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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1887 edition. Excerpt:...was as Joseph's joy when he heard that his father was alive; but oh! from where shall I bring the carriages to send for you?'" THE NEED OF MEDICAL MISSIONS IN OUR MISSION FIELDS ABROAD. A the opportunities which it affords for the practical manifestation of the spirit of the Gospel--the doors, otherwise closed, which it opens in pioneering a way for the entrance of the truth--these are features of this department of work which cannot fail, if intelligently apprehended, to commend the cause to the hearty sympathy and support of the friends of missions. Besides these, however, there are many important considerations which enhance the value of medical mission?, and strengthen our plea for their more general employment in the foreign field. First of all, there is the lamentable ignorance existing in all heathen communities as to the cause, prevention, and cure of disease, which necessarily implies a fearful amount of preventible suffering and mortality. This ignorance is a fruitful source of superstition, and, consequently, one of the most effectual barriers in such lands to the uprooting of idolatrous rites and ceremonies. In India, China, Africa, Madagascar, and in almost every heathen land, crude systems of medicine are intimately associated with the religions of the people, and the treatment of disease, such as it is, is monopolized by the priests, or by others under their control. The existence and prevalence of disease of every kind are ascribed to the agency of evil spirits, or to the anger of the gods; and unless these spirits and offended deities are propitiated, the direst results are foretold. The Hindoo Shastras, for instance, teach that any perse n rejecting the services of one of the native Hakims, or physicians, in time of...