Kress, Brother and Sister [D. H.]
“Elmshaven,” St. Helena, California
May 25, 1903
Portions of this letter are published in PC 37-38.
Dear Brother and Sister Kress,—
The Australian mail has just come, and I have read your letter. Thank you very much for writing. I have much writing on hand, but I will begin a short letter to you and to your associates in the Sanitarium. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 1
Make haste slowly as far as electric lights are concerned. I think that while your patronage is so light and while there is so great a dearth of means, it would be a mistake to incur large expense for the introduction of the electric lights and the electric light bath into the Sanitarium. Far better will it be for you to labor untiringly to develop to their fullest usefulness the facilities within your reach, especially all the natural facilities of the place, and wait awhile before investing in so expensive a facility as electric lights. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 2
Be sure that the orchard has some means expended on it. It will respond to treatment. Give it the care that will enable it to do its best. I look upon that orchard as of great value to the institution. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 3
Do all that you possibly can to perfect the institution inside and out. Be sure that your premises are in the best of order. Let there be nothing about them that will make a disagreeable impression on the minds of the patients. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 4
Encourage the patients to live healthfully and to take an abundance of exercise. This will do much to restore them to health. Let seats be placed under the shade of the trees, that the patients may be encouraged to spend much time out-of-doors. And a place should be provided, enclosed either with canvas or with glass, where, in cooler weather, the patients can sit in the sun without feeling the wind. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 5
Obtain the best help in the cooking that you can. If food is prepared in such a way that it is a tax on the digestive organs, be sure that investigation is needed. Food can be prepared in such a way as to be both wholesome and palatable. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 6
Fresh air and sunshine, cheerfulness within and without the institution, pleasant words and kindly acts—these are the remedies that the sick need, and God will crown with success your efforts to provide these remedies for the sick ones who come to the Sanitarium. By happiness and cheerfulness and expressions of sympathy and hopefulness for others, your own soul will be filled with light and peace. And never forget that the sunshine of God’s blessing is worth everything to us. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 7
Teach nurses and patients the value of those health-restoring agencies that are freely provided by God and the usefulness of simple things that are easily obtained. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 8
I will tell you a little about my experience with charcoal as a remedy. For some forms of indigestion, it is more efficacious than drugs. A little olive oil into which some of this powder has been stirred tends to cleanse and heal. I find it is excellent. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 9
Pulverized charcoal from eucalyptus wood we have used freely in cases of inflammation. During the first camp-meeting that we held in Australia, a young woman was taken very sick with inflammation of the liver and the lungs. It was feared that she would die. Dr. M. G. Kellogg, who was attending her, came to me for advice. I suggested that he make a compress of pulverized charcoal, and put it on the sick woman’s side. She had been crying out in her pain, but in about fifteen minutes after the compress was applied, she fell into a sweet sleep. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 10
When we first went to Cooranbong, the men who were clearing in the woods would often come in with bruised hands. In these and other cases of inflammation, I advised the trial of a compress of pulverized charcoal. Sometimes the inflammation, which was very high before the compress was applied, would be gone by the next day. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 11
Always study and teach the use of the simplest remedies, and the special blessing of the Lord may be expected to follow the use of these means which are within the reach of the common people. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 12
If you can get Brother and Sister Starr to unite with you in sanitarium work, do so by all means. Let no spiritual advantages be looked upon as expensive. Let the truth be presented in its simplicity and power. If Brother Starr can take up this work, it will be a help to physicians and managers and a blessing to helpers and patients. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 13
To all the workers in the Sanitarium I would say, Be sure to help the souls that are ready to perish. Oh, it does me good to hear that sinners are being made to understand how they can be saved. Do not forget that a worker must not take upon himself so many burdens that his soul will become weary. His first and greatest care should be to keep fresh and fragrant in spirit. In the unfolding of God’s plan we are to be restored to a state corresponding to the perfection of divinity. This is accomplished through the death of Christ and through His mediatorial work in our behalf. As we move forward in the fulfilment of God’s plan, our character is established in holiness, and we gain more and more knowledge of God and of Christ. We are ever to remember that we are chosen of God and precious, and that the saving of souls is to be our one great aim in all that we do. 18LtMs, Lt 100, 1903, par. 14