Earlier text: RELATION OF HEALTH INSTITUTIONS TO THE CAUSE.

SENTIMENTALISM.

THE guardians of the institution must ever maintain a high standard, and carefully watch over the youth entrusted to them by parents as learners or helpers in the various departments. When young men and women work together, a sympathy is created among them which frequently grows into27 sentimentalism. If the guardians are indifferent to this, lasting injury may be done to these souls, and the high moral tone of the institution will be compromised. If any, patients or helpers, continue their familiarity by deception after having had judicious instruction, they should not be retained in the institution, for their influence will affect those who are innocent and unsuspecting. Young girls will lose their maidenly modesty, and be led to act deceptively because their affections have become entangled. . . . The young should be taught to be frank, yet modest, in their associations. They should be taught to respect just rules and authority. If they refuse to do this, let them be dismissed, no matter what position they occupy, for they will demoralize others. The forwardness of young girls in placing themselves in the company of young men, lingering around where they are at work, entering into conversation with them, talking common, idle talk, is belittling to womanhood. It lowers them, even in the estimation of those who themselves indulge in such things. . . . Let not those who profess the religion of Christ descend to trifling conversation, to unbecoming familiarity with women of any class, whether married or single. Let them keep their proper places with all dignity. At the same time they should be sociable, kind, and courteous to all. Young ladies should be reserved and modest. They should give no occasion for their good to be evil spoken of. . . . Those who give evidence that their thoughts run in a low channel, whose conversation tends to corrupt rather than to elevate, should be removed at once from any connection with the institution, for they will surely demoralize others.

Ever bear in mind that our health institutions are missionary fields. . . . Will you excuse levity and careless acts by saying that it was the result of thoughtlessness on your part? Is it not the duty of the Christian to think soberly? If Jesus is enthroned in the heart, will the thoughts be running riot? . . .

Christ’s followers will be temperate in eating and drinking. They will not indulge appetite at the expense of health and spiritual growth. “They married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.” We see the same infatuation now in regard to marriage. Youth, and even men and women, who ought to be wise and discerning, act as if bewitched upon this question. A satanic power seems to take possession of them. The most indiscreet marriages are formed. God is not consulted. Human feelings, desires, and passions bear down everything before them, until the die is cast. Untold misery is the result of this state of things, and God is dishonored. The marriage vow covers every kind of lustful abomination. Shall there not be a decided change in reference to this matter?

Moral purity, self-respect, a strong power of resistance, must be firmly and constantly cherished. There should not be one department from reserve. One act of familiarity, one indiscretion, may jeopardize the soul, by opening the door to temptation, and thus weaken the power of resistance.

1888.

Courtship and marriage occupy the mind to the exclusion of higher and nobler thoughts. . . .

As the condition of the Sanitarium was presented before me in vision, an angel of God seemed to conduct me from room to room in the different departments. The conversation I was made to hear in the rooms of the helpers was not of a character to elevate and strengthen mind or morals. The frivolous talk, the foolish jesting, the meaningless laugh, fell painfully upon my ear. The young are in danger, but they are blind to discern the tendencies and results of the course they are pursuing. Young men and girls were engaged in flirtation. They seemed to be infatuated. There is nothing noble, dignified, or sacred in these attachments; as they are prompted by Satan, the influence is such as to please him. Warnings to these persons fall unheeded. They are headstrong, self-willed, defiant. They think the warning, counsel, or reproof does not apply to them. Their course gives them no concern. They are continually separating themselves from the light and love of God. They lose all discernment of sacred and eternal things; and while they may keep up a dry form of Christian duties, they have no heart in these religious exercises. All too late these deceived souls will learn that “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

The Sanitarium at Battle Creek has been built up under a pressure of difficulties. There have had to be decisive measures taken, contracts signed by those who were engaged as helpers that they would remain a certain number of years. This has been a positive necessity. After help has been secured,30 and by considerable painstaking efforts these have become efficient workers, wealthy patients have held out inducements of better wages to secure them as nurses for their own special benefit, at their own homes. And these helpers have often left the Sanitarium and gone with them, without taking into consideration the labor that had been put forth to qualify them as efficient workers. This has not been the case in merely one or two instances, but in many cases. Then people have come as patrons from other institutions that are not conducted on religious principles, and in a most artful manner have led away the help by promising to give them higher wages. Physicians have apostatized from the faith and from the institution, and have left because they could not have their own way in everything. Some have been discharged; and after obtaining the sympathy of others of the helpers and patients, have led these away; and after being at great expense and trying their own ways and methods to the best of their ability, they have made a failure and closed up, incurring debts that they could not meet. This has been tried again and again. Justice and righteousness have had no part in the movements of such. “The way of the Lord” has not been chosen, but their own way. They beguiled the unwary, and made an easy conquest of those who love change. They were too much blinded to consider the right and wrong of this course, and too reckless to care. Thus it has been necessary in the Sanitarium at Battle Creek to make contracts binding those who connect with it as helpers, so that after they have been educated,31 and trained as nurses and as bath hands, they shall not leave because others present inducements to them. Money has been advanced to some special ones that they might obtain a medical education, and be useful to the institution. Dr. Kellogg has placed hopes upon some of these, that they would relieve him of responsibilities that have rested most heavily upon him. Some have become uneasy and dissatisfied because those who have started institutions in other parts of the country have tried to flatter and induce them to come to their sanitariums, promising to do better by them. In this way the workers — some of them at least — have become uneasy, unsettled, self-sufficient, and unreliable, even if they did not disconnect with the Sanitarium, because they felt there were openings for them elsewhere. Those who were just beginning to practise have felt ready to take large responsibilities which it would be unsafe to trust in their hands, because they have not proved faithful in that which is least.

Now we wish all to look at this matter from a Christian standpoint. These tests reveal the true material that goes to make up the character. There is in the decalogue a commandment that says, “Thou shalt not steal.” This commandment covers just such acts as these. Some have stolen the help that others have had the burden of bringing up and training for their own work. Any underhanded scheme, any influence brought to bear to try to secure help that others have engaged and trained, is nothing less than downright stealing.

There is another commandment that says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy32 neighbor.” There has been tampering with the help that has been secured and depended upon to do a certain kind of labor; efforts have been made to demerit the plans and find fault with the management of those who are conducting the institution. The course of the management has been questioned as regards those whose services they desired to secure. Their vanity has been flattered, and insinuations made that they are not advanced as rapidly as they should be; they ought to be in more responsible positions.

The very gravest difficulty that the physicians and managers of our institutions have to meet is that men and women who have been led up step by step, educated and trained to fill positions of trust, have become self-inflated, self-sufficient, and placed altogether too high an estimate upon their own capabilities. If they have been entrusted with two talents, they feel perfectly capable of handling five. If they had wisely and judiciously used the two talents, coming up with faithfulness in the little things entrusted to them, thorough in everything they undertook, then they would be qualified to handle larger responsibilities. If they could climb every step of the ladder, round after round, showing faithfulness in that which is least, it would be an evidence that they were fitted to bear heavier burdens, and would be faithful in much. But many care only to skim the surface. They do not think deep, and become master of their duties. They feel ready to grasp the highest round of the ladder without the trouble of climbing up step after step. We are pained at heart as we compare the work coming forth from their hands with God’s righteous standard of faithfulness,33 which alone God can accept. There is a painful defect, a remissness, a superficial gloss, a wanting in solidity and in intelligent knowledge and carefulness and thoroughness. God cannot say to such, “Well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.”

Men must get hold conscientiously and feel that they are doing the work of God. They must have the trust in their heart to correct all the sophistries and delusions of Satan that would throw them off the right track, so that they will not choose the way of the Lord, but follow the impulses of their own undisciplined characters. If the heart is sanctified and guided by the Holy Spirit, they will run no risks, but will be sure in all they undertake to do good work for Jesus; and in doing their work righteously they are standing securely in this life with a fast hold from above, and they will be guided into every good and holy way. They will be constant to principle. They will do their work, not to secure a great name or great wages, not for the purpose of weaving self into all their works, and of appearing to be somebody in the world, but to be right in everything in the sight of God. They will not be half as anxious to do a big work as to do whatever they have to do with fidelity, and with an eye single to the glory of God. Such men are great in the sight of God. Such names are registered in the Lamb’s Book of Life as the faithful servants of the Most High God. These are the men who are “more precious in the sight of God than fine gold, even more precious than the golden wedge of Ophir.”

MEDICAL STUDENTS.

Let the students who go to obtain a medical education at the medical institutions of our land learn all they possibly can of the principles of life, but let them discard error, and not become bigots.

1888.

Medical students, by studying the word of God diligently, are far better prepared for all other studies; for enlightenment always comes with an earnest study of the word of God. Let it be understood by medical missionaries that the better acquainted they become with the Bible history, the better qualified they will be to do their work. The students in the college at Battle Creek need to aspire to higher knowledge; and nothing can give them a knowledge of all lessons and a retentive memory like the searching of the Scriptures. Let there be genuine discipline in study. There should be a most humble, prayerful longing of the soul to know the truth. There should be faithful teachers, who will strive to make the students understand their lessons, not alone by explaining everything themselves, but by letting the students explain thoroughly every passage which they read. Let the inquiring minds of the students be respected.

Dec. 1, 1895.

Students may receive their diplomas, and yet their education has but just begun. But generally the student who knows nothing of what it is to35 bear responsibility anywhere, that has not taken the burden of thinking, the burden of caretaking, of studying complicated cases, feels that he is a ripe scholar. It is because such know so little that they think they know so much. If they knew considerable more, they would sense their inability. The one who best knows himself will work in all humility. He feels like making no proud boasts; he bears a weight of responsibility as he sees the woes of suffering humanity, and he will not take human life into his hands to deal with even the bodies of men, without connecting with the experienced physician, regarding him as a father and himself as a child to be instructed and nourished and corrected, if in error. Our medical students should get an experience by beginning at the lower round of the ladder, and by careful, earnest, thoughtful exertion, climbing round after round, religion — Bible religion — being the mainspring of action.

Is the soon coming of Christ a reality to us? Let every student seek to reach the highest point of education, and be fitted for an inheritance with the saints in light. If he is educated in such a way as to reach this, he will learn that which is to continue through eternal ages. The banner of the third angel has inscribed upon it, “The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Our institutions have taken a name which sets forth the character of our faith, and of this name we are never to be ashamed. I have been shown that this name means much, and in adopting it we have followed the light given from heaven.

1895.

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PHYSICIAN.

NEGLECT of prayer causes the Christian to become weak, to lose self-control, to give rein to impure thoughts and impulses. But in learning of Christ, in looking to Jesus, in depending upon his strength, the physician will be brought into sympathy with Christ; and in treating the sick he will seek God for wisdom. Then instead of placing his dependence upon drugs, and expecting that medicine will bring health to his patients, he will use nature’s restoratives, and employ natural means whereby the sick may be aided to recovery. The Lord will hear and answer the prayer of the Christian physician, and he may reach an elevated standard if he will but lay hold upon the hand of Christ, and determine that he will not let go. Golden opportunities are open to the Christian physician; for he may exert a precious influence upon those with whom he is brought in contact. He may guide and mold and fashion the lives of his patients by holding before them heavenly principles. The physician should let men see that he does not regard his work as of a cheap order, but looks upon it as high, noble, elevated work, even that to which is attached the sacred accountability of dealing with both the souls and the bodies of those for whom Christ has paid the infinite price of his most precious blood. If the physician has the mind of Christ, he will be cheerful, hopeful, and happy, but not trifling. He will37 realize that heavenly angels accompany him to the sick-room, and will find words to speak readily, truthfully, to his patients, that will cheer and bless them. His faith will be full of simplicity, of child-like confidence in the Lord. He will be able to repeat to the repenting soul the gracious promises of God, and thus place the trembling hand of the afflicted ones in the hand of Christ, that they may find repose in God. Thus, through the grace imparted to him, the physician will fulfil his Heavenly Father’s claims upon him. In delicate and perilous operations he may know that Jesus is by his side to counsel, to strengthen, to nerve him to act with precision and skill in his efforts to save human life. If the presence of God is not in the sick-room, Satan will be there to suggest perilous experiments, and will seek to unbalance the nerves, so that life will be destroyed rather than saved.

A physician occupies a more important position because of dealing with morbid souls, diseased minds, and afflicted bodies, than does the minister of the gospel. The physician can present an elevated standard of Christian character, if he will be instant in season and out of season. He is thus a missionary for the Lord, doing the Master’s work with fidelity, and will receive a reward by and by. Let the Christian keep his own counsel, and divulge no secret to unbelievers. Let him communicate no secret that will disparage God’s people. Guard your thoughts; close the door to temptation. Do your work as in the sight of the Divine Watcher. Work patiently, expecting that, through the grace of Christ, you will make a success in your profession. Keep up the barriers which the Lord has erected for your safety. Keep38 your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life, or of death.

A physician should attend strictly to his professional work. He should not allow anything to come in to divert his mind from his business, or to take his attention from those who are looking to him for relief from suffering. An assuring and hopeful word spoken in season to the sufferer will often relieve his mind and win for the physician a place in his confidence. Kindness and courtesy should be manifested; but the common, cheap talk which is so customary even among some who claim to be Christians, should not be heard in our institutions. The only way for us to become truly courteous, without affectation, without undue familiarity, is to drink in the spirit of Christ, to heed the injunction, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” If we act upon the principles laid down in the word of God, we shall have no inclination to indulge in undue familiarity.

The workers in our institutions should be living examples of what they desire those to be who are patients in the institutions. A right spirit and a holy life are a constant instruction to others. The hollow-hearted courtesy of the fashionable world is of no value in the sight of Him by whom actions are weighed. There should be no partiality and no hypocrisy. The physician should be ready for every good work. If his life is hid with Christ in God, he will be a missionary in the highest sense. When they are together, Christian physicians will conduct themselves as sons of God. They will realize that they are engaged to work in the same vineyard, and selfish barriers will be broken down. For each other they will feel a deep interest,39 untainted with selfishness. He who is himself a reformer can accomplish good in seeking to reform others. By precept and example he can be a savor of life unto life. Would that the curtain could be rolled back, and we could see how interestedly the angels of God are looking upon the institutions for the treatment of the sick. The work in which the physician is engaged — standing between the living and the dead — is of special importance.

God has given a great work into the hands of physicians. The afflicted children of men are in a degree at their mercy. How the patient watches him who cares for his physical welfare. The actions and words, the very expressions of the physician’s countenance, are matters of study. What gratitude springs up in the heart of the suffering one when his pain is relieved through the efforts of his faithful physician. The patient feels that his life is in the hands of him who thus ministers to him, and the physician or the nurse can then easily approach him on religious subjects. If the sufferer is under the control of divine influences, how gently can the Christian physician or nurse drop the precious seeds of truth into the garden of the heart. He can bring the promise of God before the soul of the helpless one. If the physician has religion, he can impart the fragrance of heavenly grace to the softened and subdued heart of the suffering one. He can direct the thoughts of his patient to the Great Physician. He can present Jesus to the sin-sick soul.

How often the physician is made a confidant, and griefs and trials are laid open before him by the sick. At such a time what precious opportunities are afforded to speak words of comfort and40 consolation in the fear and love of God, and to impart Christian counsel. Deep love for souls for whom Christ died should imbue the physician. In the fear of God I tell you that none but a Christian physician can rightly discharge the duties of this sacred profession, and there must be a decided transformation of character in the physicians employed at the Sanitarium.

About 1891.

This health institution has not been brought into favor simply because of the talent, skill, or wisdom of one man. It is because God has had faithful instrumentalities that have consented to be led by the Holy Spirit, and many influences have combined to bring about the prosperity of the Sanitarium. The time that has been spent in communing with God, in seeking his help before undertaking to relieve those who were in a critical condition, has brought angels to the side of the doctor and his assistants. You have succeeded according as you have trusted in God. He has been by your side just as verily as Christ was by the side of those who were suffering when he walked among them on earth.

Physicians should be ambassadors for Christ in their specific work, and instead of giving prominence to a special theory of medicine which they advocate, by a godly life and conversation they should make prominent the fact that they are Christians. Not one of the schools of medicine highly lauded in the world is approved in the courts above, nor do they bear the heavenly superscription and endorsement. You are not justified41 in advocating one school above the others, as though it were the only one worthy of respect. Those who vindicate one school of medicine and bitterly condemn another are actuated by a zeal that is not according to knowledge. With what pharisaic pride some men look down upon others who have not received a diploma from the so-called standard school. All this proves that they cannot see afar off, and have not been purged from their old sins. They need to humble themselves at the cross of Calvary. This spirit will never be acknowledged in heaven, nor will men who cherish it hear the “Well done.” Some have been as zealous in exalting what their particular school advocated as though the Lord had specified that that method was the only one to be allowed. The use of drugs has resulted in far more harm than good; and should our physicians who claim to believe the truth almost entirely dispense with medicine, and faithfully practise along the lines of the principles of hygiene, using nature’s remedies, far greater success would attend their efforts.

The duties and qualifications of a physician are not small. The students need daily to lift responsibilities, that they may become burden-bearers. They may be inclined to undertake the duties of medical practitioners when they know nothing of their inability as far as experience is concerned. There is only one power that can make these students what they ought to be, and keep them steadfast. It is the grace of God and the power of the truth, exerting a saving influence upon the life and upon the character. These students, who intend to deal with suffering humanity, will find no graduating place this side of heaven.

SABBATH WORK.

PHYSICIANS need to cultivate a spirit of self-denial and self-sacrifice. It may be necessary to devote even the hours of the holy Sabbath to the relief of suffering humanity. But the fee for such labor should be put into the treasury of the Lord, to be used for the worthy poor who need medical skill but cannot afford to pay for it.

HEALTH REFORM AT THE SANITARIUM.

The managers and helpers in all our health institutions should have the true missionary spirit as a daily, abiding principle; for they are in a field which requires the highest kind of missionary work. Do not let your patients return to their homes poorly instructed; but educate them in the principles of health. . . . A responsibility to spread the knowledge of the principles of hygiene rests upon all who have enjoyed the benefits of health reform. This responsibility should be felt by every man and woman who claims to be a Seventh-day Adventist, and to a still greater degree by those who are connected with our health institutions. 1890.

Among the greatest dangers to our health institutions is the influence of physicians, superintendents, and helpers who profess to believe the43 present truth, but who have never taken their stand fully upon health reform. Some have no conscientious scruples in regard to their eating, drinking, and dressing. How can the physician or any one else present the matter as it is when he himself is indulging in the use of harmful things? God’s blessing will rest upon every effort made to awaken an interest in health reform; for it is needed everywhere. There must be a revival in regard to this matter; for God purposes to accomplish much through this agency. Drug medication, as it is generally practised, is a curse. Educate away from drugs. Use them less and less, and depend more upon hygienic agencies; then nature will respond to God’s physicians—pure air, pure water, proper exercise, a clear conscience. Those who persist in the use of tea, coffee, and flesh meats will feel the need of drugs, but many might recover without one grain of medicine if they would obey the laws of health. Drugs need seldom be used.

If the heart is purified through obedience to the truth, there will be no selfish preferences, no corrupt motives; there will be no partiality. Love-sick sentimentalism, whose blighting influence has been felt in all our institutions, will not be developed. Strict guard should be kept that this curse shall not poison or corrupt our health institutions. 1890.

If those connected with the Sanitarium are not in every respect correct representatives of the truths of health reform, decided reformation must make them what they should be, or they must be separated from the institution. 1879.

Then what is the special work in all our institutions for health? Instead of educating the appetite to indulgence, which is the great cause of disease, knowledge must be imparted in regard to self-denial of appetite and control of the passions. The knowledge of salvation, the knowledge of sin, and of redemption from its fearful woes, its bondage and its defilement, must be plainly stated to all,— high or low, rich or poor,— in carefully prepared lectures.

Passion grows with every indulgence. If evil thoughts and evil practises are in the ascendancy, the heart and mind become polluted. Are these things to go on, and the victims be unwarned? Are the youth to be unchecked by any message of enlightenment from Heaven? Are there to be no faithful ones who will present before all who are brought into these institutions, righteous habits in contrast with the defiling practises of this age? Are no lessons to be taught to the very ones who so much need them? Those who are intelligent in regard to these evils should be the ones to fill important positions at our health institutions. All who have knowledge in these things, who know the perils of this time, should feel a burden for the souls and bodies for whom Christ has died, and they should carry the burden day and night.

Nothing but the truth of God can either make man savingly wise or keep him so. If there is an immortal life to be obtained; if a pure and holy character must be developed in order to gain entrance to the presence of the Lord and the society of the heavenly angels, then why do not teachers, physicians, and preachers act this in their example and by their teaching? Why are they45 not more zealous for the Master? Why do they not have more burning love for the souls for whom Christ died? If man is earnestly seeking for glory, honor, and immortality, his mind must naturally come into harmony with God’s mind. The true disciple in the school of Christ, whose mind is in harmony with the mind of God, will be not only constantly learning, but also teaching,—constantly reflecting light, teaching upward and away from the common prevailing errors of this perverse and adulterous generation. Physicians, teachers, superintendents,—any one in office, and any helper,—who shall neglect his solemn obligation in this matter, and persist in following selfish plans and ideas in precept and example, is a false guide,—a sign-board pointing in the wrong direction.

THE SANITARIUM AS A MISSIONARY FIELD.

Let the Christian physician remember that he has pledged himself to represent Christ to others in practise, in character. If he does not strictly guard himself, if he allows the barriers to be broken down, Satan will overcome him with his spacious temptations. There will be a blemish in his character which will tell in its evil workings upon other minds, and leave a molding influence upon other characters.

The Lord will work with your efforts as you appropriate your gifts to his glory. You are to be missionaries in the highest sense of the word, knowing how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. You are to educate yourselves in46 such a way that you will have an appreciation of the spiritual necessities of those around you.

The world looks favorably on some of our methods and ideas; but we must not let the flattery of the world seduce us. We must not depend upon human favor or patronage for success. Like a mighty cleaver, the truth has taken us out of the quarry of the world to be the peculiar people of God, and we cannot afford to assimilate with the world. We must not compromise one principle of the truth, or yield one position to gain the favor of the world. O for a life consistent with our faith! No portion of the Lord’s vineyard has greater possibilities for doing good than the Sanitarium. He has promised that if we follow Christ our Saviour, we shall walk in the light as he is in the light. He desires to show to the world those who will diffuse the light shining from the cross of Calvary. Above everything else in the institution, the spirit of mercy, compassion, human tenderness,—the gentleness of Christ,—is to be manifested. Worldly policy must not prevail, outward appearances must not be permitted to blind the judgment. The poor must receive special attention, because they have not the good things of this life. If the spirit of Christ is cherished and made manifest in the actions, impressions for good will be made upon those who have received a false education concerning life and its great responsibilities.

The Sanitarium is to be a missionary institution in the fullest sense of the word; and its character in this respect must be preserved or it will not bear upon it the superscription of God. To keep it thus will require godliness of life and character in every worker.47 The success of this institution must be viewed in the light of God’s word. True success will bear the heavenly credentials. The workers for God will rejoice in the Lord, and at the same time be dissatisfied with their own efforts. The moment of rejoicing in the Lord because of success will be the moment of self-abasement because of what has been left undone through neglect and unfaithfulness.

Men who accept a position in any of our health institutions should do so with as full a realization of its responsibilities as possible. The Lord has promised to be a present help in every time of need, and there is no excuse for not doing more real missionary work at the Sanitarium. Far better attention should be paid to obtaining a fitness for every duty. Workers should seek to improve, that they may do their work in the best manner possible, and with fidelity, so as to meet the approval of God. Opportunities for doing good have always been far in advance of the workers, for they have failed to see and improve them, because the enemy of right doing has had a controlling power over their minds.”

About 1888

It is a mistake to think that points of doctrine must first be presented to one who is in error. The first thing to be presented is the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. By the bedside of the sick, the physician has abundant opportunity to call attention to the Saviour of mankind; and shall these precious opportunities be lost? Shall he hide his talents, and fail to bring salvation to the lost one?

Dec. 1, 1895.

As the subject of vital godliness is made essential for salvation, the peculiarities of our faith will appear, distinguishing us from the world, and yet no tirade should be made against the doctrines held by others. In our associations with worldly people, the spirit of Christ shown in true modesty, and the true Christian principles lived by those who know the truth, will be a recommendation to our faith. The Sanitarium is indeed a broad missionary field.

1895.

I want to say that the third angel’s message is the gospel, and that the health reform is the entering wedge for the truth. There are to be no abrupt declarations of any phase of our faith. Preach the truth as it is in Jesus, and bring all the brightness and special radiance from the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness into the gospel. Those who speak of practical godliness should dwell upon the lessons of Christ. All should have the guidance of the Holy Spirit; and let none be satisfied without it. Let your words express your confidence and love for God. The most simple testimonies borne in a humble spirit, expressing the love of God, will touch hearts. Even unbelievers will see that the doctors and nurses and workers are all combined to represent the truth in character.

When the Lord specified that there should be a health and temperance institution at Battle Creek, he also specified what should be its object. It was not to be fashioned after the character of any other institution in the world. It was to stand as a Seventh-day Adventist institution, one that should give character to God’s cause in the world. It was also49 to be an asylum for those who should accept the truth, to which they might resort when sick. It was to be a place where the truth should be made to shine out—not where it should be placed under a bushel. The truth should be the all-important thing in the institution. The Lord designed that it should be a place where he would be honored in word and in deed, where his law should be magnified, where the true faith of the Bible should ever be made prominent before the patrons. 1895.

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES.

God has said that if the men connected with this institution would walk humbly and obediently, in purity of life, doing the will of God, it would live and prosper; and from it would be sent forth missionaries to bless others with the light that God has given them. These will, in the spirit of Jesus, demolish the idols in high places; they will unveil superstition, and plant truth, purity, and holiness where now are cherished only error, self-indulgence, intemperance, and iniquity. Before 1890.

Let forces be set at work to clear new ground, to establish new, living interests wherever an opening can be found. Let men learn how to make brief, earnest prayers. Let them learn to speak of the world’s Redeemer, to lift up the Man of Calvary higher and still higher. Transplant trees out of your thickly planted nursery. God is not glorified in having such immense advantages centered in one place. We need wise nurserymen50 who will transplant trees to different localities, and give them advantages whereby they may grow. It is a positive duty to go into regions beyond. Rally workers who possess true missionary zeal, and let them go forth to diffuse light and knowledge far and near. Let them take the living principles of health reform into communities that to a large degree are ignorant of what they should do. Let men and women teach these principles to classes that cannot have the advantages of the large Sanitarium at Battle Creek. It is a fact that the truth of heaven has come to the notice of thousands through the influence of the Sanitarium; yet there is a work to be done that has been neglected. We are encouraged as we see the work that is being done in Chicago, and in a few other places. But the large responsibility that is now centered in Battle Creek should have been distributed years ago.

1895.

The medical missionary field is open before us. We are beginning to comprehend better the light given years ago — that health reform principles would be as an entering wedge, to be followed by a religious influence. To voice the words of John, “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” Would that all might be so taught as to work intelligently as medical missionaries; for this would serve as credentials to them in finding access to homes and families where they could sow the seeds of truth. We want to feel as Christ felt, — that we cannot abandon the souls who are in need of what we can do for them; we cannot leave the helpless, suffering little ones to the evils of orphanage, and ignorance, and want, and sin,51 and crime. The Lord would have us to be health reformers in the true sense of the term. 1895.

Continue reading: PRAYER FOR THE SICK.