Medical Missionaries by A. O. Tait

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Oct 30, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 44.

Medical Missionaries

By A. O. Tait

MEDICAL missionary work is a strikingly important feature in latter-day missions. The real Gospel of Christ recognizes the value of bodily health, and the infinite sympathy of our Lord is shown in His constant labors to relieve suffering and distress.

Matthew records: “He . . . healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken thru Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases.” Matt. 8:16, 17. He was “acquainted” with sorrow and grief. But it was our sorrow and grief that He was carrying. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.” This was all endured by our Saviour because He loves us. And He was given up to this life of suffering all because “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

This love, then, of both the Father and the Son—a love so deep and broad that no man can describe it—is what led the Christ of God to thus suffer with and for humanity. And since the Lord Jesus was so closely linked with us that He actually bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, is it any wonder that we read of Him that “many followed Him; and He healed them all”? Matt. 12:15. “And there came unto Him great multitudes, having with them the lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and they cast them down at His feet; and He healed them: insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing: and they glorified the God of Israel.” Matt. 15:30, 31.

And so the texts might be multiplied that tell of the work of “the great Physician,” the great “Medical Missionary.” His sympathy for the suffering people was most practical and most tender. Two-thirds of all His recorded miracles were for the healing of disease.

Then since the great Teacher Himself has given us the example of helpfulness and sympathy for those who are suffering from disease, should we not recognize that all Christian workers have the duty as well as the privilege of linking themselves by the bonds of tender kindness with their afflicted fellow beings. But if the life that the Master lived does not impress this sacred responsibility upon us, then let the following words of His speak to us: “Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and ye gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye came unto Me.” Matt. 25:34-36. The converse of this conduct brings awful condemnation, as the context declares.

Jesus thus identifies Himself with the suffering ones; for He declares: “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these My brethren, even these least, ye did it unto Me.”

It is a well-known fact that this is the great century of missionary activity that has opened all the heathen world to the stimulating advantages of civilization and advancement. But it is not so well known that very early in this great awakening which led men to go to China, India, Japan, Africa, and elsewhere to sacrifice their lives in giving the Gospel to those nations that knew not the joys of the love of the Christ, the advantages of medical missionary work were recognized. And were it not for the fact that godly physicians and nurses entered the field with the missionary minister, the Gospel in those lands would be far behind what it is to-day.

"And when he saw him, he was moved with compassion, and came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on them oil and wine." Luke 10:33, 34.

As long ago as 1822, Mr. Douglas, of Cavers, said in his “Hints on Missions:” “If, with scientific attainments, missionaries combined the profession of physic, it would be attended with many advantages; for there is something suspicious in a foreigner remaining long in a country without an openly defined object which the people can appreciate. The character of a physician has always been highly honored in the East, and would give an easy and unsuspected admission to familiar intercourse with all classes and creeds. He who is a physician is pardoned for being a Christian; religious and national prejudices disappear before him; all hearts and harems are opened; and he is welcomed as if he were carrying the elixir of immortality.”

But while the advantages of the medical missionary work were thus early recognized, yet there have been but few comparatively to take it up. But the few who have taken it up devotedly have accomplished marvels for God in removing prejudice and opening doors and hearts for the teaching of the Gospel of Christ, with all its enlightening and soul-uplifting and happiness-giving principles. And in all the world there is no calling or occupation or undertaking that calls more strongly to the devoted sentiments of young men and women to-day than the fitting of themselves by careful training to enter the field of missionary physicians and nurses for God and His great Gospel truth. The promise of the Father has been made that “this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” And in the fulfilling of that promise it is evident that He has in mind an army of devoted young men and women that will go into all the benighted lands of earth as faithful missionaries. Many of these missionaries will follow in the footsteps of their Master by practising in His name and grace as physicians and nurses.

The great ignorance of the heathen nations of the commonest principles of sanitary law, of hygiene, and of rationally scientific methods for treating the sick, makes it very easy for the enlightened and tactful physician and nurse to get hold of the deepest confidences of the people. His work is to educate as well as to heal. There are men who enter those fields for personal gain, and many times the influence they leave behind them is unsavory. But the true Christian physician will follow his divine Master, and the sweetest joys of heaven will be brought into the lives of those for whom he ministers. How the sick and suffering masses of those needy heathen lands should appeal to the enlightened consciences and abilities of the young men and women who know this great message of the Lord’s soon coming!