"and towns are steeped in sin and moral corruption. The world is full of sickness, suffering, and iniquity. Nigh and afar off are souls in poverty and distress, weighed down with a sense of guilt and perishing for want of a saving influence. The gospel of truth is kept ever before them, yet they perish because the example of those who should be a savor of life to them is a savor of death. Their souls drink in bitterness because the springs are poisoned, when they should be like a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. PK 232.1"
"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
EGW directly alludes to the imagery of the 'well of water springing up into everlasting life' from John 4:14, contrasting it with the 'poisoned springs' that lead to bitterness and death. The connection is clear and intentional.
"Salt must be mingled with the substance to which it is added; it must penetrate, infuse it, that it may be preserved. So it is through personal contact and association that men are reached by the saving power of the gospel. They are not saved as masses, but as individuals. Personal influence is a power. It is to work with the influence of Christ, to lift where Christ lifts, to impart correct principles, and to stay the progress of the world's corruption. It is to diffuse that grace which Christ alone can impart. It is to uplift, to sweeten the lives and characters of others by the power of a pure example united with earnest faith and love. PK 232.2"
"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men."
EGW explicitly uses the metaphor of 'salt' and its preserving qualities, directly referencing Matthew 5:13. She expands on the idea, explaining how Christians should 'mingle' with the world to have a saving influence.
"To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."
Both passages emphasize the importance of adapting to others in order to reach them with the gospel. EGW speaks of 'personal contact and association' and 'lifting where Christ lifts,' while 1 Corinthians 9:22 describes becoming 'all things to all men.' The underlying principle of meeting people where they are is shared.