The Penn's Grove record., 1915-09-24
CHRIST The HEALER
"The Good Physician" Who
Heals the Body as Well as
the Soul.

most frequently the worst cases. Nor
does anyone dream of making 1t a re-
proach that he does not shrink from
visiting those with maladies Of q
loathsome and dangerous nature. On
the contrary he would have little re-
spect for a doctor who refused to at
tend those in greatest need. Now,
Jesus Christ is the Good Physician as
well as the Good Shepherd, and his
public ministry proves that he recog-
nized two great enemies of mankind
He battled with two conditions which
he found everywhere present, namely
the ailments of the soul, and the all
ments of the body, sin and disease.
Jesus came to save the whole man,
body and soul. Salvation means re-
| stored health. Mans life is a unity
with two essential sides; a compound
of matter and spirit, of clay and di-
vinity, a perishable body and an i'm
mortal soul.
We love to linger over the external
ministry of healing which filled the
land with the name Of Jesus. There
we're other healers in Palestine. There
was Luke, the beloved physician. and
others no doubt who we're loved for
the service they could render to the
suffering, but of exact science of heal
ing there was none. 1t is an express
sive phrase which we find in the story
of the woman who came and touched
Christ's garment and was healed. She
had suffered many things of many
physicians and spent all that she had,
and was nothing bettered, but rather
grew worse" There was a Jewish
proverb which said, Even the best of
doctors deserves Gehenna," and those
of us who know anything of native
medicine among primitive tribes can
understand hat saying. Into all this
chaos and crudity and superstition and
quackery came Jesus with a divine
power flowing from him. Surely there
never was a more beautiful story than
that of the healing ministry of Jesus.
Doing christ's Work.
This ministry was a revelation and
a prophecy. A well known theologian
says that Jesus healed only in order
to attract the crowd for his instruc-
ton. That is a very shallow inter
probation. To me it is a revelation
of Christ's desire to bring salvation
to the body as we'll as to the soul, to
give US a Gospel that would heal the
external conditions of human life. 1t
is the divine prophecy of medical mis-
sions which have brought hope and
help to so many b~enighted races, for
that is not only doing Christ's work,
but doing it in his own way. The heal
ing ministry of Jesus should also be
a rebuke to those who claim that
physical pain does not exist. Did
Jesus spend a large portion of those
three precious years Of his ministry
in fighting against something that did
not have any reality?
The healing ministry of Jesus is
furthermore a prophecy of the skill
and knowledge and wisdom given un-
to the physician and the surgeon in
these latter days. When the disciples
marveled at his works Jesus said,
Greater works than these shall We
do" 1t has come to pass. In the per-
son of the Christian physician Jesus
still walks the earth with his healing
touch. And every doctor ought to be
a Christian, for Jesus Christ has sane
titled that profession, and upon no
calling, with the possible exception
of the ministry of the word, has he
bestowed so great an honor.
Worth of the Physician.
We laymen to the medical profess
sion do not always recognize the
worth of the work of the physician,
even as we do not always recognize
the value of the Christian ministry.
If the church and it's ministry are
back of the spiritual and moral prog
ress of the world, the medical pro-
fession stands back of it's material
progress. How is that? What of our
inventors, engineers, and captains of
industry? They have lone their
share of the work, but the man Of
medicine has made our cities habit
able, he has heightened human life
from Is years in the sixteenth century
to almost so years. He has driven
plaques from the face of the earth
and overcome many dread diseases.
The most beautiful benediction of
the healing ministry has fallen upon
the poor. In the olden days only the
dogs of the street soothed their sores.
Now there are ~dispensaries and in
firmaries by the hundreds which min
lister to the poor without price. In
those days Jesus of Nazareth took
note of the leper by the wayside and
the blind beggar by the gate. Now,
when l see the doctors conveyance
standing before the poorest house in
the poorest quarter of the city, | think
how the Master has given unto these
men of his wisdom and skill. and put
1t into their hearts to minister to the
least of these his brethren.
Work Demanded of Recruits.