Ellen G. White’s Use of Remedial Agencies
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If the eyes are weak, if there is pain in the eyes, or inflammation,
soft flannel cloths wet in hot water and salt, will bring relief quickly.
When the head is congested, if the feet and limbs are put in a bath
with a little mustard, relief will be obtained.
There are many more simple remedies which will do much to
restore healthful action to the body. All these simple preparations the
Lord expects us to use for ourselves, but man’s extremities are God’s
opportunities. If we neglect to do that which is within the reach of
nearly every family, and ask the Lord to relieve pain when we are too
indolent to make use of these remedies within our power, it is simply
presumption. The Lord expects us to work in order that we may obtain
food. He does not propose that we shall gather the harvest unless we
break the sod, till the soil, and cultivate the produce. Then God sends
the rain and the sunshine and the clouds to cause vegetation to flourish.
God works and man cooperates with God. Then there is seedtime and
harvest.
God has caused to grow out of the ground, herbs for the use of
man, and if we understand the nature of those roots and herbs, and
make a right use of them, there would not be a necessity of running for
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the doctor so frequently, and people would be in much better health
than they are today. I believe in calling upon the Great Physician when
we have used the remedies I have mentioned.—
Letter 35, 1890
(To a
worker in an overseas field).
Counsel to the Medical Director of a New Sanitarium
Do all that you possibly can to perfect the institution inside and
out. Be sure that your premises are in the best of order. Let there be
nothing about them that will make a disagreeable impression of the
minds of the patients.
Encourage the patients to live healthfully and to take an abundance
of exercise. This will do much to restore them to health. Let seats be
placed under the shade of the trees, that the patients may be encouraged
to spend much time out-of-doors. And a place should be provided,
enclosed either with canvas or with glass, where, in cooler weather,
the patients can sit in the sun without feeling the wind
Fresh air and sunshine, cheerfulness within and without the insti-
tution, pleasant words and kindly acts—these are the remedies that the