Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-07-28
MISSION OF CHRIST.
Or. TALMAGE SHOWS HOW DIVINE
POWER WILL HEAL THE WORLD.


Jesus the Surgeon who VIII Extir-
pate the Disease of sin-Humanity's
Wounds VIII Disappear beneath
His Magic Touch.
WASHINGTON, July 22.-In this dis
course DR.. Talmage (who is now trav-
cling In EurOpe) puts In an unusual
light the mission Of Christ and shows
how divine power will yet make the Ill
nesses of the world fall back; text,
Matthew xl, 5, "The blind receive their
sight, and the lame walk, the lepers
are cleansed and the deaf hear"
Doctor" l said to distinguished
surgeon, "do you not get worn out with
constantly seeing so many wounds and
broken bones and distortions Of the
human bodyT "Oh, no" he answered;
"all that is overcome by my JOY in cur
ing them" A sublimer and more mer-
ciful art never came down from heav-
en- than that Of surgery. Catastrophe
and disease entered the earth so early
that one of the first wants Of the world
was doctor. Onr crippled and agonlz-
ed human race called for surgeon and
family physician for many years be-
fore they came. The first surgeons
who answered this call were ministers
of religion - namely. the Egyptian
priests. And what grand thi IL all
clergymen were also doctors, All ID.
DIS were NJ. DIS, for there are so
many cases where body and soul need
treatment at the same time. consola-
ton and medicine, theology and thera-
peutics. AS the first surgeons of the
world were also ministers of religion,
may these two professions always be
in full sympathy! But under what dis
the early surgeons worked,
from the fact that the dissection Of the
human body was forbidden, first by
the pagans and then by the early
Christians! Apes. being the brutes
most like the human race. were dis
sected, but no human body might be
for physiological and anatom-
ical exploration. and the surgeons had
to guess what was inside the temple by
looking at the outside of 1t. If they
failed in any surgical operation. they
were prosecuted and driven out Of the
city, es was Archagathus because Of
his bold but unsuccessful attempt to
save patient.
Grent Surgeons.
But the world from the very begin
ming kept calling for surgeons. and
their first skill is spoken of in Genesis,
where they employed their art for the
Incisions of sacred rite, God making
surgery the predecessor Of baptism,
and we see 1t again In ii Kings. where
Ahaziah, the monarch. stepped on
some cracked latticework In the palace,
md II broke, and he fell from the up
per to the lower floor, and he was so
hurt that he sent to the village Of Elk
'on for aid. and Esculapius, who
wrought such wonders Of surgery that
ne was deified and temples were built
for his worship at Pergamos; and Epi-
taurus and Podelirius introduced for
he relief of the world phlebotomy, and
cured the dislOcated ankle
If King Darius and the cancer Of his
queen, and Hippocrates put successful
land on fractures and introduced am
and PraXagoras removed OBJ
;tructions. and HerophiluS began dis
section, and Erasistratus removed tu-
nors. and CELSIUS. the Roman surgeon,
'emoved cataract from the eye and
lsed the Spanish fly; and Heliodorus
arrested disease of the throat, and AL
exander Of Tralles treated the eye. and
Rhazas cauterized for the prevention !
# hydrophobia, and Perciyal Pott
.ame to combat diseases of the spine,
md In our own century we have had,
among others, a RouX and Larray in
France, an Ashley Cooper and an Aber-
lethy In Great Britain and Valentine
Mott and Willard Parker and Samuel |
,. Gross IN America and q galaxy OF |
living surgeons as brilliant as their |
What mighty progress |
n the battling of disease since the Grip |
lied and sick Of ancient cities were |
aid along the streets. that people who |
lad ever been hurt or disordered In the |
anne way might suggest what had bet |
er be done for the patients. and the |
,riests of olden time. who were con- |
tantly suffering from colds received |
n walking barefoot over the temple |
,avements. had to prescribe for them
elves, and fractures were considered |
% far beyond all human cure that In
tead of calling in the surgeon the peo-
lie only invoked the gods!
But Notwithstanding all the surgical
nd medical skill of the world, with
What tenacity the old diseases hang on |
o the human race. and most Of them
re thousands of years old, and In our !
Bibles we read Of them-the carbun-
les of Job and Hezekiah, the palpita-
lon of the heart spoken Of In Deuter-
nomy, the sunstroke Of child carried !
TOul lut utluS VI u NAg
cad, my headw King Asa's disease of
he feet, which was nothing but gout;
efection Of teeth. that called for den
al surgery. the skill Of which. almost
quail to anything modern, is still seen
n the filed molars Of the unrolled
Egyptian mrrmies: the ophthalmia
aused by Nhe juice Of the newly ripe
g, leaving the people blind by the
oadside; epilepsy. as In the case Of the
oung man often falling into the fire
nd oft into the water; hypOchondria,
s Of Nebuchadnezzar. who imagined
imself an OK and going out to the
elds to pasture; the withered hand,
7hich In Bible times, as now. came
rom the destruction of the main ar
cry or from paralysis Of the chief
erye; the wounds of the man whom
be thieves left for dead on the road to
ericho and whom the good Samaritan
ursed, pouring In oil and wine-wine
, cleanse the wound and oil to soothe
mi o. |