The Penn's Grove record., 1897-06-11

that they have been allowed to put their
hand to such a magnificent work and that
they have been called into such iilustrious
company. Have you never felt a spirit of
gratitude for this opportunity7 Do Won
not feel thankful nowS Then, / am afraid,
doctor, you are not a Christian and that the
old proyerb which Christ quoted In his SER
mon may be appropriate to you, ''Physi-
clan, heatthyself."
Another reason why I think the medical
profession ought to be Christians Is be-
cause there are so many trials and annoy
anees In that profession tina need positive
christian solace. 1 know you have tho
gratitude OF a great many good people, and
Know y must be n grand thing to walk In
telligentiy through the avenues OF human
life, and with anatomic skill poise yourself
on the nerves and fbers which cross and
recross this wonderful physical system. I
suppose a skilled eve can see more beauty
even in q malformation than an architect
can point out in any OF bis structures,
though 1t be the very triumph of arch and
piinth and abacus. But how many annoy
anees trial the medical profession
hayei DR.. Rush used to say in his valedic-
tory address to the students of the medical
college: Young gentlemen. have two peck
ets--a small pocket and a big pocket; a
small pocket in which to put your fees, a
large pocket In which to put your annoy
ances."
In the first place the physician has no
sabbath Busy merchants and lawyers
and mechanics canno afford 20 be sick
during the secular week, and so they nurse
themselves along will lozenges and hore-
hound candy until Sabbath morning comes,
and then they say, 81 must nave a doctor"
And that spoils the Sabbath morning church
service for the physician. Besides that,
there area graat many men who dine but
once a week with their families. During
the secular days they take a hnsty lunch at
tine restaurant, and on the Sabbath they
make up for their six days abstinence by
especial g~ormandizing. which. before
night, makes their amazed digestive or
gans cry out for a doctor. Aud that spoils
the evening church service for the phys
ician.
Then they are annoyed by people coming
too late. Men wait until the last fortress
OF physical strength Is taken and death
has dug around it the trench of the grave,
and then they run for the doctor. The
slight foyer which might havo been cured
with a footbath has become ~virulent typhus,
and the hacking cough-killing pneumonia.
As though q captain should sink his ship
on Amagansett, and then put ashore In o
yawl. and then come to New York to the
marine office n want to get his vessel In
sured. Too late for the ship, too late for
the patient.
Then there are many who always blame
the doctor because the people die, forget
ting the divine enactment, sit is appointed
unto all men once to die" The father In
medicine who announced the fact that he
had discovered the art by which to make
men in this world immortal, himself died at
~ years OF age, showing that Immortality
was less than half a century for him oh,
how easy 1t Is when people die to cry out,
Malpractice" Then the physician must
bear with anthe whims, and the sophistries,
and the receptions. and the s~trntagems,
and the irritations of the shattered nerves
aud the beclouded brains Of women, and
rn . NR w~.kT. .--- -@-.-- 800
how gracefully to be sick, and with their
salivated mouths curse the doctor, giving
him his dues. as they say--about the only
dues he will in that case collect. The last
bill that Is paid Is the doctors bill. 1t
seems so incoherent for n restored patient,
with ruddy cheeks and rotund form. to be
bothered with a bill charging him for old
cnlomei and jalap. The physicians of this
country do more missionary work without
charge than all the other professionals put
together. From the concert room, from
the merry party, from the comfortable
couch on a cold night, when the thermom-
eter is i've degrees below zero, the doctor
must go right away-he always must go
right away. To keep up unde this nervous
strain. to go through this night work, to
bear all these a~nnoyances, many physicians
have resorted to strong drink and persisted.
Others nave appealed to God for sympathy
and help and have lived. Which were the
wise doctors, judge We?
Again, the medical profession ought TO
be Christians because there are profess
sional exigencies when they need God.
Asa's destruction by unblessed physicians
was a warning. There are awful crises In
every 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 tho happy home shall be broken up.
Shall 1t be this medicine or that medicine?
God help the doctori Between the five
drops and the ten drops may be tho ques-
ton of life or death. Shall 1t be the five or
the ten drops? Be careful now you put that
knife through those delicate portions of the
body. for IL it swing out OF the way tho
sixth part Of IN inch the patient perishes.
Under such circumstances a physician
needs not SO much consultation with men
Of his own calling as he needs consultation
with that loo who strung the nerves and
built the cells and swung the crimson tide
through the arteries. lou wonder why the
heart throbs, why it seems to open and
shut. There Is no wonder about II. 1t Is
Gods hand, shutting, opening, shutting,
opening. on every heart. When a man
comes to doctor the eye. he ought to be In
communication with Him who said to the
blind, Receive thy sight" When q doctor
comes to treat a paralytic arm, he ought to
be In communication with Him who said,
| s'Stretch forth thy hand, and he stretched
II forth.n When a man N to doctor
| O bad case OF hemorrhage, he needsto be In
| communication with Him who cured the
issue OF blood, saying, THY faith haiti
| saved thee.
Another reason why the medical profess
sion ought to be Christians Is because there
| opens before them such q grand field for
| Christian usefulness. You see SO many
people In pain, in trouble, in bereavement.
| You ought to be the voice OF heaven to their
souls. Old DIR. Gasherie De Witt, o prac-
| tftioner Of New York, told me In his last
days, II always present the religion OF
Christ to my patients, either directly or IN
| directly. and I find 1t almostA always accept
| able Drs. Abercrombies and Brown, OF
scotland, Drs. Hey and FothergIn OF Eng
land and Dr.. Rush q our own country
| that direction. "oh," says the medical
| profession. ssthat is your occupation.
| That belongs to the clergy, not to us"
| Ny brother, there are severe Illnesses In
which you will not admit even the clergy,
and that patients salvation will depend
| anon YOUR faithfulness. With the medicine
for the body In one hand, the medicine Tor
| the soul In the other, oh, what a chance.
| There lies a dying Christian on the pillow:
| You need to hold over him the lantern OF
the gospel until its light streams across the
pathway OF tha departing pilgrim. and you
| need to cry into the dull ear OF death,
"Hark to the song Of heavens welcome
that zones stealing over the watersl'
There lies on the pillow a dying sinner.
An the morphine that You brought with
YOU cannot quiet him. Terror in the face:
Terror in the heart, How he Jerks himself
IN on one elbow and looks wildly into your
sace and saws: Doctor, 1 can't die. i am
not ready to die. What makes It so dark3
Doctor, can you pray?' Blessed for you
and blessed for him II then you can kneei
5awn and saw. 80 God, / have done the
best / could to cure this mans body, and
have. failed. Now / commit to thee his
poor. suffering and airighted SOUL open
4Rut / must close, for there may be sut-
sering men and women waiting In your
oaiee, or on the hot pillow, wondering
wby vou don't come. But before you go,
x ddo:tnr hear my prayer for your eternal
~saiyntion. Blessed will be the reward In
heaven for tho faithful Christian physi-
clan. Some day, through oyerwork OF from
contaUleus breath, the doctor comes home,