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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
direction are not inferior to those of the most devoted minister or mis-
sionary worker. Deprived, as he often is, of needed rest and sleep, and
even of religious privileges on the Sabbath, he needs a double portion
of grace, a fresh supply daily, or he will lose his hold on God and will
be in danger of sinking deeper in spiritual darkness than men of other
callings. And yet often he is made to bear unmerited reproaches and is
left to stand alone, the subject of Satan’s fiercest temptations, feeling
himself misunderstood, betrayed by his friends.
Many, knowing how trying are the duties of the physician and how
few opportunities physicians have for release from care, even upon the
Sabbath, will not choose this for their lifework. But the great enemy is
constantly seeking to destroy the workmanship of God’s hands, and
men of culture and intelligence are called upon to combat his cruel
power. More of the right kind of men are needed to devote themselves
to this profession. Painstaking effort should be made to induce suit-
able men to qualify themselves for this work. They should be men
whose characters are based upon the broad principles of the word
of God—men who possess a natural energy, force, and perseverance
that will enable them to reach a high standard of excellence. It is not
everyone who can make a successful physician. Many have entered
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upon the duties of this profession every way unprepared. They have
not the requisite knowledge; neither have they the skill and tact, the
carefulness and intelligence, necessary to ensure success.
A physician can do much better work if he has physical strength. If
he is feeble he cannot endure the wearing labor incident to his calling.
A man who has a weak constitution, who is a dyspeptic, or who has not
perfect self-control, cannot become qualified to deal with all classes
of disease. Great care should be taken not to encourage persons who
might be useful in some less responsible position, to study medicine
at a great outlay of time and means, when there is no reasonable hope
that they will succeed.
Some have been singled out as men who might be useful as physi-
cians, and they have been encouraged to take a medical course. But
some who commenced their studies in the medical colleges as Chris-
tians did not keep the divine law prominent; they sacrificed principle
and lost their hold on God. They felt that singlehanded they could
not keep the fourth commandment and meet the jeers and ridicule of
the ambitious, the world-loving, the superficial, the skeptic, and the