p. 11 | WORKING WITH GOD

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 28, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 42.

WORKING WITH GOD.

[Extracts from a report of a missionary meeting held in the Sanitarium at Battle Creek, Mich., August 14, 1897.]

Dr. Rand—In our department meeting on Tuesday we had an informal meeting, talking over the different phases of the work. With one patient we had had six different nurses, each one having failed, because they could not stand the temperament of the man. The last nurse who was sent to him could do nothing with him at all, so he asked the old gentleman if he would pray with him, and he would always answer, "Yes," so he would kneel down and pray, and after doing this several times, his patient would do anything he told him to, and the nurse had complete control over him. When the patient went home, he took the nurse with him, as he was the only person that he felt that he dared trust.

Another patient who was using tobacco quite freely, has taken up our principles as fast as they were presented to him. When he came into my office one day, I asked him if it was not a moral wrong to continue this habit. He said that he did not look upon it in that light. I asked him if he would smoke or chew in a church. He replied, "No." He considered it was not respectful to the house of God. I then showed him, by a few texts, that the Lord created our bodies for his temple; that he dwelt there. He took the quid of tobacco out of his mouth, and, throwing it in the waste-basket, said: "That settles that. This is the last time that I will ever defile the temple of God with tobacco."

Still another patient, who is the editor of a daily paper in one of the western States, had used tobacco until his mind was a little affected. He was very bitter towards us at first, but after returning home we received a letter from him stating that he had made complete recovery, and that there was no place like this institution. This shows how the Lord can work upon people, although we do not see it while they are here with us.

Dr. Kress—I have had several interesting experiences this week. One of my patients, who is an inveterate user of tobacco, had made several attempts to give it up, but without success.

He was surprised that tobacco had such a hold upon him, and that he had become a slave to the use of it. I told him in a few words of my experience and how I was enabled to give up the habit. He then decided to give it up gradually, but finally came to the point that he would give it up at once. In twenty-four hours he came to me and said that he had succeeded by the help of the Lord, and that he did not feel badly either. The next day he reported again and said, "It is strange that I scarcely have any desire for tobacco." He feels delighted because he has won the victory. Every opportunity he has he converses upon Gospel subjects, and is greatly interested in them.