The Place of Health Institutions in Gospel Work by Daniel H. Kress

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 26, 1908

The Place of Health Institutions in Gospel Work

By Daniel H. Kress

THE commission to the Christian church is, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Since the work and burden of the church should be to evangelize the world, why, we may ask, invest so much means in building up health institutions? An answer to this question is given in the familiar words of Scripture: “I wish above all things, that thou mayest prosper and be in health.”

The Creator is interested in man's physical well-being. He desires that men and women should enjoy health. To express this wish, Christ spent a great share of his time in healing bodily infirmities; and the church of Christ to be true to her calling, can not do otherwise than show an interest in the sick and afflicted. Institutions should be provided by the church of Christ where the sick can be placed under the care of skilled Christian physicians, and where they may be tenderly nursed back to health by Christian nurses, at the same time receiving instruction pertaining to the causes of disease. This is a work that can not be done in worldly institutions.

Diseases which were at one time considered incurable we now find readily disappear by merely supplying the patient with an abundant supply of one of God's choicest gifts—pure air. It has taken us a long time to learn that man must obtain the air he breathes at first-hand, not at second-hand.

Healthful diet is next in importance to pure air. Nature designs that man should get his food, as well as the air he breathes, at first-hand, and not at second-hand. God placed man at the beginning in a garden, and surrounded him with trees pleasant to the sight and good for food. The simple products of the earth were given him. Second-hand food in the form of animal flesh, even at its best, is filled with waste products, if not with the actual products of disease, and is, therefore, not the best suited for imparting health.

Aside from pure air and proper diet, health depends upon perfect circulation of the fluid which conveys the properties from the air and the food to the tissues.

The rational method of treating disease consists in utilizing nature's remedies, and assisting the human organism in getting rid of disease-producing products. Massage and electricity are of value chiefly because they encourage tissue changes, and aid in the elimination of impurities.

Water, as a therapeutic agency, has been employed for ages. The ancient Hebrews, Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, and Romans all recognized its great value for use in both health and disease.

The aim of the gospel is to save from sin, or to bring men into harmony with, and obedience to, God's laws. The sanitarium idea is, therefore, in perfect harmony with the gospel commission, and with our Lord's purpose in establishing his church. The medical missionary work was established by our Lord himself; and the sanitarium that carries out the true sanitarium idea is following the example and the admonition of Him whose we are, and whom we serve. D. H. KRESS, M. D.