t k Division C (o O 3 Section ^M'56 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST Our Physical Heritage in Christ KENNETH MACKENZIE, Author of “Divine Life for the Body,” “ Anti- Christian Supernatural ism,” 11 An Angel of Light,” “ Redemption,” etc. New York Chicago Fleming H. London Revell Company Edinburgh and Copyright, 1923, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. London: 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street To My Faithful WIPE. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/ourphysicalheritOOmack Foreword This book is born of many anxious thoughts and a heart that burns to have God’s children see His will and walk in His way. The great question which it presents is before us with an emphasis never before expressed. Not only must the watchmen on the walls of Zion lift up the voice; the people must heed the call of the hour. The supernatural, the supernormal, the phenomenal are becoming everywhere more and more operative. Forces hitherto unrecognized are skilfully working. The world is on the qui vive for the marvelous. In our dread of fanaticism, we may cloud our vision; and stifle our aspirations by a deadly conservatism. The crowning quest for every true believer in the Lord Jesus is to know the mind and power of the Spirit of God. The problem that confronts us is the need for a unifying of those who believe more than they think they do, with those who hold a superlative confidence in the expressed will and potency of God. Can we not “ get together ” and see eye-to-eye, even as we would feel heart-to-heart, and love with tenderness all who have in any measure the desire to honor our blessed Lord Jesus in this challenging epoch? If I may in some degree clarify the atmosphere, and assure the patient reader that I have manifested only the most intense and long-cherished hope of making 7 8 FOREWORD plain what has been perplexing; if I may merit but a wee “Thank you” from even those who cannot agree with all that is here written; if in short, there shall be found anything in this volume that shall help upward and onward a single sincere lover of our Lord, I shall have reason to hope that I have not labored and prayed in vain. Westport, Conn. K. M. Contents I. The Recurrence oe Doctrine . . .11 II. The Lord eor the Body . . . .17 III. The Lure oe Arien Voices . . .29 IV. Christian Hearing in the Churches . 47 V. Hearing Probrems and PerprExities . 71 VI. Our Mortar Fresh. 138 VII. Our Brood Brother. 152 VIII. Our Triumphant Faith .... 175 IX. Aporogia. 196 Topicar Index. 213 Textuar Index. 219 9 CHAPTER I. THE RECURRENCE OF DOCTRINE. We owe to the late Dr. Adoniram J. Gordon, this suggestive caption. Truth, while fixed in its mould, revolves according to the disposition of men to receive it. What is emphasized in one period of time may be ignored or even repudiated in another. Such is the vacillating nature of our humanity; such is the respon¬ sibility we assume in determining destiny. By recurrence of doctrine, then, we understand that in certain periods of the history of the Church, some truths become more real to the people. Preparations for this may ensue from national calamities, or in the case of groups of people a revelation of need through prayer for divine light. A great war will bring indif¬ ferent Christians face to face with teachings they had loosely regarded. Poverty, suffering, bereavement will open the avenues of the heart to God. And the application of the truth may be different in varying periods, which is an all-important matter for our consideration. The great revival in New Eng¬ land, generated by the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, was marked by the universal recognition of hell. It is said that when this man took the popular theme for his discourse, strong men would cling to the rail of the pews before them, so vividly did the horror of eternal punishment strike them. In the Wesleyan movement, sin was well emphasized. When Charles G. Finney, the revivalist, walked amongst the 11 12 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST people, we are told that his very look made men and women drop to their knees in penitence. In the Moody revival of the Seventies, the message of this successful revivalist was founded upon the love of God, the inference of the hell from which that love has redeemed us being left to the spiritual con¬ sciousness of the individual. The acute arraignment of sinners by the popular Billy Sunday, deals more with the present deeds of the evil-doers than with what will become of them in the hereafter. The mind of the people in these days is set in a different mould from that of centuries past. It is not our province to discuss the cause of this; nor yet to insist that only by going back to the old concepts can we do the work of God. We are concerned only with the fact. Next as a matter of history, we may remark that the latter part of the nineteenth century was noted for an unprecedented movement in the study of the Bible. Publishing houses were taxed to meet the demand. Bible classes sprang up on all sides. The preaching of the Word of God became for the time more apos¬ tolic for that the discourses were marked by Scriptural reference more freely than in the past. The longing of the children of God was expressed in the pursuit of discovering “What saith the Lord ?” And the rising religious tide was marked by the renewal of the per¬ sonal experience of the believer in the ways of wealth of faith. The former regime had been controversial. Unitarianism had gathered strength, and must, per¬ force, be combatted; great intellectual battles were fought over the mode of baptism, predestination, fu¬ ture punishment; and in the Episcopal Church the threatening form of ritualism disturbed the peace of THE RECURRENCE OF DOCTRINE 13 the evangelicals. Men were concerned about the truth; but had not gone deep into the mines for the precious ore that should enrich their lives. The key¬ note of this movement was, “ What can the Lord Jesus be to me ?’ 5 And myriads of souls found a clear and satisfying answer. Concurrent with this phase of the movement was the widely disseminated truth of the personality of the Holy Spirit. With the lists of our publishing houses freely dotted with books on the third person of the Holy Trinity, we in our day are far from compre¬ hending the situation before this epoch. A prominent writer, in one of the religious magazines as late as 1890 , confessed that an experience of eighteen years had brought him to the solemn conclusion that in the sermons of that period there had been a signal absence of any allusion to “ The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost.” His observations had extended not alone to the hearing of discourses by prominent evangelical ministers; but as well to the study of prayer-meeting topics, Scripture lessons and year-books. One lengthy article on “Intellect in the Modem Pulpit” had not a single reference to the Holy Spirit. A pamphlet of eighteen pages on “The Practical Training Needed for the Ministry of Today” by a professor in one of the theological seminaries, and of unquestioned ortho¬ doxy, makes no mention of the Holy Spirit in the min¬ istry. He also quoted the statement of Dr. Daniel Steele that “In forty years not one article on this topic was to be found among the one thousand and two hun¬ dred in the Bibliotheca Sacra, or in the Methodist Quarterly Review.” We may readily trace through these intervening U OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST years and discern the progress that has been made in the two lines of the divine provision—the wide-spread use of the Word of God by the individual Christian and the return of the truth that the Holy Spirit is the interpreter of that Word. Frances Ridley Havergal popularized the Bible by her books, in which she adroitly wove Scripture passage into her heart-to- heart messages to the Christian world. Margaret Bottome represented the Christian women in America and England who held in many centers parlor Bible readings. The development of the International Sun¬ day School Lessons exerted a strong influence in popularizing the Word of God. Let us be certified that with such a movement under way, the Church of God would be confronted with problems, as well as pleasing prospects. The Holiness Movement accentuated, drawing into its fold many idiosyncrasies. Separatism developed with alarming possibilities. In reading the Bible for themselves and believing they had the light of the Holy Spirit to guide them, men threw off the restraints of the historic Church and formed sects, which in turn sub-divided on some trivial point of division of conviction. Fanati¬ cism grasped the arm of faith. While the materialism of the middle of the nineteenth century was yet con¬ spicuously operative, the sublimation of spiritual ideals, having but a human source and supply, became a threatening factor. Indeed, we are yet beholding the effect of the trend. A well-known Bible teacher in Boston made the succinct remark not long ago, “The shores of New England are strewn with religious wreckage.” The well-balanced leaders of evangelism and sanctification have had their hands full while their THE RECURRENCE OF DOCTRINE 1$ hearts have been heavy in the perplexity of holding the centrifugal forces from flying off the tangent. We may not be surprised that with all the impulse and unction which the recurrence of doctrine as sug¬ gested in the preceding paragraphs had opened up, that there should be a hungry appeal to the solicitous shep¬ herds of the flock for some provision in the Word of God for the physical needs. Christians were learning to take everything to the Lord in prayer. He had grown more precious to them because of the light and love that had come into their spiritual beings. Why limit Him in His working ? In many quarters the re¬ straining protests of the guardians of the sheep were met by pleadings which bore eloquent arguments for the acceptance of “all the counsel of God.” We may readily apprehend that pastors deficient of the faith to stand where their advanced parishioners had taken their place would become antagonistic. We are all human; and we do not like others to go beyond what we are able to reach. And so, the appropriation of the truth as they saw it brought upon the precious heads of those who had learned to “go through with God,” the stem decree of excommunication. Our concern, as we close this chapter, is to ask, Shall we relegate this aspiration for the Lord for the body to a merely human devising, or shall we rever¬ ently accede that God is in it and that He has His plan for His own, who behold an advance in spiritual ideals and achievements ? We may be free to criticise certain personal expressions of the experience of those who go where we hesitate to put our feet; but we must meekly acknowledge that if God is working, the hush of reverence becomes us. Our decisions must 16 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST rest upon a considerate recognition of the genesis of things. Nor let those who seek fuller light and deeper walking with God be broken-hearted if some frank brute tells them that they are fools. The supreme test for both sides is the question, “Is it true and am I related to it?” Our thoughtful Lord has put us here at this particular point in the world's history that we may respond to the forces and factors which greet us. We may be great in God by rising to the call for consecration; we may sink supinely in our con¬ servatism while the valiant ones march on “to know the Lord." We have seen the working of this princi¬ ple in the history of the world’s progress. It is not less operative and significant in the spiritual life. CHAPTER II. THE LORD FOR THE BODY. A change was beginning to manifest in the medical profession in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Far too long had therapeutics ruled in the realm of a dead materialism. The materia me die a was establish¬ ed entirely upon the assumption that the human body is a machine. Now thoughtful practitioners were coming to a wiser vision. The mind of the patient needed attention as well as his flesh. Diet and regi¬ men, sanitation and hygiene were to be taken into ac¬ count. No one single mind created this revolution. It grew spontaneously and almost imperceptibly to the conviction of honest physicians. Less medicine, more wholesome advice; fresh air and cheerfulness, rather than dosage. The new, and for the time much hated school of Homeopathy exerted a strong influence over the public. The origin of disease was as important as its removal. To find the cause was as necessary as to prescribe the remedy. Such then was the soil in which the plant of Divine Healing germinated. It seemed the logical step. In the perspective, as we view it, every rational student of history will concede that any other unfolding of the new Christian movement, paralleled by the neo-medical birth, would be contrary to the laws of development. Three great figures loom against the sky-line of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Diversified in character and method of expression, they sought the 17 18 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST same end and achieved the same results. They were called “faith-curists,” and the American native sense of humor did not spare them the odium of the com¬ mon jest. Each man followed implicitly what he had devoutly recognized as the will of God; they who waited upon their ministry were impressed by the same conviction. And not only in America, but abroad also the swell of the movement extended. Dorothea Trudel, Otto Stockmayer, Pastor Blumhardt, Karl Andreas, Dr. Boardman and Mrs. Baxter of London shone out on the horizon of promise. Myriads of men and women (and children too) were evidently healed of physical disorders; many of which were pronounced incurable. There are yet some on the face of the earth who reverently believe that they would have been dust and ashes long ago but for the healing they then received. Dr. Charles Cullis, a physician of Boston, was the first to come before the American public in this unique ministry. A man of deep piety and clear thought, he found that prayer was a means of physical quickening, not alone by its subjective influence, but that resting upon the promises of God, a power for healing was being manifest in his ministry. Being well-trained in the system of diagnosis, he was fully qualified to pronounce the character of the dis¬ ease with which his patients were afflicted. Con¬ sumption, the name then employed for tuberculosis, yielded especially to “ the prayer of faith.” Cancer, too, and other then believed incurable diseases were overcome. The work so enlarged under Dr. Cullis’ ministry THE LORD FOR THE BODY 19 that his conventions at Old Orchard, Maine, during the summer, were thronged with seekers for healing. Eventually, he selected Intervale, New Hampshire, for his own work, so as to be undisturbed by the dates for other religious bodies, as was the case at Old Orchard. This summer resort was so largely patronized by others as well as those seeking healing, that great buildings splendidly equipped were necessary for the increasing crowds of fine-minded people who sought the spot for recuperation and religious truth. In Bos¬ ton too, a large and commodious home was erected for the reception of the sick, who believed God for their healing. Dr. Cullis’ popularity may be estimated by the re¬ corded fact that a letter coming across the sea ad¬ dressed, “To the Man in America who believes God,” found its way into his hands. And this was the secret of his phenomenal ministry. Healing by faith was the key-note. He had not arrived at any formulated system regarding the truth. That God had the power to heal, that His promises were sufficiently reliable to insure healing, that God did heal were enough for him. We do well to remark this. As the first apostle of the new ministry of prayer, he remained in the sphere of thought and action which had been tested by experience. He was not a theologian; the sophis¬ tries of the schools had no charm for him. In the Willard Tract Repository, which he founded, there were books published written by others which took the advanced position of formulating a system of healing. We have no ground now for discussing that phase of the movement. We are recording history and the men¬ tion of Dr. Cullis’ work demands that his position in 20 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST the field of healing should be stated. That for which he stood may be said to be genesis of the modem healing trend. John Alexander Dowie, in every respect a contrast to Dr. Cullis, is deserving of classification with the Boston physician, the highly cultured gentleman of his generation. Dr. Dowie, a doughty Scotchman, brought to his task every element of stolid, uncompro¬ mizing devotion to the truth as he saw it. If he angered men by his caustic epithets, they were compelled to honor him for his sincerity. He produced fruits; and no one dared to deny the fact. f He was, unquestion¬ ably, the apostle of healing in his day. The ground of his dedication to this ministry em¬ phasizes and confirms what we have contended. This man, a giant of faith, did not appoint himself to this field of Christian service. If God was not in it, then we have little ground for ascertaining His hand in any movement. Dr. Dowie’s story, as nearly as I can re¬ call it, was as follows: A severe epidemic had invaded the town in which he ministered as a Congregational pastor, situated in Australia. Day after day, he fol¬ lowed the form of one or more of his parishioners to the grave; he did little else save to visit and pray with the sick and dying. One morning, as he approached the home where lay one of his Sunday school girls of whom he was especially fond, a spirit of resentment arose in his breast. The family doctor was just leav¬ ing and said to the agitated pastor, “ Mr. Dowie, we must bow under the hand of an all-wise God.” In¬ stantly, with a decision which almost staggered himself, he replied, ff God has nothing to do with it. It is the THE LORD FOR THE BODY 21 work of the Devil.” All the physician could say was, “You are over-wrought, my friend. Have a care lest you should also fall under this terrible plague.” Be¬ fore entering the sick-room where the dying child was lying, he appealed to the mother, “Can you stand with me for the healing of this daughter by faith in God ?” The afflicted mother, inspired by a new hope, re¬ sponded in the affirmative. Then, proving his faith, he instructed the nurse to prepare a cup of cocoa and have a slice of buttered bread ready when he should call for it. Kneeling by the side of the child, an earnest outpouring of faith and supplication was succeeded by the arousing of the patient with the words, “O mother, I have had such a lovely dream; and I am so hungry.” Being fed the bread and cocoa, she turned over and renewed her sleep. Entering an adjoining room, where a brother of this girl lay similarly stricken, the like program was followed. He too re¬ covered. And from that day until he left that parish, there was not another burial from his flock. At Melbourne, his healing mission became so widely known that a tabernacle was erected to accommodate the crowds. We may charitably allow that had he con¬ fined his ministry to the people of his first love, the record of his life might have had another ending. But with the consciousness of his call sounding loudly in his soul, he came to America in 1888. A brief sojourn in California was followed by the removal to Chicago, which became the Mecca of the sick from all parts of the land. His great home, accom¬ modating scores of persons, was always packed with guests, once the tide of success turned his way. Bona fide healings can be attested at the present time 22 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST as occurring under that roof. An immense tabernacle was erected and always well filled. Facing the con¬ gregation on the walls, were crutches, canes, trusses, bandages and braces, left by the liberated captives, who had gone forth believingly healed by the mighty power of God. Born rulers wisely seek and receive counsel from those who may be competent to advise them. Dr. Dowie had no peers. Aids in his work he counted by the score. But they were followers only. Mrs. Eddy was one of the greatest autocrats in history; but she discreetly steered her bark according to the adverse winds of public opinion, until she was sure of her port. Then entering the harbor, she tied her boat to the dock of unflinching rigidity and reigned as a queen won¬ dered at and worshiped. Dr. Dowie was not so wise. Opposition inflamed him; and there fell from his lips and dropped from his pen such anathemas as few men have dared to pronounce in the name of God. Per¬ haps it was this disposition which led him to name himself Elijah the prophet. His solitariness in the world of his own creating no doubt impelled him with the prophet’s lament, “I, even I only, am left.” But he loved this isolation. It fed his sense of the unique¬ ness of his calling. And like the prophet whose name he took, he regarded all who did not agree with him as priests of Baal. The fire and tempest, the earth¬ quake were more potential to him than “the voice of gentle stillness.” The impulse which fired him on the memorable day when he won his first captive from the hand of the enemy, was no doubt the ground on which he stood in those days of violent arraignment against “doctors, THE LORD FOR THE BODY 23 drugs and devils.” The abhorrent classification was not in the least modified during all his ministry. Rea¬ sonable people could not stand with him in this postu¬ late. Yet he continued to have a great following; and at last he culminated his dream of Christian commu¬ nism in the founding of Zion City, not far from Chicago, under his dictatorship. Here, no drugs, no tobacco, no pork (for he was a strenuous opponent of the flesh of the swine), no worldly amusements were permitted. By the hundreds the people put their dol¬ lars into this enterprise. Visions of a really Christian commonwealth rose before their eyes and the spirit of contentment that they should be free from the wicked¬ ness of the great social fabric about them possessed their souls. Our province is not to comment upon the unwisdom of this. Experts in social economy are clear in their judgment that no such undertaking has ever proven of permanent value. But a man of Dr. Dowie’s faith could not give place to discretion in the contemplation of the scheme. He was swept on by the impetuosity of his spirit. The city rose in its vir¬ gin strength and beauty. The administration of the Christian leader was firm and uncompromising. His paper, “Leaves of Healing,” a commendable product of the printer’s art, gave weekly testimonies to the constant healings. Photographs of the sick be¬ fore their healing and of the recovered were graphi¬ cally descriptive of the wonderful work being done. Impotent critics declared he was a fraud; others claimed that he was a master of the black arts; all sorts of devices were set forth to account for the marvel¬ ous accomplishments; while humble believers bowed before God and thanked Him for this faithful ser- 24 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST vant. His published sermons, while lacking the mag¬ netism of his personal presence, were not deleted of the acrimonious terms which garnished the spoken messages. With the force of the sledge-hammer, the keenness of the Damascene blade, he mercilessly slew the prophets of Baal, who by voice or pen presumed to dispute his call. His favorite terms for moderate drinkers or tobacco users were more cutting than elegant. At the thronged burial service which was held over his remains, in the Tabernacle he had established, and where he had faithfully labored for many years, one of the speakers remarked that Albert B. Simpson was born with an empire in his brain. No more sure word could have been spoken. And withal, so wide a vision and so comprehensive a grasp were wedded to an unselfish and humble spending of himself for others. The pastor of one of the leading Presbyterian churches of the Metropolis, and with every induce¬ ment to abide as the happy friend and shepherd of a people who truly loved him, he relinquished the stated income and a settled home, for the exigencies of a life of faith in November 1881 , and faced in a little hall his first congregation of seven persons'. The reason for this radical move, which for blind¬ ness of discernment some were disposed to infer was a proof of mental unbalance, was a heart-hunger for the great mass of the unchurched who lived in the neighborhood of his own pastorate. His people could not go all the way with him, and he felt he must go alone. At the parish prayer-meeting when he an- THE LORD FOR THE BODY 25 nounced his purpose, his text was, “ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor.” If men were drawn to his meetings from the curi¬ osity aroused by the free advertising which a sensa¬ tional press accorded him, they found more than they had thought—a man who loved souls, who had a defi¬ nite message and lived the faith he preached. With such a dedication, God could use him ; and He did to the fullest. From place to place he went seeking larger quarters; and the evangelism to which he gave himself led at length to the hiring of the spacious Academy of Music, where on Sunday evenings he preached to crowds. To dwell upon this phase of his memorable career is tempting; but his published life will better display how the Lord honored His servant. Our province is to deal with the truth of healing as he experienced and declared it. Though a man of large structure, he bore the ap¬ pearance of one not ordinarily robust. The need of strength for his increasingly arduous labors made him a ready candidate for divine life for his body when the problem came to the fore. As the pastor of the Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church, he had not given the matter serious thought. Once, when in the study of the subject with a fellow-minister, the latter said, “Yes, Simpson; I see that healing is a part of our privilege. But we cannot preach it.” To which our brother made prompt reply, “I do not yet clearly see that it is a part of the Gospel for today; but if I ever do, I must preach it.” The Rev. Rowland V. Bingham, editor of the Evan¬ gelical Christian , has testified that “no one can ques- 26 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST tion that his covenant (to take the Lord as his life) was great in its results. Instead of going to an early grave, he was restored to a fulness of health that en¬ abled him for more than a quarter of a century to do as much work as two men.” In process of time, Friday afternoons were devoted to teaching and testimony regarding this growing search by praying Christians for the mind and power of God. To say that many were healed, and of mala¬ dies which had been pronounced incurable, would be trite. The record has passed into history, written in the memories of men, but by no register which he kept. There are grateful witnesses today, who can substan¬ tiate the claim that he became God’s minister to them, not alone for salvation and sanctification, but for the restoration of the gift of healing which the Church had allowed to pass into disuse. To attempt any enumeration of names would be embarrassing, so nu¬ merous and marked were the testimonies. I should love to speak of saintly women, like Mrs. Naylor and Mrs. Whittemore; and of my own child in the faith, dear Jos. Pulis, converted in the hall maintained by the church with which I was connected; and led to receive the Lord for his wrecked body through our brother’s teaching. This man rounded out a life of over eighty years, wonderfully used in his daily Bible readings and prayer-ministry. But let us be assured that healing was but a seg¬ ment of the circle of Dr. Simpson’s endeavors. Dr. Dowie severely condemned him for not making it the sole aim of his ministry. But he displayed a wisdom which we may reverently believe was of the Lord, in exalting evangelism and missions to the place which THE LORD FOR THE BODY 27 the New Testament assigns them. This method has been justified. If the slogan of the Christian and Mis¬ sionary Alliance, which he founded, is yet the Four¬ fold Gospel —Jesus our Saviour, Sanctifier , Healer and Coming King, the healing section takes its subor¬ dinate place as contingent upon reconciliation with God (evangelism) ; a life indwelt and controlled by the Holy Spirit (sanctification) ; and the impulse for the saving of the lost resident in the promise of His coming when the Gospel should be preached in all the world. Every selfish element is excluded from the search for healing by the inclusiveness of this belief. The movement of which he was the leader, at first following the line of Dr. Cullis’ method, took the form of a deeper experience of the life hid with Christ in God. If it had been that as in Bible times, men were required to exercise faith only, now the test lay in heart-searching for a right relation with God. Dr. Simpson was probably the first man to define healing as provided in the atonement. Dr. Simpson held to the end what had been defined in the early stages of the teaching. And the conflict of opinion at the present time centers around this mooted problem. Dr. Simp¬ son had declared that healing is founded upon Christ’s sacrifice and redemption; through the resurrection of the Lord, by the impartation of His risen life, His in¬ dwelling in our bodies and by the quickening of the Holy Spirit. And the Christian and Missionary Alliance, presided over by his efficient successor, the Rev. Paul Rader, maintains the postulate. The final stage of the teaching much antagonized Dr. Dowie, who contended that disease, root and branch, must be eradicated or faith is a dead failure. 28 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST He had no sympathy with sickness as a discipline; but Dr. Simpson came to regard that the Lord in His sovereignty could use it and make it the medium of power. Those of us who stood with him at the time were led to see the same perspective of purpose. If the Apostle could glory in his infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon him, why not we? This, I believe, has been a stumbling-block to many. And concerning it, each, seeker for truth must get the Lord’s mind for himself. His dedication to missions was splendidly vindicated after he was called to a life of quiet. We who had watched over him with solicitude and affection during those engaging years, were wont to wonder, “What will become of this great fabric, when he ceases his activities? Who will deliver the stirring missionary sermons which have so moved the people of God to surrender themselves and their means ? ” As a matter of record, when he was removed from active service, the conventions held over the land increased in interest, in gifts, in volunteers for service; and the number of students applying for admission to the Missionary Training Institute became larger than ever in its his¬ tory. I bow my head as I write this, in acknowledg¬ ment of the true greatness of the man, who was willing to sink out of sight. He had one source of power left. While others labored, Albert Simpson prayed. And the inspiring sight of a large body of Alliance leaders from all parts of the country, convened for his burial, convincingly demonstrated that he had built wisely and well. As I pass the mound on the hillside at Nyack, beneath which his body rests, I am impelled to whisper to my heart, “ He being dead, yet speaketh.” CHAPTER III. THE LURE OF ALIEN VOICES. Concurrent with the movement we have noted an¬ other has made its memorable imprint upon the Chris¬ tian community. Coming to birth through the recogni¬ tion of the marriage of mental concepts and physical disorders, it has assumed towering sovereignty and threatens the very life of the historic Church. Unquestionably, the mind has much to do with the ills of humanity. This, as we have seen, has been acknowledged by the medical profession. The nerve centers receive impulses from the thought sources. And pure metaphysics is a boon to the world. We may all wish such undertakings the fullest measure of success. For the need of such treatment is glaringly prominent in our day. To Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (by courtesy Doctor) belongs the unsought notoriety of founding a metaphysical system which has become the basis of a supposedly modern religion. As his patients were uni¬ formly professing Christians, he enjoined upon them the acceptance of the healing power of Jesus Christ. This he set forth, not as proceeding from the exalta¬ tion of our Lord, but as the ideal which all might employ, as Jesus did, in resisting the error of disease by the affirmation of the reality of health. His quo¬ tations from the Bible are indicative of superficial knowledge of its contents; and they partake of an in¬ dividualistic construction in his hands. While his son, 29 30 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST Mr. George A. Quimby, disavows that his father was a Swedenborgian, he certainly expresses Swedenborg’s mystical method in interpreting the Word of God. According to his own confession (The Quimby Manu¬ scripts edited by Horatio W. Dresser, pp. 192, 193) he had abandoned the faith of Christianity as held by the Church in all the past ages: “It is generally un¬ derstood that man had wandered away from God, and that unless he repented and turned to God, he would be banished from His presence forever. This being the state of mankind, God, seeing no way by which man could be saved, gave His only Son as a ransom for the redemption of the world: or, God made Him¬ self manifest in the flesh, and came into the world, suf¬ fered and died, and rose again, to show that we should all rise from the dead. . . Jesus never taught one single idea of the above, but condemned the whole as super¬ stition and ignorance.” This quotation enlightens our minds as we contem¬ plate the framework of the system for which he is re¬ sponsible and which is the blight of Christianity to¬ day. His description of disease, however, may bear a scientific approval (though he flouted both doctors and priests with more than one vitriolic sentence). He de¬ clares that “all effects produced on the human frame are the result of a chemical change of the fluids of the body, and are accompanied by a peculiar state of mind.” He insisted that disease is the product of false thinking. To remove this “error” he resorted to “silent spiritual treatment,” in which process the patient became aware of the potency of repose. It also enabled him to diagnose his patients, for he never questioned them as to their ailments. THE LURE OF ALIEN VOICES 31 Mrs. Mary Baker-Glover-Patterson-Eddy, (at that time Mrs. Patterson) thought to be almost at the point of death, visited Dr. Quimby in October, 1862 . She was confessedly healed. Her testimony in the Port¬ land Evening Courier later leaves no room for doubt: “Three weeks since, I quitted my nurse and sick room en route for Portland. The belief of my recovery had died out of the hearts of those who were most anxious for it. With this mental and physical depression, I first visited P. P. Quimby; and in less than one week from that time, I ascended by a stairway of one hun¬ dred and eighty-two steps to the dome of the City Hall; and am improving ad infinitum. To the most subtle reasoning, such a proof, coupled too as it is with numberless similar ones, demonstrates his power to heal.” The mystery of her life lies in her utter repudiation of this testimony. She made a second visit in 1864, this time to study Quimby’s methods. Mr. Julius A. Dresser, the father of Horatio W. Dresser, who was in constant attendance in Dr. Quimby’s office, loaned her Vol. I of Quimby’s writings, which his patients were at liberty to copy. This appears in the present volume (The Quimby Manuscripts) under the caption of “Christ or Science.” She also had the privilege of copying a manuscript entitled “Questions and Answers,” which is as well in the book and with that title. A comparison of these two portions of the Quimby teachings with her own (almost word for word in similarity) leaves no doubt of the Quimby authorship. And on Quimby’s death, she wrote a ful- healing achievements. Then she importuned Mr some eulogy, in a well-expressed poem, extolling his 32 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST Julius A. Dresser to take up Quimby's work. He was indeed qualified to do so; but shrank from the task. This inspired her to assume what a less venturesome person would have hesitated to do—she herself would become the apostle of healing. She imported into her system the Swedenborgian mysticism which we have seen was characteristic of Quimby. Common-sense folk express difficulty in un¬ derstanding her. She did not intend that they should. Her passion was to put thought into such a mould as to suggest the very occultism, which the Pundita Ram- abai insists stamps her system as occidentalized Bud¬ dhism. In her denial of the essential articles of the Christian faith, she opened the door to swarms of Jews, who find in her cult a comfortable religious at¬ mosphere. Mr. Daniel H. Spoffard, at one time her business manager, has affirmed, “So far as my personal knowl¬ edge goes, I never knew Mrs. Eddy to heal a single patient.” This failure was her star of destiny; her pot of gold. Had she been successful as a practitioner, she would have been embalmed in the telephone direc¬ tory and a volume of testimonials. The spur to be the apostle of a new religion awakened in her those latent forces of unbridled romance, daring adventure, wild speculation and insistent pursuit for fame and fortune, which are the conspicuous elements of her unique his¬ tory. And that she did not take all of her material from Quimby, but lent to her enterprise a degree of origi¬ nality in working over his idea, enables Mr. George A. Quimby to say, “ The religion which she teaches is cer¬ tainly hers, for which I cannot be too thankful; for I THE LURE OF ALIEN VOICES 33 should be loth to go down to my grave feeling that my father was in any way connected with ‘Christian Science’.” We have in this person then, a being under the guise of the God-appointed revealer of Christianity (for she places on her book the imprimatur of the Apostle, “I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me was not after man; for I neither re¬ ceived it of man, neither was I taught it but by revela¬ tion of Jesus Christ”) who holds with adroit and diplomatic hands the reins of truth, manipulates the keys of her instrument with consummate skill, contra¬ dicts all the conditions which have ever marked God’s apostles, and dies almost deified by hundreds of thou¬ sands of her devotees. Christian Science leaders and lecturers are still hug¬ ging the delusion that Mrs. Eddy received a revelation from God. And they base their assertion upon the memorable February 3rd, which was followed, accord¬ ing to her pretension, by the three year retirement from the world (matching the Apostle, Gal. 1:18) when she waited upon God for the fuller disclosure of the divine mind. The cold history of the case, as disclosed by the in¬ vestigations of Frederick W. Peabody and Georgine Milmine, shatters this fabrication into flinders. The respectable people of Stoughton, Mass., where she lived during those years, allege under oath that while she was a member of the family of Hiram Crafts and later of Mrs. Sally Wentworth, from 1867 to 1870, she repeatedly affirmed that what she was teaching was mental science, taught her by Dr. Quimby. Her stereotyped precision and affected manner as she de- 34 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST dared over and over again, “ I learned this from Dr. Quimby; and he made me promise to teach it to at least two persons before I die,” are indelibly stamped on the memories of survivors. She did shut herself up in the attic room in Sally Wentworth’s home and labored for months arranging and rearranging the Quimby manuscripts, putting her own touches to his principles; for Mrs. Wentworth avowed that she was wont to copy Mrs. Glover’s writ¬ ings each day, and that they were always regarded as the expression of the Quimby idea. And members of Mrs. Wentworth’s family now living vouch for the accuracy of the statement. They all insist that Mrs. Glover (the name by which she went at that time) never claimed for herself any other distinction than that she was endeavoring to be a messenger to man¬ kind of Quimby’s system. Even after she went to Boston, she named her school the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. This would at least bear the inference that the founder had not yet completely gotten to the assumption of a revelation from God. In sheer pity for her, we may charitably allow that the religious bud did not fully bloom until her pupils urged that they should hear her discourse upon her inspiring thoughts on Sundays, and give to the exercises a worshipful atmosphere. It may have been through this turn of affairs that she sighted the alluring possibilities of a modern interpretation of Christianity, through an assumedly divine inspiration. Catching the drift of the new therapeutics, she event¬ ually averred that the aching world had been patiently awaiting this heavenly boon. And she passionately flung herself into the current of promising popularity THE LURE OF ALIEN VOICES 35 and acquisition. In doing this, she ruthlessly scrapped the pages of her humble past, and all who were con¬ cerned in it, trampled them under her feet, and victori¬ ously announced her apostleship. So, the hallucination (if it be not an invention) of her disordered brain, is now perpetuated by well-meaning people, who have not the courage to seek the real truth. Mrs. Eddy’s postulate establishes a confusion of thinking and experience, which is really her stock in trade. Starting with God, whom she calls Principle, she establishes the fundamental idea that all is Mind, nothing is material. God and His ideas (why she em¬ ploys the personal pronoun for a principle, she does not explain) constitute all. There is absolutely nothing in the universe but Mind and that one Mind is God. Since God must be essentially good, there can be no evil. What men call evil is but the “error of mortal mind.” But here we meet the confusion. If there is but one Mind and that Mind is good, how can another mind which is resultant, and united to that Mind, think evil ? She gives no satisfactory answer to this. The acceptance of this hypothesis, however, by her devotees, leads to confessed Pantheism, which is the scourge of India and the foe of Christianity. For Mrs. Eddy adduces that mortal mind is illusion, a false belief. There is no such thing as a body which can be sick. There is no such being as a person who can sin. There cannot in the nature of the case be any repen¬ tance for sin, any forgiveness of sin. Redemption, therefore, as classified by our Lord and His apostles, is a cumbersome excrescence on the religious fabric. To accomplish this phenomenal feat, consequently, she invents a glossary of Scriptural terms which are 36 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST indeed sui generis. She needed not to secure a copy¬ right; for no venturesome soul would ever think of imitating it, at least in her realm of experimentation. She calls our Lord Jesus Christ “the divine manifesta¬ tion of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy in¬ carnate error.” But as her system denies the existence of flesh, since all is mind and nothing material, the flesh in which He lived must have been an illusion. In substance she translates Him into “God’s most beauti¬ ful thought.” And she leaves Him there impotent to work any salvation for a lost world, since there is no world to be lost; and no lostness of the world if there were one. We are quite persuaded that the rank and file of Christian Scientists fail to see these subtleties, being wholly engrossed in the healing aspects of her teach¬ ings. Tests have been made with those who have pro¬ fessed to be cultured Scientists and invariably they have begged the question, or as one serenely answered Dr. Richard L. Swain, when the Doctor had pro¬ pounded an involved questionnaire embracing the ra¬ tionale of Christian Science, “Where ministers and scholars are interested in Christian Science, it is quite best they should think out such points for themselves.” This confirms what we have contended, that Mrs. Eddy did not purpose that Christian Science should be understood, but rather that it should mystify and thrill the devotee of her svstem with a sense of its inex- plicable profundity. Now, we have no quarrel with anybody who wishes to ride a metaphysical hobby. The thinking world has room for all sorts of freaks and rather enjoys their periodical visitations, But when a woman takes into THE LURE OF ALIEN VOICES 37 her hands, and arrogates to herself the supreme au¬ thority to interpret, the Word of God, as she unblush- ingly does; when she avers that our Lord Jesus para¬ lyzed His message to men by entertaining the thought of death, that His death was His error which she has been commissioned to correct, we must needs defend Him from this blasphemous charge. For “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” which cannot be abro¬ gated, amended or improved, defines the Son of God dying to save a world lost in the darkness of sin. Her postulate with regard to our dear Lord destroys every vestige of hope of immortality and leaves us nothing but that dead and profitless thing, reincarnation. We are not surprised that her vaulting ambition, her supreme selfishness, her queenly autocracy, her sordid pursuit of wealth should arouse in some of her fol¬ lowers a thoughtful revision of her claims. The stric¬ tures she imposed upon her followers inevitably led to an alienation, which was the ground of the New Thought Movement. Her repudiation of Quimby fell out to be the best thing desirable for the cherishing of his memory. For these people put him where he belongs and credit him with the honor to which he is justly entitled. He is by them termed the Father of New Thought. And they consistently pursue the lines of thinking which he laid down. And if Mrs. Eddy was the exponent of imperialism, she being the empress, this body of thinkers has es¬ tablished a democracy of cordial interchange of thought and opinion. She restricted her teachers to the sphere of readers, since she could brook no inva- 38 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST sion of her sovereignty in the realm of interpretation. I have before me the text book of New Thought en¬ titled, “The Spirit of the New Thought.” While edited by Horatio W. Dresser, an acknowledged leader of the movement at the present time, fourteen or more writers express their definition of the school. Mr. Dresser carefully harmonizes the differences of view while according to all their right to express individual convictions. Some call the system a philosophy, others believe it is a religion; some deny that it is a cult, others claim that it is essentially such. A few of the definitions from this book may indicate the trend of thinking. “New Thought is not new; it is the oldest thing in the world.” “New Thought is the new way of thinking about man, God and thought itself.” “All life is one and man is the expression of that life, the fountain-head or first cause of which is Universal Energy—God.” “This force is common property as soon as men know how to claim and appro¬ priate their own (force) from this Universal Source.” The New Thought Alliance defines its purpose as “To teach the Infinitude of the Supreme One; the Divinity of Man and His Infinite Possibilities.” Mr. Henry Wood repudiates Mrs. Eddy’s philoso¬ phy that “All-is-spirit; nothing is matter.” He con¬ tends that “matter in its proper place is good and use¬ ful.” The Metaphysical Club in its statement of be¬ lief defines New Thought as standing for “The prac¬ tice of the presence of God reduced to a scientific method of living an unselfish life through union in thought with a power that is Jove in action; to draw out the best that is in humanity to bring sweetness and light and peace into the lives of hundreds of thousands THE LURE OF ALIEN VOICES 39 of people; to rob death of its sting and pain of its poignancy; to take terror from disease by proving its powerlessness; to crown the life with joy and health, and the abundance which are the rightful inheritance of every child of God.” “New Thought offers the right hand of fellowship to members of every religious denomination. Free to seek instruction and inspiration in the scriptures of all ages and peoples (italics ours), it has also a large and increasing literature of its own.” The catholicity of the movement is winsome. It must appeal to many loosely attached Christians who have not been grounded in the Faith. For this sort of comprehen¬ siveness may be heard in many professedly Christian pulpits. And those who enter this cult receive what they seek. Confessedly, the cold atmosphere of their former church affiliations is recalled in contrast with the warming and energizing potentialities of the newly- found belief and practice. There is a wholesome solidarity in the movement which binds the members in a glad association. The daily period of silence when there is projected by each member into the body as a whole, the thought of “peace, prosperity and power” is a strong challenge to the Church of the Living God, divided by schisms and torn by animosities. These people rebuke the trend of thousands of pro¬ fessing Christians who hover like ghouls over every calamity, to retail and detail all the gruesome char¬ acteristics which it discloses; who are perpetually talk¬ ing about their aches and pains, their langour and lassitude, their sufferings and sorrows. Our very man¬ ner of salutation is a depression to us. “How do you 40 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST do ?” is a constant suggestion that we think of our feel¬ ings. This, the New Thought people believe we should not do. There is a pleasing universality in these systems. We have noted that hordes of Jews are flocking into Chris¬ tian Science. Are they converted to the Lord Jesus ac¬ cording to the New Testament standard? When New Thought defines itself as resting upon “the foundation of a tolerance as broad as that inculcated in the Vedas,” it unites what God has forever divorced. The religion of the Vedas was operative in the days of our Lord and His apostles. They were not ignorant of its existence and spirit. As they refused to recognize it, we may not, who would walk in their steps. St. Paul knew that he had only to blend Grecian gnosticism with the mysteries of the Vedas, to obtain that tolerance which would have made him the popular preacher of Corinth. But he weighed the truth and “determined to know nothing among the Corinthians but Jesus Christ and him crucified” (I Cor. 2 : 3 ). If all that is needful in mankind everywhere, is to appropriate this Universal Life, without repentance of sin and the concomitant requirements of the New Testament, then any Hindoo, Turk, professing Christian or rank infidel may be¬ come a member of this universal brotherhood. We do not object to the brotherhood tie of the whole hu¬ man race; but to drag our Lord Jesus into the error and degrade JHis clear teachings, becomes a crime. The door into divine sonship is unqualifiedly stated in the New Testament. They only are the spiritual children of God who have received the Lord Jesus into their lives; who have been born again by the Holy THE LURE OF ALIEN VOICES 41 Spirit of God and through the operation of the Word of God (John 1:12, 13; 3:3, 5. Titus 3:5, 6. I Peter 1:23). The apostolic message differentiated between unsaved sinners and redeemed saints. The former are yet in their sins; the latter are saved “through the re¬ demption that is in Christ Jesus.” We can see no al¬ ternate position. But the fundamental postulate of redemption is that sin has been put away by the Son of God on the Cross. These cults deny sin. It is to their votaries “error of mortal mind,” “absence of harmony.” God calls it by its hideous title and deals with it as a thing to be met and conquered by the tragedy of Calvary. This point alone should deter¬ mine the anti-Christian character of these modern per¬ versions. The most conspicuous phase of the movement lies in the claim that God is impersonal. Terms are em¬ ployed which would seem to recognize personality in the Deity, while definitions are plainly stated which contradict that concept. We are aware that the finite mind is incapable of comprehending the personality of Infinitude. And so long as these companies confine themselves to philosophic and scientific realms, as some of their writers do, we cannot deny them the privilege of questioning a truth which has been held throughout all the ages of Christianity with implicit confidence. It is when they arrogate to themselves the authority to present a new interpretation of Christian¬ ity that we strenuously oppose them. 1. If God is not a Person, the constant protests of the prophets against Baal worship were needless. For an impersonal principle (such as God is ascribed to be) could have no word of reproach which should be 42 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST the fire of the prophetic errand. But the word “Jehovah,” which was always associated with the prophetical protests, is declarative of personality. 2. The distinct mission of our Lord Jesus was to establish the personality of His Father. We may dwell upon the wonderful statement in Matt. 11127. “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal Him.” The very essence of eternal life, which He claimed He came to secure for a lost world, is “to know God and Jesus Christ, whom God has sent” (John 17:3). The ideal of the divine Fatherhood is the union of God with His redeemed children. 3. The denial of the personality of God robs Him of the ascribed attributes of mercy with which the Word of God crowns Him. For an impersonal prin¬ ciple cannot be embraced in the marvelous record of Eph. 2:4, “But God who is rich in his mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins*” The constantly reiterated phrases, “the love of God,” “the grace of God” have no place in the administration of a god that has no personality. It is amazing how these sincere souls can take the New Testament into their hands and so completely pervert its evident message. 4. An impersonal principle cannot hear the prayer of a penitent; nor can there be joy in its presence over “one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10). To be sure, there is no sin, according to the teaching, of which to repent. Our Lord announced that He had come to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), to give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28), but if He THE LURE OF ALIEN VOICES 43 merely labored to disabuse men’s minds of the exis¬ tence of sin, how can we reconcile the New Testament facts with this specious reasoning? 5. If God is a principle, He cannot have pleasure in conferring His blessings upon His children. Why should our Lord challenge the faith of His hearers, “If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him,” if an impersonal principle is the object ap¬ proached ? The embarrassment would seem ridiculous, if it were not so tragic. 6. An impersonal principle cannot receive the thankful praise of those who do obtain good gifts; for such a god cannot hear, nor think, nor love, nor appreciate the gratitude of those who think that through it blessings have come. How sadly would the true child of God reconstruct his method of worship ! We grow strong in faith, in affection, in loyalty by the very things which call forth the “Praise the Lord, O my soul.” But a dead, dull apotheosis of an unfeel¬ ing ideal is all that is left us in this new interpretation of Christianity. 7. In such a system of thought, there is no place for the refining of the child of God. For a principle can have no concern in the purification of the life and na¬ ture. Indeed, there is a subtle strain of repugnance to the Biblical doctrine of chastisement, which is so con¬ stantly declared within the sacred pages by these good people, who think they have a better Christianity than their fathers possessed. Those of us, who have known God in the fire, and have learned to sing our songs in the night, would not for any earthly substitute sur- 44 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST render the blessing we received through its purifying processes. 8. The fellowship of God with redeemed humanity, as established by our Lord and experienced by the believers of the New Testament history, has no part in the life of these deluded souls. If they can per¬ suade themselves that a principle can be so idealized as to become by the processes of thinking as real as a person, something might be attained. But there can be no comfort in such a mental configuration. Against it we might place the well-known words, “Our fellow¬ ship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” Is not the old way the better? 9. The Holy Communion, by which we show forth the Lord’s death until Jle come (I Cor. 11126) is ab¬ sent from these systems. For there is no one with whom to commune, save the humans about us; there is no death to commemorate, since there is no sin which made that death a necessity. And the “blessed hope” of our Lord’s return which burned in the breasts of the first Christians, must be relegated to the scrap-heap as a fantastic Jewish delusion. 10. The future life, which is the distinctive New Testament note, around which so many precious promises encircle, is not found in this philosophy of an impersonal god. The only resultant conclusion that is possible becomes the Buddhistic fatalism which em¬ braces Karma and the reincarnation of Theosophy. The Christian Scientist, the New Thoughtist do not cry in their ecstasy of expectation, “I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ.” They do not say of those who have gone, “they are ‘absent from the body’ but ‘present with the Lord’.” And for a good reason. THE LURE OF ALIEN VOICES 45 These cults are not a religion at all; they merely set forth an attempted scientific explanation of life. Chris¬ tian faith on the contrary, lives here as preparatory to the larger life which is to come. There is a flaw in these systems which only the keen- scented believer may detect. Once the personality of God is eliminated from the moral realm, doubtful mo¬ tives and practices may flood the life. We must not forget that this teaching is the curse of India; and has been pronounced rotten by an influential editor in that land. Caste, child-marriage and its attendant horrors, the suttee, which, though forbidden by English law, is still ingrained in the life of the race, have blunted the spiritual apprehension of the victims of the perversion. These special manifestations may not invade the circles of Occidental devotees; but there is grave dan¬ ger of the arising of parallel evils. Where there is no moral responsibility which derives its vision and in¬ spiration from the recognition of a personal God, the door of laxity in those things which we have been taught to esteem most sacred, may all too easily open. Some of us know with painful experience, of instances which prove the need of this warning. We plead that devout lovers of our Lord and of His truth shall qualify themselves to meet this widely spreading propaganda, which is sapping our churches and robbing us of precious souls. Let us be ready to save from peril of perdition, those who are on the verge of entering these false religions. Looking away from Calvary, the ground of their redemption, they are being allured into the by-ways of health for their bodies, peace for their minds and prosperity in their 46 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST temporal matters, unconsciously forgetful of that su¬ preme moment when they will be called to lay down their lives here, all unprepared for the coming day, sin-burdened, conscience-smitten, unreconciled, find¬ ing alas, that they have surrendered a vital faith in a living Lord and Saviour, and exchanged their blood- bought and eternal inheritance for a mess of earthly pottage. CHAPTER IV. CHRISTIAN HEALING IN THE CHURCHES. The Church has ever been conservative. All move¬ ments which have quickened and inspired its life have originated with individuals. The watchmen on the walls of Zion have had little sympathy from those whom they guarded, unless they were wont to utter with complacency, the desired sentence, “All’s well.” An enlarged vision has always been greeted with sus¬ picion. Dr. Cullis, in his day, received scant recognition from the Church, save as criticism or condemnation fell from the lips of those whom he would gladly have aided. Dr. Dowie, brooking no opposition, rather courted persecution, purposefully pouring oil upon the flames of detraction which burst about him. Dr. Simpson so graciously endured the adverse opinions of men that they eventually found little ground for disturbing him. Dr. Dowie alone of these three men, conceived the plan of a new church separating those who attended upon his ministry, from the Christian bodies from which they had come. Those who studied his mes¬ sage and methods could but anticipate this as the in¬ evitable result. Dr. Cullis did not found a church. And Dr. Simpson long labored to serve the Church by deepening the spiritual life of its members. Had the Church been wise, his heart-longing would have brought to it a wealth of life and devotion. But an- 47 48 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST tagonistic pastors and uncharitable parishioners readily froze out the consecrated Christians who had descried a new land of promise and possibility. So that in time, he was compelled to form a congregation to shepherd these outcasts of Zion. The fruit of this decision of Dr. Simpson is now seen in the well-ordered Gospel Tabernacle in New York City; and in the various tabernacles and Four¬ fold Gospel Churches in all the principal cities of the Union. The almost unbroken series of Conventions, held by the leaders of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, not only feed these churches (and where there are not churches, numerous prayer circles are weekly convened) but afford ground for the organizing of new churches, dedicated, as has already been noted, to the Four-fold Gospel. And in addition to building up these distinctive centers, created and fostered by the Alliance conventions, these gatherings are made channels of blessing to large numbers of hungry hearts in all the churches; thus fulfilling the purpose of the Alliance as an interdenominational society, seeking a broader field than its own organized churches and branches. So that we are able to state that all over the land (and in some parts of Canada) there is at present a church, apostolic in practice and missionary in spirit, which does hold to the ministry of healing. Its evangelists are at times urged by the people and constrained in their hearts to supplement the message of salvation by special teaching on healing. The re¬ sults of these ministries are variously estimated. The jubilant testimony swelling from the now popularly- known Bosworth meetings is mingled with the criti¬ cism of those who seek and find evident failure and CHRISTIAN HEALING IN CHURCHES 49 disappointment. So long as human factors contribute to both faith and skepticism, this will be. We may not discuss it. Our present motive is merely to set forth the demand of the people for a healing mission; and that this organization is committed by its consti¬ tution to meet that demand by methods consistent with the Word of God. Every judicious observer, charitably disposed, must allow that to eliminate from the Christian and Mis¬ sionary Alliance its healing features, would be to re¬ verse the current Dr. Simpson so devoutly set in motion. And its now consecrated leader, who has himself ex¬ perienced the power of God in his own body will not suffer this special service to the children of God to fail. For Paul Rader is a man of keen vision and pro¬ found conviction; he too sacredly realizes the weight of the mantle that has fallen upon his shoulders, to re¬ gard with lightness the responsibility he holds before God to keep the charge committed to him. Inquiries put to the leaders of the various Christian communions have elicited the information that the Anglican Church, embracing the Episcopal Church in the United States, is the only branch that is seeking to restore the apostolic practice of anointing the sick and the laying on of hands for healing. The Roman Church does administer “extreme unction.” But that anointing is for death; and given only when hope of recovery has evidently vanished. In this historical healing movement, members of the Episcopal Church have been foremost in supporting it. Both Dr. Cullis and Dr. Simpson reckoned them among their most devoted friends. 50 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST The services of the Episcopal Church are distinctly articulated by suggestions of the impartation of health and healing by the Lord in answer to prayer. Trained Churchmen are lovers of the Word of God, and readily yield to His revealed will. Accustomed to the familiar exhortation to prayer, where are the words, “and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul,” and in the service of the Holy Communion and in the various collects, combined with Holy Scriptures, to hear the body exalted to the realm of divine care, once the at¬ tention is directed to the Lord as the life of the body, they cordially respond to the truth of healing. The Rev. Dr. Henry Wilson, of sainted memory, remain¬ ing to the close of his life a minister of the Church, sought to teach Episcopalians, wherever he met them in the consecrated service he rendered the Christian and Missionary Alliance, that all that the Alliance pro¬ claims is within the covers of the Prayer Book. The Report of the Commission to Consider the Fuller Recognition of the Ministry of Healing, pre¬ pared for the recent General Convention of the Epis¬ copal Church reads as follows: “ Your commission confidently reaffirms these propositions: “ That God has infinite blessings of power in store for those who seek them by prayer, communion and active trust; that both the clergy and the laity of the Church have too often failed to turn to God with such complete trust as will draw those powers into full service; that Christ still fulfils, in Christian experi¬ ence, His power to give life and to give it more abundantly; that the faith which realizes His presence CHRISTIAN HEALING IN CHURCHES 51 is capable of creating a heightened vitality of spirit which strengthens and sustains the health of the body; that the body, no less than the spirit of man, was in¬ cluded in the work of redemption; that the restoration of harmony of man’s mind and will, with the divine will, often brings with it the restoration of the body; that the full power of the Church’s corporate interces¬ sion in this connection has been too little realized, and that confidence in the efficacy of prayer for restoration of health has not been sufficiently encouraged. “ Here, then, is the first great need of the Church today in the revival of the ministry of healing. She must renew and act more confidently and constantly on her faith in the power of prayer . . . and es¬ pecially in the power of her corporate intercession . . ., whatever the means of process by which the blessing comes.” The Province of the Pacific presented the following memorial to the Convention: “ Resolved: That the Church urge upon its Clergy and Laity the recognition of the following funda¬ mental principles of Christian Healing, “(1) That all healing, whether of body, mind or spirit, is divine in its character, and is the resultant of the life-giving Spirit of God. “(2) That distinctively Christian healing is the manifestation of that life through Christ, who hath life abiding in Him, and who quickeneth whom He will. “(3) That this life may operate indirectly through the healing agencies revealed to man in the science of material medicine and surgery, or directly in response to prayer and faith. “(4.) That these agencies are complementary in 52 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST their nature, the healing life of God operating in and through them and lifting all processes of healing to the plane of the Divine. “(5) That Jesus Christ in the midst of the sacra¬ ments and the ministry of the Church, the same yester¬ day and today and forever, is the medium of contact with that healing and redeeming life, forgiving the sin and healing the infirmities of believers. ,, In the other communions, the advance of Christian Science and kindred cults has compelled a modifica¬ tion of intolerance, through a forced readjustment of focus. So many are being drawn from the churches, and they uniformly of the best material, that a counter movement has become necessary. How to meet the situation has become a problem of amazing proportion and perplexity. The thing that has been impugned, now commands attention. Prudence sits on the seat where scorn had ruled. The clergy and their flocks are blending in mutual concern for the preservation of the Church from the evil of schism. And at present writ¬ ing, there may be found all over the Christian world, the recognition of healing as a part of the Christian experience. It is not always taught in the same man¬ ner. Psychotherapy mingles with the promises of God, at times; and spiritual clinics may be found more de¬ voted to intellectual processes than to the exaltation of the faith. But for that a decision has been reached and that some measure of response has been given to the appeal of the people for a place for God in their physical lives, we may be grateful. However, to endorse without modification the pre¬ vailing psychological methods would commit us to CHRISTIAN HEALING IN CHURCHES 53 what we are bound to regard as untrue to the spirit and method of the New Testament. While we may love and praise the men who are unselfishly seeking to bring health and gladness into other lives, we must ask that the imprimatur of the Holy Spirit shall be the ground of acceptance. Shall we relegate the incurables to utter helplessness and devote ourselves exclusively to the neurotics, the while claiming to reproduce the work of our Lord? This did not He. Shall we classify faith and modern psychological research in the same card index? When Dr. Samuel McComb asserts that “the gift of tongues was a mysterious psychological phenomenon; and that the phenomenon was the profound upheaval of the subconsciousness element of mind” he may be trans¬ lating New Testament experience into the modern nomenclature, but we may well wonder if the Holy Spirit of Pentecost is in accord with the definition. Are “crystal gazing,” “suggestion,” “hypnotism” to be ranked with the faith which our Lord Jesus enjoined and extolled ? Will a rationalistic explanation of faith produce the works of faith? Will the philosophy of prayer equal the dynamics of prayer? We contend that to reduce faith and prayer to psychological analy¬ sis is to sap both of the divinely promised potency. A beloved brother in the Lord was found possessed, in his college days, of the hypnotic power. Once after his ordination, he was visiting a city in which a former fellow-student was a pastor. For old-times sake, he went to the Sunday morning service, sitting in the con¬ gregation. His friend espied him through the crack of the almost closed door of his vestry. Sending the sexton for him, he confessed that he had not slept 54 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST during the night, and begged that he would put him to sleep for five minutes. Making the usual passes over him, my friend said, “You will waken in time to begin your service as fresh as though you had en¬ joyed the slumbers of a whole night/’ And so it came to pass. He officiated with a freedom which was a joy to him. When I asked my friend, “Why do you not do that now ?” he instantly replied, “God forbid; not since I have received the Holy Spirit into my heart and life.” This answer covers the entire field we are discussing. All the factors which are embraced in the systems which exalt intellectual methods are foreign, yea, antagonistic to the Spirit of God; even as we may see in the attitude of the Apostle in his statement of I Cor. 2:14, “ The psychical man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.” Let us have a fear, lest robbing the Holy Spirit of God of His sovereign rights, we deny the God we think we are serving. The movement in the Anglican communion re¬ ceives impulse from two outstanding personalities. The Rev. Henry B. Wilson, founder and director of the Order of the Nazarene, in the United States; and Mr. James Moore Hickson, of the Church of England, whose labors have been world-wide. Mr. Wilson has built up such a constituency in the Episcopal Church, that he is in demand for healing missions all over the country. The intense pressure under which he works, and the phenomenal amount of work he does make proof that the truth he pleads for has a vital grasp upon his own life. CHRISTIAN HEALING IN CHURCHES 55 He has written “The Revival of the Gift of Heal¬ ing,” “Does Christ Still Heal?” and “The Power to Heal,” besides numberless pamphlets combined with the issues of “The Nazarene,” his monthly paper. The testimonies that come from his efforts are abounding in grateful recognition, that not only the bodies, but the spiritual experiences of those to whom he has minis¬ tered have become enriched. It were but just to inter¬ pose here that as the people of the Episcopal Church were among the most ardent supporters of Dr. Simp¬ son, so the influence of the Christian Alliance has per¬ vaded the spiritual atmosphere to the degree that when a man of Mr. Wilson’s position and conviction makes his appeal, that influence gives him ready hearers in his own communion. For many Episcopalians have long read Alliance literature. Some of Mr. Wilson’s pronouncements command attention. He declares that “the doctrine that sickness and disease are sent of God as loving correction has had much to do with the decay of the ministry of heal¬ ing.” Again, “The faith that endures suffering as from God, and of higher value than the faith which seeks healing at the hand of God in accordance with Christ’s promise, is contrary to the Gospel; for it is utterly at variance with the teaching of Christ, and the value He placed upon the faith which inspired men and women to reach to Him for healing. He did not make light of it. He gave it the highest praise.” This trenchant challenge deserves and demands sincere thinking by those who are fondly embracing their sicknesses and incapacities, with the cultivated resignation that they are suffering according to the will of God. But Mr. Wilson goes further, “Our Lord did not 56 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST commend patierit suffering as from God, amongst those who appealed to Him even mutely. He rebuked disease as proceeding from a source antagonistic to His Father, who had anointed Him for this very mis- sion. ,, Again he says, “Disease is no more the expres¬ sion of the will of God than sin is the will of God.” “The man who turns to God in his pain, does it not because he has been punished by a loving Father, but because he has been struck by an enemy.” The ministry of this devoted servant of God is adapted to “all sorts and conditions of men.” Where he finds that faith is not adequate to stand alone, he offers the rite of anointing, with prayer, combined with what means may be employed. He believes that with the growth of this teaching, and with the increase of God-given faith and true spirituality, the use of means will “be reduced to the vanishing point,” where he thinks all conscientious physicians would like to see it. Still, Mr. Wilson advocates the study of physiology, hygiene and sanitation; and he admonishes the mem¬ bers of the Order of the Nazarene to “pray frequently for common sense.” In the revival which is spreading in the Episcopal Church, for the restoration of the apostolic rite of anointing and the laying on of hands for healing, the association of the sacrament of the Holy Communion will more and more become a factor. Some rectors urge the seekers for healing to attend the Holy Com¬ munion several times in preparation for anointing. I well recall that the beloved Dr. Henry Wilson always administered this sacrament ere he offered the prayer of faith for healing and applied the anointing oil. And this matter opens a new vision to those who CHRISTIAN HEALING IN CHURCHES 57 have not been educated in the Episcopal Church. The Lord’s Supper as a memorial only, does not satisfy Churchmen as fully interpreting its value. To them it has a sacramental import which extends to the exist¬ ing needs of the worshipper, spiritual or otherwise. This possibility has received from a source least ex¬ pected, a strong impulse. No Church sacramentarian could write more convincingly than does the Rev. F. F. Bosworth of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in his tract, “Discerning the Lord’s Body.” He be¬ lieves that when St. Paul charged the Corinthian Christians with being “weak and sickly” and that some had died (I Cor. n 130 ), it was because they had not received the life of the Lord for their bodies as they ate and drank the holy symbols. We note the fol¬ lowing quotation: “Thousands of Christians today, be¬ cause they have not been taught, are eating the Lord’s Supper without discerning the Lord’s body. That is, they eat the bread, not knowing that it is an emblem of the Lord’s body, broken for their healing. In other words, because they have not been shown their privi¬ lege of being healed, they have remained sick and weakly; and many have died. Thousands are in the cemeteries before their time for this reason; thousands of others are sick who can be healed.” When the Church of England restored the cup to the laity, after centuries of its withholding by the Church of Rome, the formulary of St. Paul in the eleventh chapter of First Corinthians expressed the mind of the Church as to the union of the life-giving power of the Lord Jesus for the inner and outer man in the Holy Communion. The phrases in the First Prayer Book of Edward VI (A. D. 1549 ) “The body 58 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ” “preserve thy body and soul unto ever¬ lasting life” are still in use, confirmatory of the prayer of the Apostle for the Thessalonian Christians in I Thess. 5 : 23 . And the assumption that physical life may be em¬ braced in the reception of the sacrament lies in the words continually used in the Invocation, “And we most humbly beseech Thee, O merciful Father, to hear us: and, of Thy almighty goodness, vouchsafe to bless and sanctify with Thy Word and Holy Spirit these Thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine; that we, receiving them according to Thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ’s holy institution, in remembrance of His death and passion, may be partakers of His most bless¬ ed body and blood.” The prayer of dedication which follows this paragraph contains the following: “And we earnestly desire Thy fatherly goodness, mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving ; most humbly beseeching Thee to grant that by the merits and death of Thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in His blood, we, and all Thy whole Church, may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of (His passion. And here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy and living sacrifice unto Thee; hum¬ bly beseeching Thee, that we, and all others who may be partakers of this holy communion, may worthily re¬ ceive the most precious Body and Blood of Thy Son Jesus Christ, be filled with Thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with Him, that He may dwell in us and we in Him.” A careful study of these words will leave us no CHRISTIAN HEALING IN CHURCHES 59 doubt, that however the life of the Anglican Church may have fallen below the standard here set, the truth has been embalmed all through the centuries, that the body of the believer as well as his spiritual nature was designed to be a recipient of the correlated results of the crucifixion of our Lord; and that beyond the merely commemorative character of the Lord’s Sup¬ per, He designed it to be a vitalizing force in the lives of those who, according to the Apostle, should receive it worthily. Mr. Bosworth emphasizes what the Church of Eng¬ land has ever stressed, that in order to discern the Lord’s body, there must be a spiritual adjustment to the mind and will of God. The current of life for our bodies, which is assumed in the sacrament, is checked if sin is not confessed and forsaken. And he, like Mr. Wilson, is positive that '‘None of God’s laws is more reliable and unfailing than His law of redemption. It is just as operative as the law of gravitation. I main¬ tain that God’s law for the healing of the body is just as absolutely dependable as for the soul.” The name of James Moore Hickson has almost become a household word in healing circles through¬ out our country. For many years he has ministered in the Church of England, reaching and helping thou¬ sands of men and women. He has lifted the poor out of misery; he has been used of God to bring Bishops and prelates to the feet of the living Lord for healing. He spent a number of months in the United States and Canada illuminating by his teachings and quickening by his touch many devout Christians of all the com¬ munions. The result of his visit has been the enlarg- 60 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST ing of the healing vision of the churches and the es¬ tablishment of healing centers. The mission of the man cannot be understood apart from the man, himself. He is a strange contradiction of what one would expect to find in one dedicated to such a work. Instead of a mystic, clothed in monastic garb, with pale face and deeply spiritual visage, we look upon a typical Englishman, in a conventional business suit, large in frame, stocky in appearance, with de’ep-set eyes, florid complexion, black hair and commonplace features. He would pass in a crowd for a commercial agent or a stockbroker. No one would deem him the man that he is. And in this lies the uniqueness of his call. He has no scholastic bearing and evidently possesses no scholastic culture. Indeed, he protests that learning is a hindrance to the exercise of healing faith, unless it is surrendered to the Holy Spirit. To make our Lord Jesus real in the life, one must be a child in knowledge; the realm of reason is a barrier, defeating the spiritual conquest for God. He contends just what we have already seen, that “the psychical man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God.” His heart is grieved over the refined skepti¬ cism prevailing in the Church everywhere. The bar to victory is the unbelief of the people. They do not lay hold of God; they do not open their lives to Him; they put Him far from them in their spiritual con¬ cepts of His personality and presence, of His blessed will and promised power. In an outburst of eloquent appeal, he cried on one occasion, “Give me the little child whose soul has not been poisoned with doubts and fears and questionings. Aye, let me have a sleep¬ ing babe.” CHRISTIAN HEALING IN CHURCHES 61 He testifies that he owes the genesis of his mission to his saintly mother, who taught her children to pray to God as to a real person, who has a tender longing to bless those who will trust Him. He certifies that they were all wont with untainted faith, to take every¬ thing to God in prayer. At the age of fifteen, two of his cousins were visit¬ ing his family. Feeling a deep sympathy for one of them suffering with facial neuralgia, the thought came to him, “Why not pray for her and lay your hand upon her face ?” Calling to her he simply said, “Let me put my hands upon your face where the pain is.” He knew nothing of the Scriptural provision for the lay¬ ing on of hands for healing, which makes the incident the more remarkable. He was not surprised that in¬ stantly she witnessed that the pain all left her. In a few days, her sister, afflicted with St. Vitus’ Dance, was taken with an attack. With the like simple faith, he laid hands upon her and prayed. The result was the same. His mother beholding the incidents, said to him, “Jimmie, God has given you a gift. Dedicate it to Him in humble faith and work as He directs you.” From that day, he has known no other pursuit. The signal honor which the Lord has put upon his consecration no earthly record can disclose. It was during the war, however, that he received his world-wide call. He had been greatly oppressed by the reverses that had come to England and her allies in 1915 , and he felt he must get far away from every¬ thing to pray. He was led to the distant island of Iona, where St. Columba landed, when he took the Gospel to the Scots. On his trip, his lot fell with an aged man who had been given up by medical advisers 62 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST in London. He had pleaded with his son to come for him that he might go home and die among his own kin. When Mr. Hickson learned of his condition, he told the simple story of our Lord’s power to heal. Without hesitation, the old man and his son accepted the teaching. And right there in the carriage, the heal¬ ing was bestowed. Arriving at their destination, the testimony of the man and his son set up a tide that grew into great proportions. From all parts of the Island they came, taking long and wearisome journeys. They could not make appointments. There were no telephones, and the most of the population could not write. So he would find them in the morning, pa¬ tiently sitting on the door-step or about the house where he lodged, waiting for his ministry. It was in¬ deed a reproduction of the days of our Lord and the apostles. So graciously did God honor that visitation, that he dedicated himself to the purpose to belt the globe, as the Lord should lead him. After his mission in America, he set forth to the mission fields. And most voluminous have been the attestations to the seal of God upon his undertaking. His labors are herculean. In the chancels of crowded churches, he will spend four long hours, praying with the sick, after ascertaining their ills, and counseling and strengthening them in their faith. Then will follow private visitations to the shut-ins. He does not anoint; probably with a Churchman’s regard for the ministry, he believes that should be done only by God's ordained servants. His great aim in these missions is to get the clergy into touch with the Lord that they may themselves minister in this healing realm. CHRISTIAN HEALING IN CHURCHES 63 He is a firm upholder of the teaching that the gift of healing has never been withdrawn; and that the present-day situation demands a return to apostolic practices. He feels deeply that the Christian Church has wounded the heart of our Lord by refusing to maintain the order which He constituted. And he insists that healing is as much the part of present-day ministry, as the preaching of the Word of God. Mr. Hickson answers the popular challenge that times have changed; that in this age we have skilled physicians and hitherto unknown remedies, by the stubborn fact that there are myriads whom the doc¬ tors confess they cannot cure. They are struggling on to eke out a wretched existence, doomed to drop in their tracks; they are languishing on beds of suffering or weakness; they are crowding the sanitariums; all piteously pleading for a deliverance which the Church is not bold to offer. “Has God no heart for such ?” is his pitiful interrogation. “Does He express a favorit¬ ism for those whom the doctors cure; and resign to life-long misery those whom they cannot?” In this aspect of the case he is most vehement. He shames the insufficiency of the Church that has helplessly stood by acknowledging and scarce deploring her im¬ potence. He contends that these were the very ones whom our Lord most touchingly pitied and readily healed. And Mr. Hickson maintains that it is in His heart to reach them now, through His faithful minis¬ ters and devoted servants. He urges that we should covet the incurable cases as a special burden and meet them with the triumphant faith which the New Testa¬ ment extols. And he insists that we cannot participate in this ex- 64 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST alted service, if we are moved only by a passing sym¬ pathy; that we are called by the Spirit of God to do the works of our Lord, in just the same way that He did and with the expectation of the same results. Obedience to what is evidently His mind and heart is our only source of inspiration and power. I believe that this one note is the most imperative of all his messages. And it must strike the soul of many a man who has been appreciative of healing, but not bold and aggres¬ sive. Against the fatalistic tendency to regard sickness as from the hand of God, and to be borne with patience and resignation, he has no weak and compromising attitude. He is tremendously unctuous that God is not, cannot be the author of disease. And he maintains with force that our Father’s will is that all His chil¬ dren shall be in health. But He does allow that, like the Corinthian Christians, many are weak and sickly because they are not in the will of God. And for such He must suffer the invasion of disease. The call, how¬ ever is not to resignation, but penitence, confession, amendment and conquest. Logically he declares that spiritual healing means nothing less than the inflowing of our Lord’s risen and exalted life into the physical beings of His own members. As He is the Head of the Body, the Church, any alienation from Him by un¬ spiritual moods, or methods of living must break the stream of life-bestowment. To this end, the conferred health of our Lord can come to the believer only through conscious fellowship with Him. This is Scriptural and rational. No one can withstand the appeal. Mr. Hickson admits the cures of the medical pro- CHRISTIAN HEALING IN CHURCHES 65 fession and advises that they who are helped thereby shall offer praise consistent with the benefits received. He does not believe his mission is enhanced by an¬ tagonism. This attitude has won many doctors to his side. For in according to them their rightful sphere, they reciprocate by allowing to him, what he has proven by countless instances to be his. Nor does he strike lances with psycho-therapy; for he is certified that mental and nervous disorders are often met by this system. But he does not consider that to be the Lord's way for those who have full faith. His confi¬ dence in the great-heartedness of God impels him to pronounce the memorable dictum, “God will meet you where He can find you; and He will give you as much as you are able to take." All that he insists is that the Lord Jesus shall be regnant in the life. At a recent session of the Church Congress, under the auspices of the Episcopal Church, when the mat¬ ter of healing was under discussion, the Rev. Dr. Worcester, founder of the Emmanuel Movement in Boston, made the following statement regarding Mr. Hickson: “Mr. Hickson's method must be modified. It must be adapted to our Church and to medical science. It would be a fatal and irremediable blunder to accept anything not based on scientific methods. Mr. Hickson would be a great power if he had a little scientific knowledge. I recognized at once that he was a psychic with extraordinary gifts." From what we have briefly discerned of Mr. Hick¬ son, his call, his spiritual methods and his consecrated ministry, we can see at a glance that to put him into the place of a psychic would contradict all that he de- 66 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST voutly believes has come to him from the Lord Him¬ self. As Mr. Wilson well says, “Placing Mr. Hickson as a medium, explains him away by making him more complex.” He would, in our judgment, be a Samson shorn of his locks, a David in Saul’s armor. Dr. McComb, associate of Dr. Worcester, as well at the Congress, emphasized Dr. Worcester’s position in the words, “Spiritual healing must be exercised under the oversight and with the counsel of the students of medicine. It is here that the great weakness of the Hickson movement reveals itself. It is significant that so far as I know, every attempt to continue Mr. Hick¬ son’s work along his lines, apart from his personal presence, has been more or less a failure. Of neces¬ sity this must be so, if our contention is right that his successes are due to peculiar gifts, however these gifts may be explained.” Now, because the psychological movement with reference to healing has so widely spread, brave men are trying to reconcile it with the New Testament ideal. Dr. Pym has issued “Psychology and the Chris¬ tian Life.” Our immediate study will be of another book, entitled “The Psychology of Orthodoxy.” The Rev. Elwin L. House, D.D., who has lectured exten¬ sively on this theme, and who has at length embraced his lectures in this volume, is down-right earnest in his hope of bridging the chasm. We may speak of Dr. House as truly orthodox. He believes in the working and power of sin; in the re¬ demption on Calvary’s cross for a lost world; in the presence of our Lord Jesus in the heavenlies, the glori¬ fied and exalted Son of God; in the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit, through whom the evangel of God CHRISTIAN HEALING IN CHURCHES 67 is to be made effectual in the lives of men. He has no mincing words with which to express his conviction of the reality of Satan; and of judgment upon those who refuse the proffered salvation which a loving God has given to the world. His chapters “The Psychology of Orthodoxy” and “Realizing God” deserve to be¬ come classics. Dr. House’s book has gone through ten, and by this time probably more printings. That he has struck a sympathetic chord one cannot question. He believes in the Lord’s healing, has seen it conferred under his own ministry. He pleads that his postulates will not be received by multitudes of Christian people. For notwithstanding the evident popularity of his message, through his lectures and the now published volume, those who know God in close fellowship, through re¬ demption and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, will halt before this well-intentioned purpose to marry what they devoutly believe God can never unite. Dr. House succinctly declares his position on pages 36, 37, 40, 41 in the following statements: “Many schools which practice healing are dangerous. They may be absolutely out of harmony with New Testa¬ ment teaching; and yet they may heal through the power of suggestion. And because they do heal, many good, yet thoughtless people who are healed, ac¬ cept the religion of such schools as true and God- approved.” “No amount of soul-growth or ethical culture can bring a man into the spiritual kingdom. Psychology will fail to transform men unless it begins with regeneration. The blood of the Lamb has not lost its cleansing power and never will lose it; and the Holy Spirit will never grow weary in the washing of 68 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST regeneration.” “The peril of the time is a Bible with its divineness struck out; a theology with sin denied or minimized or apologized for; the cross reduced to an object lesson; culture substituted for the work of the Holy Spirit; saintship made a matter chiefly of self¬ development; retribution a figure of speech, and the pit of corruption either filled up or spanned with a bow of hope. Now Christian psychology stands as the guardian of the supernatural. It believes that psychic processes are unable to account for the phenomena that arise out of the subconscious life of man. It believes that God’s Holy Spirit is the origin of all spiritual movements in this life of man. It recognizes the fact that the supernatural reveals itself through the natural and its highest expression is in human life. Being born of the Spirit is a supernatural process, and is the basis of all our claim for spiritual and bodily health/' I have italicized the doubtful sentence in this splen¬ didly expressed postulate. And the consideration of it deserves an humble and prayerful attitude. Can we be sure that the Holy Spirit of God is operating in those mental processes which mark the skilfully presented challenges of suggestion (where a superior mind works upon an inferior mind) or auto-sug¬ gestion, where the individual himself scientifically manipulates his thought spheres ? Does the Holy Spirit ask the guardianship of “ Christian Psychol¬ ogy ” ? What if this new thing be found to lead away from the truly spiritual realm, which Dr. House so enthusiastically exalts, into a cold intellectuality? If in adopting this nomenclature, and its scientific corollaries, its necessary culture (which thousands of simple-minded Christians would be unable to CHRISTIAN HEALING IN CHURCHES 69 grasp, but to whom faith is as clear as day), there grows around it so much that savors of the personally- analytical, self-sufficiency, the enthusiasm of human¬ ity, we wonder if Dr. House has successfully hit upon an advance which may prove a retrograde in God’s eyes. In the days of Dr. Cullis, before psychology as it is now taught had come to birth, one psychologist, in analyizing how Dr. Cullis could receive such large gifts for his work, in supposed answer to prayer, de¬ cided that the saintly man possessed the power of telepathy, which he projected towards those who had money; and they were compelled by this influence, though gladly, to make offerings to him. On page 73, Dr. House recites an incident in his own experience which shows his leaning toward this occult faculty; yet in his chapter on the Psychology of Prayer, the nine excellent points he treats do not betray his sym¬ pathy with Dr. Cullis’ critic. However, on pages 211, 212, he declares that ‘The greatest discovery in the scientific world is the revelation of the subconscious life. It is in this subconscious life that our scientists are discovering the reserve power of the race and an answer to the mysterious workings of suggestion upon the mind. It is this subconscious, superconscious region of our personality that opens up a hitherto un¬ discovered country, where God abides and where we live and move and have our being in Him.” The head¬ ing of the section in which this paragraph is found reads “The psychology of prayer shows it to he power¬ ful auto-sugge stion/’ Now, let us plead with Dr. House that this “hith¬ erto undiscovered country” was not known to those 70 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST “who through faith wrought righteousness, obtained promises, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens’' (Heb. 11 : 33 , 34 ). The men of God who gave us the Word of God by their devotion to truth, needed not this novelty. The Christians to whom the Apostles wrote did not require the pipes of psychology to con¬ vey to them the resurrected life of our Lord Jesus. But Dr. House knew full well that he would not get a hearing if he should follow the old and tested lines. The present generation is itching for the adaptation of the faith to modern modes of thought. And like a wise fisher of men, he has caught with guile those who otherwise would have turned him down. But in the last analysis— What? To us who know the joy of self-surrender, who love the simplicity that is in Christ (II Cor. ii 13) there is a sure refuge from the perplexing mazes of psychol¬ ogy in the “casting down of imaginations and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ’’ (II Cor. 10:3-5). For, we “are dead and our life is hid with Christ,” “that in all things he might have the pre-eminence” (Col. 3:3; 1:18). “I live and yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20) asks no guiding hand from this new and alluring as¬ sumption of equality with the potentialities of the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever (I Peter 1:25). CHAPTER V. HEALING PROBLEMS AND PERPLEXITIES. If faith were uniform and always victorious, there would be no room for questions in the realm of heal¬ ing. There were no failures when our Lord worked signs among the people; nor were the apostles uncer¬ tain as to the results in their ministry to the sick. We are confronted by perplexities which well-nigh para¬ lyze our confidence. Some have given up the belief entirely, and resigned themselves to utter indifference. Others are certified that there is healing in the truth of God, which reaches the entire man; and that it be¬ comes the children of God to get as close to it as possible until greater light is vouchsafed and fuller power is conferred. Many of the problems in this chapter have been pre¬ sented to me by sincere inquirers for the truth of heal¬ ing, during the forty years I have sought to know and teach God’s will regarding this doctrine. I must beg that the utmost consideration be accord¬ ed where the solutions offered may not harmonize with the concepts and personal experiences of those who hold divergent convictions. Let us dwell in the thir¬ teenth chapter of First Corinthians and allow for “di¬ versities of gifts” and “differences of administration, but the same Lord;” “diversities of operation, but the same God;” “all working that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will” (I Cor. 12:4, 5, 6, 11). 71 72 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST Why divine healing anyway f It has always proven a storm center. The old Gospel is good enough. If there were no healing movement in the present day; if the alien cults were not setting up rival prac¬ tices, under the name of our blessed Lord and draw¬ ing away from the Church precious souls who are be¬ ing beguiled by heathen perversions, we might readily surrender to the judgment of this questioner. We are all lovers of peace; and the divisions which mark the different healing schools, as well as in other doctrinal spheres, are heartrending. There is no such thing as unity in the Church today; and alas, there is little de¬ sire for it. But does the propounder of this interroga¬ tion realize that our Lord postulated the very condi¬ tion which he criticizes? “I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). When the apostles preached at Thessalonica, the unbelieving Jews cried, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Acts 17:6). Certainly they did disturb the peace of the populace. But that was just what they were commissioned to do. In view of the conditions noted, it would seem that St. Paul’s protest in I Cor. 11 :i9 were pertinent to the problem, “There must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” As though St. Jude were beholding the very days in which we live, he wrote, “Contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). The matter is in the air and our repudiation will not im¬ prove the situation. Let me ask, if the Lord were to visit His Church with a wave of healing power, would this questioner be in anywise fitted to receive it. And though it were not to come, are not they, who love the HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 73 doctrine, who have had experience of its truth, plac¬ ing themselves before God in that fitting attitude which is pleasing to Him? How much of the Old Testament may the New Testament believer appropriate? In no realm of thought is this question so often put as in that of healing. Promises to the Israelites, it is claimed, rest upon conditions which do not now exist. They were assured temporal blessings, while ours are spiritual. Their vision was earthly; our is heavenly. A reasonable survey of the contrasting situations will solve the problem. Yet we must not forget that the entire Old Testament is embraced in the Apostle's congratulations to the Corinthian Christians, “They are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (I Cor. 10:11). So also Rom. 15:4, I Peter 1 :i2, 25. If man shall not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4), then “all the promises of God are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” (II Cor. 1:2o). I do not understand what you mean by “divine life for the body.” The alien cults are telling us that there is a cosmic life which is the property of those who will apply it to their use. It is not available to others. Such have a life; but it is not the cosmic life. Likewise other definitions of this life indicate it as the universal life, the harmonious life. But the adherents of the teach¬ ing insist that it will respond only to those who put themselves by thought and desires, into its beneficent 74 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST currents. We show to men the better way. When our Lord Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God, He was made Head of the Body, which is the Church, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all (Eph. 1:18-23). If we are complete in ,'Him (Col. 2 :g, 10), then the life which is His may be ours, if we choose to appropriate it. But while the cults obtain their victories by men¬ tal orocesses, our life in the Lord Jesus is by personal fellowship with Himself. It is not too much to say that streams of life flow from the glorified body of our Lord, which are at the disposal of those who walk in the light with Him and trust Him for this provision. They who do not see this aspect of truth may deem fanatical those who do. But the test lies in the recog¬ nition of it, and then in the obedience which makes every thought amenable to |His will (II Cor. 10:3-5). But healing may not be the will of God for all God's children . Many saints have shown beautiful lives in an accepted resignation to permanent invalidism. I must lovingly take issue with my good friend, Rev. Rowland V. Bingham, in his book “The Bible and the Body/’ where on page 34, after he has acknowl¬ edged the marvelous healing of Mary Reed, who had contracted leprosy in India and returned to give her life to the lepers of that land, he contrasts her healing with the triumphant death of Mr. Davis, who “while dying of that dread disease, blessed more people than if he had been healed.” To Mr. Bingham’s query, “Which of these glorified Christ most?” I offer an interrogation. Who can tell the measure of God’s glory ? Who knows what is the more pleasing to God? Was not our Lord Jesus antagonized by the HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 75 presence of disease wherever He met it? Had He not been anointed by God with the Holy Ghost for this very conquest (Acts 10:38) ? Mr. Davis has gone on; his joyous death, after all his members had been affected with this loathsome disorder, ushered him in¬ to a well-merited fellowship with his Lord. But a re¬ cent letter from Mary Reed tells us of her jubilant life of service, while she sings out her happy hours in soul¬ ful praise for her healing and the prolongation of her days for the service to which she has dedicated herself. Mr. Davis died a victim of the enmity of him who exercises the power of death; Mary Reed, healed over twenty years ago, still lives to magnify Him who over¬ came that power (Heb. 2:14), for the deliverance of His own. Bella Cooke, who for over thirty years was bed¬ ridden, and whom I knew personally, whose sick-room was a shrine for the children of God from all parts of the world, is frequently quoted by those who depreci¬ ate the truth of healing. Fanny Crosby likewise is mentioned. In my contacts with her, I never heard that she even desired healing. I am not sure that it was even proposed to her. Bella Cooke was wont to say, '‘When the Lord sends the faith, FU be healed.” And she rested herself in that position. But cases like that of Mr. Davis, Bella Cooke or Fanny Crosby are extraordinary. In answering the question, therefore, we may eliminate exceptional in¬ stances, where God has had special purposes in mind; and apply ourselves to general aspects of the problem. We have all seen resignation overworked; and what is humanly determined to be the will of God may be proven in the final assize to have been a delusion. 76 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST Confessedly, there is an infatuation in invalidism which weaves a spell over those who have sought and received resignation grace. We may not doubt that God will give it to those who wish it; since there is nothing better He can do. But they become so accus¬ tomed to the atmosphere of the sickroom, that they have not the courage to strike for freedom, and faith for healing is atrophied. We cannot help contending that resigned invalidism is a bondage, however beauti¬ ful they may be who exercise it in the acceptation of a settled destiny. They are not claiming their cove¬ nant rights in the expressed will of God. Let us look into the matter. Our Lord Jesus did His Father’s will in the ministry of healing (John 4: 34; 6:38; 8129. Acts 10138). Has that will changed ? Is He as much glorified now in the healing of suffer¬ ing humanity as then (Matt. 9:8) ? But, what is the will of God for His own? The answer lies in an oft- repeated text, “If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us” (I John 5:14). Does this imply that the will of God is a caprice? Is this a “weather¬ cock promise”? But, what is His will? It is His pledged Testament, His New Covenant; it ; s His Word. We shall have what we will, if our lives are squared by His Word (John 15:7). Dr. Simpson used to say, “If we would receive life through the Word, we must live our lives by the Word.” If the Word of God is to work effectually in us who be¬ lieve (I Thess. 2:13), it must be received as the will of God for us. Do let us get rid of the misconception. The will of God which we are to learn to understand (Eph. 5 : 17 ) is our highest good, our glorious free¬ dom, our fullest destiny. HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 77 So we have the Scriptural authority to say to all invalids, “Look for deliverance, despite every symp¬ tom to the contrary. Be as strong in your confidence in His good will, as you have tried to be patient in ac¬ cepting your fate. Do not forget that those whom our Lord healed had in many instances been resigned to their doom, until He aroused in them a new hope. God is not partial that you should be bound, while others are enjoying liberty. Get the highest motive for ask¬ ing, which is His glory and delight, and keep on be¬ lieving; keep on rejoicing; keep on expecting the sal¬ vation of the Lord.” The mind of the Spirit is that the children of God should be daily looking for the coming of the King. We do not falter by the temptation to wonder why He delays. We have naught to do with that. Our part and privilege is to watch and wait. He places a premium upon the attitude of expectancy. If we translate into our lives the preparedness for His ad¬ vent which He loves to find in His own, into the realm of healing, we shall be nearer to our conquest than if we sink supinely into a state of fatalism, which blindly, dumbly and in paralysis of faith expects nothing for tomorrow but the repetition of today’s suffering. Then, there may he a possible difference between the healings conferred by our Lord and the health which we may expect from His glorified Body? A wise question. In His earth-life, He healed to prove His Deity-Sonship and to express the pity of the Father for a suffering humanity. All the re¬ corded healings in His life were immediate (the one exception only being progressive—Mark 8 : 22 - 25 ); 78 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST while in our day, healings are more often gradual. In His ministry, compassion was the moving factor; now, He may have a deeper purpose ere He can reach us for physical salvation. I recall an experience of my dear friend, Max Moorhead. He had gone to Pastor Stockmayer’s Home in Switzerland, greatly needing health. While the Pastor was conventionally kindly to him and everything was done for his comfort, there was no approach to the expected session of prayer. Day after day, the saintly man of God made inquiry as to his being cared for, but not a word was said as to his healing. Finally, a heart-searching began; and Mr. Moorhead saw that the keen perception of the skilled doctor of souls had detected a deeper need than the physical. Just at the proper juncture, Pastor Stockmaver entered his room to intercede on his be¬ half, and his healing began. Occasionally, the newly converted receive wonder¬ ful and permanent healing, the fresh and unquestion¬ ing faith which has been quickened in them calling for all that the Lord may do for flesh as well as spirit. But the ordinary conferment of health in our day comes to the believer through the purification of the life, the dedication of the talents and by fellowship of the believer with his Lord. As these factors be¬ come operative, the channels of the being become un¬ clogged and His own life inflows. What we have said of our Lord applies to the min¬ istry of the apostles. The healings which they effected as recorded in the Acts, were in attestation of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. A distinct aim was presented (Acts 3:12-18; 4:10, 33; 5:29-32; 9:34, 42). But later, the complex character of the Christian HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 79 Church demanded another method and process. The Corinthian Christians were affected bodily by their sins; they had lost life by their perversions; there was but one course— to get right with God . If they would thus judge themselves, they would not be judged of the Lord; if they failed to do this, He would chasten them, that they should not be condemned with the world (I Cor. 11:28-32). The Apostle’s own experi¬ ence illustrates the teaching. He was divinely hum¬ bled by the presence of the messenger of Satan, which distressed his flesh. He sought, as he had the right to do, a complete deliverance. The answer which the Lord gave him fully satisfied him. He would take life from his Lord, and glory in his infirmity because of the abounding grace which he should receive (II Cor. 12:7-10). He found, as many are now doing, that such a dependence upon the Lord for daily sustenance is better than entire emancipation. Many cannot see this; many pray against the compulsion. But the dear Lord wins the victory in the end, if we are sincere with Him; and our freedom lies in our very bondage. True, there are those, who like Mr. Hickson, have received the gift of healing for a life’s ministry. And they have the witness oft-times of immediate and com¬ plete restoration. But the common experience of be¬ lievers lies in the pathway I have indicated. For the glory of God in this unbelieving age, faith has to battle for its very existence. Conquests are the more diffi¬ cult of attainment. We live in an atmosphere of ecclesiastical doubt, of individualism exaggerated to the point of separatism, of suspicion by those who should be sympathetic, of complacent indifference by the rank and file of believers. This is vastly different 80 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST from being “all with one accord” (Acts 2:1). Con¬ sequently, challenged by the triumphant achievements of the alien cults, the Church of Christ must depend upon those who will go with God as far as they can; and submit, as they must, to bufferings for which they are not responsible. Many who were signally healed in the beginning of the movement anxiously ask why they are not as readily and effectually healed at the present. What are We to say to this? All movements have their virgin strength. As the years advance, the methods and experiences then dis¬ closed, seem, because of the weaknesses of humanity, to change. We are disposed to become more absorbed in the technicalities of faith than the victories of faith. When we move out of the simplicity which marked our first conquests; when we are tempted to treat faith by intellectual processes; when we think (and sincerely) that we believe as we did in the beginning, but probably do not, there is apft to reside in us a spiritual inertia, of which we are not aware. We cer¬ tainly know that the maintenance of all-conquering be¬ lief is a most difficult undertaking, in the face of the waves of adversity we must meet and the difference in ourselves of which we are not conscious. All leaders in religious work have the problem in other than the healing realm. I have tried to meet the difficulty in the little tract, “Triumphs and Test¬ ings.” And I believe that those who are baffled and storm-tossed on this matter can do no other than put themselves afresh into the hands of the Lord for the best He can do for them, resisting the temptation to HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 81 despair of the will and power of the Lord to heal again, though the environment, impulse and potency seem so different. Providing one exercises the fullest faith of 'which he is capable, and healing does not come, what then f If what we have noted is true that the will of God is that His children should be in health (both Mr. jHickson and Mr. Wilson contend for this), to sink supinely under the defeat of faith would contradict the evident teaching of the Word, and reverse the con¬ sensus of judgment of those who make that Word their study and inspiration. God has been pleased at times to heal those who came to the place of quiet release from the struggle of faith and entered the rest of abandonment to Him. An illustration might be used in the case of Caruso, the great tenor. When the physicians found that oxygen failed to support his fast-ebbing life, they ad¬ vised that he should receive “extreme unction” from his priest ere he should close his days. There was no faith for healing on the part of the priest; and Caruso, himself, exercised none. But to the surprise of all, he began to improve, and ultimately took his happy trip to Italy, from, which he sent word of expecting to re¬ sume his concerts in America. His death there was the result of infection, which had no immediate bear¬ ing upon the incident we are noting. When his medi¬ cal advisors were challenged to make some explana¬ tion of the reversal of their sentence concerning the brevity of his life, they excused themselves on the ground that very likely as soon as he resigned him¬ self to die, the life forces were liberated and asserted 82 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST their activity; that so long as he struggled to recover, he crippled his vitality. Now, if we will transfer this illustration to the higher realm which we are considering, we may see that our Lord may be able to do much for us when we enter the rest of faith. Struggling for victory can paralyze our faith. While we are to regard the hos¬ tile agencies which dispute our advance in this realm; while we are to take unto us the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:10-18), there may be conquest for us when we definitely commend ourselves to our gracious Lord, translating Hezekiah’s prayer (Isa. 38 : 14 ) into the loftiest realm of exultant confidence. If we recognize our adversaries, holding the ground between us and our triumph, the Lord may be calling us to the place where Joshua stood in his impotence (Zech. 3:1, 2) ; to the mind of Michael, trained in the ways of God (Jude 9). Let us never give up the hope of bestow- ment. Let us look for it daily, count upon it, live for it, die (if needs be) in confidence of it. Thus may we honor Him with a full trust in His good will, of which, we may be sure. He takes glad cognizance. It is when we submit ourselves to the Lord that we re¬ sist our enemy (James 4:7). “/ do not believe that it was the Lord’s will that he should be healed” When Mr. Hickson and Mr. Wilson urge that it is the will of God that His children should be in health, they base the assumption on the essential character of God. To be the God He is, loving a lost world, giv¬ ing His Son for its redemption, crowning His Word with innumerable promises of healing, any lower con- HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 83 cept of Him would be dishonoring to Him. We can all agree to this. Now if in any individual case, this postulate of God is not squared with our experience, we may not be able to appraise the situation according to the divine method. So long as we are bound by the limitations of the flesh-life, dominated by human standards, influ¬ enced by an atmosphere of skepticism, both in and out of the Church, we must be circumscribed in our judg¬ ment. The problem encircles around the question, At what time in our fight of faith, shall we yield and say it is not the will of the Lord to heal? We can no more set the hands of God's clock than we can compel His working by human force, in response to our behests. In standing with Mr. Hickson and others in the con¬ viction of the will of the Lord to give deliverance to pis children, I must plead that my longing is to eman¬ cipate thousands of Christians from the fatalism into which they have fallen by giving up the conflict and sinking supinely into an impotent resignation. Many years ago, a friend, Miss Annie M. Williams, a trained nurse, was kicked in the breast by a patient in delirium. Eventually, a lump forming on the spot, with accompanying pain, she reported to the surgeon of the sanitorium in which she was engaged. He ad¬ vised an immediate operation. To this she consented. After the wound was healed, she discovered that con¬ ditions had not improved. Appealing to the surgeon in great dismay, he replied, “When we opened you, we found a fibroid tumor which runs under your arm; since we had not anticipated this, we could not, on our professional honor, amputate your arm; we had not 84 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST asked your permission.” “And, what now ?” she ques¬ tioned in terror.” “That is for you to say,” was his reply. Immediately after, she made us a visit, to tell of her awful future. I was led to say to her, “Annie, this is a case for God.” She was not pleased with the idea. Her professional life had made her a ma¬ terialist; and she could not get into a frame of mind consistent with my appeal. All I could do was to urge that she seek the will of the Lord. Unknown to us, she later attended a healing meeting at the Gospel Tabernacle, New York City, and came forward for prayer and anointing. There was no change as the weeks went by. Finally as Christmas Eve arrived, probably three months from the time of her visit to us, she reverently said, “Lord, I am going to take my healing from Thee for my Christmas gift.” About one o’clock in the morning, she was awakened by the most wrenching pain she had yet experienced. In¬ stead of yielding to the mortal tendency to give up in despair, she exultantly cried, “O praise His name; He is pulling it out by the roots.” She did get her Christmas gift. Soon, the pain entirely subsided and the swelling reduced. Ultimately she returned to her nursing and for thirty more years she worked con¬ tinuously with that arm entirely normal, retiring at the end having rounded out an exceptional career in length of time and quality of service. Now, can we not see that any other attitude of mind would have resulted in defeat ? And if we agree with Miss Williams in “calling those things which be not as though they were,” are we qualified to tell what God’s will may have been, in any case where the atti¬ tude was the same and yet where the victory did not HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 85 come? Personally, I should hesitate most reverently to decide what the will of the Lord might have been in any case similar to that which led to this discussion. Is it not more consistent that we as children of God, who would have the love that “believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things/' should main¬ tain, in the face of all obstinate denials presented by human experience, that God cannot be less affection¬ ate to His heavenly household than an earthly father would be to his offspring? Let every father-heart and mother-heart put this to the test. The great issue before us is that by our determin¬ ing what the will of the Lord may be in any special instance, we open the door to faith-paralysis. If we arrogate to ourselves the authority to check up His failures to the account of a will not to heal, which im¬ plies that He is partial to some, and turns His favors from others, we cannot be fitted to inspire believers with the faith that will win victory. The Apostle saw in the impotent man at Lystra, “faith to be healed/' But he would not have made that discovery if there had been in his own heart a question that God might not heal him. We may allow that those to whom the gift of healing is imparted may have a spiritual sense that tells them that healing will come at that time in one case, and that it will not similarly come in an¬ other. But that does not enter into our disquisition. We are speaking of a fundamental truth. Does God long as much for the well-being of His spiritual chiL dren, as He longs for the salvation of a lost world ? “In many cases , the Lord’s children, disappointed because of their failure to receive what they had been 86 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST taught was their Christian heritage t have been driven to despair and spiritual darkness This comes from an observer who has watched the movement, he claims, with sympathy. In a recent number of the Churchman (Episcopal), an editorial deals with this matter in the following words: “Mr. Hickson’s theory and his practice, based upon his theory, that all diseases are curable by faith and prayer, are flatly contradicted by every¬ thing that our best medical authorities know and believe. His doctrine is highly dangerous. For persons coming to him in full faith and of the spirit of prayer, seeking deliverance from some organic malady, and finding none, are in danger of losing their enthusiastic belief in the spiritual world, which is the basis of the spiritual life.” We shall have occasion, later on, to quote Monsieur Coue of Nancy, France, who in his metaphysical practice, claims that organic diseases are even more easily cured than nervous or functional complaints. And this utterly without faith or prayer. The editor of the Churchman will have somewhat to learn from this astute Frenchman, who for thirty years has been sending thousands of medically-consigned incurables from his clinic demonstrably delivered from their physical bondage. But our present purpose is to look into the question of the ship-wrecking of faith through failure to se¬ cure healing. Our witness will be the Rev. H. P. Almon Abbott, D. D., rector of Grace and St. Peter’s Church, Baltimore, Md., who answers the editor of the Churchman: HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 87 “As one who has exercised the healing ministry for three years, let me make this guaranteed as¬ sertion. The sick, who are not, in accordance with God’s will, healed of their physical sickness are not cruelly disappointed. Out of 3,100 in¬ dividuals dealt with in my own parish, each case personally investigated afterward, only one soli¬ tary person expressed disappointment. Thirty- two per-cent were physically benefitted; all others, together with the thirty-two per-cent, expressed a keen sense of spiritual uplift and blessing. God knows how to deal with those who seek His help; and He never sends any one, sincerely seeking, empty away. Be quite sure of that.” Let us view the problem from three angles. There must be a comprehension, simple, rational and Scrip¬ tural. First, if healing is not their Christian heritage, then God is a respecter of persons. For some are healed, unquestionably. We cannot think of our loving Father in this light. Second, Not all Christians are ready for healing. Many are far from being so. Perhaps the danger lies in an indiscriminate presentation of the truth. Heal¬ ing is not to be pressed upon those who have not been taught by the Holy Spirit what the truth of healing is. Christian Scientists and their confreres of kindred schools are insistent in their propaganda. But we must not be. Until the mind and heart are illumined, until the barriers are removed, it may be unwise to even present healing. As to the mass of Christians, there may be much for God to burn out of their lives ere He can reach them. 88 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST Third, When one fails to receive healing, this is not to plunge him into “despair and spiritual darkness.” The very disposition to so regard the failure is evidence that he was not ready. The true believer is not a man who can be shaken in his faith because he does not receive. For he seeks not things, but God. Let those who have thus made “shipwreck of faith,” go to the Throne and ask, “What saith my Lord unto His: servant?” Much that is thought to be faith (at least in healing meetings where feeling runs high), is what Mr. Wilson calls “crowd-psychology.” It is to be feared, because of its temperamental character. Let the seeker, wholly yielded to God, lay aside all long¬ ings for healing, and cry, “I want Thee, dear Lord, only Thee.” If there is any possibility of failure, why have heal¬ ing meetings at all? God ordained that teaching shall be given to com¬ panies. If one has a testimony, there must be some one to hear, else God is not glorified. So, if there is anything in healing, the people must be gathered to¬ gether. We do not cease preaching the Gospel to as¬ semblies because all do not accept it. Does any one suppose, in the present state of unbelief respecting this truth, that in every instance healing will be given to those who present themselves for healing? That would be a most remarkable situation. The best that can be hoped for is that God will glorify Himself to the fullest extent of His ability, qualified as the at¬ mosphere is by the idiosyncracies of men. “Is healing in the Atonement? ,J HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 89 Dr. Frank N. Riale, in his recently issued The Divine Antidote to Sin, Sickness and Death, is a present-day champion of the doctrine of healing in the Atonement, pe presents an array of testimony which delivers this teaching from the charge of being the hobby of an assumedly narrow set of bigots. He quotes Luther, who in his commentary on Galatians, remarks, '‘Through Christ we are made free from the law, sin, death and the power of the devil.” One would be far afield in thinking that Harnack, the German critic, would have any sympathy with healing, yet he has written, “Jesus does not distinguish rigidly between sickness of body and of soul. He takes them both as expressions of the one supreme ailment of society.” Prof. A. B. Bruce, who is not loth to lean towards modernism at times, allows that “Christ’s healing mir¬ acles are signs that disease does not belong to the true order of nature; a prophecy that the true order will be restored.” Dr. James H. Jackson, founder of the Jackson Sanitarium, declares, “There is no more rea¬ son for a saint being sick than a sinner. Jesus came to show us how God forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases.” More and more, this aspect of the healing problem is bound to come to the fore. We cannot offset, save by unreasonble opposition, the high tide of conviction, that the Lord Jesus, who died for our sins, is in a mys¬ tical sense the bearer of our sicknesses. When a de¬ vout believer in the truth of healing protests, “I refuse to endure what my Lord has borne for me,” let us be careful how we modify that assurance by our skeptical limitations. Dr. R. E. Stanton, a former moderator of the Gen- 90 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, gives the following in his Gospel Parallelisms : “It is my aim to show that the Atonement of Christ lays the foundation equally for deliverance from sin and for deliverance from disease; that complete pro¬ vision has been made for both; that in the exercise of faith under the conditions prescribed, we have the same reason to believe that the body may be delivered from sickness that we have that the soul shall be deliv¬ ered from sin; in short, that both branches of the deliv¬ erance stand on the same ground, and that it is neces¬ sary to include both in any true conception of what the gospel offers to mankind. The atoning sacrifice of Christ covers the physical as well as the spiritual needs of the race . . . Healing of the body is not, therefore, ‘a side issue’ as some represent it. It is no more this than the healing of the soul is ‘a side issue.’ They are both but parts of the same gospel, based equally upon the same great Atonement.” Bishop Charles H. Brent, of the Episcopal Church, affirms: “He who waives away the healing power of Christ as belonging only to the early New Testament times is not preaching the whole gospel. God was, and is, the Saviour of the body as well as the soul. He who in Jesus heals by stimulating spiritual faculties to appropriate health is not dependent on what doctors can do, nor helpless when doctors fail. God is not the last resort in sickness; he is the first.” James Moore Hickson pleads, “A living Church is one in which the living Christ lives and walks, doing through its members what He did in the days of His flesh. It must therefore be a healing Church, as well as a soul-saving Church . . .Spiritual healing rightly HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 91 understood is sacramental. It is the extension through the members of His mystical body of His own incar¬ nate life . . . He is the same, yesterday and today and forever, not only as the Great High Priest, but the Great Physician for every sickness of the race.” Turning to the consideration of Matt. 8:17, we refer to Thayer in his Greek-English Lexicon. He defines “bear” ( bastaso ) as to “take up in order to bear away; to put upon one’s self.” He cites Gal.. 5:10 where the word is employed to indicate a bearing of the “con¬ demnation of the judge.” We note that St. Matthew gives the fact of our Lord’s healing as fulfilling the pre¬ diction of Isa. 53 :3, 4. According to Lesser’s trans¬ lation the reading is: “He was despised and shunned by men; a man of pains and acquainted with disease . . . but only our disease did He bear Himself, and our pains He carried; while we indeed esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. Yet He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities . . . and through His bruises was heal¬ ing granted to us.” The disposition to contrast the word “bear” in Mat¬ thew 8: 17 with that of I Peter 2 : 24 ( phoreo ), where our sins are borne in the body of our Lord, grows out of a reverent cognizance that the Holy Spirit is scru¬ pulous in His choice of terms. To this we most cor¬ dially agree. But we must not forget that synonyms can be used. If the contention is made that St. Peter should have used the same word as St. Matthew did, and’ that the former employs a term which is always associated with redemption work, the challenging problem arises, Why do they both refer to the same prophecy, if they do not intend to teach the same truthf 92 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST In commenting upon Dr. A. J. Gordon’s affirmation in the Doctor’s book, The Ministry of Healing, wherein he says concerning this question, “We hold that in its ultimate consequences, the Atonement affects the body as well as the soul of man,” Rev. R. V. Bingham ( The Bible and the Body, p. 15) remarks, “To that statement no orthodox theologian will take exception; nor with the further argument that it is possible that there are present benefits that flow from the Atonement made for our sins, which affect in some measure the health and healing of the body.” And after Mr. Bingham has offered objections to what he sincerely believes to be errors in the presentation of the doctrine, he con¬ cludes (p. 50), “We do not want to leave Matthew 8:17 without pointing out that in this verse we are as¬ sured that there is a Saviour who entered into our sor¬ rows and sufferings, who is sympathetic and touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and who is able to heal in His own way and in His own time those who for His glory He sees fit to restore. There is nothing in this sense that changes the picture given us in the Old Testament of Jehovah Rophi, the Lord the Healer. We believe that He has not abrogated the Old Testa¬ ment covenant of healing, nor has ceased to work through nature for the restoration of His people, and when needed, in the supernatural. Moreover, when sickness is the result of sin, in His atoning work for our sins we have the assurance of His willingness to cleanse, and with the cleansing we may look to Him for healing.” This passage, fully consonant with the position of Dr. Riale and other thinkers, affords us the comfort that we need not eradicate from the Gospel this essen- HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 93 tially important healing passage. The problem, which will always exist, lies in the measure of appropriation, the degree of faith and in the leading which differen¬ tiates between the natural and the supernatural. Have we any authority to apply Rom. 8:11 to the healing of the body? A large number of believers in healing maintain that we have. Another question, however, is whether heal¬ ing or sustained health is the provision. Should Chris¬ tians wait until they are ill to prove this promise; or should the quickening be claimed day by day for physical freedom? In our study of this problem, we have to regard that of all the writings of the Apostle, the Epistle to the Romans is the most logical. The recognition of this is highly important. The constant use of “Therefore/' “Now then/’ “What then?” “Even so,” “But what saith?” “But if,” “Now if” “For if,” “I say then,” “Well,” confirm the contention. The eighth chapter of the Epistle illustrates the point. It opens with the announcement of our spirit¬ ual emancipation; then proceeds to the explication of our experience of fellowship with our Lord through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In verse io the dead body, so reckoned by the fact of sin, is subservi¬ ent to the Spirit of life. It is that body (death-doomed) which comes to view in verse 11, and which the Holy Spirit is to quicken. To assign the provision of this verse to the resur¬ rection period as many teach, would do violence to the very logical order which St. Paul so carefully observes. We do not reach resurrection experience until we have 94 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST come to the passage, verses 17-23. Then it is that the redemption of our bodies, identified with the liberation of Nature, will vindicate our faith in the assured “manifestation of the sons of God.” He is not guilty of careless tautology when in I Cor. I 5 : 5 2 "54» he employs the terms “corruptible” and “mortal.” On the contrary, he sees the fine discrim¬ ination between the two; and makes a masterly con¬ trast. Those who sleep, in verse 51, are they who have laid down their corruptible bodies. They who are to “be changed” dwell in mortal bodies. Clearly this body in which we dwell is mortal so long as we ten¬ ant it; when it dies it becomes a corruptible body. So then, at His coming, our Lord will raise from the graves, those who have died, and whose bodies have become corruptible thereby; and the mortal bodies of those who are “alive and remain” (I Thess. 4:13-18) will be changed, translated (Heb. 11:5). We may further observe that the word “mortal” is uniformly employed elsewhere to indicate the body in which we now tabernacle. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body” (Rom. 6:12). “For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (II Cor. 4:11). From the same word, thnetos, the Apostle uses thneton in II Cor. 5 : 4 , mor¬ tality, where the reference to the resurrection is asso¬ ciated in his mind with the translation of the living saints. There seems to be a corroboration of this discrimina¬ tion in our Lord’s own words to Martha (John 11 : 25 , 26 ). Here He declares to the grief-stricken sister of Lazarus, that He is the resurrection of those who HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 95 having believed have passed away; He is the life of those who await, and are privileged to welcome Him at His coming; of whom He says: “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” If therefore the logical position of the text we are considering excludes it from the time of the resurrec¬ tion, what shall we do with it? We are now in our mortal bodies. Are we justified in excluding the Holy Spirit from the quickening of those bodies which is here provided? If we are the temples of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 6:19, 20), is there any sound reason why, in the nature of the case, He should not be quali¬ fied to reach our flesh as well as the spiritual realm of our being? Let us get our answer from God. But are we not to understand that the divine refusal to remove Paul's thorn is evidence that the Lord does not will to heal all who seek healing? In this undertaking, I am endeavoring to show that there is a difference between absolute healing and the conferment of divine life for the body. Many believ¬ ers in healing have never been healed in the common acceptance of the term; but they know the power of the Lord to sustain them in the face of uninterrupted pain or weakness. If they are mistaken in their po¬ sition, authority to judge them will rest with those who do not possess their experience. St. Paul was the first of his class, to which they willingly belong. Most gladly would they be, as would he have been, immediately and effectively transferred from bondage to liberty. But they recognize, as he did, another purpose, which spells healing to them, as it did to him. The critics are far afield who urge that 96 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST he was denied his petition and therefore, we cannot expect to be favored above him. He was not refused his petition; for the Lord gave him what was as good as deliverance, by the constant measure of divine life which made him “more than conqueror” through Christ who loved him. We are learning his lesson in other ways and gladly. Who would not have hundreds of thousands of dol¬ lars to use for the work of the Lord ? What joy to see to our credit in the bank a great sum which we would be free to disburse for His glory! But the rule of God is to hold us down to small things, that we may depend upon Him daily. We are weak enough in our faith to pray better, “Give us this day our daily bread” when the store-room is well stocked. Yet, what con¬ quest has been theirs, who in the face of dire need have honored the Lord by answered prayer. May we not apply the lesson to the realm of healing? Is not the Lord as much magnified in our constant depend¬ ence upon Him for physical endurance, as when He gives us in one stroke of His power, complete emanci¬ pation from all need of seeking Him further for heal¬ ing? There are many dear saints of God who have no uncertain answer to this interrogation. So, let us have a right understanding of “Paul’s thorn,” which is so constantly confronting us. If there can come to us as much grace and sweetness as came to him; if the Lord shall be as precious to us as He grew to be to him, by the process which this experi¬ ence brought into this life, we may well determine that better than healing was the overmastering life he received. For he was one to whom was given the privilege of demonstrating to the Church the personal HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 97 experience of that great army of God’s own, “who out of weakness were made strong” (Heb. 11 : 34 ). And he has taught us out of the richness of his own victory, to die daily that we may live unto God in the life He bestows. But only those who dwell deep with Him can know this. For it means Gethsemane and Gol¬ gotha, ere the glorious resurrection life of the Lord can come to dwell within us that we may be “complete in Him” (Col. 2 : 9 , 10 ). If divine life for the body was a New Testament experience, Why did the Apostle leave Trophimus sick at Miletum (II Tim. 4:20) ? Why did Bpaphroditus (Phil. 2:2 7) nearly die? Why should Timothy be plagued with an ailing stomach and “ often infirmi¬ ties” (I Tim. 5:23)? There is a popular glamour over New Testament life and character, which grows out of our ideal that there must be found there the perfection of Christian stand¬ ards. But if we study the Epistles closely, we shall find that those who were called to be saints were very human, very weak and oft in need of chastizement. Because a man had the distinction of being mentioned as the companion or close friend of the great Apostle, we assume that he must have lived a charmed life. Now, let us get the matter simplified. There were all sorts of opinions and parties in the New Testament churches. It was the bane of St. Paul’s ministry that there should be such low estimates of faith and con¬ quest. Would not he and all those identified with him in the work of the Lord be affected by the currents against which they had to contend ? Even, as we have declared concerning our own day, so it was then, that 98 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST the unbelief of the many thwarted the faith of the few. The story of Trophimus is not all told. We do not read that he died of his malady. There may have been some reason why it was not God’s time to heal him when the Apostle left him, perhaps in a hasty depart¬ ure. The scene might be duplicated in hundreds of cases in our own day. How much our dear saints have to learn which only the quiet of the sick room or the tedious coming back to strength alone can contribute. We are not assured that we shall not enter the “ pit and the miry clay.” Else where would the new song find its inspiration (Psa. 40: 1-3) ? The cause of the serious break-down of Epaphro- ditus is set forth in the context. The Philippians had a lesson to learn. And sometimes God will permit His choice servants to fall under the yoke that others may be the gainers. Of course Epaphroditus was healed, as we see. Let us rid ourselves of our false notion that there existed in that day a mysterious healing ele¬ ment which made the children of God immune from the attacks of disease There was no repository of health, save as it came from the resurrected Lord. And the channel of conferment was not a whit differ¬ ent from our own access. That Timothy had a weak stomach and could not thrive on the germ-infected water which was provided in the community where he lived, touches us with the winsome naturalness of the New Testament history. While the promise had been made (Mark 16:18) that deadly drinks would not hurt those that should believe, we cannot assume that anyone would count upon that as a permanent experience. In our own day, we have had the witness from the mission fields of wonderful HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 99 escapes from death by the appropriation of this very provision. But not one of the conquering saints would think of making that a constant test of faith. If Timothy had to drink that water once, he might expect that the Lord would deliver him; but for a daily potion, the wisdom of his father-in-God (I Tim. 1:2) elects a more reasonable course. Just as with our missionaries in China, where unsanitary conditions for¬ bid the drinking of the water, tea is employed, so in an age when wine was regarded as much an accompani¬ ment of the daily diet, as our table beverages are with us, it would be quite consistent for St. Paul to offer this advice. And we may note that, in all probability, the need for the counsel arose from Timothy’s desire to be “ filled with the Spirit ” (Eph. 5: 18) for phys¬ ical life, rather than to take the chance of being drunk with wine. Note the words, “ use a little.” And as to his weak stomach and often infirmities, we are learning, as has been already suggested, that our God often holds His own in apparent bondage to these bodily conditions, in order that they may not be tempted to load their systems with toxic deposits which clog the tissues and lead to fatal disorder. “ Eat as little as you can, consistent with the maintenance of flesh and strength.” The Timothys are safe in this regard; and some of them are coming to thank God for it. How far are we to regard Satan as operative in the illnesses of God’s children, who look to the Lord for deliverancef That there would not have been any disease and death, but for the invasion in the Garden, of this subtle 100 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST being, there is no dispute. God is not the author of sickness, as we have already noted; to some other source we must look. The New Testament is not ob¬ scure as to the solution. See Acts 10:38; Heb. 2:14; Luke 13:16. Surely God had nothing to do with Job’s case (Job 2:7). So then, sickness is the product of sin. It is not essential that every ill should flow from a special trans¬ gression. But as sin is a universal malady, sickness is its consequent ally. There is a clear distinction in the Word as to this. Many times God’s people are found in bondage because they have departed from Him. But returning to Him with confession and the promise of amendment always resulted in recovery. We may be sure that, whenever the Christian of the present day is willing to follow the simple path of the Scriptural believers, he will stand more securely upon covenant ground for healing. Alas, we are apt to be so panic- stricken in the crisis that all thought of the relation of the calamity to our deflections from God is obscured. There is another aspect of the problem which de¬ serves notice; and all who walk with God know the experience full well. There are times when the op¬ pression of the powers of darkness is so evident, when the sequences are so manifest, that we cannot doubt an intentional attack upon the body with a view to thwart¬ ing some recognized call of God. Then, there should be a definite stand and a stubborn resistance. But we must be sure that we know this to be the case. Daniel was not only kept waiting for the answer from God, but evidently assaulted in his body when some super¬ natural being prevented God’s messenger from coming to him. (See Dan, 10: 1-19.) On the other hand, let HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 101 us have a care how we lay everything at the door of Satan. We do well to wisely regard this being, whom the Lord Himself called “ the prince of this world ” (John 12: 31; 14: 30) ; and whom St. Paul dignifies with the title, “the god of this world” (II Cor. 4:4). When Michael was compelled to oppose him, he was not free to use a railing accusation, but simply committed the matter to God (Jude 9). Likewise, humiliated Joshua stands helpless until the Deity answers his accuser (Zech. 3:2). In every case where we have reason to be¬ lieve that we have been attacked by our adversary, let us reverently hide behind the Cross; and submit our¬ selves to our conquering Lord, which will be the equivalent to resisting him. This is the secret of James 4:7. “ Matt. J: 22 , 2 $ makes provision for unsaved people wHo accomplish good in the use of the Name. How can this he explained? ” Reference to the passage discloses that our Lord establishes the will of His Father (v. 21) in the heart of all Christian service. It was His own passion (John 4:34; 6:38; 8:29). It was the test of discipleship (Matt. 12: 46-50). If we get at the evident will of the Father, we shall have our starting point. It is the will of the Father that we should believe on the Son whom He signalized at the baptism (Matt. 3:17) and the transfiguration and whom He perfected in the resur¬ rection (Matt. 17:5; Rom. 1:4). See John 5:38; 8:44-47; 17:8; I John 5:9-12, 20. The writer of the above question refers to the Chris¬ tian Science system of healing and others which vol- 102 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST ubly exploit the Name, but deny the Son. The claim made by these alien cults is that as good is done by their means, God is essentially behind their endeavors, blessing and honoring them. And the questioner is troubled. There would seem to be no answer. But while Christian Science is named Christian, Mrs. Eddy repudiates the Biblical revelation of the Son of God by asserting: “ Plato was a pagan; but no greater differ¬ ence existed between his doctrines and those of Jesus than to-day exists between the Catholic and Protestant sects.” In her declaration that in the man Jesus re¬ sided the Christ principle, she confirms the universal tenet of Buddhism that in all men are elements of divinity which are their birthright; and that in the case of the great teachers and prophets, Jesus and Moham¬ med included, the differentiation is only in degree. So that Christian Science relegates our Lord to the sphere of exceptional inspiration, but excludes Him from the unique Sonship which the Word of God demands con¬ cerning Him. This St. John insists is “ denying :he Father and the Son.” New Thought, Spiritism, and all allied schools take the same position as to the person of our Lord. Without entering into a discussion of their other deviations from the revelation of the Word, we simply rest the matter in this sphere of belief. These people are not doing the will of God as our Lord laid down in the law of discipleship. We say this ten¬ derly and with full warrant, which a clear and ex¬ haustive study of their entire systems will conclusively show. Our space will not allow more than this brief reference. If we seem bigoted, it lies with our Lord to defend us (in the day of which He speaks), from the charge of narrowness and uncharitable judgment. We HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 103 can never cease to love the people who embrace the teachings, while we recognize as St. John did, the pres¬ ence in the world of an anti-christian movement to simulate the very fruits of the Spirit. Never in the history of the Church has the environment of the New Testament life been so fully reproduced as in our own day. Tertullian in his age met the problem, when the same conditions were ripe for challenging Christianity to recognize and honor these very pretentions. We may quote him, as he descants upon the works of the Delphian sorceress (the Spirit of Python in Acts 16: 16) : “ Very kind, too, no doubt, they are in regard to the healing of diseases. For, first of all, they make you ill, then to make a miracle out of it, they command the application of remedies, either altogether new, or contrary to those in use, and straightway, withdrawing hurtful influences, they are supposed to have wrought a cure.” We may opine that in our generation this champion of the faith in the second and third centuries will be condemned for his dogmatism. But at the risk of the falling upon our precious heads of the same judgment, we believe he was right. In sundry places we are exhorted in the Word that the very works of Christian righteousness will be wrought by hostile powers to deceive the saints of God. And alas, the deception has now reached wholesale proportions. One must walk very close to God in these days if he would be guarded. Our Lord has warned us that even the elect will be tested (Matt. 24:24). St. Paul defines Satan as an angel of light, of whose devices we are not to be ignorant (II Cor. 2:11; 11:13-15). Evidently, then, if these statements are to 104 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST be taken seriously and in connection with the prophecy of the last days (II Thess. 2:7-12) which we com¬ mend to the prayerful consideration of devout believers of the Word of God, we may not hesitate to reach the conviction that the counterfeit of our Lord’s works will be the subtle attempt of the Adversary to win the un¬ wary and to confuse the loyal. His particular aim in the contacts he makes with mankind, is to deceive, imi¬ tate, disguise and beguile (Rev. 12:9; 20:3, 10, and kindred passages). Certainly, we have much difficulty in persuading intelligent Christians to accept this Bib¬ lical doctrine. But, the whole problem of present-day departures from the faith hinges upon the recognition of the workings of the powers of darkness. Even Christian ministers, in many instances are loth to be¬ lieve in the Scriptural presentation of the doctrine. We must plead that if at our Lord’s judgment seat, this truth be found to have been a delusion, they who have accepted it will have nothing to their discredit, for they can protest that they believed only that which was written. If, on the other hand, they who have repudi¬ ated the Biblical portraiture of Satan and his ministers, shall find in that great day that they were deceived, what can they say? Mrs. Eddy sweeps Satan off the stage with the declaration that such a being cannot exist; the other cults of a like nature take the same position. The psychological schools consider the the¬ ory (?) of a personal Devil as too childish to be acknowledged. If our Lord’s vision pierced the long- drawn perspective of the last assize, and beheld there a condemnation of those who under false colors operated their assumed works in His name, we may be wise in cautiously silencing our doubts as to the HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 105 source of their deception, and accepting the evident mind which He disclosed, when He declared that He should then pronounce to those misguided dupes, “ I never knew you. Depart from me ye that work in¬ iquity.” Works of iniquity come not from God. And yet, while we must faithfully set before the people the dangerous character of these alien cults, which employ the Christian nomenclature and simu¬ late the Christian spirit, we must not forget that there are many in the ranks who are the Lord’s dear chil¬ dren. Much that they now believe was already taught in the churches from which they have emancipated themselves. They did not forsake the religious homes of their fathers on account of the interpretation of the faith, but for the benefit of healing and associated blessings. In the churches, the denial of the Son of God and the repudiation of Satan left them cold. The same denial and repudiation of these Christian essen¬ tials in the new cults, inspires them with a glow which seems to them the very confirmation of the security of their position. We see, then, the subtlety of the situation. If Ter- tullian was rightrthe method is plain. Satanic forces ] operate, as we have seen in the previous section, wher¬ ever illness exists. If the powers of darkness would \- win, they have only to withdraw their malignant touch, f and healing comes. This they may do in the very field of operation which presumptuously calls upon the name of Jesus; while the human workers under their supervision think they are honoring the Name, igno¬ rant that they are renouncing the person whom the Name exalts. The human name of Jesus, founded upon the earthly life of our Lord, but dissociated from 106 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST the exaltation of His Deity, is the winsome open sesame to conquest. If Satan can keep the eyes of the simple Christian people off of the resurrected Christ, who through death (Heb. 2: 14) put him out of busi¬ ness, and make “ The Man Jesus,” the “ Master ” of whom we hear so constantly, the focal point of faith, he will succeed in alluring into these systems many more. If there be anything positively demoralizing to the powers of darkness it is the terror of judgment (James 2: 19) which will ultimately fall upon them for deceiving the world as to the exaltation of the Lord Jesus in the heavenlies. And they long to drag others down to their level. There is a significance in the sentence of those who are to be banished from Him as He sits upon the throne of His glory, “ Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” To secure as many as he can to share his misery is Satan’s device. To lift as many as He can to fellowship with God, is our Lord’s aim. Matt. 25: 34-46. Apparently, we are arrogant in this presentation of the problem. But we have the entire New Testament to sustain us. The will of God, which is the basis of condemnation of these false workers, is the will which the combined testimony of evangelists and apostles ex¬ tols. And that will is that the Son of God is at the right hand of God exalted, from whom all power and authority must come. It is this, in contradistinction to the teachings of these systems, which impels St. Paul to write, “ Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more ” (II Cor. 5:16). So, from all angles, we see the possibilities of heal- HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 107 ing power and the working of signs in the name of our Lord, which He must repudiate, as He predicts in the text we are considering. It were well to read the entire context: Matt. 7: 15-29. As we are tracing the problem, we can see that the religious elements which characterize the systems which are draining our churches, and the unreligious factors which mark the purely psychological schools challenge us who stand before men to magnify the risen and ascended Son of God, to meet the needs of men by His own way and through His own life, promised those who should be joined to Him through His Spirit. We cannot be ma¬ terialists, as were our forefathers; we must look this thing in the face. If false religions, imported from India, can heal the sick and alienate believers from the Church of the living God; if wizards in psychology can turn the tide from invalidism to health, then, by the grace of God, let us who know the Lord Jesus, plead for the power to vindicate Him and that Name, which is now used by an occidentalized heathenism, to betray souls into the kingdom of darkness. But let us not forget that every inch of the way will be contested by the evil spirits whose aims we would be compelled to frustrate. The fact that they show such an array of conquests along the line of “ peace, prosperity and power ” is proof to us that they are strongly entrenched, and bitterly opposed to any ad¬ vance into their lines. But souls are in peril and we must stand for the truth “ as the truth is in Jesus,” our glorified Lord. Christian Science and kindred systems embrace in their propaganda the obtainment of world-prosperity 108 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST as well as healing; and their testimony seems to justify their ideal. Teachers of Christian healing in the churches do not so present the truth. Is there a reason? “ Peace, Prosperity and Power ” is the slogan of these schools. These enthusiastic people live to demon¬ strate wonderful experiences of conquest. They all triumphantly cite financial acquisitions; and the New Thoughtists in some camps advance into other fields. A few instances will illustrate: One witness discloses that while her neighbors were busy bailing out their cellars for two days, more or less, in a time of inunda¬ tion, she commanded the waters to subside; and they did in a few hours. Others claim that while all about them the severity of drought was parching the soil, gentle rains fell upon their fields and gardens. Con¬ trariwise, in wet seasons, the genial sun shone down solely upon their possessions in response to their be¬ hests. Rats and mice have been kindly invited to vacate the premises of the devotees of this cult, and they have taken their departure with commendable in¬ telligence and consideration. Now, we all know that the history of the Christian life all through the ages has witnessed to similar ex¬ periences. William E. Dodge, the eminent Christian philanthropist, believed that his phenomenal success in business dated from the day, when as a boy beginning life, he recognized and dedicated himself to the divine command to tithe his income. He lived to see the day when he could comfortably live upon the tithe and give the rest away. George Muller, on one occasion, be¬ calmed at sea, declared to the captain of the vessel that he must be in port at a given hour on the following HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 109 day, that he might fulfill an appointment. The captain, fully acquainted with the conditions obtaining at the time, assured Mr. Muller that such an issue was beyond the range of possibility. Mr. Muller went to his cabin and sought the Lord. In the face of every past method by which such a calm had been known to behave, a strong wind immediately set in motion and precisely at the hour mentioned by George Muller, he set his feet upon the soil. Mrs. Abbie Morrow, seeing a swarm of flies about to light upon the side of her newly-painted house, asked the Lord that they might go elsewhere; and they did. But in all such instances there is a humble seeking of the Lord for special inter¬ vention. William E. Dodge did not make money¬ making the chief pursuit of life; George Muller did not set himself up as superior to the laws of nature, and assume that in every such crisis he would pursue the like course; nor yet Mrs. Morrow. So far as power over the elements was concerned, our Lord could and did exercise it, for He was teach¬ ing His disciples that He was the world’s Creator. Because He did it, these venturesome beings of whom we are debating, believe that they are as much Christ in essence as He was 4 (the difference being only rela¬ tive), and may rise to His altitude. But, we do not find the apostles of our Lord assuming any such prerogatives. They reverently accepted conditions, nature-wise, with quiet acquiescence in the will of the Lord. St. Paul needed not to endure the shipwrecks of Acts 27 and II Cor. 11:25, if what these people claim was his authority. While we cheerfully accord that many times in the life of the believer, wonderful interpositions of our good Lord may mark the journey 110 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST onward, we cannot make these things the rule, the con¬ stantly to-be-expected tenor of experimentation. It is upon the matter of worldly acquisitions that we need to be most carefully guarded. Alluring as the field of conquest is, we dare not enter it, unless our Lord goes before us. How did He regard this present life? We know that He lived a life of humiliation and separateness from the world (Isa. 53:2; Matt. 8:20; 17:27; 20:28; Mark 6:3; Luke 2:7; 8:3; 8:58; II Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:7, 8 ). He discouraged the pursuit of wealth (Luke 8:14; 12:15; 16:14; 21:34); and He herein reflected the entire Old Testament (Josh. 7:21; Job 31:24, 25; Ps. 10:3; 62: 10; 119:36, 37; Prov. 23:4, 5; 28:16; Jer. 6:13; 22:17, 18; Micah 2:2; Hab. 2:9). To the poor the Gospel was preached (Matt. 11:5; Luke 4:18). In the New Testament days, it was the lowly who received the Gospel (I Cor. 1: 18-31). And while there are promises that daily needs shall be sup¬ plied (Matt. 6:11, 24-34; Phil. 4:11-13, 19; James 1:5), the pursuit of these things for covetous posses¬ sion was discouraged (Luke 12: 15; Col. 3: 5; I Tim. 6:17; I John 2:15). We find in the cults we are considering, and which we have been bold to declare as alien to the Christian faith, a well-directed aim to make the most of this life, even using the precious Name of our Lord as the means of obtainment. These dear souls, for whom we have the sincerest solicitude and affection, are just as worldly in their lives as when they were half-hearted church members. They are possessed of a free and abandoned sense that “ all things ” are theirs, profitable and pleasurable, irre¬ spective of the purity of their hearts in the sight of HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 111 God. Goodness they seem to show; happiness they seek to reflect; patience they exemplify; withal, the be¬ trayal of selfishness marks the use they make of the appropriated promises of God. And there is a reason. A quarter of a century ago, I ventured to pronounce that Christian Science is occi- dentalized Buddhism. Christian Scientists at once ve¬ hemently repudiated the allegation. Now, a significant incident at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, recently held in Portland, Oregon, confirms my contention. The following is the statement of Prof. J. L. Joshi, of India, who came to the convention with credentials from the Anglican Bishop of Bombay: “ It has been a great surprise to me to see how profoundly the religious thought of America is being affected by such movements as Theosophy and New Thought. The phenomenal growth of Christian Science is another indication of the gradual Indianizing of the religious life of a great nation. “ The Church may protect itself from this in¬ vasion in two ways. First, by missionary contact with India; and then by the establishment of chairs in the history of ethnic faiths in relation to Christianity in the colleges and seminaries of the Church. In the midst of the growing paralysis of the moral forces of the modern world, everywhere, the Christian faith offers the only hope of the re¬ demption of mankind.” Believers in Christian healing according to the Word of God, confine themselves to the Biblical pattern. The healing of the sick is enjoined. So long as the Church was meekly walking in the way of its Lord, with up- 112 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST lifted gaze, it fulfilled the divine behest, ever since the day when St. Peter protested to the cripple at the beau¬ tiful gate (Acts 3), “ Silver and gold have I none.” There is the story of a scene at the close of a majestic cathedral service in the Middle Ages. The heavily loaded alms basins being emptied upon the vestry table, the bishop turned to a pious mendicant monk, with the remark, “ You see, my brother, the Church need no longer say, 4 Silver and gold have I none/ ” To which the monk meekly replied, “ Nor can it say, ‘ In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Rise up and walk/ ” If, then, these systems imitate the worldly Church from the Christian side, they present the Hindoo aspect of this world by their wonderful achievements. For miracles are constantly performed in the land where reincarnation fixes all destiny as centering in this globe. Consequently, there is every reason why obtainment for the present world should be sought and obtained to the full. Most of us are familiar with the fact that the Christian Science Hymnal has no hymns of the future life. For no future life is apprehended. As a phi¬ losophy of human existence this school and its allied systems may be attractive; but for that vital hour when the things of time are slipping away, there is no provision. When our Lord was approached by Satan, in the memorable temptation in the wilderness, the very process we have traced was enacted and defeated. To satisfy His hunger, He was challenged to make bread of stones; but He would not anticipate His Father’s will. He was to prove His supernatural power by throwing Himself from the pinnacle of the temple; but He was in the care of His Father and there was no HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPXEXITIES 113 incentive to perform the miracle. The Adversary would allure Him to reach, by a short and easy route, His Kingly prerogatives. He need but fall down and for one brief moment, worship the subtle being who was seeking His downfall. We sadly opine that this same Prince of this world, of whom our Lord could say (John 14:30) “he hath nothing in me,” is charming precious souls along the same pathway, who, unlike their Lord, fall a prey to the temptation. The spirit and motive of this allure¬ ment is to make the present time and world the end of all desire. Hence the hunger for the good things of this life which may be demanded without qualification; the proof of marvelous power is now to be made the object of persistent purpose and power; to be rulers over every subject element is the winsome call to mastery and overflowing gladness. What, we may well ask, if this movement, authori¬ tatively bearing the imprimatur of Christianity, flinging out the banner of our Lord Jesus to charm the unwary, should prove in the last analysis, to be but disguised paganism, the “ gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity ” (Acts 8:23) ? Let us not forget that the supreme incentive of the true believer is a passion for our dear Lord Jesus (John 14:15; 22:23; 8:42; 15:10-14; 21:15-17; Matt. 10:37; I Cor. 16:22; II Cor. 5:14, 15; Gal. 5:6; Eph. 3:16-18; 5:25-33; Phil. 1:20-23; 3:7-11; I Peter 1: 8; I John 2: 3-5; 4:19, 20; 5 : 2, 3). There is a subtle imputation abroad, that it matters not by whom Christianity came into the world. It is here; it is ours, with all its potentialities and possibilities, for all that we can make of it, and get out of it. Such a 114, OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST perversion is an insult to the Son of God, and defeats the intention of the Father to exalt Him (Phil. 2:9- 11 ). Unless in all things He shall have the preemi¬ nence (Col. 1:18), whether in the individual con¬ sciousness, or in the universal consummation of destiny (Eph. 1: 10), there must, of necessity, be a flaw in the title-deed of redemption. Therefore, the true believer sinks all self-seeking in the death and burial of his Lord (Rom. 6: 4-11; Col. 3:3). To know Him is the sublimation of all pursuit (Phil. 3: 10; II Tim. 1: 12) ; to suffer with Him in His humiliation is the crown of all conquest (Col. 1: 24; II Tim. 2:11, 12) ; to be with Him in His glory, to behold His face, as He receives His kingdom and power, is the reward for all sacrifice, the compensation for every loss (Luke 21:34-36; John 14:3; Col. 3: 4; I John 3:2, 3; Rev. 5: 9, 10). Should not healings he subjected to scientific testsf The Churchman (Episcopal) urges that “a commis¬ sion of the wisest men in the Church, especially those who have studied the questions involved, be appointed and armed with authority to call before them wit¬ nesses, to examine published statements of the various schools of mental healing, and to prepare a careful report with such recommendations as may be deemed useful.” This suggestion grows out of an unsympathetic dis¬ cussion of the work of Mr. Hickson, which has already been disclosed in our study. Perhaps this is the place to record the convictions of the Right Reverend H. Pakenham Walsh, D.D., Anglican Bishop of Assam, who has seen Mr. Hickson’s work at close range. He writes in the International Review of Missions: HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 115 “ The healing missions of Mr. J. M. Hickson in India, China, and Japan, have set missionaries to asking whether it is not the Lord’s will to-day in heathen lands, as in the early days, to 4 confirm the Word by signs following.’ The fascinating story of St. Paul’s healing work among the pagans of Melita, and its extraordinary effect as an adjunct to the preaching of the Gospel, makes one wonder whether we in our missionary work are neglecting a great opportunity of showing forth the love, the power and the glory of Christ, Healer of body, mind and spirit. And then, the visions of the great crowds of the sick, of all sorts and condi¬ tions, Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan, Buddhist, Animist, rich and poor, high caste and low caste, educated and illiterate, white and dark-skinned— who knelt together before one Father in heaven at place after place in Mr. Hickson’s missions, and looked up in faith, to Christ, for healing, has made many realize how terrible and how widespread are the sufferings of humanity in Eastern countries, and how fragile are the barriers which divide men, in the face of the great common suffering caused by disease. The record of missionaries and others concerning these missions gives evidence of re¬ markable and sudden cures, including total blind¬ ness, deafness, and dumbness, from birth; also of many gradual cures, and above all, of spiritual blessings, both to the sick and to those who prayed with them, and evidences a clear call for all mis¬ sionaries to ponder this new development with careful thought and earnest prayer.” Returning to the Churchman challenge, may we not 116 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST offer the hint that while scientific investigation of heal¬ ings effected by metaphysical or otherwise mental processes might be quite consistently pursued, there is a sacred doubt of the propriety of the like submission in cases which are believed to have been of the Lord’s working in answer to prayer? When a trusting child of God seeks and obtains healing from his Lord, the transaction is so holy, that the thought of investigation by coldly disposed critics is abhorrent. Should a man be required to tell how he loves the woman of his choice; what are the incentives, the inner workings of his heart? Who could think of such a tribunal ? The assumption of the need of such a com¬ mission is itself an act of unbelief. It has never come from those who have known the power of the Lord to heal. The sweetness of the divine fellowship, the ten¬ derness of the divine touch, the conviction of the divine truth, the joy of the divine life—these things surely are immeasurably beyond the skeptical touch of those who do not sympathize with the experience. A man who has been healed by the Lord, like the one born blind (John 9) confesses likewise, “ one thing I know.” Certainly, the knowledge of God as embraced by the devout child of God is incapable of explication to those who have not had that impartation. “ A stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy ” (Prov. 14: 10). What would be the advantage of the proposed com¬ mission? Should it arrive at the conclusion that some healings are genuine and others doubtful, the status would remain just as it does now. For that is pre¬ cisely what the writer in the Churchman implies. If all healings were spurious, the entire movement should be condemned; if there is anything in the movement to HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 117 challenge the faith of the Church, the test lies not in understanding by scientific processes the work of the Lord, but in coming before Him in humble teachable¬ ness that we might know His will. Some years ago when talking with a friend of the medical profession on the matter of spiritual healing, I pleaded, “ But you would believe if a case of cancer were supernaturally healed.” “ No,” he replied, “ I should say that the diagnosis was wrong.” Just such a case came to my knowledge a few years ago. A young woman was examined by one of the best specialists in his line. He pronounced her afflicted with cancer of the breast; and imperatively ordered an immediate operation. As she was not close to her friends, she begged that she might confer with them and arrange her affairs, preparatory to a possible demise. They persuaded her to attend a meeting where prayer was offered for healing. She went forward to be anointed. As the prayer of faith was being presented over her and the anointing oil applied to her forehead, she felt an excruciating pang of pain; but, like Miss Williams (see p. 83), she refused to acknowledge the attack, saying quietly, “ Yes, Lord, Thou art taking it away. I thank Thee.” When she returned to the specialist at the allotted time, his examination of her elicited from him this declaration, “ There must have been a mistake in the diagnosis!’ This man would rather record ari error to his own discredit than acknowledge that God had wrought a healing. Can we not see that any commission of scientific men, entering the realm of the divine working would essentially defile the sacred precincts of a hallowed transaction between God and His child? How can 118 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST they understand the process? Of course their verdict would lie along the line of the two men we have noted. Certainly then, there is but one answer to the Church¬ man proposal: Have all the commissions you will to investigate mental healings; but pause, reverently pause, ere you catechize a child of God regarding the operations of the Father in behalf of His own. Why should not the principles of psychology he ap¬ plied to Christian healing? This question is pertinent to some preceding para¬ graphs. It really comes from the same source. Mr. Edward Macomb Duff, replying to the Churchman, writes: “ I gather from your editorial that you would counsel the Episcopal Church to wait for and weigh the testimonies of experts in the field of psychotherapy, among them several distinguished clergymen who have had valuable experience as practitioners therein. “ Might I suggest that if we are to consider psychotherapy at all, we consider it from the testi¬ mony of those experts who are really posted as to all that it can do. The Emmanuel Movement (of which the distinguished gentlemen named are the chief sponsors), bases its psychotherapy upon the writings of practitioners who hold that its efficacy is limited to nervous disorders and functional maladies. I wonder if these gentlemen and others in the Emmanuel Movement will outgrow this scientifically exploded theory? Europeans know, if Americans do not, that the Nancy School (France) under the leadership of Emile Coue has HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 119 found psychotherapy just as efficacious for or¬ ganic diseases as for functional maladies. “ During Coue’s thirty years of practice, in which many thousands of cases have been treated, he has found that organic troubles yield as easily as functional; that bodily derangements are even easier to cure than nervous and mental. He makes no distinction. An illness is an illness whatever its nature. As such Coue attacks it, and in ninety- eight per cent, of cases, he attains in greater or less degree, a positive result. “ Why should ministers of the Gospel attempt the practice of psychotherapy any more than the practice of materia medica? Their proper field is the spiritual sphere. In that sphere they will find prayer and the Word as the ever available means.” In the next section we shall apply ourselves to the study of Coue’s work. Sufficient to say now that he does not pray with his patients. When asked what place he would give to God in his undertaking, he re¬ plied that he could not introduce religion, because he deals with Jews as well as Christians, Mohammedans, Turks and atheists. “ But if you wish to say,” he added, “ By the grace of God, you may.” In his prac¬ tice, he assures all that the healing is not in himself, but in the patient. He compels each person to work upon that idea. Himself, healthy, happy and care-free, he radiates gladness and hope by his very presence. That he enters his clinic smoking a cigarette seems to add charm to his ministry. We perceive, then, the confirmation of the contention made in the consideration of Dr. House’s elucidation of the psychology of orthodoxy. The psychical and 120 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST the spiritual are distinctly divorced; they can never be united. In his retort to the Churchman, Dr. Abbott further pleads: “ The power of prayer ! The power of prayer! What in heaven’s name have psychotherapy and the new psychology and all the rest of process analysis and application got to do with it all? To ask in His Name is to receive whatever He wills to give; to seek in His Name is to find whatever He wills to reveal; and to walk in His Name is to have the door of His love opened wide. “ Let us, then, be fair, absolutely fair and just in this whole matter. Let us cast no aspersions, as your editorial does, upon Mr. Hickson, nor upon anybody else, who in utmost sincerity and humil¬ ity is trying, God obviously helping him, to do his best in this consecrated business. We are round¬ ing out the circle of cure in the divine method; we are not trying to squeeze its circumference within the limits of humanly devised systems of thought.” In what measure may we apply the Coue method to Christian healing? The reference in the last section suggests that there is no place for Coue’s method in Christian healing. And yet there is somewhat that may be acquired from a study of his work. Let us understand that he is a practical psychologist. He leaves the finer definitions of the schools to those who desire to investigate them, and digs at once into the soil of psychological pathology. He does not care what you call things if only you get them. You may HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 121 be religious and add God to your achievements; you may be an agnostic and count God out. Coue is demonstrably competent to prove to our American psychologists who want to link healing in the Church to their principles, that there is no ground of union. For as Coue has no need for Christianity in his cures, so the Holy Spirit, in turn, requires no aid from psychology in the workings of His mighty power in the bodies of consecrated believers. More of this later on. Coue reverses the principles of the psychological schools in his dictum, that not the will but the imagi¬ nation operates for cure. He holds that to forcefully demand of the will the required potency for healing is to defeat the healing. The basis of his method is that all volition rests upon the action of the subconscious mind wherein the imagination resides. Therefore, our American psychologists who sound out the slogan, “ The Will to be Well,” are to acquire a new vision of the possibilities of psychological dynamics. When the imagination rises to the seat of control, the elements of healing respond in action. Confessedly, the distinc¬ tion is difficult to discern; but he stands for it in con¬ trast to others of his class. He protests ( Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion , p. 88), “I have no magnetic fluid; I have no influence; I have never cured anybody.” He maintains that all healing resides in the person. One has only to believe this and his malady must disappear. He enjoins, “ Have confidence in yourself; believe firmly that all will be well.” While this disclaimer is sincerely made, he approves of hypnotism; and there can be no reason to doubt that he employs it when he 122 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST meets certain patients who are slow to apprehend his simple system. A paralytic woman lies before him. Looking her closely in the eye, he declares, “ You know there is nothing in me. It is all in yourself. Do you believe this ? ” The very countenance gleaming with command compels the woman to say, “ Yes, I do.” “ Then,” he orders, 44 Get up and walk.” And she does. The miracle is wrought. She leaves his clinic thrilling with new life. Nor is the cure but a tempo¬ rary suspension of the paralytic condition. She reports in due time that she is perfectly well. He has a catalog of patients who have never had a return of their dis¬ orders. And, as we suggested in the last section, his operations extend into all realms of physical and men¬ tal ailments; consumption in its last stages, dementia, cancer, typhoid. Everything that flesh is heir to is included in his triumphs. Even congenital complica¬ tions are included. We might allow for the volatile quality of the French mentality, if only his own people were em¬ braced in the category of his cures. But the American announcement of his book reads, 44 All London is re¬ peating : 4 Day by day, in every way, I am growing better and better/ ” This is the set formula which Coue advises his patients to use. They may tie knots in a cord and make a rosary of it, in order to comply with the required number of repetitions; and 44 all London ” staid and solid, is getting 44 the habit.” Nothing succeeds like success; and Coue has the secret. We may not be surprised or shocked to learn that he applies his methods to 44 sex control.” While we might argue with him as to this, we cannot resist his per- HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 123 suasiveness when he presents the laudable truth that the life of a child, mentally and spiritually, begins in the early life of its parents. His counsel to mothers is well worth digesting. Monsieur Coue takes no fees. Whatever his thank¬ ful patients insist upon offering him in recognition of his services, he applies to the disabled French soldiers and others who have suffered because of the war. This element in his practice heightens his popularity and puts to shame the pseudo Christian cults which exalt prosperity for its own sake. We now seek to discover wherein we may profit by Coue’s method. First, His challenge that healing resides in us, puts us to the proof of the Biblical contention that in us dwelleth “ no good thing.” The New Testament in¬ sists that God can work only where there is an utter sense of emptiness, of nothingness. See Rom. 7:18; Col. 3: 3 ; II Cor. 4:7, 10, 11; 6: 9, 10; 12: 7-10. But, we perceive that this emptiness, this nothingness pre¬ pare for the dynamics of God. He can live in us only in the measure in which we are willing to die (Gal. 2:20) ; He can work in us only to the extent of our inability to work ourselves (Isa. 45:24; Phil. 2: 13). But is not this everywhere the plea of the Word of God? Where is human self-sufficiency commanded in the entire volume? Can we not see that if there is a power in the world which is working to displace the Lord Jesus as the source of life, there could be no better method than to employ that which Coue success¬ fully operates? We may seem narrow and unchari¬ table in such a statement. For many of the objects of this unselfish ministry are professing Christians, who 124 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST leave Coue’s presence with praises to God ringing in their hearts. Mark—we may not, we do not decry the endeavors of this man. The medical authorities are beginning to do that. We may be grateful for the re¬ lease which he brings to suffering humanity. But the subtle tendency to convey healing contrary to the re¬ vealed Word of God is too transparent to be ignored. We have allowed over and over again that pure psy¬ chology is a beneficent agency in the healing realm; we have expressed commendation of it. But, it is not the Lord’s healing, in the Lord’s way. For when He gives life He seeks to be supreme in the heart. Therefore, when Dr. Worcester and his school insist that failure to recognize psychology as the medium for the conferment of Christian healing must bring the matter of such healing into confusion, we turn to Coue for the answer. When Dr. House declares that psy¬ chology is “ the guardian of the supernatural,” we turn to Coue for the refutal. Coue says there is nothing supernatural in his healings. And he is the greatest practical psychologist of the day. Second, We remark that Coue has no place for prayer, as has been suggested. We do not know that he even believes in prayer, though he has the inner sense of the being of God. When Dr. House decides that “ The psychology of prayer shows it to be power¬ ful autosuggestion,” Coue reinforces the declaration. There is no need for prayer according to Coue. For all that prayer can accomplish resides in the bosom of the man who offers it. Dr. House and Coue both reach the same conclusion; but each stands in a contradictory position regarding the other. Coue affirms that religion is not necessary; Dr. House contends that by psychol- HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 125 ogy our Christian faith can be more clearly discerned, our Christian potentiality more definitely and com¬ pletely realized. Between these men lies the challeng¬ ing and burning truth which the Church must face. And that is that psychology, either that of Monsieur Coue or that of Dr. House, is alien to the realm of the workings of God’s Holy Spirit. But Monsieur Coue affords us some valuable les¬ sons. Standing, as we do, on the Word of God, recog¬ nizing that we are utterly empty for God’s infilling, we can see that the enthusiasm with which he inspires his patients is ours to possess and exercise. “ The joy of the Lord is your strength ” (Neh. 8:10). “ Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say rejoice ” (Phil. 4:4). There is a reading of Psa. 50:23 which conveys the deep meaning of this truth. “ Whoso offereth me the sacrifice of thanksgiving, glorifieth me and prepareth a way that I may show him the salvation of God.” Coue contends that only by insisting upon a finished work of healing can the patient be made well. We may do this in the realm of praiseful joy in our Lord Jesus. Is it not a sin to consult a physician or to use means, if one is trusting the Lord for healing? God is a loving Father, and applies His graces to His children according to their capacities. Not all men have the faith for healing. But they may have in other lines. George Muller, the great apostle of faith in the 19th Century, feeding thousands of orphans daily and otherwise caring for them, who would not permit his helpers or even himself to state to any in¬ quirer what the immediate needs of the Orphanages were, felt led on one occasion, when one of his own 126 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST children lay ill of scarlet fever, to bow in trustful peti¬ tion for the supernatural healing which he felt God alone could give. An immediate answer was granted. But George Muller testified that he never again re¬ ceived that impulse; and in all future cases, he relied upon the wisdom of the physician and the efficacy of the medicines. This illustration affords us the oppor¬ tunity to warn God’s people to be very sure that they have His own conferred faith ere they seek to gain the conquest. Much that is thought to be faith, by those who have “ obtained promises,” may be but exercising the residuum of confidence left over from some pre¬ vious triumph. George Muller was wise; and we do well to put ourselves where he stood. But, let us all live in the Thirteenth Chapter of First Corinthians, daily seeking to know the will of the Lord, for every testing time. But what shall he done in a crisis? Should peril¬ ously sick believers he left to dief Certainly not. The life for which we are pleading is designed to forefend the believer for the crises. A possible reading of Matt. 6:16, “And lead us not into temptation,” may be “ Keep us from a crisis.” The subsequent petition in the prayer, “ And deliver us from the Evil One (Revised),” interprets the ground of the sought protection. Crises are Satanic in their origin and purpose. The life hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3) is the shield. Those who are seeking to live that life and to conform to the spiritual laws which govern it, may expect to be garrisoned. But what if they are unselfishly devoted to the care of those who cannot, or do not wish to grasp it? In this lies that HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 127 balance of “ right judgment ” which is the quality of the Holy Spirit to confer. Those who stand on the material plane, Christians, as well as non-Christians, deserve and should have the very best that doctors and medicines can contribute. We have no controversy with the medical fraternity. We agree with Mr. Hickson and Mr. Wilson in their position that where faith is not adequate to meet the crisis, God would have us do the thing that reason and limited faith would inspire. And we may allow that any believer may come into a crisis, even a believer in spiritual healing. If in that crisis, the sudden attack dims the vision and paralyzes the faith of both the stricken one and those who pray for him, which is supposable, the only recourse is to seek the guidance of the Lord. A personal experience may be applicable. Twenty years ago, Mrs. Mackenzie awakened me about five in the morning, having suffered from one o'clock with severe pains and high fever. I saw at once that pneumonia was present. We did not have a family physician, but a friend, a specialist, was asked to stop on his way to the station and diagnose the case. He confirmed my opinion and urged that we get a prac¬ titioner immediately. After his leaving, we took it to the Lord and spent the day in close walking with Him for His mind. On the return of our medical friend in the evening, he was annoyed that we had not gotten a doctor, but witnessed that an unaccountable change had come over Mrs. Mackenzie. The fever had abated, the chest was eased, the respiration almost normal. His pleasure was manifest. But the test came when he said, “ She is all right now. Come up to my office and 128 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST I’ll give you a simple cough mixture to allay the irritation.” • As he had been so kind, we did not think there could be any harm in this innocent procedure. But what happened proved our error. Within five minutes of the taking of the first spoonful of the apparently harm¬ less decoction, everything came back galloping in en¬ ergy and threatening in complications. We saw our blunder, we repented; but we could not get where we had stood. In the morning it was imperative that a doctor should be summoned. Acting according to our Lord’s mind, as we were able to grasp it, we called in the man of whom we had heard that he gave very little medicine. He filled our need by simply watching the case; refusing at the request of the nurse to give any heart-depressant to control the fever. Mrs. Mackenzie recovered in half the time ordinarily required and had a wonderfully rapid convalescence, which we believe came from the trust we placed in the Lord, even though we had disappointed Him, as it would seem, when He had really taken the case in hand. We recall the two cases in the Old Testament which afford the spiritual man a method of interpretation of faith, both as illustrating the difference between be¬ lievers and the deviating periods in a single believer’s experience. We read of Ezra that on his second re¬ turn to Jerusalem (Ezra 8), he was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help against the enemy in the way. He therefore pro¬ claimed a fast and held a prayer meeting definitely trusting God to protect the entire company from the marauders that infested the highways at the time. This was to walk with God alone, that He might HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 129 glorify Himself independent of all earthly props. Nehemiah, on the other hand, not a whit less trustful, but otherwise minded, boldly asked of the king a co¬ hort for his safe conduct (Neh. 2:6). A study of these two men affords us the occasion to note that personal characteristics enter largely into our method of dedication to the Lord and the measure of our faith in Him. Ezra is deeply spiritual; he is ab¬ sorbed in the study of the Word of God; he has im¬ bibed the sweet juices of the Scriptures; the unseen things are vital to him; God is very real and near. Nehemiah is a hustler. He knows God, too, for his prayer that the Lord would grant him mercy in the sight of the king (Neh. 1:11) when he was to make his request for a leave of absence, proves that he had the vision of prayer and embraced its dynamics. Yet, in the portrayal of his consecration, we can see that the Word qualifies him with an entirely different attitude and capacity. I am sure we may reach the solution of the problem before us in the contemplation of these two men, how they illustrate different personalities in the life of faith; and picture to our own hearts the differing moods with which we ourselves live the life of faith. Let the quiet Ezras feel not impatient with the bustling Nehemiahs; may the ever-active and venturesome Nehemiahs hold the deeply spiritual Ezras as worthy of honor. Do not the Scriptures afford illustrations of the use of means, divinely commendedf Yes. But was the use of the means, or God Himself, the ground of the real healing? Let us look into the 130 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST matter. In Exodus 15:25, we read that when Moses cried unto the Lord at the behest of the people, a tree was ordered to be cast into the waters that were bitter, and they became sweet. But in the next verse, not the tree, but Jehovah is defined as the source of healing, whether of waters that are bitter or of bodies that are ailing. Is this exceptional use of a tree to sweeten water a warrant for treating all such waters thus? When there was “ death in the pot,” Elisha cast meal into it, and the death was removed (II Kings 4:38- 41). Has any one assumed to make meal a specific for such a condition, in subsequent days? Will meal turn a toadstool into an edible mushroom? Likewise (II Kings 2: 19-22), a new cruse with salt was utilized to quicken the stagnant waters, but the Lord distinctly affirms, “ I have healed these waters.” Hezekiah’s boil has been a fruitful cause for discus¬ sion in this field of controversy. We may finally de¬ termine that if Hezekiah was healed by the plaster of figs, then we have a Biblical specific for prolonging the life of a man fifteen years, who has the sentence of death resident in his body. The facts of the narrative are these: God had declared through Isaiah, “ Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live.” Hezekiah prayed for healing. God heard his prayer. After Hezekiah had offered his praises for the divine deliverance, then it was, we may assume, that Isaiah prescribed the plaster for the boil. Why? Because Hezekiah’s faith needed bolstering. If we will read the entire 38th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah, we shall see that while God had given a sign to the Judean king that He would heal him, Hezekiah had required the sign. They who trust God implicitly do not seek a HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 131 sign (Matt. 12:30). The plaster on Hezekiah’s boil is the evidence that the man was not wholly capable of standing alone with God. Reference to John 9 dis¬ closes that the man was born blind. Did our Lord put the clay upon his eyes to give him sight? Then, we should have a universal specific for blindness, even congenital. Nay, we all know that it was done to stimulate the man’s faith. Grouping these representative instances into one thought, we may assume that our loving God bends His dealings with His children according to their abil¬ ity to receive His healing power. Repeating Mr. Hick¬ son’s dictum, “ God will meet you where He can find you; and He will give you as much as you are able to take,” we must accord a generous margin to the ordi¬ nary faith, which has not yet reached the superlative altitudes. As Dr. Simpson has aptly put it, “ God has His best for those who dare to stand the test; He has His second choice for those who will not have His best.” Do not surgical operations belong to a realm where faith is impotent to act? In every experience of healing, the power of the supernatural is unquestionably equal to the severest demands. But allowance must be made for the cli¬ mactic nature of the disorders which require the knife. They grow with such rapidity and threaten with such malignity, that the average believer is rarely capable of standing alone with God. We all know of instances where victory has been given; but our eyes may not have opened to another evidence of our dear Lord’s 132 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST tender care in the cases where surgical aid has been allowed, when faith could encompass the problem only by this means. Need we discard faith in such a crisis? Will submission to this procedure invalidate former conquests and paralyze future triumphs? I have in mind one very dear friend, who naturally expected God to heal her of a large tumor, as He had delivered her in sundry less serious ailments. She clung to Him, sought the intercession of trusted be¬ lievers and triumphantly claimed her healing. It did not come. Then, guidance was sincerely asked, and her family was greatly relieved when she consented to an operation. Months after the ordeal, I had a con¬ versation with her surgeon, who knew nothing what¬ ever of her spiritual life or her stand regarding the Lord’s care of her body. He declared that when he opened her, he was minded to give up in despair. Such a condition, he had never faced. Could he save her life? There seemed no chance. But the memory of her sweet face nerved him to venture. The tumor he removed was a surgical curiosity, which he kept in his office for the enlightenment of his professional friends. He conscientiously believed that never had such a feat been performed. But I knew where lay that wonderful reversal of his fears. I knew what gave her a convalescence which was a delight to herself and all who loved her. For some reason which she could not understand, the healing was not granted; but God did give her a memorable exhi¬ bition of His sustaining power; and to this day she praises Him for that experience. And so do I in her behalf. As we have already enjoined, let us again plead that HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 133 we shall hold the inner life so open to Him, our daily walk so close to Him, our sense of His care and keep¬ ing so preciously dear to our hearts, that we shall claim and expect immunity. The danger of delaying to exercise faith until we reach some trying exigency is close to us all. How easy to toy with our spiritual opportunities, to postpone our prayer periods, to rest in yesterday and its achievements! The while our loving Lord is waiting for us and the whole hearted¬ ness which He cherishes and seeks; and which we all confess He rightly deserves. The healing movement has had epochal manifestations. They are always possible. But the Holy Spirit should guard us from venturing upon advances for which He has not prepared us; and He will, if we are willing and obedient in the day of His power. Is it not right to be healed according to the imll of God, zvhether it means visible healing or not? As to what are visible means and what is visible healing, personal experience alone can answer. A breath of fresh air, taken with zest, is a visible means; to choose whole wheat bread in preference to that made of bolted flour; to eat plenty of fruit; to enjoy a cup of tea; to take a needed nap; to dry the wet feet; to warm the chilled body; these, and other similar attitudes and actions are of the visible type. They do not in the least preclude the faith in the Lord’s care for which we are pleading. It is the use of such means without the thought of Him which is our contention. As to what shall be the use of means therapeutically, one has no way of deciding. Coffee is a table drink; there is no ban against it by the mass of people who 134 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST profess the faith of spiritual health for their bodies; so as well is tea, “ the cup which cheers and does not inebriate.” But chemically, they are both poisons in attenuated form. So also is strychnine. Truth to tell, there is about the same stimulation to the nervous sys¬ tem in a one-sixtieth grain tablet of strychnine as there is in a cup of strong coffee; and the strychnine has this advantage, that it has no damaging effect upon the tissues of the stomach; and no reaction, such as coffee drinkers are wont to experience. The difference is that custom has made the one drug a daily accompaniment to our dietary; the other is committed, as it should be, to the judicious administration of the physician. The illustration might be amplified. So the problem must lie with the believer’s walk with God. He will decide the matter, if He is rever¬ ently sought for guidance. I might cite the case of Mrs. E. Bedell Benjamin, a devoted friend of Dr. Cullis and a strong adherent of the principles of divine healing. Mrs. Benjamin came to my office on one oc¬ casion to declare that she had been taken with diph¬ theria the week before. She concealed it from her family as long as she felt was wise. On learning of her condition, they were frantic, and she submitted to the visit of a physician. His remedy seemed to help her. Then longing to give the Lord the glory of her restoration, she stopped the medicine. When she came to me, the symptoms had become aggravated to an alarming degree. Her quest was, “ What shall I do ? ” And she laid the responsibility of the answer upon me. I was led to remind her that our parenthood is pat¬ terned upon that of God’s. In such an exigency, we should be very tender with our children; He cannot be HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 135 less so. So I advised that we should ask Him to give evidence of His will by either allowing the trouble to continue; or if He would have the entire care of her case to make the healing so evident at six o’clock in the evening (a time of the day when such disorders are most accentuated) that there could be no> question. Accordingly we knelt in prayer for this sign of His will. That afternoon, I held a Bible reading in the upper part of the city (New York) at which I did not ex¬ perience any surprise in seeing Mrs. Benjamin. In¬ deed, the morning episode had faded from my mem¬ ory. At its close, she invited me to ride with her (in a closed coupe) as far as I was expecting to go. We neither of us thought of the danger of contagion; I wonder now how we could have been oblivious of it. At six o’clock, she went to the light by the side of her dresser and by her hand glass discovered that not a trace of the diphtheria patches could be seen. The whole trouble had gone. And so, I believe our God is calling us. On the one hand, to rid ourselves of the thoughtless and irreverent way we treat our bodies, by flying to all sorts of nos¬ trums regardless of what may be His plan for us; on the other, of stubbornly holding to a position in which the vital force of faith is lacking and only a determined opposition to any human help occupies its operative realm. Should we he fussy about our food, if we are trust¬ ing the Lord for our bodies? Indeed, we should not. Fussiness is not faith; it destroys faith. There are wise ways of eating; and 136 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST since we must eat and drink, wisdom becomes us. I well recall that in the early days of the movement, dear saints of God were wont to declare that the Lord had given them the ability to defy the discretion of their former days and they were eating anything and every¬ thing they once could not. Allowing for this, which might or might not be His permanent will, we have gotten beyond the first outbursts of conquest. A rea¬ sonable concept of the hallowed nature of our bodies, coupled with the dedicated purpose to eat and to drink to His glory (I Cor. 10:31) restrains the immoderate claims of the novice. One point regarding food needs prayerful consider¬ ation. Look carefully into I Tim. 4:4, 5. The apostle is speaking of eating of meats. This will, for our purpose, embrace all food. God has created such “ to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth ” (I Tim. 4:3). We may in¬ terpolate here that this classification cannot include the much that goes for modern ideals in cookery, indi¬ gestible mixings of starches and fats, highly seasoned dishes which assault the stomach and unreasonable combinations of acids. Good, simple, wholesome food is in the perspective. The text we are considering places a value upon our receiving the gifts of God in such a spirit that the nutritive value of our food shall be enhanced by the manner with which we accept it. It cannot be sancti¬ fied by the Word of God and by prayer, if we eat as do the beasts, with no conscious relation of our gracious Giver to it. Our ordinary “ Grace ” at meals is a meaningless procedure. The call of this text is that we shall intelligently and devoutly receive the food HEALING PROBLEMS; PERPLEXITIES 137 we eat with the intent that He shall qualify it with special sustenance in our behalf. Is it too much to declare that food thus eaten must be more nutritious, more free from poisonous results, more sanctified in every way than if taken with utter indifference to God in the bestowment of the gifts, and the incorporation of His life as we eat them? The unique quality of the manna in the wilderness lay in its being but the outward and visible sign of the inward life which He gave to His people. They did not live on the manna; they lived on God. This is clearly set forth in Deut. 8:3 and quoted by our Lord (Matt. 4:4). When they scorned the manna they repudiated Him. And there can be no question that to those who will put themselves into the current of His life, there will be a like conferment of vitality, through the food they eat, prayerfully and thankfully received and incorporated with the sanctification of the Word of God. If this seems like a mystery, we have no plea to offer but the plain and unqualified statement of the Apostle. He certainly would not employ such terms to express the mind he held, were he not inspired with the belief of their intrinsic value to the believing saint. Those who prefer to live on the animal plane may do so. If we elect to make the highest use of our spir¬ itual privileges in this realm, we are entitled to all that our God has promised through His servant. CHAPTER VI. OUR MORTAL FLESH. When the Psalmist uttered the memorable words, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psa. 139: 14), he sounded a note which finds a response in the heart of every reverent thinker. For only a re¬ ligious man can apprehend the nobility of our mortal estate. There can be no doubt that the present-day movement for better bodies has grown from the Chris¬ tian consciousness of the relation that God should bear to our physical frame. The Greeks, with this aspiration, named man anthropos, the up-looker, the being with an erect spine. The Scandinavians, who gave us the word man, signi¬ fied by the designation, the thinker. But man can think only as he links himself to the Creator who has endowed him with thought functions. We are being challenged now by a trained intellectuality, marked by materialism or the heathenish doctrine of the imper¬ sonality of God. But when a man comes to himself, he wants some better basis. John Stuart Mill was brought up by his father entirely without religion. The result was that Mill reached such a point of pes¬ simism as threw a pall over life. He did find refuge in the nature poems of Wordsworth; and believed therein lay some food for the hunger of his soul. But we all know that Nature, fascinating in her forms and ever varying expressions of life and beauty, can be woefully cruel. Drummond, in his Ascent of Man, 138 I OUR MORTAL FLESH 139 tried to trace the pulsations of love in her cold bosom; but the thinkers of his day were not convinced that he had succeeded. Romanes, after renouncing the Chris¬ tian faith, confessed that he had lost all joy in living. Happily, he returned to his former beliefs and was the stronger for the sad experiment. Papini has written his Life of Christ, out of the fervor of a heart that knew the barrenness of living apart from Him. With the uplooking capacity, with thinking minds, we are not only to trace the lines of destiny which mark our way spiritually, but discern through spirituality, the meaning of the flesh life. We are challenged to ask, Why have I this body? How am I to make the best use of it? To seek an answer from Nature, as we face the intricacies by which life is at times entangled, is to drive us to despair. For Nature has no hand to uplift the fallen, to defend the helpless; no 1 voice to comfort the broken-hearted; no solutions for our prob¬ lems, no balm for our aching. As we enter the realm of Christian faith, we find devout men associating the flesh with God, just as did the Psalmist whose words we have quoted. David ex¬ presses his craving for Him in the appeal, “ My flesh longeth for thee” (Psa. 63:1). Again, “ My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psa. 73:26). In Prov. 4:22, we read, that response to the call of wisdom, by the followers of the way that wisdom shows, will re¬ sult in “ health ” to the flesh. St. Paul includes the flesh in his estimate of the faith which he exercises in Christ (Gal. 2:20) ; he exalts the body to the plane of the temple of the Spirit of God (I Cor. 6: 19), and in his own physical experience delineates his entire 140 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST dependence upon God for health sustenance (II Cor. 4:10, 11; 12:7-10). In former times, the flesh, divorced from the spir¬ itual, was condemned to separateness and ignominy. Saints of old, thinking to purify themselves of bestial tendencies, castigated their bodies with intolerable severity; they dreamed of and longed for the glad day when they should cast off “ this vile body ” (which we all know is not vile, but humiliated, according to Phil. 3:21) and move out into the heavenly realm, where there is no more reminder of the flesh. But we are learning to put the human body where it belongs, and where God first put it as the most beautiful product of His love and power. To be sure, it is humiliated now, as we shall subsequently discover. But let us be as¬ sured that when we see a human body besotted by fleshly indulgences, disfigured by sin, writhing in pain, laid low in weakness, imperfectly formed, deficient of normal capacities, responding to the corrupting in¬ fluences which hold it in the bands of perversion, that is not God’s order. There is much yet, however, that inspires us with awe as we contemplate the human frame. The hands, right and left, reciprocally acting each in its own sphere, both completing the most effectual possibilities, present a marvel of accomplishment. How mighty to strike the forceful blow; yet how deli¬ cate to build the tiny watch. Serviceable for labor, the ten fingers earn the support of the great mass of hu¬ manity ; the while, those fingers can be trained to traverse the range of the musical instrument with entrancing results. The eyes, beholding no more than the brute sees, so OUR MORTAL FLESK 141 far as outward perception goes, are so conditioned that they convey to the mind a sense of delight in the con¬ templation of the beautiful, evoking reverence from thankful hearts to the God who has made the earth for the habitation of the sons of men. Have we ever tried to comprehend why it is that we know things to be beautiful when the eye has discerned them? How can we determine what is attractive, what repulsive ? It is not a matter of studied culture. It resides in our in¬ tuitional being. The law of optics, by which vision is translated to the inner consciousness is one of the most marvelous in all nature. Vibrations, accurately re¬ corded, present to the retina multiform expressions of form and color, the eye being the passive agent upon which these potencies play their ceaseless activities in ever-varying degrees of force or delicacy. The ear is likewise a wonder of workmanship. Here, the vibrations in the ether register with unfailing fidelity, sound waves, producing delight as well as qualifying for the service of life in the callings to which men are assigned. Every note on the musical scale scores an exact number of vibrations per second, which never varies; and every musical ear is charmed or distressed as these vibrations produce harmony or discord. Thus the ear is related to the mind in a ceaselessly gratifying union. The human voice demonstrates a capacity for range and modification which is the wonder of science. From the lower notes of the baritone to the exquisite trilling of the skilled soprano, the possibilities of ex¬ pression are almost boundless. And when the voices blend in harmony, the musically endowed hearers are thrilled with delight. Beautiful as are songs of the 142 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST birds, there is in them a uniform and unchanged ex¬ pression; but human beings can invent new combina¬ tions and give form to inspiriting thought through the musical sensibilities. The exercise of the organs of the body affords us another and entrancing revelation of the dignity of the temple in which we dwell. We breathe with our lungs; but they respond to a provision in the atmos¬ phere which ever remains fixed. The loving Being who brought us into life, has ordained that just so much, not more, not less, shall be the component parts of oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen by which the atmos¬ phere shall be vitalized, for our health and comfort. The digestive and assimilative processes are so ordered that only the elements which afford life- producing potencies are received by the system with appreciation. We are renewed by the food we eat; but there must be in us, and there is, the capacity to appropriate from that food the sustenance with which it is qualified. So that life material is met by life unseen in us. The heart, the organ which day and night serves us for health and comfort, from the first breath unto the last, is an amazing illustration of the wonder of the human body. In physical well-being, the owner is not conscious of its existence; yet that organ exercises a power almost beyond our ability to comprehend. When the heart is beating at the rate of seventy pulsations a minute, it equals in dynamic force that of a 240th horse-power engine. In twenty-four hours, the amount of energy expended by this silent organ would parallel that of a man of 150 pounds weight, climbing a mountain 1,300 feet high. OUR MORTAL FLESH 143 For many years, the office of the spleen was not known. Now, we are aware that it is the territory for the germination of the white blood corpuscles, the phagocytes, which possess the ability to absorb or en¬ velope bacteria of an alien and attacking nature. The red corpuscles are impotent to resist these invaders; and the phagocytes rush as well-trained soldiers to defend the system from disease; and like brave soldiers invariably give their lives in the battle. The mystery of this provision is a marvel to students of anatomy and physiology. We are impressed with the qualification of the flesh to suffer. The brute which sickens, dies usually in a brief period. Man may be tortured by pain or pros¬ trated with exhaustion, yet live on for years; the finer qualities of his being responding to that mysterious process which we call purification. May this not be in the Apostle’s mind when he records that “ there is one flesh of men, another of beasts ” (I Cor. 15:39) ? Those who live on the animal plane cannot discern this; and they chafe and fret, grumble and groan, losing sight of the priceless boon with which they are endowed. And, alas, some end it all in a fit of impa¬ tience. The Christian faith is flouted by some on the ground that it glorifies suffering. But they fail to see that the consolatory provisions of the Word of God elevate the natural capacity for suffering into the realm of exalted character and glorious destiny. Suffer we must. Our blessed religion comes to us in the Person whom we adore and says to us, “ I will sanctify your suffering for your highest good.” How the grosser elements of our nature pulverize in this mortar of experience! How beautiful some lives become as they 144 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST “pass through the fire”! We learn from this the value of our mortal flesh for the raising of the lower qualities of our being to where the fullest manifesta¬ tion of graciousness becomes possible. And in turn, our mental attitudes, our spiritual trust, react upon the physical frame, infusing into the very tissues of the body fresh streams of life. For scientists are agreed that the mind has sovereignty over the flesh. The chemical composition of the blood may be changed by fright, worry, hatred or anger. Indeed, the health- hues of the blood may be affected by our moods. That is no mere vagary which has moved the specialists to detect crime by the heart action, the respiration, aye, by the very perspiration of the criminal. Contrast- ively, innocence of any known wrong, reverent faith, unselfish devotion may affect the flesh with uplifting impulses, evoking vital currents of energy, unseating disease, enthroning health. Recent experiments have resulted in the conviction that the human body is electrically balanced; the posi¬ tive and negative poles playing upon each other with reciprocal action. This poise, when evenly sustained, is a synonym of well-being. The excess of one current or the other spells disorder. And as in the electrical world acids and alkalies react each upon the other, the electrical quality of the body of man would seem to respond to a like process. In health, the juices of the mouth at the time of mastication, when hunger is ex¬ perienced, should be alkaline; the secretions of the stomach are acid; the bile duct yields an alkaline solu¬ tion, while the final order of assimilation should be acid—according to Metchnikoff, lactic acid the better for long life and sustained health. OUR MORTAL FLESH 145 This electrical idea has so far advanced that venture¬ some scientists are coming to apprehend the day when they may perfect a device which shall qualify the human body to emit rays of light and express electrical energy. We may not be surprised on hearing that some wizard has made this assumed possibility a demonstration. And when it is done, the world may be willing to accept the true hypothesis of the origin of man. For when science vindicates the evident truth of God, men will believe, because they have seen. But just what they will then extol is already resident in the Word of God. And to that study we may now apply ourselves. God declared (Gen. 1:26) “ Let us make man in our image.” In this statement we assume that the design was to endow the first man with a mental and moral equipment to comprehend in some measure the character of the Deity, and to respond to the appeal which Deity would make to his loyalty and affection. But is there not something more? The fall of man, universally conceded, though con- trastively interpreted, embraced, in the Scriptural nar¬ ration, a sense of shame, which had not previously existed. To the call of God, “ Where art thou?” the man, Adam, with terror in his voice, responded, “ I was afraid and hid myself; for I was naked.” Certainly some transformation in the body of the man must have occurred, which this new revealing betrays. What was it? Returning to the declaration of Gen. 1:26, “ Let us make man in our image,” we discern a possible solu¬ tion to a problem which all men must have considered with earnest desire for a reasonable solution. Have 146 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST we not all wondered why it is that man is the only creature who has to find a covering for his body ? The birds have their plumage, the brutes have their pelts. They unconsciously modify their covering according to the changes of the seasons; like the flowers, “ toil not, nor spin ” for clothing. Why must this be the ever-present burden of God’s most wonderful crea¬ ture? Look at us, wearily grinding our lives away to secure habiliments. Light clothing for summer; heavy for winter. Beautiful for the female; ordinary for the masculine. But clothes, clothes, clothes is the cry from the year’s beginning to its end. “ Let us make man in our image.” What was that image? we must again inquire. We have often asked it. If we will turn to Psalm 104: 2, we read that God clothes Himself with light as with a garment. Might He not have done that with the first man? Stephen calls God the “God of glory” (Acts 7:2). One Psalm leads a step farther, “ Thou madest him to be a little lower than the angels (Heb. Elohim) ; and hast crowned him with glory and honor’’ (Psa. 8:5). If we look closely at this passage, we shall see that the writer is contrasting the present man with the man that came fresh from the Creator’s hand; for the previous verse makes the appeal, “ What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him ? ” Something was evidently lost which had originally been possessed. Suppose we make a short cut to the core of the question and allow that our postulate is correct, what do we find? A human body qualified with a glory that enveloped it, because of the inner potency with which it was endowed. The Scrip¬ tural narrative cites that they (Adam and Eve) were OUR MORTAL FLESH 147 naked and not ashamed (Gen. 2:25), which does not contradict our contention. They were devoid of ma¬ terial clothing. In that consisted their nakedness. They were not ashamed because they saw no naked¬ ness for the sheen of light which enveloped them with the grace of the most beautiful garments. And we further assume that this potency, indwelt by the love and vitality of God, possessed the quality of protecting as well as adorning the human body. Whether in the torrid zone or in the icy north, whatever the weather, resistance to climate would ever be the characteristic of this endowment. So much conceded, if you please, let us reverse our method and look at the other end of the glass. The one word which signalizes the Christian faith is “ Re¬ demption.” It is written large in the New Testament; it is the prevailing trend of the Old. This redemption, when rightly comprehended, signifies a restoration, by the purchase effected through the Son of God, of the rights of man which had been sacrificed in the begin¬ ning. Only those who utterly fail to comprehend the meaning of the Word of God will stagger at this. When we come to analyze the full fruition of redemp¬ tion, we find man ennobled in a garment of glory. It is not the glory that comes from creation. That was lost. It is the effulgence which has been secured by the Redeemer. Read how this is delineated in Daniel 12:3, “ They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that win many to right¬ eousness, as the stars forever and ever.” Our Lord describes the day when “ the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43). Regarding the work of redemption by the 148 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST Son of God, the Apostle declares (Col. 3:4), “When Christ our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory.” When he speaks of the resurrec¬ tion, he avers, concerning the body, “ It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory” (I Cor. 15:43). And he climaxes the grandeur in two passages, namely Rom. 8: 19-23 and Phil. 3:20, 21. The revelation of the Sons of God in Rom. 8:19 is associated with the glory of the 18th verse; and the redemption of our body (its restoration) is that for which we wait. The glory of our Lord is to be ours (He promised that in John 17:22) when we shall be transfigured in bodies like unto the body of His glory. And St. John con¬ firms that postulate by his own testimony, “ When we shall see him, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is ” (I John 3:3). St. Peter encourages the saints to steadfastness by his exhortation in I Peter 1:7, “ That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” He also enjoins firmness in suffering that “ when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” The gladness implies a par¬ ticipation in that glory which shall be characteristic of Himself. As the second man (I Cor. 15:47), the Lord from heaven, He is the One of whom the first man, Adam, was the figure (Rom. 5:14). A figure, we understand, conveys likeness in form and quality. Is there any reason why the Son of God, whose glory was witnessed by the three chosen disciples (Matt. 17: 1-5), may not have been the portraiture in bodily essence of the first man? Why should not the glory of the second man be the assurance that the first man OUR MORTAL FLESH 149 was equally endowed? If redemption was a bringing back of an order that had been disrupted, may not a part of that disruption have been the loss of the glory which had been primarily conferred? “The light of the body is the eye” (Matt. 6:22). Our Lord would seem to indicate that the flesh has this remnant of a former glory. Do we not comprehend the inner being through the light of the countenance of which the eye is the lustrous center? The eye can penetrate the recesses of the very soul; it can illumine, inspire, encourage, condemn. By only a look, we may confer pleasure or inflict pain. What is there in this, but a latent power, remaining over from the ruin of the former estate, when from the eyes there may have radiated shafts of light? Our glorified Lord is de¬ scribed by the Apostle (Rev. 1:14) as having eyes like a flame of fire. The figure here is of that keenness of penetration which leaves nothing unseen by Him (Heb. 4: 12, 13). But is not this a presaging of the restoration (Acts 3:19-21, R. V.), when from the very countenances of the saints a relative measure of glory shall be their equipment in Him? There is an appealing truth regarding this phase of the question in the statement of the Apostle (II Cor. 3: 18), “We all with unveiled countenance, beholding as in a glass (mirror) the glory of the Lord, are trans¬ formed into the same image (His glory) from glory to glory, even as by the Lord, the Spirit.” This ac¬ cords with our Lord’s words, “ Blessed are the eyes which see” (Matt. 13:14-17). But seeing is not for discerning alone; but for expressing what has been absorbed. Therefore, we are called light in the Lord (Eph. 5:8) because we have received light and dis- 150 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST pense light. Our fellowship with Him is in light (I John 1:7), from whose presence we go forth to give light. So as He is the Light of the world (John 1:4, 5, 9; 8:12) we are too (Matt. 5:14-16). It would seem as though there is a mystery in these and kindred passages, which is yet to be fathomed by the children of God. Not only spiritual light, intellectual light, after the spiritual is illumined, but a light that is related to our physical being. Health always insures brightness of countenance, clearness of eye. Disease, on the contrary, brings dull¬ ness of visage, gloom of face. What if, all things said, our physical redemption, even now is to come in the infusion of light, which is always the synonym of health, by which the very tissues of the flesh shall be invigorated? We put our sick in the sun. We are learning that special rays of light affect ailments. What if this all be the reflection, by the decision of man, of the order which God first established? Only, we apply the light externally. God’s method is to impart light from within. Would it not be a glorious revelation to us, if we should be certified that the qualification with which we are endowed, according to the above texts and their companions, has a really vital residence in our mortal flesh? What if when angels and demons look upon the children of God they discern a glory which we can¬ not behold, because of our earth-plane limitations? How it would inspire us to seek fuller illumination, that we might the more glorify Him, and gladden the holy ones who minister to us as sent from Him (Heb. 1:14). This was true of our Lord Himself. The transfiguration was not an investiture of glory, but a OUR MORTAL FLESH 151 bursting through the interstices of the flesh of the sup'ernal light, which dwelt perpetually in that body, of which body unbelieving men could say, “ There is no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa. 53:2). His flesh was a veil (Heb. 10:20). Just as in the Tabernacle of old, the shekinah dwelt beneath curtains which obscured it and a veil hung to hide it from the eyes of men, so we read, “ The Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth ” (John 1: 14). If the postulate which is before us is entitled to any degree of prayerful thought, we arrive at the conclud¬ ing truth, which the suggestions bear. Remedies for disease, like the applied sunlight, are external. God’s method must be to bring life to the body by the in¬ ternal quickening. Could we treasure the truth of our Adamic origin, fresh from the hand of God, realize that our first parent forfeited what had been his glorious endowment, and left us to a like fate; and then could we rise to the greatness of “ the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” we should prize with unspeak¬ able joy our present inheritance. We should cease try¬ ing to get well by such devices as are at hand, and put ourselves into the current of His potency, for the im- partation of life—life that can expel disease and in¬ vigorate with ecstacy every tissue, cell and organ. CHAPTER VII. OUR BLOOD-BROTHER. The challenge of Jesus to His inquisitors (Matt. 22:42) has become accentuated in the present day. Around the personality of our Lord the agitated waters of controversy are surging. What men think of Christ is after all the test of destiny. To avoid the issue, there has arisen a subtle philoso¬ phy, as we are painfully coming to realize, that we are not required to settle the question of His personality ; since the principles He taught have become the prop¬ erty of the human race. It should not necessarily con¬ cern us who gave us those principles; we have them; they are operative and dynamic. To make them the standard of truth, the criterion of conduct is sufficient. We may allow that in any avenues of utility, we may adopt the devices of inventive men and demand no knowledge of themselves. To be sure, we do hold a spirit of gratitude toward Marconi when some one dear to us has been saved from a watery grave by the means of “ the wireless ” which he perfected. Yet, the days will come when his name will be lost to hu¬ manity. It will be enough that his work has stood the test. But we cannot apply that rule to Christianity. If all there is of it resides in the ethics which Jesus taught, the entire Christian faith is doomed to collapse. And some are audacious enough to declare that it deserves to fall into ruin, since it has been founded upon a 152 OUR BLOOD BROTHER 153 false conception of both Jesus and His doctrines. We may not blind our eyes to this impending peril. On all hands, the teachings of Jesus relating to right living, the emulation of the recorded life of Jesus, the gratu¬ itous compliment which accords Him a place among the great men of the religious world, make the basis of much of modern Christian belief. To leave Him in the “ grave on which with shining eyes, the Syrian stars look down ” is really the attitude of many, who are of Edwin Arnold’s mind. Let us be certified that not only was Christianity founded upon the person of our Lord; but all through the ages have the saints of God gloried in a passion for the Person. Among all the great teachers of religious thought there has never been a like portraiture of de¬ votion. Revered and treasured in memory they may be; but no one but a living Christian has the incentive to exclaim, “ Christ liveth in me.” Would we have the legacy of truth embodied in the New Testament, if the writers and witnesses of that truth had not been pos¬ sessed with an undying devotion to the Person? Ver¬ ily, had the ideal now looming up been that of the Apostolic age, there would not have been any New Testament. It was this consuming love for Him that moved St. Paul to exultingly cry “ For me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Note the appeal of St. Peter, “ Whom having not seen ye love; in whom though seeing him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy un¬ speakable and full of glory” (I Peter 1:8); and again, “ Unto you which believe, he is the precious¬ ness ” (I Peter 2:7). And we may discern that the ground of this devotion lay in the remarkable conver¬ sion each had experienced, through the working of the 154 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST Spirit of God in their hearts. The persecuting Phari¬ see at the gate of Damascus was halted by the demand, “ Why persecutest thou me? ” (Acts 9:5). The bluff Peter, who had denied his Lord three times, was com¬ pelled to reverse his attitude by the searching appeal three times uttered, “Simon, lovest thou ME?” (John 21:15-17). In the days of the Roman Empire, when “ this pestiferous sect of the Nazarenes ” was diligently per¬ secuted, yet ever rising out of the ashes of its burn¬ ings, it grew in proportion to its decimations; because the believers saw and cherished a Saviour in the heav- enlies, whom they acknowledged as Lord. And all Christian literature tingles with the jubilant thrill of spiritual attachment to the person of our Lord Jesus. If, in this late day, Christianity is decreed to be but an ethical system, then all the streams of Christian thought must dry up, all the aspirations of Christian hope be extinguished. But, if there is a mystic rela¬ tion between every living soul and the Son of God, the question of the day glows with an unquenchable gleam. Surely, there is need, great need that we get God’s perspective and receive God’s own gift of love for “ the Only Begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, full of grace and truth ” (John 1: 14). It is the loss of this perspective and gift which is the stumbling-block of the latter-day Jew to whom modern Christianity is becoming more and more con¬ ciliatory. He is now, contrary to his mind in the past, willing to concede that Jesus was the greatest prophet of the Jewish race; but he too will accept the one office of the Lord Jesus, which was fulfilled in His earthly life and ministry, for to him too the ethical Jesus, the OUR BLOOD BROTHER 155 admirable Man of Galilee is the pattern for all men. But the Jew of today, Christian Unitarian in essence, parts with Jesus at the Cross, and loses the spiritual birthright secured him by his and our Blood-Brother. A certain college professor, voicing what we may believe is the almost universal opinion of the men of his class, declares: “ The infallibility of the Bible; the pre-existent deity of Christ; His virgin birth; His sub¬ stitutionary atonement; His bodily resurrection; His intercessory work and His personal return to the earth are ingenious and interesting doctrines; but to require belief in them now is like requiring one to share in the Salem witchcraft delusion in order to be a good American. As time goes on, it will be increasingly difficult to find men, either to preach them or to listen to them.” This is quite in accord with the statement of the editor of the Independent, a once orthodox Christian magazine, who writes, “ There is actually a generation growing up who never heard the explana¬ tion of the sacrificial death of Christ. Young people in the churches would actually be shocked at the sug¬ gestion that Jesus died that they might not die.” The college professor concludes: “ The task of the new day will be to present an interpretation of Christianity, which will bring into harmony the simple ideals of Jesus with the findings of modern knowledge.” Connected with this sphere of thought is the gradual growth of Mohammedanism. Only those who are keenly alert to the flickerings of this new torch are capable of estimating the danger to which Christianity, as always expounded by the historic Church, is slowly being exposed. English university graduates are lean¬ ing towards this ethical system. The Islamic Review, 156 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST a product of the printer’s art worthy of commendation, is advancing the teaching that since the universities have discarded the primal doctrines of the Christian faith, and the clergy become either deniers of them or are supinely silent regarding them, the auspicious hour has come for Mohammedan evangelism. Most shrewdly do the editor and writers of this magazine weave the ethical teachings of our Lord into the Mo¬ hammedan fabric, convincing to the evident satisfac¬ tion of the erstwhile believers in Christianity, that our Lord was all that Mohammed pronounced Him, and nothing more. So, at the shrine of the prophet, intel¬ lectual and cultured English men and women are bow¬ ing with a reverent resignation of those ideals which they imbibed in their mother’s milk and professed at the Holy Table of the Lord. We have thought of this religion as capable of existing only in the land of its birth and related countries. It has never been consid¬ ered an occidental system. But decaying Christianity (as we may term it) affords this cultus a new inspira¬ tion. With the return of the Turk to the prestige and ' power of pre-crusade days, we may opine that the cloud now as small as a man’s hand can become the generator of a wild disorder in the history of modern Christianity. Then, there is another and equally baffling interpre¬ tation of Him which swings the pendulum in the re¬ verse direction. It is that the Christ-Principle which Jesus declared and which dwelt in Him in full meas¬ ure, is the property of all men to be expressed in them as Christ’s in relative degree; that His mission was to show the way to God and to leave in the world a spirit of illumination and energizing which should reproduce OUR BLOOD BROTHER 157 His works. While this ideal utilizes only what of His teachings which would suit its predilections, it also separates from Him at the Cross, though in some schools the nomenclature of the Christian faith regard¬ ing the crucifixion and resurrection is skilfully em¬ ployed. This system of thought would give to all the ancient religions the Christ vision and dynamics, under names suited to the lands and people where they arose, and influenced souls; and it would insure through the Christ which Jesus bore in His body, by whatever name it might be designated, the cementing of the entire religious world into one comprehensive system; a universal brotherhood. And so, between the purely ethical presentation of Christianity and the profoundly mystical cults which bear the ear-marks of Buddhism and allied thought, wherein healing is the essential quest, we are chal¬ lenged to find the rationale of the truly Christian faith and fearlessly declare it. In no sphere of dogmatism are the perplexing features of the religious world- thought so entangling as in this. For through healing of the body, devotion to error (as we are compelled to regard it) is easily secured. That we may get at the core of the question, I beg to present a brief study of the Blood-Brother relation¬ ship of the Lord Jesus Christ to the entire human race. And this is to emphasize that which He constantly affirmed and which was by His disciples after Him dogmatically asserted—that only as the Redeemer through blood could He stand as worthy of acceptance. In entering this study there is of necessity the need that an at least fragmentary reference to the problem of blood in the Word of God should be made. This 158 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST fundamental requirement of the Old Testament, not less so in the New, no doubt begins with the trans¬ action by which the shame-suffused bodies of our first parents were clad by God Himself. They had tried to hide their nakedness by human means. Now He will do it by His. Despite the protests of the scholars, I do reverently believe that this interpretation of the inci¬ dent will be justified in the last analysis. Ere God could clothe them, His erring children, He must take a life which is innocent of their sin. But in that life, God Himself is involved. As He Himself is the source of that life, so in its surrender in their behalf, He offers Himself. Thus, the coats of skins (Gen. 3:21) betoken that long and profoundly mystical process by which men could approach God for the propitiation for sins. That redemptive life might be assured the people of His covenant, every time a sacri¬ fice was offered, though the offerer was to provide the sacrifice in a temporal sense, it was God who provided the life that should be laid down. The life of the creature was His own creating; the blood that was shed was God’s own property. For blood and life are be¬ yond the laboratories of man. With this thought in mind, we are able to more clearly comprehend the sin of Cain. He repudiated the principle we have dis¬ cerned. Hence, his offering, though much more at¬ tractive than Abel’s, could not be accepted. Then, to further accentuate his alienation from the divine method, he took a life which was precious to God, that of his own brother, and thus robbed God of that which was supremely His. We may opine that the failure to stand with Abel in simple obedience, the desire to depart from “ the faith once for all delivered unto the OUR BLOOD BROTHER 159 saints,” may be the very “ going in the way of Cain ” which is predicted of the latter-time teachers (Jude 3: 11). As illustrative of the principle, we note that God made a blood-covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:9, 10. The words, “Take me” literally mean, “ Take for me, as my substitute, the heifer, the she- goat, the ram, the turtle-dove and the young pigeon.” It was His own life (as we have remarked above) that was outpoured in the death of these selected sacri¬ fices. And thus throughout the entire Old Testament covenant period there resided the standard of the divine choice of that which should be offered as well that the life of Deity was involved in every offering. The preparation for the coming of God’s chosen Blood-Brother for a lost world was thereby effected. As emphatic of this trend of education through centuries of direction and discipline, we note the sig¬ nificant and insistent attitude of our Lord towards sin and sinners. But we cannot get the divine per¬ spective until there is a recognition of His own sinless¬ ness. We recall that the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews in paraphrasing the dedication of our Lord to His Father’s will (Psa. 40:6-8) states, “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not; but a body hast thou prepared me” (Heb. 10: 5). The very singularity of this statement is a challenge to our faith in its in¬ spired origin. This body, precisely like our own in form (Phil. 2:7; Heb. 2:17; 4: 15) is also in essence like that of the first man, whom St. Paul designates as the figure of Him that was to come (Rom. 5: 14). There were two things about the first man which are 160 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST identical with the second Man, the Lord from heaven. First that there was no sin in the body of the first man, when he came from the hand of God; second, that his body would never have come under the power of death if he had not sinned. We may thus define the body of our Lord as being sinless; and that He could not have died by natural processes, for that death is clearly set forth as the consequence of sin. This has a bearing upon the fact that a violent death only could deprive that body, made for Him, of its vital forces. As He stood amongst men, we well recall how He could challenge them to convict Him of sin (John 8:46). The Father could never have uttered the memorable words, “ This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; 17:5) were there any sin in Him, for God cannot look upon sin (Hab. 1: 13). Note that when at the last He became sin for us, the face of the Father was hidden from Him, and evoked from His dying lips the heart-rending cry, “My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me?” This sinlessness is further exemplified by His being called the Lamb of God (John 1:29); by the testi¬ mony of the demons, “ I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God ” (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; 8: 28) ; by the inspired confession of Simon Peter, “ Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16: 16, 17) ; by the unction which led St. John to write his gospel (John 20:31) ; by the message of the newly- converted Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:20) ; by the glow¬ ing witness of the Christian Church of the apostolic age, “Thy holy Child Jesus” (Acts 3:14; 4:27); “ Who knew no sin ” (II Cor. 5:21); “ Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (I Peter OUR BLOOD BROTHER 161 2: 22) ; “ Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin¬ ners ” (Heb, 7:26) ; “Without spot” (Heb. 9: 14). Dwelling in this body which was prepared for Him, He made the matter of sin and sinners His life’s pur¬ pose. He ate with publicans and sinners that He might draw them to God; He insisted that His mission was to solve the problem of sin by giving Himself a ransom for the lost, who were captive to the powers of darkness. See Matt. 20:28; Luke 15:1; John 3:16, 17; 10: 17, 18; 8: 36; Acts 20: 28; Rom. 5 : 7, 8; I Cor. 15:3; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 1:7; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 1:20; I Tim. 1:15; Heb. 9:26; I Peter 1:19, 20; I John 1:7; Rev. 1:5; 5:9, 10. We are aware that He bears in the New Testament three separate titles which signify to us three dis¬ tinctive features of Plis work. To those who, like Simon Peter, receive the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and esteem Him as the Son of God, there is a special privilege, for they constitute the company of believers who are embraced in the Church, for which He gave Himself (Eph. 5:25). They who in simple faith, lay¬ ing aside all philosophies and subtleties of the intellect will seek God according to His own words, “No man knoweth the Son but the Father ” (Matt. 11:27), will be spiritually enlightened and know Him as the Father knows Him. When they get their vision, they too will call Him the Son of God. To His own race, marvelously preserved in spite of all that the Gentiles have done to erase it from the face of the earth, He will be the Son of David, when the veil now over the eyes of the ancient people shall have been removed. See Rom. 11:15; II Cor. 3: 14- 16; Zech. 12: 10; Isa. 25: 8, 9. 162 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST But our study of Him in this chapter has to do spe¬ cifically with His own designation of Himself. “ The Son of Man.” Have we ever wondered why He so often thus called Himself? There is but one answer. And that is that He came into this world to assert His sovereignty over all flesh. In this arrogant assumption He becomes the marvel of history. He was the product of a despised race, living in an age when that race was unmercifully ground under the iron heel of imperial Rome. Realizing that the atmosphere He breathed was hostile to any such pretension, He con¬ stantly asserted that He is the Son of Man. And in this we perceive that He would thus unite Himself to the entire race. There could be no ground for the amazing statements of the writers of the New Testa¬ ment if this had not been revealed to them. For to utter them was to imperil the new faith and them¬ selves. But they could not do other. Hear St. John in the prologue of his gospel, “ All things were made through him; he is the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Regard the superlative ascription of St. Paul, “ By him were all things created.” Bow reverently before the wonderful testi¬ mony of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, “ The brightness of God’s glory, the express image of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power; by whom also he made the worlds.” See John 1:1-10; Col. 1:15-18; I Cor. 8:6; Heb. 1:1-3. As the Son of Man He could declare Himself to be “The Light of the World” (John 8: 12). All souls are indissolubly joined to Him for destiny. This, I believe, is the contention of St. Paul in the familiar statement, “ For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ OUR BLOOD BROTHER 163 shall all be made alive ” (I Cor. 15:22), which accords with our Lord’s own claim, “ All that are in their graves shall hear his voice and come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment ” (John 5:28, 29). We behold, then, the Logos, God’s thought of love for every creature, translating the af¬ fection and power of God, His Father and theirs, to all who will receive Him; becoming the Son of man for condemnation as well, to those who refuse His meri¬ torious work of redemption in their behalf. For He is a propitiation, not for our sins alone, but for the sins of the whole world (I John 2:2). This much stated, I trust we are in a mood to analyze the Blood-Covenant as understood in His day. The very absence of any explication of it may, I am persuaded, be taken as an evidence of its so well under¬ stood existence, that such unfolding of its meaning would not be essential. We recall one instance in which the blood-covenant oath was repeated by a woman. It was when Ruth pledged herself to Naomi, “ Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from fol¬ lowing after thee; where thou goest, I will go; where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me and more also, if aught but death part thee and me ” (Ruth 1:16, 17). The particular features of this dedication command attention. Ruth was surrender¬ ing home ties; abandoning her native land; renouncing her own people; denying her Moabitish god. We ob¬ serve that when she consecrates herself to Naomi’s 164 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST God, she employs the word Jehovah, which signifies the covenant-God. Now, if we may transport ourselves to an African village, we shall witness in the present day a ceremony in which the very words of Ruth will in essence be uttered. As we approach the community we find the houses empty. The lanes and alleys are deserted. Piercing farther into the center of the kraal, we find the entire company of inhabitants. The ceremony of the blood-covenant is about to be taken; and it is im¬ portant that all who can shall be witnesses of it. The tall, grey-bearded priest of the tribe stands in the midst of the crowd. Before him are two stalwart young fellows who are to take the blood-brother oath, the most solemn and binding obligation known. Ad¬ dressing the first in tones of deep reverence, he asks, “ Koblo, wilt thou have this man, Saba, for thy blood- brother ? Wilt thou abide by him in all conditions and circumstances of life? Where he may be wilt thou be found? Wilt thou make his friends thy friends, his foes thy foes? Wilt thou die for him if needs be? Shall he be to thee as very life itself ? ” When the affirmative response has been made by each to the other, the priest with his lancet cuts a gash in the arm of the first, the blood dripping into a cup from which the second drinks; the latter having the same opera¬ tion, the former drinking his blood. Else, the hands are clasped and a vein severed, the blood mingling and falling to the ground. They are by this ceremony made blood-brothers. The indissoluble bond expressed by Ruth is thus consummated between two men. Our saying, “ Blood is thicker than water ” has no real significance; but the Arabs declare that blood is thicker OUR BLOOD BROTHER 165 than milk; which is to signify that a blood-brother is closer than one who has been nursed at the same breast. Henry M. Stanley relates that he took the blood- covenant with over fifty tribes and never was it vio¬ lated. Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull, in his exhaustive study of the Blood-Covenant * in a volume of that title, relates that on one occasion (page 28) trouble arising between Stanley and a chief, the former sug¬ gested that it would be better to cancel their blood- brother relationship. “ No, no, no,’’ cried the chief anxiously, “ our brotherhood cannot be broken; our blood is now one.” I am aware that we are wont to trace the hand¬ shake to the age of knighthood; but I am persuaded that it really originated with the Blood-covenant. We will recall that Jehu bade Jehonadab to give him his hand as the proof that his heart was right with him (II Kings 10: 15) ; Pharaoh is described as breaking his covenant to which he had given his hand (Ezek. 17:18); James and Peter and John gave the right hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas (Gal. 2:9). The first principle in interpreting the blood-covenant relation of our Lord to the human race, lies in the fact that He came into this world as a visitor from another; which made the blood-covenant the more comprehen¬ sive to those who were familiar with its sacred associ¬ ations and obligations. We all may say “ I was born,” but He is able to declare, “ I came.” See Matt. 20: 28; Luke 19: 10; John 3:13; 6:38; 8:23; 10: 10, 26-28; * The Sunday School Times Pub. Co., Phila., Penna. 166 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST 13:3; 15:24; 16: 5, 6, 28; 17:4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 18. If we lose this postulate, our thought of Him becomes misty; if we hold to it, faith rises to sublime heights of aspiration. In His incarnation, therefore, the supernatural is pre-requisite. Those who lived closest to Him and to the days of His earth life had no question as to this. If He were of human origin solely, as we are, the basic intent of His visitation to the earth, as defined by the texts we have noted, would be lacking. Of necessity, there must be that concerning the advent of one who comes from another world, and that a world of holi¬ ness, which shall be commensurate with the exaltation of the Being who comes, and of the value of the re¬ demption which He assumes He has come to effect. We observe, therefore, that as our Blood-Brother, He took our blood into His veins, through the life of His human mother; but in turn, He came from that other world to impart to us as His blood-brothers, the life which Deity only could confer. There is a fore¬ taste, of that conferment of life in the grasp which St. Paul obtains of the mystery of the sustenance of the children of Israel in the wilderness. “ They did all eat the same spiritual meat; they did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ” (I Cor. 10:3, 4). Chemically analyzed, manna, as we understand it, has not the quality of sustaining life. Jehovah, the covenant-keeping God, gave His people His own life as they ate the commanded bread. The heinousness of their unbelief lay in their repudiation of the manna (“ Our soul loatheth this light bread.” Num. 21: 5) ; for in this mind they rejected Him OUR BLOOD BROTHER 167 whose life had been freely given them through this channel of bestowment. And we are challenged to recognize that the Apostle would not, could not have thus qualified Him as the covenant-keeping Jehovah were he not convinced by the revelation he had re¬ ceived from the ascended Lord Jesus (Gal. 1:1, 11, 12) of its incontrovertible verity. So we see that the pre-existent Jehovah, whose life was imparted in the bread His children ate, and in the sacrifices His children offered, was the same Being who sat before Nicodemus to affirm that God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. In these facts the union is complete. A rebellious world, a dying world, is made the recipient of life, through the incarnation of the Son of God. Flesh of our flesh, that our blood might flow through His veins; conversely, that the life which was in Him should be ours by our willingness to accept the blood- brother bond He came to establish. As a result of this bond, the friends of our Blood- Brother become our friends. The holy angels may have been especially operative in signal instances ere the Incarnation. But they are uniquely associated with the life of our Lord in His birth, temptation, ministry, sufferings and resurrection. And as such to Him, He has made them to us, ministers to them who shall be heirs of salvation (Heb. 1:14). And, as He makes His friends our friends, our foes become His. To explain sin and sickness, calamity and death as normal to our original estate is to vio¬ lently wrest the Scriptures. Wherever and whenever 168 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST He met these conditions, He recognized the factors which lay behind them. He was antagonized by the presence of demons who preyed upon the bodies and the minds of men. He regarded sickness as of a source foreign to His Father and Himself. The raging storm lay cowering at His feet when He rebuked the ele¬ ments which were threatening to engulf His disciples in the sea. He was indignant that self-righteous sin¬ ners should pay homage to the prince of sinners, by refusing to repent of their sins. He wept in the pres¬ ence of death at Lazarus’ tomb. For death was a foe of the race He had come to redeem. He openly de¬ clared that the god of this world had nothing in Him (John 8:44; 11:35; 12:31; 14:30). And in turn, the forces of evil recognized their alien position towards Him. Hear the demons, “ I know thee who thou art, thou Holy One of God. Art thou come to torment us before the time?” (Matt. 8:29; Mark 1: 24, 34; 5:7). The prince himself cannot dis¬ guise his foreign nature, when at the temptation, he presents the slurring insinuation, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread ” (Matt. 4:1-11). The ministry of our Lord is de¬ scribed by St. Peter as consequent upon God’s anoint¬ ing that He should meet the oppression of the Devil (Acts 10:38). He recognizes the bondage of the ac¬ cusing Pharisees when He affirms, “ Ye are of your father, the Devil” (John 8:44). Let us have a care how we dismiss the hostile powers which have held the world in bondage, and regard with lightness the union of the Blood-Brother with our humanity, expressly united to us that our foes might become His and through Him effectually defeated. Even Job saw this OUR BLOOD BROTHER 169 in the long-drawn vista which broke upon his view, “I know that my Avenger liveth ” (Job 19:25, 26). Can we stand with the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews who declares that “ Forasmuch as the chil¬ dren are partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise, him¬ self took part of the same, that through death, he might destroy him that had the power of death and deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage ” (Heb. 2:14, 15) ? In identifying Himself as the Blood-Brother of the human race, an essential of this qualifying was that He should partake of the sufferings which had been im¬ posed upon the race by that being who brought sin and suffering into the world. Hence, the Apostle Matthew in describing His healings declared that He fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 53, by taking into His own body the sufferings He had removed from others. Let us be thoughtful as to this. Where could these mala¬ dies go, once they left the bodies of the oppressed? Rationalism may invent its answers. But St. Matthew's is best. He took them, bare them, but since, as we have seen, He tabernacled in a body that was sinless, the ills which fell to Him were reduced to nothing because of the holiness within Him which, as we know, was, in the nature of His purity, a fire that could con¬ sume sickness by the very essence of its being. “ Our God is a consuming fire ” (Heb. 12: 29). As our Blood-Brother, we come to see Him in the light of New Testament teaching, united to us and we with Him in the indissoluble bonds of God's love. The love with which God loved Him is ours, because we are His (John 17:26). But this love thus joining us cannot be until we are willing to acknowledge that it 170 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST was consummated in the death of the Son of God for us. Our Blood-Brother had to die. St. Paul beheld the secret of the transaction. “ I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; and yet not I but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me ” (Gal. 2:20). This is generally taken as substitution; and so it is; “ for me ” can mean nothing short of that. But it is more. The Apostle means “ When He died, I died with Him. My blood flowed from His veins. In the person of my Lord I was crucified. Thus, as my Blood-Brother He is identified with me and I am identified with Him.” This prepares us to comprehend what the same Apostle discerns as the two-fold result of the Cross. There was a bond which we had forfeited. As we could not meet its demands, for love of us He took it out of the way and nailed it to His Cross. Thus to them who are in Christ Jesus, there is no judgment (John 5:25; Rom. 8:1; II Cor. 5:21; Col. 2:13, 14). But the Cross did something more. In the death of our Blood-Brother, who met our foes and for us over¬ came them (Heb. 2: 14) the territory occupied by them has been invaded on our behalf and we are placed in a position of access to God which before the Cross was not provided. In the mind of the Apostle, according to Col. 2:15, there was a heavenward side to the transaction. This same Apostle in another Epistle defines the realm of Satanic operations as spiritual and heavenly. “ We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual OUR BLOOD BROTHER 171 hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies ” (Eph. 6: 12). But we are to “ be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might ” for that we recognize these forces as defeated by our Blood-Brother in our behalf. The occasion of this defeat is set as the time of the Cross, for we read in the Colossian passage, after the refer¬ ence to the removal of the bond, “ Having despoiled the principalities, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” To this, the writer of the Hebrews gives confirmation, when he testifies that it was the death of Jesus which consecrated for us a new and living way (Heb. 10: 19, 20). We recall that at the instant of His departure, the veil of the temple was rent, from the top to the bottom (Matt. 27: 51). Thus, the rending of the veil which had obscured the Deity, that is to say, His flesh, obtained for the blood- brethren, to whom He had united Himself, a place in the heavenlies which had been closed hitherto. For, according to this same writer, the way into the holy place was not yet made manifest, while the first taber¬ nacle was yet standing (Heb. 9:8). It was through the rending of the veil of the living tabernacle in which the Son of God dwelt that the transaction was effected. So that now, having come into the world to meet sin and its author on our behalf, our Blood-Brother places us in the heavenlies, where we sit down in redemption freedom and fellowship (Eph. 2:1-10). “Our citi¬ zenship is in the heavenlies ” (Phil. 3 : 20). The terror of God which resides in every human breast, illustrated by the dismay of the demons as they met Him, is removed in those who have accepted Him as their Blood-Brother. They are reconciled; they are in the 172 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST Beloved; they receive of His Father, who now has become theirs, the favor and affection which He has always enjoyed; they can never perish; because He lives by the mighty power with which He is invested, they too shall live forevermore (Rom. 5:1; Eph. 1:6; Col. 1:19-22; John 10:28; 14:19). We have yet another stone to lay in the fabric of this building. His becoming our Blood-Brother links us to Him as sharers in the power and the glory which He possesses. His place in creation is dogmatically set forth in the New Testament (John 1:1-3; Col. 1: 15-18; Heb. 1: 1-3). The dynamics of the universe are under His administration (Eph. 1:18-23; Matt. 28:20; I Tim. 6: 15, 16). The exaltation which the Father has given Him, He elects to give to His own (John 17:2, 22). If therefore He has become pre¬ eminent, above every creation in the universe, and guarantees to His blood-brethren all the rights and pre¬ rogatives which He possesses, we have the firm and enduring provision that life for our bodies now shall be within the compass of this wonderful redemption which He has wrought for us. While the mystics are cooing over the cosmic life; the devotees of Buddhistic occultism are doting on the universal life which all men may cultivate, the blood-brethren of the Son of God stand upon a rock of certainty. He is not, can¬ not be a great prophet lined on the walls of time with Confucius, Buddha, Mohammed, Zoroaster. He is the unique Son of God, the possessor and dispenser of life. The life which He gives is life indeed. We may have as much of it as we choose; we may have as little as our doubts will allow. But the life is there in OUR BLOOD BROTHER 173 abundance. For life is in Himself; and in Him all have life in the measure of their capacity to receive. This discussion would not be complete without de¬ vout reference to the evident meaning of the Lord’s Supper, instituted by Him ere He should pour out His life-blood in our behalf. Why did He set apart the bread and the wine as the perpetual emblems of His death? Why do we in partaking, show forth that death until He come (I Cor. 11:26)? Are we con¬ tent to think of this sacred memorial only as com¬ memorative? Is it not that we shall renew our con¬ sciousness that He “the Mighty God” (Isa. 9:6) came into this world to take our blood into His veins that we might be identified with Him in His death? Do we recall that the blood of the pledged blood- brother was received into the body of the fellow whom he had chosen to that union with him? Is He not calling us to recogniize that His life which embraces all life, and lay in His blood, is to be received as liter¬ ally in our bodies as the visible emblems of His death ? In the Old Testament the blood might not be eaten (Gen. 9:4) ; but in the New, the blood of the Son of God incarnated in our flesh is the very source of life. For “ the life is in the blood.” “ This is my body, broken for you; this is my blood which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sin ” must have a new meaning to those who will receive the blood- brother bond with Him. May the sweet mystery be unfolded to all as each is able to receive it. How blessedly does this concept remove us from the pride of humanity, the poise of self-sufficiency, the exaltation of the intellect! Meekly do we bow before 174 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST Him and acknowledge Him as our life; not an absentee-God as is often claimed by the critics, but flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone; yet in verity, “ God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God,” one with us forevermore. CHAPTER VIII. OUR TRIUMPHANT FAITH. Christianity is essentially a faith. Other systems may be religions; this stands apart from them all in its unique and challenging position of “ the faith once for all delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). And it is more than a faith in high ideals and methods of life; or even faith in a salvation objectively accomplished for us. It is preeminently and command- ingly a faith in a Person. It is the Christian faith because it centers in the Christ of God, who came from His Father into this world to reveal God and to unite to Himself all who will to accept Him. We may assert without reservation, that if this is not the fundamental of Christianity, the entire structure of the truth which it embodies is doomed to ultimate disintegration. The very nature of faith, therefore, so far as Chris¬ tianity is concerned, exacts a heart-searching on the part of every honest seeker for the truth, that he may know “ the truth as the truth is in Jesus ” (Eph. 4:21). To this end, no price is too high to pay, no sacrifice too great. If we approach the question by the avenues of the intellect, we shall fail, utterly fail to comprehend God’s concept of faith. The charge is made in this highly cultured day that the unlettered are conspicuous for boldness in contending for the faith. This is not a new situation (Acts 4:13; I Cor. 1: 18-21). The scholarly, on the other hand, are hesi¬ tant, cautious, compromising. The introduction of 175 176 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST modern scholarship, the findings of modern science have determined the attitude of the present age regard¬ ing the Bible and its deposit of truth upon which faith must be founded. The masses of the educated are either fixed in their doubt of that which was reverently cherished by their ancestors; or, like a well-known preacher, they dismiss the problem of faith with an excusing release from committal, “ I don’t know. I don’t think that anybody knows.” With this negative creed, he led hundreds of thousands into his own quag¬ mire. Those of us who knew him in the days of his stalwart exposition of the Word of God, when he strengthened myriads by his uplifting utterances, can well recall that he deviated from the old paths when he made that Word the object of intellectual analysis. Let us be appraised that it will not yield its precious juices in the crucible of mental exactitude; it lies limp and impotent in our hands if we subject it to humanly devised laboratory tests. So, the method of understanding the Book is the crucial ordeal in the modern conflict. If it is purely human in its origin, it deserves to be treated as any other human book. But if it is divine in its essence, not intellect, but faith is the pre-requisite. For the revelation of God can never become vital through the cold processes of psychical research. Let us not for¬ get that the Apostle sounded out this warning when he wrote to his Corinthian friends (I Cor. 2: 14), “The psychical man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.” Of all the things which the Spirit is claimed to have originated, the Word of God is superlatively eminent. The following passages sound no uncertain note as to this: II Sam. 23:2; Micah 3:7; Mark OUR TRIUMPHANT FAITH 177 12:36; Luke 1:70; Acts 1: 16; 3: 19-21; 28:26; II Tim. 3:15-17; Heb. 3:7; 9:8; 10: 15; I Peter 1:11; II Peter 1:21; Rev. 19:10. If, therefore, any man will comprehend the Book, let him go to the Author, who used weak and sinful men to transcribe what He designed should be for reproof, correction, instruction, that the man of God should be thoroughly furnished. Admitting all the apparent “ inerrantly dictated scien¬ tific opinions, medical theories, historical judgments as well as spiritual insight ” by the writers of the Book, there remains yet the challenge that if there is any Holy Spirit, if He did in any case reveal truth to men, then, to be the Holy Spirit, He could not have been negligent of the errors; but allowed them to stand, since they were not essential to the rounded purpose He held in furnishing the Book to the people of God. We may reverently believe that just as it stands He would have it for uses best known to Himself. To comprehend the Book in which the Christian faith is embraced, we must needs understand, by the same Spirit who gave us the Book, the Christ whom it exalts. To the amazed disciples who could not see why He should be taken from them, the Lord Jesus registers the protest, “ It is expedient for you that I go away; if I go not away, the Comforter will not come ” (John 16:7). Somebody peculiarly qualified, whom He should send from the Father, should bring them illumination and energizing. It was the hunger of His heart that this Holy Spirit should enter upon that par¬ ticular office. There is a significant incident in His life where we discern the fact. At the close of the feast of the Tabernacles, He stood and cried, saying, “ If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink; 178 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST he that believeth in me from within him shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-39). The writer of the gospel explains that this was to be through the expected Spirit, who was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. There was, then, to be a time when that Holy Spirit should come to earth just as the Lord had, with a purpose distinctly His own. And a part of His unique mission was to “ testify ” of the Lord Himself (John 15:26). They (His amazed disciples) supposed they knew Him; but they did not, as they were to know Him, as the events of Pentecost and subsequent testi¬ mony disclose. They saw Him only on the flesh plane. This, the Apostle clearly defines as insufficient; aye, it was as a hindrance to vital spiritual enlightenment (II Cor. 5: 16, 17). To know Him as Simon Peter did in one flash of time, because the Father had re¬ vealed Him to his spiritual vision (Matt. 16: 16) was to become the perpetual knowledge after the Com¬ forter should come. Our Lord, Himself, makes this very clear, when He utters a statement that should be engraven upon the heart of every spiritual believer. Refer to the memor¬ able words in Matt. 11:27, “ No man knoweth the Son but the Father.” There is a knowledge of Him which is preciously cherished in the bosom of God. He longs to impart that knowledge to willing hearts, who will receive His Holy Spirit in simple faith. We are bound to assert that only those who submit to the Father’s method of imparting that knowledge of the Son can enter this realm of spiritual revelation. We are hearing much these days of “ The New Knowledge and the Christian Faith.” This new knowl- OUR TRIUMPHANT FAITH 179 edge reaches down into the bowels of the earth and brings forth fossil remains for the building of hy¬ potheses as to the origin of life; it has scanned the heavens and ascertained the chemistry of the stars; it has discovered the microbe and remedies for combat¬ ing it; it has harnessed the forces of the atmosphere ; it has made the impossible of yesterday the common¬ place utility of today. And because it has done this, it has not only knocked at the door of Christian faith, but impudently stalked in to assert its authority to furnish a key to the understanding of God’s Word. And kindly disposed preachers, prelates and professors of the Christian Church have welcomed this invader in a sincere belief that it will prove to be the real in¬ terpreter of spiritual truth. But can we be sure that this assumption will be honored of God? If it be not true, an astounding wrong will have been perpetrated upon the possible destiny of men. Let us respectfully ask, Are the essential elements of salvation dependent upon modern research? Does it find in sin any other (or better) than God’s definition? Will it remove the barriers which have separated God from His crea¬ tures? Will it enhance the ecstatic declaration of the Apostle, “ God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 4:6)? The rather, hard is it to say it, the New Knowledge has blunted the keen edges of conscience for sin; has blurred the vision of the hungry seekers for God; has immersed the Cross in a mist of speculation; has darkened the hope of immortality; has left men uncertain of the very things upon which the Word of God speaks with positive 180 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST note; has robbed our theological seminaries of hun¬ dreds of dedicated young men, who have been led to believe that the Christian ministry has no affirmative note. No. The New Knowledge has a legitimate sphere of action, but it is as foreign to the divine pro¬ vision of the comprehension of the Son of God as darkness is to light. The Father reserves to Him¬ self the authority to reveal His Son. (Gal. 1:15, 16) O the glory of it, that the poor, the ignorant, the ob¬ scure may be partakers of that which the cultured may lose. (I Cor. 1: 18-31) ; O the pity of it that human pride of intellect can restrain thousands of dear souls who will not submit to the divine illumination, but cling tenaciously to their self-opinionated standards. A story which I am fond of telling in this connec¬ tion may be useful: Following the delivery of a Christ¬ mas sermon in which the preacher urged the acceptance of the doctrine of the Incarnation as essential to a right comprehension of the Lord Jesus, one of the men of his congregation, a clear thinker and cultured, too, went to the rector’s study in a state of mind. His protest was, “ I do not like your sermon. It antagonized me. I cannot bring myself to accept this doctrine. My regard for Him is as reverent as that of any man; but I cannot think of Him as being a particle different as to His birth from the rest of humanity. To accept this idea would take Him out of my life, would prove a perpetual source of confusion. Besides the Incarna¬ tion as you present it offends my sense of delicacy. To think of Him as born out of the regular course of nature would be to put a blight upon Him and His mother.” The rector quietly listened to the impas¬ sioned outburst and then gently advised, “ You will OUR TRIUMPHANT FAITH 181 never get anywhere in this matter by an argumentative pathway. Nor, so I think, can you get away from the problem. You are an honest man. You want ground for your beliefs. You will not accept a half truth, nor will you take second-hand what others may dictate to you. There is one thing you can do; and I am sure you will do it. It is to cease controverting the question and give yourself to prayer. Will you fervently ask that God will bestow upon you His Holy Spirit?” A ready and relieved assent to this proposition was given and he left to make his quest. After some days, he caught the vision; and, charged with joy, he rushed to his rector, grasping him by both hands, and exclaimed, “ O my brother, God has revealed to my heart, what I tried and failed to see by my intellect. I believe that Jesus Christ is the incarnated Son of God.” With all my soul, I would that myriads of men and women who are baffled over this challenging problem, would follow the advice of this sensible rector. It will not do to sink into the apathy of unconcern and declare with resignation, “ I cannot understand, and I do not see that I should.” Let me reverently affirm that if there can be one thing above another that God longs to do in willing hearts, it is to reveal His Son to the spiritual consciousness of all who will consent to be illumined, not by scholarly erudition, but by the sim¬ plicity of Christ, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12:3; II Cor. 10:3-5). This, then, is the foundation of our faith. We take the Word of God, as He has been pleased to preserve it to us and regard it as “ it is in truth, not the word of men, but the Word of God which effectually worketh 182 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST in them that believe ” (I Thess. 2: 13). We accept the gift of the Holy Spirit through whom alone by the will of God we can know the Son of God. Then, with this enlightenment, all intelligent study will follow in order. We shall have the spiritual keenness of perception which will discern the proportions of truth; and have to give to every man a reason of the hope that is in us (I Peter 3: 15). The next and essential step in our pursuit of the knowledge of faith, is the comprehension of the fact that our Lord Himself lived a life of faith, ere He was qualified to bestow faith to His own. Do we ever think, as we sing the familiar hymn, “ My faith looks up to Thee,” that really we have none that could pos¬ sibly be acceptable to God? It must come from Him. Let us recall some of the passages where the ascription of faith is His: Mark 11:22; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 3:9; Gal. 5:22, 23; I Cor. 12:9; Heb. 11:3. Perhaps the best illustration of this lies in the right interpretation of that wonderful passage in Eph. 2:1-10. The kernel of the paragraph is verse 8, “ By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” We note that “ grace ” is a distinctly New Testament term. Its use in Greek or other litera¬ ture implies only that which is attractive in form or character. But here the word conveys the idea of the longing of God for the love of men, a hunger to dwell in their hearts. So, by its very definition, grace is the gift of God; it cannot be otherwise. Therefore, the Apostle would not need to say that of it. What he designs to declare is that the faith by which we appre¬ hend the grace of God is the gift: “ By grace are ye OUR TRIUMPHANT FAITH 183 saved through faith; and that (the faith you exercise) is not of yourselves; it (the faith) is the gift of God.” This is not to release us from personal responsibility as might be assumed by those who have not seen it this way; but the rather to deepen that responsibility, since responsibility is our response to God’s ability; and that ability is constantly expressed in His prom¬ ises to us. Let us see how reasonable this is: By our own act we breathe, we eat. But the breathing faculty was given to us; we did not invent it. The capacity for food, the ability to enjoy food, the quality in food which nourishes us, the processes of assimilation are all God’s gifts. And yet we exercise what is our pre¬ rogative in this department of our life. So, we reason that until we perceive that faith is the gift of God and that it comes through our Lord Jesus, consequent upon His redemptive work for us, we are not settled in our convictions, nor are we equipped for the triumphs of faith. When we make the statement that our Lord lived a life of faith, no doubt it will strike an unsympathetic chord in some hearts. Most naturally, if we accept His Deity-Sonship, we embrace the concept that all things were possible to Him, and that He was above the need of faith, as we are conditioned. But, how could He reprove the lack of faith in others if He did not exer¬ cise it Himself (Matt. 8:26; 14:31; 17:20; Mark 4: 40) ? If He were in all points tried as we are, He must know experimentally what our testings are. In this lies the import of His emptying (Greek for Phil. 2:7). His advent into this world was through the Holy Spirit (Luke 1 : 35) ; His ministry began with the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:16); the same 184 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST Spirit led Him forth to His trial in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1); He constantly pleaded that He was not qualified to do anything or say anything apart from the inspiration and energizing of God, through the Spirit who possessed Him (John 5:19, 30; 8:28; 14: 10). And in this fact lies the mystery of the agony of Gethsemane. His passion was to do the Father’s will (John 4:34; 6:38; 8:29). The tragedy of Cal¬ vary had been anticipated with triumphant joy. He had declared to His disciples that with desire He had desired to eat the Passover with His disciples ere He should suffer (Luke 22: 15) ; He had sung with them the great Hallel in which is the 118th Psalm; He had gone forth to the garden with His disciples for a last hour of communion with His Father, in the place where He was wont to meet Him (Luke 21:37). I have endeavored to give the reason why He was sud¬ denly and so unexpectedly overcome with the nausea of exhaustion in my treatise, “ Redemption,” pages 43-45. So will not more than urge that we see in it not a shrinking from the Cross as has been so often contended; that therefore He registered by His fear of death one prayer that His Father could not answer; but that this invasion was permitted Him in order that He might prove His faith in His Father by holding firmly to His Father’s care and will. That He did not have to drink the cup from which He drew back; that He was heard for His faith (godly fear) is distinctly asserted by the writer of the Hebrews (Heb. 5:7, 8). I believe we may assure ourselves that He was more triumphant in that hour than in any of His devoted life. And when we are surrendered, utterly sur¬ rendered as He was, we too come nearer to God than OUR TRIUMPHANT FAITH 185 at any other time. For faith grows rich not in the sunshine of accomplishment, but in the dark recesses of our Gethsemane where God alone is craved and the will of God rises in the breast as the supreme quest. So then, the same Spirit who dwelt in Him for the doing of the Father’s will, for the energizing of faith, is ours to receive. And when He comes to live in us by our voluntary hospitality, He will incite in us the longing for the things which the Father designs to give. This was not bondage in our Lord’s life; it will not be in ours. The rather, it raises us up to the supreme altitude of freedom and achievement (Rom. 8: 26, 27). If we rebel against this order, experienced by our Lord and to be reproduced in us, we may live a good life, we may be used of God, but superlative achievement in the life of faith will be lacking. And the key to this life of faith lies in overmaster¬ ing love to Him. For where love reigns, there is no barrier to accomplishment. This is why we contend that faith is a faculty of the affection. Cold intel¬ lectual faith (if indeed that can be called faith) has no vital power. Only they who are bound to our Lord in the chains of love can know the dynamics of faith. God endeavored to teach this to His ancient people under the law (Deut. 6:5); how much more may it be the inspiration and impulse for dedicated New Testa¬ ment living. To His own, our Lord Jesus pleads, “ If ye love me ye will keep my commandments ” (John 14: 15), after which He promises the Spirit of truth who in His place is to abide with them (and us) to the end. We recall how the test of discipleship lay in the personal appeal to Simon Peter, “ Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou ” (John 21:15-17). Only when that 186 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST love was confessed could he go forth to his work for Him. And St. Paul crystallizes the teaching in the pronouncement that all that avails in the spiritual life is “ faith which worketh by love ” (Gal. 5:6). Let us be assured then, that much of our faith is valueless, when it lacks the essentials we have noted; and it fails to rise to the altitude of making Him the center and circumference of love which loves in spite of all re¬ versed hope or crushed expectation. For if surrender to the will of the Lord and an overflowing love to the Lord be absent, though He may cherish us and give us blessings many, we are deficient of our full in¬ heritance in Him. He must be first and preeminent, if He is to make us the channel of His outworking. It is just here that we part company with that in¬ creasingly large company of professing Christians who are exploiting the slogan of Peace, Prosperity and Power. Their testimony thrills with achievement, acquisition and gratification. But they are after things and they claim they get them. He is to them but the channel of obtainment. Can this be of Him? If faith is but a means to an end; if “ only believe ” includes the seeking and receiving; if the life of the Giver is not sought, there must be a flaw somewhere. May this not be the exhibition of those who taking God’s con¬ ferment “enter by some other way” (John 10:1)? A woman of this class who had entered this field of experimentation and failed, rather exultingly declared to me some time ago, “ I have given up praying.” To my astonished inquiry, “ How came that ? ” she replied, “O, there’s no use. You don’t get what you ask for.” Curious to see what might be her response, I ques¬ tioned, “ Don’t you know that all the promises of God OUR TRIUMPHANT FAITH 187 have hinges, one side of which is human, the other divine ? ” “ No, I do not.” I then gave her Psa. 37: 4, “ Delight thyself also in the Ford; and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart.” With a searching look into her eyes, I interrogated, “ Do you delight yourself in the Lord ? ” I was quite prepared for her snappy reply, “ No, I don’t.” Then I pressed upon her the words of our Lord in John 15:7, “If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.” When I sought her mind as to her compliance with these conditions, she acknowledged with a crestfallen look that she had failed to comprehend it. Can we not see that faith, true faith, seeks more than the things that God can give? When Job was in the depths of his trial, he rose to sublime heights as he exclaimed, “ Though he slay me yet will I trust in him” (Job. 13:15); and again he exulted in God when he declared, “ I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12). So Jeremiah (Jer. 15:16). Hear the Psalmist, who uttered the grandest exclamation of faith, “ Whom have I in heaven but thee; and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee” (Psa. 73:25). And the New Testament tingles with this exultation. And when faith is thus anchored in God it never asks doubting questions, never fears, never fails God. St. Paul makes Abraham a conspicuous illustration. When this “friend of God” (II Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23) offered to worldly-minded Lot, his unspiritual nephew, what part of the land he might elect for himself, that avaricious being chose the “ well- watered plain of Jordan” (Gen. 13), Abraham was 188 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST not moved with pity on his own behalf, though this left him but the barren highlands. Abraham was centered in God. Lot was centered in himself. And the Apostle ascribes to him the highest tribute of praise in the statement of Rom. 4:17-21, for he believed God, who calleth those things that be not, as though they were . . . against hope believed in hope (for God is the God of hope—Rom. 15:13) . . . considered not the limitations of nature, because God was his quest; and therefore staggered not through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. But let us again be certified that this faith leads to Gethsemane and to the Cross. Some of God’s children are too tender to endure the test; He is considerate of them; but shall we ask for the fortitude to endure as did Abraham, that the glow of God may be the only light that burns in our lives ? Impetuous Peter, learn¬ ing the lesson and gleaming with light, expounds the truth, “ That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ; whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though seeing him not, yet believing, y e rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (I Peter 1:7, 8). And St. Paul, who has given us the imperishable dictum, “ For to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21), crystallizes the truth we are defining by the exultant climax of Romans eight, “ In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us ” (v. 37). We have our Lord’s challenge to ask and receive that our joy may be full (John 16:24); we have the apostolic assurance that “ all things ” are ours. But OUR TRIUMPHANT FAITH 189 we cannot obtain until we are emptied; the measure of our surrender determines our capacity to receive. For whatever we retain occupies the space that God’s gifts are designed to fill (I Cor. 3:21-23). And we must not fail to note that among the all things, self-dying has its place. We know full well how we have been accustomed to speak of and to practice self-denial; that means to cut off a bit of selfish enjoyment or posses¬ sion, the real self being as large as ever, and perhaps a bit larger for very congratulation over the self-denial. But denial of self is the essence of the Biblical teach¬ ing. We are dead (Col. 3: 3) and are to keep reckon¬ ing upon the accomplished fact. So long as the flesh, the mind, the self, dominate in our prayers, we may ask and our God may be gracious to us, for very love’s sake; for He gives liberally to all men (James 1:5). But in His deeper love for us and His purpose in our behalf, He longs to lead us into the dark recesses of our Gethsemane, that we may find Himself alone. When we arise from that agony of self-dying, and into the newness of the life which Fie has ordained for us, faith will no longer be a capricious and spasmodic mood, but a clear, steady and unfalter¬ ing flame of love. Then, the transfigured life will prove its reality by a joy which abounds in every circumstance. It will not be contingent upon what may occur; for its roots are grounded in God. He is the sufficiency. And absorbed in God, with a pas¬ sion to do the will of God, we shall reflect Him in other lives. Qualified thus, by an abandonment to God, we are capable now of grasping the all-conquering possibili¬ ties of the promises of God. We shall not test them by 190 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST what we have obtained, though we may receive many evidences of his love and care. His faith in us will lie embedded in the rock-founded conviction that God has spoken and cannot be untrue. The potencies which are awakened by this confidence are stimulating and ener¬ gizing. The assurance of the willingness of our loving Father to bless by all means, becomes a fixed spiritual state. There will be no fluctuations. In this realm of experience, we may wait to have Him write into our lives the sweetest romance of thought and desire. For all things are possible to Him, to whom we have sur¬ rendered (Matt. 19:26); and all things become pos¬ sible to us who yield to Him for guidance and keeping (Mark 9:23). If we hesitate to stand for this; if we halt at the threshold of experimentation and fear that it will not work, we are by that act betraying that we are not possessed by God’s faith. No matter whether the particular thing we seek comes to us or fails us; we are strong in faith because we are irrevocably com¬ mitted to Him. Therefore, we may be always on the pinnacle of anticipation. To-day is to every saint thus conditioned, “ the day which the Lord hath made.” Yesterday may have been dark and forbidding; its close may have been marked by humiliating defeat. To-day is God’s day for us, if we will; for His faith in us never falters. It translates every circumstance into an occasion for His intervention. It is ever buoy¬ ant in expectation of what He has promised. That the bountiful Giver has many times come to lives unfitted to receive His gifts, we must all acknowl- edge. That will never be so with those who first seek Himself and His faith for conquest. Many of us would have gone under, but for this jubilant attitude. OUR TRIUMPHANT FAITH 191 With arms ever ready to take, and hearts ever burning with love, we have learned that the most trying times have been the eve before the day most longed for. And the inspiration which this life of expectancy awakens leads us into precious paths of fellowship with Him. Constantly fitted for His blessings, we count upon the great things He can do in the realm of the unseen. Joseph Parker, working to the limit of his hard-pressed life, entertained the confident anticipation of a vine-clad cottage, where he might spend the sun¬ set of his days among his books and in the society of choice friends. He was cut off ere the dream was con¬ summated. But we must all allow that he honored God by the hope, and rejoiced in God as he looked forward to it. May it not be thus with every circum¬ stance? After all, it is not the getting of the thing, but the place we give God in the resting for it. Be certified that no prayer is lost to God; no act of true faith misses record in His great counting house above; all will be found to our credit. If this fact grips us, we shall not be amazed over the loss of coveted gifts. We shall rise on the wings of victory and thank Him for the wisdom He has displayed on our behalf in de¬ ferring until the better time. And I believe we may come to that place of rest in Him, where we may en¬ tertain such superlative thoughts of His love towards us, so great and beneficent, as to even refrain at times from asking. In such rare instances it will be enough concerning them that we shall warm our hearts with the assurance that “ it would be just like Him to do it.” And thus with David we may delight ourselves in the Lord and leave with Him the pleasure of giving us our (unexpressed) desires. 192 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST We have all felt the humiliation of lost battles; grief over the ashes of our burned hopes; despair that op¬ portunities have passed which can never be recalled. But, the alchemical potency of the divinely-conferred faith, transmutes all such into the pure gold of God’s providence. We have ceased, some of us at least, to tolerate the song “ The Bird with Broken Pinion.” This blessed faith enables us to count upon His restor¬ ing to us past years (Joel 2:25) ; our covenant-keeping Jehovah will give us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (Isa. 61: 3). We shall rest upon the assur¬ ances of His Word, “ I will get them praise and fame in every land of their shame ” (Zeph. 3: 19) ; “ They shall have double for all their sins” (Isa. 61:7). Though, like Amaziah, we stand amazed over our financial losses, we can catch again the stimulating challenge of the prophet, “ God is able to give thee much more than this ” (II Chron. 25: 9). We shall no longer cry in longing for release, “ O that I had the wings of a dove; for then would I fly away and be at rest” (Psa. 55:6). Nay. But stayed as was Joseph in his firm trust in God, we may await the glad day when we shall name our Ephraim, and exultingly cry, “ He hath made me fruitful in the land of my afflic¬ tion ” (Gen. 41: 52). Yes. This triumphant faith, divinely conferred, humanly expressed, will carry us through every crisis. It will plant the deep roots of hope in the grave of yesterday’s failures, disappointments and defeats. It will remember the past only to rejoice in what the present may effect. There can be no hour so stagger¬ ing that it may not bring with it the hallowed sense OUR TRIUMPHANT FAITH 193 that God “ is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20). And it will grow to the exalted plane of rejoicing in the very things which cause weak faith to faint. “ The joy of faith ” will become an experience of rich and lasting value (Phil. 1:23). It will sing “Praise the Lord” ere the Lord has begun His working (II Chron. 20:20-22). Our affliction will be light and but for a moment as we contemplate the immeasurable riches of our God (II Cor. 4:15, 16). We shall “count it all joy” to fall into manifold trials (James 1:2-4). We shall sing songs in the night (Job 35:10; Acts 16: 25), because He gives them. Human nature cannot do this; but the supernatural life which we may live provides it and we respond to the divinely conferred faith by exercising confidence in the seemingly impossible. I have endeavored in these paragraphs to outline the faith in this manner, that I may arouse the perplexed and questioning saints who are wondering why they do not get victory for their flesh. Unquestionably there are many who have received but a superficial concept of the dynamics of faith. There is ever the tendency to look at what God has done for others as the basis of expectancy of what He may do for us. We are prone to think that we must try to believe; and the exercise of our endeavor causes friction in our lives. We have touched the shallow waters of God’s ocean of love and power and failed to see that to get the draught, we should “ launch out into the deep ” (Luke 5:4). We have saved our gr atitude until the gift should come.. while He has waited to behold in us an undying joy for what He is to us. We have sought companies for 194 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST fellowship in prayer and healing, while He has been calling us to stillness with Himself. I hold no brief for any soul merely seeking the gifts of God. I do not guarantee that if what I have indi¬ cated shall be faithfully experienced, healing must of certainty come. But I do unfalteringly urge that there shall be in the life this complete surrender to Him that will respond to all He wants us to be. And I do de¬ voutly believe that when this shall be true of us, re¬ garding the disposition of our lives in this dedication of our selves, we shall be in the place where He can reach us more surely and effectively than in any other. For “He loves to be sought; He loves to be longed for.” Needless to say, the life of faith will be one of deep concern for others. Self-absorption defeats the work¬ ings of faith; indeed faith, the faith of God, perishes when we think only of our own needs. As we long for the blessings that can come into lives pleadingly needing our sympathy in prayer and service, we get rich in the things of God. Though we may be laid aside, the curtains of our chamber drawn, the silence of the atmosphere consonant with our low physical estate, the avenue to prayer for others will yet be open, our ministry of sympathy still operative; and it may be that as with Job, when we intercede for our friends, God can and will turn our captivity (Job. 42: 10). Finally, may I set forth the crowning incentive for this life of triumphant faith? Service for God? Yes. Victory for others? Yes. Affording Him the pleasure of bestowing His gifts to well-prepared hearts and bodies? Yes. To afford the dynamics of the life- OUR TRIUMPHANT FAITH 195 giving Body of our Lord to fill us in the all-things of His preeminence? Yes. But one thing more. There are principalities in the heavenlies intimately concerned as to our attitude in faith. The friendly rejoice in our triumphs; the hostile glory in our defeats. We deter¬ mine who shall exult over us. With us lies the deci¬ sion to magnify our God to the humiliation of the powers of darkness; to the infinite delight of His heavenly messengers who regard us with jealous in¬ terest (Eph. 3:10). You, I, as members of the Church of God are registered before these hierarchies. Let us rise to the altitude of responsibility, and cheer the heart of our dear Lord by proving true. CHAPTER IX. APOLOGIA. Quite thirty-five years ago, I was requested by a member of the firm, a very dear friend, to read, and comment upon the paged proof of a volume which the Messrs. Harper Brothers would immediately publish. The book presented certain problems in the religious life which appealed to the learned of the day. It seemed unique in its delineation of the theme, and af¬ forded me genuine pleasure. When Mr. Harper reported to the author the opin¬ ion I had formed, he requested that I should call upon him. As I stood before the man, I found myself in the presence of Henry Mills Alden, the world-wide known editor of Harper’s Magazine. During our pleasant conversation, I ventured the interrogation, “ Why, Mr. Alden, did you not place your name on the title-page ? ” His modest and winsome reply was, “ I do not wish the man to obscure the messaged “ But,” I pleaded, “ there are times when in simple justice to the message, the man should be known.” “ Perhaps so,” was his meek rejoinder. Later editions of his book do an¬ nounce his authorship. We appreciate the delicacy which hides behind the V word it proclaims, and like faithful John Baptist, con- fesses, “I am the voice” (John 1:23). We should - all elect that attitude when we teach spiritual truth. And in no sphere of experience does one feel more the ^ need of humble unobtrusiveness than in that of the 196 APOLOGIA 197 healing witness. One may tell his friends, or venture to present his testimony to an assembled company; but to put it into cold type, calls forth every instinct of hesitancy. And yet, in spiritual matters, the person¬ ality goes far to enhance the comprehension of the message. I trust that the fact of my having held this reluctance all the forty years I have been standing for this truth in the printed page as well as the spoken word, may be sufficient evidence to the critical reader that I have maintained a commendable humility of mind; and how exceedingly loth I am now to put before the general public what has been known to- but the limited circle of my trusted friends. That it could have and would have yielded glory to our blessed Lord, I may not question; but an in¬ stinctive shrinking from unfolding my inner life, as I am about to do, has restrained me. And I now make the venture by introducing an incident which may be seen to be applicable. On one occasion, calling upon an invalid friend, bed-ridden, I found her in a par¬ oxysm of grief. Distressed for her, I listened to her recital of the case. She related that to help two friends who had been to see her, who she felt might be encour¬ aged by her testimony, she had given them a leaf out of her very deepest experience of God’s leading and care. Her chastened life was full of such touches. When she had concluded, they gave her an unrespon¬ sive, blank look, in which she discerned cold indiffer¬ ence mingled with a streak of sarcasm. She saw she had erred; and since they had frozen the springs of her being, she gave vent to bitter regret that she had been so unwise. As I heard her story, slowly and tearfully 198 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST detailed, I was led to recur to Mary’s outpoured love which was so equally misinterpreted; and I reminded her that ere the ointment could “ fill the house,” the cruse had to he broken (Mark 14: 3 ; John 12:3). She caught the suggestion in a flash. “ O, I see it; and though they did not understand, He did.” “ Yes,” I replied, “ And we are not to be concerned how others may take our gifts to Him. Our privilege is to render as to the Lord, and not unto men.” Now, inasmuch as I may never again deal with this healing question, at least as fully as I have in this volume, I reverently venture to tell my own tale. And I am comforted that in postponing it, I shall be able to embrace what was not possible to record in the earlier years of my devotion to this truth. The Apostle re¬ minds the Corinthians, as he unbosoms himself, “ It is for your sakes.” Thus I plead in my own behalf. All through my childhood and youth, I enjoyed the questionable distinction of being called “ delicate.” Supposedly sympathetic people constantly obtruded their opinions as to what should be done on my behalf. I fancy that my parents grew weary of this voluntary interest. I soon realized my deficiencies; and early began to envy boys of my own age who could “ do things.” I scarcely ever completed a term at school; some indisposition, brief or prolonged, would interrupt the progress of my studies. And I confess that as the thing grew on me, I began to accommodate myself to the inevitable program. Beginning a business career when I had finally got¬ ten as far as I could in preparatory training, for any thought of college was utterly out of the question, I had no grasp of the future. One thing I regard with APOLOGIA 199 gratitude—I learned to know God in those hard years of distress when other lads were living on the animal plane. And as I realized that I might not long survive the ordeal, the other world became more real to me than could be expected of the husky fellows of my age. For five years I fought to hold my place, hopeful of something; He alone could know. My associates in business were most considerate of me, in the enforced absences which my ebbing life forces compelled. At last, when I was approaching my majority, the time when the normal young man should be at his best, I arrived at my nadir. Several months were granted me for the obtainment of a possible recovery. My phy¬ sician, one of the best in New York at the time, grew more and more perplexed as the decline stubbornly progressed. When he finally pleaded that he might be allowed to consult other talent, I objected. I knew that his acknowledged ability was quite equal to any¬ thing that any man could do. I was convinced that no other could help me. At this juncture, I was importuned by loving friends who were as dear to me as my own flesh and blood, to come to them in hope of a renewal of life. They were sure that the country air would do me good and my depleted physical forces would revive. They had no idea of my deplorable condition; else, I opine, they would have been slow to venture the hazardous ex¬ periment. When I truthfully state that my scrawny neck was roomily encircled by a collar numbered eleven and a half; that one might put a finger or two in the hollows; that my eyes were deep-sunken in their sockets; that the skin on my cheek-bones was worn 200 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST through; that when I had been reduced to seventy-five pounds, I ceased weighing for very agony of mind; that the cold-blooded gamins of the side-walks were wont to cry after me, “ Look at that walkin’ grave¬ yard,” I need say little more. Thank God, He gave me the courage to be around. I realized that if I should give up, permanent invalid¬ ism would be my fate. How I made the long trip of over one hundred miles, I know not; but I did it, and found myself in the midst of loving ministries. Every¬ thing that could be, was done in my behalf. But for a month, I sank steadily in force and flesh. The solicit¬ ous attentions, the untiring sympathy could not check the downward course. And these devoted souls saw me withering day by day, painfully conscious of the peril of my state. In their ignorance of my real con¬ dition, they constantly pleaded that I should eat. The very suggestion appalled me. I had gone through all that phase of experimentation with my doctor, who sought by every known means to make food acceptable and assimilative. I knew that the pleading possibili¬ ties expressed by these hearty farm folk was utterly beyond my capacity. But God was left me; and I threw myself upon Him. My mind was clear; my heart was right with Him, so far as I could know. So I held on with hope that He would do the work for me; how and when, I could not anticipate. On Sunday, the first day of March, 1874, I sat in that old stone farm house, alone with Him. The fam¬ ily had gone to the afternoon service. I had become so ashamed of my appearance that I refused to be seen outside the house, save when taken for a drive. The atmosphere was chilly, the sky overcast, fitly cor- APOLOGIA 201 responding with the clouds which were hanging over my life. I was not particularly conscious of the presence of the Lord; nor yet that I was on the eve of a conquest; but I was, I know, in close appeal for that which He alone could do for me. All at once, there swept over me a wave of victorious faith that on the following morning, I should eat a really normal breakfast. So- fixed was this conviction, that I did not for a moment falter, nor environ myself with cautious limitations. I retired that night jubilant in the prospect of what the day to come should bring. As I approached the breakfast table, I declined the meager dish of cereal, which had been my portion, and announced to the family that I should accept their fare. In those days, the diet of farmers was such as might call for modification now. I was hilarious in the pros¬ pect of hot meat, potatoes, buckwheat cakes with plenty of good butter and molasses, crowned by a steaming cup of coffee. I was at an advantage in being away from home; for my own family would have been terri¬ fied by my evident rashness. These loving friends, on the contrary, entered into the spirit of the experiment with real zest. It did their dear hearts good to see me fulfil their prophecy that if I should “ eat one square meal ” I should get well. Going out for a morning drive, I returned from a neighboring city with a chum who conducted a little country grocery. Spying upon his loaded wagon a box of lemon biscuit, I suggested a lunch, to which he gave cordial assent. Reaching the farm house at noon, I played my part to the full satisfaction of the entire family. I ate all they put upon my plate; and it was 202 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST not sparing, we may be sure. I am venturesome enough to believe that the meal closed with the ever¬ present mince pie of those days. That afternoon, I walked down to my friend’s store and enjoyed a treat of crackers and cheese. That evening, I sat at the farmer’s supper table to partake of what they should offer me, such as cold meat, warmed-up potatoes, wholesome home-made bread, cake and preserves. Sleeping that night with perfect restfulness, I arose to prepare for another day of triumph. This regimen of five meals I continued for about a week, when, though I did not feel the need to cut down, I reasoned that I should be satisfied with the conventional hours for eating. As I recall that time, I am minded to wonder if ever there was just such a marvelous healing as mine. If I am permitted to talk with the recording angel (if such there be) I shall want to ask him about it. My heart overflows as I recite the story. A rapid convalescence followed; and by the first of May I presented myself at the place of business from which I had been absent for three months. The senior member of the firm had, in the interim, purchased a large farm in New Jersey; and he urged that I should go there for at least a year and be, as he put it, “ philo¬ sophically lazy.” There were things I could do; keep¬ ing the books, raising chickens and running the tiny grocery which was the only source of supply for the several scores of workmen. As the weeks went by my weight increased until at the end of five months from that eventful March day, I balanced the scales at one hundred and thirty-six pounds. My face had become as round as an apple. There was no cessation of APOLOGIA 203 the ability to consume enormous quantities of food; and I had strength commensurate with increased avoirdupois. During that year, a revival started in the community, and I learned my first lessons in evangelism. Little by little the urge came upon me that I must give myself to God for whatever service He might be preparing for me. Just what it should be I could not for a moment anticipate. But the dove-tailing of His purposes be¬ came clear as the time went on. My illness had worked in my father a remarkable change. I was to him “ the apple of an eye,” his only son and close companion. God used his grief over me for His own blessed end. He had been a nominal church-member, had drifted away until at the time, he was an agnostic. One Sun¬ day evening, during my memorable absence, seeing the announcement of a preaching service at the large hall of the Cooper Union, conducted by an Episcopal min¬ ister, whom he had previously met at a funeral, he was led to enter. That night, he was roundly, soundly and permanently converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was just at this point in his life that I was healed, as I have described. When, therefore, he came to visit me in my New Jersey home, January 1st, 1875, I opened my heart to him as to the longing to find some Christian work where I might testify to my gratitude to our good Lord. He was so overjoyed, that, fearing he might precipitate the step, he begged me to unite with him in another month of prayer that fullest guidance might be obtained. At the end of the appointed time, I was as firmly persuaded of the call. He accordingly ar¬ ranged for an interview with his friend and rector (for 204 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST he had become a Churchman, as was quite consistent). This good man at once took me into his heart and life; and as he was able to place me where my own church could not, and where I felt I was called to labor, I entered into fellowship with him on May 3rd, 1875. One confession I must make in this connection. Though I had received such a wonderful evidence of our Lord’s supernatural power in my body, I was led to think that I should be permitted to give my life to Him for but a few short years. Hence, I labored with a zeal which one in such a condition of mind would be expected to display. The days were strenuous. Not infrequently they were sixteen hours long, mingled with missionary endeavor of all kinds, and hard study. The field which was assigned me in the Stanton Street Mission is now considered to be the most densely packed district in any city of the world; and it was almost so then. After three years in the mission, my friend sent for me to be his private secretary. Established in his im¬ mediate association, he arranged for special tuition, that I might be prepared for the ministry. For by this time I had joined my father and sister in becoming a communicant of his parish. This prospect had not been in my forecast. While I had been in the down¬ town work, I recognized the return of the old depres¬ sion and experienced in some measure the reducing of flesh and vital force. But with this new vision of service, I yielded to 1 the leading and gave myself to increased application to study under the direction of a masterly scholar who pushed me on. I passed my examinations at the General Theological Seminary, though not matriculating as a student. My advance- APOLOGIA 205 ment to the higher order of the ministry of the Epis¬ copal Church occurred two years after my ordination to the diaconate, the examinations for the same being also at the Seminary. Being the assistant minister of one of the largest metropolitan churches, I experienced severe tests, es¬ pecially as the event of which I am to speak will show, and which happened while I was completing my studies for the above final examinations. What may have been the direct cause was not surely known; the in¬ ference was that the seemingly fatal attack of malarial fever which laid me low in the summer of 1882, had come from infection of sewer-gas, to which I had con¬ fessedly been exposed during the previous winter and spring. The severity of this visitation may be esti¬ mated as I record the crisis, when one of the most eminent specialists in the city was called in consulta¬ tion. This man, as I after learned, gave no hope; he offered no suggestion of treatment; he declared that every organ in my body was affected. I was unable to retain even the specific employed for nausea in St. Luke’s Hospital. The young people of the parish, learning of this decision, devoted the evening of the next day (Sunday) to intercession in my behalf. On Monday morning, I was able to take milk and lime water; later in the day, clam broth; in three days, I ate solid food; in a little more than three weeks from that fateful Saturday, I was taken aboard a steamer bound for Newfoundland, in care of a nurse. In the eighteen days of the round trip I gained fifteen pounds in weight and increased commensurately in strength, leaving the vessel with a firm tread and carrying two hand-bags. 206 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST This brief recital brings me to the vital point in my history to which the writing of this book is essentially related. The healing movement, as I have indicated, was widening under the leadership of Dr. Cullis, and questions were rife as to the consistency of the position which the spiritual Christian should take in the matter. I confess that with all the Lord had done for me, I was not stirred to decision. Up to this period, while I was sure of my own healing in both of the instances I have described, there was a hesitancy to lead others to com¬ mit themselves to God as I had. I did not see healing in the Word of God, as indeed many do not now. And to preach or teach it involved personal ostracism. But God had His plan for me in this, as He had in other leadings. On February 3rd, 1883, I was the guest at dinner of a saintly woman, a communicant of the Church, and actively concerned for the usefulness of the parish in which I was serving. When she opened to me the challenge of divine healing, the whole panorama of my life spread before me. If ever God had dealt with man, He had with me; and on my knees beside that godly woman, I was possessed of St. Peter’s mind, as he protested to his Christian brethren (Acts 11:17) “What was I that I could withstand God ? ” And I yielded myself to Him for all that He might wish to do with me in this field of truth. A few weeks later, at her table, I first met Dr. Simpson. He invited me to attend his Friday after¬ noon meeting for healing, then being held in the Grand Opera House. That was the beginning of a loving fellowship which lasted until the end of his wonderful life. But I cannot picture myself as my first year of triumph had made me. The flesh had gone in large APOLOGIA 207 measure; the features were wan and the frame fragile. People were wont to say, “ He has a clear grasp of the truth, but he has little to show.” The rector under whom I was then serving as assistant, learning of my embracing healing, humorously remarked, “If any one needs it, Mac’ does.” It was all too true. Frequent spells of melancholia invaded my life; activity was my only recourse. People blamed me for working too hard. But I knew myself better than they could. Many, many times in the long years which followed my acceptance of the Lord as my Healer, I could have breathed Elijah’s prayer, “ Lord, it is enough; take away my life” (I Kings 19:4). But He denied me, as I now see, for reasons which cause my heart to rejoice. In the face of the attacks which came upon me, I was pressed to make ventures of faith which would have appalled even strong believers. But there seemed no alternative. Finally, after I had left the New York parish, com¬ pleting thirteen years of arduous labor, serving three years as rector of St. Thomas’ Church, New Windsor, N. Y., and being four years in my present incumbency, the break came. Through the years of 1895, ’96 and ’97, I was under the blight of nervous prostration, rising at times to the call to service, downed again for a long period of rest. At last, in 1897, after months of incapacity, during which time my people displayed wonderful patience and hope in my behalf, I crossed another stream. There came to Westport, in the win¬ ter of 1897 and ’98, a band of Salvation Army men, picked fellows of the highest type of consecration. To them I opened my heart, and they lovingly took me into theirs. Their fervent prayers rang a chime of 208 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST hope in my soul; and I took faith to assume the pulpit ministries of the parish, though the vestry at the time was endeavoring to secure me a permanent assistant. As I made this advance, few in the congregation be¬ lieved in the probability of continuance; the desperate fainting spells which had been the bane of my life and the scourge of their peace, were constantly anticipated by their solicitous minds. But God held me. This was the beginning of a new era. Not only did I maintain the parish activities; but extra-parochial engagements enlarged. I was constantly invited to hold missions, speak at conventions and to increase the Bible work which I had inaugurated. The Lord gave me in this period the leading to write Divine Life for the Body, Anti-Christian Supernaturalism , and Re¬ demption. I am certified that the trials through which I had passed were utilized by Him in the preparation of these books. New visions and convictions had possessed me. The truths as expressed in these vol¬ umes were born of the anguish which intinctured those testing days. But in 1909, I was again brought low. This time, completely incapacitated, after recovering and falling back, time and again, I arrived at another turning point. Had I been alone in the world, with no one dependent upon me, I should have been quite settled in waiting upon the Lord with implicit faith in His ultimate destiny for me, whether for life or death. But I had a parish on my hands, dear kindly friends who loved me and longed to do anything in their power. They were desperately anxious, as they should well be, that something might be done to reach and help me. I had a large family of children and a APOLOGIA 209 devoted wife, in whose face the lines of care on my account had long been accentuating. I was therefore led to ask special direction of the Lord as to His mind in the emergency. Most clearly, in April, 1910, did I receive the inner conviction, reinforced by circumstantial provisions, that I should consult a surgeon. This had never been thought of since the early days, when the New York physician had declared that it would cost me my life. The operation which I felt was most necessary, the surgeon refused to perform; but he suggested another. Perhaps he was right; I do not know; God does. He was sure that his plan would result in gratifying re¬ lief. I should interject just here an interview which occurred the day before I left home for the hospital. A physician who had married into our family came with his wife to be with the home-circle in my absence. There seemed every reason why I should detail to him the particulars of my case. I had never before thought of doing so. When I had concluded my recital, he exclaimed, “ Why, Man! There is only one place for a person who has passed through what you have: im¬ becility, the mad-house or the grave. I marvel that you have kept your mind.” To this I could agree with all my heart. The operation was a success from a professional point of view; and I was assured that I should have such health as I had never known. But within four days, the symptoms returned; the surgeon was per¬ plexed; and after four months of kindled hopes and crushing disappointments, I was thrown back upon the old ground. At this juncture, I was importuned by an interested friend to try the chiropractic treatment. I 210 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST had not the courage to decline. The situation was desperate. After all that has been experienced, I am not sorry that I yielded, for I learned a deal that has been of benefit to me in my ministry to others; but that, too, failed. The practitioner was certain that he could reach and remove the cause of suffering. But by a singular twist, which I did not ask him to explain, and which I was at a loss to understand, I was sud¬ denly seized with an alarming attack of exhaustion, and did not return to him. This situation compelled the engaging of an assistant for the parish work that I might take six months more to build up. A professional decision at this time worked a deep¬ ening effect upon my faith. A medical friend in Ohio, to whom I had not yet been led to disclose my con¬ dition, wrote me in response to the inquiry I made of him, that my infirmity had been born with me. He so exactly defined my childhood experiences, that I knew he had given the real gist of my hard fight for life. Then I saw how futile had been all the efforts, ex¬ ternally, which were made in my behalf. Good must have in some measure come from them. I leave that with our Lord. But that my trouble was con¬ genital, made my heart rejoice. For I knew I was beyond the help of man; and only God could deliver. I do not now regret all the experimentation. It taught me many valuable lessons. But as I realized the essen¬ tial features of my case, my faith in spiritual healing rose to higher planes of possible conquest. And I gratefully register my conviction that I am the better qualified to sympathize with, and to counsel, those who may be required to travel along my pathway. The much I have learned of dietetics, hygiene and physical APOLOGIA 211 regimen has in a large degree been most serviceable to me also. But I came to see that I must have more than any or all of these things could contribute. Little by little, during these quite twelve years, our dear Lord has given me access into fresh territory. The new sensation of being weary, but not exhausted is like a re-birth. The dark clouds of melancholia, which at times challenged me to commit the suicide’s crime, are a part of the unhappy past. I am blessed with an elasticity, a poise and endurance such as I rarely have experienced. I am facing an annual pro¬ gram, which instead of staggering me, is a joy to con¬ template. Sunday, the day in former years always sombered by a nervous dread, though as full of re¬ sponsibilities as ever, is now indeed to me “ The day which the Lord hath made,” and in which I may “ be glad and rejoice.” The joy of living is beyond the fondest dreams of those trying times, when in truth I did “ hope against hope.” As the past crystallizes in the contemplation of all that I have suffered, I can see that our good Lord permitted the thorn which brought me into the world handicapped and sentenced to years of exasperating weakness and humiliation. I can behold the long-drawn history in the light of His patient waiting until He could bring me into complete conquest. I reverently comprehend that He was rejoicing in the future He had planned for me, though I was blind to the vision. In those past days of pallor, when I was constantly made conscious of my facial conspicuousness, I made bold to ask the Lord to give me flesh and color. Some months ago, I was visiting one of our daughters. At the table were guests whom I had not met before. In- 212 OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE IN CHRIST cidentally, as I seemed to be the topic of conversation, the question was asked, “ How many children have you ? ” When I had reported that the Lord had given us seven, all of whom are on the face of the earth, immediately one person remarked, “ And such a com¬ plexion ! ” I am sure that this must have seemed ir¬ relevant to the others, but it rang “ the joy-bells ” in my soul. For there broke upon me for the first time the consciousness that the Lord had actually answered my prayer. Since then I have sung many songs of thankfulness in this respect. For I can myself see the change in my countenance. Unspeakably grateful am I when I meet old-time friends, and they observe, “ How well you look ! ” Several years ago, I was required to submit to a physical examination. At first, I was bothered about it; but as there was no alternative, I took the faith of the Lord for that. The examining physician was not well-known to me, so his testimony would not be biased by a personal inclination towards a favorable report. After he had said a number of complimentary things regarding my physical estate, he wrote a gilt-edged certificate, adding with unfeigned satisfaction, “ You have the blood-pressure of a man of forty.” Until now, having passed my three-score years and ten, I am blessed; no longer wondering as the coming year opens, if I shall be spared until its close, but exulting in the “ much more land to be possessed.” Devoutly taking a last retrospect, I lift my eyes and heart to heaven, and truthfully declare to our ever- faithful God and Father, “ Thou hast kept the good wine until now ” (John 2: 10). TOPICAL INDEX. Abandonment to God, 189. Abbott, Dr. H. P. A., 86, 120. Abel, 158. Abraham, centered in God, 188. Abraham, the Friend of God, 187. Abraham, God’s blood-covenant with, 188. Acids and alkalies, 144. Adam, the first man, 148, 159. Alden, Henry Mills, 196. Amaziah, 192. Andreas, Karl, 18. Angels, 75, 100, 150, 169, 170. Anglican Church, 49, 54, 59. Anthropos, man so named by the Greeks, 138. Arabs, 164. Arnold, Edwin, 153. Ascent of Man, 138. Atonement, healing in the, 88-93. Baal worship, 41. Baxter, Mrs., 18. Benjamin, Mrs. E. Bedell, 134. Bible, increase in study of, 12. Bible, The and the Body, 74, 92. Bibleotheca Sacra, 13. Bingham, the Rev. R. V., 25, 74, 92. Bitter waters made sweet, 130. Blood-Covenant, the, 163-165. Blood-Covenant, The, 165. Blood, God’s own life in it, 159. Blumhardt, Pastor, 18. Boardman, Dr., 18. Bond, the forfeited, 170. Bosworth, Rev. F. F., 57, 59. Bottome, Mrs. Margaret, 14. Breathing, 183. Brent, Bishop Charles H., 90. Bruce, Prof. A. B., 89. Buddha, 172. Buddhism, 102, 157. Cain, sin of, 158. Calvary (the Cross), 41, 157, 170, 184, 188. Caruso, Enrico, 81. Christian and Missionary Al¬ liance, 27, 50, 57. Christianity, 152. Christianity, a faith, 139, 157, 175. Christianity, founded upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, 153. Christianity, essence of, a pas¬ sion for Christ, 175. Christian Faith, the, threatened with collapse, 152, 156, 175. Christian Science, 33, 52, 101, 102 , 111 . Christian Scientists, 33, 36, 87, 111 . Christian Science Hymnal, 112. Christ-Principle, the (so- called), 102, 156. Church, The, 47, 78, 79, 111, 161. Church of England, 57. Church Congress, The, 65. Churchman, The, 86, 114, 115, 116, 118, 120. Coffee and tea, 133. Commission to investigate heal¬ ing, 114-118. Cooke, Mrs. Bella, 75. Confucius, 172. Convention, General, of the Episcopal Church, 50, 111. 213 214 TOPICAL INDEX Cosmic life, 73. Coue, Dr. Emile, 86, 118-125. Crafts, Hiram, 33. Crisis, What shall be done in? 126. Crosby, Mrs. Fanny, 75. Crowd-psychology, 88. Crystal-gazing, 53. Cullis, Dr. Charles, 18, 27, 47, 49, 69. David, 191. Davis, Mr., 74, 75. Delphian Sorceress, 103. Demons, 150, 168. Dietetics, 133. Digestion and assimilation, 142. Disappointment leading to de¬ spair, 85, 86-88. Discerning the Lord's Body, 57. Divine Antidote to Sin, Sick¬ ness and Death, 89. Divine Healing, 72. Divine life for the body, 73. Dodge, Wm. E., 108. Does Christ Still Heal? 55. Dowie, John Alex., 20, 26, 27, 47. Dresser, Horatio W., 30, 31, 38. Dresser, Julius A., 31, 32. Drummond, Henry, 138. Duff, Edward Macomb, 118. Ear, the, 141. Eating, 183. Eddy, Mrs. Mary Baker, 22, 31-37, 102, 104. Edwards, Jonathan, 11. Epaphroditus, 97, 98. Episcopal Church, 12, 49, 50, 54, 57, 118. Evil, forces of, 99-101, 168. Extreme unction, 81. Eye, the light of the body, 149, 150. Eyes, the, 140. Ezra, 128. Faith, 82. Faith, a faculty of the affec¬ tion, 185. Faith, the foundation of, 186, 187 Faith, the gift of God, 182, 183. Faith, the life of, 194. Faith, the, once for all deliv¬ ered, 72, 158, 159. Faith, true, unmoved by seem¬ ing denials, 186. Finney, Chas. G., 11. Flesh, the, associated with God, 138-140. Flesh, its quality for suffering, 143. Food, value of, 136-137. Four-fold Gospel, The, 27, 48, 49. Fussiness in eating, 135. Future life, the, 44, 112. Gethsemane, 184, 185, 188, 189. God, called Mind, 35. God, called Principle, 35. God, called Universal Energy, 38, 40. God, children of, 40, 41. God, the dread of Him, 171. God, the grace of, 42. God, involved in the life of every sacrifice, 158. God, reserves to Himself the prerogative to reveal His Son, 161, 180. God, said to be impersonal, 41- 46 . God, His romance in every be¬ liever’s life, 190. Gordon, Dr. A. J., 11, 92. Gospel Tabernacle, The, 48, 84. “Grace” at meals, 136. Grecian gnosticism, 40. Greek definition of man, 138. Hallel, the great, 184. Hands, the, 140. Hand-shake, the, 165. Harmonious life, the, 73. TOPICAL INDEX 215 Harnack, Dr., 89. Harper Brothers, 196. Havergal, Frances Ridley, 14. Healing, in attestation of our Lord’s Deity, 77. Healing, to confirm the fact of our Lord’s resurrection, 78. Healing, postponed, 83-85. Healings, scientifically tested, 114-118. Healing meetings, Why have? 88 . Heart, the, 142. Heavenlies, the, 171, 195. Hezekiah and his boil, 130. Hickson, James M., 54, 59-66, 79, 81, 86, 90, 114, 127, 131. Hindoo, 40, 112. Holiness Movement, the, 14. Holy Communion, the, related to the physical life, 56-59, 176. Holy Spirit, the, Author of the Word of God, 176-178. Holy Spirit, illumination by, 177, 178-181. Holy Spirit, necessity for His advent, 177, 178-181. Holy Spirit, personality of, 13, 66, 121, 125, 127, 153. Hostile spiritual powers, 99- 107, 194, 195. House, Dr. E. L., 66-70, 119, 124, 125. Human body, the, 138-151. Hygiene, 133. Hypnotism, 53, 121. Incarnation, the, 166, 180, 181. Incurables, the, 63. Independent, The, (editor quoted), 155. India, 107, 111. Indianising of America, 111. Intervale, N. H., 19. International Review of Mis¬ sions, 114. International S. S. Lessons, 14. Invalidism, infatuation in, 76. Islamic Review, 155. Israelites, the, 137. Jackson, Dr. James H., 89. James, St., 165. Jehovah, 42, 163. Jehu, 165. Jesus our Lord: His baptism, 183. His surrender to the Holy Spirit, 184. His Deity, the pre-existent Jehovah, 77, 106, 166, 171, 173, 183. His emptying Himself, 110, 183. His Father’s commendation, 101 . His human body prepared, 159. His human body not corrupt, 160. His identification with sin¬ ners, 161, 171. His incarnation, 166, 181, 183. His life of faith, 182-185. His passion for the will of God, 76, 101, 184, 185. His personality thought not necessary, 152. His pre-eminence assured, 114, 162, 172, 186. His resurrection life for His own, 73, 74. His sinlessness, 160, 161. His sovereignty over all flesh, 162, 166, 167, 169. Our Blood-Brother, 167-173. Can be known only through the Holy Spirit, 161, 181, 182. Did not drink of the cup in the garden, 184. Head of the Church, 172. Light of the world, 162. The Logos, 163. The Lord from heaven, 148. The manna and the rock, 166, The Redeemer, 157, 161, 216 TOPICAL INDEX Recognised by demons, 166, 168. The Son of David, 161. The Son of God, 66, 102, 105, 114, 148, 161, 172. The Son of Man, 162. Our substitute and repre¬ sentative, 170. A visitor from another world, 165, 166, 171, 173, 175. Jew, the Modernist, Christian Unitarian, 155. Jews and Christian Science, 32, 40. Jewish race, the, 161. Job, 168. John, St., 162, 165. Joseph, 192. Joshi, Prof. J. L., 111. Jude, St., 72. Judgment for sin forever passed to the believer, 170. Karma, 44. Lazarus’ tomb, 168. Life, subconscious, 69. London and the Coue move¬ ment, 122. Lot, 187, 188. Lord’s Supper, The, 57. Lungs, our, 142. Luther, Martin, 89. Lystra, impotent man at, 85. Mackenzie, Mrs., 127, 128. Man, God’s masterpiece, 146, 147. Man, endowed with a glorified body, 146-149. Man, his fall, 145. Man, the thinker, 138. Man, the up-looker, 138. Man, why compelled to seek clothing, 145, 146. Manna, 137, 166. Marconi, 152. Materialism, 14, 17. McComb, Dr. Samuel, 53. Massachusetts Metaphysical College, 34. Means, What are? 125, 129, 133. Mechtnikoff, 144. Metaphysics, 29. Metaphysical Club, 38. Methodist Quarterly Review, 13. Mill, John S., 138. Milmine, Georgine, 33. Ministry of Healing, The, 92. Missionary Training Institute, 28. Modern scholarship, 176. Mohammed, 102, 156, 172. Mohammedanism, 155, 156. Moody revival, the, 12. Moorhead, Max, 78. Morrow, Mrs. Abbie, 109. Mortal, contrasted with cor¬ ruptible, 94, 95. Muller, George, 108, 125, 126. Name, The, 101, 102. Nancy, France, 86, 118. Naomi, 163. Nature, cold and cruel, 138, 139. Naylor, Mrs., 26. Nazarine, Society of the, 54. Nazarine, The, 55. Nehemiah, 129. New Knowledge, The, 178. New Testament, 40, 43, 73, 103, 123, 147, 158, 173, 182. New Thought, 37-44, 111. New Thought Alliance, 38. New Thought testimonies, 108. New Thought, The Spirit of the , 38. Nicodemus, 167. Nyack, N. Y., 28. Occidentalised heathenism, 107, 111 . Old Orchard, Maine, 19. TOPICAL INDEX 217 Old Testament, 73, 92, 128, 147, 158, 173. Organs of the body,' 142. Pantheism, 35. Parker, Dr. Joseph, 191. Paul, St., 85, 162, 186, 188. “ Paul’s thorn,” 95-97. Peabody, Fred. W., 33. “ Peace, Prosperity and Power,” 107, 108. Peter, St., 161, 165, 168, 188. Phacagocytes, the, 143. Pharaoh, 165. Pharisees, the, 168. Plato, 102. Portland Evening Courier, 31. “ Power to Heal, The,” 55. Prayer-Book of Edward VI, 57. Prayer, God the object of rather than His gifts, 189. Prayer, the psychology of, 69. Province of the Pacific, the, 51. Psychical, the, divorced from the spiritual, 52-54, 118. Psychology and the Christian Life, 66. Psychology of Orthodoxy, The, 66 . Psychological schools, 52, 53, 107, 118. Psycho-therapy, 52. Pulis, Josephus, 26. Pym, Dr., 66. Python, the spirit of, 103. Quimby, George A., 30, 32. Quimby, Phineas P., 29, 31-34, 57. Quimby Manuscripts, The, 30, 31. Rader, Rev. Paul, 27, 49. Rats and mice, 108. Riale, Dr. Frank N., 89, 92. Redemption, 35, 41, 114, 147, 149, 158, 183. Redemption, 184. Regeneration, 67. Reed, Mary, 74, 75. Resignation to invalidism, 76. Responsibility, personal, 183. Rest, 133. Restoration, the, 147, 149. Revival in New England, 11. Revival of the Gift of Healing, The, 55. Revival, the Moody, 12. Romans 8:11 as applied to physical life, 93. Roman Catholic Church, 49, 57. Ruth, 163, 164. Satan, 67, 112, 171. Satan, the Adversary, 104, 113. Satan, an angel of light, 103, 104. Satan, the god of this age, 101, 113, 168. Satanic operations in sickness, 99-107. Satanic operations in the realm of, 170. Salvation Army, the, 207. Scandinavians, 138. Self, the death of, 189. Self-mastery through Con¬ scious Auto-Suggestion, 121. Sex-control, 122. Sickness, Is it from the hand of God? 55, 56. Sickness the result of sin, 100. Simpson, Dr. Albert B., 24, 47, 48, 49,_ 76, 131. Sin, not in the first man, 145- 149. Sons of God, revelation of, 148. Spleen, the uses of, 143. Spoffard, Daniel H., 32. St. Vitus’ Dance, 61. Stanley, Henry M., 165. Stanton, Dr. R. E., 89. Steele, Dr. Daniel H., 13. Stockmayer, Pastor Otto, 18, 78. Stoughton, Mass., 33. Strychnin, 134. Sub-conscious mind, the, 66-69. 218 TOPICAL INDEX Suggestion, 53. Sunday, Billy, 12. Surgical operations, 131. Swain, Dr. Richard L., 36. Tabernacles, the feast of, 177. Tea and coffee, 133. Tertullian, 103, 105. # Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, 91. Theosophy, 111. Therapeutics, change in, 17. Thirteenth St. Pres. Church., 25. Timothy, 97, 98. Transfigured life, the, 189. Triumphs and Testings, 80. Trophimus, 97, 98. Trudell, Dorothea, 18. Trumbull, Dr. Henry C., 165. Turks, the, 40, 156. Unitarianism, 12. Universal brotherhood, 40, 157. Universal life, 73. Vedas, the, 40. Veil of the temple, the, 171. Voice, the human, 141. Walsh, the Rt. Rev. H. Paken- ham, 114. Wentworth, Mrs. Sally, 33, 34. Wesleyan Movement, 11. Willard Tract Repository, 19. Whittemore, Mrs., 26. Will of God, the, 65, 101. Will of God in healing, 74, 75, 76, 82. Will of God in sickness, 55, 56. Williams, Annie M., 83, 84, 117. Wilson, Dr. Henry, 50, 56. Wilson, Henry B., 54, 55, 56, 59, 66, 82, 88, 127. Wood, Henry, 38. Word of God, the, 37, 82, 111, 123, 125, 157. Word of God cannot be com¬ prehended by intellectual processes, 176, 177. Worcester, Dr. El wood, 65, 66, 124. Wordsworth, 138. Worldliness in the alien cults, 110 . Zion City, 23. Zoroaster, 172. TEXTUAL INDEX Genesis page: 1:26. 145 2:25 . 147 3:21 . 158 9:4. 173 13th ch. 187 15:9, 10. 159 41:52. 192 Exodus 15:25 . 130 16:20. 165 Numbers 21:5 . 166 Deuteronomy 6:5 . 185 8:3 . 137 Joshua 7:21 . 110 Ruth 1: 16, 17. 163 I Samuel 23:2 . 176 II Kings 2: 19-22. 130 4:38-41 . 130 10: 15 . 165 II Chronicles 20:7 . 187 20:20-22 . 193 25:9 .. 192 Ezra page 8th ch. 128 Nehemiah 1: 11 . 129 2:6. 129 8: 10. 125 Job 2:7 . 100 13: 15 . 187 19:25, 26. 169 23: 12 . 187 31:24, 25. 110 35:10 . 193 42: 10. 194 Psalms 8:5. 146 10:3. 110 37:4. 187 40: 1-3 . 98 40:6-8 . 159 50:23 . 125 55:6. 192 62:10. 110 63:1 . 139 73:25 . 187 73:26 . 139 104:2. 146 119:36, 37.... 110 139:14. 138 Proverbs 4:22. 139 14: 10. 116 23:4, 5. 110 28:16. 110 Isaiah page: 25:8, 9. 161 38th ch... .72, 130 41:8. 187 45:24 . 123 53:2 .110, 151 53:3,4 . 91 61:3. 192 61:7. 192 Jeremiah 6: 13. 110 15:17. 187 22: 17, 18. 110 Ezekiel 17:18. 165 Daniel 10: 1-19 . 100 12:3. 147 Joel 2:25. 192 Micah 2:2. 110 3:7. 176 Habakkuk 1: 13. 160 2:9. 110 Zephaniah 3:19. 192 Zechariah 3: 1, 2.82, 101 12: 10. 161 219 220 TEXTUAL INDEX Matthew page : 3: 16. 183 3 : 17 .... 101 , 160 4 : 1 . 184 4 : 1-11 . 168 4:4 . 73 , 137 5 : 14-16 . 150 6 : 11 , 24 - 34 ... 110 6 : 16 . 126 6:22 . 149 7 : 15-29 . 107 7 : 21-23 . 101 8 : 17 . 91 8:20 . 110 8:26 . 183 9:8 . 76 , 168 10:34 . 72 10:37 . 113 11:5 . 110 11:27 . 161 12:39 . 131 12 : 46-50 .... 101 13 : 14-17 .... 149 13:43 . 147 14:31 . 183 16 : 16 , 17 . 160 , 178 17 : 1 - 5 , 101 , 148 , 160 17:20 . 183 17:27 . 110 19:26 . 190 20:28 . 42 , 110 , 161 , 168 22:42 . 152 24 : 24 . 103 25 : 34-36 .... 106 27:51 . 171 28:20 . 172 Mark 1:24 . 160 1 : 24 , 34 . 168 4:40 . 183 5:7 . 168 6:3 . 110 8 : 22-25 . 77 9:23 . 190 11:22 . 182 12:36 . page: 176 14:3. 198 16: 18. 98 Luke 1:70. 177 2:7. 110 4: 18. 110 4: 34. 160 5:4. 193 8:3. 110 8: 14. 110 8:28 . 160 9:58. 110 12:15 . 110 13: 16. 100 15: 1 . 161 15: 10. 42 16: 14. 110 19: 10 .42, 165 21: 34-36.. 110, 114 21:37 . 184 22:15 . 184 John 1:1-3 . 172 1:4, 5, 9. 150 1: 1-10 . 162 1:12, 13. 41 1: 14. 151 1:29. 160 2: 10. 212 3:2, 3. 114 3:3, 5. 41 3: 13. 165 3: 16, 17. 161 4: 34.76, 101, 184 5: 19, 30. 184 5:25. 170 5:28, 29. 163 5:38. 101 6:38.76, 101, 165, 184 7:37-39 . 178 8: 12 .150, 162 8:23. 165 8: 28. 184 8: 29.. 76, 101, 184 page: 8:36. 161 8: 42. 113 8:44. 168 8:44-47 . 101 8:46. 160 9th ch....ll6, 131 10: 1 . 186 10: 10, 26, 28. 165 10: 17, 18. 161 10:28. 172 11:25,26. 94 11:35. 168 12:3. 198 12:31.101, 168 13:3. 166 14:3. 114 14: 10. 184 14: 15. 185 14: 15, 22, 24. 113 14: 19. 172 14:30, 101, 113, 168 15:7 .76, 187 15:10-14 .... 113 15:24. 166 15:26. 178 16:5, 6, 28... 166 16:7. 177 16: 24. 188 17: 2, 22. 172 17:3. 42 17:4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 18. 166 17:8. 101 17:22. 148 20:31 . 160 21: 15-17..113, 185 Acts 1: 16. 177 2:1 . 80 3:6. 112 3:12-18 . 78 3: 14. 160 3: 19-21... 149, 177 4:10 .33, 78 4: 13. 175 4:27. 160 TEXTUAL INDEX 221 page 5:29-32 ., .... 78 7:2. .... 146 8:23 .... .... 113 9:34, 42.. .78, 160 10:38.... ..75, 76, 100, 168 11:17 ... .... 206 16: 16 ... .... 103 16:25 ... .... 193 17:6 .... .... 71 20:28 ... .... 161 27th ch... .... 109 28:26 ... .... 177 Romans 1:4. .... 101 4:17-21 . .... 188 5:1 . .... 172 5: 14 .... 148, 159 6:4-11 .. .... 114 6: 12 .... .... 94 7: 18 .... .... 123 8: 1 . .... 170 8: 17-23 . .... 94 8:19 .... .... 148 8:26, 27.. .... 185 8:37 .... .... 188 11: 15 ... .... 161 15:4 .... .... 73 15:13 ... .... 188 I Corinthians 1: 18-31, 110, 175, 180 2:3 . .... 40 2: 14 . .54, 176 3:21-23 . .... 189 6: 19 . .95, 139 8:6. .... 162 10:11 ... .... 73 10:31 ... .... 136 11: 19 ... .... 72 11:26 .... .44, 173 11:30 ... ..57, 79 12:4, 5, 6, 11. 71 12:9 .... .... 182 13th ch.... ..71, 126 PAGE 15:3 . 161 15.22 . 163 15:39 . 143 15:43, 47. 148 15:52-54 .... 94 16:22 . 113 II Corinthians 1:20 . 73 2: 11 . 103 3:14-16 . 161 3: 18 . 149 4:4 . 101 4:6 . 179 4:7-11 . 123 4: 10, 11...94, 140 4: 15, 16. 193 5:4. 94 5: 14, 15. 113 5:16 .... 106, 178 5:21 .160, 170 6:9, 10. 123 8:9. 110 10: 3-5..70, 74, 181 11:3 . 70 11:13-15 .... 103 11:25 . 109 12:7-12, 79, 123, 140 Galatians 1: 11, 12. 167 1: 15, 16. 180 1: 18. 33 2:9 . 165 2:20.123, 139, 161, 170, 182 5:6 .113, 186 5:22, 23. 182 Ephesians 1:6. 172 1:7 . 161 1: 10 . 114 1:18-23 . 74 2: 1-10 ...171, 182 2:4 . 42 3: 10. 195 page 3:16-18 . 113 3:20 . 193 4:21 . 175 5:8. 99 5:25-33 ..113, 161 6: 10-12 . 82 6: 12 . 171 Philippians 1:20-23 . 113 1:21 . 153 1:23. 193 2:5-11 . 161 2:7 .159, 183 2:7, 8. 110 2:9-11 . 114 2: 13 . 123 2:27. 97 3: 7-11 ...113, 114 3:9. 182 3:20, 21, 140, 148, 171 4:4. 125 4:11-13, 19... 110 Colossians 1: 15-18, o' 114, 162 1: 19- •23 . 172 1: 20 161 1: 24 114 2: 9, 10... ...74 , 97 2: 13, 14.. 170 2: 15 171 3: 3.. o' o. 114, 123, 126, 189 3: 4.. .114, 148 3: 5 . 110 I Thessalonians 2:13.76, 182 4: 13-18 . 94 5:23 . 58 II Thessalonians 2:7-12 . 104 222 TEXTUAL INDEX I Timothy page 1:2 . 99 1:15 . 161 4:4, 5. 136 5:23 . 97 6: 15, 16. 172 6: 17 . 110 II Timothy 1: 12 . 114 2: 11, 12. 114 3: 15-17 . 177 4:20. 97 Hebrews 1: 1-3.... .162, 172 1: 14. .150, 167 2: 14. ..75, 100, 169, 170 2: 17 .... 159 3: 7 _ 177 4: 12, 13. 149 4: 15 .... 159 5: 7, 8... 184 7: 26 ..., 161 9: 8. .171, 177 9: 14 ... 161 9: 26 .... 161 page 10:5 . 159 10:15 . 177 10: 19, 20.. 151, 171 11:3. 182 11:5 . 94 11:33, 34...70, 97 James 1: 2-4 ... 193 1: 5 . .110, 189 2: 19 .... 106 2: 23 .... 187 4: 7 . ..82, 101 I Peter 1: 7 . .148, 188 1: 8. .113, 153 1: 11 .... 177 1: 10-12 . 73 1: 19, 20.. 161 1: 23-25.. ..41, 70, 73, 188 2: 7 . 153 2: 22 .... 160 2: 24 .... 91 3: 15 .... 182 II Peter page 1:21 . 177 I John 1:7 .150, 161 2:2. 163 2:3-5 . 113 2: 15. 110 3:3. 148 4: 19, 20. 113 5:2, 3. 113 5:9-12, 20.... 101 5: 14. 76 Jude 3 . 72 3, 11. 150 9.82, 101, 175 Revelation 1:5 . 161 1: 14 . 149 5:9, 10... 114, 161 12:9. 104 19: 10. 177 20:3, 10. 104 Printed in the United States of America Date Due id 'Jf ---”■- *tir. 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