"His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." -Acts iii. 16.

"If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shali ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

"Herein is My Father glorified that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples."— John xv. 7, 8,

London:

ELLIOT STOCK AND HAUGHTON & CO.,

PATERNOSTER ROW, E C.

PREFACE.

FAITH HEALING NO NEW DOCTRINE.

WHENEVER any doctrine new to men of any one generation is proclaimed, or any event previously unknown to the people then living, such doctrine is often regretted and described as a heresy unknown in the Church and world in past ages. The main argument of a very distinguished American Theologian against the doctrine of Faith Healing is that it is an innovation upon the established faith of all the Churches. On the other hand, a disbelief of that doctrine is, in fact, a modern innovation upon the faith of the Churches. That is from the apostolic era down to a few centuries past. "The gift of healing," says the great commentator Bengel," seems to have been given by God that it might always remain in the Church as a specimen of other gifts. O, happy simplicity, interrupted or lost only through unbelief." Disbelief in such healing is an error of a few centuries past, an error, which, as Bengel truly states, had its origin in "unbelief." It will interest the reader to know what the most celebrated writers in the

past apostolic Church say upon the subject. "Numberless demoniacs," says Justin Martyn, "through the whole range in your city (Rome). Many of our Christian men, exorcising them in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, have healed, and do heal, though they could not be cured by those who used incantations and drugs."

"Wherefore also," says Irennæus "who are in the truth, the disciples, receiving grace from Him (Christ), do in His name perform miracles, so as to promote the welfare of others according to the gift which each has received from Him. Others heal the sick by laying hands upon them and they are made whole."

"Many men of rank," says Tertullian, "to say nothing of the common people, have been delivered from devils, and healed of diseases."

"We have seen many persons," says Origen, "freed from grievous calamities, and from distractions of mind and madness, and countless other ills, which could not be cured, whether by men or devils."

"Let them, therefore," says Clement, "with fasting and prayer, make their intercession, as men who have received the gift of healing, confidently, to the glory of God."

Mosheim, as the result of his historical inquiries, says that the gift of healing had not ceased in churches in the fourteenth century.

One of the articles of faith of the Waldensians, contains this paragraph: "We profess that anointing, performed according to the apostolic design, will be healing and profitable."

"We" (the Moravians), says Zinzendorf, "have undeniable proofs of the healing of maladies in themselves incurable, such as cancers and consumption, when the patient was in the agonies of death, all by means of prayer, or of a single word."

Martin Luther not only believed in the doctrine of Faith Healing, but was himself a faith healer, as in the case of Melancthon and Myconius, who wrote thus of himself: "Raised up (from the last stage of consumption), in the year 1541, by the mandates, prayers, and letters of the Reverend Father Luther, from death."

Very many cases are certified to by the Scotch covenanters, under Kirk, Knox," Wishart, Livingstone, Robert Bruce, and others. Of Robert Bruce we have this record: "Persons distracted, and those who were past recovery from sickness, were brought to him, and were, after prayer by him on their behalf, restored from their malady."

"How many times," says Richard Baxter, "have I known the prayer of faith to save the sick when all physicians have given them up as dead. It has been my case more than once, or twice, when means have failed and the highest art of reason has sentenced me hopeless. Yet have I been relieved by the prevalency of fervent prayer."

The view of Bengel I have given above. Archbishop Tillotson believed that miracles would be manifested in case of any attempt to evangelise heathen nations.

The records of the early Methodists not only evince the fact that such healing was believed in by Wesley and his coadjutors, but, as one of the distinguished United States Methodist writers testifies, is rich with displays of faith and power of God in this particular.

Thus the statement of Bengel is fully verified, that this is no new doctrine, but one lost in the Church through unbelief.

ASA MAHAN.

WHOLENESS, OR HOLINESS AND HEALTH.

I.-LAW OF HOLINESS AND HEALING.

WHOLENESS or sanctification of body, soul, and spirit. What is it? Our Lord uses the word, whole to express the healed condition of body and soul.

Thus: "Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole" (Matt. ix. 22; Luke viii. 48). To Bartimeus also He said, "Thy faith hath made thee whole" (Luke xvii. 19); and to the cleansed Leper, "Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole " (Luke xviii. 42). To the blind man, "Receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. To the palsied man, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee, then take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house" (Mark ii. 5-11).

Proving that healing body and soul are included under the expression "made whole."..

It is evident also, that Peter uses the same idea: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk" (Acts iii. 6).

Thus our Lord shows the intimate relation that exists between sin and sickness, it were hardly necessary to show this, seeing that sin, and necessarily so, is the cause of all evil, were it not that there are people who recognise their general connection, but who entirely misunderstand the principle involved.

Thus the question to our Lord, "Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" supposes that sickness was a judgment for some special sin, but it was not so, others think that sickness is sanctifying, and that, therefore, its removal should not be sought. All suffering is the result of active sin, or of a want of conformity to the law of love, and is intended to be remedial, not punitive. Where there is this want of conformity, if there was no remonstrance on the part of God, there would be more or less sanction: therefore, all suffering is in love, to warn us either that we are not in the narrow way that leadeth to life, or that we do not enjoy that "more abundant life," in which consists full salvation.

There are those who argue that this view cannot be correct, "For," say they," see how many real Christians there are who have been suffering all their lives"; but however so many they be, they are as nothing when compared with the impenitent masses who are suffering, one way or another, from famines, pestilences, wars, and sickness, with all the ills that flesh is heir to.

But apart from these, those who look deeper into the cause of Christians suffering in every age, perceive that it arises from some want of conformity to the divine law of love, which they persistently refuse to be conformed to, though it is infinitely righteous, and for their highest good that they should comply with God's demand. The language is, "Come up higher," and instead of answering to this invitation they submit to the chastisement, and retain their independent wills, less excusable in them than in the multitudes, because they are better taught; and having enjoyed the divine favour, and proved the divine faithfulness, they