p. 12 | A Macedonian Call for Medical Missionaries

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 17, 1913

A Macedonian Call for Medical Missionaries

By A. C. Selmon

A. C. SELMON, M. D.

THERE are none from abroad who have visited China but were deeply impressed with the appalling amount of physical suffering that could be easily and quickly relieved to be seen on every hand. The causes for this are overcrowding and extreme poverty, together with the ignorance of the nature and the causes of disease, and the scarcity of trained physicians. There is an impression abroad that the Chinese do not have as sensitive nerves as some other nationalities. Needless to say, this is an error; for the Chinese suffer as keenly from injury and disease as do any other people under similar circumstances. It is true that the prevalence of disease has begotten in the people a certain degree of hardness, so that they bear their aches and pains with much less complaining than the average European would. If evidence is wanting that the Chinese have nerves that are keenly sensitive to pain, it is found in the haste with which they flock to the dispensary and the hospital of the medical missionary. When Dr. Peter Parker arrived in Canton and opened up the first medical work in China, it is said that it was not long before the sick came to him from the far distant province of Honan, at that time over a month’s journey from Canton.

While conditions in China are now much better than they were in Dr. Parker’s day, the demand for medical missionaries grows with the years. The knowledge of the causes and the nature of disease is now being spread abroad to a degree. As the people come into possession of this knowledge, they begin to see that the physician can not only help them to get well when they are sick, but he can teach them how to keep their health; and in a land where the people are dependent entirely on to-morrow’s earnings for to-morrow’s rice, health is a most valuable asset. The result is that the medical missionary does not need to search for an opening, for in many places the people are calling for him. An instance may be mentioned:—

For some time during the last year one of our Chinese evangelists was located in one of the large cities of Anhwei province. About three weeks ago I received a letter from this place stating that the people wanted a doctor there very much. They had already raised four hundred dollars to secure the supplies for a hospital, and more was pledged. They requested that Mrs. Selmon and I come at once and locate there and help them. It was also stated in the letter that as soon as they received my reply, three hundred dollars in cash would be sent me with which to get some supplies for opening up the work.

This request seems very much like the vision Paul had of the man calling for him to come and labor in Macedonia. It seemed a cruel thing to send back the word that it was impossible to comply with their request. But a deaf ear must not be turned to such calls as this, for they are from the Lord and clearly point out to us our duty. My prayer is that as this comes to the notice of young men and women in our ranks in the home lands who are prepared or are preparing to do medical missionary work, it will be to many a Macedonian call. The Lord through his servant has said, “Medical missionary work is the pioneer work of the gospel.” And has not the Master himself commanded us, saying, “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick”? Matt. 10:7, 8. “Into whatsoever city ye enter, . . . heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” Luke 10:8, 9.

Large are the doors of opportunity that are open for medical missionary work in China. Probably in no other land is there such a crying need of this kind of work. Other lands need medical missionaries, it is true, but from the standpoint of area and population their needs are small compared with those of this great republic. There are in China with its more than four hundred millions of inhabitants not more than three thousand trained physicians, and two thousand are Chinese physicians trained in modern medical science. This is an average of one physician to every one hundred thirty-three thousand of the population. In the United States there is one physician to about every five hundred persons. What a call for doctors would go out through the newspapers of the land if in San Francisco there were but three doctors, in Denver two, in Omaha one, in Boston five, and if in all these places cholera, leprosy, plague, smallpox, and a score of other fearful diseases were always prevalent. No doubt there would be an army of volunteers, and among them would be found a goodly number of Seventh-day Adventist medical workers. Why is it that such a call in the home land, where hygiene and simple treatment for disease is the common knowledge of the major-ity of people, should find so many volunteers, and more urgent calls than this from the mission fields should be so long unanswered?

The Lord has given some very pointed instruction in regard to this. It is: “Those who have been trained for medical missionary work in foreign countries should be encouraged to go without delay where they expect to labor, and begin work among the people, learning the language as they work. Very soon they will be able to teach the simple truths of God’s Word.”—“Ministry of Healing,” page 155. This shows in what way the medical missionary stands on vantage-ground, for he no sooner gets a start in the language than he can begin to do active work, and as he relieves the suffering ones he can point them to the Chief Physician, who not only can preserve life, but can also impart life.