The Monitor-register., 1897-06-11

Oh, how easy it is when people die to
cry out, Malpractice. Then the ply
sician must bear with all the whims,
and the sophistries, and the decePtions,
and the stratagems, and the lrrltations
of the shattered nerves and the becloud-
ed brains of women, and more especially
of men, who never know how graceful
ly to be sick, and who with their sail
waited 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 re-
stored patient, with ruddy cheeks and
rotund form, to be bothered with bill
charging him for old calomel 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
cold night, when the thermometer is
five degrees below zero, the doctor must
60 right away-he always must go
right away. To keep up under this ner-
vous strain, to go through this night
work, to bear all these annoyances,
many physicians have resorted to strong
drink and perished. Others have appeal
ed to God for sympathy and help and
have lived. Which were the wise doc
tors, judge ye?
Again, the medical profession ought
to be Christians because there are pro-
fessional exigencies when they need
God Asa's destruction by unblessed
physicians was warning. There are
awful crises in every medical practice
when doctor ought to know how to
pray. All the hosts of ills will some
times 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 up. Shall it be this medicine or
that medicine? God help the doctor |!
Between the five drops and the ten
drops may be the question Of life or
death. Shall it be the five or the ten
drops? Be careful how you put that
knife through those delicate portions of
the body, for if it swing out of the way
the sixth part of an inch the patient
perishes. Under such circumstances a
physician needs not SO much eonsulta-
tion with men Of his own calling as he
needs consultation 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 it seems to open and shut
There is no wonder about it. 1t is God s
hand, shutting, opening, shutting, open
ing, on every heart. When a man comes
to doctor the eye, he ought be in COM
munication with him who said to the
blind, Receive thy sight" When a
doctor comes to treat paralytic arm,
he ought to be in communication with
him who said, "Stretch forth thy hand,
and he stretched it forth" When man
comes to doctor bad case of hemor-
| rhage, he needs to be in communication
with him who cured the issue Of blood,
saying, "Thy faith hath saved thee"
Piety and Medical Skill.
do not mean to say that piety will
make up for medical skill. A bungling
| doctor, confounded with what was not a
very bad case, went into the next room
to pray. A skilled physician was called
in. He asked for the first practitioner
"Oh," they said, hes in the next room
praying" WELL" said the skilled doc
tor, "tell him to come out here and
help. He can pray and work at the
same time 1t was all in that SEN
tence. 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 ply
sician who prescribes for the diseased
body.
| Another reason why the medical pro-
fession ought to be Christians is because
there opens before them such 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 DR.. Cash
erie De Witt, practitioner of New
York, told me in his last days, 81 al
ways present the religion of Christ to
| my patients, either directly or indirect
ly, and 1 find it is almost always accept
| able. ?" Drs. Abercrombie and Brown OF
Scotland, Drs. Hey and Fothergill OF
| England and DR.. Rush of our own coun-
try were celebrated for their faithful
ness in that direction. "Oh," says the
medical profession, "that is your occu
patton. That belongs to the clergy, moi
to us. u My brother, there are severe ill
nesses in which you will not admit even
the clergy, and that patients salvation
will depend upon your faithfulness
With the medicine for the body i'll on
hand, the medicine for the soul in tn,
other, oh, what chancel There lies g
dying Christian ON the pillow. YoL
need to hold over him the lantern O.
the gospel until its light streams acros.
the pathway of the departing pilgrim
and you need to cry into the dull ear O.
| death, "Hark to the song of heaven Is
welcome that comes stealing over the
waters" There lies on the pillow dy
ing sinner. All 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 it SO dark ?
Doctor, can you pray?" Blessed for yon
and blessed for him if then you can
kneel down and say: 80 God, have
done the best could to cure this man s
body, and have failed. Now commit
to thee his poor, suffering and alright
ed soul. Open Paradise to his departing
| spirit"
The Last Sickness.
But l must close, for there may Le
suffering men and women waiting il
your office, or on the hot pillow, won
dering why you don't come But before
you go, 0 doctors, hear my prayer fo
your eternal salvation. Blessed will b,
the reward in heaven for the faithful
Christian physician. Some day, through
overwork or from bending over a pa
tient and catching his contagious breath,
the doctor comes home, and he lies
down faint and sick. He is too weary
to feel his own pulse or take the dag
nosis of his own complaint. He is worn
out. The fact is, his work on earth is
ended. Tell those people in the Office
there they need not wait any longer
The doctor will never go there again.
He has written his last nrescrint;o,,