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(To medical students.) This science is a most pleasing and important study. Its object is the prevention and cure of disease. Next to the health of a man's soul is the health of his body. Without this enjoyment and usefulness is impaired and suffering brought on society in general. A great many men have and are engaged in it, and no class is more worthy of our respect. Witness their gratuitous attention to the poor and at hospitals, their remonstrances against the evils which infest the community.

I. ILLUSTRATE THE SENTIMENT IN THE CHARACTER OF LUKE. He was a native of Antioch in Syria, where he probably studied at its famous university. Some say that he was a pupil of Galen, but the dates .seem to disprove this.

1. His practice as a physician is not stated, whether large or small, but "the beloved physician" implies much to Paul and perhaps many others. He was beloved —

(1) As a physician. How valuable to Paul to have a companion who understood medicine! How often did he require attention through stripes, bruises, ill-health, and exhausted energies.

(2) As a friend. A man whose mind was cultivated by science and who could write those elegant dedications to Theophilus, and the books of which they are the prefaces, must have been very congenial to a mind like Paul's.

(3) As a helper. The healing art has been always a powerful help to the gospel. The physician can get a word in where the clergyman cannot.

2. Note the importance of religion to him as a physician.

(1) It gave him a decided character. He chose to leave his residence and practice to travel, not for pleasure or in the interests of science, but with a persecuted missionary to propagate the gospel We are not all called to follow this example, but it shows how piety enables a man to prize real excellence, choose and do the greatest good, and not to be ashamed of God when it is fashionable to deny Him.

(2) It made him useful. He, like his Master, was cast among the diseased. Miracles were not always necessary, hence Christ was sparing of them. He that cures the body does well; he that cures the soul does better; he that cures both does best. The name of Luke the "beloved physician" is admired, but Luke the evangelist all nations shall bless.

II. PROVE THE SENTIMENT IS RESPECT TO YOURSELVES. Religion is important.

1. To prepare you for study. You of all men require a peaceful, not a torturing, conscience; a mind at rest, not driven to and fro with the speculations of every religious adventurer. The religion of Christ gives this.

2. To accompany scientific investigations. You have to study the noblest work of God. That religion accelerates this study is proved by David (Psalm 139.) and Solomon (Ecclesiastes 12.). Here is a knowledge of anatomy in its most beauteous form. How can you investigate this without right views of God? Wisdom, power, and goodness display themselves in every exhibition of the human body. And that science should lead to materialism is astounding.

3. To aid usefulness in practice. Patients are often dependent for their recovery on the state of their mind. Disease is aggravated by anxiety, murmuring, and irreligious views of God. If without the formality of a clerical visit you can soothe the mind and drop into it a Divine promise, how vastly your usefulness will be augmented. And besides, there will be cases which no medicine can reach. What will you do then if you are not qualified by religion to be a physician for the mind?

4. To exalt the character. The man who reverences God and promotes the highest interests of others may be sneered at by infidels and profligates, and perhaps looked down upon by other members of his profession; but ask the public what they think of such a man. But, better still, such a man will stand well in the estimation of God.

5. To promote your own happiness.

(J. Sherman.)

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KJV: Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.

WEB: Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you.