Ellen White Pamphlets

Number One

Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 1 Tim. 4:12. {PH036 2.1}

Let the youth take the Bible as their guide, and stand like a rock for principle, and they can aspire to any height of attainment. --Signs, No. 9, 1889. {PH036 2.2}

The Bible teaches men to act from principle, and whenever we successfully resist evil influences we are strengthening that principle which has been assailed. The mere possession of talent is no guarantee of usefulness or happiness in life. Right principles are the only basis of true success. --Review and Herald, No. 29, 1883. {PH036 2.3}

Every act of life is great for good or evil and it is only by acting upon principle in the test of daily life that we acquire power to stand firm and faithful in the most dangerous and difficult positions.--Health Reformer. {PH036 2.4}

Pursue a straightforward course.--Life Sketches, p. 335. {PH036 2.5}

The young must be taught to think and to act from conscientious principle.--Christian Education, p. 34. {PH036 2.6}

Men and women who come upon the stage of action with firm principles will be fitted to stand unsullied amid the moral pollutions of this corrupt age.--Testimonies, Vol. III, p. 563. {PH036 2.7}

Nothing with which we have to do is really small. Every action is of some account either on the side of right, or on the side of wrong. It is only by exercising principle in the small transactions of ordinary life that we are tested and our characters formed. . . . The mind must be trained through daily tests to habits of fidelity, to a sense of the claims of right and duty above inclination and pleasure.-- Testimonies, Vol. III, p. 22. {PH036 2.8}

Teachers and students are constantly at work weaving the web of their eternal destiny. Every time the shuttle passes it draws after it a thread which is fastened to right principles and holy actions, or the opposite. Students may have fastened to their threads that which is not profitable for their future life.--Unpublished Testimony. {PH036 3.1}

Every heart will be tested, every character developed. It is principle that God's people must act upon. The living principle must be carried out in the life.--Testimonies, Vol. I, p. 222. {PH036 3.2}

Selfish, cheap ideas, little mean advantages, should not be allowed to steal in and mar the nobility of the principles that should control all the proceedings in temporal matters.--Unpublished Testimony. {PH036 3.3}

The youth may have principles so firm that the most powerful temptations of Satan will not draw them away from their allegiance. --Testimonies, Vol. III, p. 472. {PH036 3.4}

What is the principle that is to characterize the life? Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.--Unpublished Testimony. {PH036 3.5}

By conforming entirely to the will of God, we shall be placed upon vantage ground, and shall see the necessity of decided separation from the customs and practices of the world.--Testimonies, Vol. VI, p. 146. {PH036 3.6}

When those who confess the name of Christ shall practice the principles of the golden rule, the same power will attend the gospel as in apostolic times.--Mount of Blessing, p. 181. {PH036 3.7}

Love must be the principle of action.-- Christ's Object Lessons, p. 49. {PH036 4.1}

Joseph bore alike the test of adversity and prosperity.--Education, p. 52. {PH036 4.2}

Let every one who claims to be a child of the heavenly King seek constantly to represent the principles of the kingdom of God.--Testimonies, Vol. VI, p. 189. {PH036 4.3}

Many of the youth of this generation, in the midst of churches, religious institutions, and professedly Christian homes, are choosing the path to destruction.--Testimonies, Vol. VI, p. 254. {PH036 4.4}

Purposefulness

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank. Dan. 1:8. {PH036 4.5}

A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men. Prov. 18:16. {PH036 4.6}

High and holy must be the purpose of everyone who obtains the character all must obtain who win the crown of everlasting life.--Signs, Vol. 25, No. 25. {PH036 4.7}

Many desire the good, they make some effort to obtain it; but they do not choose it; they have not a settled purpose to secure it at the cost of all things.--Mount of Blessing, p. 191. {PH036 4.8}

Remember that you will never reach a higher standard than you yourself set. Then set your mark high, and step by step, even though it be by painful effort, by self-denial and sacrifice, ascend the whole length of the ladder of progress. Let nothing hinder you. Fate has not woven its meshes about any human being so firmly that he need remain helpless and in uncertainty. Opposing circumstances should create a firm determination to overcome them. The breaking down of one barrier will give greater ability and courage to go forward. Press with determination in the right direction, and circumstances will be your helpers, not your hindrances.--Christ's Object Lessons, pp. 331, 332. {PH036 4.9}

Only let the truth of this time be cordially received, and become the basis of character, and it will produce steadfastness of purpose which the allurements of pleasure, the fickleness of custom, the contempt of the world-loving, and the heart's clamors for self-indulgence are powerless to influence. --Testimonies, Vol. V, p. 13. {PH036 5.1}

Trust in God, and seek to move from principle, strengthened and ennobled by high resolves and a determination of purpose found only in God.--Testimonies, Vol. II, p. 313. {PH036 5.2}

It is purity of heart, singleness of purpose, that constitutes the true value of human beings.--Review and Herald, Oct. 6, 1891. {PH036 5.3}

He uses his gifts best who seeks by earnest endeavor to carry out the Lord's great plan for the uplifting of humanity, remembering always that he must be a learner as well as a teacher.--Youth's Instructor, Dec. 11, 1902. {PH036 5.4}

From Jesus' earliest years he was possessed of one purpose. He lived to bless others.--Desire of Ages, p. 70. {PH036 5.5}

The heaven-appointed purpose of giving the gospel to the world in this generation is the noblest that can appeal to any human being. . . . The whole world is opening to the gospel.--Education, p. 262. {PH036 5.6}

You may cultivate your powers to do the very best of service, and then you will find yourself in demand anywhere. You will be appreciated for what you are worth.-- Special Testimony. {PH036 5.7}

Reading

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. Rev. 1:3. {PH036 6.1}
But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer. 1 Pet. 4:7. R. V. {PH036 6.2}
In God's word is found wisdom unquestionable, inexhaustible,--wisdom that originated, not in the finite, but in the infinite mind.--Testimonies, Vol. VI, p. 132. {PH036 6.3}
There is nothing more calculated to strengthen the intellect than the study of the Scriptures. No other book is so potent to elevate the thoughts, to give vigor to the faculties as the broad ennobling truths of the Bible. If God's word were studied as it should be, men would have a breadth of mind, a nobility of character, and a stability of purpose that is rarely seen in these times.--Steps to Christ, p. 113. {PH036 6.4}
The mind occupied by common-place matters only becomes dwarfed and enfeebled. If never tasked to comprehend grand and far-reaching truths, it after a time loses the power of growth. . . . As a means of intellectual training, the Bible is more effective than any other book, or all other books combined.--Education, p. 124. {PH036 6.5}
The special effort of ministers, and of workers all through our ranks, for this time should be to turn away the attention of the youth from all exciting stories, to the sure word of prophecy. The attention of every soul striving for eternal life should center in the Bible.--Testimonies, Vol. V, p. 519. {PH036 6.6}
If you should read with the one object in view to improve the mind, and should read only as much as the mind could comprehend and digest, and should patiently persevere in such a course of reading, good
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results would be accomplished.--Testimonies, Vol. III, p. 465. {PH036 6.7}
Chasing through books superficially, clogs the mind, and causes you to become a mental dyspeptic.--Testimonies, Vol. III, p. 465. {PH036 7.1}
Those who have indulged the habit of racing through exciting stories, are crippling their mental strength, and disqualifying themselves for vigorous thought and research. There are men and women now in the decline of life who have never recovered from the effects of intemperate reading. . . . Nor is the physical effect less disastrous. The nervous system is unnecessarily taxed by this passion for reading. In some cases, youth, and even those of mature age, have been afflicted with paralysis from no other cause than excess in reading. The mind was kept under constant excitement, until the delicate machinery of the brain became so weakened that it could not act, and paralysis was the result.--Christian Education, pp. 186, 187. {PH036 7.2}
Intemperate habits of reading exert a pernicious influence upon the brain as surely as does intemperance in eating and drinking. --Christian Education, p. 188. {PH036 7.3}
There are many of our youth whom God has endowed with superior capabilities. He has given them the very best of talents but their powers have been enervated, their minds confused and enfeebled, and for years they have made no growth in grace and in a knowledge of the reasons of our faith, because they have gratified a taste for story-reading. They have as much difficulty to control the appetite for such superficial reading, as the drunkard has to control his appetite for intoxicating drink. These might today be connected with our publishing houses, and be efficient workers to keep books, prepare copy for the press,
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or to read proof; but their talents have been perverted until they are mental dyspeptics; and consequently are unfitted for a responsible position anywhere. The imagination is diseased. They live an unreal life. They are unfitted for the practical duties of life, and that which is the most sad and discouraging is they have lost all relish for solid reading.--Test., Vol. V, p. 518. {PH036 7.4}
One of the greatest reasons why you have so little disposition to draw nearer to God by prayer is you have unfitted yourselves for this sacred work by reading fascinating stories, which have excited the imagination and aroused unholy passions.--Testimonies, Vol. I, p. 504. {PH036 8.1}
You are indulging in evil which threatens to destroy your spirituality. It will eclipse all the beauty and interest of the sacred pages. It is love for story books, tales, and other reading which does not have an influence for good upon the mind that is in any way dedicated to the service of God. It produces a false, unhealthy excitement, fevers the imagination, unfits the mind for usefulness, and disqualifies it for any spiritual exercise. . . . The oftener and more diligently you peruse the Scriptures, the more beautiful will they appear, and the less relish will you have for light reading.-- Testimonies, Vol. I, pp. 241, 242. {PH036 8.2}
I am troubled to see in Christian families, periodicals and newspapers containing continued stories that leave no impress of good upon the mind. I have watched those whose tastes for fiction has been thus cultivated. They have had the privilege of listening to the truths of God's word, of becoming acquainted with the reasons of our faith; but they have grown to mature years destitute of true piety. . . . The mind is feasted upon sensational stories. They live in an unreal world, and are
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fitted for the practical duties of life. I have observed children allowed to come up in this way. Whether at home or abroad, they are either restless or dreamy, and are unable to converse save upon the most common-place subjects. The nobler faculties, those adapted to higher pursuits, have been degraded to the contemplation of trivial, or worse than trivial subjects, until their possessor has become satisfied with such topics and scarcely has power to reach anything higher.--Christian Education, pp. 185, 186. {PH036 8.3}
The young are in great danger. Great evil results from their light reading. Much time is lost which should be spent in useful employment. Some would even deprive themselves of sleep to finish some ridiculous love story. The world is flooded with novels of every description. Some are not of as dangerous a character as others. Some are immoral, low and vulgar; others are clothed with more refinement; but all are pernicious in their influence, Oh that the young would reflect upon the influence which exciting stories have upon the mind. Can you, after such reading, open the Word of God and read the words of life with interest? Do you not find the book of God uninteresting? The charm of that love story is upon the mind, destroying its healthy tone, and making it impossible for you to fix your mind upon the important, solemn truths which concern your eternal interest. You sin against your parents in devoting to such a poor purpose the time which belongs to them, and you sin against God in thus using the time which should be spent in devotion to Him.--Testimonies, Vol. II, p. 236. {PH036 9.1}
Avoid reading and seeing things which will suggest impure thoughts. Cultivate the moral and intellectual powers. Let not
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these noble powers become enfeebled and perverted by much reading of even story books. I know of strong minds that have been unbalanced and partially benumbed, or paralyzed, by intemperance in reading. --Testimonies, Vol. II, p. 410. {PH036 9.2}
Many of the young are eager for books. They read everything they can obtain. Exciting love stories and impure pictures have a corrupting influence. Novels are eagerly perused by many, and as a result, the imaginations become defiled.--Testimonies, Vol. II, p. 410. {PH036 10.1}

Music

Sing unto the Lord, all the earth; shew forth from day to day His salvation. I Chron. 16:23. {PH036 10.2}
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Eph. 5:19. {PH036 10.3}
God is glorified by songs of praise from a pure heart filled with love and devotion to Him.--Testimonies, Vol. I, p. 509. {PH036 10.4}
Music should have beauty, pathos and power. . . . Let the voices be lifted in songs of praise and devotion. Call to your aid, if practicable, instrumental music, and let the glorious harmony ascend to God, an acceptable offering.--Gospel Workers, p. 325. {PH036 10.5}
Music was made to serve a holy purpose, to lift the thoughts to that which is pure, noble and elevating, and to awaken in the soul devotion and gratitude to God. What a contrast between the ancient custom and the uses to which music is now too often devoted. How many employ this gift to exalt self, instead of using it to glorify God? A love for music leads the unwary to unite with world-lovers in pleasure-gatherings where God has forbidden his
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children to go. Thus that which is a great blessing when rightly used, becomes one of the most successful agencies by which Satan allures the mind from duty and from the contemplation of eternal things. Music forms a part of God's worship in the courts above, and we should endeavor, in our songs of praise, to approach as nearly as possible to the harmony of the heavenly choirs. The proper training of the voice is an important feature in education, and should not be neglected. Singing, as a part of religious service, is as much an act of worship as is prayer.--Christian Education, pp. 62, 63. {PH036 10.6}
Music is often perverted to serve purposes of evil, and it thus becomes one of the most alluring agencies of temptation. But, rightly employed, it is a precious gift of God, designed to uplift the thoughts to high and noble themes, to inspire and elevate the soul.--Education, p. 167. {PH036 11.1}
Pray more than you sing.--Testimonies, Vol. I, p. 513. {PH036 11.2}
Angels are hovering around yonder dwelling. The young are there assembled; there is the sound of vocal and instrumental music. Christians are gathered there, but what is that you hear? It is a song, a frivolous ditty, fit for the dance-hall. Behold the pure angels gather their light closer around them, and darkness envelops those in the dwelling. The angels are moving from the scene. Sadness is upon their countenances. Behold, they are weeping. . . . When turned to good account, music is a blessing, but it is often one of Satan's most attractive agencies to ensnare souls. When abused, it leads the unconverted to pride, vanity, and folly. When allowed to take the place of devotion and prayer, it is a terrible curse. --Testimonies, Vol. I, p. 506.
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{PH036 11.3}
Satan has put vile songs in your mouths, and these you have sung, making your lips utter his praise.--Special Testimonies. {PH036 12.1}
Mothers, instead of seeking to give your daughters a musical education, instruct them in these useful branches which have the closest connection with life and health. Testimonies, Vol. II, p. 538. {PH036 12.2}
No one who has an in-dwelling Saviour will dishonor him before others by producing strains from a musical instrument which call the mind from God and Heaven to light and trifling things.--Testimonies, Vol. I, p. 510. {PH036 12.3}

PH137 - Health and Healing (1930)



Selections From the Manuscripts

1. God's blessing will rest upon every effort made to awaken an interest in health reform; for it is needed everywhere. There must be a revival on this subject; for God purposes to accomplish much through this agency. MS-6a-1890. {PH137 4.1}
2. The Holy Spirit never has, and never will in the future, divorce the medical missionary work from the gospel ministry. They cannot be divorced. Bound up with Jesus Christ, the ministry of the word and the healing of the sick are one. Series B, No. 7, page 64. {PH137 4.2}
3. Seventh-day Adventists are to be represented to the world by the advanced principles of health reform which God has given us. {PH137 4.3}
In the work of the gospel the Lord uses different instrumentalities, and nothing is to be allowed to separate these instrumentalities. D.F. {PH137 4.4}
4. If we would elevate the moral standard in any country where we may be called to go, we must begin by correcting their physical habits. Virtue of character depends upon the right action of the powers of the mind and body. C.H. 505. {PH137 4.5}
5. Christ gave a perfect representation of true godliness by combining the work of a physician and a minister, ministering to the needs of both body and soul, healing physical disease, and then speaking words that brought peace to the troubled heart. C.H. 528. {PH137 4.6}

An Effective Instrument

6. When connected with other lines of gospel effort, medical missionary work is a most effective instrument by which the ground is prepared for the sowing of the seeds of truth, and the instrument also by which the harvest is reaped. Medical missionary work is the helping hand of the gospel ministry. So far as possible, it would be well for evangelical workers to learn how to minister to the necessities of the body as well as the soul; for in doing this, they are following the example of Christ. Intemperance has well-nigh filled the world with disease, and the ministers of the gospel cannot spend all their time and strength in ministering to the physical needs of the people. The Lord has ordained that Christian physicians and
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nurses shall labor in connection with those who preach the word. The medical missionary work is to be bound up with the gospel ministry. R & H., Sept. 10, 1908. {PH137 4.7}

Section Six

No Compromise


7. To those who engage in the medical missionary work, the temptation will come to exalt themselves, to put on an appearance for the sake of effect. Cut away everything of this character from your work. Let the whole burden of soul be to be just what Christ was in His work. We are to make no compromise with the habits and practices of the world. We are to stand upon the platform of eternal truth, pure, unadulterated truth. In this we may be considered singular, but this is the lot of all who make Christ their portion. Every worker in medical missionary lines is to make that work a success by living in connection with the Great Worker. MS-96-1898. {PH137 5.1}

Section Seven

Will Revive the Churches


8. Get the young men and women in the churches to work. Combine medical missionary work with the proclamation of the third angel's message. Make regular, organized efforts to lift the church members out of the dead level in which they have been for years. Send out into the churches workers who will live the principles of health reform. Let those be sent who can see the necessity of self-denial in appetite, or they will be a snare to the church. See if the breath of life will not then come into our churches. A new element needs to be brought into the work. God's people must realize their great need and peril, and take up the work that lies nearest them. 6T 267.
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{PH137 5.2}

Section Eight

A Heaven-Ordained Means of Entrance to Hearts


9. Medical missionary work must have its representatives in our cities. Centers must be made and missions established on right lines. Ministers of the gospel are to unite with the medical missionary work which has ever been presented to me as the work which is to break down the prejudice which exists in our world against the truth. MS-33-1901. {PH137 6.1}

Section Nine

A Thousand Streams


10. We shall see the medical missionary work broadening and deepening at every point of its progress, because of the inflowing of hundreds and thousands of streams, until the whole earth is covered as the waters cover the sea. MS-32-1901. {PH137 6.2}
11. In every large city there should be a representation of true medical missionary work. The principles of genuine health reform are to be brought out in clear lines, in our health publications, and in lectures delivered to the patients in our sanitariums. In every city there are men and women who would go to a sanitarium were it near at hand, who would not be able to go to one a long way off. There are many who will be convicted and converted, who now appear indifferent. I look at this matter in a very decided light. K-203-1905. {PH137 6.3}

Employment of the Redeemed

12. There will be employment in heaven. The redeemed state is not one of idle repose. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God, but it is a rest found in loving service. Some among the redeemed will have laid hold of Christ in the last hours of life, and in heaven instruction will be given to these, who, when they died, did not understand perfectly the plan of salvation. Christ will lead the redeemed ones beside the river of life, and will open to them that which, while on this earth, they could not understand. K-203-1905.
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{PH137 6.4}

Section Eleven

Like the Manna


13. The light that God has given and will continue to give on the food question is to be to His people today what the manna was to the children of Israel. The manna fell from heaven, and the people were told to gather it, and prepare it to be eaten. So in the different countries of the world, light will be given to the Lord's people, and health foods suited to these countries will be prepared. MS-78-1902. {PH137 7.1}

Section Twelve

Instruction for Missionaries


14. Those who desire to become missionaries are to hear instruction from competent physicians, who will teach them how to care for the sick without the use of drugs. Such lessons will be of the highest value to those who go out to labor in foreign countries. And the simple remedies used will save many lives. MS-83-1908. {PH137 7.2}

Section Thirteen

Do Not Counterwork Reform


15. The Lord has given us the work of proclaiming the message of health reform, and if you cannot step forward in the ranks of those who are giving this message you are not to make this prominent. In counterworking the efforts of your fellow laborers, who are teaching health reform, you are out of order, working on the wrong side. F-48-1902. {PH137 7.3}

Section Fifteen

A Contagious Example


16. God will test the sincerity of men. Those who will deny self, take up the cross, and follow Christ will have a continual work to do in the line of restoring the fallen human order. Those who sacrifice for truth make a great impression on the world. Their example
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is contagious and convincing. Men see that there is in the church that faith which works by love and purifies the soul. But when those who profess to be working for God seek to benefit themselves, they greatly retard the work, and cast a reproach upon it. C-38-1901. {PH137 7.4}

Section Sixteen

Extremists


17. It is the desire and plan of Satan to bring in among us those who will go to great extremes,--people of narrow minds, who are critical and sharp, and very tenacious in holding their own conceptions of what the truth means. They will be exacting, and will seek to enforce rigorous duties, and go to great lengths in matters of minor importance, while they neglect the weightier matters of the law,--judgment and mercy and the love of God. Through the work of a few of this class of persons, the whole body of Sabbath keepers will be designated as bigoted, Pharisaical, and fanatical. The work of the truth, because of these workers, will be thought to be unworthy of notice. R. & H., May 29, 1888. {PH137 8.1}

The Sin of the Age

18. Sensuality is the sin of the age. But the religion of Jesus Christ will hold the lines of control over every species of unlawful liberty; the moral powers will hold the lines of control over every thought, word, and action. Guile will not be found in the lips of the true Christian. Not an impure thought will be indulged in, nor any careless movements, not a word spoken that is approaching to sensuality, not an action that has the least appearance of evil. MS-4a-1885. {PH137 8.2}

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