"THE PRIESTHOOD OF MEDICINE."

EFFIE ANDREWS with contributions from T. Carlyle

EFFIE ANDREWS.

The British Medical Journal publishes the following letter, which was written by Thomas Carlyle to an Edinburgh firm of publishers in acknowledgment of a book entitled "The Healing Art the Right Hand of the Church":—

Chelsea, 25th February, 1859.

Dear Sir:—I have received your book which you were kind enough to send me, and I beg to return you thanks for the same. It is a book (unlike many that come to me here) of a serious nature, the fruit of long study, meditation, inquiry, and evidently of perfect conviction on your part.

I believe, and have long believed, the essential idea it sets forth to be not only true, but of the very highest importance to mankind—namely, that the physician must, first of all, be a priest (that is to say, a man of pious nobleness, devoted to the service of the highest, and prepared to endure and endeavor for that same, taking no counsel of flesh and blood, as the theory of priests is)—first of all, a real priest, and then that the whole world should take supreme counsel of him as it does of its real or imaginary priests or pontiffs this long while back, and follow said counsel as the actual will of God, which it would be were the physician what I say.

It is curious to remark that "heilig" in our old Teutonic speech is both holy and also healthy—that the words holy and healthy, as our antique fathers understood them, are one and the same. A thousand times has that etymology risen sorrowfully upon me in looking at the present distracted position of affairs, which is horrible to think of if we look earnestly into it, and which cannot well be spoken of at all. We, sure enough, have completely contrived to divorce holiness (as we call it) from health, and have been reaping the fruits very plentifully during these fifteen hundred years.

The notion of bringing our present distracted anomaly of a physician into union with our ditto ditto of a priest, and making them identical, is of course extremely chimerical; nor can one easily say what ought to be the first step towards bringing each of them back from his anomalous, imaginary condition, and nearer to veracity and the possibility of coalescing. But I am very glad to see the idea started in any form under any vesture, and heartily wish you success in bringing it home to men's minds.

I remain yours truly,
T. Carlyle.

When I received the above clipping from Scotland I was struck with its significance, and could but think that at the very time Thomas Carlyle was writing this letter one was being prepared who a few years later stood before the world and proclaimed the healing power of Truth. What Carlyle sorrowfully longed for and the lack of which may account for the severity and bitterness of his thought, what he deemed "chimerical," has been revealed to the world through Christian Science. Thousands of the sick and sorrowing, the weary and heavy-laden, have rejoiced with joy unspeakable that to them the "Comforter is come," according to the promise of our blessed Master, Christ Jesus.

In our text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, we are given positive statements respecting health and holiness, as we are pointed to the light of Divine Science, and in its irradiance we see clearer and clearer "the Spirit of truth" that leads "into all truth." Our hearts turn with love and gratitude to her who for Truth's sake suffered misjudgment and persecution. We see in our Leader one of "pious nobleness," one who has endured all with willing sacrifice and self-consecration to prove through her life the truth of her God-given mission, her message of health and holiness to this age. When Mrs. Eddy first declared to the world that "All is Mind, there is no matter," scorn and ridicule were heaped upon the message. To-day physical science would claim the statement as its own, and its advocates say they had "always believed it" (Science and Health, p. 104). Once it required courage to say "I am a Christian Scientist!" To-day it is a crown of rejoicing to be among those who follow our dear Leader, who has given us this Science, and has shown us the way to demonstrate the truth our Master taught and proved in his life among men. This truth has come with "health and holiness" in its outstretched wings of love. It is surely the Gospel of "on earth peace, good will toward men."

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