The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-06-17

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. It seems so
incoherent for restored 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 professiones 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 go right away; he always must go
right away. To keep up under this
nervous strain, to go through this
n1ght-work, to bear all these annoy
ances, many physicians have resorted
to strong drink and persisted. Others
| have 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 pro-
fessional exigencies when they need
God. Asa's destruction by unblessed
physicians was a warning. There are
awful crises in every medical practice
when doctor ought to know how to
pray All the hosts of ills which some
times hurl themselves on the weak
points of the physical organism, or
with equal ferocity will assault the en-
tire 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 medi-
cine 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 ten
drops? Be careful how you put the
knife through those delicate portions
of the body, for if it swings out of the
way the sixth part of an inch the pa
tient perishes. Under such circum-
stances a physician needs not so much
consultation with men of his own call
ing, 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 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 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 a man comes
to doctor bad case of hemorrhage, he
needs to be in communication with him
who cured the issue of blood, saying:
"Thy faith hath saved thee"
I 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. A skilled physician was
called in. He asked for the first prac-
titioner. "Oh," they said, "he's in the
next room praying" "Well," said the
skilled doctor, "tell him to come out
here and help; he can pray and work
at the same time" It 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.
But I must close, for there may be
suffering men and women waiting in
your Office, or or the hot pillow, won
dering why you don't come But be-
fore you go, o doctors, hear my prayer
for your external salvation. Blessed
will be the reward in heaven for the
faithful Christian physician. Some
day, through overwork, or from bend
ing over a patient and catching his
contagious breath, the doctor comes
home, and lies down faint and sick.
He is too weary to feel his own pulse or
take the diagnosis of his own COM
plant. He is worn out. The fact is his
work on earth is ended. Tell those
} wait any longer; the doctor will never
: go there again. He has written his
? last prescription for the alienation OF
) human pain. The people will run up to
his front steps and inquire: "How is
} the doctor today?" All the sympathies
: of the neighborhood will be aroused
and there will be many prayers that
| he who has been SO kind to the sick
may be comforted in his last pang. I,
is all over now. In two or three DAYS
his convalescent patients, with shaw
wrapped around them, will come to thu
, front window and look out on the pass.
ing hearse, and the poor of the city
: bare-footed, and bare-headed, will
. stand on the street corners saving
: ooh, how good he was to us ally' Bu1
on the other side of the river Of death
=. some of his old patients, who are
: forever cured, will come #
t welcome him, and the Physician o.
j, heaven, with locks as white as snow
| according tn the AnCca1vn+;o