The Progress., 1897-06-12

medical practice when a doctor ought to
know how to pray. All the hosts of ills
will sometimes hurl themselves on the
weak points of the physical organism. or
with equal ferocity will assault the entire
line OF susceptibility to suffering. The
next dose of medicine will decide whether
or not the happy home shall be broken I'M
Shall 1t be this medicine or that medicinei
God help the doctor. Between the I've
drops and the ten drops may be the cues
ton Of life or death. Shall it be the five
or the ten drops? Be careful how you nut
that knife through those delicate portions
of the body. for II 1t swing out Of the way
the sixth part Of I'm inch the patient per
ishes. Under such circumstances a physi-
clan needs not SO much consultation with
men OF his own calling as he needs consul
tation with that God who strung the
nerves and built the cells and swung the
crimson tide through the arteries, You
wonder why the heart throbs-why tt
seems to open and shut. There is no won
der about it. 1t is Gods hand shutting,
opening, shutting, opening, on every
heart. When man comes to doctor the
eye, he ought to be in communication with
him who said to the blind, Receive thy
sight" When a doctor comes to treat a
paralytic arm, be ought to be In commu.
nication with him who said, "Stretch forth
thy hand, and he stretched 1t forth"
When man comes to doctor bad case of
hemorrhage, he needs to be In communi-
cation with him who cured the issue OF
blood, saying, "Thy faith hath saved
thee.''
do not mean to say that piety will
make up for medical skill. A bungling
doctor, COMPOUNDED with what was not a
very bad case, went into the next room to
pray. skilled physician was called In
He asked for the first practitioner. "Oh,"
they said, hes in the next room pray
Ing" "We1l," said the skilled doctor,
tell him to come out here and help. He
can pray and work at the same time. -: 1t
was all in that sentence. Do the best we
can and ask God to help us. There are no
two men in all the world, it seems to me,
that SO much need the grace Of God as the
minister who doctors the sick soul and the
physician who prescribes for the diseased
body.
Christian Usefulness.
Another reason why the medical profess
sion ought to be Christians Is because
there opens before them such a grand field
for Christian usefulness. You see so many
You ought to be the voice Of heaven to
their souls. Old DR.. Gasherie De Witt
practitioner of New York, told me In his
last days, ~ always present the religion of
Christ to my patients, either directly or in
directly, and find it is almost always ac-
ceptable. Drs A bercrombie and Brown
OF Scotland, Drs. Hey and Fothergill of
England and DR.. Rush of our own coun-
try were celebrated for their faithfulness
in that direction. "Oh," says the medical
profession, THAT is your occupation; that
belongs to the clergy, not to u.s. My
brother, there are severe illnesses In which
you WILL not admit even the clergy, and
that patients salvation will depend upon
your faitbfu1ness. With the medicine for
the body In one hand and the medicine for
the soul In the other, oh, what q chanoel
There lies dying Christian on the pillow.
You need to hold over him the lantern Of
the gospel antil Its light streams across
the pathway Of the departing pilgrim, and
you need to cry into the duh ear of death,
"Harll to the song of heavens welcome
that comes stealing over the waters"
There lies on the pillow dying sinner.
AL the morphine that you brought with
you cannot quiet him. Terror in the face.
Terror in the heart. How he jerks himself
up on one elbow and looks wildly Into
your face and says: Doctor, I can't die.
am not ready to die. What makes 1t SO