Chapter 17—Diet a Rational Remedy
Nature’s Remedial Agencies
450. It is important to become familiar with the benefit of dieting in
case of sickness. All should understand what to do [for] themselves.—
Manuscript 86, 1897
451. There are many ways of practicing the healing art; but there
is only one way that Heaven approves. God’s remedies are the simple
agencies of nature, that will not tax or debilitate the system through
their powerful properties. Pure air and water, cleanliness, a proper
diet, purity of life, and a firm trust in God, are remedies for the want
of which thousands are dying; yet these remedies are going out of
date because their skillful use requires work that the people do not
appreciate. Fresh air, exercise, pure water, and clean, sweet premises,
are within the reach of all, with but little expense; but drugs are ex-
pensive, both in the outlay of means, and the effect produced upon the
system.—
Testimonies for the Church 5:443, 1885
452. Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, rest, exercise, proper diet,
the use of water, trust in divine power,—these are the true remedies.
Every person should have a knowledge of nature’s remedial agencies
and how to apply them. It is essential both to understand the principles
involved in the treatment of the sick and to have a practical training
that will enable one rightly to use this knowledge.
The use of natural remedies requires an amount of care and effort
that many are not willing to give. Nature’s process of healing and
upbuilding is gradual, and to the impatient it seems slow. The surrender
of hurtful indulgences requires sacrifice. But in the end it will be found
that nature, untrammeled, does her work wisely and well. Those who
persevere in obedience to her laws will reap the reward in health of
body and health of mind. 302—
The Ministry of Healing, 127, 1905
453. Physicians often advise invalids to visit foreign countries, to
go to some mineral spring, or to traverse the ocean, in order to regain
health; when, in nine cases out of ten, if they would eat temperately,
and engage in healthful exercise with a cheerful spirit, they would
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