Special Mention by FREDERICK GRIGGS

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 7, 1916

Special Mention

By FREDERICK GRIGGS

The Need of a Medical School in Our System of Education

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS conduct a system of schools with one great purpose in mind,—to prepare as speedily as possible a trained army of workers for service in the cause of Christ. The cause of Christ is of great length and breadth, and embraces all legitimate lines in the life and work of man. Christ was a medical missionary. He taught and he healed; and in doing this, he set an example for the church. It is the will of our Father in heaven that men should be well physically, as well as mentally and spiritually. Christ pronounces a special blessing upon those who minister to the physical need of the people.

A system of Christian education which does not provide for instruction in medical lines is manifestly faulty, and does not deserve to be styled Christian, for it lacks an essential preparation for working as Christ worked. True education qualifies its possessor for efficient service for others; and this service is most generally related directly or indirectly to bodily comfort. The saving gospel of Christ may be most effectively imparted to those who are relieved of physical suffering.

These principles relate to all grades of Christian schools. Christian help work—ministering to the poor and ill—may be and should be performed by little children as well as by those who are older. Teaching pupils to do this work and inculcating a love for it is a fundamental part of the duty of the teacher. But this ministry is not confined to that which children and youth can do, great and important as that work is. It involves a work for which special education must be obtained, but in and through which the same spirit of unselfish service must be shown.

During the last hundred years, and especially during the last quarter of a century, great advance has been made in the scientific treatment of disease. This great advance in medical learning has come about, in the purpose of God, not that men relieved from physical ailment may continue to serve self, but that they may serve others. Of this knowledge the devout Christian may well desire to possess himself in order that he may be of more benefit to his suffering brothers.

Christian help work and simple treatments are a necessary part of Christian education, and must be taught in all grades of all schools; but the more advanced work, because of its nature and expense, can find place only in schools specially provided for it. Hence the necessity of at least one good medical school in the system of schools of a Christian people.

Seventh-day Adventists have a system of schools because the schools of the world, or of any other denomination, cannot give instruction in which the spirit of our message finds place. We cannot obtain our ministers from the theological schools of other denominations. No more can we obtain from worldly medical schools physicians who can conduct their work in the spirit of that greatest of all medical missionaries—Christ.

Shipwreck of faith is a danger which confronts our youth, in general, in attending those schools in which faith finds no special place in their teachings, and the danger is none the less, but rather greater, in attending medical schools operated without distinct religious motives. This has been demonstrated, for in these medical schools many a bright young person who otherwise would have been saved to our cause and to the kingdom of God, has met just this shipwreck of faith.

We conduct a system of schools to educate our youth for unselfish service for humanity. The possibilities for such service are very great in the medical work, and the possibilities for selfish gain are correspondingly great. The ideal which is held before the student during school time, generally becomes a fixed one for life time. Hence the further necessity of having a school in our educational system where those who are taking a medical course may have fixed for life, in mind and in heart, the ideal of unselfish service—a service which leads their fellow men to Christ. Our system of schools is manifestly imperfect without such a school. Rightly organized and conducted, it will reflect an influence upon all other schools that will vitalize the teaching of ministry for the sick and needy, and will thus be a great help in bringing and holding all our schools of all grades to their God-given work in making our youth efficient in the work and mission which Christ established when here on earth.

FREDERICK GRIGGS.