The Unnamed Remedy

And M-lirii lie had cnlleduutu Illiu Hls twelve lilsriiii.-" Ma ttuve thein power agalust unclean spirits, locusl ihem uut and io h.-i.i uil manner of slekness and all mauner of duease- Mntt. x, 1. The morning of the Christian era marked the advent of many healthfulchanges io the world. Thert was the eniergence of a chlildlike and songful spiritual life from the cage of legal fornis and riles. ïhere was a larger humanity of aelion between men ; there was the laying of the corner RtOnPQ of ïjPttr Knmpq unrï rrtnra irl, I,,. ome physical conditions, and there was the inductioD of a cew order of physicians. It would Le pre.sutuing in tliis uresence to give any sketch ot " the heaÜDg art " prior to thi.s time, except to remitid you that Eseulapius, the fabled god cf medicine, was the offspring of' Apollo, whose skill in kill ing pcople was unque.stioned, aüd also, that the first practitioner in Ruïne- some two centuries before Christ - was banished because of the severity of his treatment, while his successor was immeDsel; popular for the reason that he allowed his patients to drink wine and eat their favorite dishes, showing that in phyrie as well as ethics, men from the beginning have oonsulted the palate rather than the health. That the social relations of men and their antagonisms were much the same eighteen hundred years ago that we find them today, can hardly be doubted, for history tells us that there were different sects or schools of medicine, carrying on as vigorous and bitter a rivalry as these modern times can exhibit. It is possible that the woman who touched the hem of Ohrist's arment had Deen treated by a different fchool froni that to which Luke, the physician, belonged, and that there is a touch of sarcasm in bis report of the case, for, he says, she " had spent all her living on phy.sicians, neither could be healed of any." We can readily imagine, then, tbe profüund sensation that must have been produced by this irruption of a new order of physicians; thes-e twelvefull-fledged doctors whom the people hailed as deliverers and benefaetors, but whose advent was most naturally resented by the established physicians as an intrusión. We infor this hostile feeling on the part of the medical fraternity trom the fact that the record is emphatie that the ministers of that time were not cordial, or even decent, toward the new preachers of righteousnesB, and the thought cannot be tolerated that doctors are ever more generous towards rivals in business than ministers are. The infallible skill of these twelve men, however, who tarried for bo diagnosis, but cxpelled the most obstinate diseases by word or touch, separated them so far from the highest attainments of modern men, that they are never catalogued even with the most brilliant names in medical science and art. How singular it would seam to us to tíud insome ancient manuscript the title of Dr. Siuion Peter, or Judas Iscariot, M. D. Had those men lived in Chicago, however, whether they preached or practised, they would have been called "Doctor" in spite of themselves. Now the sourceof thiseminence andsuccess that found no parallel, is not obscured lora moment, "tie IL'hristJ gave them power," and this Divine endowmeutdistinguished them as not only a new order, but one forever unique. There is, however, a subtle and remedial force suggested by their metbod ofheaüng, that we uiay desígnate as the unnamed remedy, and of this agent, constantly employed by every intelligent physieian, but holding norank inanj materia medica, T wish especially to speak to-nigbt. You will observe, not only in the instructions given thesedisciples, butalsoin many of the instances of cure wrought by the Master Himself, the saintary condition of iniud was first regarded. Then, the disciples were to " preach, saying The kingdom of Heaven is at hand," to tone up 'the inner man" as preliminary to healing. The two mina men who petiiioneU Jesu were ?' elleve ve that I am able to do this.' lothe woman who touched His garment hesaid, " Thy faith hath made theewhole;1 not always, but many times, this mental relation to the heaLng is made prominent. Now whilethe distinctive, miracle-workïng power has fulfilled its mission, and been reoalled, the mysterious and mighty influence of the mind over the body has not been abated, and this influence, we believe, it should be employed to the utmost in delivenng men from the bondage of physieal diseuse. I need not rcmind you who are familiar tbrough anatomy with the delicate nd exquisite relation and adjustmenta that obtain in the human system, of the powerfulsympathies exteting between the mind and the body, so that ifthtre is puinful emotion, or mental anguish, every member of the great organized family weeps. Tbe brain telegraihs its trouble to the other vital centres, and there is sympathetic trouble all over the system. And the power of this action is so well established, and so constantly ezhibited, that iuen in general regard the mind as holding in a degree the deoision of life or death over the bodily f 'unctions. Here, for example, is acasewhere, according to the books, according to the symptoms, and according to all precedent, the man ought to die, but his spirit rallies and he is confident of the result, and does recover, as the couinion saying is, "inspite of the doctors." Tbere is not a minister who has not been repeatedly warned by the attendant physician as to the key note of his conversation in the siok-room, and the influence of a funereal, dolorous pa.stor's visit is always dreaded. The power of the mind to prostrate llio most vigorous body has been repeatodly exemplified. In the central part of New York state, where 1 onoe resided. was a man named Joseph Dewitt, a perfect embodiraent of health and manly strength. S' uní' of his boon companions fortued a conspiracy to test his nerve, and so the first one to meet him exclaimed with a wellfeigned anxiety, " Why, Joe. what is the matter with you? Wbat makes you so palé?" The ruddy-faced giant protested he was never better in his life, which w is true, but by the time the last half-dozeo inquisi tors had met him, the strong man was vanquished, and took to tiis bed and sent for the doctor. A still more emphatic testimony to the power ol the miuH ovor tl,, body was giren u ibe city of New York years ago, when a murdererunder sentence of dcth was told that he was to be executed by bleeding instead of by hanginsr, and being blindfolded, and his arru bared, the back of the lancet was drawn quickly across the skin, but making no incisión, ai:d then warm water caused to tricke down his arm, he supposing it was the ebbing of his lite. When, after a time, the pulse waa exauiined, it was found that the experiment had1)een fatally succesful for the man was dead. It is this invisible energy that through its poisoned arrowsof malienity, of passion, of aorid temper, and all corroding emotiooa, is t-hiying itn thousands annuall.v, ttiut hould be etilinted as a chara pion of health and life. And upon no class in the community can the opportunity to employ the potent agency for good, and to make his tuind " a savor of life" to the body, ret more weightily than upon physicians. The man in whom vast interests center stakes all in sickness upon the ability of his physician. Patients, in the most critica! anu neart-trying nour, obey to the letter the directions of the phymcian?. And I ask you how a man who has no ver studied at the feet of' the üiviue Physician, and lcarned ofilim who created it how to ad minister to the mind, Uiai is inYolved in every disease, ean meet the demanda of his prolession, or the demanda of human coufidence? We are aware that a Christian character is not doeraed efsential to one in the medical profe8Íon. Indeed, to be irrtvcrcnt and skepticul is considered by some young men a mark of cenius. Butif the premise already stated, that there is a vital reiation between the miod and the body, is correct, then the conclusión is direct, that he who does not know how to aid the mind in to fears and throes of distress, has not niastered at least one of the fundamental pointsof his profession. It mieht seem radical and extreme to refuse a diploma to a medical student because he was not a Chri.-tian man, but it is not absurd to say that the doe tor who has to send for a ininit-ter to pray over his patiënt and to try to talm his mind, and thus give him a better chance ofrecov ery, conf'esses to a serious incompeteucy in the healing art, however his diploma may state his fitness. View this from another staudpoint and pee if it is not reasonable. A candidate for the niinistry presents himself. Ho is up in all theology, but down in all moráis. He ia not averie lo intemperance orde bauchery. No sane mau would vote for his ordination, for it would be very propcrly held that no one is fitted to aid men's souls in their emergencies who lightly regardsthethingstbat ' 'war against the soul," and so the oiodical student who does not regard that which touches the minda or souls of this complex life, lacks a great essential. Now you will observe that I have .said nothingabout the personal duty or necessity of coming to Christ for salvation, or the wonderful opportunity for doing good that opeus before the physieian who goes in the name of Jesus. I only wish to speak to night of the professional necessity of having tl.e heart as well as the bead concentrated to the service of (od and man, and on thil line I atlirm that the Christiaa physieiun has a vast advautage. First, in tho healthful mental stimulus he i in part to the iniml of one diseasi'il, and through his uiind to bis body. The value of sunshioe in sickness is well known, and a man whose nature is suffused with the light of "the sun of righteousness" is an embodied sunbeam, and the effect of his preeence cannot but be salutary. Experienced physicians will bear witness that in very niany cases the root of the disease is in mental distross or fear, and the man who cao bring the remedial power of the truth can surpass others. Ho in the orchard who knows that the worm at the root causea the trouble with tlie leaves, ÍS the lunst, sagaoiou and iuocr.-ful 1)U8 bandman. A second consideratian is, that when Chribt sends men forth to bless their fel low men, He aids them in fulGIling their iuÍsmoq. Not that all are equally gifted, or equally skillful as among the disciples, but that " them who honor Ilim He will honor," and that the angels know, though tbe world may not, that in answer to prayer the shadow has gone back ten degrees on the dial for many a man, as it did for King Hezekiah at the request of the prophet. This belief in the power of the Divine to prolong or give back the life of the human has never been absent from the faith of men. You will find it in revelation, and in mythology aa well. Men's hearts would break if they could not pray over their sick, and the most hardened man, when tke shadow of death seerns creeping toward the child of his hope, will go alone and send the wail of his heart up to his God. " Let this cup pass from me." You will pardon me, gentlemen, if I close this discourse with a personal incident. In my sizteenth year I was smitten by one of those swift and terrible contaginus ili that have filled so many graves, and there was summoned to my aid a veteran in the medical service, who to-day wears his snowy diadem of more than four-8core yeras, and who battled for my life with long continued skill and persistency. But when his ezperience taught him he was defeated, and he could no longer parry the stroke of death, he knelt day by day with the devoted parents at my beduide, and invoked the interposition of Him who was the Master of death and "able to save to the mriuosi. You may think me sujierstitious when I affinu that I believe tbat in answer to those prayers the shadow went back on the dial of my life from that hour to this ; but it is a superstition that grasps the idea of a God who is not unmindful of the hearttt of men but who is "a very present help in trouble." And may a like superstition possess you for your own sakes, and for the sake of those to whom you may be called to minister.