The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-03-10
Sket CHI Of Prophet (.

Edinburgh in 1S47 He left Scotland for
Adelaide, South Australia, when he waa a
thirteen, and he eerked in that boom
town for seven years II he did anys S
thing In those days that brought him into
prominence, 1T has escaped the records;# II
but what he did do was to train himself u
In business methods (being a Scotchman,
he had no more to be forced into 1t than ~
duck into water), and to prepare him- n
self for the ministry.
Some few years afterward Dowie brolSss
loose from the Congregational Church, u
declaring his Intention to make his ap-S
peal to the masses at large through evans Il
gelical work. Already he had reputa-
tlon, and his bizarre eloquence. his rough.sj
and-tumble logic, his strong personality.
Won him an immediate victory in tha
field OF his choice. His impatience of \
lettering authority accounts for tho
! change. and he seems only to have been
acting in accordance with the dictates ok
his nature.
One night In Melbourne there swept
| over his consciousness like an Inspiration
the full force OF the sixteenth chapter OF
| ST. Nlark--''He that belieyeth and 10
baptized shall be saved. .. In my
name shall they cast out devils. /. II VI
4 They shall lay hands on the sick, and
they shall recover His Imagination
| was fired with the idea that he was the
| prohpet foretold by Malachi, and on this
inspiration he founded what is sup
posittiously new In his creed and built
i the foundation Of his really immense
4 fortune. He laid hands on his wifess
head, prayed and cured her OF headache.
\ ana then, as a wit will have 1t, he ipr0-
ceeded to lay hands on everybody and
everything else, Those who know Dowie
say that from early life he shad visions.S
and that he manifested all those syrnp.
toms which the alienist would put under
! the general head Of religious hysteria:,,S
/ II this be so, 1t would orrer u plea for
! his sincerity, and whether it be SO or
not, IT Is known that certain defornlitiesi
and diseases due To brain LESSONS have
been afforded "A temporary relief by sud-
den nervous eNaltation, such as might
1 como from prayer; but ON this aspect of
the case, tho limits Of this article viii,
not let me dwell, M
His Wife and othcrs cured and the
leg.ons OF the faithful increasing by
virtue OF these proofs OF miraculous
powers, Dowie at once started to form,
the Divine Healing Association, which
developed later on into the larger or a
ganization of the International Divine
Healing Association with John Alex
nnder Dowie, quite as a matter on
course, for it's president.
Great Healing Centre.
The next step in the career OF tho
prophet was his project to found a'
great healing centre In London. and to-
s.read the faith from there around tho
world. He travelled on to San Frans
cisco, preaching everywhere along tha
coast, and reached Chicago by easy
stages. IT was the year OF the Worlds
Fair, which brought Its swarms Of
heterogeneous visitors to the city, n
seemed as though the mountains had
} come to Moharnmed. and tina canny
Scotchman was far from letting the
! golden opportunity slip The White
City lid no more for the fortunes of
any man than for John Alexander
8 Dowie's And while the doctor"
whose energies ran for UP IN tho
= horse- powers, worked, preached, and
cured eighteen hours of the twentyr
!, four, his corps of weil-trained missions
aries, his aeaeons and his disoiplea
! were forced to follow at the pace their
! master set The printing-ofiice worked
y overtime to turn out the divine Leaves
OF Healing" which Is Eiijah's oflscial
! organ. devoted to the prophets dos
irgs and his sayings. accounts iot his
y miraculous cures, with the photos
I sraphs and tho testimonials az thoss
4, cured. No patent medicine has ever
Ahcen better advertised, 70 quote ~