Salt

James White suffered a physical breakdown in 1865. Adventists at that time had no medical institutions where he could be treated. Ellen White decided to take him to a health institution operated at Dansville, New York, by Doctor Jackson. J. N. Andrews was also ill, and accompanied the Whites. The group stayed there three months.

Ellen White decided early on that she would not accept all of the rules or restrictions as they did not agree with the divine counsel she had received. For example, they believed that one reason for illness was that a person was too religious. Consequently, prayer was forbidden for the sick. Inactivity for the sick was also prescribed. Another restriction regarded salt. It was considered a poison, and not to be used at all.

J. N. Andrews accepted this restriction, refusing to use any salt. One day at a meeting Mrs. White sprinkled salt on her saltless mush. Elder Andrews, sitting across the table from her, said in a solemn voice: “Sister White, don’t you know that salt is a mineral substance, which should never be taken into the human body?” Sister White, in equally solemn tones, replied, “My Bible says that salt is good.” End of discussion. (Footprints, 190.)

Later Ellen White wrote: “I use some salt, and always have, because from the light given me by God, this article, in the place of being deleterious, is actually essential for the blood. The whys and wherefores of this I now not, but I give you the instruction as it is given me.” –Letter 37, 1901 (CD 344).