Ellen G. White’s Use of Remedial Agencies
267
4. Mrs. White nowhere states, in discussing such simple medi-
cations, that other and more effective medications might not later be
found
.
Owing to impressions held by some that Mrs. White’s writings
not only endorse herbs but feature them as the principal means for
dealing with disease, and that there is a great abundance of unpublished
material on this point, the White trustees believe that the minds of
Seventh-day Adventists will be helped and the record best be kept clear
by printing the statements that follow. In all fairness, the reader should
not attach to these statements greater significance than did the author,
who, in her published works, placed before the general public the broad
principles to be followed in the treatment of the sick.—Compilers
.]
I Cannot Testify in Their Favor
After seeing so much harm done by the administering of drugs, I
cannot use them, and cannot testify in their favor. I must be true to the
light given me by the Lord.
The treatment we gave when the sanitarium was first established
required earnest labor to combat disease. We did not use drug concoc-
tions; we followed hygienic methods. This work was blessed by God.
It was a work in which the human instrumentality could cooperate
with God in saving life. There should be nothing put into the human
system that would leave its baleful influence behind. And to carry out
the light on this subject, to practice hygienic treatment, and to educate
on altogether different lines of treating the sick, was the reason given
me why we should have sanitariums established in various localities.
I have been pained when many students have been encouraged
to go to_____ [
A state-operated medical college, to which a number
of our early medical workers were sent to complete their training.—
Compilers
.] to receive an education in the use of drugs. The light
which I have received has placed an altogether different complexion
on the use made of drugs than is given at_____ or at the sanitarium.
[294]
We must become enlightened on these subjects. The intricate names
given the medicines are used to cover up the matter, so that none will
know what is given them as remedies unless they obtain a dictionary
to find out the meaning of these names.