--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - West, Joseph A. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 22 number: 2 published: 1918-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'West, Joseph A., "God the Great Physician," *Improvement Era* 22, no. 2 (December 1918): 133–135.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2202unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2202unse start_page: 133 end_page: 135 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1918-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2202unse publication_year: 1918 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1918, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # God the Great Physician God the Great Physician By Joseph A. West In concluding my series of articles on the healing cults of the day, I am led to ask, how many of the Latter-day Saints be- lieve, with the Emmanualists, that the discoveries of the medical fraternity, in our day, are as much a revelation from God as the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount? and that the calling in of the doctor, after the elders have administered, is but adding works to their faith? When surgical aid is necessary, it would certainly be folly to expect the Lord to do what easily obtainable surgical skill could supply, but there would be no impropriety, even in such cases, in asking him to bless the doctor that he might employ the best skill of his profession, and also that the healing mercies of the Lord might accompany the person afflicted, God has said, however (James 5:14) " Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the Church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him." What a wonderful promise that the sick shall not only be healed by the prayer of faith but that if they have sinned, their ; sins shall be forgiven them In the Doctrine and Covenants, section 42, commencing with paragraph 43, the Lord says: A.nd whosoever among you are sick, and have not faith to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy. And the elders of my Church, two or more, shall be called, and shall pray for and lay their hands upon them in my name ; and if they die they shall die unto me, and if they live they shall live unto me. * * * And it shall come to pass that those who die in me, shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them; and they that die not in me, wo unto them, for their death is bitter. And again, it shall come to pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed; he [meaning the blind] who hath faith to see shall see; he [meaning the deaf] who hath faith to hear, shall hear the lame who hath faith to leap shall leap. ; Relative to those who die in the Lord, John the Revelator And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them. 134 IMPROVEMENT ERA Paul (I Thessalonians 4:14) says: Even them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. The Lord said unto Joseph Smith (Doctrine and Covenants 63:49): Yea, and blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth, when the Lord shall come, and old things shall pass away, and all things become new, they shall rise from the dead and shall not die after, and shall receive an inheritance before the Lord, in the holy city. Now let us summarize the blessings that the Lord promises to the Saints who, when sick, call in the elders and are admin- istered to according to the pattern given in the gospel: First, if they have sinned their sins shall be forgiven them. Second, all such, if they die, die in the Lord. Third, if they die in the Lord, they shall not taste of death, and their death shall be sweet unto them. fourth, they will be among those whom Christ will bring with him when he shall come in the clouds of heaven in the latter days. Fifth, they shall receive an inheritance before the Lord in the holy city. Sixth, by the exercise of faith, all kinds of diseases shall be cured, the blind shall see, the deaf shall be made to hear, and the lame be made to leap, etc. Is it, therefore, not worth while to do as the Lord has com- manded? The above promises are made to the Saints, those who have accepted of Jesus Christ as their Redeemer and Guide, and are seeking, with all their "might and main," to conform to his laws and commandments. To those outside of the Church, who have not had their sins remitted through baptism by one having di- vine authority, the above promises are not made. To the wicked among them, the Lord has said that their death shall be bitter. To all such the pangs of remorse, or the woes of an accusing conscience for an evil and misspent life, must add greatly to the distress of dying; for however infidel to the existence of God men may avow themselves to be, in the vigor of life, when the shadows of death begin to encompass them, they seemingly doubt the potency of their former convictions, and wonder if there is not a God to whom they must give an account for the deeds done in the body. Certain it is that the man or woman who has led a Christian life, and has an unfaltering faith in a future, endless life of eternal development and progress, in which all that is good has its sure reward, cannot but feel a peaceful, abiding, confiding, calm when the last summons comes! Of the Saints that die in the Lord, President Young said at — GOD THE GREAT PHYSICIAN 135 the funeral of Sister Vilate Kimball:. "There i9 no period known to them in which they experience so much joy as when they pass through the portals of death, and enter upon the glo- rious change in the spirit world." The student of nature knows that activity is life, and that stagnation, or inactivity, means death. Such is true of the Priest- hood. It may be conferred and passively possessed, but its spirit and power can neither be fully developed nor enjoyed without a life of activity in the exercise of the functions thereof. Com- plaint is often made that while the great majority of the Latter- day Saints hold this divine authority, there is not much for those to do who do not hold official positions in the Church. Were the Saints more frequently to employ their very inexpen- sive instrumentality which God in his wisdom and mercy has provided for the healing of the sick, it would greatly increase the activities of the priesthood, enlarge their field of usefulness, and be a means of bestowing inestimable blessings upon them, as well as upon the Saints to whom they might administer. For, through this means has come to God's people, in every gospel dispensation, more testimonies of the truth, and of God's exist- ence and power, as well as willingness to bless those who seek him, in the manner appointed, than in any other way. The miraculous healings of Christ aided in establishing the divinity of his mission; and by this means also, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints signifies its divine origin, as well as by its exact conformity to all of the teachings and ordinances of the gospel. Brigham City, Utah Spring and Harvest Spring! and the Wise King's glory Pales to the daisy's gold. Spring! and wild surf-waves hoary Leap like young lambs in fold. Trees with bright-woven tresses Salute the Throne above, While every bird expresses God's Miracles of Love. Dawn, and strange stars are dancing Midst cannon's belching breath; Black demon steeds are prancing In saraband of Death But soft the night-dews weeping O'er lads that knew not late How the torn earth is reaping Man's Harvest drear of Hate. London, W. C. Florence L. Lancaster.