Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1895-06-20
FAITH CURES.

IueTe ID lul 20 N'"p" Va PNF'~
who believe in modern miraculous
healing in answer to prayer They
tell Of wonderful, and, to ordinary
minde, impossible, cures Of cancers,
blindness, lameness, aud display su-
perAuous crutches which, after years
of constant use, they were suddenly,
under the manipulations OF profess
sional faith-healers, enabled to dis
pense with entirely, 1t may be said
that, along with hypnotism, the new
name for mesmerism, belief in mod
ern miraculous healing is increasing.
God forbid that we should assert
that there is no efficacy in prayer for
the healing of many cases OF sickness
To do 80 would be to discredit large
class of Scripture promises, reduce
the domain of prayer to very narrow
limits, and discourage all praying for
temporal blessings, Every Christian
goes to God for help in trouble, and
m cases of sickness prays that he will
direct in the treatment Of the disease,
and, If it be his will, that the sick
may recover. The common impulse
and habit of devout souls to seek di-
vine help in sickness or in trouble Of
any kind are perfectly rational and in
accord with the divinely revealed
scope of prayer. That such prayer
is often answered in granting the
specific request by divine direction in
the use of remedies is equally ration
al and Scriptural. 1t, and indeed all
prayer. IS always answered, if offered
in entire submission to the will Of
God; if not ill giving the specific
thing asked, IN that which is unspeak-
ably better, the grace OF Joyful &C.
quiescence in the will Of God as al
ways best. "Thy will be done" ls the
constant undertone of all true prayer,
and insures an answer in that which
God sees IS best for the praying soul
One point in which falth-healers
and their disciples err, is in the as
sumption that it is Gods will that the
sick shall in every case be healed in
answer to prayer. We know that
such is not his will, and that if prayer
were always eflicacious in restoration,
many people would never die, since
they would pray to live. Another
error is in the superstition that mira
culous cures are wrought IN answer
to prayer These two errors lead to
fanatlcism and inevitable injury.
Healing without the use of natural
means is a miracle, and when men
neglect the means in dependence on
the miracles, they have reached
stage of fanaticism that is not only
fraught with physical peril, but is
sure to be followed by the baldest
skepticlsm. There is no divine
promise that the prayer Of faith shall
always save the sick; and the expec
tation that 1t will, especially wher
the use Of natural means is refused
must often meet with bitter dis
appointment, and the soul by an in
tense reaction will be cast into I'm
belief, from which rescue is extremely
difficult and doubtful,
Some diseases can only be cured b.
miracle, and there is no properly au
thenticated instance of modern
miracle, such as the restoration Of tn,
dead to life, or of sight to the entirel.
blind. None of the modern cases o
alleged miraculous healing have al
the credentials of miracle. The
can not for moment be ranked il
the category OF the miracles wrough
NV the Savior. We should know be
You'd a peradventure that person
cured in answer to preyer were absc
lutely incurable by any other il
tluence short of the direct action c
supernatural power upon their bodies
and IN contrayention of natural law
before we can be justified in claimin
that the cures were miraculous. TIL
we can not know in any of tho case
given. We believe that the days {
miracles are past, for the reason TIL
they have accomplished the purpof
for which theY were introduced !
bearing sufficient testimony to the d
vinity of Christianity.
We may believe in divine SnSyOI
to prayer for the recovery of the sic
without believing that their healin
is in any sense miraculous. The col
nection between the mind and Il