p. 19 | The Influence of Our Sanitariums by D. H. Kress

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 28, 1915

The Influence of Our Sanitariums

By D. H. Kress

There can be no doubt in the mind of any one who has been connected with the work of the third angel’s message for any length of time that our sanitariums have exerted an influence which has been helpful in breaking down prejudice and in making friends with a superior class of people. Ministering to the sick is a work that will always commend itself to honest men and women. How much we owe to these institutions for the many openings we have had in home and foreign fields we may not be able to calculate, but we do know that the work they are doing is bearing the divine credentials. To the question of the messengers sent from John, “Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?” Jesus replied, “Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.” His deeds furnished the only reliable and convincing evidence that he was the Sent of God. Today this same ministry is to carry conviction, wherever the third angel’s message is proclaimed.

The impression made upon patients may be best illustrated by citing a few incidents from actual experience.

While in England a gentleman of means, after visiting the United States in search of health, was advised by his friends to call on me at my office in London for examination and advice. We were just opening our work, and in the absence of office equipment I examined him on the floor on my knees. The fact that I examined him on my knees may have had something to do with the results. After the examination, I gave him the best advice I could; and being a man of means, he handed me ten dollars. He started for his home in Australia.

At that time I had not dreamed of going to Australia, but two years later found me on my way to that continent. After my arrival, his friends notified him of it, and he at once looked up our sanitarium. He came for treatment, and was so impressed with what he saw and heard that he investigated the truth, and began the observance of the Sabbath.

He had in his employ a large force of men. One of the hardest tasks before him was to tell his foreman and employees of the change in his religious views, and that after this the Sabbath would be observed. He hardly knew how to proceed. On the arrival of his train at his home station, he was met by his foreman. He stepped off the train, shook hands, and at once, with trembling, said: “I wish to tell you I have begun to keep the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath.” To his surprise, the foreman replied: “Well, you are right. I have for some time been convinced that Saturday is the right day to keep.” The Lord gave him favor with all his employees. Some time later one of our ministers was called on to baptize seventeen persons as a

result, directly and indirectly, of this man’s godly influence.

Later, a young man very much emaciated came for treatments. He improved in health, and was so favorably impressed with the spiritual atmosphere of the sanitarium that he, too, decided to keep the Sabbath and cast his lot with the people who were engaged in ministering to the sick. His mother, a most estimable woman of considerable means, had heard unfavorable reports about Seventh-day Adventists, and was naturally greatly troubled about her son. She said to me while visiting in Melbourne, her home city, “I fear he has not studied into your doctrines, but has been influenced by the lives of those who minister to him.” I advised her to visit him at the sanitarium and ascertain the facts, assuring her we had brought no pressure on him. She came soon after this, and brought her daughter with her. Together they studied the Bible, with the result that her daughter, too, decided she must keep the Sabbath. The mother, more perplexed than ever, hardly knew what to do; but being an honest searcher after truth, she was later led to see the importance of this message, and threw her all into the work. Her daughter afterwards took the nurses’ course, and later was sent as a missionary to Singapore. She was one of the most noble Christian young women we had the privilege of training while in Australia. The mother and the son have done much active missionary work, and have greatly assisted the cause with their means and influence.

During our stay in Australia, we were able to count thirty-three persons who had accepted present truth directly through the sanitarium work, not counting those who were brought into the truth through the individual effort of these converts. Among these were men of influence and means whom it would have been difficult to influence in any other way to investigate the truths we were advocating. There are other experiences as interesting as the ones already mentioned, but my purpose is merely to give a glimpse of what our sanitariums have done in the past, and what they, under the special blessing of God, may do in the future.

D. H. KRESS, M. D.