Medical Missionary Work at Jackson (Mich.) Treatment Rooms
By A. J. Harris
Our work here is increasing. We have had to double our facilities the last year, and work with greater zeal. We are surprised many times at the class of people we are permitted to meet in this work. Some of the visits we receive, remind me of Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews, whose secret visit to our Lord was the occasion of the discourse recorded in the third chapter of John's Gospel. We are having daily demonstrations of the last call to the supper, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in.” Are not these institutions that God is establishing all over the world, carrying out this command just now? Is not this message, including the medical missionary work, the compelling message which is due in this last time? These God-given principles of treating the sick are sought for by high and low. A traveling man said to me this morning while I was giving him treatment for the first time, “Your work is coming more and more into demand all the time.” Many are compelled to seek relief from their distress, and thus those who might not otherwise hear the message are led to accept it. Men and women come to us who would not have listened to us had we gone to them in any other way,—those who would never read our literature,—those who could not be induced to enter a church to hear the truth; yet they will now sit and talk, even when they are being treated, asking many questions concerning our peculiar belief. Many times I have read to them a text answering their questions, while they were lying in the bath tub. A week ago, on Friday night just as the Sabbath was drawing on, a lawyer came hurrying in, and asked if he could get a treatment. I replied, “You are too late; we give no more treatments until this time to-morrow night, except to emergency cases.” He turned, and smilingly said, “Harris, you will have to change your religion, or else I will mine.” These little things tell a long story sometimes. Many Are Seeking Spiritual Help
Just one experience will serve to illustrate the condition of many. A few days ago a wealthy old gentleman came to our treatment rooms, and said, “Can you not give me a treatment that will relieve this head of mine? Really, it seems as if my head would burst. I am so fearful, I feel as if my very soul were lost.” I told him that I would do all I could, and proceeded to give him a double treatment—treatment for his physical and also for his spiritual maladies. When I got him under physical progress, I asked him about his spiritual condition. I told him that God could save him just as well as He could save any one. He thought not, because he was “such an old sinner,” and had spent all his life in accumulating wealth and in selfish living. “How can God save me? You know,” he said, “we have to make a character in this life that must be tested; and it seems to me that I shall soon die.” I got my Bible, and read to him the promises in 1 John 1:9; Job 33:27, 28; Jer. 3:13. He said, “But I do not feel that that can be so for me. Does it not say somewhere that we may know?” I replied, “Yes; it does. If you should ask a favor of a friend who had always favored you, under certain requirements that were always met, would you not know that when you had fulfilled those requirements, your favor would be granted?” Receiving a reply in the affirmative, I asked, “How would you know?” “By his promise,” he said. “Then,” I said, “can you not take God at His word when you have fulfilled what He has asked of you? By the word of Him who can never fail, can you not know?” Then he asked me to write down those texts for him. He comes often, and now our whole conversation is about God and His word. Many in the highways of life are to-day seeking something besides wealth. And our God has indeed made provision for them. By this work, He is opening the homes of these people. Our nurses enter in; and if they are seeking the glory of God, He can wonderfully use them to lead these longing souls. We have merchants, bankers, lawyers, even all classes, to deal with, and they not only come to us, but we also go to their homes. Our Literature·Removes Prejudice
Our literature is kindly received by these people. If we can get the Good Health into a family, prejudice will be removed, and our other books and papers will be received. This journal is indeed an entering wedge. Some of our patients have bought “Christ’s Object Lessons;” but all such have first had Good Health. The nurses take “Christ’s Object Lessons” with them when they are nursing. They often sell one either to their patient or to some one in the home. One nurse who has been on night duty has gone into the city to sell books a part of the day. Some in the church are taking an interest in selling “Christ’s Object Lessons,” and they always have a good report. We are anxious that Jackson shall sell its full quota of books. The burning of the principal buildings of our mother institution brings sadness, but we all realize that God has a lesson in it for us, and we are praying that the Lord may be glorified in those in responsible places, that no mistake may be made in the rebuilding, and in the carrying forward of this part of His glorious message. A. J. HARRIS.