Introduction to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg’s Letter to Sarah McEnterfer, January 28, 1906
This letter, penned by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg to Sarah McEnterfer on January 28, 1906, presents Kellogg’s perspective on the Living Temple controversy within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Kellogg defends his book, The Living Temple, portraying himself as a victim of unjust criticism from church leaders, including Ellen G. White. However, his claim that Ellen White ignored writing to him is untrue—her letter (Lt253-1903) explicitly rejected his “patchwork theories,” stating they could not be accepted by those loyal to the faith due to their deviation from foundational beliefs, particularly on the personality of God. Kellogg sought to revise The Living Temple to incorporate his emerging Trinitarian views, but White insisted such revisions were insufficient, as his theories drifted from Adventist doctrine. While Kellogg correctly noted God’s role in sustaining nature, his broader theological errors undermined the church’s stance, a fact he dismisses here, brushing aside the reasons for the denunciations by White and church administrators.
Who was Sarah McEnterfer?
Historical context supports the conclusion that Sarah McEnterfer served as Ellen White’s nurse and companion. By 1906, Ellen White was in her late 70s and living at the St. Helena Sanitarium, where the letter was addressed. Given her age and health, she relied heavily on assistants. Sarah’s presence at the sanitarium and her involvement in handling Ellen White’s correspondence and reading materials suggest she performed secretarial duties alongside caregiving tasks.
Transcript
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January 28, 1906
Miss Sarah McEnterfer,
Sanitarium, Cal.
Dear Sister Sarah:-
I got a note from Brother Anadon Friday night saying he had a letter from Sister White which he was going to read at the Tabernacle yesterday. I did not go, so I do not know what Sister White has written, but I have heard it intimated that confessions are demanded of me about certain things—just what, I do not know. I confess I do not understand the maneuvere. I have the utmost confidence that Sister White is trying to do what she believes is right in relation to the Sanitarium, and me, and everybody else, but certainly she is not correctly informed with reference to many things. I thought it might be well to write you a word as to how I stand.
First, about The Living Temple. When I found Prescott objecting to the book I did not believe in his sincerity, because he had said the same things that I had said, and had published them in the Review again and again, and had spent weeks laboring to impress the same things upon our students and doctors here at the Sanitarium, and we all know it. Second, I found similar statements to those which I had made in Desire of Ages and other books that Sister White had written, and especially in a letter she had written me twenty years ago, and which she has since reproduced in part in Ministry of Healing as well as her last book on Education. Third, because I had publicly taught the same things at camp meetings and at several General Conferences, and my addresses had been published in the General Conference Bulletins at several conferences in succession—College View, South Lancaster, and
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especially the last conference of 1901, at which Sister White was present, and no one had ever made objection either to the publication of these views or to their expression. Prof. Prescott, Dr. Waggoner, and Eld. Jones had been teaching the same things and I had heard no objection to their teaching.
But when objection arose I sent two copies of the book, one to you and one to Sister White, soon after the Oakland Conference, as you know. You placed one copy on the table in her room. After a while you wrote me that she had been reading the book for two or three weeks, and that she had remarked to you that she found the book a very different one from what she had expected. I waited after this for several months, and never heard one word of objection from Sister White. You will remember you also remarked you found no objection to the book. I felt certain that if Sister White had found anything objectionable in the book she would have mentioned it in your hearing and that you would have mentioned it to me, and after waiting several months and hearing nothing from you or from her contrary to what you had written me, I thought it was certainly proper to begin making efforts to send out the book, especially as we were greatly in need of funds and this was apparently our only hope of getting money which we needed to meet pressing bills. You will remember that when we started to build the Sanitarium it was with the understanding that the book should be sold to pay for it, at least in part. We had used up all the other money that we had received, and as the building cost more than we expected we were in great need of funds.
The only thing I did in beginning the circulation of the book was to send a copy of it to each of the Union Conference Presidents for their inspection. This was in exact accordance with the plan agreed upon with
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W.C. White and the Conference Presidents themselves at the General Conference Council held here in November, 1902. It was there agreed that those who desired to sell Living Temple should have opportunity to do so, but that a choice should be given them between this and some other book.
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Soon after these books were sent out the General Conference people sent out a circular saying that we were trying to force pantheietic views upon the people. A few weeks after this came an article from Sister White denouncing the book. This was the first I knew that Sister White had any objection whatever to the book, and instead of writing me about it, and giving me an opportunity to withdraw the book, she immediately published it to the whole world in the Review and Herald. I stated before the General Conference that I would receive Sister White’s testimony, and would stop the book. This I immediately did. I telegraphed from Washington to have the books boxed up, and to stop the sale at once. When I got home I found this had been done. The books which had been shipped out to different parts of the world were received back in every case where they were sent back. There were a few I think which were not sent back. An edition of five thousand copies of Living Temple was published. Seventeen hundred and fifty still lie in the basement of the College building boxed up.
Before leaving Washington I made arrangements with Prof. Prescott to go through Living Temple and mark every expression which he considered objectionable, and I agreed to take it out. You can imagine that it was no
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small humiliation for an author to do a thing of that sort, but I did it in the interest of peace, and with quivering lips and the tears running down my face, for I was terrified at the havoc which these men might do in their rashness and desperate desire to crush me and hinder the work of the Sanitarium. I resolved to move every possible obstacle out of the way, and to make it as easy as possible for them to refrain from doing things which they since have done. Prof. Prescott agreed positively that he would mark the passages of Living Temple which he considered objectionable, and send me a marked copy within three or four days. Instead of that he wrote me a letter saying he had decided not to do it, and then published a note in the Review saying he had never agreed to do it. At his suggestion I made arrangements
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with Eld. Haskell to do the same thing. He promised to do it, but he likewise failed to do it.
As it was very necessary for us to get some money out of these books, I wrote to W.C. White and told him we proposed to work off the edition we had by cutting out certain pages which he named to me, and then to get out a new edition under a new name, eliminating the portions to which objection had been made. He wrote me that he saw no objection to my doing what I proposed to do, that he would call his mother’s attention to the matter and if she had any objection she would write me, so if I didn’t hear any word from her, to go ahead. We accordingly did as was agreed, and we sold a few copies of Living Temple; but, as I have told you, we still have 1750 copies of the original 5000 edition boxed up. We published the new edition under the name
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of “The Miracle of Life.” We have sold 600 copies of this edition. The balance of the edition is in chests. They have not been touched at all.
Sister White has never written me a word about the matter, neither has W.C. White written me anything to indicate that we have not done exactly as we agreed upon with him, but Sister White has since denounced The Miracle of Life, saying that it contains the same dangerous doctrine as the other book. Why don’t she write me? I confess it seems to me that neither Sister White, nor W.C. White, nor any of those people are acting in good faith with us in this matter. I don’t blame Sister White, for I know her ears are continually filled with the most hideous lies, and so I don’t blame her. There is not the slightest animosity in my heart towards her, but certainly it seems to me that it was plainly her duty when I sent her a copy of the book, and waited months to give her an opportunity to give me her views of it, it was her duty, I say, to write to me her objections before she denounced me in public the way she did.
Now as regards the subject matter of the book. As I stated, I put nothing into this book which I have not been teaching for years. Prof. Prescott
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had taught the same things in the Review, and circulated hundreds of thousands of copies of the Review containing the same views. We have circulated in all less than 4000 copies of Living Temple. The General Conference had itself circulated the same views as expressed by Waggoner, Prescott and myself in the General Conference Bulletin, tens of thousands of copies of which have been scattered about the country. There exist at the present time
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at least two or three hundred thousand copies of the Review and General Conference Bulletin which contain these views—the same views which I have expressed in my book, whereas there are less than 4000 copies of my book which have gone into circulation; and if it is necessary to make such a great disturbance about my book in order to protect the people from error, why has not their attention been called to these numbers of the Review and General Conference Bulletin which contain the same pernicious doctrines? This is a question I would like to have you answer squarely.
Of course I know, as probably you know, that heresy in the book is not the reason why the book was not circulated. I have in my possession a copy of the famous interview which was held under the tree when the plot was laid to destroy Edson, and so I know exactly what was stated there with reference to me, and what plans were laid, and am perfectly well aware that what has been done since that time has been simply the carrying out of the plans which were at that time made to dodge the responsibility for the raising of funds to assist in paying for the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
When objection was raised to the book at the Council which was held a few days later, I offered to make any changes which were necessary to make it acceptable to the brethren. I said at once, I will be glad to take out of the book anything which is not in harmony with our recognised views; but this suggestion was at once met by Prof. Prescott by the assertion that the book was so contaminated with error it could not be corrected. I knew then as well as I know now that the whole thing was a scheme to get rid
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of selling the book, for, as shown by the documents which I have in my possession, it had all been agreed at the meeting referred to that nothing should be done to help me bear the burdens of rebuilding the Sanitarium. I know before this meeting at the Council referred to, that those men had decided not to help us. I knew it before I left England. Elder Daniells saw very clearly that I was not going to join hands with him in his schemes. He and Prof. Prescott had laid plans before going to England to get Prof. Sutherland out of Berrien Springs. I had headed this off. They had forced him to offer his resignation. When it came before the Board they were anxious to put it right through, but I fought it so hard that I smashed it, and Prof. Sutherland had a chance to go on with his work. In England Eld. Daniells occupied a good part of his time in denouncing the brethren who had brought up the College View school, and had made the other improvement of that sort, because of the debts which they had incurred. I told him before the whole committee that I thought his position was wrong, that the school had been made, that we should be thankful that the school was there, and that they should go ahead and pay the debts, and go on and do the work which the school was intended to do in training missionaries. He took a stand against the starting of a Sanitarium in England, declared that Dr. Olsen was not fit for the place, and the time had not come, etc., etc., and utterly ignored all the medical men on the ground. I saw the spirit he had, and thought there was no hope of co-operation with that kind of spirit, and came home heart-broken. I knew we had got to carry the whole load ourselves. So we determined to do this, and counted on no help from the General Conference, but we simply went ahead and made our plans to sell the book without asking their assistance;
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but they forced us to come before them so that the question might be discussed with them. This we reluctantly did. Then they denounced the book, and later Sister White also denounced it, and those who were present and heard Prof. Prescott’s denunciation and W.C. White’s denunciation have been greatly
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impressed by the fact that in what she had written the very same phrases and expressions were used which were used by Prof. Prescott and W.C. White. Sister White at Berrien Springs herself said in substance that she saw nothing particularly wrong in the book until W.C. White said to her, Now, mother, let me call your attention to some of the more objectionable features, etc. I am not defending the book. I can see there must be something wrong with it, or the Lord would not permit such a storm to be raised against its circulation; at any rate it is the presumptuous evidence that there must be something wrong, but I have all the time been willing to correct any error which it contains if they would specify and point it out to me. And I have not pushed the book, as has been charged. Under the circumstances, I do not feel that I have any burden to make any confession in relation to Living Temple, or to say anything more about it. I have dropped the thing for the sake of peace. I have dropped the whole subject. I have taken great care in all my teaching, and even in my lectures in the parlor, to speak with the greatest caution whenever dealing with the subjects which are treated in Living Temple, so that no handle could be made of what I said.
At Berrien Springs I said in the presence of the people there
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that I believed what Sister White had written on the subject, and anything I had written which was at variance with that I repudiated. How can they ask me to say anything more? I have nothing more to say on that question. I notice in the last documents which Sister White sends she brings up the question of Living Temple again. I am perfectly willing that Sister White should know that I have done speaking on that question, and have nothing more to say by way of apology. I have borne the expense, the burden, the disappointment and the trouble which has been caused me in this matter, and I think have suffered enough. If Sister White had given me a chance to correct the things which she thought were wrong in the book, I would gladly have
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done it, but that has not been done, and the reason why it was not done is very evident to me. It was not desired that the book should be corrected, but that it should be held back, possibly that Ministry of Healing might be sold in its place. I am talking frankly with you, so that you may know exactly how the matter stands in my mind.
Now with reference to the school. We have never reopened the old Battle Creek College. We have never dreamed of doing such a thing. I have written Sister White so, I have made a public statement to that effect. Our people here all understand perfectly what our situation is. We have always had a preparatory school for the benefit of our students here at the Sanitarium. We have got to have such a school. We have such a school, and we expect to continue the school. We have no idea of ever abandoning it. How these people can any of them imagine that we should be willing to sit down
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quietly and do nothing under the conditions which they have forced upon us, is more than I can understand. We are poor fallible creatures, but we are neither knaves or idiots. The General Conference sold us this building to be used as a school, then they deliberately went to work with might and main to prevent students from coming to attend our medical school. This in itself is sufficient reason for us to carry on a preparatory school of our own, as that those who desire to have an education as medical missionaries may obtain the preliminary education necessary. If the students of our preparatory schools of the denomination are not permitted to come here to attend the medical college, what else can we do than to carry on a preparatory school of our own? Such a school would have to be operated in connection with the Sanitarium for the special benefit of Sanitarium helpers. We expect to go forward with this school, and will do our best to make it just such a school as it ought to be. All the efforts we have been making here in the direction of improving our school facilities, etc., have been to make it possible for me to obtain for our work here at Battle Creek the necessary amount of help from
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the ranks of Seventh-day Adventists so that we should not be compelled to take into the institution Methodists, Baptists, and people of every denomination, and so run the risk of to some degree marring the influence which the institution ought to exert in favor of the truth. We have been compelled to take in a few good Methodist and Baptist young men and women. We have thirty-one in all. You know what a hue and cry has been raised throughout the whole length and breadth of the land that in taking in outsiders we are going over to the Methodists, Baptists, etc.
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I think you have read what I have written with reference to the Guadelaja Sanitarium, and I enclose with this three or four copies of a little Statement we are just now sending out. This Statement states the exact truth about everything which is referred to in it. There is a whole lot I have not said which you know I might have said. I have said as little as possible. I am not going to publish anything which can in any way reflect upon Sister White, but I am going to state the absolute truth, and if anybody gets into trouble because of it, the fault is theirs and not mine.
This false crisis which has been created I am in no way responsible for. It is due to the misguided judgement and misconduct of men who had certain purposes to carry out which made a crisis necessary. I have not the slightest hope that there is ever going to be any reconciliation between the forces which are fighting against us and our Sanitarium management. The course which has been pursued here during the last month has destroyed the last vestige of confidence which our doctors and managers have had in the men at Washington who call themselves the leaders of this denomination. The course they have been pursuing here has been dishonorable and contemptible to the last degree. The way they have gathered students into private houses, filling them full of the most heinous yarns, has been perfectly ridiculous. But we are going on just the same. They hit us as hard a whack as they could, and then ran away.
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The Sanitarium is brimful of patients. We have no rooms at all in East Hall or in the Main Building, at least not more than two or three.
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We have more patients than we had last year in May, and the summer rush has fairly begun. I don’t know what in the world we are going to do with all the sick people coming this summer. We haven’t any pleasure seekers, but very sick people, men coming from New York, Philadelphia, and other places, with heart troubles, kidney troubles, and other grave troubles from which they do not recover elsewhere—senators, governors, lawyers, and millionaires; and the Lord is helping us to help them. We are doing our best to get all our work in order, and to carry it on in such a way that the Lord can bless us and help us, and He is helping us.
We are getting some new things started in the Food Company which are helping us very much financially. Our Food Companies are at the present time earning a net profit of nearly two thousand dollars a week, and the prospect is that this will be doubled or tripled within the next four or five months. We have plenty of resources if the Lord protects us in the use of them. Nobody is more thankful than I am that Daniells and those associated with him didn’t assist us to raise money for erecting the new building. If they had done so we would simply be in slavery and bondage to them. I am glad things are as they are.
I recognize the Lord is dealing with us in all these matters. We are being chastised for our mistakes, and we need discipline; and we are earnestly praying the Lord to help us learn all the lessons we need to learn. We reopened our old mission in the city here last Friday night. We had a good meeting. Our helpers are taking hold in the work, and we are all of good courage. I am glad to tell you also that my health is excellent. I am
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taking a little more sleep than I used to take, and I think I am good for twenty-five or thirty years more of good hard work; at least I do a couple of ordinary day’s work every day, perhaps three some days, and can outwork
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most men of twenty-five or thirty, although I am fifty-four. I feel younger and stronger than when I was twenty-five, and can work and endure more, and accomplish more than ever. We are not the least bit discouraged. If the brethren keep on with their withdrawing process which they have begun, so we are completely isolated, we will do our best to go on and represent the whole truth, just as we have been doing for the last thirty years. We are not going to make any change. We are not going to join hands with the enemies of truth. We are not going to yoke up with Methodists, Baptists, or anybody else. There are none of these people with whom we have any affiliation. We haven’t any desire to yoke up with the world. We will simply go on working for the Lord and our fellows in such ways as the Lord permits us to work.
Our difficulties as we go on month by month are gradually getting less. Finances do not worry us at all. Our large patronage brings us in such large sums of money every week that we are able to meet the obligations which come due, or, if we are not able to meet them, the Lord sends somebody just at the time to help us out, so we are going on.
I wish you would assure Sister White all the time that we stand exactly as we did when she was here a year ago last September. We have made no change, we do not expect to make any change. We have repudiated nothing.
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We have gone back on nothing, we are denying nothing. We are standing up for all the principles of truth that we have ever stood for, and we are going to stand at our posts and do our duty. If you have any suggestions to make which will be of any help to me, I wish you would feel free to make them at any time. I shall be glad to hear from you.
As ever,
Your friend and brother,
signed J. H. Kellogg
v—m e
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P.S.—So far as the campaign which the brethren are now carrying on is concerned, they can keep right on at it just as long as they want to. We can stand it just as long as they can, probably longer, for we are self-supporting, and they are not. They may hammer us until they are out of breath and completely exhausted, and we will still be here with the Lord’s help doing our duty.
signed J. H. Kellogg