from country homes will appreciate a quiet place; and in retirement patients will be more readily influenced by the Spirit of God.

AMID THE SCENES OF NATURE

The garden of Eden, the home of our first parents, was exceedingly beautiful. Graceful shrubs and delicate flowers greeted the eye at every turn. In the garden were trees of every variety, many of them laden with fragrant and delicious fruit. On their branches the birds caroled their songs of praise. Adam and Eve, in their untainted purity, delighted in the sights and sounds of Eden. And to-day, although sin has cast its shadow over the earth, God desires His children to find delight in the works of His hands. To locate our sanitariums amidst the scenes of nature would be to follow God's plan; and the more closely this plan is followed, the more wonderfully will He work to restore suffering humanity. For our educational and medical institutions, places should be chosen where, away from the dark clouds of sin that hang over the great cities, the Sun of Righteousness can arise, "with healing in His wings." Mal. 4: 2.

Let the leaders in our work instruct the people that sanitariums should be established in the midst of the most pleasant surroundings, in places not disturbed by the turmoil of the city,- places where by wise instruction the thoughts of the patients can be bound up with the thoughts of God. Again and again I have described such places; but it seems that there has been no ear to hear. Recently, in a most clear and convincing manner, the advantage of establishing our institutions, especially our sanitariums and schools, outside the cities, was presented to me.

CITY SURROUNDINGS UNFAVORABLE

Why are our physicians so eager to be located in the cities? The very atmosphere of the cities is polluted. In them, patients who have unnatural appetites to overcome, can not be properly guarded. To patients who are victims of strong drink, the saloons of a city are a continual temptation. To place our sanitariums where they are surrounded by ungodliness is to counterwork the efforts made to restore the patients to health.

In the future the condition of things in the cities will grow more and more objectionable, and the influence of city surroundings will be acknowledged as unfavorable to the accomplishment of the work that our sanitariums should do.

From the standpoint of health, the smoke and dust of the cities are very objectionable. And the patients who for a large part of their time are shut up within four walls, often feel that they are prisoners in their rooms. When they look out of a window, they see nothing but houses, houses, houses. Those who are thus confined to their rooms are liable to brood over their suffering and sorrow. Sometimes an invalid is poisoned by his own breath.

Many other evils follow the establishment of great medical institutions in the large cities.

EFFECTS OF OUTDOOR LIFE

Why deprive patients of the health-restoring blessing to be found in outdoor life? I have been instructed that as the sick are encouraged to leave their rooms and spend time in the open air, cultivating flowers, or doing some other light, pleasant work, their minds will be called from self to something more health-giving. Exercise in the open air should be pre

scribed as a beneficial, life-giving necessity. The longer patients can be kept out of doors the less care will they require. The more cheerful their surroundings, the more hopeful will they be. Surround them with the beautiful things of nature; place them where they can see the flowers growing, and hear the birds singing, and their hearts will break into song in harmony with the song of the birds. Shut them in rooms, and, be these rooms ever so elegantly furnished, they will grow fretful and gloomy. Give them the blessing of outdoor life; thus their souls will be uplifted. Relief will come to body and mind.

"Out of the cities," is my message. Our physicians ought to have been wide-awake on this point long ago. I hope and pray and believe that they will now arouse to the importance of getting out into the country.

THE PERILS OF CITY LIFE

The time is near when the large cities will be visited by the judgments of God. In a little while these cities will be terribly shaken. No matter how large or how strong their buildings, no matter how many safeguards against fire may have been provided, let God touch these buildings, and in a few minutes or a few hours they are in ruins.

The ungodly cities of our world are to be swept away by the besom of destruction. In the calamities that are now befalling immense buildings and large portions of cities, God is showing us what will come upon the whole earth. He has told us, "Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it [the coming of the Son of man] is near, even at the doors." Matt. 24: 32, 33.

NOT AMONG THE WEALTHY

It might seem to us that it would be best to select for our sanitariums places among the wealthy; that this would give character to our work, and secure patronage for our institutions. But in this there is no light. "The Lord seeth not as man seeth." 1 Sam. 16:7. Man looks at the outward appearance; God looks at the heart. The fewer grand buildings there. are around our institutions, the less vexation we shall experience. Many of the wealthy property-owners are irreligious and irreverent. Worldly thoughts fill their minds. Worldly amusements, merriment, and hilarity occupy their time. Extravagance in dress and luxurious living absorb their means. The heavenly messengers are not welcomed to their homes. They want God afar off.

Humility is a difficult lesson for humanity to learn, and it is especially difficult for the rich and the selfindulgent. Those who do not regard themselves as accountable to God for all that they possess are tempted to exalt self, as if the riches comprehended by lands and bank stock made them independent of God. Full of pride and conceit, they place on themselves an estimate measured by their wealth.

There are many rich men who in God's sight are unfaithful stewards. In their acquirement and use of means, He has seen robbery. They have neglected the great Proprietor of all, and have not used the means intrusted to them to relieve the suffering and the oppressed. They have been laying up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath; for God will reward every man according as his work shall be. These men do not worship God; self is their idol. They put

"Testimonies for the Church," Vol. 7, pp. 88, 89.

justice and mercy out of the mind, replacing them with avarice and strife. God says, "Shall I not visit them for these things?" Jer. 9:9.

God would not be pleased to have any of our institutions located in a community of this character, however great its apparent advantages. Selfish wealthy men have a molding influence upon other minds, and the enemy would work through them to hedge up our way. Evil associations are always detrimental to piety and devotion, and principles that are approved by God may be undermined by such associations. God would have none of us like Lot, who chose a home in a place where he and his family were brought into constant contact with evil. Lot went into Sodom rich; he left with nothing, led by an angel's hand, while messengers of wrath waited to pour forth the fiery blasts that were to consume the inhabitants of that highly favored city, and blot out its entrancing beauty, making bleak and bare a place that God had once made very beautiful.

Our sanitariums should not be situated near the residences of rich men, where they would be looked upon as an innovation and an eyesore, and unfavorably commented upon, because they receive suffering humanity of all classes. Pure and undefiled religion makes those who are children of God one family, bound up with Christ in God. But the spirit of the world is proud, partial, exclusive, favoring only a few.

In erecting our buildings, we must keep away from the homes of the great men of the world, and let them seek the help they need by withdrawing from their associates into more retired places. We shall not please God by building our sanitariums among people extravagant in dress and living, who are attracted to those who can make a great display.