of such a life for more than a score of years. It had been eighteen years since he left the seas, and during that time his life of rigid temperance in eating as well as in drinking, and his labors in the pure sphere of moral reform, had regenerated the entire man, body, soul, and spirit, until he seemed almost re-created for the special work to which God had called him." “Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene," pp. 252, 253.

While Captain Bates was the first of the Adventist leaders to throw emphasis upon the health principles as part of the message intrusted to that people, his efforts would have been less fruitful in permanent results had they not been heartily seconded by Elder and Mrs. White, who first brought the whole subject of healthful living as an issue before all the Adventists. With them, as with Captain Bates, it was largely a matter of personal experience. Like other persons devoted to great reforms, they studied the subject of hygiene with a view to adopting those habits of eating and drinking and working which would enable them to accomplish most in the service of the Master. They accordingly sought heavenly guidance, studied the Bible for basic principles, read the best accessible works on hygiene, and finally, in the early autumn of 1864, paid a three weeks' visit to the Dansville health institute in New York, then under the supervision of Dr. J. C. Jackson.

Their attention had been especially directed to the matter by Elder White's breakdown under the heavy strain of anxiety and labor incident to the war. He was stricken with partial paralysis on Aug. 16, 1865, and while in answer to prayer the use of his right arm was restored, he did not rally from the shock, and physicians gave little hope, declaring they had not known a case of recovery from so severe an attack. Under these conditions, after five weeks of careful nursing at home, Mrs. White decided to take her husband to Dansville. Here, though continuing to suffer much from pain and sleeplessness, he gradually improved. After leaving Dansville he continued to practise the principles of hygienic reform, and with his wife's encouragement, began to engage in light outdoor labor.

The visit to Doctor Jackson's institution was of great value to Elder and Mrs. White. The daily lectures in the drawingroom afforded useful information on a wide variety of health topics, and it was also very helpful for them to undergo the hydropathic treatments, and experience their benefits upon their own bodies, as well as to observe the effects upon others.

Another Adventist preacher who came in touch with the Dansville institution about this time was J. N. Andrews, already known to the reader as one of the early leaders in the advent movement. In his youth he did not have a strong constitution, and when he entered the gospel ministry at the age of twentyone, it was the opinion of his friends that he had not long to live. Severe labor in forwarding the interests of an unpopular truth further depleted his strength, and gave rise to a combination of disorders that made life a burden to him. When a