Our Sanitariums and Their Place in the Third Angel’s Message
By D. H. KRESS, M. D.
SANITARIUM work is not something separate from gospel work: it is an essential part of it; it is the gospel in practice. The tendency, however, is for the church of Christ to become so occupied in what is termed purely spiritual worship that this practical phase of gospel work is ignored. There has never been a time in the history of the church when its members were more highly religious than at the time of Christ’s first advent. So religious were they that to heal or even relieve pain or suffering on the Sabbath day was regarded as a violation of the law of God. The burden of that church was not to be a blessing to humanity, but to carry out certain religious ceremonies. When Christ appeared, he employed his time largely in healing the sick and doing good, helping when and where help was most needed. As a result of this course, the publicans and sinners drew nigh unto him, and the needy multitudes followed him. To the priests and the Levites who envied his power and success he made known their secret by a parable, which presented the situation existing at the time in the professed church of God. He said, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves,” who wounded him and left him by the wayside half dead. In order that the dying man might receive physical help, God brought that way a certain priest who was on his way to the temple to worship. Evidently the priest did not consider this a part of his mission or a part of the gospel work, so he passed by on the other side. The Levite did the same. The Lord then brought a Samaritan that way, and “he had compassion on him.” He dressed and bound up his wounds, and in the absence of a sanitarium or a better place, he took the man to an inn, where the sick man could receive the needed help. To the priests and the Levites Christ said, “Go, and do thou likewise.” In this parable is illustrated not only the need that each church member should be a good Samaritan, but also the church’s need of suitable places where the sick may be taken or encouraged to go to receive the proper care or aid in health restoration. This parable illustrates the relation that the church of Christ should ever sustain to the sick and the afflicted. There has never been a time when sickness and degeneracy were more prevalent than at present, or when a greater need existed for good Samaritan work. Consequently there has never been a time when there was a greater need for suitable places where the sick may be taken and tenderly and intelligently nursed back to health. But a still greater and more important work than healing the sick, or even of working miracles, is to be done at this time. We may ask, What work can be greater? John the Baptist did no miracles, but Jesus said of him, “I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.” To raise a man to life who is at the point of death is truly a great work, but to impart principles which will prevent sickness is a still greater work. Had men always been obedient to the law of God, the curse of disease now flooding the world, would not be. The aim of the gospel is to bring men and women into obedience to law, and by so doing to bring to them the blessings which can come only to the doers of God’s word. Men and women are perishing because of a lack of knowledge of God’s laws. When sick, they do not reason from effect to cause. The sickness is attributed to heredity or to some providence, anything, in fact, but to the true cause or causes. While we have all inherited bodily infirmities as a result of the transgressions of our forefathers, yet there is much suffering which we cannot charge to our ancestors or to providence, but is due to our own transgressions, and can be remedied only by ceasing to do evil and learning to do well. There is no one thing that the people of today need more than a knowledge of how to live so as to enjoy health; for not only the health but often the eternal destiny is determined by the way we eat and drink, and live in our homes. If the physical habits are not what they should be, the mental and moral powers cannot be what they should be; for this reason God’s desire is that we may be in health. Christ died to save men from ruin by saving them from sin, or the violation of law. In this work our sanitariums are to be a helping hand. To make plain natural law and to urge obedience to it, is the work of our sanitariums; and this work must accompany the third angel’s message in order that a people may be prepared for the coming of the Lord. It is impossible for men and women to discern the sacred truths through which alone sanctification is made possible, so long as they indulge in tea and coffee drinking, in the use of drugs and patent medicines, and in the use of foods whose tendency is to enervate or benumb the brain. Yet this is what is being done by many. It is only by cherishing the light God has given upon health reform that men and women may be fitted for life and immortality. Realizing this, we are better able to appreciate the importance of the true Samaritan and sanitarium work, and also the position God designs these institutions to occupy in the proclamation of the last message of mercy.