After one of the most remarkable dispensary day's work on record (Matt. 4:23-25), the Physician in charge invited the several thousand people present to tarry with Him on the grassy Galilean hillside while He personally opened to them the treasures of spiritual truths to complement their recent physical restoration. On this occasion countless thousands fixed their eyes upon the Man who had so tenderly relieved suffering. There were doubtless those present who were seeing God's beautiful creation for the first time, those who were walking and freely partaking of life's activities for the first time.
Some of those present had been relieved of cruel suffering from malignant disease or from pestiferous evil spirits. Some, having been healed, were so overwhelmed by the experience that for the moment they had failed to take full note of the agency of their benefaction. All eyes were now on just one Person and for just one reason. These people, from among all ranks, were following this remarkable Healer because they had received material benefit and had reason to believe that more was in store. As busy as this Physician was with His healing work, He took time from this necessary and certainly commendable work of mercy to direct the minds of His patients and their friends to fundamental moral and spiritual truths in a sermon of marvelous force and simplicity.
The people listened intently! The Man now preaching was the Man who in the morning had given strong legs to the cripples, clear sight to the eyes of the blind, and reason to the demon possessed. A Man of such power must have something of importance to say. By the same reasoning whatever such a Man said would be important. They listened, and many were convicted of truth.
Human nature has changed little in nineteen hundred years. People still hang on the words of those who have wrapped themselves in fame. Wisdom or truth propounded may be ever so profound, yet if it springs from humble sources, it does not carry the same weight with the masses as when spoken by those of wide repute.
Whether in our fine Bangkok Sanitarium in Siam, or in our Boulder Sanitarium, or in our twelve-thousand-foot-high Juliaca Hospital of the Peruvian Andes, or in the offices of our private practitioners, there is one undeniable fact to be reckoned with—the patient's eyes are turned intently and confidently toward his respected physician. No one else can stand in his place. No one else can speak with the same assurance of a ready hearing.
Can we fail to realize what an asset this patient-physician relationship holds for the effective presentation of the truth? Yet how many times we hear physicians remark that their job is to care for the sick. The pastor or chaplain must do the preaching and the praying with the patients. True, often our physicians are crowded beyond reason. They find it difficult to care for their medical duties, let alone any extensive spiritual work with their clients. Under such circumstances how natural to unload this entire responsibility on to the pastor.
Many patients not only are irreligious but are seriously prejudiced by any overt attempt to present religious instruction. The physician may be the only one who can, without prejudice, bring to such a person the message of Christ's love. Or, if the patient is susceptible to such influences, the force of the impression will be still greater if the prestige of the physician is brought to bear upon the giving of the message. How this may best be accomplished is a subject worthy of the most careful study. The physician who simply washes his hands of all responsibility for such matters is not a worthy leader.
True, the medical man will not be able to devote more than a portion of his time and effort to the evangelical interests of his patients. What, then, can be done to bring his influence with the patients to bear more fully upon this phase of his work? Obviously the doctor will carry a large measure of this work by proxy, through the chaplain. This may be a new thought to some. We may have thought of the chaplain's unit as totally separate and apart from any other feature of the institution's activities. But such a conception will assuredly weaken the entire spiritual program of any institution. Every employee of a sanitarium or hospital should be an active member of the chaplain's volunteer staff. The physician, presumably having more influence and prestige to contribute than any other member of the staff, will be the chaplain's most active associate. Participation by the physician in the work directed by the chaplain will add weight to this work in the minds of the patients.
Experimental work is being done in bringing the chaplain in on ward rounds. This plan brings the chaplain and the importance of his work before the patient in an impressive manner. Some doctors follow the practice of making appointments for the chaplain with their patients, sometimes visiting the patient with the chaplain. This serves in a considerable measure to transfer to the chaplain a portion of the prestige which the doctor holds with his patient. Any reasonable procedure which accomplishes such a result is worthy of a thorough trial. Any ministerial worker serving in our medical institutions who does not receive such collaborative support from the medical personnel is functioning under a considerable handicap.
There can be no question but that the most effective medical evangelizing agency yet conceived is the skilled physician who, with a burden for the salvation of his- patient, takes time to speak a word in season, or as the occasion indicates, to bow at his bedside to pray for both his physical and his spiritual restoration. The doctor, of course, cannot do all that is desirable in the spiritual work of his institution; but as an aid to the accomplishment of this purpose, he can be assigned a chaplain to be a co- worker in this field. These principles apply equally in the mission field and in the home land. Earnest study is being given to ways of making our chaplains and their associates a more effective power in our medical institutions. I shall be glad to hear from those who are able to contribute to this discussion from the standpoint either of the doctor or of the chaplain.
