# Signs and Wonders God Wrought in the Ministry for Forty Years/Chapter 42

Autobiography of an American healing evangelist
CHAPTER XLII
WOODWORTH-ETTER MEETING AT MONTWAIT,
MASS., AUGUST, 1913
The meetings at Montwait, Mass., were held at the great Coliseum, on the chautauqua grounds. It was said to be the greatest battle agains sin and science (so-called) ever fought in the State, but Jesus was victor. That whole part of the country was stirred for or against religion. All the noted papers in Boston, twenty miles distant, sent reporters to write us up and to take our pictures and photos of those who were slain under the power of God, and of the crowd of seekers at the altar. They also wrote up the work in a general way. They wrote it up straight, so that the people all over, in the different States, heard of the great revival at Montwait.
We had a sunrise meeting; one at seven; one at nine and two in the afternoon, and at seven in the evening. Thousands attended the meetings. The miracles were as great as in the days of Christ and the apostles The fear of God came on the people, as they saw the sick carried in, dying on beds, rise up, and shout praises to God and walk and run. They saw them leap and dance. Many fell and lay like dead men and women.
One morning, as I left the meeting, I counted the slain of the Lord. There were fifty-eight men and women lying around like a great battlefield. As I walked out men and women were lying nearly at the edge of the entrance of the pavilion or building. The whole place seemed like holy ground.
Persecution and Arrest Follows
Through our arrest at Montwait, all the New England people were stirred up about the Apostolic meetings; many calls came to us from the largest cities, they offered us the largest theatre in Boston, said they were hungry to know more of this faith and power. Hundreds were saved and filled with the Holy Ghost at the same time, when hands were laid on and they were prayed for. The glory of the Lord was so marvelous, they were ​prostrated, many laid for hours under the power. Some had visions and revelations, and many came through speaking in tongues and interpreting.
Some rose from the chair after being prayed for, shouting, praising God and speaking in a new tongue. Brother Otis stood nobly by, and conducted a Sunrise prayer meeting every morning. The presence of the Lord was seen and felt in a marvelous way. At the close of the Prayer Meeting on Mount Pisgah, the people gathered in the large tablernacle at 9:00 A. M. for another prayer meeting at 10:00 o’clock I took charge.
The heavenly choir was manifested many times and it was most glorious. There was not a discord or contention in the whole month’s meetings. We must “see eye to eye” before the Lord brings in Zion, before the manifestations of the Sons of God. Thus God is doing His strong work convincing the people, that we are in the last days by pouring out His Spirit just before the notable day—the Second Coming of the Lord.
Notable Healings
A young man was brought to the altar all drawn out of shape, twisting and jerking like a snake. It took four men to hold him, for he had been in this condition all his life. In less than a half hour from the time he was prayed for he was standing straight with both hands up, clothed and in his right mind.
A woman from Boston was carried to the platform on a cot, she was more dead than alive. She was soon walking and praising the Lord for His wonderful healing power and the blessing she had received in her soul. She ate a hearty dinner and was on the platform to testify to her healing in the afternoon.
MONTWAIT MEETING
(From The “Christian Worker”)
Large numbers of people have been healed during the month of August, also very many have received the baptism. People received the baptism in some cases, while being prayed for in the chair, for healing, and spoke in other tongues. Some fell under the power before reaching the chair. Many were healed of nervous troubles. Eyes were healed. One testified to never having been able to tell one person from another, on the platform, but now can see each face clearly. ​The cook was cooked in the cook room one day; in other words he was terribly burned on the arm and face, the result of pouring oil on the fire. He was prayed for and healed so that the pain was taken right away and he was able to go right into the kitchen and work over the hot stove.
Miscellaneous
A sister came to Montwait on money she had saved for funeral expenses, but God healed her and she proved a lively corpse.
A young woman who had been afflicted from a child, and when she came here had not been out of bed in seventeen weeks. was perfectly healed.
A sister was healed of a tumor which kept growing smaller and smaller every day.
On one Sunday, seven little girls were under the power for a long time and several came through speaking in tongues. One of them prophesied at length, the burden of her message being, “Jesus is coming soon; get ready, get ready, get ready!” She had a vision of Jesus, and saw Him coming on a cloud and saw those who were left. The Spirit said through her, “It is too late, too late, you can’t go; you can’t go!”
One sister looked out at midnight and saw two balls of fire in the auditorium, going back and forth. This continued a long time. Other supernatural sights were seen at different times.
Some of the saints from the West and South have made sacrifices to get to this meeting. One brother and his wife pawned his watch to get here.
We have been having Sunrise prayer meetings since June, at Mount Pisgah, with blessed results. Some have received the baptism of the Holy Ghost in these early meetings, among whom is a preacher from Boston.
DIVINE HEALING A SIGN OF THE LORD’S COMING
Elizabeth Sisson
Among the many signs so rapidly fulfilling and heralding the coming of the Lord, none is more conspicuous than the increase of supernatural, physical healing among God’s people. About ​twenty-four hundred years ago, Jehovah, by the mouth of Malachi, uttered the promise, “Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness rise with healing in His wings (or Heb. beams); and ye shall go forth, and grow as calves of the stall.” (Mals. 4:2.)
A measurable fulfillment of the prophecy was recognized in the life and work of Jesus on earth where healing virtue flowed from him on every side. As Zacharias filled with the Holy Ghost, said, “The sun-rising from on high hath visited us.” (Luke 1:78 margin). But there are successive fulfillments in God’s prophetic utterances, and the full fulfillment of this word was to be in connection with “The day cometh that shall burn as an oven; when all the proud and the wicked shall be stubble.” (Mal. 4:1.)
Thus the sunrising of our blessed Jesus in Divine Healing as heralding His return began markedly about forty years ago in the days of Dorethea Truedel, in Germany, and afterwards Dr. Cullis and others in the United States, England, etc.
We know sunrise has several stages, or there is a progression from the daybreak to the full effulgency of the body of the sun. The coming sun first breaks the midnight darkness, but as it pushes on its way its bright beams herald its coming with more and more powerful radiance until the sun itself appears; exactly so has been the history of the return to the earth of our blessed Lord.
The healing beams of this blessed Sun of Righteousness have not this time been confined to the little land of Palestine, but they have extended to every part of the known earth. The islands of the sea, Philippines, Sandwich, etc., as far as the light has penetrated through missionaries in Africa, India, Russia, China, Japan, Corea South America, etc.
Even the dead here and there are brought back to life through faith in His name. Fuller and fuller has become the outworking of this prophecy as Jesus’ approach draws still nearer, till we shave seen it in altogether a new way of late in Long Hill camp, Chicago revival, and now in Montwait. Wholesale healings on every side, under the. drenching power of the spiritual presence of the Lord Jesus!
Along with these powerful healings, comes the further fulfillment, “Ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall,” or ​as the Hebrew has been more closely rendered, “Ye shall leap and dance as young calves.” (Malachi 4:2.)
Perhaps all who read this article have seen the joy of life in the young calf. Almost instantly they are dropped, they begin to move, and presently to leap and -bound with the exuberance of life. Similarly the resurrection life of their Lord is now taking possession of His people, as the healing beams of the coming Sun touch them. They leap and dance on the platform and in worship and adoration in the exuberance of His life coursing through their veins, yes, through their whole beings! Surely with the healing beams coming so powerfully upon His people, we must know that the body of this sun of righteousness will soon appear!
As first, Judah and then Israel with one consent, drew together to make David King, so now King David’s greatest Son is being drawn unto by hungry people who are seeking in their hearts to make Jesus King, and to one another they are “speaking the words of bringing back the King,” and oh! beloved, even now He is riding in, in power upon the chariots of His willing hearted people, for theirs is a Spiritual form of the second coming which precedes the open, literal coming.
One slain under the power of the Holy Ghost, lying on the floor, saw a bright path into the opened heaven, and riding down upon that glory pathway, came her adorable Lord, where to her astonishment a bright shining company drew to Him. He went right into that circle and was seen no more in person, they absorbing Him and His. Unutterable radiancy began to shine forth through them, His life, His preaching, His acts, radiating from that glorious company, and she was made to know that “He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe,” before He comes for that radiant company.
“PERSECUTION”
Apostolic faith, producing results such as the healing of the sick and other demonstrations of God’s mighty power, naturally results in Apostolic persecutions.
On August 18, 1913, Mrs. M. B. W. Etter and her co-laborers Earl W. Clark and Cyrus B. Fockler were arrested and hailed before the police court of Framingham, Mass., for obtaining money under false pretences. This arrest resulted in a trial which ​lasted for four days, during which about thirty-five witnesses clearly testified of their remarkable healings, etc., and to the falsity of the charges in the complaint. At this date, August 29th, the case was closed before the judge, who has taken until next Tuesday, September 2nd, to give his decision. Being confident in our God of perfect victory, we rejoice in this privilege of suffering some shame for Jesus’ sake.
(Signed) Mrs. M. B. Woodsworth-Etter Mrs. M. B. WoodswortH-Etter, Earl W. CLark, Cyrus B. Fockler
TESTIMONY OF MRS. M. B. WOODWORTH-ETTER, GIVEN ON WITNESS STAND
* Q. Where were you born?
* A. New Lisbon, Ohio.
* Q. Your age?
* A. 69 last July.
* Q. When did you begin your ministry?
* A. About 35 years ago.
* Q. Previous to that time?
* A. At home with my family.
* Q. What did your family consist of?
* A. Husband and six children. My first husband and all the children except the oldest are dead.
* Q. What was the occasion of your beginning to preach the gospel? (Objection raised by the Prosecuting Attorney.) Permission finally given by the judge to proceed, and Sister Etter gave a brief outline of God’s dealings with her, from the time of her conversion, at the age of thirteen down to the present time; with the description of many different meetings held.
* Questions were then asked by Attorney Nash as follows:
* Q. In what cities and towns have you held meetings?
* A. I could not begin to remember: Louisville, Springfield, St. Louis, Cleveland, Oakland, Los Angeles, Memphis, Dallas and Chicago.
* Q. About how many years?
* A. About 35.
* Q. Do you remember the first occasion when any of the prostrations occurred?
* A. Yes, in the first meeting after we went West.
* Q. How long ago?
* A. About 32 years.
* Q. Have these continued to occur since that time?
* A. Yes, the power has been always displayed.
* Q. The power has fallen upon the people?
* A. Yes.
* Q. Do you remember as to the number?
* A. In large meetings like St. Louis, where we were five months, thousands. People said there were hundreds struck down outside—hundreds I never saw; they were struck down fifty and a hundred miles away.
* Q. How did you know this?
* A. Through their own testimony and that of their friends.
* Q. Have you seen people fall under the power of God?
* A. Yes, I have seen them struck down as if by lightning.
* Q. Have you ever studied hypnotism?
* A. No.
* Q. Have you ever practiced it?
* A. No.
* Q. Have you ever seen it practiced?
* A. I never have.
* Q. Tell us what you know about it?
* A. On account of the power in the meetings, hypnotists have come in to investigate. They investigated me when I lay under the power seven hours. Hypnotists have been in the meetings for days, sometimes, when I did not know it, and they have investigated people. Many of them have been honest enough to come to me in private, and also in public, and say the power was altogether different from hypnotic power; and some said, “If there is a God, this is of God.”
* Q. Is there any difference between the meetings at Montwait and other meetings you have held?
* A. Since I have been with the Pentecostal people, there has been more of a noisy exhibition in praising the Lord than when I was alone. I tell them to lift up Holy hands; I say, “Do you know you are a child of God?” I ask, “Do you know you have been healed of one or more diseases by the Lord Jesus Christ?”
* I have always done that. In Chicago, a minister from Canada requested everyone to clap their hands together and make a joyful noise. It was Scriptural and I allowed it. The only thing we could do the night the mob came was to stand up, clap our hands, and shout to the Lord.
* Q. Have you heard any one say you were able to cure cancer?
* A. Never, but they charged that against me in this place.
* Q. Have you yourself ever said, “I have healed”?
* A. No, God forbid.
* Q. Have you ever said you had any special power?
* A. No, I have not.
* Q. Do you believe any one has been healed by you?
* A. No, nor saved.
* Q. Do you believe people who ae asked for healing in the meeting have been led to do so by observation or by testimony?
* A. I should say they had—thousands of them.
* Q. You published a book?
* A. Yes.
* Q. When did you publish your first volume?
* A. I think I had not been in the West more than a year, I had been ill and was healed, and I published this little book telling about this. I did not preach healing, but I said I had been healed and I believe God could heal.
* Q. When was the first testimony given by any one who claimed that, through Christ, he had been healed at your meetings?
* A. Several came and they said some way God helped them, I did not know anything about it; only when I started West.
* Q. Since that time have you prayed with people? And they have. given testimony that they have been healed?
* A. Yes.
* Q. Can you give a particular case?
* A. Doctor Dagget, near Kokomo, Indiana, is the first man I remember of laying hands on.
* Q. How long ago?
* A. When I first went West.
* Q. Have you held meetings at Montwait during August?
* A. Yes.
* Q. Similar to the ones you have held formally?
* A. In many ways.
* Q. Have Mr. Clark and Mr. Fockler been with you before Montwait?
* A. Mr. Clark only met me at Chicago and came with me.
* Q. Who was with you at Long Hill?
* A. Ministers of different denominations.
* Q: Did you have any particular assistance?
* A. Only myself and husband and a man and his wife, who cared for my husband.
* Q. Where is your husband?
* A. He is at Montwait.
* Q. He has not been here?
* A. No, but he would be glad to be here.
Cross-questioning by the Prosecuting Attorney:
* Q. You have held meetings in a great many cities?
* A. Some of the largest in the country.
* Q. At St Louis?
* A. A number of times; once for five months.
* Q. At Los Angeles?
* A. Yes.
* Q. At these meetings scoffers, skeptics, and others who came and created disturbance were converted?
* A. Yes.
* Q. Have you had disturbance by the outside element in other meetings?
* A. A little, but always had protection, and it was stopped right away.
* Q. In St. Louis?
* A. For a little while.
* Q. In Ohio?
* A. No.
* Q. Nothing with the authorities?
* A. Not that I remember; a little in St. Louis, at first. That was not in connection with the method of carrying on the meetings.
* Q. Los Angeles?
* A. A little from the outside element, but nothing from the meeting.
* Q. If you have had trouble before, the experience at Montwait is nothing new?
* A. Yes, we never had rotten eggs before nor never were arrested.
* Q. While you are conducting meetings, the outside element makes the trouble?
* A. Yes.
* Q. Was it necessary to call the police at Los Angeles?
* A. No.
* Q. Did you shorten your time?
* A. No.
* Q. Have you the correspondence that passed between you and Mr. Otis in regard to your coming here?
* A. I have not, my husband did what was done.
* Q. Have you that?
* A. No.
* Q. Is that correspondence in your husband’s possession?
* A. We never kept copies except it be of typewritten letters; these were by hand.
* Q. The rest of the arrangements were verbal?
* A. Yes.
* Q. At Long Hill?
* A. Yes.
* Q. Have you the card given in by the man treated for some skin disease; rumor said he had been cured?
* A. I have not a single card myself.
* Q. You remember the case to which I refer?
* A. Yes.
* Q. What did it say on the card?
* A. I never looked at that.
* Q. What, if anything did he say to you?
* A. As nearly as I can remember, it was a boil; he had some skin disease; I do not think the boy said anything; I don’t know who brought him; I noticed he had a very dark complexion, but no breaking out on his face. His hands had been broken out;
* looked like blood poison. I prayed for him.
* Q. You prayed for him?
* A. And asked God to rebuke the disease and heal him in Jesus’ Name.
* Q. Did he become prostrate?
* A. No.
* Q. Did he go from the platform himself?
* A. Yes, with his friends.
* Q. Did you make any announcements to the public?
* A. I think I said he had a skin disease, something like leprosy, I did not say it was, afterwards I found out they said it was a syphilitic case. People knew, where they lived. Then I corrected it.
* Q. Your statement was, the boy had been treated and healed?
* A. I believe he would get well of that disease.
* Q. It was told you by the boy, or those with him, that he had leprosy?
* A. They did not say so.
* Q. Had you seen him before?
* A. Never, nor afterward.
* Q. Did you make an examination?
* A. Never.
* Q. Have you made any inquiry about what it said on the card?
* A. I do not think we have the card.
* Q. Regarding the woman who had a hemorrhage?
A. One Sabbath morning, when there was a large congregation, they told me a woman was dying or dead. I went back and when I saw her, I thought she was dead. I had never seen her before. Some one said she had had a hemorrhage. I prayed for her and asked her to open her eyes. The hemorrhage had stopped and she wanted to be brought up in front. I wanted her to leave the meeting, but people do not always do what I say. They laid her in the straw, and I went on with the meeting. I heard her moaning, and I went down and told them to take her out and call a doctor, but they did not. The second time I told them they must.
The day they arrested me and the Chief came in and asked for me, she heard him and the fright started the hemorrhage, I went away and when I came back, they told me she was nearly dead. I went in; sent for a physician. Someone went out and met Mr. Otis and he came in and I said I had sent for the doctor. In a few minutes he came. Now, she is out and around.
She is in the same house with me and I see her nearly every day. She was never prayed for on the platform.
* Q. You said you had never had any trouble with the authorities?
* A. Never arrested until here.
TESTIMONIES UNDER OATH.
(Editorial from “Word And Witness.”)
Malvern, Ark., Oct. 20, 1913.
Some doubting Thomases have claimed that testimonies to Modern Divine Healing are not genuine, but forged by advocates of Divine Healing. During the month of August, 1913, at Montwait, South Framingham, Mass., Mrs. M. B. Woodworth-Etter, C. B. Fockler and Earl W. Clark were arrested and brought into court before Judge Kingbury on the ground that the healings claimed in their meetings were real healings, and that therefore to receive public collections to continue such ministries defrauded the public, and was obtaining money under false pretense. Hence it was up to these three defendants to prove in open court with the chief of police, the prosecuting attorney and three doctors and two preachers opposing them, that beyond all dispute, people were being healed of bodily diseases by the Lord in these meetings, or be convicted and go to the penitentiary as defrauders.
On August 27, they began to put witnesses on the stand. Bear in mind that every person was under oath, and would have been prosecuted for perjury if they had sworn falsely. You will find these testimonies in the daily papers. The Framingham Evening News, August 27 to 29, the Boston dailies and others of the same date. They are given as given to reporters in the court.
Miss S. C. Eaton
Miss Eaton of Bloomfield, N. J., was the first witness called by Attorney Nash. She testified that for sixteen years she had served in the missionary field in India, and there were meetings similar to those at Montwait all over the world. She has known Mrs. Etter for two years and has always heard her give God the glory for the healings.
She characterized the physical healings at Montwait as a fresh anointing of the flesh from God. She had seen (with her own eyes) many healings and prostrations elsewhere, she meant a state of mind which was not unconscious.
Mrs. L. N. Harris
Mrs. L. N. Harris, of Atlanta, Ga., said she had attended most of the meetings, that she was one of the Pentecostal ​people, and had been in attendance for six. years. When she approached the platform at Montwait, she was prayed for. She was afflicted with rheumatism and a blind eye, caused by spinal meningitis twenty years ago. “When I came to, the dead nerve began to jump, and the dead nerve was healed, and my rheumatism was gone. I feel now like a sixteen-year-old girl. I knew all that was going on while I was stretched on the platform. I never heard the defendants claim credit for curing. If I had heard such a thing, I would have been home in Atlanta, Ga.”
Mrs. Florence Johnson
Mrs. Florence Johnson of Chelsea, Mass., was the next witness called. She has for four years been a member of the Pentecostal people, and has attended meetings in Boston. She said, “Brother Earl Clark rebuked the devil, and my knee, that I could not use for years was made well. I have never heard these people claim to cure; they say God can heal. I had a little girl eight years old instantly healed of bronchial and nervous troubles.” The little girl herself then stood up and praised God she was healed.
Lillie Walker
Lillie Walker, an Evangelist of Chelsea, Mass., said, “I saw a vision, the hand of God bleeding and the blood running down on me. I saw the skeleton of death. I have been healed of catarrh and weak eyes. I was put under the power. I was not unconscious.”
Mrs. Elizabeth A. Davis
Mrs. Elizabeth A. Davis, of St. Thomas, Ont., Gordan testified: “I suffered from neuralgia and ulcerated tooth, and the Lord, through Mrs. Etter, instantly healed me.”
Ethel Lewis
Ethel Lewis, of Petersburg, N. Y., testified, on being prayed for she had felt none of the feelings others had testified to, “but I received spiritual and physical healing, by the laying on of hands. A weak lung was cured. I know it because I’m a trained
Mary Etta Thomas
Mary Thomas, for thirty years a resident of Montwait, is not a member of the Pentecostal rank, but felt these people are doing a good work. “This arm I have not raised for twenty years. Since the coming of these people I can now raise my arm as high (raising her arm high up to illustrate) as this.”
Mrs. Eva Dagget
She testified: “I have been in a bad condition. Broken down for five years. I had been to three physicians. I had neuritis and valvular heart trouble, and my husband had to turn me off my back in bed at nights. I have been perfectly healed at Montwait.”
The above and many more can be found in the Evening News, of August 28th. We now give a few from The Boston Herald of August 27, of the sworn testimonies to Divine healing. After hearing more than a dozen witnesses testify that they had been miraculously cured of long standing ills through the laying on of hands of the Pentecostal desciples, Judge Kingsbury continued the trial until tomorrow.
BAPTIST PASTOR’S WIFE
Mrs. Frederick A. Peck
Mrs. Peck, whose husband is pastor of the Baptist Church at Petersburg, N. Y., testified that she had been cured of an illness of seventeen years standing, as a result of attending the Montwait meetings. She said she had never heard any of the defendants ask for money in exchange for cures.
Was Physical Wreck
Mrs. Carrie F. Craigan, of 563 Chestnut Street, Lynn, Mass., testified: “I have been in Evangelistic work many years, and have been cured at Montwait of heart trouble, tumors, rheumatism, kidney and bladder trouble. I was a physical wreck when
Director of Bank
Robert G. Lake, of New York City, says: “I am an undertaker, director of the First National Bank in my home city, and have been a member of the Methodist church for the past twenty-eight years. I have been a mental sufferer for the past three months. My wife and I came to Montwait out of curiosity, and I have been wonderfully cured of mental depression, and my wife has been relieved of a physical ailment of twenty years standing. For twenty years she suffered from varicose veins and had to wear an elastic stocking, but now I believe she has been miraculously healed by God since coming to Montwait. If this is hypnotism I would like to be hypnotized all my life. I would be a coward not to stand up and say what God has done in my case.” He added: “My mental state was such that my heart-broken wife thought I had ceased to love her and was about to separate from me, yet the sky above seemed of hard brass and I could get no help until I came to Montwait.”
Many unimpeachable testimonies were given for which we have no space; but these ought to satisfy any fair-minded inquirer that God is healing people today, and that their testimonies are genuine beyond all doubt. They satisfied Judge Kingsbury, for on September 2, 1913, in district court, he found the defendants not guilty and dismissed the case. The silly claims of unbelievers that people were not healed were disproved by scores of living witnesses under oath and forever set to rest.
WONDERFUL HEALING
(Copied from “Word and Work.”)
Testimony of Miss Jessie Van Dusen of Knoxville, Pa., Tiago County, given in the tabernacle during C. B. Fockler’s address, Sunday evening, August 24th, 1913.
I am glad to testify tonight to the healing power of Jesus. Three years ago I was injured in an accident, and from that time I had serious attacks of pain in my back and/stomach. About two years ago they became more frequent, so I had to go to bed, and then to the hospital.
A year and a half ago I was taken to another hospital; doctors operated and operated and tried to find where the trouble ​was, but I was taken home in a few weeks in the same condition. About a year ago in the hospital in Philadelphia, I asked the doctor if I ever would be strong again. He did not give me any encouragement, and I was in bed almost all winter; could not see any one and suffered intense agony in my back. In March, the pressure went into my hip, and the hip would not work; I would fall to the ground. Then it went to the ankle and I could not use my foot. I was terribly ill; had two doctors, but they said they could not do anything at all. I was taken to the University Hospital in Philadelphia, but the doctor would not operate on account of my weak heart: They fixed up an iron brace for me which came around the hip and up the back and told me if I got stronger they would operate; but said they could do nothing to relieve me of pain.
I was given morphine, and this was worse than the pain. I said I would rather stand the pain than the after-effects of the drug. When I went home from the University Hospital, the middle of May, it was the last time I was out of the house. I could walk a little on the level, but could not step down or up.
During these eighteen weeks I gradually grew worse; my spine, then my head. Sometimes I was delirious, did not know my own people or the family physician. The agony of that time can only be known to one who has gone through it. I was blistered at the base of my brain to give me a little relief. About two weeks ago some one brought Sister Etter’s book to the house. I knew God, and I said, “If He can heal others, why not me?” I looked up to God and said, “If you want me to go to Montwait, you will have to give me the means,” as I had used all my money on doctors and hospitals. The sister who brought the book, told me the Pentecostal people wanted to pay my expenses if I could go. My sisters did not believe this way, but were willing to have me come here; they had done everything they could and I was growing worse every day. I was afraid to ask the physician if I could go three or four hundred miles, but I asked him if I could go six miles to a friend. He finally said if I had a strong hyperdermic before I started, perhaps I could go. He said he would come and give it, but he did not come, and I started without it.
I went six miles the first day. The next place I was very bad, and a physician was called but we started the next morning by ​faith in God, and came on to Geneva. I had another attack; at Syracuse a week ago, I was unconscious, and did not realize anything for a long time. At the station they called a trained nurse and a physician and he said the only way I could go on was to get a cot and be carried on that. I arrived at South Framingham, Saturday, but was too sick to be brought to Montwait. I had got my eyes off God and on my feelings. Some of the party came here to Montwait and when they told me how God was working, it gave me new life, and I said, “I will go this afternoon.”
I was brought in an automobile and carried to the platform in a chair. I had not been able to stand any noise or talking for fifteen months, but I was not a bit frightened, I wanted Jesus to heal me and I wanted Him. As I sat in the chair, almost before hands were laid on me for healing, the power came all through me, and I was laid out by the mighty power of God and he talked to me. He let me see the cross of Jesus and the blood shed on Calvary, and I knew it was for my body as well as my soul. He told me I was every whit whole. In So. Framingham, I stayed at the Standish hotel, and Mrs. Gold said to me, “If you go there and are healed, I shall know it is of God.” I have been back there, walked to the train, to the hotel and upstairs. I am healed, and without money and without price. I never had any conversation with Sister Etter, never shook hands with her, never paid her a dollar.
CONVINCED
I came to Montwait as Miss Jesse Van Dusan’s nurse, having prejudice against the Pentecostal people. It never occurred to me that I would be affected in the least by the meetings, because I thought I was already established in the Lord, and that the Pentecostal people were in error. I went to the meeting Saturday afternoon, and became so stirred up that I left. In the night service, during the singing by the heavenly choir, I was convinced that it was of God. I became so anxious to have Miss Van Dusan healed, that I promised her that I would seek more of God, if she would go for healing. After I saw that she was healed, I felt I must keep my promise. Although I always wanted God to manifest Himself through me, in a very quiet way, after I yielded myself to Him, His power came upon me, and I lay under it for ​an hour. The preciousness of that hour can never be fully explained. I do praise God for taking out all prejudice and making me willing to let Him have His way.
Florence Olive Cargill, Knoxville, Pa.
TESTIMONY OF DR. HANNAH B. MULFORD, AS GIVEN ON THE WITNESS STAND
(From “Word and Work.”)
Dr. Mulford said, “I have practiced in Cleveland, Philadelphia, and as a missionary in India, going out independently as a medical missionary. I came in touch with the Pentecostal people while in India and became a believer in their work.
I came to Montwait because I wanted to attend a Pentecostal Camp-meeting. I have observed what has taken place on the platform, and I should say there was no hypnotism practiced on the platform; my reason for so thinking is that the people were not in the condition hypnotised persons would be. I was on the platform, in the chair. I was told by some one, I do not know who, that I must praise the Lord for all He had done and all He would do; then two or three persons laid hands on my head and shoulders, I do not recall the words that were said. Before I went on the platform I was suffering much, indeed; afterwards, when I went home I was entirely healed, spiritually, mentally and physically.
(Knew this doctor quite well at Rochester, New York State; 1915.—Elder A. E. Siprorp.)
ADELIA ROBINSON
I went to Montwait to be healed of a very bad cancer in my face. The doctors said there was no hope for me. Now I am healed, for Jesus has healed me. All praise and glory to His name.
Adelia Robinson
Brentwood, N. H.
Healed of Ulceration and Neuralgia
I suffered from ulceration and neuralgia in the right side of my face and around the right eye for a long time. The first time I was administered to in the Etter meetings at Montwait there seemed to be only partial, if any deliverance in the feeling. The second time, I crossed the word “ailments” on the card and wrote, “I desire the baptism of the Holy Ghost more than anything else.”
When ministered to, one of the brothers asked, “What ailment?” I replied, “Strike that out. I desire the baptism of the Holy Ghost with all it involves, more than anything beside.” They prayed, and among other petitions I remember this: “Lord, rebuke every weakness in this woman’s body.” Since then the right side of the face and right eye have been free, and better still, I have the assurance of faith that the baptism in the Holy Ghost and fire is mine. Praise the Lord! He is faithful who hath promised. Glory to His Name.
Lucy D. Harrington.
TESTIMONIES UNDER OATH
(From “The Bridegroom Messenger.”)
Satan, the enemy of Jesus Christ, and His power, surely over reached himself when he caused the chief of police of South Framingham, Mass., to issue warrants for the arrest of Mrs. M. B. Woodworth-Etter and her co-laborers, Cyrus B. Fockler and Earl W. Clark for obtaining money under false pretense. The Prosecuting Attorney stating, “That the whole trend of the complaint was the pretense of these parties affecting cures” of all kinds of sicknesses and diseases. This arrest gave a glorious opportunity to put upon the witness stand about thirty witnesses, who, under oath, told how they had been spiritually blessed and healed. These witnesses came from many walks of life.
Ministers, doctors, missionaries, nurses, school-teachers, a dramatist and a banker; old, middle aged and young, all told of the wonderful power of God; how it surged through their spirits and bodies when in the name of Jesus Christ hands were laid upon them, and the demons and diseases were rebuked, some falling prostrate under the power of God, others leaping and ​praising God in a loud voice. The purpose of this article, however, is not so much to speak about the court trial, and the victory that was won, by the judge deciding in favor of the defendants and against the chief of police and his fellows, as it is to bring before the readers, the fact that these people were healed, some being real miracles of healing.
One woman healed of cancer, and others who were pronounced hopeless by the physicians. These persons of their own volition, under oath, gave testimony to the same. Some criticisms and whisperings have been heard concerning the methods by which these blessed results are obtained, some also doubted concerning healings reported in these meetings. This perhaps is due to several causes, one being because some came more desirous to be healed than to worship God, often having in their hearts some hidden iniquity, which God sees and which hinders them from being healed, these, and their friends of course, give an adverse report.
WHY SOME GO BACK
Then there are occasionally some who testify to healing and soon afterwards, when tempted, backslide from their healing, just like many professing conversion, and others professing the baptism, backslide. Yet we do not hear such harsh criticism concerning the latter as we do the former; all ministers and workers continue to urge men to become converted and baptised in the Spirit and warn them against backsliding. Why not do the same in reference to the healing of the body? What is wrong with this method? Did not Jesus give us to understand that all this was likely to occur, when He said, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you?”
Then there may be here and there an isolated case of some enthusiast who declares he is healed and gives testimony to that effect, gladly offering to have it published, yet soon afterwards speaks of only having “taken it by faith.”
Concerning all such, and any other apparent failures of any kind, we express our deepest regrets, and would urge all who write, to be sure that the persons written about do not belong to any of the above classes. There are hundreds of perfect healings in these meetings, everywhere; persons like these “sworn ​witnesses" of Montwait, Mass., who would under oath testify to the mighty power of God that came upon them, when in the Name of Jesus Christ the evil spirit and disease were rebuked and hands laid on them, according to the command of Jesus.
And now a few words on the whisperings concerning the methods used in these meetings. Is it wrong to have a person for convenience sake come upon the platform because of the great throng around the altar? Is it wrong to ask them if their soul is right with God? Is it wrong to tell them to surrender themselves fully to Jesus, and to free Him to free them from all their diseases?
Is it wrong, like Peter and John, to fasten our eyes upon them and command them to look on us, and then in the Name of Jesus Christ command them to rise up and walk, taking them by the hand and helping them up? Is it wrong to say like Peter, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.”
Is it wrong like Paul to steadfastly look upon one and thereby perceive whether they have faith to be healed or not? Is it wrong to command in a loud voice for them to stand upright on their feet? Is it wrong to do as Paul did, coming to one possessed with a wrong spirit, and command it in the Name of Jesus Christ to come out of them? Is it wrong for the people to sing and unitedly praise God and be filled with great joy?
Is it wrong, like when Solomon dedicated the temple, to have a great crowd of priests (ministers) and many singers and instruments of music, all making one mighty sound of praise so that the whole house was filled with the glory of the Lord, so that the priest could not minister for the glory of the Lord, and all the people fell upon their faces on the ground?
And last, is it wrong to urge the person being ministered to, to act their faith, by telling them to clap their hands and praise the Lord? Nay, verily! nay! I believe there can only be one answer to all the above questions and that is, that it is not wrong but is right, and therefore, these methods are encouraging faith in God with the persons being ministered to, and to others desiring ministry.
If the methods employed in these meetings are wrong, then Solomon’s methods in the dedication of the temple were wrong and he himself a great deceiver. Then Peter and John and Paul were wrong in their methods, and Jesus also, for He told them ​to “Look up,” to “stretch forth their hand,” and many other ways encouraged them to act faith.
Nonsense! Why all this doubting and murmuring about methods and this power. They may not be according to some persons’ sedate methods, but God honors and blesses them, and hundreds are being saved and healed and baptized in the Holy Spirit in these meetings. Let all cease from murmuring lest we fall into the same manner of unbelief. “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.” (1st Cor. 10-10.)
Cyrus B. Fockler.
TESTIMONY OF FLORENCE JOHNSON
(Chelsea, Mass.)
Given on the Witness Stand
I have been connected with the Pentecostal movement for about four years. Previous to that I was a member of the Methodist Church. Have attended Pentecostal meetings in Boston. I have been on the platform at Montwait, and was healed there. Sister Etter asked for any one who wanted to be healed to come forward and I went up and sat in the chair. I had not been able to move my knee for over a year. Brother Clark rebuked the devil; they prayed; I prayed and praised God. I was laid out under the power; when I came out I could walk and haven’t had a bit of pain since. Yes, I have seen exhibitions of hypnotism when I was a young girl. I think I was put under hypnotic power and it was altogether different from this. They looked you right in the eye; here, I had my eyes closed. Yes, I know of others beside myself who have been benefited at these meetings. There was a little girl, 8 years old, healed of bronchitis and nervous trouble; she was healed instantly. She went under the power and came out speaking in tongues. No, I did not understand what she said. She was under the power of the Holy Ghost. I have heard others talk in tongues and have talked myself. No, I did not understand what I said; no one knows, unless it is interpreted; or sometimes, someone is present who knows the language and can interpret it. No, Sister Etter cannot
TESTIMONY OF MRS. EVA HARRIS OF ALBION, N. Y.
Given on the Witness Stand
In reply to questions, Mrs. Harris stated: I intended to send my daughter to Montwait with a friend. She has been afflicted with epilepsy for years; I did not intend to come myself, but I felt that I needed spiritual help; I decided for spiritual instruction and received it. My daughter has been afflicted with epilepsy since she was 11 months old. She is a different child since coming to Montwait; she did not even remember coming. Now she is almost in a normal condition. I was present when she went on the platform and answered for her. Several laid hands on her. I was so anxious I did not notice, but I think they all placed their hands upon her. I do not think I would care to have her placed on the stand, but she is at Montwait. I think any physician would say it might be injurious for her to be placed on the stand, it might be a strain on her mental capacity. She has been treated by Dr. Mills of Philadelphia, Dr. Stuart of Atlantic City, and by Dr. Jackson of Albion, until recently. I think excitement is likely to have a bad effect on her, although she has not been affected at Montwait. I do not claim instantaneous healing. God does not always heal instantly. I am sure she is healed and is improving; her face was perfectly blank when she came here. She was treated on the platform, in the chair; I do not think she lost consciousness at all. She said she knew we were with her; she was carried away and I was beside her; she lay probably half an hour and then walked home. I have not had a doctor examine her since. I did not think it was necessary. It is not Mrs. Etter I am trusting in; it is God.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1913
Another Report
After some hearty singing and devout prayers, Mrs. Etter asked that all who had been called to be preachers, workers, evangelists and missionaries should separate themselves from the congregation. The large platform was cleared for them and about one hundred filled it. Mrs. Etter asked the people to pray that these disciples might all be baptized with the Holy Ghost and Fire, before they went out to the work. Mrs. Etter said ​that at Chicago she had laid her hands on two hundred ministers for the baptism of the power, and great is the multitude that is going to publish the gospel. They are wanting the signs in all parts of the earth and many hundreds of handkerchiefs are being sent out, Mrs. Etter said, to those we cannot reach.
Mrs. Etter and the Elders then laid hands on the heads of each candidate for the ministry and Mrs. Etter said, “Receive you the Holy Ghost,” and imparted to each disciple the power to heal the sick and cast out devils. Mrs. Etter believes that the command of the disciples, whom Jesus sent out, two by two, is just as binding upon His disciples of today, and that the signs He promised them should follow their preaching the gospel, will follow our preaching, if we really believe and meet God’s conditions of faith and obedience.
She referred to Elijah’s faith and Elisha’s striking the river with the mantle when the waters parted, to let him pass over dry shod. Strike the mantle every time and remove every obstacle to God’s work. Mrs. Etter told them God never gives us courage today for tomorrow’s work. Jesus commanded Lazarus to come forth. “In my name,” Jesus said, you shall cast out devils and ye shall pray over the sick and they shall recover.” God is a match for any one, said Mrs. Etter. He uses a poor worm of the dust like me, that feels as if I could crawl out of sight, under the altar. Then she talked of Paul wanting to visit the baptized people, so he could impart special gifts to them by the laying on of hands. Holy Ghost power gives courage and authority, she said, to the candidates; therefore, get the fullness of the Spirit.
Mrs. Etter declared we live in the last times. We have to preach the gospel of the Coming King, in the Holy Ghost power. We are the messengers to blow the gospel trumpets and make sinners tremble. The day of the Lord is at hand, even at the door. Why are not all healed? is asked. For the same reason that Jesus could do no greater works in Nazareth, I suppose. Some people do not believe they can be healed and the Bible says, “Without faith ye cannot please God.” “Let not that man that doubteth think he shall receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1-7.)
By Mrs. E. W. Pitblado,
So. Framingham, Mass.