Principles of Right Living

In this very important phase of life Mrs. White was one with the prophets and apostles of olden times. During her long life she earnestly advocated by voice and pen the broadest principles of right living. She wrote volumes regarding temperance, the care of the body, and the healing of the sick by the use of nature’s remedies. From her pen there came to the church and the world three fine volumes, entitled “The Ministry of Healing,” “Medical Ministry,” and “Counsels on Health.” In these books she gives most valuable instruction regarding three important subjects,—true temperance, the preservation of health, and nature’s remedies for the healing of disease. A few brief passages will give some idea of the great value of this instruction:AGP 305.2

“The law of temperance must control the life of every Christian.” Counsels on Health, 42.

“True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful, and to use judiciously that which is healthful. There are few who realize as they should how much their habits of diet have to do with their health, their character, their usefulness in this world, and their eternal destiny. The appetite should ever be in subjection to the moral and intellectual powers. The body should be servant to the mind, and not the mind to the body.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 562.

Sixty-five years or more ago, the evils of poisonous drug medication, as widely practiced by the physicians of those times, were divinely revealed to Mrs. White. The instruction which she imparted regarding proper remedies for the sick began to be given before the soundness of the principles she set forth was as generally recognized as at this day. In 1882 she wrote:AGP 305.3

“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…. Fresh air, exercise, pure water, and clean sweet premises, are within the reach of all with but little expense; but drugs are expensive, both in the outlay of means, and the effect produced upon the system.” Testimonies for the Church 5:443.