Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 16 (1901)

Lt 53, 1901

Farnsworth, Brother and Sister [E. W.]

Oakland, California

June 12, 1901

Previously unpublished.

Dear Brother and Sister Farnsworth,—

I thank you for writing to me and to W. C. W. Your letters are very gladly received. 16LtMs, Lt 53, 1901, par. 1

I have been made very sad to hear of the illness of Dr. Kress. He has been afflicted in the same way that I have been. Disease has come upon him through overwork and through his eating an insufficient quantity of nourishing food. But I hope that he will soon be better. I have had light that he must not go to extremes in labor. He must remember that he has been bought with a price and that he must therefore glorify God in his body and his spirit, which are God’s. It is not the Lord’s will that he should do this. Many have done this and are in their graves today, their voices silent in death. You must all admonish one another on this point. 16LtMs, Lt 53, 1901, par. 2

Last mail I sent Brother and Sister Kress a letter telling them to be careful not to carry the diet question too far and make a time of trouble beforehand. Brother and Sister Kress are in danger of doing this. They must remember that it has taken years for us to learn how to prepare hygienic food and that there are yet many improvements to be made. In every section of the country there will be food preparations made, and the profits coming from their sale will not be used merely in one line of work. Again and again the Lord has plainly set this before me. The Sanitarium carries one line of education, the school another line of education. But both are working in the same cause to accomplish the same ends. 16LtMs, Lt 53, 1901, par. 3

God does not give a man a monopoly of His goods in any line of work. Experiments will be made and tests made by men to whom the Lord has given wisdom. They will prepare food to take the place of that food which is injurious, that the poor may have the benefit of His goods to support themselves and their families. This is the Lord’s order, and no one is permitted to close the door to that which will sustain life. God can set a table in the wilderness, and this will be more properly understood in the future. 16LtMs, Lt 53, 1901, par. 4

In (Exodus 30:22-38) we find the recipes given by the Lord for use in the tabernacle. These were the Lord’s special preparations. No man was to use as common that which He had made sacred. The distinction between the common and the sacred was to be strictly observed by His people throughout their generations. “Upon man’s flesh it shall not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people.” [Verses 32, 33.] 16LtMs, Lt 53, 1901, par. 5