Sanitarium Relief Campaign by R. A. Underwood

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 22, 1911

Sanitarium Relief Campaign

By R. A. Underwood

The Best Missionary Work

One year ago last fall the General Conference Council laid a plan by which the counsel that had come to us from Sister White concerning her book, “Ministry of Healing,” might be carried out. Sister White has given the entire profits on this book for the benefit of our sanitariums, and she has asked “every member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church” to do his part in placing “Ministry of Healing” in the homes of the people.

There are many reasons for placing this book before the people at this time. I will mention two or three. The enemy has occupied the field, and is working diligently to fill the minds of the people with false views of God and the work of healing. The doctrine of Christian Science is spreading with great rapidity, and it becomes the duty of every Seventh-day Adventist to do his part in bringing to the people the true light on this subject. A brief citation of some things found in “Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures,” by the late Mrs. Eddy, contrasted with a few brief statements found in “Ministry of Healing,” by Mrs. E. G. White, should impress us with the importance of circulating the latter book.

On page 11 of Mrs. Eddy’s book she calls the message she gives the “gospel.” But what does this “gospel” teach? On page 2 she says of prayer: “An error which impedes spiritual growth.” Commenting upon James 5, this “gospel” of Mrs. Eddy’s says: “This common custom of praying for the sick finds help in blind belief.”

On page 38 she says: “The eternal Christ, his spiritual selfhood, never suffered.” On page 46 we read: “Jesus’ students, not sufficiently advanced to fully understand their Master’s triumph, did not perform many wonderful works until they saw him after the crucifixion, and learned that he had not died.”

On the subject of marriage this so-called “gospel” says, on page 65: “Matrimony, which was once a fixed fact among us, must lose its present slippery footing, and find permanence in a more spiritual adherence.” It places discredit upon the divinely ordained marriage institution.

The book says: “Miracles are impossible in science, and here it takes issue with popular religion.”—Page 83.

We read on page 184: “We say man suffers from the effect of cold, heat, fatigue. This is human belief, not the truth of being.” Again, on page 389, occurs this statement: “The less we know or think about hygiene, the less we are predisposed to sickness.” On page 447 we read: “Expose and denounce the claims of evil and disease in all their forms, but acknowledge no reality in them.”

The following is said of sin: “Sin exists only so long as the material illusion of mind in matter remains.”—Page 311. “Divine mercy destroys error, but never pardons it.”—Page 329. On page 339 the remedy is given by which we may get rid of sin: “To get rid of sin through science is to divest sin of any supposed mind or reality. . . . You conquer error by denying its verity.” “Any material evidence of death is false.”—Page 384.

Of the record of creation, after quoting Gen. 2:7, the book says: “Is this addition to his creation real or unreal? Is it the truth? or is it a lie concerning God and man?—It must be the latter.”—Page 524. On page 528, after quoting from Gen. 2:19, it says: “Here the lie represents God as repeating creation.”

It is claimed that more than a million copies of Mrs. Eddy’s book have been circulated. The cheapest price for which this book can be bought is three dollars. I have compared the mechanical construction of the latest edition (1911) with that of “Ministry of Healing,” and find that it contains a few more pages of printed matter than “Ministry of Healing,” but the paper and binding of the latter are far superior. “Ministry of Healing” is far superior in every feature, and its price is only $1.50 a copy. It teaches the message of Christ, pure and simple, in marked contrast to what I have quoted from Mrs. Eddy’s “gospel.”

In the preface, the publishers say of “Ministry of Healing:” “The great world is sick, and wherever the children of men dwell, sin and suffering abound. . . . In this modest book, dear reader, the author . . . has brought within the reach of every intelligent father and mother, every man and woman, lay and professional, a vast fund of information on life and its laws, on health and its requisites, on disease and its remedies. . . . It is a dedicated book, given by the author to the blessed service of sick and suffering humanity, one in which publishers make no profit, save that which shall return in ‘the joy of the Lord,’ in souls blessed and comforted in God.”

The opening statement of the author is: “Our Lord Jesus Christ came to this world as the unwearied servant of man’s necessity. He ‘took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses,’ that he might minister to every need of humanity. . . . His compassion knew no limit.”

“During his ministry, Jesus devoted more time to healing the sick than to preaching. His miracles testified to the truth of his words.”—Page 19. In speaking of the blind and deaf who had never seen nor heard before meeting Christ, the book says: “His voice was the first sound that many had ever heard. . . . his face the first they had ever looked upon. . . . As he passed through the towns and cities, he was like a vital current, diffusing life and joy.”—Pages 19, 20. “The voice of the mighty Healer penetrated the deaf ear. A word, a touch of the hand, opened the blind eyes to behold the light of day. His voice reached the ears of the dying, and they arose in health and vigor.”

Will God pardon sin? The case of the paralytic is cited. The book says: “Jesus had watched the first glimmer of faith grow into a conviction that he was the sinner’s only helper, and had seen it grow stronger with every effort to come into his presence. Now, in words that fall like music on the listener’s ear, the Saviour said, ‘Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.’” When the Pharisees charged him with blasphemy, his reply was: “Whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.”

In a message by Sister White she has asked every Seventh-day Adventist to do his part in placing this message of Christ’s healing in the homes of the people. When there is such activity to lead people away from the Word of God and the true source of healing, should we not hasten to place before them this volume filled with such precious light? Shall we be clear if we fail to do this in response to the call of God? How shall we meet in the judgment our neighbors and friends who may have accepted the false way because we failed to bring to them the light God has given us?

In addition to the blessing each will receive, and the blessing received by those to whom this message of healing is brought, some of our denominational sanitariums will receive one dollar from the sale of each book. God calls upon us to give free, as a willing service, our labor in selling this book. Let every church officer and each laborer encourage all to do their part of this heaven-appointed work.—R. A. Underwood, in the Northern Union Reaper.