Basic HTML Version
Section 3—The Christian Physician and His Work
Responsibility for Soul and Body
Every medical practitioner, whether he acknowledges it or not,
is responsible for the souls as well as the bodies of his patients. The
Lord expects of us much more than we often do for Him. Every
physician should be a devoted, intelligent gospel medical missionary,
familiar with Heaven’s remedy for the sin-sick soul as well as with
the science of healing bodily disease.
Coming as he does in daily contact with disease and death, his
mind should be filled with a knowledge of the Scriptures, that from
this treasure-house he may draw words of consolation and hope and
drop them as good seed into hearts ready to receive them. He should
encourage the dying to trust in Christ as the sin-pardoning Saviour,
and should prepare them to meet their Lord in peace.
Physicians need a double portion of religion. Of men in any
calling, physicians are most in need of clearness of mind, purity
of spirit, and that faith which works by love and purifies the soul,
that they may make the right impression upon all who come within
the sphere of their influence. The physician should not only give
as much physical relief as possible to those who are soon to lie in
the grave, but he should also relieve their burdened souls. Present
before them the uplifted Saviour. Let them behold the Lamb of God,
who taketh away the sin of the world....
Those who understand the science of Christianity have a personal
religious experience. He who acts as a guardian of the health of the
body should have tact to work for the salvation of the soul. Until the
Saviour is indeed the Saviour of his own soul, the physician will not
know how to respond to the question, “What shall I do to be saved?”
...
56