The Dominion. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1910. THE CLERGY AND DOCTORS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 966, 5 November 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1910. THE CLERGY AND DOCTORS.

i A cablegram published in The DoMinion a few days ago stated that a meeting of clergymen and medical men has beon held in tho Chapter House of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, to discuss the question of tho co-operation of tho Ghurch'and the medical profession as regards the healing of tho sick. The conference was no doubt one of .the outcomes of a steadily-growing movement within th' 6 Anglican Church in the direction of spiritual'healing. This mbvemont has, of rocont years, como to tho front in a most remarkable way, and has been given a'great push forward by the insight which has been given by the investigations of modern psychologists of tho school of the late William James and F. W.H. Myers into tho wonderful powers of tho mind of man and the previously, unimagincd capacities of the human personality as a whole. Theso men have opened up a now world for scientific research, and after making full allowance for exaggeration, delusion, and fraud, recent investigation of these fascinating phenomena has already resulted in a substantial addition to Our knowledge of oursolves and has provided new and fruitful ideas regarding tho treatment bf certain forms of disease. Quite a number of tue leaders ol Christian thought aro now re-examining tho Now Testament in the light which modern psychology has thrown upon tho workings of the human mind. They note that, as one writer tells us, among His contem-. poraries tho Foundor of Christianity was known "as a healor of most amazing skill, though not exactly a physician or doctor in the ordinary sense of the words, for Ho never used drugs or simples, and very rarely employed anv_ visible means of healing of any kind. Jtist a touch, sometimes only a word, and disease vanished." I-lis first disciples thought it impossible that this healing power could be cut off liko an electric current when He died; but, belioving that it had been transmitted to them, they carried on this ministry of healing. In the courso of time it appears to have fallen into the background, but never to havo entirely and now, in this twentieth century, tho wholo matter is being reconsidered both from the religious and tho scientific point of view. Tho chango that is coming over tho medical profession _ on tie subject of mental or spiritual healing is indicated in a remarkable articlo which recently appeared in tho British Medical Journal, which contained tho opinions of somo of thoso who can \speak with tho highest authority "on tho relations between mind and body as exhibited in the phenomena of disease." After stating that "there aro bodily ills which

cannot bo cured by., pills and potions, but which yield to methods which, for want of a better word, may be called mental," tho articlo proceeds;

"Sir Clifford Allbutt reviews tho history of faith-healing from antiquity to the present day; anil ho well says that probably 110 limb, 110 viscus is so far a vessel of dishuunur as to lie wholly outside the renewals of the spirit. On this conviction tho hopes and methods of faithhealing depend. He draws a clear line 01 demarcation between tho function of the physician and that of the clergyman, but he shows that they should not bo cnomies, but allies. In sickness the mind is always more, or less diseased as well as tho hotly, and here the spiritual healer play most usefully co-operate with the doctor." Professor Osler, .of Oxford University, states that the medical profession should not bo hostile to faithhoaling. Ho has seon much of-the curative effects of faith made operative either by the personality of the physician or by the attractions of a new gospel which offered to people a new way of life. Several of the. other authorities _ lay stress on the value of "suggestion!' as a remedial agent, and .in "suggestion" lies the secret of faith-healing; but it must bo applied hy tho right person and in tho_ right way, for it can work for evil as well as for good. The articlo proecods: "It is outside our province to discuss prayer from tho theological point of view. But it is unquestionable that prayer, inspired by a living faith, is a force acting within tho patient which places him in tho most favourable condition for tho stirring of tho. pool of hopo that lies, still and hidden, it may be, in the depths of hitman nature. As for miraoles, it is_ an otiose solution of the problem to dismiss (hem as impossible,' and thus on "a priori" ground to reject them, like David Hume, without investigation. Wo do not know .enough to say that anything, however outsido experience it (nay seem to lie, is impossible." The -British .1 fcdical Journal concludes by, stating that "whatever exorcises tho demon of. fear and brings to the sick man's bed the angel oE hopo is a powerful aid to medical treatment. It is, therefore, as unscientific as it is inhuman to put aside, faith-healing as mero superstition." Tho attitudo of the Church towards the now movement has been well stated by tho Clmrcli Times in an articlo which deals with tho question in a very sane and cautious mannor. It states;

"Tho mbvemont found itself justified at tlie outset by the frank admission of medical men that healing, not only of obviously nervous disorders, but even of sickness and disease obseuro and apparently incurable, was possible by the usd of religious means. Tho psychologist, proffering his theory of tho. control of the physical organism by the sub-con-scious mind, offered therewith a scientific basis for mental and spiritual healing: a scientific basis, in that it is accepted by a very largo proportion of scientific mon as, at any rale, a sound working hypothesis, not in that it is admitted by all to' be scientifically demonstrated. . And, sinco tho spiritual is higher and moro active for good than tho mental, tho possibilities of; mental healing, already demonstrated, began to be extended and developed as the force of devotion was brought to bear. Spiritual healing involved tho uso of the highest and strongest powers with which man is dowered, it involved, ex hypothesi, tho possibility of the operation through man of that Divino life-giving-force which is for nil upon whom it is operative health in tho fullest sense,"

The Church Times is well,aware of the dangers i of zeal without knowledge, and insists most strongly on tho necessity for mutual confidence • and sympathy between the clergy and tho doctors at tho sick bed. "Through long centuries," it joints out, "the priest and the phvsician have been closely related In their common work for humanity, and tho work of the One has always been regarded with moro than sympathy by tho other. In the development of the new movement, there is- tho constantly recurring possibility of friction and divergence. It is of tho first importance that tho movement should proceed with the goodwill of Christian doctors, and with acceptance of such oversight and methods as thoy may desiro to give and suggest." It is, perhaps, the wisest course, in view of the fact that the most capable investigators know so little about the marvellous mystery of human personality, to conclude an article of this kind with words of warning, and no man is more competent to speak such words than Sir Dyce Duckworth, who is at onco a confessed Christian and a distinguished physician. In a papor read before tho recent Church Congress at Halifax," Nova Scotia, ho Btatod his views with the greatest frankness as follow:

"As 'priest of the body" wo gladly welcome any inspiration and assurance that may oomo from appropriate ministration at the hands of any Christian minister as. a reinforcement of our professional efforts, but we aro not prepared fo act as anointers or thalimaturgists ourselves, or to sanction any such efforts as substitutes for the practice of legitimate medicine in cases of disease. . Wo admit that the conjoint efforts of both professions may . olteii prove of advantage, but wo decline to hand over the vital interests of the sick to persons whoso training and knowledge have not fitted them to undertako them."

Sir Dyce Duckworth declines to regard the medical profession _as nonspiritual or irreligious ministers to the sick, and fully acquiesces in tho dictum of tho great French surgeon of tho sixteenth century, Awbroise Pare, who said: "I bandaged; God healed"; but he fears that serious friction may ariso if tho exercise of a clcrical ministry of • healing becomes prevalent. The fact that a man like Sir Dyce DucKWORTH' feels called upon to oxpress tho vioivs quoted above shows tho need for a clear understanding between the clergy and tho doctors as regards their respective spheres of action in tho treatment of disease, and for mutual, confidence and co-operation in this matter. A conference such as that which has been held in Chapter House of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, cannot possibly-do any harm,' and may reasonably be oxpected to be productive of much good. _ T,he right attitudo at tho present time to this profoundly interesting, yet most diflidult and complex, question is to maintain an alort and open mind, ready and willing to woigh and examine now facts from whatever quarter thoy may come. Tho life work of the late Professor William James affords striking examples of the fruitfulncss of this mental attitude. "His mind," we are tokl, "worked by flashes of brilliant insight, by an aptitude for fresh and untrammelled observation, and by a singular freedom from reigning academic prejudices."