The Spirit of Service Increasing
By J. E. FROOM
WHEN instructing his disciples, Jesus said, “Whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” And to make the subject so plain that a child, or a wayfaring man, even though simple-minded, need not misunderstand the calling of those who follow Christ, he gave the parable of the good Samaritan, who, neither expecting nor receiving the appreciation of the professed servants of God, with the spirit of true service, which is begotten only in love, deferred his own plans, and dressed the neglected, bleeding wounds of a friendless and penniless man. This was done, not by proxy, nor was it seen of men, but was done by one whose life was in harmony with our Lord’s. This parable of the good Samaritan, above all other parables, is studied by medical missionaries, as they emulate the disinterested service. It is said of Jesus that he went about doing good, and according to Isaiah 58 this sort of service is to be prominent in the experience of true Sabbath reformers. Having been won to an active interest in medical missionary work by the emphasis that its teachers placed upon these fundamental elements of Christianity, one day near the close of my medical study I was startled by a remark by one of our professors to the effect that the spirit of service was departing from our medical missionaries. He referred to certain evidences which I sincerely hoped were exceptional. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,” was the sentiment in the mind of the first class of medical missionaries graduated from the American Medical Missionary College. In setting up a huge rock to memorialize the event, they had inscribed on it the words, “Let us follow Him.” These words, whether viewed as exhortation or resolution, are filled with the idea of divine leadership and example, and of brotherhood only in service. The mind of Christ in a nurse will make her conspicuously different from a trained nurse who, with the spirit of a modern labor union, can sit leisurely down amid abundant and urgent incidental duties, and satisfy her own conscience with the excuse, “That is not a nurse’s work.” A mercenary spirit or laziness and listlessness are entirely out of harmony with a nurse’s uniform, but infinitely more incompatible with a missionary nurse’s profession. The correspondence recently received from nurses is cheering in the noticeable spirit of service and readiness to labor in any or in various capacities. Many of these letters are from experienced nurses who are familiar not only with the classified work of large institutions and private nursing, but with the labor, the sacrifice, and even the drudgery of pioneering. Some of these are just recovering their health by a season on a farm after a long, taxing period of service; yet with the spirit of veterans they write, “We are not out of employment, but if we are needed anywhere, you may regard us as available for any place we can fill with Christ as our leader.” Some, in speaking of future work, express a preference to arrange to spend part of their time in evangelical work. This is indeed the kind of fruit that should appear in abundance with true medical missionaries. This will not lead to disparaging other lines of work, nor to making unfavorable comparisons between those engaged in different departments. Dr. George, in writing of his visits to Western camp-meetings, says that he found old graduate nurses tired of their independent work, and anxious to harmonize with the organized work. We rejoice in the healthy sentiment that is increasing, and we sincerely trust that the mutual interest of the members of Christ’s body may be equaled only by the spirit of service. Divine credentials, impossible to counterfeit or to withstand! May they lead many into new and unoccupied fields, where, with a divine commission to engage in doing good, they may exalt the Saviour. Secretary General Conference Medical Council.