Manuscript Releases, vol. 19 [Nos. 1360-1419]

“No Use For Poisonous Drugs”

This is why the physicians and nurses in our medical institutions should be those who abide in Christ; for through their connection with the heavenly Physician their patients will be blessed. Those God-fearing workers will have no use for poisonous drugs. They will use the natural agencies that God has given for the restoration of the sick. Time and again I have told the workers in our sanitariums that from the light that God has given me I know that they need not lose one patient suffering from a fever, if they take the case in hand in time and use rational methods of treatment instead of drugs. 19MR 50.1

My husband and I were neither doctors nor the children of doctors, but we had success in the treatment of disease. In a time when many of the people—even the children of physicians—were dying all around us, we went from house to house to treat the sick, using water and giving them healthful food. Through the blessing of God, we did not lose a single case. 19MR 50.2

At another time I carried my two sons through the typhoid fever. God was my helper. My husband would have died if I had not by faith laid hold on God. I knew that God did not want him to die, because He did not want His name dishonored. My husband's life was spared. Years afterward, when he died, my friends said, “Oh, Sister White, do pray that he may be raised up!” I replied, “The Lord says, ‘Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.’ I do not desire the old warrior to come back to life, to die again; let him rest till the morning of the resurrection.” 19MR 50.3

Brethren, we need more of God's wisdom, less of human judgment. More of His power should be brought into this institution. I believe it is wrong for you to talk disparagingly in regard to the outlook for the prosperity of this institution. The St. Helena Sanitarium must grow to the full stature of what God designs it to be. Does He desire His institutions in one place to reach perfection, and not in another place? He is no respecter of persons. He desires us, His instrumentalities, to turn from humanity to divinity. When Christ was in this world, He encircled humanity with His long human arm, while with His divine arm He reached the throne of the Infinite. 19MR 51.1

When we are willing to have our own minds unsoldered, and resoldered by the melting influences of the Spirit of God, we shall understand with new enlightenment Christ's instruction to us as recorded in the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of John. Oh, how great are the possibilities that He has placed within our reach! He says, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you.” He promises to come to us as a Comforter to bless us. Why do we not believe these promises? That which we lack in faith we make up by the use of drugs. Let us give up the drugs, believing that Jesus does not desire us to be sick, and that if we live according to the principles of health reform, He will keep us well. 19MR 51.2

My brethren, never talk unbelief or discouragement. If you have but two patients here, work faithfully to restore them to health, and try to lead them to be converted. The less the number of patients, the more time you will have to work for the salvation of souls. Persevere, pray, believe. Even one soul, thoroughly converted, is worth more than the whole world. When you have a large patronage, you have so much to do that you are too busy to spend much time in talking on religious subjects. Brethren, let us unsolder. 19MR 51.3