Compassion requisite
Did the careless doctor, the nurse, the cook, and the
brusque business visitor sympathetically know the thorns
they plant in the pillow of the sick and the heavenly
homesick looking away from earth, - Oh, did
they know! - this knowledge would do much
more towards healing the sick and preparing their helpers
for the "midnight call," than all cries of "Lord, Lord!"
The benign thought of Jesus, finding utterance in such
words as "Take no thought for your life," would heal
the sick, and so enable them to rise above the supposed
necessity for physical thought-taking and doctoring;
but if the unselfish affections be lacking, and common
sense and common humanity are disregarded, what men-
tal quality remains, with which to evoke healing from
the outstretched arm of righteousness?
