| Show I 1 WHAT 0 01 THE ANALOGY the world of humanity is subject to imperfection sickness disease and death the highways and byways of life axe are peopled by those afflicted some imaginary perchance some occasional and some chronic death meets and claims its victims from all ranks and all ag ages es from elaborate and poor surroundings roun dings from vastly varied conditions while skill and wealth are applied without stint or limit in many rages cases in others destitution ignorance and aad neglect are in evidence and an observer may doubt whether one condition is any more favorable to longevity and enjoyment than the other the point reached however for is this that if all men read and hear were true there should be abundance of health and a paucity of sickness that man or woman if subject to all the infirmities of the flesh whether from heredity from self I injury or from the so o called liabilities of life ought to lind find instant and permanent relief the public press in all its issues from those adap adapted to the most highly cultivated and intelligent to the crudest and most vicious forms of liter literary axy or trade production gives out an everlasting stream of assertion invitation and commendation calculated to meet every emergency every want every ailment which besets that depleted emasculated and diseased condition of human nature which no doubt exists to quite an alarming degree for such a boasted age as ours oum the few may claim that most of this to Is quackery and delusion the f few w too may seek and have the benefit of ome school of medicine or other but even from those whose profession and standing in society should indicate better things there comes imong with the less enlightened testimonials which it if positive and direct to in criminal cases and courts would convict any man if originally arrested on the most moat frivolous and flimsy evidence there are boosted boasted panaceas for fop specific ailments for general conditions editions and as preventives the invalid to Is encouraged and deluded the well man Is inveigled and tempted the hypochondriac Is assured of relief and an the symptoms of irregularity as to the body are so BO arrayed and dilated upon that even the one in perfect robust health concludes almost easily that he Is so affected and that he may expect any moment to be stricken down millions of dollars are annually ly spent in this enlightened land upon no strums of one kind and another the shelves of every drug store and thousands of groceries are laden with pills potions tracts extracts solutions and combinations liquid and otherwise that tell in forcible language how easily the world is gulled betrayed and robbed the dilutions of homeopathy have attractions for some ome the larger the bottle the heavier the pill the more nauseous the draught the better suited to is another class while w hile for IL a different section the concentrated cent rated dose to is prepa prepared as the all in it the imaginary invalid is cured nature spite of drugs and chemicals the naturally robust and hei here and there probably could be found one who has received benefit from a really go good thing for him which by irreversible ver sible law would be a positive injury to another I 1 that this universal fleeing to quackery and proprietary medicine is in great part due to the faculty we are assured persons of limited means are often deterred by possible expense the visit often counting largely more than the prescription others because of the egotism and self manifest ignorance of both the patients condition and the remedy an intelligent sick person often realizes that few practitioners titio ners give time enough for far the operation of things administered and changes are so numerous that neither the professional nor the patient can tell what accomplished good so as to utilize after increased experience and intelligence in similar cases arising from day to day chis I 1 his topic is not now introduced for criticism or offense but because of a seeming analogy in another and quite as important a direction that of a religious and spiritual nature it needs no argument to prove that the world is morally and spiritually sick that myriads of human souls are in every condition and stage of disease there is an everywhere acknowledgment of this both tacit and active the former philosophizes and studies man seeks to comprehend the condition to diagnose the disease singular or plural and to seek for cremedy the active philanthropist cht erects institutions for the physical ailments of man has his counterpart in the mental moral and religious lines of activity schools and education are for the ignorant law and prisons for the morally delinquent lin quent and churches are the hospitals of sectarianism for the sinner each department has its professionals its and claimants for recognition are as aggressive and as belf opinionated as are the exponents of schools of medicine these decry each other oiher and in advertising their wares they are often as unblushing ond end pretentious as are th tha 3 quacks who force their pills and no strums on a credulous sedulous red ulous and suffering humanity there is as much unfriendly rivalry too between professional ministers as between isto and their opponents and to multiply sympathizers and adherents is more than to make believers and to help them work out a full and complete redemption from superstition tradition and sin the pathology of the human soul is as little understood by sectarian secta xian physicians as to is the true physiology of man by the concoct ors or com of quack medicines which are to deliver mankind from every form and vestige of chronic and to them are irremovable disease i i it needs no argument to prove that a successful for the sick must understand his patient the reasons for his condition and the nature and action of the remedy he prescribes to be this requires profound study using as a collateral the accumulated experience of the best of his predecessors ces sors and if he is a disca pie of some burning and shining light he will use the methods and demonstrations of this broader authority and experience to supplement his limited own the analogy is as near perfect as one thing can be with another in the spiritual and religious world unless the one who prescribes and mirita ministers to the spiritually sick alck understands the nature thereof and the remedy for the he cannot be a savior of men he must graduate under the great physician 1 one provided not by human wisdom or foresight but carrying supreme intelligence w ath ath a potential remedy and panacea tor for sin subject to testimony both in heaven and earth as befits so great a necessity so unive universal asal a demand how for ages has the question i been asked to Is there no balm in gil ead Is there no physician there all the appliances organizations and ministers in christendom nay in heathendom as well testify to this universal wall wail the former alone crying out in the market places the temple of the lord the temple of the lord are we surely when an observer notes the variety and contrariety of mode and mood of creed and catechism of pre tense and testimony he to is reminded of medical quackery through its asser eions and professions its lack of unity in prescription and administration its disregard of diagnosis and authoritative remedy its labored effort to vindicate schools of theology and disregard results its failure to commend individual system through positive power and lasting good its flagrant rejection of official claims thereby making human wisdom equal to the divine and its continually asserted hope that by fragmentary christianity the world will be redeemed and man saved as god would have him by methods peculiarly Pecullar lT his own that there is good in churches and ministers to Is fully believed that there is good tn in herbs and roots and barkei is equally true but quackery use each for its own ends and doubts ita own prescript prescriptions lops both in religion and medicine as has been proved a thousand times yet this does not militate against true religion or recognized authority any more than it does against the healing art of the broad studious scientific trusty friend who can teach us how to keep well or how to deliver ourselves from the power of wasting sickness or disease the earnestness and confident assurance of one who prescribes for sin or sickness is no guaranty of knowledge or success the man of faith the man of ripe experience is modest even when positive and to 0 be subject to the inspiration of the spirit in the fear of the lord is a grand qualification for the healer ot of spiritual as of physical infirmity ta to such it will never be said physician leal heal thyself robust health will be lis his portion because of obedience to law and he will transmit this by example and word as his legacy for the generations yet to come |
