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Counsels for the Church
gospel ministry. It may be necessary for ministers to go into the homes
of the sick and say, “I am ready to help you, and I will do the best I
can. I am not a physician, but I am a minister, and I like to minister to
the sick and afflicted.” Those who are sick in body are nearly always
sick in soul, and when the soul is sick, the body is made sick.
There is to be no division between the ministry and the medical
work. The physician should labor equally with the minister, and with
as much earnestness and thoroughness for the salvation of the soul
as well as for the restoration of the body. Some, who do not see the
advantage of educating the youth to be physicians both of the mind and
of the body, say that the tithe should not be used to support medical
missionaries, who devote their time to treating the sick. In response
to such statements as these, I am instructed to say that the mind must
not become so narrowed down that it cannot take in the truth of the
situation. A minister of the gospel who is also a medical missionary,
who can cure physical ailments, is a much more efficient worker than
one who cannot do this. His work as a minister of the gospel is much
more complete.
The Lord has declared that the educated physician will find en-
trance in our cities where other men cannot. Teach the message of
health reform. This will have an influence with the people.
The presenting of Bible principles by an intelligent physician will
have great weight with many people. There is efficiency and power
with one who can combine in his influence the work of a physician and
of a gospel minister. His work commends itself to the good judgment
of the people.
And thus should our physicians labor. They are doing the Lord’s
work when they labor as evangelists, giving instruction as to how the
soul may be healed by the Lord Jesus. Every physician should know
how to pray in faith for the sick, as well as to administer the proper
treatment. At the same time he should labor as one of God’s ministers,
to teach repentance and conversion, and the salvation of soul and body.
Such a combination of labor will broaden his experience, and greatly
enlarge his influence
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Medical Ministry, 237-247