The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1900-07-27
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject The Mission OF Christ - How
Divine Power VIII Heal the World
Jesus the Surgeon Who viii ENtir'
nate the Disease OF sin.
copyright 1901

Jesus the Surgeon who win EEtir.
pate the Disease OF Sin.
copyright IsO0I
WASHINGTON, ID. C.-ln this discourse
DIR Talmage puts in an unusual light the
mission OF Christ, and shows how divine
power will vet make the illnesses OF the
world fall back; text, Matthew Xl, ., The
blind receive their sight, and the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed ana the d'ai
hear
Doctor" / said to a distinguished sur
geon. edo you not get worn out with con
stantly seeing 50 many wounds ana bro
ken bones and distortions OF the human
body "Oh, no, hc answered; 'all That
is overcome by my Joy IN curing them.
A submer and more mercitul art never
came down from heaven than that OF sur
gerry. Catastrophe and disease entered
the earth 80 early that one Oi the uisL
wants of the world was a doctor. oar
crippled and agonized human race called
for surgeon and family physician Tor many
years before they came. The first surgeons
who answered this call were ministers OF
religion-namely the Egyptian priests
And what a grand thing If all clcrgymcn
were also doctors all ID. D.'s were NJ. DIS
for there are so many eases where body
and soul need treatment at the same time,
consolation and medicine, theology and
therapeutics. AS the first surgeons oi the
world were also ministers of religion, may
these two professions always hc IN full
sympathy But under what dlsadvanta-
gos the early surgeons worked, from the
fact that 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
dissected. but no human body might bc
unfolded for physiological and anatomical
exploration and the surgeons had to guess
what was inside the temple 10y looking at
the outside of IL. II they failed IN any
surgical opcration. they were prosecuted
and driven out of the city, as was Archa-
gathus because of his bold but unsucccss-
ful attempt TO save a patient.
But the world from the very beginning
kept calling for surgeons, and their first
skill is spoken of I'M Genesis, where they
employed their art for the incisions of
sacred rite, God making surgery the predc-
cessor of baptism, and we see II again ~
III Kings, where AhaZiah, the monarch,
stepped on some cracked latticcwork IN
the palace, and II broke, and he fell from
the upper to the lower floor. and he was 50
hurt that he sent to the village of El,ron
for aid. and Acsculapius, who wrought
such wonders of surgery that he was dCi-
fed and temples were built for his wor-
ship at PcrgamOs; and Epidaurus and
Podcirus introduced for the relief of the
world phebotomy, and Damoccdcs cured
the dislocated ankle of King Darius and
put successful hand on fractures and intro
duced amputation, and PraNagoras re
moved distractions, and llcrophllus began
dissection, and trasstratus removed tu.
mors. and CELSIUS. the Roman surgeon, re-
moved cataract from the eve and used the
Spanish fly; ana lleliodorus arrested dis
ease of the throat and AlcNandcrot IrallCs
treated the eye, and Rhazas cauterzcd for
the prevention of hydrophohia, and Perez
val pott came 20 combat diseases of the
spine, and I'm our own century we have
had. among others, RouX aud a Larray
IN france, an Ashley Cooper and an
Ahcmethy IN Great Britain and a NalCn-
tine Mott and Willard Parker and Samuel
ID. Gross IN America, and a galaxy of liy-
ing surgeons ~ brilliant as their predcCes-
sors. What mighty progress IN the hal-
fling of disease since the crippled and sick
OF ancient cities were laid along the
streets that people who had ever been
hurt or dsordcrcd IN the same way might
suggest what had better be done for the
patientsl
But notwithstanding all the surgical and
medical skill of the world with what ten
acty the old diseases hang on to the hui
man race. and most of them are thou
sands OF years old, and IN our Bibles we
read OF them-the carbuncles of job and
Hezekiah, the palptatlon of the heart spo-
ken ot IN Deuteronomy, the sunstrokc of
n child carried from the fields of Shunem
crying, MY head! my hcad!' King Asa's
disease OF the feet. which was nothing but
gout; detection of teeth, that called for
dental surgery, the skill of which. almost
equal 10 anything modern. is still seen I'M
the filled moars OF the unrOllcd Egyptian
mummies: the ophthalmia caused hy the
juice of the newly ripe fig leaving the pco-
ple blind 10y the roadside: epilepsy as IN
the case of the young man often falling
into the fire and oft into the water; hy-
pochonlr as of Nebuchadnczzar, who
imagined himself an OK and going out 10
the fields 20 pasture; the withcred hand,
which IN Bible times, as now, came from
the destruction of the main artery or from
paralysis of the chief nerve; the wounds
Of the man whom the thieves left for
dead on the road to Jericho. and whom
the good Samaritan nursed, pouring IN oil
and wine-wine To cleanse the wound and
oil TO soothe il. Thank God for what sur.
gerry has done for the allcviat,on and cure
of human suffering!
But the world wants a surgery without
pain. Drs. Parre and Hickman and Slmp.
son and Warner and jackson, with their
amazing genius. came forward. and with
their anaosthetics henumbed the patient
with narcotics and ethers as the ancients
did with hasheesh and mandrake. and
quieted him for awhile, but az the return
of consciousness distress returned. The
world has never seen but one surgeon who
could straighten the crooked limb. cure
the blind eye or reconstruct the drum of
n soundcss ear or reduce a dropsy without
pain. and that surgeon was Jesus Christ
the mirhtiest. grandest gentlest and most
sympathetic surgeon the world ever saw or
ever will see, and He deserves the conf
dence and love and worship and hosanna
of all the earth and halleluiahs of all
heaven. "The blind receive their sight
and the lame walk: the lepers are cleansed
and the deaf hear"
/ notice this surgeon had fondncss for
chronic cases. MANY a surgeon when he
has bad n patient brought 10 him. has
said: why was not this attended TO five
years ago? You bring him to me after all
power Of regeneration is gone. You have
waited until there is a complete contrac-
ton Of the muscles. and false ligaturps are
formed. and ossihcaton has taken place
IL ought 10 have been attended TO long
ago But Christ the Surgeon seemed 10
prefer invetcrate cases. One was a