Copyright N?_ 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 
THE 
 
 TRUE METHOD OF HEALING; 
 
 OR, 
 
 The Christian's Substitute for the Various Meth- 
 ods of Healing, Practiced by the Healers of 
 the So-called " Faith Cure" and "Sympathy 
 Cure," and of "Christian Science," by Hyp- 
 notic and Magnetic Healers ; and even for 
 the Method Practiced by the Doctors of 
 Medicine through the Application of Chem- 
 ically-Combined Medicaments, 
 
 by 
 
 GEORGE MITTER, 
 
 Minister of-tk-e Gospel- cf Ciif.tst theT^ed. 
 
 • 
 
 
 Printed for the Author, 
 By the Western Methodist Book Concern, 
 1902. 
 
THE LIBRARY OF| 
 
 OONGR-- 
 Twv Cop»«s Receives 
 
 GLASS A-YX« Mc. 
 
 4-5 1 «f f 
 
 VK^ 7 
 
 o\ 
 
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 &2~c> r 
 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, 
 in the year 1902, by 
 
 GEORGE M1TTER, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at 
 
 Washington, D C. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Paragraph. Page. 
 
 i. Introduction, n 
 
 part I- 
 
 THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING THE HUMAN 
 SOUL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 2. The Essentials for this Healing, - 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 3. The True Means for Healing the Hu- 
 
 man Soul, - •> - - - 20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 4. The True Method of Applying Its Means, 23 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 5. Christ, the Only Practitioner of the 
 
 True Method for Soul-Healing, - 28 
 
 part II. 
 
 THE TRUE METHOD FOR HEALING THE HUMAN 
 BODY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 6. The Essentials of this Healing, - - 33 
 
 3 
 
Paragraph. Page. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 7. The Means of the True Method for 
 
 Bodily Healing, - 36 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 8 ) 
 ' S The Manner of Applying this Method, 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Difference Between the True Method 
 for Healing the Human Body and 
 Other Methods Practiced at Present, 49 
 
 10. The Difference Between this Method 
 
 and the So-called il Faith Cure," - 49 
 
 ri. The Difference Between this Method 
 
 and the So-called " Sympathy Cure," 52 
 
 12. The Difference Between this Method 
 
 and that Practiced Under the Name 
 of " Christian Science," and by Hyp- 
 notists, - 53 
 
 13. The Difference Between this Method 
 
 and that practiced by means of mag- 
 NETIC Manipulations, - - - 57 
 
 14. The Difference Between this Method 
 
 and that practiced by means of chem- 
 ically-combined medicaments, - - 60 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 l *' ) The Limit of this True Method for 
 16. J Bodily Healing, - - - - 71 
 
 4 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Paragraph. Page. 
 
 part III- 
 
 THE PRACTITIONERS OF THE TRUE METHOD FOR 
 HEALING THE HUMAN BODY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 17. Christ also the Practitioner of this 
 
 Method, ______ jg 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 19. 
 
 20. ) Christ and His Miracles, - - 88 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 21. The True Method for Bodily Healing, 
 the Only One Befitting Christ, the 
 God-man, - 108 
 
 J The Believers of Christ as Practi- 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ers of Christ 
 23 \ tioners of this Method, 112 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 24. The Doctrine of Laying on of Hands, 118 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 25. A Formula for Applying this Method 
 
 for Bodily Healing, - - - 124 
 
 5 
 
Paragraph. Page. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 26. Christ's Church also a Practitioner 
 
 of the True Method for Healing 
 
 the Human Body, - - - 133 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 27. The Results, if the Church Were also 
 
 a Great Healing Institution and a 
 Mighty Mutual Aid Society, - - 138 
 
 28. In Conclusion, 146 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The little book herewith presented to the 
 reader aims to be a guide to health, both for 
 his soul and body. 
 
 As its author received his education par- 
 ticularly in the German language, it became 
 necessary for him to have his English man- 
 uscript rendered in idiomatic English. This 
 was accomplished by Mr. W. D. Zinnecker ; 
 but any error in this respect is due to after- 
 wards adding to the corrected manuscript 
 by the author. 
 
 Regarding the method of healing herein 
 explained, both concerning its means and 
 the manner of their application, it is no 
 other than that which has been applied, 
 more or less correctly, for the spiritual and 
 physical health of man almost at all times ; 
 only its presentation as the true method, as 
 well as the manner in which it is presented 
 7 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 and advised for application to the reader 
 (but the last only in part), can claim orig- 
 inality. 
 
 As to the practitioners of this true 
 method of healing, it must be said, before- 
 hand, that every one who truly desires his 
 recovery can apply it more or less success- 
 fully to his own person spiritually and phys- 
 ically, and should do so. Every one can 
 become, by means of the true method of 
 healing, his own physician, especially re- 
 garding bodily disease, if he faithfully ap- 
 plies this method in the beginning of the 
 latter. As far as it concerns the treating of 
 others, we can affirm that, especially, each 
 father may be the physician of the members 
 of his family by faithfully applying this 
 method. Its faithful application has re- 
 warded the author of this little book, re- 
 garding the healing of his soul, for almost 
 thirty years, and the members of his family 
 as well as himself, regarding bodily healing, 
 
 for nearly twenty years, with unprizable 
 8 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 benefits. It is also his conviction that the 
 Church of God, by practicing faithfully also 
 the true method of healing the sick, would 
 gain and retain a better hold upon the 
 masses of the people for interesting them 
 regarding the healing of their souls than by 
 any other means. 
 
 The author, therefore, wishes prayerfully 
 that the contents of this little book may, 
 above all, promote the honor of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, as well as the interests of His 
 Church and of the spiritual and bodily wel- 
 fare of humanity! 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 Ei,mork, Ohio, 1902. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 H i. 
 
 The very first requirement of "The True 
 Method of Healing'' is, that it be of a two- 
 fold nature ; that it be both a spiritual and 
 a physical method. This becomes evident 
 when we consider that mankind is not only 
 diseased physically, but spiritually as well; 
 and, further, that spiritual disease causes 
 physical disorder. 
 
 Second, this method requires that the 
 means through which it shall operate be 
 divinely given to mankind; for that is the 
 order of God's creation. Just as the cre- 
 ated forces have the means of their exist- 
 ence and operation, not in themselves, but 
 only as intrusted to them as a loan from 
 which to draw in manifesting, maintaining, 
 and enriching their existence — yes, even as 
 indicators that may point out to man their 
 origin and as the ties which bind them to 
 ii 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 their Creator — just so are the true means 
 of healing the body as well as the soul not 
 produced by man ; they must be considered 
 as the gifts of his Creator that shall show 
 him the possibility of his spiritual and phys- 
 ical healing; shall indicate to man whom, 
 after all, he has to thank for it, and shall 
 bind him thereby to his Savior. Further- 
 more, they must be given to man, because 
 a spiritually and physically diseased being 
 can not be expected to find, much less to 
 produce, the correct means for its own 
 bodily and spiritual healing. Nor is this 
 necessary, for the true means of healing 
 both the body and the soul have been in- 
 deed revealed to mankind. It requires, 
 
 Third, that also the manner of applying 
 its means be divinely given to mankind, 
 because of the prevailing depravity of man. 
 Man of himself can not find the correct and 
 successful application of the divinely-given 
 means, neither for the healing of his soul 
 nor of his body. History has shown us, 
 and still demonstrates, that outside of reve- 
 
 12 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 lation there is no successful method for 
 soul-healing found among men; and that, 
 in spite of the various man-made manners 
 of applying means for bodily healing, dis- 
 ease is rather increasing than decreasing, 
 
 Fourth, the true method of healing re- 
 quires the strict adherence to its means and 
 its manner of applying the latter. Human- 
 ity has tried the methods of other than Di- 
 vine origin long enough, but without satis- 
 faction. Their failures justify the more a 
 strict adherence to the God-given means 
 and manner for healing both the human 
 body and the soul. It requires, 
 
 Fifth, that an example be given that may 
 serve as a model, and that messengers be 
 sent to acquaint mankind with this method 
 and its means. Jesus Christ, our Lord and 
 Savior, alone did satisfy this requirement 
 successfully; hence it is that His disciples 
 in general, especially as ministers of the 
 gospel, are the best trusted class of men. 
 This is so, because of their office and their 
 loyalty towards it. They are the messen- 
 13 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 gers of Christ, and have been sent to men 
 to promote their nearest and dearest in- 
 terests, the welfare of soul and body. 
 While the work of the minister in the pul- 
 pit is exclusively to preach the kingdom of 
 God, out of it he should work towards the 
 personal application of his message. The 
 people ought to expect and accept from the 
 messenger of Christ nothing less than as- 
 sistance in attaining physical as well as 
 spiritual health. 
 
 Sixth, it requires that the spiritual heal- 
 ing of man be attended to first of all; for 
 some diseases of the body are produced by 
 the diseased condition of the soul, while 
 others can not be cured on account of that 
 condition. Furthermore, the true method 
 of healing is to heal the body principally 
 through the influence of the soul, which is 
 in accordance with God's plan and order, 
 that the spiritual part of man be the lord 
 and redeemer of the physical. 
 
 T 4 
 
PART I. 
 
 THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING 
 THE HUMAN SOUL. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ESSENTIALS FOR HEALING THE HUMAN 
 SOUL. 
 
 11 2- 
 
 It is with the healing of the soul that 
 we are first concerned; and as such the 
 essentials are as follows : 
 
 I. The Spirit of God guiding man. — Di- 
 vine revelation, from beginning to end, de- 
 clares that only the Spirit of God is power- 
 ful to heal the human soul. But aside from 
 that, the fact alone that it is the spiritual 
 part of man that is to be healed indicates 
 that it can not be accomplished by any 
 power within him ; for a morbid spirit can 
 not heal itself, nor can the spiritual be 
 healed by that which is inferior ; namely, 
 the physical part of man. The moralizing 
 attempts of the Christless part of humanity 
 and the Pharisaical class of church-goers 
 illustrate, experimentally and historically, the 
 fact that humanity can not accomplish its 
 
 2 17 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 own spiritual healing. On the other hand, 
 all true Christians, and the history of the 
 Christian Church, prove that it is the Spirit 
 of God alone by whom the human soul is 
 healed. 
 
 2. Instruction in the knowledge of the 
 Divine truth ; separation from all moral un- 
 cleanliness ; a turning toward Christlike 
 living through regeneration, sanctification, 
 and transfiguration by God's Spirit; and, 
 finally, the endowing of the human soul 
 with that Spirit. The spiritual disease of 
 mankind consists in a lack or in a perver- 
 sion of his knowledge of the truth; in the 
 weakness of his soul to overcome all temp- 
 tations and to live according to the ex- 
 ample of Christ ; also in the consciousness 
 of the reaction of his abnormal condition 
 upon himself. In view of the above, it is 
 indeed essential that, first of all, God's 
 Spirit should influence the human soul; 
 next, that man should be instructed in the 
 knowledge of the Divine truth; further, 
 that he should be induced to shun all moral 
 uncleanliness and to practice Christlike liv- 
 ing with the help of his Creator's Spirit; 
 and, finally, that he should be endowed with 
 18 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 the Spirit of God as his constant Leader 
 into all truth. 
 
 These are the essentials for healing the 
 soul of man, who is to be the very temple 
 and willing organ of God, a Spirit-filled, a 
 Divinely-invigorated creature, knowing and 
 possessing "the things that are freely given 
 of God" (i Cor. ii, 12), for the purpose of 
 his own glorification and the honor and 
 praise of his Creator and Redeemer. 
 
 19 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE TRUE MEANS FOR THE HEALING OF 
 THE HUMAN SOUL. 
 
 If 3- 
 
 The means for healing the human soul 
 are as follows : 
 
 i. The Word of Christ and His redemp- 
 tion. — For, in order to heal the soul's per- 
 verted knowledge of the truth, it is neces- 
 sary that the Spirit of God have certain 
 rules of application. These must be re- 
 vealed to man ; and this can be done only 
 by the God-man, Christ. Further, the 
 debts which man has made against his Cre- 
 ator, and which he can not pay (which 
 must, however, be paid) require, according 
 to absolute justice, the substitutional death- 
 penalty of the God-man, the redemption of 
 Christ ; for a God alone can satisfy Divine 
 justice, and no other than a sinless man 
 can atone for a sinful mankind. 
 
 2. Repentance and faith. — Only the soul 
 which has become aware and tired of its 
 20 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 sinful living can be separated by God's 
 Spirit from all moral uncleanliness ; and 
 only that soul which accepts Christ can be 
 Spirit-filled by regeneration, assured of 
 God's grace, sanctified and transfigured by 
 the Holy Spirit according to the image of 
 Christ. 
 
 3. Worshiping God in spirit and in 
 truth. — Thereby is meant, not only the out- 
 ward form of praying, but also, and above 
 all, the lifting up of the heart to God. The 
 true manner of doing this is taught by none 
 better than by Christ Himself, namely, in 
 Matt, vi, 6 : "When thou prayest, enter into 
 thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy 
 door, pray to thy Father which is in secret ; 
 and thy Father which seeth in secret shall 
 reward thee openly." Of this, not only the 
 outward form of praying must be practiced ; 
 for worshiping God in spirit and in truth 
 requires, above all, the praying in the closet 
 of the human heart and with the doors of 
 the latter closed, so that neither the senses 
 nor the thoughts are occupied with any- 
 thing else than that which belongs to wor- 
 shiping God truly; namely, the lifting up 
 of the human heart to God with all its 
 21 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 soul, with all its mind, and with all its 
 might, through occupying itself only with 
 Christ, His Word and redemption, accord- 
 ing to the peculiar necessities of the wor- 
 shiper. Praying in such a manner will be 
 rewarded with the Heavenly Father's help 
 or salvation for man, both regarding his 
 soul and his body. 
 
 4. The Church of Christ. — For it is 
 through human instrumentality that the 
 Word and redemption of Christ can be made 
 known to man, and that man can be taught 
 to repent of his sins and believe in Christ 
 as w r ell as to worship God in spirit and in 
 truth. There is no better human instru- 
 mentality to help mankind in this work 
 than the Church of Christ ; and the Heav- 
 enly Father could have given no better one 
 to man than this. If the contrary would 
 be the case, He surely would have given 
 him the better. 
 
 Without these means, no healing of the 
 human soul is possible. These are the 
 means ordained by God and given to man- 
 kind through Christ. Besides, these means 
 are needed by the Spirit of God in His work 
 of healing the human soul. 
 22 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE TRUE METHOD OF APPLYING THE MEANS 
 FOR HEALING THE HUMAN SOUL. 
 
 If 4- 
 
 ThK method of applying the above given 
 means will be carried out successfully in the 
 following manner : 
 
 I. By man searching diligently the Word 
 of Christ and bringing forth fruits meet for 
 repentance, relying only upon Christ's re- 
 demption and following Him faithfully ac- 
 cording to His example, using the Church 
 as the human instrumentality, Divinely 
 given to assist him in this work. The heal- 
 ing of the human soul can not be done, 
 except man is using its means ; and the suc- 
 cess of it depends in a large measure upon 
 his faithfulness in using them. Although 
 this work done by man will not heal his 
 soul, nevertheless it is presenting the latter 
 for healing in the proper manner and at 
 the same time constituting the channel 
 23 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALIXG. 
 
 through which the soul may receive its 
 healing power. Therefore the means for 
 spiritual healing must be used by man; 
 nobody can do it for him. This method is 
 carried out successfully : 
 
 2. By the help of God's Spirit.— For He 
 is the healing power of the human soul. 
 Whenever man attempts to use these means 
 ignoring Divine assistance, not only will the 
 soul not be healed, but, moreover, the dis- 
 ease will be aggravated. The moralists of 
 the world and the Pharisaical class of 
 church-goers bear witness to these facts. 
 Only then can Christ's Word and redemp- 
 tion be applied, repentance and faith exer- 
 cised, and Christ's Church used successfully 
 in this healing, when man receives help 
 from the Spirit of God. For God's Spirit 
 alone is sufficient to help man to a success- 
 ful application of the means for the healing 
 of his soul. However, this Spirit is always 
 ready to help when called upon, if only man 
 be sincere in his attempts to apply the given 
 means ; yes, his faithfulness in using them 
 is even the condition which secures the help 
 of God's Spirit. 
 
 3. The use of the means for healing the 
 
 24 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 human soul will prove to be a faithful one, 
 when Christ's Word and redemption, re- 
 pentance and faith, and the advantages of- 
 fered by His Church are applied according 
 to the following rules : 
 
 Rule I. Use them appropriately , that is, in 
 a manner which is adapted to the condition 
 of the patient, and always leading him from 
 the earthly to that which is pre-eminently 
 worthy of his consideration ; namely, his 
 spiritual interests. 
 
 Rule II. Use them so as to cheer and 
 strengthen the patient's soul. This is to be 
 accomplished, not by coercing and cowing 
 him into the application of these means, but 
 by gaining his good will, by making him will- 
 ing himself to apply them, by bringing him 
 to realize that the Word and redemption of 
 Christ, repentance and faith in Him, and the 
 advantages of His Church are the only 
 means through which he can gain his soul's 
 salvation, and, above all, by inducing him 
 to submit to the influence of God's Spirit. 
 
 Rule III. Use them so as to convert the 
 
 patient, not to the preacher and not even to 
 
 the Church, but to Christ. By this is meant 
 
 that the person concerned shall be induced 
 
 25 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 to submit, not to his own inclinations, or 
 to the minds and desires of others, nor to 
 the fancy of his own imaginary idea of fit- 
 ness regarding his soul's salvation, nor even 
 to that opinion, entertained by many, that 
 the Church in itself is the salvation for the 
 soul ; but alone to Christ, to His Word and 
 redemption by repentance and faith through 
 the mediation of His Church. 
 
 Rule IV. Use them in the Spirit of Christ, 
 depending prayerfully on God alone with all 
 love, sacrificing all minor interests and 
 striving only to regain that which has been 
 lost ; namely, the normal condition of the 
 human soul and the honor of God among 
 mankind through the application of these 
 means. 
 
 Rule V. Use them enduringly; apply- 
 ing these means of healing the soul, not 
 only once or several times, and then ceas- 
 ing, but applying them continually and 
 under all circumstances, always sacrificing 
 minor interests until the work of healing 
 is complete. 
 
 This is the true method of applying the 
 Divinely-given means for healing the hu- 
 26 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 man soul. Blessed is he who applies it ; 
 for it guarantees his spiritual cure. Both 
 the history of the Christian Church and the 
 experience of each true Christian proves 
 this. 
 
 27 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CHRIST, THE ONLY PRACTITIONER OF THE 
 TRUE METHOD FOR SOUL-HEALING. 
 
 IF 5- 
 
 In regard to the healing of the human 
 soul, there can be no question as to who 
 the healer may be ; for there is but One of 
 whom the human family and its history 
 testify that He is able to save the human 
 soul; namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. His 
 disciples and messengers can, at the most, 
 however, only lead men to their Savior. 
 This they may do by telling them of Him ; 
 by showing them what He has been doing 
 and is willing yet to do for them ; also by 
 instructing them in His plan of their sal- 
 vation, in the manner of coming unto Him, 
 and in their deportment during the process 
 of their healing. But even at this point, 
 the success of the work of Christ's mes- 
 sengers will depend upon their Master's 
 healing influence. 
 
 28 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 Consequently, to heal the human soul, 
 through Divine illumination, through sepa- 
 ration from all moral uncleaniiness, and 
 bringing back the human being to the man- 
 ner of normal living by the word and re- 
 demption of Christ, by repentance and faith, 
 regeneration and sanctification with the 
 help of His Church, Christ alone is capable 
 to do through His Spirit sent from His 
 Father. Moreover, to keep it in this state, 
 it is necessary that Christ dwell forever 
 in the human soul through God's Spirit. 
 
 This spiritual healing of man is the first 
 and most important part of the true method 
 of healing, and it should always be remem- 
 bered that it is to precede and receive the 
 first and best attention; but it does not 
 comprise the whole of this method. 
 
 29 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE TRUE METHOD FOR HEALING 
 THE HUMAN BODY. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OF THIS HEALING. 
 
 If 6- 
 
 According to the true method, the es- 
 sentials of healing the physical part of man 
 are the following : 
 
 i. The vital force of the sick body. — This 
 is the cause that effects the healing of the 
 latter; for that which keeps the body in 
 a state of health, independent of the Healer 
 and after the cure has been effected, must 
 be the same as that by which it has been 
 made well ; namely, the vital force of the 
 sick body. That this is the healing cause 
 is irrefutably proven by the following facts : 
 
 (a) The very same means do not always 
 cure the same diseases ; although this 
 should be the case, if the means applied to 
 a sick body would be its healing causes. 
 
 (b) Neither does the very same manner of 
 applying certain means always cure the 
 same diseases ; however this ought to be 
 so, if the manner of applying means to a 
 
 3 33 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 sick body were its healing cause, (r) In 
 some patients the same diseases, although 
 properly treated by proper means, proved 
 fatal, while in others they were healed with- 
 out treatment whatever; but neither the 
 one nor the other case could be, if the 
 means applied to a sick body, or the man- 
 ner of applying them, were its healing 
 causes. It must, therefore, be the vital 
 force of the sick body only that can heal ; 
 the applied means and the manner of apply- 
 ing them can, at the most, but induce the 
 vital force of such a body to exercise its 
 healing energies. 
 
 Consequently, the vital force of the pa- 
 tient himself is the first essential for heal- 
 ing the human body according to the true 
 method. Now, then, as we consider the 
 vital force of the sick body always to be its 
 healing cause, and as in case of sickness the 
 former has become checked and perhaps 
 even abnormal in its operations, therefore 
 this healing according to the true method 
 requires as further essentials the following 
 two : 
 
 2. The cleansing of the sick body, exter- 
 nally and internally ; and the inducing of 
 34 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 its vital force to exercise its healing ener- 
 gies. The human body can not remain 
 diseased as long as it is still able to be 
 cleansed from its impurities, and if its vital 
 force can be induced to exercise its healing 
 energies by applying such means as are 
 assimilative and can give proper rest and 
 exercise for the sick body. 
 
 Consequently, the essentials for healing 
 the physical part of man according to the 
 true method are in all : First, the vital force 
 of the sick body; second, the cleansing of 
 the latter, externally and internally ; third, 
 an inducing of its vital force to exercise its 
 healing energies. 
 
 35 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MEANS OF THE TRUE METHOD FOR 
 BODILY HEALING. 
 
 If 7- 
 
 Inasmuch as this healing of the human 
 body is a truly natural one, its means dare 
 not be other than truly natural also. They 
 may be considered as follows : 
 
 First of all, there are the material means ; 
 as water, air, vegetables, their various 
 juices and fruits ; the milk and meat of cer- 
 tain animals ; also the effluxes which ema- 
 nate from material bodies, as light, heat, 
 electricity, and magnetism, produced by the 
 reciprocal action of the chemical elements 
 of the former; including, with the above, 
 the necessary rest and exercise for the sick 
 body. All these means, combined by the 
 forces of nature, are truly natural ; and al- 
 though the chemists may not admit the 
 difference between the air or water pro- 
 duced in their laboratories and the air or 
 water furnished by nature, nevertheless 
 '36 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OP HEALING. 
 
 they can not deny the difference between 
 the combination of the same material ele- 
 ments produced by the vital force of a plant 
 or an animal and that produced by them 
 chemically. Therefore, as natural combi- 
 nations of matter with their effluxes they 
 are fit to be means of the true method for 
 bodily healing. Moreover, all the above- 
 named means are Divinely ordained as the 
 assimilative materials that shall aid the 
 vital force in building up its physical organ- 
 ism, also in nourishing it and in restoring 
 all its losses. Consequently, they must be 
 considered as means of the true method of 
 bodily healing. 
 
 On the other hand, the means for this 
 method can also be spiritual ; namely, the 
 influence of the human soul, produced by 
 the reciprocal action of its thoughts and 
 will-power. For, as certain effluxes, such 
 as light, heat, electricity, and magnetism, 
 are emanating from material bodies at the 
 reciprocal action of their chemical elements, 
 so there is emanating a certain efflux also 
 from the human soul at the reciprocal ac- 
 tion of its thoughts and will-power. This 
 is illustrated by the following facts : That a 
 37 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 person is exerting, unconsciously, an influ- 
 ence over other persons ; also, that through 
 the manipulations of an hypnotizer, and 
 through care and grief, through surprise 
 and joy, the conditions of the body can be 
 changed. This spiritual efflux of the hu- 
 man soul, therefore, may be considered as 
 the second class of the means of the phys- 
 ical healing of man according to the true 
 method. Consequently, the means of the 
 true method for healing the human body 
 are as follows : First, the material ones, 
 namely, water, air, vegetables, their vari- 
 ous juices and fruits, the milk and meat of 
 certain animals ; also light, heat, electricity, 
 and magnetism, including the proper rest 
 and exercise for the sick body; and, second, 
 the spiritual one, namely, the efflux of the 
 human soul produced through the recip- 
 rocal action of its thoughts and will-power. 
 
 38 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE MANNER OF APPLYING THE TRUE 
 METHOD FOR BODILY HEALING. 
 
 If 8. 
 
 As SEEN in the foregoing two chapters, 
 the physical healing is effected by inducing 
 the vital force of the sick body to exercise 
 its healing energies, and the true means for 
 it are divided into two great classes ; the 
 material, and the spiritual means. In ac- 
 cordance with this, the manner of applying 
 the true method for bodily healing must 
 also be twofold. 
 
 i. The manner of applying this method 
 is carried out through the application of 
 material means. The vital force of the sick 
 body can be induced to exercise its healing 
 energies by the influence which it receives 
 from the application of digestible and as- 
 similative materials, and especially of the 
 effluxes of matter ; consequently, of the ma- 
 terial means of the true healing method. 
 39 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OP HEALING. 
 
 This can be done by applying them in three 
 different ways : 
 
 (a) Through cleansing the sick body by 
 water-applications. Water applied, cold or 
 w r arm, externally or internally, or in the 
 form of vapor baths, opens nature's chan- 
 nels and assists to throw off all foreign 
 matter that would hinder the vital force 
 of the body in performing its normal func- 
 tions. 
 
 (b) Through adapting the patient to a 
 proper diet by using only naturally-com- 
 bined materials. Such are the following: 
 Pure water, taken in larger quantities than 
 usual ; air, with its life-sustaining oxygen, 
 inhaled by lung-gymnastics, filling the body 
 with a larger, and therefore greater, health- 
 producing amount of it than is generally 
 done in the ordinary process of respiration ; 
 vegetables, their juices and fruits ; also the 
 milk and meat of certain animals ; including 
 the necessary rest and exercise for the sick 
 body, thereby furnishing its vital force with 
 such materials as are proper for digestion 
 and assimilation. 
 
 (c) Through infusing the sick body with 
 the effluxes which emanate from material 
 
 40 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 bodies at the reciprocal action of their 
 chemical elements ; as, light, heat, electric- 
 ity, and magnetism. The material means of 
 this kind are more potent and direct in their 
 influence upon the vital force of the patient 
 than any of those named above ; for, as the 
 effluxes of material bodies, they are the 
 mediators between the material particles 
 of the human body and its vital force, com- 
 ing into direct contact with the latter, and 
 thereby inducing it to perform its work of 
 organization more energetically. This fact 
 is evidently proven by the effects of the 
 sun-rays, of electricity, and of magnetism 
 on the human body. 
 
 Consequently, this part of the true 
 method for bodily healing is such as can, 
 through the application of its material 
 means as appropriate for the work of or- 
 ganization and upbuilding of the body, 
 supply the vital force of the patient with 
 such materials and effluxes of matter, as 
 not only offer no hindrance in the way of 
 digestion and assimilation, and do not pol- 
 lute the circulation with non-assimilative 
 matter, but, on the contrary, are also able 
 to induce the former to exercise its normal 
 4i 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 functions and healing energies through re- 
 adjusting these material means by diges- 
 tion, and then by assimilating them in its 
 organism as a part of the same according 
 to its inherent laws. For this express pur- 
 pose the above-named manner of applying 
 means, as the latter themselves, must be 
 considered as ordained by the Creator. 
 Also, this part of the true method for bodily 
 healing without poisonous (not assimilative 
 and the body polluting) medicaments is 
 successfully used and represented, not only 
 by individuals, but also by many institu- 
 tions in America, and especially in Europe. 
 In the latter country there exist over six 
 hundred societies with a membership of 
 over eight thousand for its propagation. 
 (Read Bilz, "New Natural Method of Heal- 
 ing," — Jubilseumsausgabe.) 
 
 2. The manner of applying the true 
 method for healing the human body can be 
 carried out further through the application 
 of spiritual means. The vital force of the 
 sick is induced to exercise its healing ener- 
 gies through the influence of the soul and 
 spirit produced by the reciprocal action of 
 42, 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 their thoughts and will-power. This is ac- 
 complished in the following manner: 
 
 (a) Through the willing submission of 
 the patient to the spiritual influence, either 
 of his soul or that of a healer, through his 
 faith, or willingness to be healed. Thereby 
 the vital force of the sick body is made 
 receptive of the healer's soul-influence. 
 
 (b) Through concentrating the healer's 
 thoughts and will-power upon the vital 
 force of the sick body with the express 
 purpose of inducing it to operate according 
 to its inherent laws, and to exercise its 
 healing energies. This produces an efflux, 
 emanating from such a soul. As the ma- 
 terial bodies, through the reciprocal action 
 of their chemical elements, can produce 
 effluxes — as, light, heat, electricity, and 
 magnetism — just so can the human soul 
 produce an efflux through the reciprocal 
 action of its thoughts and will-power for 
 influencing others. Further, the vital force 
 of the human body must be in its nature 
 susceptible to the effluxes of other forces, 
 not only to those emanating from material 
 bodies — as, light, heat, electricity, and mag- 
 
 43 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING 
 
 netism — but also to that efflux which ema- 
 nates from the soul or spirit at the recipro- 
 cal action of their thoughts and will-power. 
 Finally, the human soul, or a spirit, must 
 be able to produce a spiritual influence and 
 to convey it upon the body or any of its 
 organs for its healing or otherwise. For 
 these just-named facts are plainly illustrated 
 by the effects of the magnetic massage and 
 of hypnotism. Also the being vexed or 
 possessed with unclean spirits (Luke vi, 18; 
 Acts vi, 16, and viii, f) would have been 
 impossible without these facts. Now, then, 
 if this concentration of thoughts and will- 
 power is exercised for healing purposes, 
 the soul-efflux thereby produced can be of 
 a healing nature ; and hypnotism proves 
 that it can make this efflux also a healing 
 influence for the sick body. 
 
 (r) Through conveying the soul's healing 
 efflux upon the sick body or any of its 
 organs by means of look, word, and laying 
 on of hands, thereby inducing its vital force 
 to exercise its healing energies, and con- 
 tinuing therewith until the desired results 
 are obtained. That this efflux of the hu- 
 man soul, produced by its thoughts and 
 44 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 will-power, continually concentrated upon 
 a sick body for healing purposes, can be 
 actually conveyed to the latter through 
 look, word, and laying on of hands, is in- 
 disputably proven by the magnetic massage 
 and hypnotic manipulations. Moreover, the 
 author of this little work is in possession 
 of nearly twenty years' experience, which 
 has demonstrated to him, again and again, 
 that the human soul has the ability and is 
 of such a nature that it can produce at will 
 a healing influence upon a sick body as well 
 as any of its organs, either its own or that 
 of another person, by the reciprocal action 
 of its thoughts and will-power, conveyed 
 through look, word, and laying on of hands. 
 This spiritual part of the true method for 
 bodily healing, with its means and manner 
 of applying them, is to be considered Di- 
 vinely ordained just as well as its material 
 part, with its means and manner of apply- 
 ing them ; and in addition to this, an analy- 
 sis of the Biblical healings of diseased 
 bodies will confirm that assertion, as shown 
 in this little work later on. 
 
 If methods of healing — as, the so-called 
 "Faith-cure," "Sympathy," and "Mind 
 45 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 Cure" — are practiced, it is done without 
 any right whatever, partly because of their 
 nonsensical, and partly on account of their 
 blasphemous, manner of explaining and 
 applying them ; nevertheless, the kernel of 
 truth underlying their effects should be 
 saved from the rubbish of their philosophy. 
 This is to be done by this spiritual part of 
 the true method for bodily healing. 
 
 ff9- 
 
 The rules for applying this true method 
 of healing the human body are as follows : 
 
 Rule I. Its means must be applied appro- 
 priately ; that is, according to the need and 
 changing conditions of the patient. 
 
 Rule II. Its means must be applied with 
 the special end in view of inducing the vital 
 force of the sick body to operate according 
 to its inherent laws, and to exercise its heal- 
 ing energies ; of converting it, not to the 
 habit of struggling with more or less poi- 
 sonous medicaments according to the man- 
 made laws of Materia Medica, but rather to 
 that habit of executing its own Divinely- 
 implanted laws through the application of 
 the Divinely-ordained means ; being always 
 46 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 induced by the soul to build up and sustain 
 its physical organism in a healthy con- 
 dition. 
 
 Rule III. The application of its means 
 must be made in the Spirit of Christ, seek- 
 ing constantly to restore that which has 
 been perverted, namely, the organizing 
 work of the vital force of the sick body; 
 willing, through look, word, and laying on 
 of hands, that its vital force may operate, 
 locally and constitutionally, according to 
 the Creator's laws ordained for its organ- 
 izing work as well as for that of the soul; 
 subordinating all less important interests ; 
 and depending, above all, upon God's bless- 
 ing. 
 
 Rule IV. Its means must be applied with 
 the expectation of receiving results. In 
 other words, the means of this true method 
 for bodily healing must be used conscien- 
 tiously and persistently, applying both its 
 material and spiritual ones, as the case may 
 require, until the cure is effected, or the 
 assurance gained, "My grace is sufficient 
 for thee ; for my strength is made perfect 
 in weakness." (2 Cor. xii, 9.) 
 
 If this true method for the healing of 
 47 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 the human body would be used and its ma- 
 terial and spiritual means be applied sys- 
 tematically — not simply one of them, but 
 all, or at least as many as the case would 
 permit — and if they would be applied as 
 faithfully as the dosing of the human body 
 with more or less poisonous medicaments 
 is indulged in, not only would be reduced 
 the weakening process, with its almost in- 
 numerable forms of disease that are forced 
 upon the body as the consequences of the 
 application of an unnatural method of heal- 
 ing, but, moreover, longevity would be 
 greatly increased among mankind. 
 
 4 8 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TRUE, 
 NATURAL METHOD FOR BODILY HEAL- 
 ING, AND OTHER METHODS, PRAC- 
 TICED AT PRESENT. 
 
 If 16. 
 
 The Difference between this Method and 
 the So-called "Faith Cure." 
 
 The Holy Scriptures nowhere speak of 
 ( "Faith cures." Wherever in its pages cures 
 are related, it is true, faith of the healer 
 as well as of the one to be healed is the 
 presupposed condition ; nevertheless, their 
 effecting cause is not faith, but the vital 
 force of the sick body, although aided by 
 certain means applied in a certain manner 
 and by certain men. Moreover, they speak 
 of such, not as if faith has been cured, but 
 rather the sick body. For instance : Naa- 
 man's healing through the Prophet Elisha 
 (2 Kings v, 8-14); Hezekiah's healing 
 through the Prophet Isaiah (2 Kings xx, 
 1-7); also Christ's and His first disciples' 
 4 49 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 healing were not "Faith cures." These 
 cures show plainly three things : First, that 
 not faith, but sick bodies were healed ; 
 second, that the healing cause was not 
 faith, but the vital force of the sick body, 
 for the inducing of the vital force to exer- 
 cise its healing energies by these men must 
 not be mistaken for the cure-effecting 
 cause ; and, third, that even the manner in 
 which these cures were brought about was 
 not faith, but the application of certain 
 means in a certain manner. Therefore they 
 can not be called "Faith cures," and the 
 Scriptures nowhere speak of them as such. 
 The absurdity of the use of the expression 
 "Faith cure" for bodily healing is evident, 
 also, from the following; namely, the fact, 
 that the belief of both the healer and the 
 person to be healed in the efficiency of 
 certain means applied in a certain manner 
 is not the cure itself, but merely the pre- 
 supposed condition required of both, if the 
 means appropriate for healing should be 
 applied and the healing energies of the sick 
 body's vital force exercised. For, even the 
 application of medicaments requires and 
 presupposes the faith of the patient as well 
 50 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 as of the healer ; but nobody would be 
 guilty of such nonsense as therefore to call 
 the following cure a "Faith cure." At least, 
 it is irrational to use this expression for 
 bodily healing. 
 
 On the contrary, it is pre-eminently 
 rational to call the method for bodily heal- 
 ing presented in this little work, the true, 
 natural one for several reasons : First, be- 
 cause it considers the vital force of the 
 sick body itself the only healing cause; 
 second, because its means — such as water, 
 air, plants, their juices and fruits ; the 
 effluxes of material bodies, as light, heat, 
 electricity, and magnetism ; also the efflux 
 of the human soul produced by the recip- 
 rocal action of its thoughts and will-power, 
 as well as the method of applying these 
 means, as shown in the pages of this book — 
 are all truly natural ; third, because the ap- 
 plication of these means according to this 
 method induces the vital force of the sick 
 body to exercise its healing energies or to 
 operate according to its inherent laws ; and, 
 fourth, because a more or less prolonged 
 application of this method, just as the case 
 may be, is necessary to effect a cure. 
 5i 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 If II. 
 The Difference between this True, Natural 
 Method for Bodily Healing and the So- 
 called "Sympathy" Cure. 
 
 It can not be denied conclusively that 
 cures have been effected by the method of 
 healing called "Sympathy;" but it is true 
 that the method in question applies the 
 sympathetic influence of the healer in an 
 irrational and even in a blasphemous way. 
 At each attempt to heal according to this 
 method, its practitioners repeat to them- 
 selves certain phrases, generally such as 
 have no rational connection with the case, 
 and this always in the three highest names 
 which they repeat three times, or thrice 
 three times. While it is blasphemous to 
 use the name of God in this manner, it is 
 also against all reason to believe that God 
 would submit His Divine power, as they 
 claim, to such irrational and blasphemous 
 endeavors, and this just at the time when- 
 ever such a healer is pleased to call upon it 
 in a way contrary to reason and to the 
 Scriptural use of the three most holy names. 
 It is obvious, therefore, that whenever a 
 52 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 healing influence is produced upon a patient 
 through this method, it is done, not by ex- 
 ercising Divine power, but solely through 
 the sympathetic influence of a healer, that 
 is produced by the reciprocal action of his 
 thoughts and will-power and conveyed 
 through look, breath, word, and laying on 
 of hands upon the sick body or any of its 
 organs. Consequently, this latter part of 
 "Sympathy" as a method for bodily heal- 
 ing proves to be its kernel of truth ; the rest 
 of it is not only useless, but harmful chaff. 
 The true, natural method for bodily heal- 
 ing presented in this little book, not only 
 utilizes this kernel of truth, but applies it in 
 a manner compatible with reason and au- 
 thorized by the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 If 12. 
 
 The Difference between this True, Natural 
 Method for Bodily Healing and that 
 Practiced under the Name of "Christian 
 Science," correctly called "Eddyism," 
 and by Hypnotists. 
 
 That the adherents of the above-named 
 schools have effected cures by means of 
 53 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 their mental and hypnotic manipulations 
 with the sick body has been sufficiently 
 illustrated by them. But, here again, the 
 kernel of truth underlying their cures has 
 been unnecessarily inclosed in an unscien- 
 tific, yes, in an irrational and extremely 
 unchristian philosophy. For to assert that 
 disease, and even death, "are existing only 
 in the imagination of the patient/' "have 
 only an imaginary existence," "are not 
 real" (to say nothing of all the other pan- 
 theistical phrases which give their imagi- 
 native theory a scientific appearance), is 
 simply contrary to all rational thinking and 
 to facts ; and to produce hypnotically such 
 an influence upon a patient as will interfere 
 with the connection and operation existing 
 between the patient's soul and body is, to 
 say the least, against all principles of Chris- 
 tianity. Nevertheless, it is serving to illus- 
 trate the following facts : (a) That a heal- 
 ing influence can be produced by the human 
 soul through the reciprocal action of its 
 thoughts and will-power, when conveyed 
 through the operator's look, word, and 
 touch upon the sick body, (b) That this 
 induces the vital force of the patient's body 
 54 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 to exercise its healing energies, or to oper- 
 ate according to its inherent laws, (c) That 
 thereby its operations and bodily conditions 
 are changed, especially when this influence 
 is prolonged. 
 
 This kernel of truth, that the human soul 
 can produce and convey a healing influence 
 upon a sick body or any of its organs 
 through the reciprocal action of its 
 thoughts and will-power, assisted by look, 
 word, and touch, is another part of the true, 
 natural method for bodily healing, though 
 without a nonsensical and unchristianlike 
 philosophy. Therefore, if Dowie and 
 others of his type claim that the effecting 
 cause of their cures is God Himself, and 
 that they are, therefore, miraculous occur- 
 rences, they stamp themselves as deceivers 
 of their own selves as well as of others, and 
 as heretics ; for neither Christ Himself, nor 
 the prophets, nor even Christ's first follow- 
 ers, claimed anything of that kind for their 
 cures. The most that they ever claimed 
 for their cures was that God or Christ gave 
 them the power to heal; i. e., a Divine im- 
 pulse, the authority to heal certain patients, 
 and the knowledge that they were able to 
 55 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 exercise a healing influence over others. 
 Just as men have received the ability for 
 fulfilling their earthly professions after all 
 from their Creator, while the use and the 
 method of applying it is their own work, 
 and the assertion, therefore, that the ac- 
 complishment of the same is God's work, 
 w r ould be necessarily wrong; just so was 
 the ability, the impulse, the authority to 
 heal the sick given to them by God or 
 Christ, while its use and the method of 
 applying this Divinely given power, conse- 
 quently the accomplishment of a cure, has 
 been their own work. Besides this, as they 
 were under the leadership of God's Spirit, 
 their method of healing must have been the 
 true, natural one, but without the nonsensi- 
 cal and unchristianlike philosophy of the 
 above-named methods. Consequently, they 
 did effect bodily healing by means of the 
 influence of their Divinely-guided soul, 
 which they had produced by the reciprocal 
 action of their thoughts and will-power, 
 and conveyed through their look, word, and 
 laying on of hands upon the sick body or 
 any of its organs, to induce its vital force 
 
 56 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 toward exercising its healing energies. 
 This, however, is just exactly that which 
 the true, natural method for bodily healing 
 proposes to do. 
 
 If 13. 
 
 The Difference between this True, Natural 
 Method for Bodily Healing and that 
 Practiced by Means of Magnetic Manip- 
 ulations. 
 
 Magnetic manipulations are those im- 
 pressions which can be produced by the 
 look, the breath, the word of a healer ; also 
 by his laying on'of hands upon a sick body 
 or any of its organs, or by his rubbing and 
 kneading the latter. That through this 
 method, also, a healing influence upon a sick 
 body is produced, has been proven beyond a 
 doubt long ago ; and this influence is called 
 by some "animal magnetism." To call this 
 healing influence "animal magnetism" is 
 erroneous, because magnetism emanates 
 also from lifeless material bodies ; because 
 the magnetism in question is not produced 
 and conveyed by an animal; and because 
 57 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING, 
 
 the magnetism produced and conveyed by 
 a man can not be separated from his soul- 
 influence. Therefore, the facts connected 
 with it justify our calling that magnetism 
 which is produced and conveyed by a man, 
 rather soul-magnetism ; and the difference 
 between it and the magnetism of purely 
 material and animal bodies positively de- 
 mands that it be thus designated. 
 
 Regarding the production of this healing 
 influence by the healer's look, breath, word, 
 and laying on of hands upon a sick body or 
 any of its organs, or by his rubbing and 
 kneading the latter in various though cer- 
 tain manners, the following explanations 
 are given. 
 
 This healing influence is not produced 
 by these physical manipulations only, but 
 also by the reciprocal action of the healer's 
 thoughts and will-power; for those manip- 
 ulations are impossible without the activity 
 of the soul. The healer's look, breath, 
 word, and laying on of hands, or his rub- 
 bing and kneading the sick body or any of 
 its organs, are indeed only the conveying 
 mediums upon the latter. 
 58 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 Further, regarding the various though 
 certain manners of the physical manipula- 
 tions practiced by the professional mag- 
 netizer, we affirm that they are not neces- 
 sary to effect a cure. The laying on of 
 hands, and their resting quietly upon the 
 diseased organ of the body, or the rubbing 
 and kneading manipulations given by the 
 healer to the latter, or the passes down- 
 ward of the body or its diseased part and 
 away from it, just as the case may require, 
 are sufficient to convey the soul-magnetism 
 for healing purposes ; because they are 
 merely the physical expressions of the heal- 
 ing-inducing soul ; because it is the vital 
 warmth of the hand proper that is the con- 
 veying medium of the soul's healing influ- 
 ence ; and because it is only this latter influ- 
 ence which induces the vital force of the 
 sick body to exercise its healing energies. 
 However, this magnetic manipulating of a 
 sick body or any of its organs strikingly 
 presents another part of the true, natural 
 method for bodily healing; namely, the 
 magnetic massage. 
 
 59 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 If 14- 
 
 The Difference between this True, Natural 
 Method for Bodily Healing and that 
 Practiced by Means of Chemically-Com- 
 bined Medicaments. 
 
 1. Whatever healing is accomplished 
 through the last-named method will be ac- 
 complished at the expense of the healthy 
 organs and of the general vitality of the 
 body. This is evidently true for the follow- 
 ing reasons : 
 
 (a) Because the vital force of the body is 
 overtaxed or strained above its normal 
 operations, locally and constitutionally, 
 through the digesting and assimilating at- 
 tempts which are made by the former with 
 these applied chemically-combined medica- 
 ments. Through applying the latter the 
 medical profession creates intentionally 
 w 7 ith them a fight in the body against the 
 poison of disease ; this, however, strains the 
 vital force of the sick body above its nor- 
 mal operations. 
 
 (b) Because the application of chemically- 
 combined medicaments for the healing of 
 
 60 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 a diseased organ interferes with the normal 
 operations of the healthy ones ; its cure sig- 
 nifying only a transferring of disease from 
 one organ to others. For instance, through 
 such a treatment, applied to other organs, 
 the stomach is made sick artificially. 
 
 (c) Because the healing according to the 
 above-named method leaves the physical 
 organism, or one of its organs, always 
 weaker than it was before the sickness ; not 
 only on account of its vital force having 
 been strained above its normal operations, 
 but also on account of the applied medical 
 poison, which remains more or less in the 
 circulation of the body. For it is the rule 
 of the medical practice, "Similia similibus 
 curare;" consequently to apply poison 
 against poison ; and, whether applied in 
 homeopathic or allopathic doses, the medical 
 poison, fighting the poison of disease out 
 of the body, will remain in the latter, more 
 or less, as non-assimilative matter, which 
 must weaken the physical organism. On 
 the other hand, a suitable application of 
 naturally-combined material means, as 
 enumerated in paragraph 8, never induces 
 the vital force of the human body in health 
 61 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 or in sickness to operate abnormally; it 
 does not interfere with the normal oper- 
 ations of the healthy organs ; it never trans- 
 fers disease from one organ to others ; nor 
 does it leave the physical organism of man, 
 or any of its organs, weaker after the appli- 
 cation of the material means of this true, 
 natural method for bodily healing than they 
 were before the sickness. 
 
 2. The healing of the human body 
 effected through the above-mentioned 
 method means a polluting of the latter ; for 
 by far the greater part of the chemically- 
 combined medicaments can not be incor- 
 porated as organic parts of the body, and 
 therefore be driven about in the body as 
 foreign matter and become hindrances to 
 the organic functions, thus artificially 
 flooding the circulation with non-assimila- 
 tive materials. These results will not only 
 manifest themselves locally, but, if the ap- 
 plication of such means is made continually 
 and in constantly-increasing quantities, 
 there will result a constitutional infection 
 of the body with non-assimilative materials. 
 
 Now, the application of the true, natural 
 method for bodily healing is followed by 
 62 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 none of these disastrous results. Through 
 its application of only such material means 
 as are naturally combined for the human 
 body — as water, air, vegetables, their juices 
 and fruits, the milk and flesh of certain ani- 
 mals, and still more through the application 
 of the effluxes which emanate from material 
 bodies, as light, heat, electricity, and mag- 
 netism — the sick body is nourished with 
 materials easily digested and assimilated, 
 their useless parts being easily thrown off 
 as light excretions, and, in consequence, 
 the body or any of its organs is cleansed 
 from its impurities, built up through the 
 applied naturally-combined and easily-as- 
 similated materials, and changed from the 
 condition of sickness to one of health. 
 
 3. The healing of the human body ef- 
 fected through chemically-combined medi- 
 caments is unnatural ; because the combina- 
 tion between the particles of the latter is 
 foreign to, and entirely different from, that 
 existing between those particles, which con- 
 stitute the human body as well as the natu- 
 rally-combined materials, such as water, 
 air, vegetables, etc. ; and still more it is for- 
 eign to, and different from, the effluxes 
 63 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 which emanate from material bodies at the 
 reciprocal action of their chemical elements, 
 such as light, heat, electricity, and mag- 
 netism. That the combination which exists 
 between these naturally-combined mate- 
 rials, as well as between the material par- 
 ticles of the human body, is entirely differ- 
 ent from that which connects the particles 
 of purely chemically-combined matter ; fur- 
 ther, that in the case of the former, the 
 process of assimilation is more easily per- 
 formed than in the latter, must be consid- 
 ered as facts, for the following reasons : 
 
 (a) Because water, air, and the bodies of 
 plants and animals, as well as of men, are 
 more easily and more quickly dissolved 
 than bodies of a purely chemical combina- 
 tion. 
 
 (b) Because the vital force of plants and 
 animals, as also of human bodies, can not 
 only not be sustained in its work of main- 
 taining its organic functions normally 
 through the use of purely chemically-com- 
 bined materials, but, moreover, if the use 
 of these materials be continued, the oper- 
 ation of the vital force, especially that of 
 the human body, will be impeded and the 
 
 6 4 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 latter artificially made sick. This could not 
 be the case if the combination between the 
 elements of chemically-combined medica- 
 ments would be the same as that of natu- 
 rally-combined bodies. 
 
 (c) Because the combination between 
 the elements of purely chemical bodies is 
 produced according to those laws only 
 which are inherent in their material ele- 
 ments, while the combination between the 
 material elements of the plant, the animal, 
 and the human body is produced, not only 
 by virtue of their own vital force, but also 
 according to the entirely different laws of 
 the latter. 
 
 In contrast to this, the healing of the 
 human body according to the method pre- 
 sented in this little book is truly natural. 
 Its material means, and especially the 
 effluxes of material bodies (not to speak 
 of its spiritual means, which are natural in 
 the fullest sense of the word), are of just 
 such a combination and nature as to make 
 them the only food appropriate for the hu- 
 man body, and exclusively the only material 
 means which, through their application 
 and assimilation, will induce the vital force 
 5 65 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 of a sick body to exercise its healing en- 
 ergies or to operate according to its in- 
 herent laws. 
 
 4. The healing of the human body 
 through the application of purely chem- 
 ically-combined medicaments is unnatural. 
 
 (a) Because such materials as are not 
 naturally combined for the body can not 
 be Divinely ordained means for its heal- 
 ing; for they are not only too hard to 
 digest and assimilate, but they also, at 
 least by far the greater part of them, can 
 not be assimilated at all by the vital force 
 of the sick body. And, furthermore, they 
 do not, as chemically-combined medica- 
 ments, not even in the time of health 
 prove themselves as the proper means to 
 nourish and build up the human body ; but 
 whatever is wrong for the physical organ- 
 ism to use in a state of health can not be 
 right from a truly natural or Divine point 
 of view in a state of disease. 
 
 (b) The healing of the human body 
 through such means is unnatural; be- 
 cause the latter has no natural desire for 
 purely chemically-combined medicaments. 
 They must be taken against the objections 
 
 66 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 of nature. Therefore, purely chemically- 
 combined medicaments should not be used 
 for healing purposes ; they only thwart 
 the vital force of the sick body in its heal- 
 ing efforts, and finally compel it to with- 
 draw its healing energies from a body 
 completely polluted with non-assimilative 
 materials. 
 
 On the other hand, the (for the human 
 body) naturally-combined material means, 
 mentioned above, and especially the ef- 
 fluxes of material bodies emanating from 
 them at the reciprocal action of their chem- 
 ical elements, are certainly those means 
 ordained for healing purposes ; for experi- 
 ence shows that their applications and 
 effects are not only nourishing, satisfying, 
 and enjoyable to the patient, but the latter 
 is even craving for them; and also the 
 Holy Scriptures of both the Old and the 
 New Testaments clearly substantiate this 
 fact. While there should be no question 
 regarding the Divine ordination of the 
 spiritual means for healing the human 
 body — and if so, consider what is written 
 in the third part of this little book — the 
 Scriptures do not leave us in doubt as to 
 
 6 7 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 the material means. That the latter have 
 been Divinely ordained for the use of man 
 is shown by such passages as : "And God 
 said, Behold, I have given you every herb 
 bearing seed, which is upon the face of all 
 the earth, and every tree, in which is the 
 fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall 
 be for meat" (Gen. i, 29) ; and further : 
 "Every moving thing that liveth shall be 
 meat for you. But flesh with the life 
 thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall 
 ye not eat" (Gen. ix, 3-4). This Divinely 
 authorizes the use of these things for 
 nourishing purposes. However, the Scrip- 
 tures also recommend illustratively the 
 application of naturally-combined materials 
 for healing purposes, as in 2 Kings v, 8-14; 
 xx, 1-7; John ix, 1-7; Mark viii, 22-25; 
 Rom. xiv, 2 ; 1 Tim. v, 23 ; but nowhere is 
 there even a hint at the use of chemically- 
 combined medicaments as the proper 
 method of treatment. On the contrary, 
 it is said, discrediting the pratice of med- 
 cine : "Asa in the thirty and ninth year of 
 his reign was diseased in his feet, until his 
 disease was exceeding great ; yet in his 
 disease he sought not to the Lord, but 
 68 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 to the physicians/' (2 Chron. xvi, 12.) 
 And again : "A certain woman, which had 
 an issue of blood twelve years, and had 
 suffered many things of many physicians, 
 and was not bettered, but rather grew 
 worse." (Mark v, 25, 26.) 
 
 5. The healing of the human body 
 through the application of purely chem- 
 ically-combined medicaments would be, to 
 say the least, unworthy of its inauguration 
 by Christ, the God-man, and of its commis- 
 sion to His followers. It, also, would prove 
 neither His nor His believers' cures to be 
 of a Divine order. Nothing less than the 
 practice of the true, natural method for 
 bodily healing can be expected and ac- 
 cepted of the perfect man, and especially 
 of the God-man. 
 
 Just these reasons against the applica- 
 tion of purely chemically-combined medi- 
 caments for bodily healing have been en- 
 tirely overlooked by the medical profes- 
 sion, to the detriment of the human family. 
 The practice of this method of healing is 
 excusable only in the case of those who 
 know of nothing better. This method, as 
 well as the four other methods for bodily 
 
 69 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 healing — namely, "Faith cure," "Sym- 
 pathy," "Mental or Hypnotic Healing," 
 and "'Magnetic Healing" — should be sub- 
 stituted as soon as possible by the true, 
 natural method. The latter, however, is 
 not including nor excluding surgery, for it, 
 in itself, can not be considered a method 
 of healing ; it is an art in itself, and in some 
 cases surgery must precede the true, nat- 
 ural method of healing the body. 
 
 70 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE LIMIT OF THIS TRUE, NATURAL METHOD 
 FOR BODILY HEALING. 
 
 If 15- 
 
 The one great limit of this method for 
 bodily healing is the will of God, as will be 
 seen from the following reasons : 
 
 1. Because experience proves that the 
 success of the attempts to heal the human 
 body depends, after all, upon "good luck." 
 A physician who is treating a certain dis- 
 ease through certain means may at one 
 time be rewarded with success, while at 
 another time, in a case of the same disease, 
 treated through the same means, applied 
 perhaps to the same person, he may see 
 his treatment end with the death of his 
 patient. Therefore the success of the at- 
 tempts to heal the human body, whether 
 it be according to the true, natural method 
 or any other, can not be determined ex- 
 clusively by the will of a healer ; other- 
 wise every sick body, which is treated 
 7i 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 through the proper means and in the 
 proper manner, should necessarily become 
 well. Consequently there must be a higher 
 than the human will determining the suc- 
 cess of the healing attempts. 
 
 2. Because the applied means are not 
 the causes which effect the healing of the 
 body, as they, at their best, are only in- 
 ducing the vital force of the latter to ex- 
 ercise its healing energies. And as there 
 may operate other influences — such as can 
 be produced by the association with other 
 sickly persons, by the changes of tempera- 
 ture, even by the changing conditions of 
 the patient's own soul-life — upon the vital 
 force of the body, whereby the effects of 
 the applied means for inducing the latter 
 to exercise its healing energies may be 
 neutralized (not to speak of the influence 
 which can be produced by other spirits 
 upon the vital force of a body for chang- 
 ing its condition, as is evidently proven by 
 hypnotism and all those cases where hu- 
 man bodies are possessed by demons), 
 consequently the success of healing the 
 human body according to the true, nat- 
 ural method, as well as any other, is and 
 72 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 must be determined at last by the will of 
 God. 
 
 3. Because Divine revelation teaches : 
 First. That bodily diseases are some- 
 times used in the hands of God as means 
 to induce men to comprehend, hate, and 
 resist its cause, which is the living con- 
 trary to His laws, the natural as well as the 
 revealed ; and sometimes for the purpose 
 of giving His love as well as His justice 
 a chance to manifest His works among 
 sinful men for their own salvation. Read 
 Josh, xxv, 15, 16; Jer. v, 3; Ex. xv, 26; 
 1 Kings viii, 37-39; Jer. xviii, 7, 8 ; as also 
 the following from 2 Cor. xii, 9 : "My grace 
 is sufficient for thee, for my strength is 
 made perfect in weakness ;" and in John 
 i x > 3 • "J esus answered, Neither has this 
 man sinned, nor his parents ; but that the 
 works of God shall be manifest in him." 
 But if bodily diseases are used in the hands 
 of God for such purposes, they surely are 
 Divinely wanted. 
 
 Second. Divine revelation teaches that 
 
 it is God's will that mankind shall not 
 
 live forever in their sin-weakened bodies. 
 
 For instances, we read in Gen. ii, 17: "In 
 
 73 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
 surely die;" and in i Cor. xv, 50: "Flesh 
 and blood can not inherit the kingdom 
 of God; neither doth corruption inherit 
 incorruption ;" and verse 53 : "This cor- 
 ruptible must put on incorruption, and this 
 mortal must put on immortality." But as 
 sinful man shall surely die and be sep- 
 arated from this sin-weakened body, and 
 as this is determined by the Creator's nat- 
 ural and revealed laws, then the duration 
 and cure of bodily diseases, the causes of 
 death, are after all dependent upon the 
 will of God. Therefore God said, Gen. iii, 
 16-19: "I will grealy multiply thy sorrow; 
 in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children/' 
 and so forth. Consequently, the success 
 of this true, natural method, as any of the 
 other methods for bodily healing depends, 
 after all, upon the will of God. 
 
 4. Because experience and revelation 
 permit no other view for the unbeliever 
 as well as for the believer but this, that 
 the duration of disease is determined at 
 last by the will of God, provided a patient 
 is not intentionally aggravating his disease, 
 but doing all he knows to become well. 
 74 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 From these reasons it follows that the 
 limit of this true, natural method for bodily 
 healing is the will of God. 
 
 Ifi6. 
 
 This Divine limiting of bodily healing 
 proves nothing against this true, natural 
 method, but rather approves of it for the 
 following reasons : 
 
 i. Because none of the other methods 
 of bodily healing meets with success in 
 every case, which fact proves nothing more 
 but that they too are limited, just as this 
 true, natural method is limited. 
 
 2. Because if the success of this method 
 were not limited by the will of God, it 
 could not be a truly natural one ; for 
 everything that is truly natural is depend- 
 ent upon God's will. It is this Divine lim- 
 itation that helps to characterize it as the 
 truly natural method for bodily healing. 
 
 3. Because the application of this 
 method is not hindered by the Divine 
 limitation ; for men can not know before- 
 hand when God desires to use sickness in 
 the case of one or the other for the mani- 
 testation of His works, or when His will 
 
 75 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 demands the continuance of the disease 
 for the patient's salvation, unless, after a 
 faithful application of this method, He re- 
 veals to the patient, "My grace is suffi- 
 cient for thee ; for my strength is made per- 
 fect in weakness." 
 
 4. Because, in view of the fact that the 
 healer is not able to say how long his 
 patient's disease may last, nor to give a 
 guarantee that the disease will not end 
 fatally, we are compelled, from a Chris- 
 tian as well as from an experimental point 
 of view, to conclude that not only this 
 limitation of bodily healing is from God, but 
 also that the healers at their best are only 
 instruments of the Divine will. And, 
 further, that the healing efforts, especially 
 according to the method set forth in this 
 little book, are merely a search for the 
 manifestation of the Divine will with ref- 
 erence to a patient's sickness. 
 
 Consequently, this Divine limitation 
 of the true, natural method for bodily heal- 
 ing proves nothing against it and every- 
 thing for it. 
 
 76 
 
PART III. 
 
 THE PRACTITONERS OF THE 
 
 TRUE, NATURAL METHOD 
 
 FOR HEALING THE 
 
 HUMAN BODY. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 CHRIST ALSO THE PRACTITIONER OF THIS 
 
 TRUE, NATURAL METHOD FOR BODILY 
 
 HEALING. 
 
 That the healing of the sick as prac- 
 ticed by Christ and as commissioned by 
 Him to His followers is indeed the true, 
 natural method can be explained and must 
 be concluded from the following facts : 
 
 i. Christ's and His disciples' method of 
 healing was directed, first of all, to the 
 personality of the sick. For instance: "I 
 say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, 
 and go thy way!" (Mark ii, n.) "And 
 Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight. " 
 (Luke xviii, 42.) "And Jesus put forth 
 His hand, and touched him saying, I will; 
 be thou clean." (Matt, viii, 3.) Compare 
 also the method of His disciples' healing, 
 for instance, in Acts hi, iv, vi, vii, and so 
 forth. From this it is evident that Christ's 
 and his apostles' healing of the sick was 
 79 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 neither a separation of natural forces, as 
 their casting out demons in man was ; nor 
 a uniting of such, as it was in the case of 
 their raising the dead. It was not even a 
 stimulation of the reciprocal action be- 
 tween united forces of nature to operate 
 according to higher laws than those in- 
 hering in them, as it must have been in the 
 cases of Christ's feeding the four and five 
 thousand, His turning water into wine, 
 His walking on the sea, and the like. With 
 their healing, Christ and His apostles 
 simply corrected and perfected that which 
 already existed by inducing the person- 
 ality and especially the vital force of the 
 sick to operate only according to its in- 
 herent laws or to exercise only its healing 
 energies. For that which keeps the body 
 healthy after its healing and independent 
 of its healer, must be that by which the 
 body is made well; namely, the patient's 
 own vital force, induced to exercise its 
 healing energies. 
 
 Now, inasmuch as the healing accom- 
 plished by Christ and His diciples was 
 effected by the vital force of the sick, in- 
 duced by them to exercise its healing en- 
 80 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 ergies only, or to operate only according 
 to its inherent laws, it must be concluded 
 from this, that their method of healing, in 
 this respect at least, was the true, natural 
 one. 
 
 2. Christ and His disciples induced the 
 vital force of a sick body to exercise its 
 healing energies through the influence 
 which they produced by the reciprocal ac- 
 tion between their thoughts and will-power 
 exercised for healing purposes, and con- 
 veyed upon the sick body through their 
 look, word, and imposition of hands. And 
 with Christ Himself this was often accom- 
 plished, even without the aid of the above- 
 mentioned physical manipulations ; as, for 
 instance, in Matt, viii, 5-13, where the cen- 
 turion^ sick servant did not hear the words 
 of Jesus : "I will come and heal him." 
 Here, therefore, neither His word, much 
 less His look and the imposition of His 
 hands, could have conveyed to His dis- 
 tant patient's vital force the healing in- 
 fluence of His soul and spirit; and, there- 
 fore, that influence alone mediated this 
 cure, simply by Christ exercising His 
 thoughts and will-power for healing pur- 
 6 81 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 poses, and concentrating them upon the 
 sick man, thereby inducing the latter's vital 
 force to exercise its healing energies. It 
 must be considered as a fact that the con- 
 centrated thoughts and will-power of an 
 operator can exercise an influence upon the 
 vital force of another body to change its 
 organic conditions, especially when con- 
 veyed through the look, word, and imposi- 
 tion of hands ; for this is indisputably 
 illustrated by the effects of hypnotism and 
 magnetism, as well as of the soul, changing 
 the conditions of the body. 
 
 Now, since thus to induce the vital force 
 of a sick body to exercise its healing ener- 
 gies and consequently to change its bodily 
 condition through the influence of the soul 
 — which is produced by the reciprocal ac- 
 tion between its thoughts and will-power 
 exercised for the purpose of healing, con- 
 centrated and conveyed upon the patient's 
 vital force through look, word, and im- 
 position of hands, or without them — is a 
 perfectly natural process ; therefore, the 
 healing of Christ and His apostles must, 
 in this respect also, have been the true, 
 natural method. 
 
 82 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALIXG. 
 
 3. The healing influence of Christ and 
 His apostles was stimulated, or toned up, 
 to increase its effects by prayer and fast- 
 ing (read Matt, xvii, 14-21); that is, 
 the influence produced by the reciprocal 
 action between their thoughts and will- 
 power, exercised for the purpose of heal- 
 ing, and concentrated and conveyed upon 
 the vital force of the patient through their 
 look, word, and imposition of hands, was 
 strengthened by praying in Christ's name 
 for God's blessing upon this work of heal- 
 ing. 
 
 But since such a stimulation of one's 
 healing influence — that is, a strengthening 
 of that influence through a prolonged con- 
 centration of the thoughts and will-power 
 upon the patient's vital force for the pur- 
 pose to induce the latter to exercise its 
 healing energies, and through praying per- 
 sistently in Christ's name for God's bless- 
 ing upon this healing work — can be con- 
 sidered only as a most perfectly natural 
 process, it follows that the healing of 
 Christ and His apostles must be consid- 
 ered, in this respect also, as the true, nat- 
 ural method for bodilv healing-. 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 4. The method of healing practiced by 
 Christ and His apostles was, in regard to 
 its success, dependent, also, upon the faith 
 of the sick. Just as a magnet can exer- 
 cise an influence only upon congenial ob- 
 jects, and just as magnetism is produced 
 only by the reciprocal action of both the 
 magnet and it congenial object, so did 
 Christ and His apostles require for their 
 cures the faith of the sick ; so was it pos- 
 sible for them to exercise a healing in- 
 fluence only upon those whose vital force 
 was by their faith made receptive of the 
 healer's influence ; and so the healing of 
 Christ and His apostles was brought about 
 by both the healer and the believing pa- 
 tient, the former exercising his healing in- 
 fluence upon the patient, the latter exer- 
 cising faith by submitting his vital force 
 to the curing influence of the healer. 
 (Read Mark ix, 23; Luke viii, 50; Matt, 
 ix, 29 ; Mark v, 34, and x, 52 ; Luke vii, 50 ; 
 xvii, 19, and xviii, 42.) 
 
 However, since such a mental and phys- 
 ical co-operation of the healer and the 
 person to be healed can be regarded 
 only as a perfectly natural process, 
 84 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 therefore Christ's and His apostles' heal- 
 ing of the sick must, in this respect also, 
 be treated as the true, natural method for 
 bodily healing. 
 
 5. Not every cure effected by Christ and 
 His followers was completed immediately. 
 (Read, for instance, Mark viii, 22-25 5 * 
 Kings xvii, 19-22; 2 Kings iv, 32-35.) Nor 
 is a sudden cure claimed in every case for 
 Christ's believers. (Mark xvi, 18; James 
 v, 14, 15.) These passages of Scripture 
 evidently show that the application of the 
 means, as well as the influence through 
 them produced, for inducing the vital force 
 of a diseased body to exercise its healing 
 energies, must be sometimes prolonged 
 to suit the requirements of the case. 
 
 Now, this gradual method of healing 
 used by Christ, which method alone is 
 claimed for Christ's believers (see Mark 
 xvi, 18), shows conclusively that it was also, 
 in this respect, the true, natural method. 
 
 6. To show above all doubts that this 
 view of the healing method practiced by 
 Christ and His followers is the only cor- 
 rect one, let it be remembered, in addition 
 to the points enumerated above, that the 
 
 85 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 application of the spiritual means of this 
 true, natural method for bodily healing 
 was in many cases supported by that of 
 material means. That material means 
 were also used by Christ and the prophets 
 to assist the already applied spiritual 
 means, the influence of the soul, in induc- 
 ing the patient's vital force to exercise its 
 healing energies is clearly shown, for in- 
 stance, in John ix, 6, 7: "When Jesus had 
 thus spoken, he spat on the ground and 
 made clay of the spittle, and he anointed 
 the eyes of the blind man with the clay; 
 and said unto him, Go, and wash in the 
 Pool of Siloam. He went his way, there- 
 fore, and washed and came seeing/' In 
 connection with this, read also Mark viii, 
 22-25; vii, 3 2 -35; 2 Kings v, 10-14; xx, 7. 
 Although Christ and the prophets used 
 material means to support their spiritual- 
 healing influence for inducing the vital 
 force of the sick to exercise its healing 
 energies, nevertheless they were not only 
 naturally combined for the human body — 
 for never did they use chemically combined 
 materials — but, in addition to this, the 
 material means were of inferior value for 
 86 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 healing purposes compared with the spir- 
 itual ones ; wherefore the application of 
 the former was not, and is not, necessary 
 in all cases. 
 
 However, just this application of ma- 
 terial means as assisting that of the spir- 
 itual ones to induce the vital force of a 
 patient to exercise its healing energies to 
 bring about a cure, is additional evidence 
 that the healing of Christ and His followers 
 was done according to the true, natural 
 method; for a miraculous healing — al- 
 though there is no such process on record 
 — -would exclude the assistance of material 
 means. 
 
 87 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHRIST'S CURES 
 AND HIS MIRACLES. 
 
 ffl8. 
 
 Brockhaus's definition of a miracle is 
 as follows : "A miracle is an occurrence 
 which happens against all laws of nature, 
 or one in which the Creator has by direct 
 interposition set aside for its occurrence 
 the order of the universe/ 1 In contradic- 
 tion thereto, Trench, "Miracles of Our 
 Lord," writes on page 10 : "The distinc- 
 tion indeed which is sometimes drawn 
 that in the miracle God is immediately 
 working, and in other events is leaving it 
 to the laws which He has established to 
 work, can not at all be allowed ; for it rests 
 on a dead mechanical view of the universe, 
 altogether remote from the truth." And 
 on page n: "To say, then, that there is 
 more of the will of God in a miracle than 
 in any other work o ; His. is insufficient. 
 88 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 The miracle is not a greater manifestation 
 of God's power than those ordinary and 
 ever-repeated processess ; but it is a dif- 
 ferent manifestation." And on page 12 : 
 "An extraordinary Divine causality . . . be- 
 longs, then, to the essence of the miracle." 
 This opinion of a miracle in that respect 
 corresponds with the facts ; for the most 
 of the miracles are effected by God through 
 human instrumentality, and, therefore, it 
 must not be effected by a direct interposition 
 of God; nevertheless, it is an extraordinary 
 one. Further, this author writes on page 
 ' 16 : "The miracle is not unnatural ; nor could 
 it be such, since the unnatural, the con- 
 trary to order, is of itself the ungodly, 
 and can in no way, therefore, be affirmed 
 of a Divine work, such as that with which 
 we have to do. So far from this, the true 
 miracle is a higher and purer nature, 
 coming down out of the world of un- 
 troubled harmonies into this world of 
 ours." And on page 17: "They exceed 
 the laws of our nature, but it does not 
 therefore follow that they exceed the laws 
 of all nature." And on page 20 : "The 
 miracles of earth, as Jean Paul has said, 
 89 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 are the laws of heaven." From this it 
 must be concluded that the miracle can 
 not be called an occurrence which happens 
 against all laws of nature, and one in which 
 God has set aside for its occurrence the 
 order of the universe ; but it is to be de- 
 fined rather as follows : The miracle is an 
 extraordinary occurrence which happens 
 through a Divine interposition, direct or 
 indirect, whereby God induces certain 
 forces of nature to suspend their present 
 operations among themselves, and either 
 to separate themselves, remaining in their 
 single existence ; or to unite themselves, 
 operating together according to their in- 
 herent laws ; or as united forces of nature, 
 to operate together according to higher 
 laws than those inhering in them. 
 
 To deny the Creator that prerogative 
 would be simply nonsensical ; because a 
 God who can not do what is required 
 by the above definition of miracles can do 
 no more than nature, and would, there- 
 fore, be no God at all. He must be able 
 to do with His creation, outside of the 
 laws inhering in it, what He pleases; 
 namely, to induce the forces of nature to 
 90 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OP HEALING. 
 
 suspend their ordinary manner of opera- 
 tion, and either to separate themselves, 
 remaining in their single existence ; or to 
 unite themselves, operating together ac- 
 cording to their inherent laws ; or, as 
 united forces of nature, to operate to- 
 gether according to higher laws than those 
 inhering in them. Thus, for instance, 
 Christ's casting out demons (Matt, viii, 
 28-34; Luke iv, 33-36; xiii, 10-17; Mark 
 vii, 24-36; Matt, xvii, 14-21); His cursing 
 the barren fig-tree (Matt, xxi, 18-22) ; His 
 quieting the tempest (Mark iv, 39), are 
 miracles ; because they were extraordinary 
 occurrences effected through the inter- 
 position of God, whereby He has induced 
 the forces of nature in the men vexed by 
 unclean spirits, in the barren fig-tree, and 
 in the storm and sea, to suspend their 
 present manner of operation, and separate 
 themselves, remaining either in their sin- 
 gle existence or presenting themselves in 
 another though normal connection and 
 manner of operation. Further, Christ's 
 miraculous draught of fishes (Luke v, 
 1-11; John xxi, 1-23); His raising of the 
 dead (Luke vii, 11-16; John xi, 1-54), are 
 9i 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 miracles, because these were extraordinary 
 occurrences, affected through the inter- 
 position of God, whereby He induced the 
 forces of nature which were in the fishes, 
 as those that did belong to the deceased 
 son of the widow and of Lazarus, to sus- 
 pend their present manner of operation in 
 their separated condition, and to unite 
 themselves to be and to operate according 
 to their ordinary laws inhering in them 
 for such a connection. Finally, Christ's 
 walking upon the sea (Matt, xiv, 22-33) ; 
 His feeding of four and five thousand 
 (Mark viii, 1-9; John vi, 5-14); Jonah, be- 
 ing swallowed and vomited by a great 
 fish (Jonah i, 17; ii, 1-10); the dividing 
 and again uniting of the waters of the sea 
 (Ex. xiv, 15-31); the standing still of the 
 sun and moon in answer to the prayer of 
 Joshua (Josh, x, 12-14), are all miracles, 
 because they were extraordinary occur- 
 rences brought about through a Divine 
 interposition, whereby God induced the 
 natural forces which were at that time in 
 Christ, in those pieces of bread and fishes, 
 in that great fish, in the waters of that sea, 
 and in the sun and moon, to suspend their 
 92 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 present manner of operation, and operate 
 according to higher laws than those inher- 
 ing in them, certainly for the time only 
 that this Divine interposition lasted. These 
 last-named miracles were accomplished 
 in distinction to those named first, by a 
 Divine stimulation of the reciprocal action 
 between certain united forces of nature to 
 operate according to higher laws than 
 those inhering in them. Christ's turning 
 water into wine (John ii, i-ii) required, 
 first, a uniting of the natural forces which 
 were in the water in those pots of stone 
 with the vital force of the wine-plant 
 before these tw 7 o kinds of natural forces 
 could operate, for the time Christ's Divine 
 interposition lasted, according to higher 
 laws than those inhering in them. 
 
 These miracles can not be criticised 
 away, not only for the above-mentioned 
 reasons, but also because of many phenom- 
 ena in nature which will permit of no other 
 explanation than will apply to the miracle. 
 Trench, "Miracles of Our Lord," writes 
 on page 17: "Continually we behold in the 
 world around us lower laws held in re- 
 straint by higher, mechanic by dynamic, 
 93 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 chemical by vital, physical by moral; 
 . . . we acknowledge the law of a 
 greater freedom swallowing up the law of 
 a lesser." For instance, can we not, 
 through the magnetic iron, neutralize the 
 weight of material bodies and induce con- 
 genial bodies to unite themselves? Do 
 not magnetizers and hypnotizers, through 
 their soul-magnetism, induce the vital 
 force of other bodies to operate according 
 to its inherent laws, or to exercise its heal- 
 ing energies? Do not certain plants and 
 animals under a favorable influence mul- 
 tiply themselves to astonishingly great 
 masses in a few hours? And can not a 
 mere boy by throwing a stone, at least as 
 long as his influence upon the stone lasts, 
 suspend the law of gravity and cause it to 
 obey a higher law than that which is in- 
 herent in the stone itself? Why should 
 not the Creator of the forces of nature be 
 able to induce them to suspend their pres- 
 ent manner of operation, and either to 
 separate themselves, remaining in their 
 single existence ; or to unite themselves, 
 operating according to the ordinary laws 
 inherent in them for such a connection; 
 94 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OP HEALING. 
 
 or, as united forces of nature, to operate 
 according to higher laws than those inher- 
 ing in them, certainly for the time only He 
 desires them to operate miraculously? 
 
 11 19- 
 
 While the miracles of Christ were ef- 
 fected through His inducing certain forces 
 of nature to suspend their present manner 
 of operation, and either to separate them- 
 selves, remaining in their single existence ; 
 or to unite themselves, operating accord- 
 nig to their inherent laws ; or as united 
 forces of nature to operate acccording to 
 higher laws than those inhering in them ; 
 nevertheless His cures were not occur- 
 rences of this nature. Christ's healing of 
 the sick included neither a separation nor 
 a uniting of natural forces, far less a stimu- 
 lation of the reciprocal action between 
 united forces of nature through a Divine 
 interposition causing them to operate ac- 
 cording to higher than their inhering laws ; 
 but it was effected rather : First, only by a 
 natural inducing of the vital force of a sick 
 body; and, second, by inducing it to 
 95 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 operate only according to, not higher, but 
 its own, inherent laws, in some cases 
 locally, in others constitutionally. A local 
 inducing of the vital force of diseased 
 bodies is exhibited, for instance, in the fol- 
 lowing cases : Christ's healing the eyes of 
 blind men (Matt, ix, 27-31; John ix, 1-7; 
 Mark viii, 22-26) Luke xviii, 35-43); His 
 healing one deaf and dumb (Mark vii, 31- 
 35); His healing of the man with the with- 
 ered hand (Mark iii, 1-5); Peter's healing 
 a lame man (Acts iii, 1-9). It is evident 
 that these healings are to be classed under 
 this category, for that which kept the 
 organ or organs of these bodies healthy 
 after being healed, independent of their 
 healers, must have been that by which they 
 were healed — namely, the vital force of the 
 patient's body — and in the above-named 
 cases this vital force was induced by Christ 
 and Peter to operate acording to its in- 
 herent laws locally; that is, in the direction 
 of the diseased part of the patient's body. 
 On the other hand, an inducing of the vital 
 force of diseased bodies constitutionally is 
 set forth by Christ and the prophets in the 
 subsequent cases : Christ's healing the 
 96 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 woman who had an issue of blood (Luke 
 viii, 43-48) ; His cleansing of eleven lepers 
 (Mark i, 40-45; Luke xvii, n-19); His 
 healing of Simon's wife's mother of a 
 fever (Matt, viii, 14-17); His healing of a 
 man sick with dropsy (Luke xiv, 1-6); His 
 healing the impotent man of Bethesda 
 (John v, 1-16) ; His healing of two men 
 at the point of death (John iv, 46-50 ; Luke 
 vii, 1-10) ; the Prophet Elisha's healing of 
 Naaman's leprosy (2 Kings iv, 1-14); the 
 Prophet Isaiah's healing of Hezekiah's 
 sickness unto death (2 Kings xx, 1-7). 
 Here, again, it is evident that these cures, 
 also, are of the nature described above, for 
 that which kept the bodies of these patients 
 healthy, after being healed and independ- 
 ent of their healers, must be that by which 
 they were healed — namely, the vital force 
 of the patient's body — and in these lastly- 
 mentioned cases the vital force was induced 
 by Christ and the prophets to operate ac- 
 cording to its inherent laws, not locally, 
 but constitutionally, or in the direction of 
 not only one or a few organs, but of the 
 whole body. Even Christ's raising of 
 Jairus's daughter from an apparently dead 
 7 97 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 condition (Luke viii, 41, 42, 49-55), and 
 that of the two sons, one by the Prophet 
 Elijah (1 Kinfjs xvii, 19-22), the other by 
 the Prophet Elisha (2 Kings iv, 32-35), 
 may also be treated as cures under this 
 head. 
 
 These last three occurrences are some- 
 times treated as miracles, as a raising from 
 death, as a reuniting of the life forces with 
 their bodies from which they have been en- 
 tirely separated. But they may be treated 
 as merely raisings from an apparently dead 
 condition, a condition in which the vital 
 force through sickness was almost sepa- 
 rated from the body, to actual life and 
 health; and this because of the following 
 facts : First, the healing of Jairus's daugh- 
 ters shows not only that she had not lost 
 all signs of life until Jesus was on the way 
 to her (read Luke viii, 41, 42, 49), but in 
 addition to this we learn that Jesus said 
 to her father : "Fear not ; believe only, and 
 she shall be [not raised from death, but] 
 made whole" (verse 50) ; and when Jesus 
 had come to those who bewailed her he 
 said, "Weep not, she is not dead, but sleep- 
 eth ;" and finally, immediately after she 
 98 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 had been brought to consciousness, Jesus 
 "commanded to give her meat" (verse 55). 
 
 Now, the history of the miraculous rais- 
 ings of the widow's son, and especially that 
 of Lazarus, show none of these indications 
 of an apparently dead condition ; but, on 
 the contrary, Jesus is quoted as saying 
 plainly, "Lazarus is dead" (read John xi, 
 11-17); and in both cases they had lost all 
 signs of life long before Jesus raised them 
 up ; and after their raising He did not com- 
 mand to give them meat, because of the 
 miraculous, Divinely-produced union of 
 their vital force with their dead body. 
 
 Second. It must be noticed in connec- 
 tion with the raising of the two sons by the 
 two prophets, that the repeated physical 
 manipulations and the gradual manner of 
 procedure can be easily understood as a 
 proper and sufficient method to heal an ap- 
 parently dead patient, but not as the 
 method to raise up a man whose vital fprce 
 is already entirely separated from his 
 body; and, further, that such a method of 
 raising as performed by the two prophets 
 can not be the method by which God di- 
 rectly or through human agency performs 
 99 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 miracles. Finally, every one of these three 
 cases may be treated as a raising from an 
 apparently dead condition, a condition in 
 which the vital force has been by disease 
 nearly separated from the body, not only 
 because of the above-mentioned facts, but 
 also because of the fact that men can never 
 know at just what moment the life force 
 entirely leaves the body. All signs of life 
 may have disappeared, and the body may 
 be apparently without its vital force, but 
 within its innermost parts the spark of that 
 life-sustaining force may still be present. 
 The history of the apparently dead fur- 
 nishes a chain of proofs thereto. In addi- 
 tion to this, the following, which was pub- 
 lished by one of the German papers of this 
 country, deserves special attention : "The 
 district physician of Weissenburg, A. S., 
 Dr. Model, had prescribed opium of a very 
 small dose to a feeble, ten-weeks-old child. 
 Through the carelessness of the nurse the 
 child was dosed with too much of this medi- 
 cine, and when the physician appeared the 
 next morning, the little patient lay on his 
 bed like a corpse, motionless, without 
 respiration, without palpitation of the 
 ioo 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 heart, certainly also without pulse. The 
 physician introduced artificial respiration 
 and other attempts at revivification, but in 
 vain. After this, he sent for an electric 
 apparatus, and after he had laid the one 
 electrode on the abdomen and the other 
 on the neck, he had the joy to hear the 
 child faintly breathing again. But at sus- 
 pending the electric current, the child's 
 respiration ceased also. For a long time 
 it made the impression as if the turning 
 of the child from a deadlike condition 
 depended on the electric current applied 
 to it. The electrifying of the child with 
 the Faradic current was then kept up con- 
 tinually for ten hours, until the child began 
 to respire of itself, the temperature of its 
 body was raised, and its pulse became 
 noticeable. This so remarkably saved 
 child, in the time following, recovered 
 completely." This occurrence shows 
 plainly the correctness of the above given 
 opinion, that in spite of the absence of all 
 signs of life, the vital force may still be 
 present within the innermost part of its 
 body — for the electric machine can not 
 bring back the life completely separated 
 101 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 from its body — and, therefore, that men 
 can never know at just what moment the 
 vital force is entirely separated from its 
 body. Mortification is the only sure sign 
 of death, the entire separation between the 
 two. 
 
 However, if these last-named cases are 
 treated also as cures only, then they were 
 effected by inducing the vital force of these 
 apparently dead bodies to operate accord- 
 ing to, not higher, but its own inherent 
 laws constitutionally ; that means in the di- 
 rection, not only of one or a few organs, 
 but of the whole body. 
 
 The consideration of these Scriptural 
 cures, whether local or constitutional, 
 shows, so far, that they were not miracles ; 
 for they included neither a separation nor 
 a union of natural forces, much less a Di- 
 vine stimulation of the reciprocal action 
 between united forces of nature causing 
 them to operate according to laws higher 
 than those inhering in them, but they were 
 effected only by a natural inducing of the 
 vital force of sick bodies to operate also 
 only according to its own inherent laws. 
 
 Furthermore, the cures of Christ, of His 
 102 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 apostles, and the prophets, were either 
 gradual or instantaneous. For instance, in 
 the three cases recorded in Matt, ix, 27-31, 
 and Mark viii, 22-25, where the two blind 
 men received their sight immediately, and 
 the other only gradually, the healer was 
 the same, but the nature of the cases must 
 have been different. Other cases may be 
 of the same nature, but have different heal- 
 ers; and are, therefore, either instantaneous 
 or gradual. For instance, the case related 
 in Matt, viii, 3, compared with that in 2 
 Kings v, 14; or the case related in Luke 
 viii, 54, 55, compared with the two cases 
 stated in 1 Kings xvii, 21, 22, and 2 Kings 
 i y > 34> 35 \ an d especially the case given 
 in Matt, xvii, 14-22. But whether the 
 Scriptural cures were gradual or instanta- 
 neous, miracles they were not ; for their 
 instantaneous completion was not essential 
 to their occurrence, but depended only 
 upon either the nature of the case or the 
 healer's strength of influence for inducing 
 the vital force of a sick body. 
 
 Consequently, that all the above-men- 
 tioned cures, effected locally or consti- 
 tutionally, gradually or instantaneously, 
 103 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 were not miracles, but truly natural occur- 
 rences, must be held for the following 
 reasons : 
 
 i. Because they did not include, as 
 miracles do, a separation or union of 
 natural forces, nor a Divine stimulation of 
 the reciprocal action between united forces 
 of nature, which would cause them to 
 operate according to laws higher than those 
 inhering in them ; but a natural inducing 
 of the vital force of the sick body to ope- 
 rate only according to its inherent laws. 
 
 2. Because the vital forces of the sick 
 bodies themselves effected these cures by 
 exercising their healing energies, although 
 under a healing-inducing influence. 
 
 3. Because all of the above-mentioned 
 cures were brought about, not in a super- 
 natural, extraordinary way, like miracles, 
 but by a true natural method — namely, 
 through the submission of the patient's 
 vital force by faith to the influence of the 
 healer; through the application of ma- 
 terials naturally combined for the human 
 body; through producing a spiritual influ- 
 ence by the reciprocal action between the 
 healer's thoughts and will-power exercised 
 
 104 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 for healing purposes, and conveying the 
 same upon the sick body by means of look, 
 word, and imposition of hands. 
 
 4. Because an instantaneous completion, 
 as required by all the miraculous occur- 
 rences, is not essential to the bodily cures 
 effected by Christ, His apostles, and the 
 prophets. 
 
 The reasons why the cures of Christ, the 
 apostles, and the prophets are looked upon 
 as miraculous occurrences are as follows : 
 First, because they were, and are still, un- 
 common to everything mankind knew and 
 still knows in that line. Second, because 
 the process or method of their healing was 
 not then, nor is it now, generally under- 
 stood. However, this does not permit us 
 to say that such occurrences are therefore 
 miracles ; for some occurrences of the past, 
 as of the present, were, and are to-day, 
 at first considered very unusual, and under- 
 stood by very few persons. Third, because 
 especially Christ's soul and spirit influence, 
 inducing the vital force of a sick body to 
 exercise its healing energies, must have 
 been stronger than it ever can be produced 
 by any sin-weakened man. 
 105 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 1| 20. 
 
 The difference between Christ's miracles 
 and His cures is therefore as follows : His 
 miracles were extraordinary occurrences, 
 effected instantaneously by a Divine induc- 
 ing, direct or indirect, of certain natural 
 forces to suspend their present manner of 
 operation, and either to separate them- 
 selves, remaining in their single existence, 
 or to unite themselves, operating together 
 according to the laws inhering in them for 
 such a union, or as united forces of nature 
 to operate according to higher laws than 
 those inhering in them ; but the cures of 
 Christ were effected neither through a 
 separation nor a union of natural forces, 
 nor through a Divine stimulation of the 
 reciprocal action between them, instanta- 
 neously causing them to operate according 
 to higher than their inherent laws, but ex- 
 clusively through a natural inducing of the 
 vital force of a sick body to operate ac- 
 cording to its own inherent laws, or to ex- 
 ercise only its healing energies; and this 
 through the application of natural means 
 such as the soul-influence of a healer 
 106 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 produced through the reciprocal action of 
 his thoughts and will-power exercised for 
 healing purposes, and conveyed through 
 look, word, and touch upon the sick body ; 
 and, if the nature of the disease or the 
 healer's soul-influence should demand it, 
 also through the use of such materials as 
 are naturally combined for the human 
 body, and which present the rest of the 
 natural means proper for bodily healing — 
 a healing that is effected through them by 
 an instantaneous or a more or less gradual 
 process, as the case may require. 
 
 107 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE TRUE, NATURAL METHOD FOR BODILY 
 
 HEALING, THE ONLY ONE BEFITTING 
 
 CHRIST, THE GOD-MAN. 
 
 If 21. 
 
 This true, natural method for bodily 
 healing is well-befitting Christ, the abso- 
 lutely perfect man, and also Christ, the 
 God-man : 
 
 i. Because it has none of the defects of 
 the other five methods practiced for bodily 
 healing, but, on the contrary, contains the 
 kernel of each of the latter, applied in the 
 most rational and truly natural manner. 
 (Refer to paragraphs 10-14.) 
 
 2. Because it is the only method for 
 bodily healing whose application is not 
 only in harmony with, but also promotive 
 of, the spiritual salvation of man. 
 
 3. Because its practice induces the vital 
 force of a sick body to help itself through 
 the application of proper natural means, 
 
 108 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 which indeed corresponds with that method 
 which is observed by God in His dealing 
 with His creation. 
 
 4. Because the application of this method 
 attempts to induce the vital force of a sick 
 body, not only through perfectly natural 
 means, but also to operate in the most 
 natural manner ; that is, according to its own 
 inherent laws. Less than this can not be 
 expected of Christ the Perfect Man, and 
 especially the God-man. 
 
 5. Because the application of this method, 
 which is an assisting of the vital force to 
 succeed in establishing its normal opera- 
 tions in its body means (1) the over- 
 coming of an abnormal condition of the 
 human physical organism, and (2) a deliv- 
 ering of the vital force from its subdue- 
 ment to materials that are foreign to the 
 combination of its body; which is equal 
 to a granting to the former its "right of 
 way" to operate according to its inherent 
 laws for the purpose of healing the body. 
 But such a salvation of the human body 
 in and during its sin-weakened condition 
 can justly be expected of the Divine Re- 
 deemer of mankind. 
 
 109 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 6. Because, by adopting and practicing 
 the true, natural method for bodily heal- 
 ing, man is constantly induced to trust 
 more in nature's healing efforts and in 
 the Creator's blessings invoked thereupon 
 than in human skill applied by administer- 
 ing chemically-combined materials accord- 
 ing to the man-made laws of materia 
 medica; and to induce man to depend 
 above all things else, upon the blessings 
 of his Maker for the work of this healing 
 as well as for all his other works, and 
 especially to trust that the forces qf nature 
 and also his own vital force, under the in- 
 fluence of applied natural means and of 
 God's blessing, will operate according to 
 their inherent, for them Divinely-ordained, 
 laws, is one of the important parts of 
 Christ's mission among suffering humanity. 
 
 7. Because, by practicing this method, 
 the vital force of the human body is brought 
 more and more under the influence and 
 control of soul and spirit, under which, 
 according to Christ's example, it rightly 
 belongs. Furthermore, man is thereby 
 given a chance to aspire even to the lord- 
 ship of the organizing work of the phys- 
 
 110 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 ical part of his being, which, by the way, 
 must have been the very case in the life 
 of Christ, the God-man, and which un- 
 doubtedly will be the happy condition con- 
 ceivable for the redeemed in the trans- 
 figured body, as illustrated by Christ in 
 His resurrected body. The above is to be 
 comprehended only as one of the latent 
 capabilities of our complete being, given us 
 by our Creator. For this reason the in- 
 spired exhortation, "Neglect not the gift 
 that is in thee" (i Tim. iv, 14), and "Where- 
 fore I put thee in remembrance that thou 
 stir up the gift of God, which is in thee" 
 (2 Tim. i, 6), can be applied most fittingly 
 also in this respect. 
 
 in 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE BELIEVERS OF CHRIST AS PRACTITION- 
 ERS OF THIS TRUE, NATURAL METHOD 
 FOR BODILY HEALING. 
 
 ft 22. 
 
 As practitioners of His, the true, natural 
 method for bodily healing, Christ has 
 appointed his followers ; and of them 
 not only the twelve apostles (Luke ix, 1-6), 
 and the seventy selected disciples, after the 
 sending out of the twelve (Luke x, i, 9), 
 were commissioned by Him to do so ; but 
 also all those who believe should have the 
 sign following them : "They shall lay hands 
 on the sick and they shall recover" (Mark 
 xvi, 17, 18). But this does not mean belief 
 without works. A living faith alone, only 
 a faith with works, will suffice for the prac- 
 titioner of Christ's method for bodily heal- 
 ing. 
 
 1. They must believe that it is the vital 
 112 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 force of the sick body only which always, 
 and in every case, constitutes the healing 
 cause. 
 
 2. They must believe that the vital force 
 of the body, in case of sickness, needs 
 only to be induced to exercise its heal- 
 ing energies ; for at such times it has been 
 merely subdued by a local or a constitu- 
 tional accumulation of foreign materials 
 in the body. 
 
 3. They must believe that this inducing 
 can be accomplished : (a) Through sub- 
 mitting the vital force of the sick body by 
 the patient's faith to the influence of the 
 healer; (b) Through a healing influence, 
 produced by the soul, either of the patient 
 himself or of another person, through the 
 reciprocal action of its thoughts and will- 
 power exercised for healing purposes, con- 
 centrated and conveyed by look, breath, 
 word, and laying on of hands upon the sick 
 part of the body, and that this influence can 
 be stimulated by praying in Christ's name 
 for God's blessing upon these healing ef- 
 forts ; (c) And even through the application 
 of material means, which are naturally com- 
 bined for the human body; such as water, 
 
 8 113 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALIXG. 
 
 air, vegetables, their various juices and 
 fruits ; especially also the effluxes of mate- 
 rial bodies, as light, heat, electricity, and 
 magnetism, applied according to the re- 
 quirements of the case. 
 
 4. They must believe that in some cases 
 — yes, in every case where the vital force 
 of the sick body needs time for the com- 
 pletion of the cure, or where the healer's 
 influence is too weak for an instantaneous 
 cure — the process of healing can be accom- 
 plished only gradually ; believing, therefore, 
 that a prolonged application of the above- 
 named means in the indicated manner, with, 
 also, a prolongation of the influence induc- 
 ing the healing, is necessary. Read in this 
 connection the cases given in Matt, xvii, 
 14-21 ; Mark viii, 22-25 l l Kings xvii, 19-22 ; 
 2 Kings iv, 32-35. 
 
 Such a faith, a faith exercised in the 
 above stated manner, is required in order 
 to be a practitioner of the true, natural 
 method for bodily healing inaugurated and 
 commissioned by Christ ; and all those of 
 His followers who thus exercise their faith 
 can become practitioners of this method. 
 (Read Mark xvi, 17, 18.) 
 114 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 Why should it not be possible for Christ's 
 believers to practice this true, natural 
 method for bodily healing? Does not the 
 saying of Christ mean what it declares : 
 ''These signs shall follow them that be- 
 lieve; they shall lay hands upon the sick, 
 and they shall recover (Mark xvi, 17, 18); 
 and, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard- 
 seed, ye shall say unto this mountain [being 
 in the way of true nature's operations], 
 Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall 
 remove, and nothing [if according to true 
 nature's operations] shall be impossible to 
 you" (Matt, xvii, 20) who exercise faith? 
 Is not the sick body's vital force, through 
 the exercise of its healing energies, the ef- 
 fective cause of the success of this method 
 of bodily healing? Should not the com- 
 bined influence of the healer and the be- 
 lieving patient upon the vital force of the 
 subject's body for inducing it to exercise 
 its healing energies be stronger and more 
 effective than any that may be produced 
 through the manipulations of the healers of 
 the .so-called "Faith cure," the "Sympathy 
 "5 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALIXG. 
 
 cure," of "Christian Science," of the hypnotic 
 and magnetic healers ; yes, even also that pro- 
 duced through the application of chemically- 
 combined medicaments? Do not the ef- 
 fects sometimes produced in the ordinary 
 manner of look and act, moreover those 
 produced by an athlete, and especially those 
 brought about by a "masseur" or by a hyp- 
 notist, illustrate, positively and beyond a 
 shadow of a doubt, that, through a concen- 
 tration of thoughts and will-power, an influ- 
 ence can be produced and conveyed by 
 look, breath, and physical manipulations 
 upon the vital force of a person for the pur- 
 pose of modifying its operations and bodily 
 condition? Has not the believer in Christ 
 the privilege and advantage to stimulate his 
 concentrated thoughts and will-power for 
 healing purposes to their highest possible 
 strength of influence by praying in Christ's 
 name for God's blessing upon his efforts? 
 The preachers of the Church of Christ 
 should return to the full discharge of the 
 Master's twofold commission, namely : "To 
 heal the sick that are therein, and to say 
 unto them, The kingdom of God is come 
 nigh unto you" (Luke x, 9) ; and, while exe- 
 116 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 cuting the more important part of their 
 commission, the preaching of God's king- 
 dom, they should not neglect the healing 
 of the sick through a faithful application of 
 the means of the true, natural method, the 
 spiritual as well as the material means, 
 which are all so richly provided for in the 
 spiritual and material realms of creation 
 for the purpose of inducing the vital force 
 of a sick body as well as the sin-sick soul of 
 man to operate according to their inherent 
 laws ! 
 
 117 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF LAYING ON OF HANDS. 
 
 11 24- 
 
 I. This laying on of hands as one of the 
 material means which is used in connection 
 with the spiritual means for healing sick 
 bodies was first introduced and practiced 
 by Christ. (Mark vi, 5 ; vii, 23 ; Matt, ix, 
 18.) The Apostolic Church established it 
 even as a doctrine (Heb. vi, 2) ; but confined 
 the laying on of hands after the Pentecostal 
 time especially to the transmission of spir- 
 itual gifts. (Acts vi, 6; viii, 17, 18, 19; xix, 
 6; 1 Tim. iv, 14.) Only of two apostles it 
 is said; namely, of Peter at the healing of 
 the lame man (Acts iii, 7) : "And he took 
 him by the right hand, and lifted him up : 
 and immediately his feet and ankle-bones re- 
 ceived strength;" and of Paul at the heal- 
 ing of Publius's father : "Paul entered in, 
 and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and 
 healed him" (Acts xxviii, 8). All the other 
 118 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 healings were done, either by means of 
 touching the apostle's handkerchief (Acts 
 xix, 12), or by means of prayer and anoint- 
 ing with oil in Christ's name (James v, 14) ; 
 or even only by means of commanding in 
 the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts ix, 34). 
 Nevertheless this laying on of hands is de- 
 signed to be the principal and most proper 
 physical medium for healing the sick, which 
 is shown, not only by Christ's practice, but 
 also by His declaration, "And these signs 
 shall follow them that believe ; they shall 
 lay hands on the sick, and they shall re- 
 cover." (Markxvi, 17, 18.) If Christ's fol- 
 lowers have declined from the use of the 
 true, natural method, and are healing the 
 sick through other physical means than the 
 one designed by their Master, it does not 
 follow that we must abide in their footsteps, 
 and far less that both Christ's example and 
 declaration regarding this principal and 
 most proper physical medium for bodily 
 healing should no longer be in force. 
 Therefore, Christ was not only the first 
 who showed mankind the strongest heal- 
 ing-inducing influence — namely, the efflux 
 emanating from the soul by the reciprocal 
 119 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 action of its thoughts and will-power exer- 
 cised for healing purposes — but He also 
 was the first in leading us to know that the 
 laying on of hands upon a sick body or any 
 of its organs is the principal and most 
 proper physical medium for inducing its 
 vital force to exercise its healing energies. 
 2. This laying on of hands is the most 
 natural and effective physical medium for 
 inducing the human body's vital force to 
 exercise its healing energies, for the follow- 
 ing reasons : 
 
 (a) Because none of the other organs of 
 the sick body is taxed above its normal 
 activity by this process. 
 
 (b) Because the warmth of the hands laid 
 upon the diseased body or any of its organs 
 is a stimulant, as the massage purely illus- 
 trates. In addition to this, it is also the 
 next best physical medium to receive and 
 convey to the sick body the spiritual efflux 
 of the soul generated by the reciprocal ac- 
 tion of its thoughts and will-power exer- 
 cised for healing purposes. 
 
 (c) Because this laying on of hands for 
 the purpose of bodily healing excites the 
 vital force of a sick body, not by means of 
 
 120 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 manipulating its organs through lifeless 
 materials called medicine, but through con- 
 veying soul-energy upon its diseased organ, 
 and through it upon its vital force by the 
 life-warm hands. This laying on of hands 
 is, therefore, the very physical expression 
 of that spiritual efflux which emanates from 
 the soul by the reciprocal action of its 
 thoughts and will-power exercised for heal- 
 ing purposes, and conveyed through it upon 
 that particular part of the body in which its 
 vital force is operating to weak — that is, upon 
 the seat of the disease — for the purpose of 
 stimulating or inducing it to exercise more 
 strongly its healing energies. 
 
 3. This laying on of hands as the most 
 natural and effective physical medium for 
 bodily healing is also the most proper one ; 
 for the inspired words, "The eye can not 
 say unto the hand, I have no need of thee," 
 and "There should be no schism in the 
 body, but that the members should have 
 the same care one for another" (1 Cor. xii, 
 21, 25), can be applied most fittingly also 
 in this respect. As our Creator arranged 
 the different members of His creation so 
 that one is helping the other to be and to 
 121 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF H BALING. 
 
 operate according to its laws designed by 
 Him, just such a relation exists between 
 the members of the human body as well as 
 between the body and its soul. It would 
 indeed be strange if there were no such a 
 relation existing between them, especially 
 between the hands and the other members. 
 The hands, as the most helpful of all its 
 members, should not possess a stimulating 
 influence when laid upon the body; nor 
 should they not be able to convey the soul- 
 influence which is produced by the recip- 
 rocal action of its thoughts and will-power 
 exercised for healing purposes upon the 
 members of its own or any other body; 
 but that the hands in reality maintain such 
 a relation to the rest of the members of the 
 body is experimentally proven by the mas- 
 sage. And the author of this little work 
 has had nearly twenty years' experience 
 by which it has been illustrated to him, be- 
 yond a doubt, that the laying on of hands 
 upon a diseased organ of his own or of an- 
 other body has a stimulating effect, and 
 can have also a healing-inducing influence. 
 However, it must not be overlooked that 
 the laying on of hands only, is not the heal- 
 122 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 ing cause ; for if this is done without the 
 soul exercising its thoughts and will-power 
 directed toward the healing of a diseased 
 organ or body, its effects are short of the 
 desired cure. 
 
 123 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A FORMULA FOR PRACTICING THE TRUE, 
 
 NATURAL METHOD FOR BODILY 
 
 HEALING. 
 
 H25. 
 
 The author of this little book, through 
 many years of experience, has found this 
 manner of proceeding in the application of 
 the true, natural method for bodily healing 
 as answering the purpose : 
 
 1. For promoting the health of the hu- 
 man body it is necessary, first of all, to 
 open and to keep open the channels 
 through which nature disposes of the use- 
 less matter in its body. The inhabitants 
 of any city and of every house must be- 
 come sick, and can not get well if the waste 
 channels are not carrying off the useless 
 matter of their dwellings, if they are 
 plugged up or even not sufficiently 
 cleansed. More so is this the case with the 
 dwelling in which the human soul lives and 
 works, as it is the case with its inhabitant, 
 124 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 the soul itself. The opening and keeping 
 open of these channels according to the 
 true, natural method is accomplished in the 
 following manner : 
 
 (a) Through water applications by means 
 of the old syringe, but according to the new 
 method discovered by Dr. Wilford Hall, 
 by which the large intestines of the human 
 body are to be gradually but entirely 
 emptied by refilling them, using up to four 
 quarts of blood-warm water three to four 
 times a week. The best time for these 
 operations is before going to bed. 
 
 (b) By means of vapor baths, through 
 which the pores of the human body are 
 opened for carrying off successfully its use- 
 less matter. 
 
 (r) By means of the water cure, accord- 
 ing to Kneipp's method. 
 
 2. For promoting the health of the hu- 
 man body, not only proper rest and exer- 
 cise is necessary, but also the use of proper 
 food to substitute the losses and to the 
 further building up of its organization. 
 This is accomplished by means of a proper 
 diet adapted to each case, by which the vital 
 force of the human body is given access to 
 125 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 such materials of the vegetable and animal 
 kingdom as can be easily assimilated as 
 parts of the latter. 
 
 3. For promoting the health of a sick 
 body it may be necessary that a greater 
 quantity of oxygen should be administered. 
 This can be accomplished in a natural man- 
 ner; namely, by means of lung gymnastics. 
 Through these the vital force of a sick body 
 receives especially the oxygen of the in- 
 haled air, so vivifying to the system, in 
 larger quantities than it is possible to re- 
 ceive by the usual manner of respiration. 
 
 Further, the rays of the sun also can be 
 utilized for promoting the health of a sick 
 body by allowing them to work upon its 
 diseased organs as often as the desired cure 
 requires. For men of science do affirm that 
 "the sunlight, and as a substitute the light 
 of electricity, has a great influence upon the 
 growth and health of animal and human 
 bodies ; because the light possesses the 
 quality to penetrate through the skin into 
 the underlying tissue, and there produce a 
 great increase of the changes of matter, of 
 absorbing oxygen and of expelling car- 
 bonic-acid. . . . Further, it is proved that, 
 126 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 under the influence of sunlight, or the light 
 of electricity, there is produced also an in- 
 crease of the little red bodies which give 
 color to the blood. Another effect of the 
 light upon the human body is this, that it 
 produces local and general perspiration ; 
 . . . the light itself penetrates into the tis- 
 sue and there induces intensively a change 
 of matter, which also produces an increase 
 of the temperature. " 
 
 The healing effects of earth-applications 
 are also known, which was probably the in- 
 ducement for men to apply chemically-com- 
 bined materials inwardly. But to use the 
 latter as the former inwardly, by means of 
 the body's circulation, is, according to the 
 conviction of the author of the true method 
 of healing, wrong and dangerous to the 
 health of the human being (read paragraph 
 14) ; although earth-applications, or chem- 
 ically-combined materials used externally 
 and without polluting the circulation of the 
 human body with their particles, may as a 
 means induce the vital force of a patient to 
 exercise its healing energies ; for instance, 
 the various chemically-combined but only 
 externally-applied medicaments, which do 
 127 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 produce, according to experience, these 
 healing-inducing effects upon the sick body 
 without injurious effects if applied inwardly. 
 Even the applications of common clay may 
 induce the vital force to exercise its heal- 
 ing energies more strongly. In regard to 
 this, A. Just, at Youngborn, according to a 
 German paper published in our country, 
 writes as follows : 
 
 "In the earth is life. From it emanates 
 continually a mighty power upon the hu- 
 man body, if they are brought in close con- 
 nection ;* therefore the refreshing and in- 
 vigorating effects of going barefoot. The 
 animals in the woods remove everything, 
 even the snow, so as to get in the closest 
 touch with the ground. One should often 
 rest lying upon the bare ground. The ef- 
 fects of sleeping in this manner in warm 
 nights in the open air or in a room are re- 
 markable. Damp ground, or clay, applied 
 to the body externally, draws from the dis- 
 eased parts the poisonous, morbid, and for- 
 eign matter more effectively than can be 
 
 * More correctly, the effluxes of the earth can induce the 
 vital force of the human body to operate more energetic- 
 ally. {Annotation from the author.) 
 
 128 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 done by any other means. Damp ground 
 upon the abdomen is very effective ; it takes 
 away the heat of fever and invigorates the 
 digestive organs. The results produced by 
 such applications are remarkable. I will 
 quote only a few : 
 
 "W. S , at F , became suddenly 
 
 blind in one of his eyes. All means applied 
 produced no satisfactory effect. Then 
 damp ground was applied; in a few days 
 the eye was better, and after four to six 
 weeks the faculty of vision in that eye was 
 
 again established. M , at M , laid 
 
 a poultice of clay upon the neck, and dur- 
 ing one night was cured of a chronic head- 
 ache. Mrs. G took sick from convul- 
 sions ; by applying a clay-poultice to her 
 neck her consciousness was restored. A 
 man was sick for a long time, and suffering 
 very severely with rheumatism. After lying 
 upon the ground fourteen nights he was 
 well. Earth-applications can in no case do 
 any harm." 
 
 4. The health of the human body will be 
 promoted if its vital force is induced to ex- 
 ercise its healing energies more strongly 
 9 129 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 than usual. This can be accomplished by 
 the following processes : 
 
 (a) Through the application of electricity 
 proper for healing purposes, which, as an 
 efflux of material bodies emanating from 
 them by the reciprocal action of their chem- 
 ical elements, is particularly qualified to in- 
 duce the vital force of the human body to 
 operate ; for as a go-between it seems to be 
 able, not only to get between the smallest 
 parts of the body, but also between these 
 and their vital force. The healing appa- 
 ratus of G. H. A. Schaefer, 315 Madison 
 Street, Buffalo, N. Y., is a good electrical 
 instrument for that purpose. The healing 
 effects gained by means of this apparatus 
 are published by the above-named firm ; 
 also read again in this connection what is 
 written about the effects of electricity upon 
 the body in paragraph 19. 
 
 (b) Through the application of magnet- 
 ism produced by rubbing and kneading the 
 diseased organs of the body, or by breath- 
 ing or laying the hands upon them, just as 
 the case may permit, which as an efflux of 
 the human body is still more effective for 
 
 ixo 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALIXG. 
 
 inducing the latter s vital force to exercise 
 its healing energies than electricity; be- 
 cause it is milder and conveys vital warmth, 
 (f) Through the application of the spir- 
 itual efflux of the human soul, which ema- 
 nates therefrom by the reciprocal action of 
 its thoughts and will-power exercised for 
 healing purposes, also stimulated by prayer 
 in Christ's name for God's blessing upon 
 these attempts at healing, and which efflux 
 is conveyed through look, breath, word, 
 and laying on of hands upon the sick body 
 or any of its organs, to induce the latter's 
 vital force for exercising its healing ener- 
 gies. It is evident that this last outlined 
 manner of proceeding in the application of 
 the true, natural method must be the most 
 effective of all given for inducing the vital 
 force of a sick body to exercise its healing 
 energies ; for it presents not only the quali- 
 ties of electricity, and also, if conveyed by 
 physical means, those of magnetism for 
 bodily healing, but, in addition to these, it 
 includes also the soul-energy produced by 
 the reciprocal action of its thoughts and 
 will-power exercised for healing purposes. 
 131 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 By practicing these various modes in the 
 application of the true, natural method for 
 bodily healing it must be observed, partly, 
 that it is not the best to apply only one of 
 them ; or to operate with the last while the 
 application of the first is neglected. Use as 
 much as possible all of them, as the case 
 may permit; and, in addition to this, give 
 the vital force of the sick body time to do 
 the healing work. Certainly, the treatment 
 of chronic diseases will require more pa- 
 tience in the application of the true, natural 
 method than the treatment of acute dis- 
 eases. 
 
 132 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CHRIST'S CHURCH ALSO A PRACTITIONER OF 
 
 THIS TRUE, NATURAL METHOD FOR 
 
 BODILY HEALING. 
 
 If 26. 
 
 As the: healing of the human soul is ac- 
 complished by Christ through the medi- 
 ation of His followers, not only as individ- 
 uals, but also as an organization — namely, 
 through the mediation of His Church — so 
 the healing of the human body likewise 
 should be done through the mediation of 
 the Church, as well as of His individual 
 followers. 
 
 1. The Church of Christ ought to be a 
 great healing institution : 
 
 (a) Because it could be organized as such 
 just as well as any other company of men ; 
 namely, by adding to its theological insti- 
 tutions also a healing department, and by 
 educating, ordaining, and sending forth its 
 ministers as healers as well as preachers. 
 
 (b) Because the Church can perform this 
 healing of the sick either through the usual 
 
 133 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 practice of medicine, or, what would be 
 much better, through the application of 
 material means which are naturally com- 
 bined for the human body, as used by the 
 "Natural Healing Institutions," of Europe 
 especially, and of this country too, and as 
 being the material means of the true, nat- 
 ural method for bodily healing, and at the 
 same time through practicing also the still 
 more effective method used by Christ, His 
 apostles, and the prophets, and for which 
 men could be educated by the Church bet- 
 ter than by anybody else. Christ's Church, 
 by right, ought to be a great healing insti- 
 tution, and its ministers healers, as well as 
 preachers. 
 
 (c) Because its Master was both, and be- 
 cause His twelve apostles and the seventy 
 selected disciples were commissioned by 
 Him, not only "to preach the kingdom of 
 God," but also "to heal the sick" (Luke ix, 
 2; xix, 1, 9); furthermore, because Christ 
 has declared the sign following them that 
 believe, "They shall lay hands on the sick, 
 and they shall recover" (Mark xvi, 17, 18) ; 
 and also because His Church in the begin- 
 ning did practice the healing of the sick. 
 134 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 And why should it not do the same to- 
 day? What preacher of the gospel sitting 
 at the bedside of the sick does not experi- 
 ence the desire to be able and authorized to 
 advise and help physically as well as spirit- 
 ually? Indeed, with many this desire is so 
 strong that they can not resist the tempta- 
 tion to administer medicine to the diseased, 
 in spite of the danger of exposing them- 
 selves to the medical profession as 
 "quacks," and to legal punishment. Fur- 
 thermore, for reasons of almost equal force 
 it is demanded that — 
 
 2. Christ's Church should be also a 
 mighty mutual aid society, for the following 
 reasons : 
 
 (a) Because the success of its healing ef- 
 forts, in many cases at least, would be crip- 
 pled, as the Church without being such an 
 institution is not able to furnish the neces- 
 sary financial support. 
 
 (b) Because the Church of Christ can be 
 organized as a mutual aid society just as 
 well as any other company of men are or- 
 ganized for that purpose. Its existence as 
 such should indeed be possible ; for, while 
 no member of the Church should be ex- 
 
 135 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 eluded from joining it on account of age 
 and condition of health, their admission 
 fees and annual premiums, when applying 
 for membership in an aged and sickly con- 
 dition, must be correspondingly larger. 
 But this difficulty could be obviated by 
 making the fees for admission in such cases 
 payable in part by note, its sum, with inter- 
 est, to be deducted at the time of death 
 from the claims of the survivors upon the 
 death fund. Again, its existence should in- 
 deed be a possibility, because Church mem- 
 bers, of which the membership of such an 
 organization would consist, live on the 
 average more according to the laws of 
 health, both morally and physically, than 
 those of worldly societies ; because the in- 
 crease of its membership, for various rea- 
 sons, must be greater and more lasting 
 than that of any other mutual aid society; 
 and because it would, therefore, be able to 
 give financial support at as low or still 
 lower rates than any other organization of 
 the kind. Christ's Church ought to be a 
 mighty mutual aid society — 
 
 (c) Because the little company of disci- 
 ples, with Christ Himself at their head, was, 
 136 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALIXG. 
 
 modernly termed, a mutual aid society. 
 They had a treasurer, Judas Iscariot, and 
 the money of their common treasury was 
 used to pay the expenses of its members, 
 while the surplus was distributed for the 
 support of the needy. (See John xii, 4-6.) 
 Yes, even Christ's Church, under the lead- 
 ership of the Holy Ghost, in its beginning 
 was such a society. (Acts ii, 44, 45 ; vi, 1-4.) 
 Indeed, the Church of Christ ought to be a 
 great healing institution and a mighty mu- 
 tual aid society, especially the former, 
 through the application of all those mate- 
 rial means which are naturally combined 
 for the human body, and successfully used 
 by the already existing "Natural Healing 
 Institutions ;" and, further, also through 
 practicing the still more effective method 
 which was used by Christ, His apostles, and 
 the prophets for bodily healing, and for 
 which men could be educated by the Church 
 better than by anybody else, remembering 
 the gift of God which is given the Church 
 with the commission of Christ, its Master, 
 and also applying it, thereby executing that 
 commission. 
 
 137 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE RESULTS, IF THE CHURCH WERE ALSO 
 
 A GREAT HEALING INSTITUTION AND 
 
 A MIGHTY MUTUAL AID SOCIETY. 
 
 11 2 7 . 
 
 If the Church of Christ would organize 
 also as a healing institution and a mutual 
 aid society, practicing through its ministry 
 the healing of the sick as well as the preach- 
 ing of the gospel, and through its member- 
 ship mutually helping the needy, the results 
 could be no other than the following : 
 
 1. It would be placed in a position to 
 operate in the manner manifested by its 
 Master and by the Pentecostal Church. 
 The fact that the Church since that time 
 has reduced its efforts, and at present 
 strives to promote only the spiritual inter- 
 ests of man, losing sight almost entirely of 
 the significance of promoting also their 
 bodily welfare, and thereby executing only 
 one part of the Master's commission, is no 
 
 138 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 proof that this commission has been 
 changed, or that healing the sick and help- 
 ing the needy is not an essential part of the 
 commission. That the exercise of this 
 power of healing the sick was intended by 
 Christ only for the twelve apostles, for the 
 seventy disciples selected by Him, and for 
 His newly-founded Church in its beginning, 
 is neither taught by Christ nor by His apos- 
 tles, and would not be held by His Church 
 to-day if its ministry were able to exercise 
 such a healing power. To maintain that 
 the exercise of this power belongs only to 
 the characteristics of the Millennial King- 
 dom has no foundation in the Scriptures, 
 and is only a method of the ignorant or lazy 
 follower of Christ to excuse himself from 
 acquiring the full qualifications for his po- 
 sition. In addition we may ask : What is 
 more logical, from Christ's commissioning 
 His twelve apostles and the seventy dis- 
 ciples to heal the sick, also from His uncon- 
 ditional declaration that the believers shall 
 be followed by the sign, "They shall lay 
 hands upon the sick and they shall recover," 
 than to conclude that it is the mission of 
 His Church, in connection with the preach- 
 139 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 ing of God's kingdom, to exercise the 
 power of healing the sick, bringing salva- 
 tion also, as far as it is possible under the 
 present conditions, to physically suffering 
 humanity? Did not the Apostolic Church 
 understand its Lord Christ thus, and go 
 about through its ministry, not only preach- 
 ing the gospel, but also healing the sick 
 and supporting the needy? Is the Church 
 of Christ to wait until the dawn of the Mil- 
 lennial Kingdom to exercise its power of 
 healing the sick and of supporting the 
 needy? Does not our age, in which the 
 physical afflictions of man seem to remain 
 as great as ever in spite of all mutual aid 
 societies and an alarming flood of chem- 
 ically-combined drugs applied by the Doc- 
 tors of Medicine, need the help of Christ's 
 Church in this respect more than the Mil- 
 lennial Kingdom? Should it be necessary 
 for the Church to beg for a diploma at the 
 doors of the world's universities in order 
 to attain the right of practicing the healing 
 of the sick without chemically-prepared 
 medicaments, or for furnishing temporal 
 aid in time of need? Is not the Lord's 
 commission the best diploma and His ex- 
 140 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 ample the best encouargement the Church 
 can ever receive? 
 
 2. The Church of Christ, as a great heal- 
 ing institution and a mighty mutual aid 
 society, would be able to rebut successfully 
 the more or less justified accusation made 
 by its enemies that the Church is doing 
 little more than nothing directly toward the 
 bodily welfare of a suffering humanity. 
 Thus, the Church would no longer be a 
 mere bystander in the hour of bodily need, 
 unable to give the advice and help neces- 
 sary to relieve the suffering of the patient, 
 but would be an efficient helpmate for the 
 needy and disease-stricken human family, 
 able to utilize just those proper times at 
 which the human heart is most receptive of 
 its spiritual interests, to enlarge and 
 strengthen its influence. 
 
 3. The Church of Christ as a great heal- 
 ing institution and a mighty mutual aid 
 society would be also able to satisfy, phy- 
 sically as well as spiritually, all just de- 
 mands made by the masses of mankind. 
 That the masses have a right to expect, 
 and even to demand, from Christ's Church 
 help in need and sickness, as well as for 
 
 141 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 their soul's salvation, passes without dis- 
 pute ; and the Church will not be all-suffi- 
 cient as long as it does not carry on the 
 one in connection with the other. 
 
 4. Christ's Church, by becoming also a 
 great healing institution and a mighty mu- 
 tual aid society, could counteract success- 
 fully all the damaging influence of the 
 lodges as well as of religiously and eccle- 
 siastically misleading healers ; for the 
 strength of the latter's influence with the 
 people is just the finanical aid or the bodily 
 healing that they offer. Erase from their 
 program this specialty, and the influence 
 of the lodges, of Christian Science, cor- 
 rectly called "Eddyism," of "Dowieism," 
 and of all kindred isms with the people and 
 against the Church, will be reduced to al- 
 most zero. Having become an institution 
 of this nature also, the Church will no 
 longer need to behold helplessly how its 
 members, as well as the masses not inter- 
 ested in the Church, are misled by worldly 
 societies and heretic healers, merely be- 
 cause the Church offers no tangible induce- 
 ment equal to that of these worldly organ- 
 izations and misleading isms through which 
 142 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OP HEALIXG. 
 
 to draw humanity. The masses in general 
 would undoubtedly rather accept mutual 
 aid and bodily healing at the same rates 
 from the Church than from lodges and 
 from these different isms with their intel- 
 lectually and spiritually misleading teach- 
 ings and usages. Yes, the time has come 
 for the Church to recall the Master's two- 
 fold commission ; namely, to aid humanity 
 physically and spiritually, and to work no 
 longer against its own interests, by not offer- 
 ing these advantages, which it can offer just 
 as well as the lodges and healing institu- 
 tions, and even as individuals, men and 
 women of the world, who frequently are an- 
 tagonistic to Christ and His Church, and 
 who, by offering these advantages, are 
 drawing the masses, and even a large per- 
 centage of Church members, from the 
 Church their way. 
 
 5. Christ's Church, as a great healing in- 
 stitution and a mighty mutual aid society, 
 would, in that capacity, be able to gain and 
 maintain a stronger hold upon the masses 
 than through any other means. The 
 Church has tried, and is still trying, differ- 
 ent methods for this purpose : in the pulpit, 
 143 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 by adjusting the preaching services to the 
 people's way of thinking and living; in its 
 social work, by arranging social gatherings 
 suitable to the taste of the people, and by 
 organizing its members into various soci- 
 eties for the advancement of common inter- 
 ests. But in spite of these efforts, which 
 at present go almost to excess, the Church 
 is not gaining a satisfactory hold upon the 
 masses ; in fact, their interest in the Church 
 is rather diminishing. The above-men- 
 tioned attempts to gain this end seem soon 
 to become dull and worn out with the peo- 
 ple, and the consequences are that the 
 Church abates such attempts, and seems at 
 the end to be no nearer the solution of this 
 problem than before. 
 
 Why is it that the Church, in spite of all 
 the attempts so far made, is gaining no 
 satisfactory hold upon the masses? Why 
 are these masses, and even the members 
 of the Church, joining worldly organiza- 
 tions in such alarmingly great numbers? 
 Why do the people allow themselves to be 
 led away from the influence of the Church 
 by lodges and misleading healers ? Simply 
 because human beings in a time of need will 
 144 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 go, in spite of all objections, to that place 
 and to those men where and from whom 
 they can expect to receive help ; and their 
 helper's influence will always be the strong- 
 est with them. Therefore, let the Church 
 give bread, and not a stone ! Instead of ad- 
 justing preaching services, and even the 
 contents of discourses, to the people's way 
 of thinking and living, and instead of ar- 
 ranging social pleasures — for the Church 
 can not afford to lose time in such work — 
 let the needy and the sick be served by mu- 
 tual aid and bodily healing, and the Church 
 will gain and maintain a lasting hold upon 
 the masses. 
 
 By promoting the bodily interests of the 
 people, by aiding the needy, and especially 
 by healing the sick, Christ and His first 
 followers gained and maintained a hold 
 upon the people in spite of all persecutions. 
 The masses came to them for the bread and 
 fishes and for the healing of their sick (John 
 vi, 26; Matt, iv, 23-25; xx, 34; Mark iii, 
 7, 8) ; and, as in those times, so the great 
 mass of humanity is, in that respect, the 
 same to-day ! 
 
 O, Church of Christ, learn from the Mas- 
 10 145 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALIXG. 
 
 ter and His first disciples that to promote 
 the bodily interests of man by healing the 
 sick and supporting the needy is the method 
 through which thou canst gain a hold upon 
 the people that will be stronger and more 
 lasting than can be gained through any 
 other means ! 
 
 H28. 
 
 In Conclusion, 
 
 The true method of healing begins, first 
 of all, by making every effort for the resto- 
 ration of the human soul, neglecting not, 
 however, the attempt at healing the dis- 
 eased body. 
 
 Further, the conscientious practitioner 
 of the true healing method never forgets 
 that the success of its application depends 
 at last upon God, and, therefore, that it 
 ought to be applied with the sense of de- 
 pendence upon God's blessing. 
 
 Finally, regarding the method of healing 
 presented in this little book, it must be 
 mentioned that, notwithstanding the vari- 
 ous means and methods invented and ap- 
 plied by man, and in spite of his having 
 146 
 
THE TRUE METHOD OF HEALING. 
 
 made very slow improvements upon the 
 spiritual and physcial welfare of mankind, 
 there is yet room and need for the appli- 
 cation of these healing processes ; a work 
 which is not surpassed by any other in im- 
 portance and value to the human family, 
 because upon the success in securing the 
 welfare of the soul and body depends the 
 success of all other human work. 
 
 i47 
 
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