CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 SERMONS 
 DIVINE HEALING 
 
 BY 
 
 EVANGELIST FP. F. BOSWORTH: 
 
 a 
 
QY OF PRING 
 <n CE “>> 
 SEP 13 1934 
 ye aw 
 Logica, Bev 
 
 
 
 
 Finis ie tweed (i fat #, 
 Division . iW. 
 
 Section AQ eM 
 
yl Whe 
 NA Ys 
 
 Ve 
 
 yy 
 ani 
 
 
 

 
SERMONS ON DIVINE HEALING 
 
1 y 
 vir 
 
 Tido\ 
 EPO 
 
 
 

 
bl aD 905° 
 
 i : z Wiis — : ; : ; Sons Ss y Og 
 BEE OZ AVM 2 EE¥ WY? WMVLLO ; =. i : iii. RV) EMVLLO  SOPRS TPO 
 NRK Y2 Phe ens one : 
 
 
 
<n OF PHN ES 
 
 
 
 SEP 13 1924 
 “bp < 
 LO. Guieay seu’ 
 
 
 
 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 SERMONS 
 DIVINE HEALING 
 
 BY 
 
 EVANGELIST F. F. BOSWORTH 
 
 6 
 
Copyright, 1924, by 
 F. F. BOSWORTH 
 
PREFACE 
 
 These sermons are published in response to 
 urgent requests we are constantly receiving from - 
 ministers and others in the cities where we have 
 held revival campaigns in the United States and 
 Canada. They have been written under great 
 pressure and weariness, occasioned by continuous 
 revivals. Had time permitted, we would have 
 taken greater care in their preparation, and in- 
 cluded several other sermons. 
 
 We make no pretense to literary style; our one 
 aim being to make the simplest possible statement 
 of the arguments presented. We ask the indul- 
 gence of the reader in what may be lacking in lit- 
 erary precision; but a careful perusal of these 
 pages will, we hope and believe, prove a blessing 
 to all who need these truths. 
 
 EF. F. BOSWORTH. 
 
 538 William Street, 
 River Forest, Illinois. 
 

 
 Ss 
 
 ———- 
 
 —= 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 SERMON I 
 
 Did Jesus Redeem Us From Our Diseases 
 When He Atoned for Our Sins? ... 1 
 
 SERMON II 
 
 ES ERC FOP UAE Uk) Hoy iS nag 33 
 SERMON III 
 
 The Lord’s Compassion, ........se0e68 62 
 SERMON IV 
 
 How to Appropriate the Redemptive and 
 Covenant Blessing of Bodily Healing, 84 
 
 SERMON V 
 Pe NE OPI be ead lola ta Oy cho vanahente 115 
 
 Thirty-one Questions, ...-..cecec0008-8 137 
 
t 
 
 . y 
 
 arow ee 
 Mii 
 
 4 cs 
 
 A woe 
 wy : 
 y 
 
 age 
 oe 
 vsf 
 
 en Ee ern 
 we 
 
 
 
DID JESUS REDEEM US FROM OUR DISEASES 
 WHEN HE ATONED FOR OUR SINS? 
 
 
 
 (Note—If you, Reader, have been taught to regard 
 sickness as a “thorn in the flesh” which must remain, we 
 _would urge you to read the sermon on “Paul’s Thorn” 
 before you read any other sermon in this book. Otherwise 
 you will likely miss the force of the scriptural arguments 
 presented in other parts of the book.) 
 
 Before answering the above question from the 
 Word of God, I invite your attention to a few facts 
 taught in the Scriptures which bear on this sub- 
 ject. | 
 
 The Scriptures declare, in Romans 5:12, that 
 “By one man sin entered the world, and death by 
 sin.” Here it is plainly stated that death entered 
 the world by sin. Therefore it is clear that dis- 
 ease, which is incipient death, entered into the 
 world by sin. Now, since disease entered by sin, 
 its true remedy must be found in the redemption 
 of Christ. Since disease reached us through the 
 power of Satan, it being called the oppression of 
 the devil (Acts 10:38), what power, when nature 
 fails, can remove it but the power of the Son of 
 God? As soon as disease has advanced beyond 
 the power of nature to recover us, it will result 
 
2 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 in death in every case unless removed by the 
 power of God. This all honest physicians will 
 admit, for they claim only the power to assist 
 nature, not to heal. In this event, anything that 
 would hinder the power of God thus supplement- 
 ing nature would make recovery impossible. Ac- 
 cordingly, James says: “Confess your faults one 
 to another . . . that ye may be healed” meaning 
 that otherwise ye cannot be healed. 
 
 When disease has advanced beyond the power 
 of nature, neither nature, nor the physician, nor 
 even prayer, can save the sufferer until he con- 
 fesses his sins, unless God, for some sovereign 
 purpose of His own, removes the disease. Since 
 disease is a part of the curse, its true remedy must 
 be the cross, for who can remove the curse but 
 God, and how can God justly do it except by sub- 
 stitution? The Bible teaches, as one writer puts 
 it, that disease is the physical penalty of iniquity, 
 but that Christ has borne in His body all our 
 physical liabilities on account of sin, and that 
 therefore our bodies are released judicially from 
 disease. Through Christ’s redemption we may 
 all have, as a part of the “earnest of our inherit- 
 ance” the “life also of Jesus . . . made manifest 
 in our mortal flesh,” to supplement nature until 
 our work is finished. In the same way that we 
 may receive the “firstfruits’ of our spiritual sal- 
 vation, we can receive the “firstfruits” of our 
 physical salvation. 
 
 Now, to the question, 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 3 
 
 DID JESUS REDEEM US FROM OUR DISEASES WHEN HE 
 ATONED FOR OUR SINS? 
 
 If, as some teach, healing is not in the Atone- 
 ment, why were types of the Atonement given in 
 connection with bodily healing throughout the Old 
 Testament? In the 12th chapter of Exodus, why 
 were the Israelites required to eat the flesh of the 
 passover lamb for physical strength, unless we 
 can receive physical life, or strength, from 
 Christ, who, Paul says, is “our Passover, sacrificed 
 
 for us?” 765 years after the institution of the 
 _ passover, we read in II Chronicles, 30th chapter, 
 20th verse, that, “The Lord hearkened to Heze- 
 kiah, and healed the people” when they kept the 
 passover. Accordingly, Paul, in I Corinthians 
 11:30, speaks of the failure of the Corinthians to 
 rightly “estimate the body’ (Weymouth’s trans- 
 lation) of “Christ our Passover” as the reason 
 why many among them were “weak and sickly . 
 ..” The Lord’s Supper is more than an ordi-— 
 nance, because we may partake of Christ while we 
 are partaking of the emblems of His death and 
 the benefits thereof. In Christ there is both bodi- 
 ly and spiritual life, and surely there is no better 
 time for availing ourselves of the privilege of 
 having the “life also of Jesus . . . made manifest 
 in our mortal flesh.” (II Cor. 4:11). 
 
 HEALING TAUGHT IN OLD TESTAMENT TYPES 
 
 Again, in Leviticus 14:18, we read of the priest 
 making atonement for the cleansing of the leper. 
 
4 _ CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 Why an atonement for the leper’s healing if 
 healing for us is not in the Atonement of Christ? 
 The types in Leviticus, 14th and 15th chapters, 
 show us that it was invariably through atonement 
 that sickness was healed. This, to our mind, is 
 a complete answer to the question we are discuss- 
 ing, should we go no further, because all of these 
 typical atonements point to, and prefigure Cal- 
 vary. 
 
 Again, Jesus tells us, in Luke 4:19, that He was 
 anointed “to preach the acceptable year of the 
 Lord,” referring to the Old Testament year of 
 Jubilee. This shows us that the year of Jubilee 
 is strikingly typical of gospel blessings, for here 
 He, Himself, applies the year of Jubilee to the 
 Gospel era. 
 
 Leviticus 25:9 shows us that no blessing of the 
 year of Jubilee was to be announced by the sound- 
 ing of the trumpet until the Day of Atonement. 
 On this day a bullock was slain as a sin-offering, 
 and the mercy seat sprinkled with blood. No mer- 
 cy was offered -until the blood of the atonement 
 sprinkled the mercy seat, because it would be a 
 judgment seat if not sprinkled with blood. This 
 teaches us that no mercy or blessing of the Gospel 
 
 4 is offered to us irrespective of Christ’s Atonement. 
 
 RECOVERY OF ALL LOST IN THE FALL 
 
 Through the Fall we lost everything. Jesus re- 
 covered all through His atonement. It was on the 
 Day of Atonement that God said, “Ye shall return 
 
 4 ; { } hes ; 
 ~ HEME ALL CT HEALINES WERE BASED OM MESSIANS 
 
 
 
 Coming ATONEMEVT SVE AS AW OT FOR EIVEVESS 
 
 WAS BASED EN THE SAME 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 5 
 
 every man to his possession.” The order in the 
 year of Jubilee is, first the atonement, then the 
 sounding of the trumpet of the Jubilee, with the 
 glad tidings “ye shall return every man to his pos- 
 session.” So, now, the order is the same; first, 
 Calvary, then the Gospel trumpet that He “bare 
 our sins” and “bare our sicknesses,” etc., to be 
 sounded “to every creature;’”’ showing us that we 
 may return “every man to his possession.”” 
 
 God’s seven redemptive names, one of which is 
 Jehovah-Rapha, “I am the Lord that healeth 
 thee,” shows us what lost possessions “every man” 
 may return to during our dispensation. ‘The two 
 outstanding possessions to be restored during the 
 Gospel era are health for soul and body ; therefore, 
 forgiveness and healing were offered universally 
 wherever Christ preached “the acceptable year of 
 the Lord,” in order that the “inner” and “outer” 
 man might be whole and ready for the service of 
 God, “thoroughly furnished unto every good 
 work,” so they could finish theiz course. 
 
 Some of the Fundamentalists who attack the 
 Christian Scientists for believing we can be saved 
 irrespective of Calvary make exactly the same 
 blunder when they say they believe in healing but 
 that it is offered irrespective of Calvary. It is to 
 me, as well as to them, a mystery how anyone can 
 say that the blood of Christ was just as efficacious 
 flowing in His veins as it was shed, in the face of 
 every bleeding sacrifice of the Old Testament to 
 the contrary and the statement “without the shed- 
 
6 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 ding of blood there is no remission of sins.’”’ Adopt 
 a bloodless religion and you have but a religion of 
 ideas, and nothing but a human thrill, because 
 “joy unspeakable and full of glory” can never be 
 known except by those who have been saved 
 through the blood of Christ. It is just as great a 
 mystery to me how these Fundamentalists can say 
 that healing is bestowed without reference to 
 Christ’s death. The salvation of any part of man 
 without sacrifice is unknown in Scripture. 
 
 If bodily healing is offered and is to be preached 
 irrespective of Calvary, why was it that no bles- 
 sing of the year of Jubilee was to be announced 
 by the sounding of the trumpet until the Day of 
 Atonement? Paul tells us that it is “in Him” that 
 all the promises of God are yea and amen; which 
 is another way of saying that all the promises of 
 God, including His promise to heal, owe their ex- 
 istence and power exclusively to the redeeming 
 work of Christ. 
 
 HEALING NOT DEFERRED UNTIL THE MILLENNIUM 
 
 Some ministers are trying to relegate bodily 
 healing to the Millennial Day, but Jesus said “this 
 day” (not the Millennial Day) is this scripture ful- 
 filled in your ears.” It was in the Church (not 
 the millennium) that God set (established) 
 “teachers, miracles, gifts of healing,’ etc. None 
 in the Church will need healing during the millen- 
 nium, because they will receive glorified bodies 
 before the millennium, when they are “caught up 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 7 
 
 to meet the Lord in the air,” when this mortal 
 puts on immortality. If we are going to relegate 
 healing to the millennium, we shall have to do 
 so with the “teachers,” etc., that God set in the 
 Church, with the “gifts of healing.”’ To say that 
 healing is only for the millennium is synonymous 
 with saying that we are now in the millennium, 
 because God is healing many thousands in this 
 day. ! 
 
 God’s all-inclusive promise is to pour His Spirit 
 upon all flesh during the “acceptable year of the 
 Lord,” which is the dispensation of the Holy 
 Spirit. He comes as Christ’s executive, to execute 
 for us all the blessings of redemption—to bring 
 to us “the earnest” or “‘firstfruits’” of our spiritual 
 and physical inheritance, until the last enemy, 
 which is death, is destroyed, thus admitting us to 
 our full inheritance 
 
 FAITH COMES BY HEARING 
 
 The reason why many of the sick in our day 
 have not returned to their physical possessions is 
 that they have not heard the trumpet sound on 
 this line. ‘Faith cometh by hearing,” and they 
 have not heard; because many ministers had their 
 Gospel trumpet put out of order while in the theo- 
 logical seminary. They remind me of a man 
 whom I knew who played a trombone in a brass 
 band. At the beginning of a rehearsal the boys 
 put a small spike into the mouth-piece of his horn, 
 so that, when he blew, his breath went against 
 
& CHRIST THE HEALER ~ 
 
 the head of the spike, making it impossible for him 
 to produce much sound out of the horn, but he 
 went through the whole rehearsa: without dis- 
 covering what was wrong. Some preachers, like - 
 this man, think they are blowing their Gospel 
 trumpet all right, and have not discovered that 
 there is not half as much coming out of it as there 
 ought to be. They are not, like Paul, declaring 
 “the whole counsel of God.” 
 
 As here in Leviticus the types show that healing 
 was invariably through atonement, so Matthew 
 8:17 definitely states that Christ healed all dis- 
 eases on the ground of the Atonement. The 
 Atonement was His reason for making no excep- 
 tions while healing the sick. “He .. . healed all 
 that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was 
 spoken by Esaias, the prophet, saying: Himself 
 took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” 
 Since it is owr sicknesses He bore, His Atonement 
 embracing us all, it would require the healing of 
 all to fulfil this prophecy. Jesus is still healing 
 all who come to Him with living faith, “that it 
 might be fulfilled ... ” 
 
 Since in the darker age of the types they all 
 had the privilege of being healed, surely in this 
 “better” dispensation, with its “better” Covenant 
 and “better” promises, God has not withdrawn 
 this Old Testament mercy. If so, we are robbed 
 that much by the coming and Atonement of 
 Christ. 
 
 In Numbers 16:46-50, after 14,700 had died of 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 9 
 
 the plague, Aaron, as priest, in his mediatorial 
 office, stood for the people between the dead and 
 the living and made an atonement for the remov- 
 al of the plague—the healing of the body. So 
 Christ, our Mediator, by His Atonement, redeemed 
 us from the “plague” of sin and sickness. 
 
 THE TYPE OF THE BRAZEN SERPENT 
 
 Again, in Numbers 21:9, we read of the Israel- 
 ites all healed by looking at the brazen serpent 
 which was lifted up as a type of the Atonement. 
 If healing was not to be in the Atonement, why 
 were these dying Israelites required to look at the 
 type of the Atonement for bodily healing? Since 
 both healing and forgiveness came through the 
 type of the Atonement, why not to us through 
 Christ, the Antitype? As their curse was re- 
 - moved by the lifting up of the brazen serpent, so 
 Paul tells us that ours is removed by the lifting 
 up of Christ. (Galatians 3:18). 
 
 Again, in Job 33:24-25, we read: “I have found 
 a ransom (margin, atonement), his flesh shall be 
 fresher than a child’s; he shall return to the days 
 of his youth.” Here, we see Job’s flesh was 
 healed through an atonement. Why not ours? 
 
 Again, David opens the 103d Psalm by calling 
 upon his soul to bless the Lord and to “forget not 
 all His benefits,’ and then he specifies, ‘Who for- 
 giveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy 
 diseases.” How does God forgive sin? Of course, 
 through the Atonement of Christ. He heals dis- 
 
10 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 ease in the same way, because the Atonement of 
 Jesus Christ is the only ground for any benefit to 
 fallen man. How can God save any part of man 
 except through the Atonement? 
 
 In I Corinthians 10:11, Paul tells us “All these 
 things happened unto them for ensamples (mar- 
 gin, as types); and they are written for our 
 admonition upon whom the ends of the world 
 (ages) are come.” In Galatians 3:7,16,29, the 
 Holy Spirit shows us clearly that these things are 
 for us as well as for Israel. ‘Know ye, therefore, 
 that they which are of faith the same are the 
 children of Abraham . .. now to Abraham and 
 his seed were the promises made... and if ye 
 (Gentiles) be Christ’s ye are Abraham’s seed, and 
 heirs according to the promise.” ‘Therefore ye 
 are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow- 
 citizens with the saints and with the household of 
 God.” 
 
 The Rev. Daniel Bryant, in’ his book “Christ 
 Among Our Sick,” says, ‘“‘The Church then learned 
 what the Church needs, it seems, to learn again; 
 namely, that there is no difference to the compas- 
 sionate Christ between a sick Gentile and a sick 
 Jew.” 
 
 THE SEVEN REDEMPTIVE NAMES OF JEHOVAH 
 
 To me, another unanswerable argument that 
 healing is in the Atonement is to be found in the 
 seven redemptive names of Jehovah. On pages 
 6 and 7 of the Schofield Bible, Mr. Schofield, in his 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 11 
 
 foot-note on the redemptive names, says that the 
 name “Jehovah is distinctly the redemptive name 
 of deity,” and means “the Self-existent One Who 
 reveals Himself.” These seven redemptive names, 
 he says, “point to a continuous and increasing 
 self-revelation.” He then says, “In His redemp- 
 tive relation to man, Jehovah has seven compound 
 names which reveal Him as meeting every need of 
 man from his lost state to the end.” 
 
 Since it is His redemptive relation to us that 
 - these names reveal, they must each point to Cal- 
 vary where we were redeemed, and the blessing 
 that each name reveals must be provided by the 
 Atonement. This the Scriptures clearly teach. 
 
 The following are the seven redemptive names: 
 
 JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH—*"The Lord is there,” — 
 or present, revealing to us the redemptive privi- 
 lege of enjoying His presence, Who says, “Lo, I 
 am with you always.” That this blessing is pro- 
 vided by the Atonement is proven by the fact that 
 we are “made nigh by the blood of Christ.” 
 
 JEHOVAH-SHALOM—tThe Lord our Peace, 
 reveals to us the redemptive privilege of having 
 His Peace. Accordingly Jesus says, “My peace I 
 give unto thee.” This blessing is in the Atone- 
 ment, because “the chastisement of our peace was 
 upon Him” when He “made peace by the blood of 
 His cross.” 
 
 JEHOVAH-RA-AH is translated “The Lord is 
 my Shepherd.” He became our Shepherd by giv- | 
 ing “His life for the sheep,” therefore this privi- 
 
12 CHRIST ‘THE HEALER | 
 
 lege is a redemptive privilege, purchased by the 
 Atonement. | 
 JEHOVAH-JIREH, means “the Lord will pro- 
 vide” an offering, and Christ .was the Offering 
 provided for our complete redemption. . 
 JEHOVAH-NISSI, means “the Lord is our 
 Banner,” or “Victor,” or “Captain.” It was when, 
 by the cross, Christ triumphed over principalities 
 and powers that He provided for us, through the 
 Atonement, the redemptive privilege of saying, 
 “thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory 
 through our Lord, Jesus Christ.” 
 JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU, is translated ‘the 
 Lord our Righteousness.” He becomes our right- 
 eousness by bearing our sins on the cross; there- 
 fore our redemptive privilege of receiving ‘“‘the 
 gift of righteousness” is an Atonement blessing. 
 
 THE LORD OUR PHYSICIAN 
 
 JEHOVAH-RAPHA, is translated “I am the 
 Lord thy Physician,” or “I am the Lord that heal- 
 eth thee.” This name is given to reveal to us our 
 redemptive privilege of being healed. This privi- 
 lege is purchased by the Atonement, for Isaiah, in 
 the Redemptive Chapter, declares, “Surely He 
 hath borne our sicknesses and carried our pains.” 
 For the sake of the argument, I have reserved this 
 name for the last. The fact is, that the very first 
 Covenant God gave after the passage of the Red 
 Sea, which was so distinctively typical of our re-. 
 demption, was the covenant of healing, and it was 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 13 
 
 at this time that God revealed Himself as our 
 Physician, by the first redemptive and covenant 
 name, Jehovah-Rapha, “I am the Lord that healeth 
 thee.” This is not only a promise, it is “a statute 
 and an ordinance.” And so, corresponding to this 
 ancient ordinance, we have, in the command of 
 James 5:14, a positive ordinance of healing in 
 Christ’s name as sacred and binding upon every 
 church to-day as the ordinances of the Lord’s Sup- 
 per and of Christian Baptism: Since Jehovah- 
 ' Rapha is one of His redemptive names, sealing the 
 covenant of healing Christ, during His exaltation, 
 could no more abandon His office of Healer than 
 that revealed by each of His other six redemptive 
 names. Have any of the blessings which His 
 redemptive names reveal been withdrawn from 
 this “better” dispensation? 
 
 Having considered some of the types which 
 teach healing, let us now consider the Antitype—. 
 the Atonement itself, as it is described in the great 
 Redemptive Chapter, the 53d of Isaiah, the great- 
 est chapter of the greatest of the prophets,. in 
 which is fully stated the doctrine of Atonement. 
 Since the types of the Old Testament taught heal- 
 ing, it is certainly unwarranted and illogical to 
 place the Antitype on lower ground. 
 
 HE CARRIED OUR PAINS 
 
 Before quoting from this chapter, may I state 
 that the Hebrew words choli and makob have been 
 incorrectly translated “griefs’” and “sorrows.” 
 
14 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 All who have taken the time to examine the orig- 
 inal text have found, what is everywhere acknowl- 
 edged, that these two words mean, respectively, 
 “sicknesses” and “pains,” everywhere else 
 throughout the Old Testament. This word, choli 
 is interpreted “disease” and “sickness in Deut. 
 7:15; 28:61; I Kings 17:17; II Kings 1:2; 8:8; II 
 Chron. 16:12; 21:15; and other texts. The word 
 makob is rendered “pain” in Job 14:22; 33:19, etc. 
 Therefore the prophet is saying, in this 4th verse, 
 “Surely He hath borne our sicknesses and carried 
 our pains.” The reader is referred to any stand- 
 ard Commentary for additional testimony on this 
 point; but there is no better commentary than 
 Matthew 8:16-17. 
 
 AN INSPIRED COMMENTARY 
 
 That Isaiah 53:4 cannot refer to disease of the 
 soul, and that neither of the words translated 
 “sickness” and “pain” have any reference to 
 spiritual matters but to bodily sickness alone, is 
 proven by Matthew 8:16,17,—*" . . . and He cast 
 out the spirits with His word, and healed all that 
 were sick; that it might be fulfilled which was 
 spoken by Esaias, the Prophet, saying, Himself 
 took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” 
 This is an inspired commentary on this 4th verse 
 of Isaiah 538, plainly declaring that the prophet 
 refers to bodily ailments, and therefore the word 
 “sickness,” choli, must be read literally in Isaiah. 
 
The same Holy Spirit who inspired this verse 
 quotes it in Matthew as the explanation of the 
 universal application by Christ of His power to 
 heal the body. To take any other view is equal 
 to accusing the Holy Spirit of making a mistake 
 
 HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 
 
 in quoting His own prediction. 
 
 I will here quote the learned translator, Dr. 
 
 Young, in his version of the Bible: 
 
 3. 
 
 10. 
 
 12. 
 
 Dr. Isaac Leeser, the able translator of the 
 
 He is despised, and left of men, 
 
 A man of pains) (Heb., Makob), and acquainted with 
 
 ‘sickness ) (choli), 
 And as one hiding the face from us, 
 
 He is despised and we esteemed him not. 
 
 Surely our. sicknesses) (choli) he hath borne, 
 
 And our pains) (makob) he hath carried them, 
 
 And we—we have esteemed him, Plagued, » 
 Smitten of God and afflicted. 
 And he is pierced for our transgressions, 
 Bruised for our iniquities, 
 The chastisement of our peace is.on him, 
 And by his bruise there is healing to us. 
 All of us like sheep have wandered, 
 Each to his own way we have turned, 
 And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him 
 The( punishment of us all. 
 And Jehovah kath delighted to bruise him; 
 He hath made him sick (choli) ; ; 
 If his soul doth make-an. offering for guilt, 
 He seeth seed—he prolongeth days. 
 
 . With transgressors he was numbered, 
 And he the sin of many hath borne, 
 And for transgressors he intercédeth. 
 
16 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 Hebrew English Bible, renders these verses as 
 follows: 
 
 ca) 
 
 3. “He was despised and shunned of men: ; 
 A man of/pains and acquainted with disease.) 
 4, “But only our ‘diseases did he bear himself, 
 And our pains he carried. 
 5. “And through his bruises was healing granted to us. 
 10. “But the Lord was pleased to crush him through 
 disease.” 
 
 Rotherham’s translation of the 10th verse is 
 “He hath laid on Him sickness.” 
 
 FROM YOU AND ME TO CALVARY 
 
 In the 4th verse, the word “borne” (nasa) 
 means to lift up, to bear away, to convey, or to 
 remove to a distance. It is a Levitical word, and 
 is applied to the scapegoat, that bare away the 
 sins of the people. “The goat shall bear (nasa) 
 upon him all their iniquities wnto a land not inhab- 
 ited; and he shall let go the goat in the wilder- 
 ness.” (Lev. 16: hale So Jesus bore my sins and , 
 sicknesses away “without the camp” to the cross. He +t 
 Sin and sickness have passed from me to Gal- — 
 vary—salvation and health have passed from 
 Calvary to me. 
 
 Again, in this 4th verse of the Redemption 
 Chapter the Hebrew verbs for “borne” and “car- 
 ried” (nasa and sabal) are both the same as are 
 used in the 11th and 12th verses for the substitu- 
 tionary bearing of sin, “He shall bear (carry) 
 their iniquities,” and ‘He shall bear the sin of 
 many.” Both words signify to assume as a heavy 
 
 ps ea 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 17 
 
 burden, and denote actual substitution, and a com- 
 plete removal of the thing borne. When Jesus 
 bore our sins, our sicknesses and our pains, He 
 bore them away, or removed them. Both these 
 words mean substitution, one bearing another’s 
 load. 
 
 On this point, permit me to quote from “JESUS 
 OuR HEALER,” a splendid tract written by the Rev. 
 W. C. Stevens, published and sold by the Biola 
 Book Store of the Torrey Bible Institute, Los 
 ‘Angeles, California. He says, “This prophecy 
 presents healing as an integral part of the vicari- 
 ous Atonement . . . Now, whatever be the sense 
 of these two Hebrew verbs (nasa and sabal), the 
 same sense must be applied in both cases, namely, 
 of sin-bearing and sickness-bearing. To pervert 
 the sense in one case would give liberty to pervert 
 it in the other. And that the sense of the verbs as 
 relating to sin, not only here in this prophecy, but 
 everywhere else in the Old Testament, is strictly 
 vicarious and expiatory, no evangelical student 
 disputes. This prophecy, therefore, gives the 
 same substitutionary and expiatory character to 
 Christ’s connection with sickness that is every- 
 where given to His assumption of our sins. 
 
 AN INSPIRED TRANSLATION 
 
 We are accordingly shut up by the Spirit to 
 the redemptive sense of Christ’s bearing of sick- 
 ness. This interpretation is fully sustained by 
 Prof. Delitzsch’s exposition of Isaiah 53:4. Free- 
 
18 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 ly but faithfully does the Gospel of Matthew 
 translate this text, “Himself took our infirmities 
 and bare our sickness.” The help which Jesus 
 rendered in all kinds of bodily sickness is taken in 
 Matthew to be a fulfilment of what in Isaiah is 
 prophesied of the Servant of Jehovah. The He- 
 brew verbs of the text, when used of sin, signify 
 to assume as a heavy burden and bare away the 
 guilt of sin as one’s own; that is, to bear sin me- 
 diatorially in order to atone for it. But here, 
 where, not sins, but our sicknesses and our pains 
 are the object, the mediatorial sense remains the 
 same. It is not meant that the Servant of Jehovah 
 merely entered into fellowship of our. sufferings, 
 but that He took upon Himself the sufferings 
 which we had to bear and deserved to bear; and 
 therefore He not only bore them away, but also in 
 His own Person endured them in order to dis- 
 charge us from them. Now, when one takes suf- 
 ferings upon himself which another had to bear, 
 and does this not merely in fellowship with him 
 but in his stead, we call it substitution. Here, 
 then, the best results of rigid exegesis show that 
 the bearing and removal of human disease is an 
 integral part of redeeming work, a provision of 
 the Atonement, a part of the doctrine of Christ 
 Crucified ; that Jesus is the Savior of the body as 
 well as of the spirit, and that 
 He comes to make His blessings flow 
 Far as the curse is found. 
 
 “Bodily healing by direct Divine agency be- 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 19 
 
 comes a boon for every believer in any period of 
 Gospel history. It settles the question of a preach- 
 er’s duty to preach it.” 
 
 AN OBJECTION ANSWERED 
 
 A Canadian writer objects that Matthew 8:17 
 cannot refer to the Atonement, because since 
 Christ had not yet been crucified, this would be 
 “making Christ live an atoning life.” This, to me, 
 is no argument at all, since Christ was “the Lamb 
 - of God slain from the foundation of the world.” 
 He not only healed disease before Calvary, but He 
 also forgave sins, and yet both of these mercies 
 were bestowed on the ground of the Atonement 
 yet future. 
 
 A prominent New York clergyman raises prac- 
 tically the same objection. He argues that the 
 fact that Christ, in Matthew, is fulfiling Isaiah’s 
 prophecy by healing the sick, proves that “Jesus 
 bore our sickness not on the Cross, but when He 
 was alive in the city of Capernaum.” In answer- 
 ing this, I have only to ask, Did Jesus bear our 
 iniquities in Capernaum or on the Cross? His 
 forgiving of sins as well as His healing of the sick 
 were both done with respect to His coming Atone- 
 ment, because ‘without the shedding of blood 
 there is no remission.” 
 
 The prophecy states that “He hath borne our 
 sicknesses.”? This includes all others, as well as 
 those at Capernaum. In verses 4 and 5 of this 
 Redemption Chapter, we see Him dying for 
 
20 ‘CHRIST THE HEALER | 
 
 “OUR sicknesses” 
 
 “OUR pains” 
 
 “OUR transgressions” 
 
 “OUR iniquities” 
 
 “OUR peace” 
 
 “OUR healing” for “by His stripes we are 
 healed.” 
 
 We would have to misquote to exclude RCE 
 from any of these. blessings. 
 
 The only “surely”? in the Redemption Chapter 
 prefaces His provision for our healing. There 
 could be no stronger statement of our. complete 
 redemption from pain and sickness by His Aton- 
 ing death. If Christ, as some think, is unwilling 
 to heal as universally during His exaltation as He 
 did during His humiliation, then He would have 
 to break His promise in St. John 14:12, 13, and He 
 would not be “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, 
 today and forever.” 
 
 The fact of healing in the Atonement necessi- 
 tates the continuation of His healing ministry dur- 
 ing His exaltation, because His redeeming work 
 embraced all who live on earth while He is with 
 the Father. . Accordingly, He gives the above 
 promise to do the same, and greater works, in 
 answer to our prayers from God’s right hand. As 
 long as the Church remained under the control of 
 the Spirit the same works continued, and history 
 reveals, as Dr. A. J. Gordon puts it, “that when- 
 ever we find a revival of primitive faith and Apos- 
 tolic simplicity, there we find the Evangelical mir- 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 21 
 
 acles which surely characterize the Apostolic age. 
 The Apostle tells us, “He was made sin for us 
 Who knew no sin” (of His own.) Likewise, “He 
 hath made Him sick” (for us) Who knew no 
 sickness (of His own.) Peter writes, “Who His 
 own self bore our sins in His own body on the 
 tree,” and Isaiah declares, “Surely our sicknesses | 
 He hath borne, and our pains—He hath carried 
 them.” But, as Leeser translates, “only owr sick- 
 ness did He bear,” having none of His own. 
 Again, in the 4th verse of Dr. Young’s trans- 
 lation cited above, we read, “and Jehovah hath 
 caused to meet on Him the punishment of us all.” 
 Qne writer inquiries, on this point, “What are 
 the punishments of sin?” and then says, in sub- 
 stance, all will admit that sin is punished by soul- 
 condemnation, remorse, mental anxiety and fre- 
 quently by sickness. . . and believe these are re- 
 mitted because of vicarious Atonement. By what 
 rule of Scripture or reason is the last-mentioned 
 punishment severed from the rest? Mark the 
 prophet’s words, “Jehovah hath caused to meet on 
 Him the punishment of us all.”’ Since sickness is 
 a part of that punishment, it is demonstrated by 
 the immutable Word of God that sickness is in- 
 cluded in the Atonement. He then asks, “Is it true 
 that God will give deliverance from every penalty 
 and consequence of sin except one, and that this 
 one (sickness) must inevitably remain to the bit- 
 ter end? Away with such a thought! Isaiah af- 
 firms that the entire punishment of us all was 
 
22 - CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 caused to meet on Him. . . He testified ‘It is fin- 
 ished.’ There was nothing incomplete about the 
 work of our mighty Jesus.” I might add to this 
 that, were it otherwise, the prophet should have 
 said, ‘Jehovah hath caused to meet on Him only 
 a part of the punishment of us all.” 
 
 THE CROSS A PERFECT REMEDY FOR THE WHOLE MAN 
 
 “Jesus went to the cross, spirit, soul and body, 
 to redeem man, spirit, soul and body. Therefore, 
 the Cross is the centre of the plan of salvation for 
 man, spirit, soul and body. 
 
 Every form of sickness and disease known to 
 man was included, and many of them even men- 
 tioned particularly, in the “curse of the law,” 
 (Deut. 28:15-62, and other scriptures.) Now, in 
 Galatians 3:18, we have the positive statement 
 that “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of 
 the law, being made a curse for us, for it is writ- 
 ten, Cursed is every one that hangeth on the tree.” 
 What plainer declaration could we have than that 
 Christ, Who was born under the law to redeem 
 us, bore its curse,'and therefore did redeem us 
 from all sickness and disease. Here it is stated 
 that it was on the cross that Jesus redeemed us 
 from the law’s curse. In.other words, He redeem- 
 ed us from the following diseases, specified in 
 Deuteronomy, “consumption”  (tuberculosis,) 
 “fever,” “inflammation,” “the botch of Egypt,” 
 “emerods,” “scab,” “itch,” “madness” (insanity), 
 “blindness,” “plagues,” “all the diseases of 
 
£ 
 
 HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 23 
 
 Egypt,” “also every sickness and every plague 
 which is not written in the book of this law.” 
 This would include cancer, influenza, mumps, 
 measles and every other modern disease. If Christ 
 redeemed us from the curse of the law, and sick- 
 ness is included in the curse, surely He redeemed 
 us from sickness.’ 
 
 REDEMPTION SYNONYMOUS WITH CALVARY 
 
 Redemption is synonymous with Calvary, there- 
 
 ' fore we are redeemed from the entire curse, body, 
 
 soul and spirit, solely through His Atonement. 
 Now, since disease is a part of the curse, how 
 could God justly remove this part of the curse 
 by healing the sick without first redeeming us 
 from it? Again, since “Christ redeemed us from 
 the curse of the law,” how can God justify us and 
 at the same time require us to remain under the 
 law’s curse, when, as the Apostle says, “ye are not 
 under the law, but under grace?” (Romans 6:14.) 
 In short, why should anyone remain under the 
 law’s curse who is not under the law? To do so, 
 would be the same as putting a man in prison for 
 life after he had been proven innocent and the 
 court had justified him from the charge of murder. 
 Paul argues, in Romans the 3rd chapter, that 
 “God set forth Christ to be a propitiation . . 
 that He might be just and the justifier of him 
 which believeth in Jesus.” In other words, were 
 it not for the Atonement, God would be unjust in 
 justifying the sinner; and likewise He would be 
 
24 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 unjust in healing the sick without first redeeming 
 them from the sickness. The fact that God ever 
 healed anyone is to me the best of proof that 
 healing was provided by the Atonement. If heal- 
 ing was not provided for all in redemption, how 
 did all in the whole multitude obtain from Christ 
 the healing that God did not provide? ‘He healed 
 them all.” 
 AN IMPORTANT QUESTION 
 
 If the body were not included in redemption, 
 how can there be a resurrection? How can “cor- 
 ruption put on incorruption,” or “mortal put on 
 immortality?” If we have not been redeemed 
 from sickness, would we not be subject to disease 
 in Heaven, if it were possible to be resurrected 
 irrespective of redemption? Some one has well 
 remarked, ““Man’s future destiny being both spir- 
 itual and bodily, his redemption must be both a 
 itual and bodily.” 
 
 Why should not the “last Adam” take away ali 
 that the “first Adam” brought upon us? 
 
 Now let us consider a few Gospel parallels. 
 
 “THE INNER MAN” “THE OUTER MAN” 
 Adam, by his fall, brought Adam, by hi fall, 
 sin into our souls. brought disease into our 
 | bodies. 
 Sin is therefore the work Disease is therefore the 
 of the devil. work of the devil. Jesus 
 
 “went about doing good, and 
 healing all that were op- 
 pressed of the devil.” 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 25 
 
 Jesus was “manifested to 
 destroy the works of the 
 devil” in the soul. 
 
 The redemptive name 
 
 “JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU” 
 
 reveals His redemptive pro- 
 vision for our souls. 
 
 On Calvary Jesus “bare 
 our sins.” 
 
 He was made “sin for us” 
 (II Cor. 5:21) when “He 
 bare our sins,” (I Peter 
 2:24). 
 
 “Who His own self bare 
 our sins in His body on the 
 tree.” 
 
 “Who forgiveth all thine 
 iniquities.” 
 
 “For ye are bought with 
 a price: therefore glorify 
 God in your .. . spirit.” 
 
 The spirit is bought with 
 a price. 
 
 Is remaining in sin the 
 way to glorify God in your 
 spirit? 
 
 Since He “bare our sins,” 
 how many must it pe God’s 
 will to save, when they 
 come to Him? “Whosoever 
 believeth.” 
 
 Jesus was “manifested to 
 destroy the works of the 
 devil” in the body. 
 
 The redemptive name 
 “JEHOVAH-RAPHA” re- 
 veals His redemptive pro- 
 vision for our bodies. 
 
 On Calvary Jesus bare 
 our sicknesses.” 
 
 He was “made a curse for 
 us.” (Gal. 3:18) when He 
 “bare our sicknesses.” (Mat- 
 thew 8:17). 
 
 “By whose stripes ye 
 
 were healed.” 
 
 “Who healeth all thy dis- 
 eases.” 
 
 “For ye are bought with 
 a price: therefore glorify 
 God in your body... 
 (I Cor. 6:20). 
 
 The body is bought with a 
 price. 
 
 Is remaining sick the 
 way to glorify God in your 
 body? 
 
 Since He “bare our sick- 
 nesses,” how many must it 
 be God’s will to heal, when 
 they come to Him? “He 
 healed them all.” 
 
26 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 “As God ‘made Him to 
 be sin for us who knew no 
 sin’ ’’——Rev. A. J. Gordon. 
 
 “Since our Substitute 
 bore our sins, did He not do 
 so that we might not bare 
 them?”’—Rev. A. J. Gordon. 
 
 “Christ bore our sins that 
 we might be delivered from 
 them. Not SYMPATHY— 
 a suffering with, but SUB- 
 STITUTION—a suffering 
 for.”—Rev. A. J. Gordon. 
 
 “If the fact that Jesus 
 ‘bore our sins in His own 
 body on the tree’ be a valid 
 reason why we should all 
 trust Him now for the for- 
 giveness of our sins, 
 
 Faith for salvation “com- 
 eth by hearing” the Gospel 
 —He “bare our sins.” 
 
 Therefore, Preach the 
 Gospel (that He bore our 
 sins) to every creature,” 
 
 Christ’s promise for the 
 soul (“shall be saved’’) is 
 in the great commission 
 (Mark 16). 
 
 In connection with the 
 ordinance of baptism, the 
 
 “So God made Him to be 
 sick for us who knew no 
 sickness.”—-Rev. A. J. Gor- 
 don. 
 
 “Since our Substitute 
 bore our sicknesses, did He 
 not do so that we might not 
 bare them?”—Rev. A. J. 
 Gordon. 
 
 Christ bore our sicknesses 
 that we might be delivered 
 from them. Not SYM- 
 PATHY—a suffering with, 
 but SUBSTITUTION—a 
 suffering for. 
 
 why is not the fact that 
 He ‘bore our sicknesses’ an 
 equally valid reason why we 
 should all trust Him now to 
 heal our bodies?” (Writer 
 unknown). 
 
 Faith for healing “cometh 
 by hearing”—He “bare our 
 sicknesses.” 
 
 and “the Gospel (that He 
 bore our sicknesses) to 
 every creature.” 
 
 Christ’s promise for the 
 body (“shall recover”) is 
 in the great commission. 
 (Mark 16). 
 
 In connection with the 
 ordinance of anointing with 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT. az 
 
 Bible teaches that he that 
 believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved (Mark 16). 
 
 We are commanded to 
 baptize in Christ’s name. 
 
 In the Lord’s Supper the 
 wine is taken “in remem- 
 brance” of His death for 
 our souls. (I Cor. 11:25). 
 
 The sinner is to repent 
 before believing the Gospel 
 “unto righteousness.” 
 
 Water baptism stands for 
 total surrender and obedi- 
 ence. 
 
 The sinner must accept 
 God’s promise as true be- 
 fore he can feel the joy of 
 salvation. 
 
 “As many as received 
 Him ... wereborn... 
 of God.” (St. John 1:12-13), 
 
 oil, the Bible teaches that 
 he that believeth and is 
 anointed shall be healed. 
 (James 5:14). 
 
 We are commanded to 
 anoint “in the name of the 
 Lord.” (James 5:14). 
 
 In the Lord’s Supper the 
 bread is eaten “in remem- 
 brance” of His death for 
 our bodies. (I Cor. 11:23- 
 24). 
 
 James 5:16 says, “Con- 
 fess, therefore, your sins 
 . . - that ye may be 
 healed.’ 
 
 Anointing with oil is the 
 symbol and sign of conse- 
 cration. 
 
 The sick must accept 
 God’s promise as true be- 
 fore he can feel well. 
 
 “As many as touched Him 
 were made whole.” (Mark 
 6:56). 
 
 I will now cite one out of many hundreds of 
 
 cases of sickness and affliction that have been 
 healed while the sufferers listened to the preach- 
 ing on the subject of healing in the Atonement. 
 Their healing came through their own faith be- 
 fore having an opportunity of being anointed. 
 
28 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 When but a child of eight years, Mrs. Clara 
 Rupert of Lima, Ohio, had such a severe case of 
 whooping-cough that she ruptured the muscles of 
 one eye, leaving it entirely blind, and so dead that 
 during all the years that followed she could rub 
 her finger on the bare eyeball without pain. She 
 said that on windy days, when particles would 
 blow into the eye, it caused her no suffering. 
 
 JUST BECAUSE THE BIBLE SAYS SO 
 
 While listening to a sermon on the Atonement, 
 during our revival in Lima, Ohio, she said in her 
 heart: “If that is true, and it is because the Bible 
 says so, then I am just as sure of receiving sight 
 in my blind eye tonight when I go to the altar as 
 I was sure of salvation when I went to the Metho- 
 dist altar several years ago and was saved. Ac- 
 cordingly, with this logical reasoning, she came 
 to the altar, and while we were praying with oth- 
 ers she asked God to heal her. Before we had a 
 chance to anoint her, she was on her feet weeping, 
 and walked back and threw her arms around her 
 father’s neck, the audience wondering why she 
 left the altar without being anointed. Her father 
 said: ‘What is the matter, daughter?” and she re- 
 plied, “My eye!” He said: “Why, is it paining 
 you?” She said: “No, I can see perfectly!” 
 
 A few months later, while we were holding a 
 revival in St. Paul, Minn., we met this woman 
 and her husband, who were there attending the 
 Bible school, preparing for work for the Master. 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 29 
 
 Her husband wanted to preach the Gospel of 
 Christ, Who had so graciously healed his wife. 
 
 Almost daily in our revivals testimonies are 
 given by those who have been healed while sitting 
 in their seats listening to the Gospel. 
 
 WHAT EMINENT MEN HAVE TO SAY 
 
 These views on healing in the Atonement are 
 not new and peculiar only to myself. Many of 
 the most godly and able teachers of the Church 
 have seen and taught them. In addition to those 
 teachers already quoted, I will add a few words 
 from Dr. Torrey and others. 
 
 Dr. R. A. Torrey, in his book on “Divine Heal- 
 ing” declares: “The atoning death of Jesus Christ 
 secured for us not only physical healing, but the 
 resurrection and perfecting and glorifying of our 
 bodies . . . The Gospel of Christ has salvation 
 for the body as well as for the soul .. . Just as 
 one gets the first-fruits of his spiritual salvation 
 in the life that now is, so we get the first-fruits 
 of our physical salvation in the life that now is 
 . - - Individual believers, whether Elders or not, 
 have the privilege and the ‘duty to ‘pray one for 
 another’ in case of sickness with the expectation 
 that God will hear and heal.” 
 
 Dr. R. E. Stanton, a former moderator of the 
 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, 
 gives the following in his Gospel Parallelisms: “It 
 is my aim to show that the Atonement of Christ 
 lays the foundation equally for deliverance from 
 
30 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 sin and for deliverance from disease. That com- 
 plete provision has been made for both; that in 
 the exercise of faith under the conditions pre- 
 scribed, we have the same reason to believe that 
 the body may be delivered from sickness that we 
 have that the soul shall be delivered from sin; in 
 short, that both branches of the deliverance stand 
 on the same ground, and that it is necessary to 
 include both in any true conception of what the 
 gospel offers to mankind. The atoning sacrifice 
 of Christ covers the physical as well as the spir- 
 itual needs of the race . .. Healing of the body 
 is not, therefore, a ‘side-issue,’ as some represent 
 it. It is no more this than the healing of the soul 
 is a ‘side-issue.’ They are both but parts of the 
 same Gospel, based equally upon the same great 
 Atonement.” 
 
 THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH ON DIVINE HEALING 
 
 In the report of the Commission on spiritual 
 healing appointed by the Episcopal Church, spon- 
 sored by Bishop Reese, who for many years has 
 practiced the healing ministry, and who was 
 - Chairman of the Commission, is the following 
 statement: ‘The healing of the body is an essen- 
 tial element of the Gospel, and must be preached 
 and practiced . . . God wills our health, that the 
 Church, the ‘Body of Christ,’ has the same com- 
 mission and the same power as “The Head,’ that 
 we churchmen, with this true conception of God 
 as Creative Love, must now give a sinning and 
 
HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT 31 
 
 suffering world this full Gospel of salvation from 
 sin and its inevitable consequences.” 
 
 These conclusions were arrived at by this schol- 
 arly Commission after three years of study and re- 
 search. 
 
 Bishop Charles H. Brent of the Episcopal 
 Church, who as Head of all Chaplains in France, 
 led the religious life of our armies overseas, af- 
 firms: ‘“He who waives away the healing power of 
 Christ as belonging only to the New Testament 
 times is not preaching the whole Gospel. God was, 
 and Is, the Saviour of the body as well as the 
 soul.” 
 
 James Moore Hickson pleads: “A living Church 
 is one in which the Living Christ lives and walks, 
 doing through its members what He did in the 
 days of His flesh. It must, therefore, be a healing 
 Church as well as a soul-saving Church... 
 Spiritual healing is sacramental. It is the exten- 
 sion through the members of His mystical body 
 of His own incarnate life.’ 
 
 The late able writers, Dr. A. B. Simpson, An- 
 drew Murray, A. T. Pierson, Dr. A. J. Gordon, 
 and many present writers whom we might quote, 
 have been teachers of healing in the Atonement. 
 An unknown writer has said: ‘On the cross of 
 Calvary Jesus has nailed the proclamation, 
 ‘Deliver from going down to the pit (grave) for 
 I have found an ‘Atonement.’” (Job 33:24) 
 
 Isaiah begins the Redemption Chapter with the 
 question “Who hath believed our report, and to 
 
32 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” And 
 the report follows that He bore our sins and sick- 
 nesses. The answer to the question is, only those 
 who have heard the report could believe it, be- 
 cause “faith cometh by hearing.” Since Jesus 
 died to save and to heal it is surely worth report- 
 ing. 
 
 The purpose of this sermon is to prove that 
 healing is provided by the Atonement and is there- 
 fore a part of the Gospel which Christ commanded 
 to be preached 
 
 To “all the world,” 
 To “all nations,” 
 To “every creature,” 
 With “all Power,” 
 Throughout “all the days, 
 Even unto the end of the (present) age.” 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 
 
 Is it still the will of God, as in the past, to heal 
 all who have need of healing, and to fulfil the 
 number of their days? 
 
 The greatest barrier to the faith of many seek- 
 ing bodily healing in our day is the uncertainty in 
 their minds as to it being the will of God to heal 
 all. Nearly every one knows that God does heal 
 some, but there is much in modern theology that 
 keeps the people from knowing what the Bible 
 clearly teaches—that healing is provided for all. 
 It is impossible to boldly claim by faith a blessing 
 which we are not sure God offers, because the 
 power of God can be claimed only where the will 
 of God is known. 
 
 It would be next to impossible to get a sinner to 
 “believe unto righteousness” before you had fully 
 convinced him that it was God’s will to save him. 
 Faith begins where the will of God is known. If 
 it is God’s will to heal only some of those who need 
 healing, then none have any basis for faith, unless 
 they have a special revelation that they are among 
 the favored ones. Faith must rest on the will of 
 God alone, not on our desires or wishes. Appro- 
 
34 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 priating faith is not believing that God can but 
 that God will. Because of not knowing it to be a 
 redemptive privilege for all, most of those in our 
 day, when seeking healing, add to their petition, 
 “If it be Thy will.” 
 
 A CORRECTED THEOLOGY 
 
 Among all those who sought healing from 
 Christ during His earthly ministry, we read of 
 only one who had this kind of theology. This was 
 the leper, who said, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou 
 canst make me clean.” The first thing Christ did 
 was to correct his theology by saying, “J will, be 
 thou clean.” Christ’s “I will’ cancelled his “7f,’’ 
 adding to his faith that Christ could heal him, the 
 faith that He would. 
 
 The theology of this leper, before Christ en- 
 lightened him, is almost universal today, because 
 this part of the gospel is so seldom and so frag- 
 mentarily preached. 
 
 We see, from almost every conceivable angle 
 throughout the Scriptures, that there is no doc- 
 trine more clearly taught than that it zs God’s will 
 to heal all who have need of healing, and that they 
 may fulfil the number of their days, according to 
 His promise. Of course, we mean all who are 
 properly taught and who meet the conditions pre- 
 scribed in the Word. Now, I hear someone say, 
 “If healing is for all then we shall never die.” 
 Why not? Divine healing goes no further than 
 the promise of God. He does not promise that we 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 35 
 
 shall never die, but He says, “I will take sickness 
 away from the midst of thee . . . the number of 
 thy days I will fulfil.” (Ex. 23:25, 26.) 
 The days of our years are threescore years and ten. 
 (Psa. 90:10) 
 Take me not away in the midst of my days. (Psa. 102:24) 
 
 Why shouldst thou die before thy time? (Eccl. 7:17.) 
 
 Then some one may ask, Well, how is a man go- 
 ing to die? 
 
 Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to 
 their dust. (Psa. 104:29.) 
 
 The Rev. P. Gavin Duffy writes on this point, 
 “He has cllotted to man a certain span of life, and 
 His will is that that life shall be lived out. I want 
 you to recallthat all those He called back from the 
 dead were young people who had not lived out 
 their fulness of years; and in that very fact we 
 may well see His protest against premature death. 
 . . - Of course, we must not expect that the old 
 shall be physically young, but if the allotted span 
 has not been spent we have a right to claim God’s 
 gift of health; and, even though it be past, if it be 
 His Will that we should continue here for a time 
 longer, it is equally His Will that we should do so 
 in good health.” 
 
 Death comes, and then we blame our God, 
 
 And weakly say, “Thy will be done;” 
 
 But never underneath the sod 
 
 Has God imprisoned any one. 
 
 God does not send disease, or crime, 
 
 Or carelessness, or fighting clans; 
 
 And when we die before our time, 
 
 The fault is man’s. 
 
36 ‘CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 He is a God of life, not death; 
 He is one God that gives us birth; 
 He has not shortened by a breath 
 The life of any on the earth; 
 And He would have us dwell within 
 The world our full allotted years. 
 So blame not God—for our own sin 
 Makes our own tears. 
 
 Douglas Malloch. 
 READ THE WILL AND KNOW 
 
 If we would know what is in a will, let us read 
 the will. If we want to know God’s will on any 
 subject, let us read His will. Suppose a lady 
 should say, “My husband, who was very rich, has 
 passed away; now, I wish I knew whether he left 
 me anything in the will.”. I would say to her, 
 “Why don’t you read the will and see?” The 
 word “testament,” legally speaking, means a per- 
 son’s will. The Bible contains God’s last will and 
 testament, in which He bequeaths to us all the 
 blessings of redemption; and since it is His “last 
 will and testament,” anything later is a forgery. 
 A man never writes a new will after he is dead. 
 If healing is in God’s will for us, then to say that 
 the age of miracles is past is virtually saying what 
 is the opposite of the truth, that a will is no good 
 after the death of the testator. Jesus is not only 
 the testator, who died; He was resurrected, and is 
 also the mediator of the will. He is our lawyer, 
 
 so to speak, and He will not beat us out of the Will, 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 37 
 
 as some earthly lawyers do. He is our Represent- 
 ative at the right hand of God. 
 
 For the answer to the question under considera- 
 tion, let us look away from modern tradition and 
 go to the Word of God, which is a revelation of 
 His will. 
 
 In the 15th chapter of Exodus, just after the 
 passage of the Red sea, which typified our redemp- 
 tion, and “‘was written for our admonition,” God 
 gave His first promise to heal. This promise was 
 for all. God named the conditions, the conditions 
 were met, and we read: “He brought them forth 
 also with silver and gold, and there was not one 
 feeble person among all their tribes.”’ It is here 
 that God gave the covenant of healing, revealed 
 by and sealed with His first covenant and Redemp- 
 tive name, Jehovah-Rapha, translated, “I am the 
 Lord that healeth thee.” This is God’s word, 
 “settled in heaven,” a never-changing fact con- 
 cerning God. 
 
 WHO IS AUTHORIZED TO CHANGE GOD’S WILL? 
 
 To say that this privilege of health is not for 
 God’s people today, is to change God’s “I Am” to 
 “T Was” Jehovah-Rapha. Who has the authority 
 to change God’s Redemptive names? Instead of 
 abandoning His office as Healer, He is “Jesus 
 Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever,” 
 under this first covenant name, as well as under 
 the other six. The blessings revealed by His Re- 
 demptive names, as we have seen in the preceding 
 
38 ' CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 sermon, were provided by the Atonement, when 
 He “tasted death for every man,’ and therefore 
 cannot be confined to Israel. This 15th chapter 
 of Exodus shows us that at least in that age of 
 the world, 3500 years ago, God did not leave the - 
 people in doubt concerning His willingness to heal 
 all, 
 
 A NATION WITHOUT ONE FEEBLE PERSON 
 
 This universal state of health in the nation of 
 Israel continued as long as God’s conditions were 
 met. Then, twenty years later (Numbers 16:46- 
 50) when, because of sin the plague destroyed 
 14,700, they again met conditions, the plague was 
 stayed, and He was still Jehovah-Rapha, the Heal- 
 er, not to some, but to all. It would not be true 
 that the plague was stayed if it remained on even 
 one of them. This state of health again remained 
 uninterrupted until nineteen years later, when 
 the people, not satisfied with God’s way for them, 
 chosen in love and mercy, spake against God and 
 against Moses, and they were cursed with the 
 fiery serpents. When they again met God’s con- 
 ditions, by confessing their sins, His word through 
 Moses to them was, “It shall come to pass that 
 every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it 
 (the type of Calvary) shall live.” So, again, at 
 this time, the Scriptures show us that it was still 
 God’s will to heal, not some, but all. Every one 
 that was bitten lived by beholding the brazen ser- 
 pent, which was a typical foreshadowing of the 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 39 
 
 coming sacrifice upon Calvary in our behalf. 
 
 The Psalmist David, in his time, understood 
 healing to be a universal privilege. In the 86th 
 Psalm he says, “For thou, Lord, art good... 
 plenteous in mercy unto all them call upon Thee.” 
 We shall see, in the following sermon, that healing 
 was one of the most prominent mercies through- 
 out the Scriptures, and that the sick, in the New 
 Testament, asked for ‘mercy’? when seeking heal- 
 
 ing from Christ; for God’s mercy covers man’s 
 ' physical, as well as spiritual, nature. Therefore, 
 Jesus, according to the Old Testament promise, 
 showed that He was “plenteous in mercy,” by heal- 
 ing, not some, but all who came to Him. Again, 
 in the 103rd Psalm, we see that David believed 
 that the mercy of healing was as universal a priv- 
 ilege as the mercy of forgiveness. He calls upon 
 his soul to bless God, “Who forgiveth all thine in- 
 iquities, Who healeth all thy diseases.” “Who 
 healeth all” is as permanent as “Who forgiveth 
 all,’ for the identical language is used with ref- 
 erence to both mercies. 
 
 In the 91st Psalm, God says concerning the man 
 “that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High 
 ... with long life will I satisfy him.” Is the 
 privilege of dwelling in the secret place only for a 
 few or for all? If it is for all, then God’s prom- 
 ise to all is, “With long life will I satisfy him.” 
 God would have to break this promise to be un- 
 willing to heal His obedient children in middle 
 life. If dwelling in the secret place was possible 
 
40 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 in a darker age of the world, surely it is in this 
 better age of grace, during which “He is able to 
 make all grace abound” towards each of His chil- 
 dren. The holy prophets of the Old Testament 
 “prophesied of the grace that should come to us.” 
 
 CALVARY MEETS ALL MAN’S NEEDS 
 
 We have seen, in the great Redemption Chapter, 
 the 58rd of Isaiah, that it is owr sicknesses, as 
 well as our sins that Jesus bore, making one priv- 
 ilege as universal as the other. What Jesus did 
 for individuals who came to Him for blessings was 
 for them, but what He did on Calvary was for all. 
 
 It is clear that in all of these instances cited 
 from the Old Testament it was God’s will to heal 
 all who met the conditions. Wherever forgive- 
 ness was offered, healing was also offered. Let 
 those who teach the people that God’s will in the 
 matter of healing is not the same today answer 
 the question, ‘Why would God withdraw this Old 
 Testament mercy from this better dispensation?” 
 Is it not to be expected that He, Who “hath re- 
 served better things for us” and Who is “the same 
 yesterday, today, and forever” should continue 
 these same mercies throughout this better dis- 
 pensation? Let us now look in the New Testa- 
 ment and see. 
 
 CHRIST THE EXPRESSION OF GOD’S WILL 
 
 There is no better way of ascertaining the prop- 
 er answer to the question before us than by read- 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 41 
 
 ing the Gospels, which record the teachings and 
 the works of Christ. He was the expression of 
 the Father’s will. His life was both a revelation 
 and a manifestation of the unchanging love and 
 will of God. He literally acted out the will of God 
 for Adam’s race. He said, “I came down from 
 heaven, not to do my will, but the will of Him that 
 sent Me,” and that “the Father that dwelleth in 
 Me, He doeth the works.” He also said, “He that 
 ‘ hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” therefore, 
 when He healed the multitudes who thronged 
 Him, day after day, we see the Father revealing 
 His will. When “He laid His hands on every one 
 of them, and healed them” He was doing and re- 
 vealing the will of God for our bodies. Perhaps 
 no one would be more conservative than the schol- 
 ars of the Episcopalian church, and yet, the com- 
 mission appointed to study the subject of spiritual 
 healing and report back to the church, after three 
 years of study and research in both the Bible and 
 history, say in their report, “The healing of the 
 sick by Jesus was done as a revelation of God’s 
 will for man.”’ Because they discovered that His 
 will is fully revealed, they further say, ““No longer 
 can the Church pray for the sick with the faith- 
 destroying, qualifying phrase ‘If it be Thy will.’ ” 
 
 The message everywhere taught in the Gospels 
 is one of complete healing for soul and body for 
 all who come to Him. Many today say, “I believe 
 in healing, but I do not believe it is for every one.” 
 If it is not, how could we pray the prayer of faith 
 
A2 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 for any, or even for one whom it is God’s will to 
 heal, until we have a revelation by the Spirit that 
 we are praying for the right one? If it is not 
 God’s will to heal all, then no man can ascertain 
 the will of God for himself from the Bible. Are 
 we to understand from these teachers that we 
 must close our Bibles and get our revelation direct 
 from the Spirit, before we can pray for the sick, 
 because the will of God cannot be ascertained from 
 the Scriptures? 
 
 This would be virtually teaching that the whole 
 of the Divine activity on the line of healing would 
 have to be governed by the direct revelation of the 
 Spirit, instead of by the Scriptures. How are 
 the sick to be healed if there is no Gospel (good 
 news) of healing to proclaim to them as a basis 
 for their faith? Or, since faith is expecting God 
 to keep His promise, how can there be faith for 
 healing if there is no promise in the Bible that the 
 sick can apply to himself? The Scriptures tell us 
 how God heals the sick. ‘“‘He sendeth His Word 
 and healeth them and delivereth them from their 
 graves.” (Psa. 107:20.) “ ... the word of God 
 which effectually worketh” in them that believe, 
 and is “health to all their flesh.” (See I Thes,. 2: 
 12; Prov. 4:22.) 
 
 FAITH RESTS ON MORE THAN MERE ABILITY 
 
 If a millionaire were to appear before an au- 
 dience of a thousand people, with the announce- 
 ment that he was able to give each one a thousand 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 43 
 
 dollars, this would be no basis for any to have 
 faith for a thousand dollars, because faith cannot 
 rest on ability. If he should go further, and say, 
 “T will give fifty of you a thousand dollars each,” 
 even then there is no basis for any one in the au- 
 dience to have faith for the thousand. dollars. 
 Were you to ask one of them if he or she were 
 “fully assured” of receiving a thousand dollars 
 from the millionaire, the answer would be, “I need 
 ‘the money, and hope I am among the lucky ones, 
 but I cannot be sure.”’ But, should the millionaire 
 say, “It is my will to give all a thousand dollars 
 each,” then every one in the audience would have 
 a ground for faith, and would undoubtedly say to 
 the rich man, “Thank you! I’ll take my money.” 
 
 Now, supposing God were a respecter of per- 
 sons, and that it was His will to heal only some of 
 those who need healing, let us take a glance 
 through the Gospels, and see how the friends of 
 the sick decided which of the sick to bring to Him 
 for healing. ‘Now, when the sun was setting, all 
 they that had any sick with divers diseases, 
 brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on 
 every one of them and healed them.” (Luke 4:40.) 
 Here the unlucky ones, if there were any, were 
 brought, and all healed the same as the others. 
 Surely, it was God doing and revealing His own 
 will. If you had been there and were sick, you 
 would have been brought, and would have been 
 healed with the rest, because they brought them 
 all. Matthew, in his record of this same instance, 
 
44 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 tells why Jesus made no exceptions. “He healed 
 them all, that it might be fulfilled which was spok- 
 en by Esaias, the prophet, saying, “Himself took 
 our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” The 
 word “our”? means everybody, in the sacrifice of 
 Calvary, and it therefore requires the healing of 
 all, to fulfil the prophecy. Not only on this occa- 
 sion, but on every occasion since, down until today, 
 He heals the sick “that it might be fulfilled which 
 was spoken by Esaias, the Prophet, saying, Him- 
 self took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” 
 
 Let the sick go through the Gospels and note the 
 all’s and the every’s and they will see that the re- 
 demptive blessing of healing was for all, and that 
 no one ever appealed in vain to Jesus for healing. 
 There never was a multitude large enough to have 
 in it even one that Jesus wanted to remain sick, 
 and would not heal. 
 
 JESUS HEALED EVERYTHING AND ALL 
 
 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching. . . and 
 preaching the Gospel . . . and healing all manner of siek- 
 nesses, and all manner of disease among the people. And 
 His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought un- 
 to Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases 
 and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, 
 and those that had palsy; and He healed them (all—Mof- 
 fat’s translation) . . . And there followed Him great mul- 
 titudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and 
 from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond 
 Jordan. (Matt. 4:23-25.) 
 
 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages teach- 
 ing ... and preaching the Gospel .. . and healing every 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 45 
 
 sickness and every disease among the people. But when 
 He saw the multitudes He was moved with compassion on 
 them . . . And when He had called unto Him His twelve 
 disciples He gave them power against unclean spirits to 
 cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all 
 manner of disease. (Matt. 9:35 to Matt. 10:1.) 
 
 Note, here, that it was the multitudes coming 
 for healing that necessitated the thrusting forth 
 of new laborers into His harvest to preach and to 
 heal. It was not long until seventy more were 
 needed, and were sent forth to heal as well as to 
 preach. 
 
 But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew Himself from 
 thence, and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed 
 them all. (Matt. 12:15.) 
 
 And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and 
 was moved with compassion toward them, and healed their 
 sick. (Matt. 14:14.) 
 
 And when they were gone over they came into the land 
 of Gennesaret, and when the men of that place had knowl- 
 edge of Him they sent out into all that country round 
 about, and brought unto Him all that were diseased; and 
 besought Him that they might only touch the hem of His 
 garment, and as many as touched were made perfectly 
 whole. (Matt. 14:34-36.) 
 
 And a great multitude of the people out of all Judea 
 and Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, 
 which came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases, 
 and they that were vexed with unclean spirits, and they 
 were healed, and the whole multitude sought to touch Him 
 for there went virtue out of Him, and healed them all. 
 (Luke 6:17-19.) 
 
 We see throughout the Gospels that, in bringing 
 the sick to Christ for healing, it was repeatedly 
 
 stated that they brought them all, which included 
 
46 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 all the unlucky ones if there were any. If, accord- 
 ing to modern tradition, it is God’s will for the 
 sick to patiently remain so for His glory, is it not 
 strange that there should not be even one of this 
 class in all these multitudes brought to Christ for 
 healing? By healing the epileptic (Mark 9:14-29) 
 Jesus proved it to be the Father’s will to heal even 
 this one whom the disciples, divinely commis- 
 sioned to cast out demons failed to deliver. We 
 see by this verse that it would have been wrong 
 to call in question and to teach God’s unwillingness 
 to heal because of this failure on the part of the 
 disciples. Jesus, by healing him, shows them that 
 the failure proved nothing but unbelief. Peter, 
 after three years of constant association with the 
 Lord, describes His earthly ministry in this one 
 brief statement: “God anointed Jesus of Naza- 
 reth with the Holy Ghost and with Power, Who 
 went about doing good, and healing all that were 
 oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him.” 
 (Acts 10:38.) . 
 
 So, in all the above, and many other Scriptures 
 which show He healed them all, we have the will 
 of God revealed for our bodies, and the answer to 
 the question, “Is healing for all?” 
 
 COMPASSIONATE LOVE JESUS RULING MOTIVE 
 
 Many, in our day, have been taught that Christ 
 performed miracles of healing just to show His 
 power and to prove His deity. This may be true, 
 but it is far from being all the truth. He would 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 47 
 
 not have had to heal all to show His power; a few 
 outstanding cases would prove this. But the 
 Scriptures show that he healed because of His 
 compassion and to fulfil prophecy. Others teach 
 that He healed the sick to make Himself known, 
 but in Matt. 12:15, 16, we read, “Great multitudes 
 followed Him, and He healed them all, and charged 
 them that they should not make Him known.” 
 
 _ Some, who have to admit that Jesus healea all 
 who came to Him, hold that Isaiah’s prophecy con- 
 cerning His bearing our sicknesses refers only to 
 . His earthly ministry; that this universal mani- 
 festation of His compassion was special, and not a 
 revelation of the unchanging will of God. But 
 the Bible clearly teaches that He only “began to do 
 and teach” what was not only to be continued, but 
 augmented, after His ascension. 
 
 After Christ, for three years, had healed all that 
 came to Him, He said, “It is expedient (profit- 
 able) for you that I go away.” 
 
 How could this be true if His going away would 
 modify His ministry to the afflicted? 
 
 Anticipating the unbelief with which this won- 
 derful promise would be regarded, He prefaced 
 His promise to continue the same and greater 
 works in answer to our prayers after His exalta- 
 tion, with the words “Verily, verily.” “Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me, 
 the works that I do shall he do also; and greater 
 works than these shall he do, because I go unto My 
 Father, and (how are we to do them?) whatso- 
 
48 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 ever ye ask the Father in My name that will J do, 
 that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” 
 (John 14:12, 13.) 
 
 In other words, we are to do them by asking 
 Him to do them. 
 
 He did not say “less works,” but “the works” 
 and “greater” works.” 
 
 To me, this promise from the lips of Christ is a 
 complete answer to all opposers and to all their 
 books and articles against Divine healing. 
 
 “It is written” was Christ’s policy when resist- 
 ing the devil. 
 
 Wm. Jennings Bryan well asks, “Since Christ 
 said ‘It is written,’ and the devil said ‘It is writ- 
 ten,’ why can’t the preacher say ‘It is written?’ ” 
 
 THE WISDOM OF THE EARLY CHURCH 
 
 The early Church took Christ at His word and 
 prayed unitedly for signs and wonders of healing, 
 until “the place was shaken where they were as- 
 sembled together,” and then “they brought forth 
 the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and 
 couches ... There came also a multitude out of 
 the cities round about Jerusalem, bringing sick 
 folks, and they which were vexed with unclean 
 spirits, and they were healed every one.” “All 
 that Jesus began to do and to teach” He was here 
 continuing from the right hand of God through 
 “His Body, the Church,” according to His promise. 
 Some say, “Oh, that was only in the beginning of 
 the Acts, for the purpose of confirming their word 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 49 
 
 regarding Christ’s resurrection. 
 
 Let us, then, turn to the last chapter of Acts, 
 and read how, thirty years later, after Paul, on 
 the island of Melita, had healed the father of 
 Publius, “All the other sick people in the island 
 came, and were cured.” (Weymouth.) 
 
 SO we see, again, at this time, in the very last 
 chapter of the Acts of the Holy Ghost, which is 
 the only unfinished book of the New Testament, it 
 is still the will of God to heal; not some, but all. 
 
 THE ACTS OF THE HOLY GHOST 
 
 The Holy Spirit, Whom Christ sent as His Suc- 
 cessor and Executive, took possession of the 
 Church, which is the Body of Christ, and showed 
 the same healing power after Pentecost that 
 Christ had displayed before, and vast multitudes 
 were healed. As in the Gospels, so in the Acts, 
 we never read of any one asking for healing and 
 being denied. Men have named this book the 
 “Acts of the Apostles.” A better and a truer name 
 for this book would be “The Acts of the Holy 
 Ghost,” because it records the acts of the Holy 
 Ghost through others as well as the Apostles. 
 Phillip and Stephen, who were not Apostles, were 
 as gloriously used as Peter and John. The Holy 
 Spirit came to execute for us all the blessings 
 purchased by Christ’s redemption, and pledged by 
 the seven redemptive names. He has never lost 
 any of His interest in the work He came to do. 
 If you wish to know how He wants to act today, 
 
50 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 read how He did act. The book of Acts shows us 
 how He wants to act throughout “all the days, 
 even unto the end of the age.” 
 
 It was the Holy Spirit Who worked all the mir- 
 acles of healing at the hands of Christ. Jesus 
 never undertook a miracle until, in answer to His 
 prayer, the Holy Spirit, the Miracle-Worker, came 
 upon Him, and then, in full reliance upon the Spir- 
 it, He cast out devils and healed the sick. The 
 miracles of Christ were all done by the Spirit in 
 advance of His own dispensation, or before He 
 had yet entered officially into office. Why would 
 the Holy Spirit, Who healed all the sick before 
 His dispensation began, do less after He entered 
 office? Did the Miracle-Worker enter office to do 
 away with miracles during His own dispensation? 
 
 Is the teaching and the practice of the Church 
 in the matter of healing in this Laodicean (luke- 
 warm) period of her history a truer expression of 
 the will of God than the teaching and practice of 
 the early Church while under the full sway of the 
 Spirit? Decidedly not! I hesitate not to say that 
 modern theology has robbed the Holy Spirit of a 
 part of His ministry. 
 
 Now, in summing up what we have thus far 
 written, we have a revelation from many angles of 
 
 CHRIST’S MERCIFUL ATTITUDE TOWARD OUR SICK- 
 NESSES AND INFIRMITIES SINCE HIS EX- 
 ALTATION AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD 
 
 We deal now, not with the past, but only with 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 51 
 
 Christ’s present attitude towards sickness and dis- 
 ease. 
 
 1. Christ’s present attitude is fully revealed by 
 His redemptive name Jehovah-Rapha. His re- 
 demptive names cannot change. All will admit 
 that His other six redemptive names are a rev- 
 elation of His present attitude in the matter of be- 
 stowing the blessing that each name was given to 
 reveal. By what logic, then, can we suppose that 
 -He has abandoned His office as Healer, revealed 
 by the name Jehovah-Rapha? 
 
 2. His present attitude is again fully revealed 
 by His own definite promise to continue and aug- 
 ment His healing ministry in answer to the pray- 
 er of believers while He is at the right hand of 
 God. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that be- 
 lieveth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; 
 and greater works than these shall ye do, because 
 I go unto My Father. And whatsoever ye shall 
 ask in My name that will I do that the Father may 
 be glorified in the Son.” (St. John 14:12, 18.) 
 
 8. His present attitude is revealed by His own 
 fulfilment of the above promise, recorded in the 
 Book of Acts. Even in the very last-chapter, 30 
 years after His ascension, we read, “All the other 
 sick veople in the island came and were cured.” 
 (Acts 28:9, Weymouth.) 
 
 4. His present attitude is revealed by the fact 
 that healing is a part of the Gospel that Christ 
 commanded to be preached 
 
 To “all the world” 
 
52 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 To “all nations ” 
 
 To “every creature ”’ 
 
 Throughout “all the days ” 
 
 Even unto the end of the (present) age.” 
 
 This commission is followed by the promise 
 
 “they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall 
 recover.” 
 
 5. His present attitude is revealed by the fact 
 that His substitutionary work on Calvary was in 
 behalf of all those who live on earth during His 
 exaltation at the right hand of the Father. We 
 have seen in the preceding sermon that, as in 
 Leviticus it is recorded that all disease was healed 
 on the ground of Atonement, so Matthew tells us 
 that the Atonement was Christ’s reason for mak- 
 ing no exceptions in healing the sick who came to 
 Him. 
 
 6. His present attitude is revealed by the plain 
 command to “any sick” in the Church, while He 
 is with the Father, to ask for anointing and 
 prayer with the promise “the Lord shall raise him 
 up.” (James 5:14.) . Does He mean we shall 
 pray with faith or without it? How can we pray 
 “the prayer of faith’ unless it is His will to heal; 
 or, does He command us to pray for a thing He 
 will not do? Right here, even laymen are com- 
 manded to confess their faults one to another and 
 pray one for the other, for healing, with the pur- 
 pose that Elijah prayed for rain. (James 5:16- 
 18). 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 53 
 
 Would God command us to thus importune for 
 what it is not His will todo? Certainly not! 
 
 7. His present attitude is revealed by the fact 
 that it is since His exaltation that He “set” (es- 
 tablished) in the Church teachers, miracles, gifts 
 of healing, etc., for the continuance of the “‘same 
 works” and “greater works” which He promised 
 He would continue from God’s right hand. His- 
 tory records the manifestation of these miraculous 
 gifts since the days of the apostles down to the 
 present time. 
 
 THE UNCHANGEABLE COMPASSION OF JESUS 
 
 8. His present attitude toward our sicknesses 
 is wonderfully revealed by the fact that since His 
 exaltation, His compassion has neither been with- 
 drawn nor modified. 
 
 In a later sermon, on the subject of the Lord’s 
 compassion, we shall see that during the earthly 
 ministry of our Lord He was everywhere “moved 
 with compassion and healed all that had need of 
 healing.” The same Greek word that is trans- 
 lated ‘“‘mercy” is also repeatedly translated ‘“‘com- 
 passion,” for they are the same. When two blind 
 men asked for mercy, Jesus was moved with com- 
 passion and healed them. 
 
 Since bodily healing, in the New Testament, is 
 everywhere a mercy (it being mercy, or compas- 
 sion, that moved Him to heal all that came to 
 Him), is not the promise still true that He is 
 “‘plenteous in mercy unto all that call” upon Him? 
 
54 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 Does not this glorious Gospel dispensation proffer 
 as much mercy and compassion to its sufferers as 
 did the darker dispénsation? The Rev. Kenneth 
 Mackenzie, a noted teacher and writer of the Epis- 
 copalian church, asks on this point, “Could the 
 loving heart of the Son of God, Who had compas- 
 sion upon the sick, and healed all who had need of 
 healing, cease to regard the sufferings of His own 
 when He had become exalted at the right hand of 
 the Father?” 
 
 AN ABSURD FEATURE OF MODERN THEOLOGY 
 
 Is it not strange that any one in this better age 
 of grace should take a position which would be 
 synonymous with saying that the manifestation 
 of Christ’s compassion to the afflicted has been 
 withdrawn, or even modified, since His glorifica- 
 tion? If God is not as willing to show the mercy 
 of healing to His worshippers as He is to show the 
 mercy of forgiveness to His enemies, then He is 
 more willing to show mercy to the devil’s children 
 than His own. The Scriptures deny this by say- 
 ing, “The mercy (compassion) of the Lord is from 
 everlasting to everlasting (not upon the sinner 
 alone, but) upon them that fear Him,” for He 
 loves His own sick and suffering child even more 
 than He loves the sinner. Thank God ‘‘His mercy 
 (compassion) is unto all generations.” 
 
 9. His present attitude is revealed by the fact 
 that, in the Old Testament year of Jubilee, which 
 Jesus, in the 4th chapter of Luke, applies to the 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 55 
 
 Gospel era, it was “every man” who was told to 
 return to his possession. As in the year of Jubi- 
 lee its blessings were for “every man,” so in the 
 Gospel era, its blessings are for “every creature.” 
 This is more fully developed in the preceding ser- 
 mon. 
 
 10. His present attitude is also revealed by the 
 fact that “He hath redeemed ws (ail of us) from 
 the curse of the law.” (Gal. 3:13.) We have 
 ’ seen in the preceding sermon that this curse in- 
 cluded all the diseases known to history. How 
 ean God justify us and at the same time require us 
 to remain under the curse from which He re- 
 deemed us? 
 
 . THE EARNEST OF COMPLETE REDEMPTION 
 
 11. His present attitude is revealed by the fact 
 that the Holy Spirit and His work in us is “The 
 earnest of our inheritance until the redemption 
 of the purchased possession.” (Eph. 1:14.) We 
 have already pointed out that because our eternal 
 destiny is both spiritual and bodily, our redemp- 
 tion also must be. Therefore we cannot receive our 
 full inheritance until the coming Day of Redemp- 
 tion, but, thank God, by being filled with the Spir- 
 it, we now have the “earnest” of it. Paul tells us, 
 “We have the firstfruits of the Spirit,” and these 
 are manifested both spiritually and physically. 
 The “firstfruits of the Spirit’’ include the earnest 
 of immortality, which is a foretaste of the resur- 
 rection. Since our bodies are members of Christ, 
 
56 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 His glorified bodily life is as truly linked with our 
 bodies, as His spiritual life is linked with our spir- 
 its. The same life that is in the vine is in its 
 branches; and in Christ, “the True Vine,” there 
 is both spiritual and bodily life. It is only by 
 bringing into our bodies some of the same life that 
 He is to bring at the resurrection that the Spirit 
 can be the earnest of our inheritance to the body. 
 Sincg our inheritance includes a glorified body, 
 what must the Earnest be? Thank God, “the life 
 also of Jesus” may ‘‘be made manifest in our mor- 
 tal flesh’—immortal life touching our mortal bod- 
 ies with a foretaste of redemption, to enable us to 
 finish our course, in order that we may ‘“‘receive a 
 full reward.” 
 
 12. Does not nature itself reveal the present 
 attitude of Christ toward the healing of our bod- 
 ies? Nature everywhere is healing, or at least 
 doing her best to heal. As soon as disease germs 
 enter our bodies, nature begins to expel them. 
 Break a bone, or cut a finger, and nature will do 
 her utmost to heal, and usually succeeds. Now, 
 has God commanded nature to rebel against His 
 own will? If sickness is the will of God for His 
 children, would it not seem that He has? 
 
 GOD’S USE OF BODILY AFFLICTION 
 
 If sickness, as some think, is the will of God for 
 His faithful children, then it is a sin for them 
 even to desire to be well, to say nothing of spend- 
 ing thousands of dollars to defeat His purpose. 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 57 
 
 I truly thank God for all the help that has ever 
 come to sufferers through the physician, through 
 the surgeon, the hospital and the trained nurse; 
 but, if sickness is the will of God, then, to quote 
 one writer, “Every physician is a law-breaker; 
 every trained nurse is defying the Almighty; ev- 
 ery hospital is a house of rebellion, instead of a 
 house of mercy,” and, instead of supporting hos- 
 pitals, we ought to do our utmost to close every 
 one. | 
 If the modern theology of those who teach that 
 God wants some of His worshipers to remain sick 
 for His glory is true, then Jesus, during His earth- 
 ly ministry, never hesitated to rob the Father of 
 all the glory He could by healing all who came to 
 Him. The Holy Spirit, likewise, robbed Him of 
 all the glory He could by healing all the sick in 
 the streets of Jerusalem. And Paul, too, robbed 
 God of all the glory he could by healing all the sick 
 on the island of Melita. 
 
 Many today hold that God afflicts even the obe- 
 dient, because He loves them, making sickness a 
 love-token from our Heavenly Father. If this is 
 true, why do they try to get rid of His love-token? 
 Why does not the one suffering with a cancer pray 
 for the second blessing for themselves, and also 
 ask Him to thus bless wife, children, father, moth- 
 er, neighbors, etc.? 
 
 Does not God sometimes chasten His people 
 through sickness? Decidedly yes! When we dis- 
 obey God, sickness may be permitted, through the 
 
iy, ‘ 
 
 58 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 Father’s loving discipline; but God has told us just 
 how it may be avoided and averted. ‘If we would 
 judge ourselves we should not be judged, but when 
 we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, that 
 we should not be condemned with the world.” 
 (I Cor. 11:31, 32.) These chastenings come to 
 save us from final judgment; but when we see the 
 cause of the chastening, and turn from it, God 
 promises it shall be withdrawn. As soon as “we 
 judge ourselves,” or learn our lesson, the absolute 
 promise is “‘we shall not be judged.” By self- 
 judgment we may avoid chastening. Divine heal- 
 ing is not unconditionally promised to all chris- 
 tians, regardless of their conduct. It is for those 
 who believe and obey. “All the paths of the Lord 
 are mercy and truth unto such as keep His Cov- 
 enant and His testimonies.” (Psa. 25:10.) 
 
 13. His attitude now is shown by the fact that 
 “He was manifested to destroy the works of the 
 devil.” (I John 3:8.) Think of His leaving 
 heaven and making the awful transition of becom- 
 ing a man, and of all the suffering and sacrifice 
 that followed. What was the purpose that moved 
 Him in all this? The Scriptures give the answer 
 —‘For this purpose ... that He might destroy 
 the works of the devil.”” This purpose includes 
 the healing of “all that were oppressed of the dev- 
 il.” (Acts 10:38.) Since He was glorified has 
 He relinquished this purpose, which He retained 
 even during the bloody sweat of Gethsemane and 
 the awful tortures of Calvary? Does He want 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 59 
 
 the works of the devil that He formerly wanted 
 to destroy to remain in our bodies? Can it be that 
 He now wants a cancer, a “plague,” a “curse,” 
 “the works of the devil,” in “the members of 
 Christ,” and “the temples of the Holy Ghost?” Is 
 it not His will to heal any part of “the Body of 
 Christ?” If not, why has He commanded “any 
 sick’ in it to be anointed in His name for heal- 
 ing? 
 
 Since ‘‘the Body is for the Lord,” a ‘‘living sac- 
 rifice unto God,” would He not rather have a well 
 body than one that is a wreck? If not, how can 
 He make us “perfect in every good work to do His 
 will?” Is God’s expressed will that we ‘“‘may 
 abound unto every good work,” that we may be 
 “prepared unto every good work,” “throughly 
 furnished unto all good works,” ‘‘zealous of good 
 works,” and “careful to maintain good works” 
 only for well men and women? If for all, He 
 would have to heal the sick to make this possible, 
 because no man can “abound unto every good 
 work” while confined to a sick room. 
 
 SALVATION ALL-INCLUSIVE 
 
 14. His present attitude is revealed in the very 
 meaning of the word “salvation.” The word 
 soteria, which is the Greek word for salvation, 
 implies deliverance, preservation, healing, health, © 
 soundness, and, in the New Testament is applied 
 sometimes to the soul, and at other times to the 
 body only. The Greek word ‘“‘sogo” translated 
 
i” 
 
 60 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 “saved,” also means “healed,” “made sound,” 
 “made whole.” In Romans 10:9 it is translated 
 “saved,” and in Acts 14:9 the same word is trans- 
 lated “healed” in referring to the healing of the 
 man lame from birth. Both Greek words fer 
 “salvation” and “saved” mean both spiritual and 
 physical salvation; or, in other words, spiritual 
 and physical healing. Paul, in Eph. 5:23, states, 
 “He is the Savior of the body.” 
 
 Is this for some, or for all? 
 
 Dr. Schofield, in his foot-note on the word “sal- 
 vation” says, “Salvation is the great inclusive 
 word of the Gospel, gathering into itself all the 
 redemptive acts and processes.” The word there- 
 fore, includes our possession and enjoyment of all 
 the blessings revealed by His seven redemptive 
 names; in fact, these names were given to show 
 what our salvation includes. It is therefore the 
 Gospel of healing for the body, as well as for the 
 soul, which “is the power of God unto salvation to 
 every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also 
 to the Greek.” “The same Lord over all is rich 
 unto all that call upon Him.” 
 
 A SUGGESTIVE COMPARISOW 
 
 The proofs of Divine healing among those who 
 say that they have been healed are not less bright 
 and convincing than the proofs of regeneration 
 are among those who today call themselves chris- 
 tians. Are not those who testify that they have 
 been healed in better health physically than 
 
IS HEALING FOR ALL? 61 
 
 many an equal number of christians are spirit- 
 ually? Would not the physical health of those 
 who have been healed compare favorably with the 
 spiritual health even of the average minister to- 
 day? I think that the average christian, and even 
 the average minister today, is a poorer proof of 
 the scriptural doctrine of regeneration than those 
 who testify to healing are of the doctrine of heal- 
 _ing; and yet the former have heard vastly more 
 teaching as a basis for their faith for salvation. 
 
 Are all who have been baptized washed from 
 all their sins? No! But those who have faith 
 are; and what water is, in the ordinance of chris- 
 tian baptism, oil is, in the ordinance of anointing 
 the sick for healing. 
 
THE LORD’S COMPASSION 
 
 The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to 
 anger, and ef great mercy. The Lord is good to all: and 
 His tender mercies are over all His works (Psa. 145:8-9.) 
 
 In the study of the Lord’s compassion, we have, 
 to my mind, a complete revelation of the Lord’s 
 willingness to heal. During His earthly ministry 
 He was everywhere moved with compassion, and 
 healed all “them that had need of healing;”’ and 
 it is “this same Jesus” who, after saying, “It is 
 expedient for you that I go away,” is now seated 
 at the right hand of God, “that He might be a 
 merciful (compassionate) and faithful High 
 Priest” for us. . 
 
 In the Scriptures, “compassion” and “mercy” 
 mean the same. The Hebrew noun, rachamin, is 
 translated both “mercy” and “compassion.” The 
 Greek verb, eleeo, is translated “have mercy” and 
 “have compassion;” and, likewise, the Greek ad- 
 jective eleemon is defined “‘merciful—compassion- 
 ate.” 
 
 To have compassion is to love tenderly, to pity, 
 to show mercy, to be full of eager yearning. 
 
 GOD NOTHING SO MUCH AS LOVE 
 The text above begins with “the Lord is gracious 
 
CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 63 
 
 and full of-compassion.” These sentiments con-~ 
 cerning the nature of God are expressed over and 
 over throughout the Scriptures. God is not any- 
 thing so much as He is Love. The most conspic- 
 uous statements in the Scriptures about our 
 heavenly Father are the declarations concerning 
 His love, His mercy, His compassion. There is no 
 note that can be sounded concerning God’s char- 
 acter that will so inspire faith as this one. In our 
 revivals, I have seen faith rise “mountain high” 
 when the truth of God’s present love and compas- 
 sion began to dawn upon the minds and hearts of 
 the people. It is not what God can do, but what 
 we know He yearns to do, that inspires faith. 
 ‘By showing His compassion everywhere in the 
 healing of the sick, Jesus unveiled the compas- 
 sionate heart of God to the people, and the multi- 
 tudes came to Him for help. Oh, how insidiously 
 has Satan worked to hide this glorious fact from 
 the people. He has broadcasted the unscriptural, 
 illogical and worn-out statement, that the age of 
 miracles is past, until he has almost succeeded in 
 eclipsing the compassion of God from the eyes of 
 the world. Modern theology magnifies the power 
 of God more than it magnifies His compassion; 
 His power more than it does the great fact that 
 “the exceeding greatness of His power (is) to us- 
 ward.” But the Bible reverses this, and magnifies 
 His willingness to use His power more than it does 
 the power itself. In no place does the Bible say 
 that “God is power,” but it does say, that “God is 
 
64 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 love.” It is not faith in God’s power that secures 
 His blessings, but faith in His love and in His 
 will. 
 
 GOD’S LOVE VEILED BY MODERN THEOLOGY 
 
 The first statement in our text above is, “the 
 Lord is gracious,” meaning, “He is disposed to 
 te show favors.” This glorious fact, that shines 
 with such brilliancy throughout the Scriptures, 
 has been so eclipsed by modern theology that we 
 hear everywhere, the Lord is able instead of “the 
 Lord is gracious.” Hundreds needing healing 
 have come or written to us, saying, concerning 
 their need of deliverance, “the Lord is able;” but 
 their teaching, as well as their lack of teaching, 
 has kept them from knowing that the Lord is will- 
 ing. How much faith does it take to say “the 
 Lord is able?” The devil knows God is able, and 
 he knows He is willing; but he has kept the people 
 from knowing the latter fact. Satan is willing we 
 shall magnify the Lord’s power, because he knows 
 that this is not a sufficient basis for faith; but he 
 knows the Lord’s compassion and willingness is. 
 
 Before praying for the healing of people, we 
 have to wait to teach them the Word of God until 
 they can say, “the Lord is gracious,” instead of 
 “the Lord is willing.’’ This is exactly what Jesus 
 had to do before healing the leper who said, “If 
 thou wilt thou canst.” He showed His willing- 
 ness, so that the man could really expect healing. 
 
 In the preceding sermon, we have presented | 
 
CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 65 
 
 many scriptural proofs of the Lord’s present will- 
 ingness to heal. But even when we can advance 
 from saying “He is able’ to saying “He is willing,” 
 this is not enough. The word “willing” is too 
 tame to fully express God’s merciful attitude to- 
 ward us. ‘He delighteth in mercy.” (Mic. 7:18). 
 We have His attitude more fully expressed in 
 II Chron. 16:9, “For the eyes of the Lord run to 
 and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Him- 
 self strong in the behalf of them whose heart is 
 perfect toward Him.” This text exhibits our 
 Lord as not only being willing, but eager to pour 
 His blessings in great profusion upon all who 
 make it possible for Him to do so. “For the eyes 
 of the Lord run to and fro,” or, in other words, He 
 is ever hunting for opportunities to gratify His 
 benevolent heart, because “He delighteth in mer- 
 cy.” 
 
 Benevolence is the great attribute of God; 
 therefore, if you want to please Him remove the 
 obstacles out of the way of the exercise of His 
 benevolence. He is Infinitely Good, and He exists 
 forever in a state of entire consecration to pour 
 forth blessings upon His creatures whenever they 
 
 make it possible, which all may do. Suppose the 
 vast Pacific ocean were elevated high above us. 
 Then conceive of its pressure into every crevice to 
 find an outlet through which it might pour its 
 ocean-tides over all the earth, and you have a pic- 
 ture of God’s benevolent attitude toward us. 
 
66 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 A SERIOUS CHALLENGE 
 
 After being first properly enlightened, I chal- 
 lenge you, Reader, to place yourself where God’s 
 mercy can reach you without His having to violate 
 the glorious principles of His moral government, | 
 then wait and see if you don’t experience the most 
 overwhelming demonstration of His love and mer- 
 cy, and the blessing will flow until you have 
 reached the limit of your expectation. Cornelius 
 placed himself where God’s mercy could reach him 
 by saying to Peter, ‘We are all here present before 
 God to hear all things that are commanded thee 
 of God,’”’ and he found God’s goodness so great 
 that He could not wait for Peter to finish his ser- 
 mon. Just as soon as Peter had spoken enough 
 to be a basis for their faith, down came the bless- 
 ing. 
 
 Not only is God able, but He is also willing to do 
 “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or 
 think.” His love is so great that it could not be 
 fully gratified by blessing all the holy beings in the 
 universe; therefore, it is extended to His enemies 
 “throughout the whole earth.” It seems to me 
 that God would rather we should doubt His ability 
 than His willingness. I would rather have a man 
 who is in trouble say to me, “Brother Bosworth, 
 I know you would help me if you could” (doubting 
 
 my ability) than to say, “I know you can, but I 
 have no confidence in your disposition to help me.” 
 Again, the text at the head of this sermon fur- 
 
CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 67 
 
 ther states that the Lord is “full of compassion; 
 slow to anger, and of great mercy.” When I 
 think of how the Lord so floods owr hearts with 
 His tender love, until, in intercession for others 
 our hearts are too full of yearnings to utter their 
 feelings (yearnings that “cannot be uttered’’), I 
 stand in awe, and wonder what His compassion 
 must be. A mother’s compassion for her suffering 
 - child makes her not only willing to relieve the 
 child, but to suffer if she cannot. The Greek 
 word sumpathes, (translated “compassion’’) 
 means to suffer with another.” Accordingly, 
 Isaiah says: “In all their affliction He was af- 
 flicted.”” Is it not strange that this wondrous fact 
 of His mercy toward the sick, so clearly seen and 
 applied during the darker ages of the Old Testa- 
 ment, should be overlooked and set aside in this 
 “better” age, in which is opened the way for the 
 fullest possible manifestations of His mercy 
 toward every phase of human need? 
 
 THE BENEVOLENT HEART OF GOD REACHES ALL 
 
 Our text, after showing the greatness of His 
 compassion, closes with the logical conclusion, 
 “The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies 
 are over all His works. In other words, He is so 
 “full of compassion” that he cannot be “a Respect- 
 er of persons” in the bestowal of His mercies. How 
 could He (Who being unable to fully gratify His 
 benevolent heart by blessing Holy Beings, extends 
 His mercies to the wicked of earth) withhold the 
 
68 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 common blessing of healing from any of His own 
 obedient children? 
 
 What a strange doctrine that the sick are not to 
 look for as much mercy during this age of grace, 
 which prophets and kings desired to. see, and 
 Angels desired to look into, as sufferers did during 
 the darker ages. Is God now more willing to show 
 the mercy of forgiveness to the devil’s children 
 than He is the mercy of healing to his own? The 
 fact is, He loves His own sick and suffering child 
 even more than He loves the sinner, and “the 
 mercy (compassion) of the Lord is from ever- 
 lasting to everlasting (not upon sinners alone, 
 but) upon them that fear Him’. “Like as a father 
 pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that 
 fear Him’. As the Heaven is high above the 
 earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear 
 Him,” as well as to the sinner. The sick christian 
 can say, with Solomon, “ . . . there is no God like 
 thee . . . which keepest covenant and showeth 
 
 mercy unto thy servants that walk before thee 
 with all their hearts.” (II Chron. 6:14.) Not 
 some, but “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and 
 truth (not unto His enemies, but) unto such as 
 keep His covenant and His testimonies.” (Psa. 25: 
 10). 
 
 INSTANCES OF THE LORD’S COMPASSION 
 
 Now let us look at a few passages from the 
 Gospels, showing the Lord’s compassion. 
 
CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 69 
 
 Mark 1:40-45, “And there came a leper to Him, be- 
 seeching Him, and kneeling down to Him, and saying unto 
 Him, ‘if thou wilt thou canst make me clean.’ And J esus, 
 moved with compassion, put forth His hand, and touched 
 him, and saith unto him, ‘I will; be thou clean.’ And as 
 soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed 
 from him, and he was cleansed; ... and they came to 
 Him from every quarter.” 
 
 Here it was compassion that moved Christ to 
 heal this leper. 
 
 Matthew 14:13, 14. “ ... He departed thence by ship 
 into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard 
 thereof they followed Him on foot out of the cities. And 
 Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was 
 moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their 
 sick.” 
 
 Here, as elsewhere, He was “plenteous in mer- 
 cy” to “all that had need of healing;’’ and it was 
 His compassion that moved Him. 
 
 Matthew 20: 29-34. “And as they departed from Jer- 
 icho, a great multitude followed Him. And, behold, two 
 blind men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that 
 Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, ‘Have mercy on us, O 
 Lord, thou Son of David.’ And Jesus ... said, ‘What 
 will ye that I shall do unto you?’ They say unto Him, 
 ‘Lord, that our eyes may be opened.’ So Jesus had com- 
 passion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately 
 their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.” 
 
 Here these blind men asked for the mercy of hav- 
 ing their eyes opened, and Jesus granted unto 
 them the mercy of healing, proving that healing 
 is a mercy as well as forgiveness. The sick, in 
 
70 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 those days, when seeking healing, asked for mercy. 
 In our day most people think of mercy as applied 
 only to the sinner, not knowing that His mercy is | 
 also extended to the sick. 
 
 GOD THE FATHER OF MERCIES ~ 
 
 Paul, who calls God the “Father of Mercies,” 
 proves it by healing all the sick on the island of 
 Melita. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful 
 (compassionate) for they shall obtain mercy.” 
 Job was healed when he prayed for his friends. 
 According to one of the beatitudes, he obtained 
 mercy by showing it. Referring to, and account- 
 ing for Job’s healing, James 5:11 says, “The Lord 
 is very pitiful, and of tender mercy,” and follows 
 with the direction to the Church, “is any sick 
 among you? let him call for the elders of the 
 Church,” etc. In other words, because “the Lord 
 is very pitiful and of tender mercy” let “any sick” 
 in the Church to-day as well as Job obtain their 
 healing also. Having provided all we need, Jesus 
 is still saying, as He did to the two blind men, 
 “What will ye that I should do unto you?” 
 
 After Jesus had had compassion on the man in 
 the tombs so possessed with a legion of demons 
 that he cut himself with stones, and broke the 
 chains with which they had often tried to bind 
 him, when he was clothed and in his right mind 
 he was so glad that he besought the Lord that he 
 might remain with Him. ‘“Howbeit Jesus suffered 
 him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy 
 
CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK co Wi} 
 
 friends, and tell them how great things the Lord 
 hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on 
 thee. And he departed, and began to publish in 
 Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for 
 him: and all men did marvel.” (Mark 5:19-20). 
 
 A RESULT OF ONE MAN’S TESTIMONY 
 
 And now let us read Matthew 15:30-31, and see 
 the results of this one man’s testimony, given to 
 advertise the Lord’s compassion. “And great 
 multitudes (in Decapolis) came unto Him, having 
 with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, 
 maimed and many others, and cast them down at 
 Jesus’ feet; and He healed them: insomuch that 
 the multitudes wondered when they saw the dumb 
 to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame 
 to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the 
 God of Israel.” 
 
 It was not their being sick, as some teach to-day, 
 but their being healed, that caused these “great 
 multitudes” to “glorify the God of Israel.’’ Oh, 
 how much glory would come to God, as well as 
 blessings to the world, if every minister to-day 
 would present clearly the Bible promises for heal- 
 ing to the sick, and then, as soon as each one was 
 healed, he would, in his turn, publish the Lord’s 
 compassion throughout his “Decapolis.” In a 
 short time thousands upon thousands everywhere 
 who are now sick would obtain faith in Christ for 
 healing. It would then again be said of the mul- 
 titudes that they “glorified the God of Israel.” 
 
72 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 The higher critic and the modernist would soon 
 be unpopular, and the false healing cults would not 
 draw away from the Church the multitudes who 
 are now being ensnared. 
 
 NOT A CRIME TO PUBLISH GOD’S GOODNESS 
 
 It is stated above that this man “published” the 
 Lord’s compassion. Some oppose and write arti- 
 cles against us for publishing the testimonies of 
 those who are miraculously healed. What is the 
 matter? Is there anything wrong in obeying the 
 Lord’s command to “make known Ais deeds 
 among the people?” Since Jesus died to open the 
 way for His mercies to reach all the needs of man, 
 we surely ought to be willing for them to know it. 
 One would think to read some of the books and 
 articles that are being written that it is a crime 
 to let the people know about the Lord’s compas- 
 sion. 
 
 You will notice that in the Scriptures above 
 quoted, as the result of miracles of healing His 
 fame was spread abroad, “and they came to Him 
 from every quarter.” And “they followed Him 
 on foot out of the cities,” and “great multitudes 
 came to Him.” “Multitudes!” “Multitudes!” 
 “Multitudes,” everywhere. 
 
 It is the same to-day. Just as soon as it is 
 known in any city that “this same Jesus” is act- 
 ually healing the sick—as soon as the command is 
 obeyed to “make known His deeds among the 
 people,” and His compassion is “published,” the 
 
CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 73 
 
 people come “from every quarter.” I have never 
 seen anything that would so break down all the 
 barriers, and bring the people from every quarter, 
 as the manifestation of the Lord’s compassion in 
 healing the sick. We have found, in our revivals, 
 that as soon as the public find out what “this same 
 Jesus” is doing, they come from the Methodist 
 quarter, from the Baptist quarter, from the Cath- 
 olic quarter, from the Christian Science quarter, 
 from the Unity quarter, from the Spiritualist 
 quarter, from the Jewish quarter, from the poor 
 man’s quarter, from the rich man’s quarter and 
 from every quarter, and multitudes hear the Gos- 
 pel, and give their lives to God, who would never 
 even attend the meetings if there were no healing 
 miracles to reveal His compassion. 
 
 AN EFFECT OF PRESENT-DAY HEALINGS 
 
 If Christ and His apostles could not draw the 
 multitudes without miracles, does He expect more 
 from us? Instead of the “ministry of healing” 
 diverting from the more important matter of sal- 
 vation for the soul, we have seen more happy con- 
 versions in a single week than we ever saw in a 
 whole year of evangelistic work during the thir- 
 teen years before the Lord led us to preach this 
 part of the Gospel in a bolder and more public 
 way. As soon as our revivals get under way, 
 hundreds nightly crowd forward to give their 
 hearts and lives to God, and whole cities are put 
 to talking about Jesus. Other evangelists who 
 
74 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 have visited our revivals are now proving this to 
 be true in their own meetings. 
 
 In our last revival preceding the writing of this 
 book, conducted in Ottawa, Canada, during the 
 seven weeks of the meeting, six thousand came for 
 healing, and about twelve thousand for salvation. 
 I doubt if there would have been more than one 
 thousand for salvation had it not been for the 
 miracles of healing which displayed the compas- 
 sion of the Lord. The City and country were 
 stirred as never before in its history, and the 
 largest crowds that ever gathered under one roof 
 for religious meetings in this capital of Canada, 
 filled the newly-built million-dollar Auditorium— 
 the largest building in the City. The attendance 
 ran as high as eight thousand in a single service, 
 and in this book is a reproduction of a photo of one 
 of these audiences. Before leaving the city, many 
 hundreds of written testimonies were received 
 from those healed or being healed from almost 
 every kind of disease and affliction. To God be all 
 the Glory! 
 
 HEALING A MIGHTY EVANGELISTIC AGENCY 
 
 One Baptist evangelist who, amongst other 
 evangelists is now proving this to be true, has 
 written, in one of ten pamphlets he has published 
 on the subject, that healing is the greatest evan- 
 gelizing agency that the Lord ever used, and that 
 he would not return to the old way (new way) for 
 all the money in America. 
 
CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 75 
 
 Now let us look at another passage concerning 
 the Lord’s compassion. 
 
 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teach- 
 ing in their Synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the 
 Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease 
 among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He 
 was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, 
 and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 
 Then said He unto His Disciples, The harvest truly is 
 plenteous, but the laborers are few; Pray ye therefore 
 the Lord of the Harvest that He will send forth laborers 
 into His harvest. And when He had called unto Him the 
 twelve, He gave them power against unclean spirits to 
 cast them out, and to heal all manner of sicknesses and all 
 manner of disease ...and commanded them, saying 
 
 . . « Go, preach ... heal the sick. (Matt. 9:35 to 10:8.) 
 
 Here, His compassion toward the sick is now 
 becoming so well known that the “harvest” has 
 become too great for the ONE REAPER. His com- 
 passionate heart is full of yearning over the in- 
 creasing numbers who could not reach Him be- 
 cause of the press. “When He saw the multitudes, 
 He was moved with compassion on them.” It is 
 as though He was able to personally minister to 
 but a portion of them, and His compassion for the 
 rest of the rapidly-growing multitudes is now 
 moving Him to thrust forth other laborers to heal, 
 as well as preach. ‘His harvest’ is not only the 
 game in character in our day, but it is also much 
 greater than when He was here; and, because His 
 -compassion is still the same, He wants the same 
 kind of reapers to reap the same harvest, or re- 
 
76 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 sults, by preaching and healing in “all the cities 
 and villages.’’ His compassion manifested through 
 these twelve new laborers soon necessitated the 
 thrusting forth of seventy more, empowered to 
 preach and to heal. Laborers of this kind are few 
 to-day, while “the harvest” truly is plenteous be- 
 yond what it was then. What He was beginning 
 “to do and to teach” is exactly what He wants 
 done and taught everywhere. Instead of ending 
 something, according to the modern idea, He was 
 starting something, which He promised to con- 
 tinue and increase—not the twentieth century 
 Gospel, but “this Gospel’ (that He proclaimed) 
 He said “shall be preached in all the world.” 
 
 A STRANGE REVERSAL OF CHRIST’S PROMISE 
 
 Jesus, in John 14:12 and 13, emphatically 
 taught and promised that the same mercy and 
 compassion could reach the people through our 
 prayers while He is our High Priest in Heaven. 
 In fact, His departure was to open the way for 
 His compassion to be manifested on a much larger 
 scale. Isaiah prophesied of Him, “Therefore will 
 He be exalted that He may have mercy... ” 
 Jesus said, “It is expedient (profitable) for you 
 that I go away.” This could not be true if His 
 going away would withdraw, or even modify, the 
 manifestation of His compassion in healing the 
 sick. Is it not strange that many ministers to-day 
 exactly reverse Christ’s promise that the same and 
 greater works shall be done by teaching that the 
 
CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 77 
 
 age of miracles is past. Others do the same by 
 teaching that God wants some of His devout chil- 
 dren to remain sick for His glory; and many other 
 traditional and unscriptural ideas. 
 
 Every man who teaches that healing is not for 
 all who need it to-day, as it was in the past, is 
 virtually teaching that Christ’s compassion toward 
 the sick has been at least modified since His exal- 
 tation. Worse yet, others teach that His compas- 
 sion in healing the sick has been entirely with- 
 drawn. To me, it is a mystery how any minister 
 can take a position that veils and interferes with 
 the manifestation of the greatest attribute of 
 deity, God’s compassion which is Divine Love in 
 action. When Paul would make the strongest 
 possible appeal for consecration, he said, “I be- 
 seech you by the mercies of God,’ which is the 
 manifestation of His greatest attribute. 
 
 TWO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS 
 
 Jesus said, ‘“‘When He, the Spirit of Truth is 
 come ... He shall glorify Me.” Could the Spirit 
 glorify Christ to the sick by telling them that the 
 age of miracles is past, or that Jesus, since His 
 exaltation, has withdrawn or modified His minis- 
 try to the sick, after He, Himself, promising to do 
 “the works ... and greater works” during this 
 age? Has the Spirit come to magnify Christ by 
 modifying His ministry to His sick and suffering 
 brethren while He is their High Priest, directly 
 contrary to the glorifying of the God of Israel in 
 
78 _CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 Decapolis, occasioned by the healing of the multi- 
 tudes? If so, then the not uncommon practice 
 of praying for the sick to have fortitude and pa- 
 tience to bear their affliction instead of praying 
 “the prayer of faith” for their healing, is right. 
 
 It is since He became our High Priest that He 
 speaks from Heaven seven times, saying, ‘‘He that 
 hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
 unto the churches.” Men are saying much to-day 
 which the Spirit has never said, and which is the 
 opposite of what He does say. The following are 
 a few of the things the Spirit says for the purpose 
 of glorifying Christ. | : 
 
 Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like 
 
 unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful (compas- 
 sionate) and faithful High Priest ... (Heb. 2:17.) 
 
 We have already shown that both the words 
 “merciful” and “compassionate” are given as the 
 meaning of the Greek adjective eleemon translated 
 “merciful” in this passage. This verse has no 
 reference to Christ’s compassion as manifested 
 during His earthly ministry; it refers only to His 
 ministry from Heaven, and to the fact that His 
 incarnation was to the end that He might show 
 compassion as our High Priest after His return. 
 to Heaven. “All that Jesus began to do and to 
 teach until the day He was taken up” is what, be- 
 cause of His unchanging compassion, He promised 
 
 would continue and be greater after He went 
 away. 
 
CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 79 
 
 The Spirit further glorifies Christ by saying 
 that He is now “touched (Greek, sumpatheo— 
 translated “have compassion,” in Heb. 10:34) 
 with the feeling of our infirmities,” that He still 
 “can have compassion” (Heb. 5:2); and that He 
 is “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and 
 forever.” Let us worship Him, because His com- 
 passion is the same to-day, and because as He 
 looks upon all our infirmities He is still “moved 
 with compassion” and yearns to help us. 
 
 Of course, we.recognize, and thank God, that 
 many who do not believe in Divine Healing do co- 
 operate with the Spirit in these glorious senti- 
 ments as pertaining to the more important work 
 of soul-saving; but how wonderful it would be if 
 all ministers and christians, instead of saying that 
 the age of miracles is past, would cooperate with 
 the Spirit by also proclaiming to sufferers these 
 glorious sentiments which the Spirit expresses 
 while fulfilling His office-work of glorifying the 
 exalted Christ. Instead of being priests and 
 Levites passing by on the other side, the Church, 
 in James 5, is commanded to be a “Good Samari- 
 tan,” with compassion ministering to the physical 
 needs of the sick and afflicted, binding up their 
 wounds, pouring in the healing balm of wine and 
 oil (the Word of God and the Spirit of God); for 
 “He sendeth His Word and healeth them” by the 
 power of the Spirit. Jesus pronounced a woe 
 upon the Scribes and Pharisees for having omitted 
 the weightier matters of mercy and faith. 
 
80 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 In the fifth chapter of Acts we have another 
 wonderful proof that Christ’s compassion toward 
 the sick is now the same; for we read, concerning 
 the multitudes brought into the streets of Jerusa- 
 lem, in the days after He had ascended to the 
 Father, that “they were healed every one.” Here 
 it was, again, as our High Priest in Heaven, that 
 Jesus did exactly what He did before going away. 
 From Heaven He was “moved with compassion, 
 and healed all who had need of healing.” 
 
 Even in the last chapter of Acts, we find His 
 compassion manifested from Heaven by the heal- 
 ing of all on the island of Melita. While He is our 
 High Priest His compassion is so great that “He 
 ever liveth to make intercession for us.’ 
 
 Again, His compassion for the sick, since He 
 was glorified, moved Him to “set” (establish) in 
 the Church the gifts of faith, of miracles and of 
 healing for the recovery of the sick while He is 
 our High Priest through the centuries. After 
 Christ’s exaltation, to express it in the words of 
 Rev. W. C. Stevens, “We find, as a matter of 
 course and of necessity, ‘gifts of healing,’ taking 
 just such rank and prominence as they did in our 
 Lord’s personal ministry on earth.” 
 
 EVEN LAYMEN MAY PRAY FOR SICK 
 
 Again, it is His present compassion for the sick 
 that caused Him, as our High Priest and Head of 
 the Church, to command the elders, and even the 
 laymen, to pray the prayer of faith for the healing 
 
CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK 81 
 
 of “any sick” during the Church Age (James 5: 
 14). Rev. W. C. Stevens on this point remarks, 
 “All preachers, teachers, writers and others who 
 hand out the Word of Life to the people, should 
 keep this direction (James 5:14) as continuously 
 before the people as sickness itself constantly con- 
 -fronts them.” 
 
 Even during His earthly ministry, our Adorable 
 Lord would make any sacrifice, and suffer even 
 the curse, itself, in order to open the way for His 
 compassion to reach the most unworthy and the 
 most provoking of His enemies. Both the bloody 
 sweat ot Gethsemane and the horrible tortures of 
 Calvary were but the manifestations of His infi- 
 nite compassion. He went to Calvary with “His 
 face set like flint;’”’ for, after He had been be- 
 trayed by the kiss of Judas into the hands of His 
 crucifiers and Peter had cut off the ear of the 
 servant of the High Priest, Jesus heals the 
 ear of His enemy, and tells Peter to put up his 
 sword; and He shcathed, as it were, His own 
 sword, by holding in check the most natural im- 
 pulse of His holy soul in refusing to pray when, 
 by praying, He could have had, instantly, more 
 than twelve legions of angels to enable Him to es- 
 cape the agony of the cross. But, then, there 
 would have been only a judgment seat, and no 
 mercy seat, for fallen man with all his needs of 
 body, soul and spirit. In His substitutionary work 
 for us He anticipated every possible need of 
 Adam’s race, and opened the way for mercy to 
 
8&2 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 reach every phase of human need. He was then, 
 and is now, moved with compassion toward all 
 who need His Presence as “Provider,” “Peace,” 
 “Victory,” “Shepherd,” ‘Righteousness’ and 
 “Physician,” which are the seven blessings secured 
 by the tragedy of His Cross, and revealed to us by 
 His Redemptive names. His Covenants, including 
 the Covenant of Healing, are given because of His 
 mercy, and “He keepeth covenant and mercy with 
 all who love him to a thousand generations.” 
 (Deut. 7:9). 
 
 HOW NOT TO GRIEVE THE HEART OF JESUS 
 
 Doubting or ignoring His love and compassion 
 grieves the heart of Jesus. It made Him weep 
 over Jerusalem. So many times have ministers 
 said, in these days, that we do not need miracles 
 now, thinking of miracles only as signs to prove 
 the Lord’s deity, etc. I have said to them, “If you 
 had a cancer eating your head off, you would need 
 a miracle, would you not?” Most people to-day 
 are so in the dark on this subject that it never 
 occurs to them that there is mercy also for the 
 sick. They never think of the gifts of healing and 
 miracles as being the manifestation of Christ’s 
 compassion; and that, hour after hour, and day 
 after day, for three years, He healed all who 
 came to Him because of His compassion. Are 
 not the needs of sufferers to-day the same as they 
 were in that day? ‘And do they not need as much 
 compassion as ever in the past? 
 
CHRIST’S COMPASSION FOR THE SICK _ 83 
 
 When we think of the countless numbers in des- 
 pair, suffering with such intense agony that death 
 would be a mercy, and to whom the physicians, 
 after doing their best, have been obliged to say, 
 “T can do no more for you,” how precious it is to 
 know that Christ’s compassion, every moment, is 
 _ still precisely as when it was manifested during 
 the three years of His earthly ministry of love—a 
 fact upon which we may absolutely rely. 
 
 We have shown that bodily healing is a mercy 
 which Christ, Who was the expression of the 
 Father’s will, everywhere bestowed upon all who 
 sought it; and we‘have the plain declarations, the 
 “Lord is plenteous in mercy unto all (including 
 the sick) that call upon Him,” because His mercy 
 “endureth forever;’’ and is “from everlasting to 
 everlasting ;” He is “full of merey” “over all His 
 works.” Do not these Scriptures settle the mat- 
 ter? Instead of saying that the age of miracles 
 is past, say, “It is written!” “It is written!” 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 
 The Redemptive and Covenant Blessing of Bodily Healing 
 
 (Note—In this sermon we are repeating a few of the 
 _ gtatements made in previous pages, in order that this 
 one sermon shall contain enough to lay a complete founda- 
 tion for faith. This is done for the benefit of some who 
 may need the prayer of faith for their healing before they 
 have time to read the entire book.) 
 
 THE FIRST STEP 
 
 The first step toward being healed is the same 
 as the first step toward salvation, or any other 
 blessing that God promises; that is, for the sick 
 person to know what the Bible clearly teaches, 
 that it is God’s will to heal until one has lived out 
 the allotted span of life. Each individual sufferer 
 must be convinced by the Word of God that his er 
 her healing is the will of God; for it is impossible 
 to have real faith for healing as long as there is 
 the slightest doubt as to its being God’s will. 
 
 It is impossible to boldly claim by faith a bless- 
 ing which we are not certain that God offers, be- 
 cause the power of God can be claimed only where 
 the will of God is known. For instance, it would 
 be next to impossible to get a sinner to “believe 
 unto righteousness” before you had fully con- 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 85 
 
 vinced him that it was God’s Will to save him. 
 Faith begins where the will of God is known. 
 Faith must rest on the will of God alone, not on 
 our desires or wishes. Appropriating faith is not 
 believing that God can but that He will. Those 
 who claim to believe in healing, but say one word 
 ‘in favor of it and ten words against it, cannot 
 produce faith for healing. 
 
 FAITH IS EXPECTING GOD TO DO 
 
 When God commands us to pray for the sick, He 
 means us to pray with faith, which we could not 
 do if we did not know His will in the matter. 
 Until a person knows God’s Will, they have no 
 basis for faith, because faith is expecting God to 
 do what we know it is His will to do. It is not 
 hard, when we have faith, to get God to do His 
 will. 
 
 When we know it is His will, it is not difficult 
 for us to believe that He will do what we are sure 
 He wants to do. It is in this way that every 
 saved person has experienced the still greater 
 miracle of the new birth. There can be no ap- 
 propriation by faith until we are made to know 
 by the Gospel what God has provided for us. 
 
 There is no doctrine more emphatically taught 
 throughout the Word of God than that, through 
 the Atonement of Christ, both salvation and bodily 
 healing were provided, and that it is God’s will 
 to take away the sickness of His own, and to ful- 
 fil the number of their days according to His 
 
86 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 promise. (Ex. 23:25 and 26). As the types in 
 Leviticus 14 and 15 show that it was invariably 
 through Atonement that sickness was healed, un- 
 der the law of Moses, so Matthew 8:17 definitely 
 states that Jesus*healed all diseases on the ground 
 of Atonement. This Scripture shows us that 
 Christ’s reason for making no exceptions while 
 healing the sick who thronged Him was His 
 Atonement, which He made for all Adam’s race, 
 including you. As multitude after multitude 
 pressed upon him “to hear Him and to be healed 
 of their diseases,” it is repeatedly stated through- 
 out the Gospels, ‘‘He healed them all.” (Read 
 Matthew 4:24; 12:15; 14:14; Luke 4:40; Acts 
 10:38.) He could make no exceptions. Why? Be- 
 cause in His coming Atonement ‘Himself took our 
 infirmities,” etc. Since it is “our” infirmities He 
 bore, it requires the healing of all to fulfil this 
 prophecy. God carefully put this in such language 
 that we would have to misquote it to leave our- 
 selves out. 
 
 What Calvary provides is for all! 
 
 God’s way of saving the soul, of healing the 
 body, and of doing everything else He wants to 
 do, is to send His Word—His promise—and then 
 keep the promise wherever it produces faith. The 
 Divine procedure in healing is stated in the text, 
 “He sendeth His Word and healeth them, and de- 
 livereth them from their graves.” (Psalms 
 107 :20). 
 
 It is “the Word of God which effectually work- 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 87 
 
 eth” in them that believe, and is “health to all 
 their flesh.”” (See I Thes. 2:12; Prov. 4:22.) 
 
 Just as a little girl’s faith for a new dress comes 
 by hearing the promise of her mother to buy it 
 next Saturday, so our faith for healing comes by 
 hearing God’s word, or promise, to do it. Both 
 the little girl’s faith and ours “cometh by hear- 
 ing.”’ Now, the little girl could not, and would 
 not be expected to have faith for the new dress 
 until her mother promised it; so we cannot, nor 
 are we expected to, have faith for healing or sal- 
 vation, or any other blessing, until that faith 
 comes by hearing the Word (promise) of God to 
 do it. 
 
 How could any one find “justification by faith” 
 until it was preached to him, and how could any 
 one find healing by faith until it was preached to 
 him? Itis the Scriptures which are able to make 
 men wise unto salvation. We must see that the 
 Creator and Redeemer of the body is also its 
 Physician before we have reason to expect healing. 
 
 THE VALUE OF GOD’S REDEMPTIVE NAMES 
 
 Now, since He heals us by sending His Word, 
 what can be more His Word than His Redemptive 
 and Covenant names, which were given, all seven 
 of them, for the specific purpose of revealing to — 
 every man in Adam’s race His redemptive attitude 
 toward them. 
 
 When Christ commands us to “preach the Gos- 
 pel to every creature,” He means that we shall tell 
 
88 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 “the Good News” of Redemption. His seven 
 Redemptive names reveal what our Redemption 
 includes. He has many other names, but only sev- 
 en Redemptive names; and these seven names are 
 never used in the Scriptures except in His deal- 
 ings with man. Not six names, not eight; but 
 seven, the perfect number, because He is a perfect 
 Savior, His redemption covering the whole scope 
 of human need. The blessings revealed by each 
 of these names are all in the Atonement. For in- 
 stance, Jehovah-Shammah means “the Lord is 
 present,” “made nigh by the blood of His cross.” 
 
 Jehovah-Shalom is translated “the Lord is our 
 Peace.” This is in the Atonement because “the 
 chastisement of our peace was upon Him.” 
 
 Jehovah-Ra-ah is translated “the Lord is my 
 Shepherd.” He became our Shepherd by giving 
 His life for the sheep. 
 
 So, you see, this privilege is in the Atonement. 
 
 Jehovah-Jireh means “the Lord will provide” an 
 offering; Christ, Himself, being the Offering pro- 
 vided on Calvary. 
 
 He became Jehovah-Nissi, “the Lord our Ban- 
 ner,” or Victor, by spoiling principalities and pow- 
 ers on the cross. 
 
 He bore our sins, and became Jehovah-Tsid- 
 kenu, “the Lord our Righteousness,” opening the 
 way for every sinner to receive the gift of right- 
 eousness. 
 
 Jehovah-Rapha is translated, “I am the Lord 
 that healeth thee,” or, “I am the Lord thy Physi- 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 89 
 
 cian.” This, also, is in the Atonement; for “Him- 
 self took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” 
 
 This completes the list of seven names, which 
 were given for the purpose of revealing God’s rela- 
 tionship toward us all under each of these seven 
 titles. These seven names all belong abidingly to 
 Christ, and it is under each of these seven titles 
 that He “is the same yesterday, today and for- 
 ever.” Jesus says to all who come to Him for any 
 of these seven blessings, ‘“He that cometh unto Me 
 I will in no wise cast out.” 
 
 This is the Good News that God wants preached 
 to every creature, so that every creature may have 
 the privilege of enjoying “the fulness of the bless- 
 ing of the Gospel of Christ.” 
 
 I say again, that nothing is more God’s Word 
 “settled in Heaven” than His redemptive name 
 Jehovah-Rapha. No one has a right to change 
 God’s “I Am” Jehovah-Rapha to “I Was,’ because 
 the “word of the Lord endureth forever.” 
 
 Since Jehovah-Shalom, “the Lord our Peace,” is 
 one of Christ’s redemptive names, has not every 
 man a redemptive right to obtain peace from Him; 
 and has not every man, likewise, a redemptive 
 right to obtain victory from Jehovah-Nissi? Has 
 not every man a redemptive right to obtain “‘the 
 gift of righteousness” from Jehovah-Tsidkenu, 
 etc.? If so, why has not every man a redemptive 
 right to obtain healing from Jehovah-Rapha? 
 
 This Word (Jehovah-Rapha), was so accepted 
 and believed by those to whom it was first sent 
 
90 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 that “there was not a feeble person among all their 
 tribes ;’”’ and whenever this state of health was in- 
 terfered with by their transgressions, as soon as 
 they repented, typical atonements were made, and 
 God was still Jehovah-Rapha the healer; not to 
 some, but to all. God wants this name, as well as 
 all others, to be sent ‘‘to every creature’’ with the 
 promise “they shall recover,” for “the Lord shall 
 raise them up.” | 
 
 THE BRAZEN SERPENT A TYPE OF CHRIST 
 
 God ratified this Word to the dying Israelites 
 by sending them the added Word, “‘everyone that 
 is bitten, when He looketh upon it (the type of 
 Calvary) shall live.” If bodily healing is not pro- 
 vided in the Atonement, why were these dying 
 Israelites required to look at the type of the Atone- 
 ment for bodily healing? As their curse was re- 
 moved by the lifting up of the type of Christ, so 
 ours is removed by the lifting up of Christ, the 
 Antitype. Since the Spirit is given to us to make 
 Christ real, why should not we look to Christ, 
 Himself, with as much expectation as they did to 
 the type? 
 
 It will be well to note that they could not look 
 at the brass snake and their symptoms at the same 
 time. Abraham’s faith waxed strong while he 
 looked unto the promise of God: Some people re- 
 verse this, and their faith waxes weak while they 
 look at their symptoms, and forget the promise. 
 Since God healed by sending His Word, which is 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 91 
 
 the only basis for our faith, we will miss healing 
 if we allow our symptoms to hinder us from ex- 
 pecting what His Word promises. 
 
 THE SECOND STEP 
 
 The second step is to be sure you are right with 
 
 God, because our redemptive blessings are con- 
 ditional. After we hear the Gospel, and know 
 what it offers, Jesus says, ‘“Repent and believe the 
 Gospel.’”’ Only those who are right with God can 
 follow these instructions. When seeking healing 
 for our bodies there should be no compromise with 
 the Adversary of our souls, because it is he who 
 is the author of our diseases. Jesus may, but He 
 has not promised to, destroy the works of the 
 devil in our bodies while we are clinging to the 
 works of the devil in our souls. It is hard to exer- 
 cise faith for the removal of one part of the devil’s 
 work while we allow a worse part to remain. Un- 
 til a man squarely faces and settles the question 
 of obedience to God, he is not on believing ground. 
 James says, “Confess your faults one to another 
 . .. that ye may be healed.” It is God’s will 
 “that thou mayest prosper and be in health even 
 as thy soul prospereth.” “If I regard iniquity in 
 my heart the Lord will not hear me.” 
 
 It is when our hearts condemn us not that we 
 have confidence toward God. Y 
 
 The command for the sick to “send for the eld- 
 ers,” was first written to Christians who had been 
 filled with the Spirit. There is something wrong 
 
92 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 when a man desires the blessing but not the 
 Blesser—His mercy but not himself. It is not 
 proper to seek His mercy while rejecting His Will. 
 Do not ask for a little blessing while rejecting a 
 big one. It is impossible to receive and reject Di- 
 vine blessings at the same time. 
 
 God is waiting to say to Satan and disease what 
 He said to Pharaoh, “Let My people go that they 
 may serve Me.” (Ex. 7:16). “Our first consid- 
 eration, in all things, even in asking for the res- 
 toration of bodily health, should be the glory of 
 God.” —Duffy. 
 
 Strength for service to God is the only proper 
 basis of approach when seeking health at His 
 hand. The anointing with oil for healing is, itself, 
 a symbol and sign of consecration. 
 
 We must desire our health for God’s glory. 
 
 “What, then, does the anointing mean? Turn to Leviti- 
 cus 8:10-12, and you get God’s answer to the question. 
 ‘And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the taber- 
 nacle, and all that was therein, and sanctified them,’ that 
 is, he set them apart for God. The anointing ‘with oil in 
 the name of the Lord,’ was an act of dedication and con- 
 secration, implying on the part of the one anointed a full 
 surrender to God of his hands to work for Him and for 
 Him alone, of his feet to walk for Him and Him alone, 
 his eyes to see, his lips to speak, his ears to hear for Him 
 and Him alone, and his whole body to be the temple of 
 the Holy Spirit.”—Rev. R. A. Torrey. 
 
 “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest 
 prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 
 (III John, 2.) 
 
 The Holy Spirit tells us to submit ourselves to 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 93 
 
 God before He says “resist the devil,’’ because no 
 one can successfully resist the devil until he sub- 
 mits himself to God. When the devil is thus re- 
 sisted he will not merely walk away; he will lit- 
 erally run—“flee from you!” (See Jas. 4:7.) 
 
 The curse, including the different diseases cata- 
 logued in Deut. 28th chapter, came upon the peo- 
 ple because their obedience and their service was 
 not “with giadness and joyfulness of heart.” The 
 coudition of heart that was responsible for the 
 coming of those diseases mentioned in that chapter 
 is not the condition for their removal. In other 
 words, the condition of heart that was responsible 
 for the curse in that day is not the condition of 
 heart in which to come to Him for the removal of 
 the curse in our day. 
 
 GOD’S PROMISES ONLY TO THE OBEDIENT 
 
 It is to those who will delight themselves in the 
 Lord that He gives the desires of their heart. 
 (See Psa. 37:4). God has not lowered the stand- 
 ard for the Day of Grace. It is only to the obedi- 
 ent—those who will “diligently hearken to the 
 voice of the Lord” and “do that which is right in 
 His sight’’—that it is said, ‘““The Lord will take 
 away from thee all sickness.” (See Deut. 7:15; Ex. 
 15:26). 
 
 “Faith, you see, is the union of our hearts and wills 
 with God’s Will and purpose; and where this unity is 
 lacking results are impossible. This is a very important 
 
 spiritual law, to which, in our times, we have been woe- 
 fully blind.”—Rev. P. Gavin Duffy. 
 
94 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 God says, of fearing the Lord and departing © 
 from evil, “Zt shall (itself) be health (Hebrew, 
 medicine) to thy navel and marrow (Heb., moist- 
 ening) to thy bones.” (Prov. 3:7,8.) 
 
 - Faith always implies obedience. Paul wrote to 
 the Ephesians to obey the first commandment, 
 “That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest 
 live long on the earth.” (Eph. 6:3.) Naaman’s 
 surrender and obedience to the Word of God was 
 complete before he was healed. 
 
 It is to those who “walk uprightly” that it is 
 said, “No good thing will He withhold.” (Psa. 
 84:11.) Therefore, before seeking anything from 
 God we should yield ourselves to the “first and — 
 great commandment,” “Thou shalt love the Lord 
 thy God with all thy heart .. .” for God says, 
 “Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore 
 will I deliver him.” (Psa. 91:14). He “‘keepeth 
 covenant and mercy with them that love Him and 
 keep His commandments to a thousand genera- 
 tions.” (Deut. 7:9.) Therefore, like the leper, 
 let us come and worship Him when asking for 
 healing. 
 
 “Length of days is in her (Wisdom’s) right 
 hand and in her left hand riches and honor.” 
 (Pro. 3:16.) Marry her (Wisdom) and you get 
 her possessions. Wisdom is here represented as 
 a bountiful Queen, reaching forth blessings with 
 both hands to all who will become subject to her 
 government. | 
 
 It is for “them whose heart is perfect toward 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE ie 
 
 Him” that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro 
 throughout the whole earth to show Himself 
 strong.” (See II Chron. 16:30). 
 
 “A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy 
 the rottenness of the bones.” (Prov. 14:30.) An 
 _ unsound heart is worse than an unsound stomach 
 —a diseased soul worse than a diseased body. A 
 disordered will is worse than a disordered liver. 
 Paul said, “the body . . . for the Lord” before he 
 said, “the Lord for the body.” 
 
 The Bible teaches that the body is “bought with 
 a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and 
 in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Cor. 6:20.) 
 “TI beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies 
 of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacri- 
 fice ... which is your reasonable _ service.” 
 (Rom. 12:1.) Therefore present your body to 
 Him if you want it healed. It is not until after 
 it becomes His property ae He promises to re- 
 pair it. 
 
 FIRST TO THE CROSS FOR CLEANSING 
 
 “The sure way for the sick is, first to the cross for 
 cleansing, then to the Upper Room for the gift of the 
 Spirit, then to the mount appointed for a life commission, 
 and, dastay to the Great Physician for strength for ser- 
 vice.” —Bryant. 
 
 “Tf the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from 
 the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ 
 from the dead shall also quicken your mortal 
 bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Rom. 
 8:11.) In Christ; the True Vine, there is all the 
 
96 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 life for our souls and bodies that we need; but how 
 are we to possess and enjoy this except by our 
 union with the Vine. It is not apart from Him, 
 but “in Him” that “ye are complete.” (Col. 2:10.) 
 
 Substitution without union is not sufficient for 
 our possession and enjoyment of the life of the 
 Vine. If you need a miracle, get in tune with the 
 Miracle-Worker. We enjoy the Life of the Vine 
 by our perfect union with the Vine. Asking for 
 healing while refusing to be led by the Spirit is 
 like asking a carpenter to repair the house while 
 refusing to let him in the house. 
 
 “As many as touched Him were made perfectly 
 whole.” (Matt. 14:36.) You cannot touch Him 
 with a reservation; therefore, like the woman who 
 pressed through the throng and touched Him, you 
 must “elbow” out of your way, and press beyond, 
 selfishness, disobedience, unconfessed sins, luke- 
 warmness, public opinion, traditions of men, arti- 
 cles written against Divine healing; in fact, often — 
 press beyond your own pastor, who may be un- 
 enlightened in this part of the Gospel; press be- 
 yond doubts, double-mindedness, symptoms, feel- 
 ings and the lying Serpent. 
 
 The Holy Spirit, Who is sent to execute for us 
 the blessings of redemption, is our Paraclete or 
 Helper, and is ready to help us to press through 
 and beyond all of these obstacles to the place 
 where we can touch Him for our needs. God is 
 waiting to pour out the Holy Spirit in fulness 
 upon us, Who comes as Christ’s Executive to exe- 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 97 
 
 cute for us all the blessings provided by Calvary, 
 and pledged to us in His seven redemptive and 
 Covenant names. 
 
 It is still true that as many as touch Him are 
 made whole. How do we touch Him? By believ- 
 ing His promise, This is an infallible way of 
 touching Christ for anything He has promised. 
 We touch Him by asking, and believing that He 
 hears our prayers when we pray. When the wom- 
 an touched Him, it was her faith that made her 
 whole; not a mere physical touch, for “the flesh 
 profiteth nothing, the Spirit giveth life.” Mil- 
 lions of sinners have thus touched Him for the yet 
 greater miracle of the new birth. 
 
 NOT MERE CONTACT, BUT UNION 
 
 As the sick touched Him and were made whole 
 when Christ walked upon earth, so, now, it is the 
 privilege of all to actually touch Him, and the 
 touch now unites us to Christ in a closer union 
 than it did then. Not mere contact, but union as 
 real as the branch and the vine. All that is in the 
 Vine, including both spiritual and physical life, 
 belongs to us—the branches. 
 
 The touch by faith can now bring us under the 
 full control of the Holy Spirit, Who is the Miracle- 
 Worker, as it could not do during Christ’s earthly 
 ministry, for “the Spirit was not yet given.” 
 Jesus is not less a Savior and Healer since being 
 glorified; He is greater. The privilege of touch- 
 ing Him now is much greater than when He was 
 
98 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 here in person, because more can now be received 
 by the touch. From God’s right hand He has more 
 to give; therefore, He said, “It is expedient (prof- 
 itable) for you that I go away.” Since the Spirit 
 comes to reveal Christ as He could not be revealed 
 before He went away to send the Spirit, why can- 
 not we approach Him for healing with at least as 
 much faith as those who thronged Him in that 
 day? 
 
 The foregoing shows the great importance of 
 being right with God before asking for healing. 
 The blessing of being right with God is a thousand 
 times more desirable and enjoyable than the heal- 
 ing itself. I have seen the afflicted in body radiant- 
 ly happy; but sinners in perfect health have been 
 so unhappy as to commit suicide. 
 
 THE THIRD STEP 
 
 We will now endeavor to make plain how to 
 appropriate healing. Getting things from God is 
 like playing checkers, when, after one person 
 moves, he has nothing to do until the other player 
 moves. Each man moves in his own turn. So, 
 when God has provided healing, or any other 
 blessing, and sent us His Word, it is our move be- 
 fore He will move again. Our move is to expect 
 what He promises when we pray, which will cause 
 us to act our faith before we see the healing; be- 
 cause the healing comes in the next move, which 
 is God’s move. 
 
 God never moves out of His turn, but He always 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 99 
 
 moves when it is His turn. When Noah was 
 “warned of God of things not seen as yet,” his 
 move was to believe that the flood was coming, and 
 act his faith by building the ship on dry land. So, 
 when God says to “any sick,” “the prayer of faith 
 shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him 
 up,’ you, like Noah, are informed of God “of 
 things not seen as yet,” and your move is the same 
 as Noah’s, which is, to believe and act accordingly. 
 Fallen nature is governed by what it sees, by its 
 senses, but faith is governed by the pure Word of 
 God, and is nothing less than expecting God to do 
 what He promises—treating Him like an honest 
 Being. 
 
 By expectation I do not mean hope. One writer 
 has well said, ‘We hope for what may be possible, 
 but we expect what must be possible ... with 
 that expectancy that shuts out doubt or fear of 
 failure, and shows unshakable confidence.” 
 
 Faith never waits to see before it believes, be- 
 cause it “cometh by hearing” about “things not 
 seen as yet,” and “is the evidence of things not 
 seen.”’ All that a man of faith needs is to know 
 that God has spoken. This imparts perfect cer- 
 tainty to the soul. ‘Thus saith the Lord” settles 
 everything. “It is written” is all that faith needs. 
 
 Faith always blows the ram’s horn before, not 
 after, the walls are down. Faith never judges ac- 
 cording to the sight of the eyes, because it is the 
 evidence of things not seen but promised. Faith 
 rests on far more solid ground than the evidence 
 
100 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 of the senses, and that is the Word of God which 
 “abideth forever.” Our senses may deceive us, 
 but God’s Word never! 
 
 When the little girl is promised a new dress next 
 Saturday, faith is the actual expectation which 
 she has and manifests between now and Saturday. 
 When Saturday comes, and she sees the new dress, _ 
 faith for the new dress stops. Now, real faith al- 
 ways has corresponding actions. The little girl, 
 because of her faith, claps her hands and says, 
 “Goody! Goody! I am going to have a new dress 
 next Saturday!” and runs to tell her playmates 
 that she has the answer to her request. 
 
 GOD CANNOT LIE 
 
 Jesus, at the grave of Lazarus, looked up, and 
 said, “I thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast heard 
 me,” though Lazarus was still dead. The little 
 girl is not afraid to testify in advance that she is 
 to have a new dress, and when her playmates say, 
 “How do you know you are?” she confidently re- 
 plies, ‘Why! Mamma promised it!’ Now, you 
 have a better reason for expecting healing than 
 the little girl has for expecting a new dress be- 
 cause the mother may die before Saturday, but 
 God cannot. The mother can lie, but God cannot. 
 The house may burn down with the mother’s 
 money. Every case of faith in history was a well- 
 grounded assurance, produced by the promise of 
 God alone, and acted upon before there was any- 
 thing visible to encourage the assurance, as with 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 101 
 
 the little girl “between now and Saturday.” 
 
 Faith looks “not at the things that are seen.” 
 There was no flood in sight when Noah built his 
 ark. Stone walls had never before fallen down at 
 the blowing of rams’ horns and shouting. They 
 were merely expecting what God promised, and 
 when they acted their faith by blowing the rams’ 
 horns while the walls were still up, this was their 
 move. Then, of course, God moved in His turn, 
 and down came the walls! 
 
 The whole eleventh chapter of Hebrews is 
 written to show how each one who had faith acted 
 “between now and Saturday.” 
 
 God is so well pleased with the actings of faith 
 that he has listed in detail many cases, as recorded 
 in the eleventh of Hebrews. 
 
 “By faith, Noah” acted so-and-so. “By faith 
 Jacob” acted so-and-so. “By faith Joseph” acted 
 so-and-so. “By faith Moses” acted so-and-so. “By 
 faith the walls of Jericho fell down.” “By faith 
 Abraham” acted so-and-so, when everything 
 seemed contrary to what God had promised. It 
 was by considering the promise of God (not her 
 barrenness) that Sarah received strength to be- 
 come a mother when she was past age. 
 
 These all acted with nothing but the Word of 
 God as their reason con expecting the thing He 
 had promised. 
 
 It is the same with every case of faith in his- 
 tory. 
 
 Jonah’s symptoms were very real when he was 
 
102 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 inside the fish, and he did not deny them; but he 
 called them “lying vanities.”” In other words, any 
 symptoms that make us doubt the fact that ‘‘God 
 is plenteous in mercy to all that call upon Him” 
 should be regarded as “lying vanities.” Jonah 
 said, “They that observe lying vanities forsake 
 their own mercy.” Instead of listening to Satan 
 and watching our symptoms, we must be “‘work- 
 ers together” with God, Who heals by sending His 
 Word and keeping it! i | 
 
 We must cooperate with Him by being occupied, 
 not with what the devil says, but with the Word 
 He sends for our healing. 
 
 SYMPTOMS MAY LINGER 
 
 Even when we do act our faith, symptoms do 
 not always disappear instantly. After Hezekiah 
 was healed, it was three days before he was strong 
 enough to go up to the House of the Lord. In John 
 4:50-52, the nobleman “believed the word that 
 Jesus had spoken unto him,” and when he met his 
 servants he enquired of them the hour when his 
 dying son “began to amend.” 
 
 The Bible differentiates between the “gifts of 
 healing” and the gift of “miracles.” Christ could 
 do no miracle in Nazareth because of their un- 
 belief, but He healed a few sick ones. If every one © 
 were to be made perfectly whole instantly, there 
 would be no place for the gifts of healing; it would 
 be all miracles. Many people miss healing by try- 
 ing to confine God to miracles. Christ’s promise is 
 
 - 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 103 
 
 that “they shall recover,” but He does not say “‘in- 
 stantly.” 
 
 The symptoms of life in a tree remain for a time 
 after the tree is cut down. 
 
 “Faith means we are confident of what we hope . 
 for, convinced of what we do not see.” (Heb. 11:1 
 —Moffatt’s translation.) Convinced, of course, 
 because God, Who cannot lie, has spoken. How 
 all-sufficient 1s this reason for believing! Faith 
 is, therefore, most rational. It is not, as many 
 unthinking persons suppose, believing without evi- 
 dence, but believing because of the very highest 
 possible evidence, God’s Word, which is “settled 
 in Heaven.” The Apostle James says, “I will show 
 you by my actions what faith is.” (Moffatt’s 
 translation.) Faith therefore, is being so con- 
 vinced of the absolute truth of the declarations of 
 God which are recorded in the Bible that we act 
 on them. 
 
 FAITH BOTH RATIONAL AND SAFE 
 
 What can be more rational, and what can be 
 more safe and certain? 
 
 Faith is to receive the written promise of God 
 as His direct message to us.. His promise means 
 the same as if He appeared and said to us, “I have 
 heard your prayer.” The Word of God is made 
 life to our bodies in exactly the same way that it 
 is made life to our souls, which is by believing His 
 promise. 
 
 I have known some who had prayed for healing 
 
104 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 for as long as 40 years without receiving it; and 
 then, as soon as they were told how to appropriate, 
 the healing has come sometimes in a moment. We 
 do not have to pray for 40 years, or for one week, 
 for the blessing that Christ is eager to bestow. 
 His compassionate heart yearns to heal us more 
 than we have the capacity to desire it; but we keep 
 Him waiting until we have the “faith that cometh 
 by hearing” and act that faith, because God will 
 not cheat and move out of His turn. 
 
 After seeing that Jesus bore our diseases as well 
 as our sins on the cross, and therefore that we 
 need not bear them, our next step is to appropri- 
 ate by faith, which is the only scriptural way. The 
 truth of the matter is, God gave us this part of our 
 inheritance nearly 2,000 years ago and He is the 
 waiting One—waiting for us to appropriate the 
 blessing by faith. Two thousand years ago God 
 “put away sin;” 2,000 years ago “God laid on 
 Christ the iniquity of us all; 2,000 years ago 
 “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sick- 
 nesses.” God is the waiting party, waiting for us 
 to be shown how to appropriate the blessing He 
 has already given. II Peter 3:9. “The Lord is 
 not slack (slow) concerning His promises... . 
 but He is longsuffering to usward.” Or, as Wey- 
 mouth translates, “The Lord is not slow in ful- 
 filling His promises but He bears patiently with 
 you.” In other words, He is not slow concerning 
 His promises, but we are slow and He is patient 
 with us. 
 
' HOW TO APPROPRIATE 105 
 
 Most of us could have been saved five years 
 earlier than we were. God was not making us 
 wait, but we were making Him wait. It is the 
 same with our healing. 
 
 WHEN YE PRAY, NOT AFTERWARDS 
 
 Now, in Mark 11:24, Jesus tells us exactly how 
 to appropriate any of the blessings purchased for 
 us by His death. Having promised all that we 
 need, He says, “What things soever ye desire when 
 ye pray;” not after you pray 20 years; not after 
 you get well; but while you are still sick when ye 
 pray, “believe that ye receive them and ye shall 
 have them.” 
 
 The condition of receiving what we ask God for 
 is to believe that He answers our prayers when we 
 pray, and that we “shall recover” according to 
 His promise. 
 
 In other words, when you pray for haatine 
 Christ authorizes you to consider your prayer 
 answered, as when He stood at the grave of Laz- 
 arus and said, “I thank Thee, Father, that thou 
 hast heard Me,” before He saw Lazarus come 
 forth from the grave. When we ask for healing, 
 Christ bids us say, with faith, “I thank Thee, 
 Father, that Thou hast heard me,” before we have 
 yet seen the answer to our prayer. 
 
 When God’s Word alone is our reason for be- 
 lieving that our prayer is answered, before we 
 see or feel, this is faith! 
 
 “Jesus declared, ‘The words that I speak unto 
 
106 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 you they are Spirit and they are life.’ John says, 
 ‘The Word is God.’ To receive the written words 
 of Christ as the direct message to us is faith. 
 This is the way the Word of God becomes life to 
 us, both in our healing and in our salvation. For 
 instance, the act of believing and receiving Christ 
 according to John 1:12, is synonymous with the 
 act of God which gives us, by His power, the new 
 birth. By this same process also is Divine healing 
 imparted to our bodies.” (Writer not known.) 
 
 Another has said, in substance, with the woman 
 who touched His garment, faith, fact, feeling is 
 the order of healing that God never departs from. 
 If we depart from this order neither faith, fact, 
 nor feeling will be as we desire, because they will 
 not be as God desires. » | 
 
 I Thes. 2:13 says it is “The Word of God which 
 effectually worketh also in you that believe.’ When 
 His Word convinces us that our prayer is an- 
 swered, before we have yet seen the answer, the 
 Word begins to effectually work in us. 
 
 “God’s Word never fails to work in those who 
 accept it as such, because they are not entertaining 
 doubts as to its being fulfilled in their own experi- 
 ences ... God has given all His blessings to 
 Faith, He has none left to bestow upon unbelief.” 
 —Harriet S. Bainbridge. 
 
 When people say to me, “I do not know that it 
 is God’s Will to heal me,” I ask them, “Is it God’s 
 Will to keep His promise?” If we are right with 
 God, we should not consider ourselves any 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 10¥ 
 
 more than we would when men make promises to 
 us. Not, Have I faith enough, but, Is He honest? 
 It is not a question of how we feel, but what are 
 the facts. Should the little girl get sick the next 
 day, and feel badly, it has nothing to do with her 
 mother buying her the new dress on Saturday. 
 The Scriptures say, “If we ask anything accord- 
 ing to His Will He heareth us.” Is this true or 
 not? 
 
 Does God answer prayer ? | 
 
 If you will steadfastly “‘believe that ye receive’ 
 (Mark 11:24) the answer to your prayer and act 
 your faith, every one of you will be healed, though 
 not always instantly, unless, of course, your al- 
 lotted span of life has been lived out. 
 
 God always moves after our move, which is the 
 acting out of a “full assurance,” produced alone 
 by His promise before we see the answer to our 
 prayer. Since healing is by faith, and “‘faith with- 
 out works is dead,’ it is when we begin to act our 
 faith that God begins to heal. 
 
 OUR FAITH MAKES GOD ACT 
 
 Our “work of faith” sets God to working. 
 
 Now, we cannot all act faith in the same way. — 
 As the ten lepers went they were healed. Jonah, 
 when inside the fish, could not “‘went,” but he did 
 act his faith by saying, while still in the fish, “I 
 will sacrifice with the voice of thanksgiving.” And 
 so, acting our faith by praising and thanking God 
 in advance has been, throughout history, His ap- 
 
108 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 pointed way for our appropriation of all His bless- 
 ings. Hebrews 13:15 teaches us that our thank 
 offering—our “sacrifice of praise’—is to be of- 
 fered in advance for the blessing God has prom- 
 ised, and therefore we expect. Psalms 50:14, 15, 
 says, “Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy 
 vows unto the Most High, and call upon Me in the 
 day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt 
 glorify Me.” 
 
 Here, as elsewhere, we are required to offer 
 thanksgiving while we are still in trouble, as Jon- 
 ah did. Perhaps this was the very promise he 
 claimed. “Let the needy praise thy name,” that 
 is, praise God in advance while you are still in 
 need. “Let us come before His presence with 
 thanksgiving” does not mean to get healed and 
 then go from His presence thanking Him, but to 
 come to Him with thanksgiving for healing before 
 being healed. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving 
 and into His courts with praise.” We should go 
 away with thanksgiving, but this is not faith. 
 
 Faith is what we have before we are healed. 
 “They shall praise the Lord that seek Him.” 
 “Thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates 
 praise.” Without praise we are up against a solid 
 wall with no gate; but when we begin praising, 
 and appropriating, we hang our own gate, and 
 walk through. “Be glad and rejoice for the Lord 
 will do great things,” and accordingly “they were 
 continually in the Temple praising and blessing 
 God,” not after, but before they were filled with 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 109 
 
 the Holy Spirit. It was “when they lifted up their 
 voice and praised the Lord” that “the glory of the 
 Lord filled the House of God.” ‘They believed His 
 words (not their symptoms, not the “father of 
 lies”) and sang His praises.” 
 
 MAKE SATAN LISTEN TO YOUR PRAISES 
 
 Instead of your listening to the “Father of lies,” 
 make him listen to your praising God for His 
 promise! 
 
 “Let everything that hath breath praise the 
 Lord.” The sick man has breath. In other words, 
 while you are still sick praise Him because you 
 are going to recover according to His promise. 
 “Let not your heart be troubled.” “In nothing 
 be anxious (distracted), but with thanksgiving 
 let your requests be made known unto God.” 
 “Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth 
 for you.” 
 
 Every sick Christian, while sick, has a thousand 
 times more to be happy over than the most cheer- 
 ful sinner in perfect health. 
 
 Praise God because “faith without works is 
 dead.” “In everything give thanks, for this is the 
 will of God concerning you.” “I will praise the 
 Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in 
 my mouth.” Since everything that hath breath is 
 commanded to praise the Lord, the only scriptural 
 excuse for not praising Him is to be out of breath. 
 “By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of 
 praise to God continually, the fruit of our lips, giv- 
 
110 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 ing thanks to His name.” ‘“Whoso offereth praise 
 glorifieth Me.” ‘Because Thy loving kindness ts 
 better than life, my lips shall praise thee.’ Praise 
 Him “because it is a good thing to give thanks 
 unto the Lord.” “Give thanks at the remembrance ~ 
 of His holiness.”? Praise Him because to withhold 
 praise will show either unbelief or ingratitude. 
 Praise Him because “praise is comely for the up- 
 right.” Praise Him because ‘‘God inhabits the 
 praises of His people.” Paul and Silas sang praises 
 at midnight with their backs bleeding and their 
 feet in the stocks, and God sang bass with an 
 earthquake, which set them free. 
 
 Real faith rejoices in the promise of God as 7f 
 it saw the deliverance, and was enjoying it. 
 
 With three great armies against Jehoshaphat, 
 which, humanly speaking, would mean, annihila- 
 tion, they praised the Lord “with a loud voice on 
 high,’”’ when the only evidence that their prayer 
 was answered was the naked Word of God; and 
 that only through human lips. The next day, 
 when they went out to the battle, and began to 
 sing and praise, the Lord, in His turn, moved and 
 set ambushments against the enemy, and the vic- 
 tory was won. (II Chron. 20:18, 19.) “We have 
 also a more sure word of prophecy; for “‘holy men 
 of old spake as they were moved by the Holy 
 Ghost.” (II Pet. 1:19-21) 
 
 “As in Eden the enemy succeeded in making 
 void God’s testimony as to the results of eating 
 the forbidden fruit, so now he seeks to make void 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 111 
 
 God’s testimony as to the results of believing the 
 Gospel. After God said, ‘In the day thou eatest 
 thereof thou shalt surely die,’ the serpent said, 
 ‘Thou shalt not surely die,’ and now, when God’s 
 Word plainly says, “They shall lay hands on the 
 sick and they shall recover,’ the same serpent 
 seeks to persuade them that they shall not recover. 
 Is it rational to believe the ‘father of lies’ in pref- 
 erence to the Son of God, Who is Incarnate Truth? 
 When coming to God for salvation or healing, it is 
 essential for each one to decide whether he shall 
 allow the hiss of the serpent to rise above the 
 voice of God.” 
 
 “Blessed are the ears that hear the pulses of 
 the Divine whisper, and give no heed to the many 
 whisperings of the world.”—Thos. a’ Kempis. 
 
 When, after you have been anointed for healing, 
 Satan tells you that you will not recover, like 
 Jesus, say to him, “It is written,” “‘they shall re- 
 cover;” ‘‘The Lord shall raise him up” (Jas. 
 5:14.) Also, in this same passage, “in the Name 
 of the Lord” means the same as if the Lord, Him- 
 self, anointed you. Expect Him to honor His own 
 ordinance and His own promise. 
 
 WHY LISTEN TO THE DEVIL? 
 
 All the devil heard from the lips of Christ, when 
 tempting Him, was, “It is written!” “It is writ- 
 ten!” “It is written!” (Matt. 4:4, 7,10.) “Then 
 the devil leaveth Him” (Matt. 4:11.) But all we 
 hear from some people is, “The devil says!” “The 
 
412 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 devil says!’ “The devil says!’’ as though Christ’s 
 words were of less consequence than those of the 
 devil! This was Christ’s way; and it is the most 
 successful way of resisting the devil. Let us not 
 try another! “Neither give place to the devil.” 
 (Eph. 4:27.) “Resist the devil and he will flee 
 from you.” (Jas. 4:7). 
 
 There is just one way of resisting the devil; 
 and that is, by steadfastly believing and acting 
 upon God’s Word. 
 
 Whenever we are affected by any other voice 
 more than the voice of God, we have forsaken the 
 Lord’s way for our healing. 
 
 What reason have you for doubting? You have 
 no more reason for doubting than the sinner has 
 when he repents and asks forgiveness of his sins. 
 You have exactly the same reason for expecting 
 to be healed that you had for expecting to be 
 saved. “You have His Word for it, and if you 
 cannot accept that to the point of acting upon it, 
 then your faith is still very far from what it 
 should be.”—Duffy. 
 
 THE LORD’S COMPASSION A BASIS FOR FAITH 
 
 What a basis for faith is the Lord’s compassion. 
 Since Christ has redeemed us from sickness, sure- 
 ly His love and faithfulness may be trusted. The 
 cross is a sure foundation and a perfect reason for 
 the exercise of faith. 
 
 I do not recall who said, “Let us put our sick- 
 ness away by faith, as we would put away sin. 
 
HOW TO APPROPRIATE 113 
 
 The consecrated christian will not consciously tol- 
 erate sin for a moment, and yet how tolerant some 
 are towards sickness. They will even pet and in- 
 dulge their aches and pains, instead of resisting 
 them as the works of the devil.” 
 
 Harriet 8. Bainbridge says, in substance, that 
 the Lord Jesus has declared, concerning the sin, 
 sorrow and physical misery of Adam’s race “It is 
 finished;” and has offered unto each one of us 
 the gift of the Holy Spirit to enable us to realize 
 and enjoy the great salvation He purchased for us. 
 To believe without doubt that Christ’s words “It 
 is finished,” is a literal statement of an unchange- 
 able fact, invariably brings deliverance. The ser- 
 pent is still denying this great saying of Christ 
 to our great loss, just as he caused Eve to forget 
 and disregard words which God had plainly spok- 
 en to her. It is by realizing that our redemption 
 from sickness was actually accomplished in the 
 body of our crucified Lord, and by whole-heartedly 
 believing and receiving what God declares in His 
 written Word about the matter, that the Holy 
 Spirit gives us the personal experience of Christ 
 as our Physician. 
 
 PRESENT DAY RESULTS OF BELIEVING GOD 
 
 Following these instructions has brought sound- 
 ness upon thousands who had before been 
 taught that the age of miracles was past, and that 
 God wanted people to remain sick for His glory, 
 etc., etc. Those born blind are now seeing; deaf 
 
114 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 and dumb mutes from birth are now hearing and 
 speaking; cripples from birth are now perfectly 
 whole; epileptics for years are now free and re- 
 joicing; many who were dying with cancers are 
 now well, and praying the prayer of faith for the 
 healing of others; and God is no respecter of per- 
 sons. “If a man will purge himself from these he 
 shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet 
 for the Master’s use, and thoroughly furnished 
 unto every good work.” This is never true while 
 we are sick in bed. God’s New Covenant provides 
 that we each “shall be made perfect in every good 
 work to do His will.” This cannot be while we 
 are sick, and this shows His willingness to make 
 us well; in fact, His eagerness. 
 
 He cannot keep His Covenant with us without 
 taking away our sicknesses and fulfilling the num- 
 ber of our days, according to His promise. 
 
 Since it is “by His stripes we are healed,” let 
 us not forget what our healing cost, but with grat- 
 itude and love, and consecrated service to God, let 
 us stand on His promise and “blow the ram’s 
 horn” of faith and thanksgiving until the walls of 
 our affliction fall down flat. 
 
 Faith does not wait for the walls to fall down; 
 faith shouts them down! 
 
 NOTE: Let the reader next read, prayer- 
 ~@| fully, the supplement to this sermon, entitled Pe 
 
 “Appropriating Faith” (Pages 181 to 189). 
 
PAUL’S “THORN” 
 
 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the 
 abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn 
 in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I 
 should be exalted above measure. For this thing I be- 
 sought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 
 And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for 
 my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly 
 therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the 
 power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take 
 pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in 
 persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I 
 am weak, then am I strong.” (II Cor. 12:7-10). 
 
 One of the most prevalent objections raised to- 
 day against the ministry of healing is Paul’s 
 “thorn in the flesh.” One traditional idea has led 
 to another. The widespread teaching that God 
 is the Author of disease, and that some of the 
 most devout of His children He has desired shall 
 remain sick, and glorify Him by exhibiting forti- 
 tude and patience, no doubt has led to the idea that 
 Paul had a sickness that God refused to heal. We 
 do not believe that any one who would take time 
 to read all that God has to say on the subject of 
 healing could ever form such a conclusion. 
 
 I am quick to admit that equally devout men 
 may hold contrary views, not only on this point, 
 
116 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 but on the whole subject of Divine healing. It is 
 merely a matter of study and investigacion. Many 
 good men whose teaching has been that the age of 
 miracles is past, etc., while reading the Scriptures, 
 have thoughtlessly passed over the Bible teaching 
 on healing, believing it not applicable for our day. 
 Nearly all who have spoken and written against 
 us have not hesitated to use our name, and “go 
 after us with hammer and tongs;” but they never 
 have attempted to answer the scriptural argu- 
 ments we have presented in our sermons on the 
 subject. We have carefully, without mentioning 
 their names, read their statements publicly and 
 answered them from the Scriptures. If we were 
 fighting against “flesh and blood” we would name 
 them, and “go after them with a vengeance,” but 
 this would not be Christ-like. We feel disposed to 
 “keep our hands off” God’s servants, and let Him 
 fight our battles for us. 
 
 A CLERGYMAN’S ABSURD EXPOSITION 
 
 Before considering the subject of Paul’s 
 “thorn,” we quote the following from a steno- 
 graphic report of a sermon preached by a prom- 
 inent New York clergyman, and which he also re- 
 vised, printed in great quantities, and distributed 
 in every home in the vicinity of our revival, in or- 
 der to offset our teaching on healing, of which he 
 had practically no knowledge, having never seen 
 or heard us. Among other things he said: 
 
 The fact is—Paul was sick. He was the sickest of men. 
 
PAUL'S “THORN” 117 
 
 He had one of the worst and most painful of oriental dis- 
 eases. He had opthalmia—a disease of the eyes. The 
 proof that he had it is overwhelming. He tells us he had 
 a “thorn in the flesh.” . . . When Paul stood before them 
 his eyes filled with unspeakable pus—unspeakable-looking 
 matter running down over his face ... Why would they 
 have digged out their eyes for him except that his eyes, as” 
 he stood before them, were a pitiable and appealing sight 
 to them—-as the eyes of any one with opthalmia are? 
 The particular pain of this disease is that it is like a 
 “stake” in the eyes . . . It is beyond dispute that Paul was 
 a sick man. He says so himself. Paul did not get this 
 disease by infection. How did he get it? Jesus Christ 
 gave it to him. Paul did not want to be sick. He prayed 
 the Lord to heal him from this sickness. He prayed not 
 once, nor twice, but three times. He received no answer 
 to his prayers. In spite of all his praying he got no heal- 
 ing. His thrice-offered prayer brought him no cure, not 
 even the hint of healing. That is not all. The Lord said 
 to Paul a very startling thing. He said, “My grace is 
 sufficient for thee.” . . . He tells Paul it is better for him 
 to be sick than to be well. He tells Paul it is the Divine 
 will he shall not be cured. . . He tells Paul Divine power 
 can and will operate in and through him better with op- 
 thalmia and sickness than without it. . . Hear what Paul 
 has to say in response to the Lord concerning his infirmity 
 and the will of the Lord that he shall not be cured of it. 
 These are his words, ‘Most gladly therefore will I rather 
 glory in my infirmity that the Power of Christ may rest 
 upon me.” Here is Paul saying just this, “I will glory in 
 my opthalmia. My eyes may be full of repulsive dischar- 
 ges; I may be the object of pity; no matter, I will glory 
 in it. I will rejoice in my sickness.” . . . In the quivering 
 flesh and painful suffering of His apostle, the Lord has 
 written His Divine protest against this unspeakable doc- 
 trine, this brutal transmutation of the cross of Christ into 
 a center of physical healing. 
 
118 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 In answering our brother’s arguments on this 
 point, we will state, first, that the expression 
 “thorn in the flesh” is not once used in either the 
 Old or New Testaments except as an illustration. 
 The figure of the thorn in the flesh is not in one 
 single instance used in the Bible as a figure of 
 sickness. Every time the expression is used in the 
 entire Bible, it is specifically stated exactly what 
 the ‘‘thorn in the flesh” was, as we shall see. For 
 
 instance, in Numbers 33:55, Moses told the chil- 
 dren of Israel, before they entered the Land of 
 
 Canaan, “If ye will not drive out the inhabitants 
 of the land from before you; then it shall come to 
 pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall 
 be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, 
 and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.” 
 
 Here the Scripture itself plainly tells us that 
 the ‘‘pricks”’ in the eyes, and the “thorns in the 
 sides of the Israelites were the inhabitants of Ca- 
 naan, and not eye trouble or sickness. These 
 teachers contend that Paul’s “‘thorn” must have 
 been a bodily affliction, because Paul says that the 
 “thorn” was “in the flesh.” I answer that, in the 
 case of these Israelites, the Scripture says, “pricks 
 in your eyes,” and “thorns in your sides,” but this 
 does not mean that God was to stick Canaanites in 
 their eyes and sides, with their heels dangling out- 
 side. God was only illustrating, to show that, as 
 a thorn sticking in the flesh is annoying, so the 
 Canaanites would, if left remaining, be a constant 
 annoyance to the children of Israel. 
 
 °° 
 
PAUL'S “THORN” 119 
 
 THE CANAANITES A THORN TO ISRAEL 
 
 Again, Josnua, eight years later, says, in the 
 23rd chapter, concerning the heathen nations in 
 Canaan, ‘they shall be scourges in your sides, and 
 thorns in your eyes.”’ So, we see again that the 
 “scourges in their sides and thorns in their eyes” 
 were Canaanites, and not sore eyes or sore sides. 
 It is here again, as in all other instances, Plainly 
 stated what the “thorn” was. 
 
 Among the last words of David we read, “‘the 
 sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns.” 
 Without an exception, in all these cases, the 
 “thorns” are personalities. As in each of these 
 instances it definitely states what the “thorn” 
 was; so Paul definitely states what his “thorn” 
 
 ‘was. He says it was “the messenger (Gr., Ange- 
 
 los) of Satan;” or, as translated by others, “the 
 angel of the devil,” “Satan’s angel,” ete. This 
 Greek word angelos appears 188 times in the Bi- 
 ble, and is translated ‘‘angel’”’ 181 times, and “mes- 
 senger” the other seven times. In all the 188 
 times in the entire Bible, it is in every case a per- 
 son and not a thing—without a solitary exception. 
 “Hell was made for the devil and his angels” (or 
 ‘““messengers,’) and an “angel” or a “messenger” 
 is always a person that one person sends to an- 
 other, and never a disease. 
 
 PAUL’S THORN AN ANGEL OF SATAN 
 
 Paul not only tells us that his “thorn” was an 
 angel of Satan, but he also tells us what the angel 
 
120 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 came to do: “to buffet me,” or, as Rotherham 
 translates it, “that he might be buffeting me.” 
 Now the word “buffet” means “blow after blow,” 
 as when the waves buffeted the boat, and as when 
 they “‘buffeted” Christ! Accordingly, Weymouth 
 translates “Satan’s angel dealing blow after 
 blow.” Since buffeting means repeated blows, if 
 Paul’s buffeting was disease, it would have had to 
 have been many diseases or the same disease many 
 times repeated, to be called buffeting. How could 
 the diseases be repeated many times unless he got 
 well between-times? 
 
 In speaking of this messenger, or angel, Rother- 
 ham’s translation uses the pronoun “he,” and 
 Weymouth’s translation states, “As for this, three 
 times I besought the Lord to rid me of him.” Both 
 of these translators use personal pronouns; viz., 
 “he” and “him” when speaking of Paul’s thorn ; 
 so these two pronouns, as well as the word “an- 
 gel,” or “messenger,” prove that Paul’s “thorn” 
 was, as he himself plainly shows, a satanic person- 
 ality and not a disease. We could not use the per- 
 sonal pronouns “he” or “him” when speaking of 
 ophthalmia, or any other disease, because there is 
 no sex to ophthalmia. Suppose I should ask a man 
 how his cancer was, what would you think if you 
 heard him reply, ‘““Him is lots worse, and I am suf- 
 fering terribly.” Now since Paul distinctly states 
 that his “thorn” was the angel of Satan sent to 
 buffet him—a demon spirit sent from Satan to 
 
PAUL’S “THORN” 121 
 
 make trouble for him wherever he went—why 
 should we say it was something else? 
 
 PAUL’S SUFFERINGS 
 
 Soon after Paul’s conversion, God said to Ana- 
 nias, ‘‘I will show him how great things he must 
 suffer for My name’s sake,” not by sickness, but 
 by the persecutions which Paul enumerates as his 
 buffetings. Paul had persecuted the Christians 
 from place to place, and now he, himself, was be- 
 ginning to experience the same and greater perse- 
 cutions. Specifying the buffetings instigated by 
 Satan’s angel, Paul goes on to say, “Therefore I 
 take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in ne- 
 cessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s 
 sake ; for when I am weak then am I strong.” Paul 
 first mentions “infirmities,” for he realized, and 
 every christian should realize, his weakness and 
 inability in his own strength to stand up against 
 a satanic messenger, and to pass triumphantly 
 through “reproaches, necessities, persecutions, 
 distresses,’’ and all the other buffetings he else- 
 where catalogues; and this is why he besought the 
 Lord three times to be rid of “‘thim’’ (the messen- 
 ger) who was buffeting him so severely and in so 
 many ways. Christ responded to his thrice-re- 
 peated prayer, not by removing the satanic mes- 
 senger, but by saying, “My grace (which is for 
 the “inner”? man) is sufficient for thee; for My 
 strength is made perfect in weakness.”’ 
 
 When Paul saw that the grace of God was suffi- 
 cient to strengthen him to bear all these things, 
 
122 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 he exclaimed, “Therefore will I rather glory in — 
 my infirmities (weaknesses) that the power of 
 Christ may rest upon me... for when I am 
 weak then am I strong.” How could it be true 
 that Christ’s strength was made perfect in Paul’s 
 weakness if he was left weak, or unless Paul was 
 an actual partaker of Christ’s strength, which 
 would remove the weakness, whether it was physi- 
 eal or spiritual? Without God’s strength being im- 
 parted co him is a man powerfui when he is weak, 
 either physically or spiritually? Paul saw that - 
 the grace ot God given him made his very buffet- — 
 ings even his imprisonments, to work together 
 tor his good and to turn out for the “furtherance 
 of the Gospel.” What servant of God has not 
 Jearned, and probably more than once, that it is 
 when he is most conscious of his own weakness 
 that the power of Christ rests upon him the most; 
 or, that it is when he is consciously weakest in 
 himself that he is the strongest because of depend- 
 ing, not on his own, but on Divine strength? 
 
 GRACE FOR SPIRITUAL, NOT PHYSICAL, INFIRMITIES 
 
 Paul is clear in teaching that it is the “Life of 
 Jesus” which is “made manifest in our mortal 
 flesh,”’ but it is nowhere stated in the Scriptures 
 that God gives grace to our bedies. ‘The very word 
 “srace” shows that it was the “inner man” that 
 needed help, because the grace of God is imparted 
 only to the “inner man,” which Paul says, in ais 
 case, was “renewed day by day.” In other words, 
 
PAUL’S “THORN” 123 
 
 “erace” is for spiritual infirmities, and not for 
 physical. | 
 
 While the terms in the Old Testament “pricks in 
 your eyes and thorns in your sides,” were used, 
 the Canaanites were not an annoyance to the Is- 
 raelites in the sense of inflicting any physical dis- 
 ease or infirmities upon their bodies. As the an- 
 noying Canaanites were outside the bodies of the 
 Israelites, so Satan’s angel was outside of Paul’s 
 _ body; for surely the Apostle had no demon inhab- 
 iting his body. God’s grace and mercy have al- 
 ways been given to enable us to bear our perse- 
 cutions and temptations; but not to bear our sins 
 and sicknesses, which He bore for us. God has 
 never promised to take away from christians their 
 external buffetings, afflictions and temptations; he 
 gives us grace to bear them. But throughout his- © 
 tory He has ever been ready to take away the 
 internal, or bodily, oppressions of the devil, as well 
 as our sins. 
 
 FOR GOD WAS WITH HIM 
 
 Jesus “went about doing good, and healing all 
 that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with 
 Him.” God tells us, “They that will live godly in 
 this present world shall suffer persecution,” but 
 He has never said, “They shall remain sick,” ac- 
 cording to unscriptural views held by many today. 
 This view denies all scriptural precedent. No 
 doubt Paul got the expression “thorn in the flesh” 
 from reading the Old Testament Scriptures, and 
 
124 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 because the term illustrated their external and not 
 their bodily annoyances, he used the same expres- 
 sion to illustrate his own buffetings. 
 
 If the infirmities (weaknesses) of which Paul 
 _ here speaks), were physical, and, according to the 
 above-quoted writer Paul was “the sickest of 
 men,” and God would not remove the “thorn” by 
 giving him strength, how could he labor “more 
 abundantly than they all?” If “the sickest of 
 men” can accomplish more work than a well man, 
 then let us all pray for sickness in order that we 
 also may do more work for God. After realizing 
 that God’s strength was “made perfect in (his) 
 weakness,” then Paul could take pleasure, not only 
 in his infirmities, but also in the buffetings which 
 he mentions, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, 
 distresses, etc. Note, here, among other things, 
 that Paul mentions necessities, meaning his finan- 
 cial buffetings, which he also refers to in his first 
 letter to the Corinthians written a year before. 
 He says, “Even unto this present hour, we both 
 hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buf- 
 feted, and have no certain dwelling place” (I Cor. 
 4:11), showing that Paul’s idea of buffetings was 
 not a permanent sickness. 
 
 PAUL ENUMERATES HIS BUFFETINGS 
 
 If Paul’s “thorn” was ophthalmia, or sore eyes, 
 which he does not mention, instead of these re- 
 proaches, etc., which he does mention why does 
 he not say he takes pleasure in the former instead 
 
PAUL’S “THORN” 125 
 
 of in the latter? Not only here, but elsewhere in 
 his letter to the Corinthians, Paul enumerates in 
 detail his buffetings instigated by Satan’s angel. 
 In addition to the reproaches, necessities, persecu- 
 tions and distresses mentioned in our text, in the 
 _sixth chapter of this same letter he mentions 
 stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watch- 
 ings, fastings, dishonor, evil report, deceivers, “‘as 
 dying and behold we live,” ‘‘as chastened and not 
 killed,’ “as sorrowful yet always rejoicing,” “as 
 poor yet making many rich,” “as having nothing 
 yet possessing all things ;” and in the 11th chapter, 
 “stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, 
 in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I 
 forty stripes save one; thrice was I beaten with 
 rods; once was I stoned; thrice I suffered ship- 
 wreck ...a day and a night in the deep; in 
 journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils 
 of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in 
 perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils 
 in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils ~ 
 among false brethren; in weariness and painful- 
 ness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst: in 
 fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” ‘“Reviled 
 - » . persecuted ... defamed ... made as the 
 filth of the world... the offscouring of all’ 
 things unto this day.” 
 
 QUESTIONS WORTH CONSIDERING 
 
 ‘Who but Satan’s angel could be responsible for 
 all these sufferings? In enumerating them we see 
 
126 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 that Paul mentions almost everything that one 
 coula think of except sickness, or ophthalmia. The 
 one thing which he does not mention, and which is 
 conspicuous for its absence, tradition seizes upon 
 and says this was his haus Why do these op- 
 posers substitute “sore eyes” or “‘sickness,” neither 
 of which Paul mentions, for all of Hee buffetings 
 which he does mention : 
 
 Although it is believed Sy many saad men, one 
 writer remarks that this widespread perversion of 
 the Scriptures dealing with Paul’s “thorn in the 
 flesh” is certainly inspired by Satan, because it 
 gives him the privilege of carrying on his evil 
 work of afflicting and tormenting che bodies of 
 humanity. 
 
 Since healing is an essential element of the Gos- 
 pel, how could Paul enjoy “the fulness of the bless- 
 ing of the Gospel” as he did, and remain sick? Is 
 not healing a part of the blessing of the Gospel? 
 Even such conservative scholars as those constitu- 
 ting the Episcovalian Commission on Healing 
 agree that “bodily healing is an essential element 
 of the Gospei.” 
 
 Suppose our brother is correct in stating that 
 Paul was the “sickest of men,” suffering with oph- 
 thalmia, is it not strange that when the Ephesians 
 saw the pus running from Paul’s eyes and found 
 that God would not heal him, this sight gave them 
 faith for “special miracles” to be wrought in their 
 behalf? for it is stated here that “God wrought 
 special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that from 
 
PAUL’S “THORN” 127 
 
 his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs 
 and aprons, and the diseases departed from them, 
 and the evil spirits went out.” (Acts 19:11, 12). 
 The Scriptures mever speak of special miracles in 
 -connection with any but this “sickest” Apostle. 
 Today, if handkerchiefs were brought from one 
 suffering with ophthalmia, rather than laying them 
 on the sick for healing, we would burn them to 
 keep from spreading the infection. 
 
 THE CASE OF THE CRIPPLE AT LYSTRA 
 
 Again, when the heathen cripple at Lystra 
 heard Paul preach “the Gospel,’ and got a glimpse 
 of Paul’s eyes, with their *repiisive discharges,” 
 (?) the sight at once gave him faith to walk for 
 the first time on earth, and Paul “perceiving that 
 he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, 
 ‘stand upright on thy feet,’ and he leaped and 
 walked.” ‘This heathen crippie had never wit- 
 nessed a miracle nor ever heard the Gospel 
 preached until he heard it from “the sickest of 
 men” whom God wills “shall not be cured.” 
 
 Again, is it rot marvelous how Paul, with 
 “unspeakable pus---unspeakable-looking matter 
 running down over his face,” “the sickest of men,” 
 suffering with the “worst and most painful of ori- 
 ental diseases . .. a pitiable and appealing sight 
 to them,” and “Jesus Christ gave it to him,” tell- 
 ing him, “it is the Divine will he shall not be 
 cured’”’——I say is it not marvelous how Paul in this 
 condition could “make the Gentiles obedient by 
 
128 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 word and deed through mighty signs and wonders, 
 by the power of the Spirit of God, ... from 
 Jerusalem round about unto Hlyricum ?” (Reon 
 15:18, 19.) 
 
 Again, on the island of Melita, after seeing 
 Paul’s unsightly disease, which must remain be- 
 cause “Divine power can and will operate in and 
 through him better with ophthalmia and sickness 
 than without it,” first, the father of Publius and 
 then “all the other sick people in the island came 
 and were cured.” (Acts 28:8, 9—Weymouth). 
 
 DO THE SICK GLORY IN SICKNESS 
 
 The brother above quoted says, “Paul is saying 
 just this, ‘I will glory in my ophthalmia; my eyes 
 may be full of repulsive discharges; I may be the 
 object of pity; no matter, I will glory in it. I will 
 rejoice in my sickness!’” Since these men teach 
 it is right for Paul to glory in his being “the sick- 
 est of men,” why do not they also glory in their 
 sickness, instead of doing their best to be rid of 
 it? If they glory in their “thorn,” why have some 
 of them gone to a surgeon to have it cut out? 
 
 Some teachers hold that Paul’s “thorn” was a 
 partial blindness caused by the brightness of the 
 Divine light that shone upon him at his conver- 
 sion. He, himself, tells us, in the year 60, when he 
 wrote this epistle, that it was “above 14 years 
 ago” that he received the abundance of the revela- 
 tions which occasioned the giving of the “thorn 
 in the flesh;’”? making it 12 years after his con- 
 
PAUL’S “THORN” 129 
 
 version that the “thorn” was given, this epistle 
 having been written 26 years after his conversion. 
 And, again, it would be wellnigh blasphemy to 
 speak of a partial blindness caused by a personal 
 glimpse of the glorified Christ as “the messenger 
 of Satan.” 
 
 WHY PAUL’S “THORN ?” 
 
 Paul distinctly states that his buffeting by the 
 messenger was given him lest he should be “exalted 
 above measure through the abundance of the 
 revelations.” Is it because of the abundance of 
 their revelations that the sick everywhere today 
 must be taught to regard their sickness as a 
 “thorn,” which must remain lest they be exalted? 
 
 Since Paul’s “thorn” was no hindrance to his 
 faith for the healing of ‘‘all the other sick people 
 in the island’ of Melita, and elsewhere, why 
 should it hinder ours; or why should it be taught 
 today everywhere as a hindrance to what little 
 faith for healing the sick may have received? The 
 Bible says “‘faith cometh by hearing,’ but in these 
 days faith leaveth by hearing—hearing these fool- 
 ish doctrines. The widespread error concerning 
 Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” severs the Gospel, and 
 entirely removes the foundation upon which faith 
 for healing must rest unless the sick one received, 
 from the Spirit and not from the Bible, a special 
 
 ’ revelation that he is to be healed. 
 
 We have noticed from the writings of these 
 teachers that they are quick to mention the slight- 
 
130 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 est physical defect in those who teach healing and 
 are seeing the sick healed, and yet they argue that 
 it was proper for Paul, who is the most outstand- 
 ing New Testament teacher of healing, to have, 
 as they contend, the “thorn” of bodily affliction. | 
 If we could duplicate Paul’s wonderful ministry of 
 healing while “unspeakable pus” was all the time 
 running from our eyes, would not this be seized 
 upon by these very teachers as a ground for ridi- 
 cule? 
 
 PAUL’S THORN NOT A HINDRANCE TO LABOR 
 
 The Scriptures show that Paul’s “thorn” did not 
 hinder him from laboring more abundantly than 
 _all others, but those who are taught that their 
 sickness is a “thorn” that must remain are often 
 incapacitated by their “thorn” from any labor, 
 not even being able to care for themselves, but in- 
 creasing other people’s labors by having to be 
 waited upon. It was the Apostle Paul who wrote 
 that we may be “prepared unto every good work,” — 
 “thoroughly furnished unto all good works,” “‘zeal- 
 ous of good works,” “careful to maintain good 
 
 works,” and “perfect in every good work to do His 
 
 will.” How can the multitude of christians con- 
 fined to their sickrooms by a “thorn in the flesh” 
 “abound unto every good work?’ Do these sev- 
 eral Scriptures belong only to well christians? 
 
 If Christ’s words “My grace is sufficient” mean 
 that He is telling Paul to remain sick, it would be 
 the first and only instance in the Bible in which 
 
 a, 
 
 
 
PAUL’S “THORN” 131 
 
 God ever told any one to keep his disease; and 
 then the very fact of it being a solitary exception 
 would prove the rule, and what the Scriptures 
 abundantly show, that He healed all others. Why 
 do so many of these teachers today reverse the 
 Scriptures, and make Paul’s “thorn” the promin- 
 ent point when discussing healing, and keep in the 
 background the universal policy of healing re- 
 vealed throughout the history recorded in the 
 Bible? Paul’s “thorn” did not hinder him from 
 finishing his course for God (II Tim. 4:7), while 
 present-day teaching concerning Paul’s “thorn” 
 has sent multitudes, often after many years of 
 terrible suffering, to premature graves, with their 
 course only half run—a constantly recurring, and 
 horrible, tragedy! | 
 
 PAUL’S PRAYING A WORTHY EXAMPLE 
 
 If the afflicted who believe this latter day teach- 
 ing will follow Paul by praying until God speaks 
 to them and tells them, as they think He did Paul, 
 that He wants them to keep their affliction, and 
 gives them the reason for it, we would quickly say, 
 “Amen!” for we love the will of God. 
 
 In Gal. 4:13, Paul does say, “Ye know how 
 through infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gos- 
 pel unto you at the first.’ Probably the infirmity 
 here was physical, but “at the first”? does not mean 
 that he remained weak. Does it not mean the op- 
 posite? Else why would he say “at the first?” 
 
132 ’ CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 Probably, as some scholars believe, this was just 
 after his stoning at Lystra. 
 
 After Paul, in the plainest words, tells what his 
 “thorn” was, how strange that ministers today 
 should say it is something else, and use it against 
 the scriptural doctrine of healing, when Paul, him- 
 self, was the greatest teacher on this subject 
 among the apostles and other writers of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 PAUL’S PREACHING STIMULATIVE OF FAITH 
 
 For instance, it was the gospel Paul preached 
 in Ephesus that gave faith for the “special mira- 
 cles” of healing we have mentioned. He said, con- 
 cerning his own preaching there, “I have kept 
 back nothing that was profitable for you.” If all 
 preachers today would keep back nothing that was 
 profitable, they would surely all be teaching heal- 
 ing. 
 
 In Romans 15:18-20, it was Paul who said he 
 “fully preached the Gospel of Christ (preached 
 the full Gospel) , and made the Gentiles obedient by 
 word and deed through mighty signs and wonders 
 by the power of the Spirit of God . . . from Jeru- 
 salem round about unto Illyricum.” 
 
 Twenty-five years after he had become an 
 Apostle, he wrote to the Corinthians (I Cor. 
 11:30), “For this cause many are weak and sickly 
 among you.” If Paul’s “thorn” was physical in- 
 firmity, or he was sick, they would probably write 
 
PAUL'S “THORN” 133 
 
 back to him, asking, “For what cause are you 
 weak and sickly?” 
 
 It was Paul who wrote, “Know ye not that your 
 bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost?” “the 
 members of Christ;” “members of His body, of 
 His flesh, and of His bones;”’ that “‘we have the 
 firstfruits of the Spirit” (firstfruits of our spirit- 
 ual and physical salvation), “that the life also of 
 Jesus might be made manifest in our . . . mortal 
 flesh” (II Cor. 4:11) ; that “the Spirit ... shall 
 also quicken your mortal (not dead) bodies” (Ro- 
 mans 8:11) ; that “He is the Savior of the body,” 
 —‘‘The Lord for the body and the body for the 
 Lord.” 
 
 CALLED TO BE SAINTS 
 
 Paul is the Apostle who wrote “Unto the Church 
 of God which is at Corinth ... called to be 
 saints, with all that in every place call upon the 
 name of Jesus Christ our Lord . . . God hath set 
 -some in the Church... miracles... gifts of 
 healing,” etc.; that these “gifts and callings of God 
 are without repentance” (i.e., are not revoked) ; 
 and that all are commanded to “covet earnestly 
 the best gifts.” 
 
 Paul did not believe, as men are teaching today, 
 that these blessings were confined to Israel, but 
 he did believe that the “middle wall of partition” 
 was “broken down,” that in Christ there is “nei- 
 ther Jew nor Greek,” but that we are “all one in 
 Christ Jesus.”” Accordingly, he heals the Gentile 
 
134 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 at Lystra crippled from birth, the same as Peter 
 and John did the Jewish cripple at the Beautiful 
 Gate. Paul also believed that the Old Testament 
 types “were written for our admonition ;” that “as 
 many as are of faith are Abraham’s seed;” that 
 ‘to Abraham and his seed were the promises 
 made;’’ and that “if ye be Christ’s, then are ye 
 Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the prom- 
 ise.” (Gal. 3:29). 
 
 PAUL ON THE ISLAND OF MELITA 
 
 It was Paul who taught that it was “in Him” 
 that “all the promises of God... are yea and 
 amen,” “to the glory of God by us” (Gentiles). In 
 other words, that all the promises of God, includ- 
 ing all His promises to heal, owe their existence 
 and power to the substitutionary work of Christ 
 for us; that the redeeming work of Christ was for 
 all; and, accordingly, the very last chapter of Acts 
 shows us that Paul believed and proved that it was 
 God’s will to heal, not some of them, but “‘all the 
 other sick people in the island” of Melita (Acts 
 28:9, (Weymouth.) 
 
 Paul differentiated between miracles and heal- 
 ine, and therefore did not believe in every person 
 being instantly made whole, because he left Tro- 
 phimus at Miletum sick, and Epaphroditus was 
 “sick nigh unto death” for the Gospel’s sake (or 
 from overwork), and from which he did not re- 
 cover instantaneously. Paul was not a fanatic 
 concerning the natural laws of health, which are 
 
PAUL’S “THORN” 135 
 
 as Divine as God’s miracles, and he did not hesi- 
 tate to recommend ‘“‘the fruit of the vine” in the 
 place of water alone for Timothy’s stomach 
 trouble. 
 
 Paul believed in the sick themselves having faith 
 for healing, for he did not say to the cripple “stand 
 upright on thy feet,” until he perceived that “he 
 had faith to be healed.” Jesus, himself, could do 
 no miracle in Nazareth because of community un- 
 belief. 
 
 AN INSTRUCTIVE RESUME 
 
 Is it not strange how any minister can set aside 
 the whole Bible, as far as the subject of healing 
 is concerned, keeping in the background— 
 
 God’s Redemptive and Covenant name, “Jeho- 
 vah-Rapha,”’ 
 
 God’s Covenant of Healing, 
 
 The teaching and promises of healing in the 
 Old Testament types, 
 
 The universal precedent of healing set through- 
 out the history of the Old Testament, 
 
 The words, teaching, commands, promises, and 
 healing ministry of Christ, by which He revealed 
 the will of God for our bodies, 
 
 The gifts of healing set in the Church, 
 
 The Church ordinance of anointing, which is 
 commanded, 
 
 The fact that Christ bore our sicknesses as well 
 aS our sins on Calvary, 
 
 The multiplied thousands of those healed since 
 
136 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 the days of the Apostles, down to and including 
 our days in particular. 
 
 Is it not strange that they can set all of this 
 aside, and, when speaking on the subject of heal- 
 ing, choose as their text the Scripture concerning 
 Paul’s “thorn,” which scholars admit they cannot 
 prove has any reference to either sickness or 
 healing? 
 
THIRTY-ONE QUESTIONS 
 
 Propounded by Evangelist F. F. Bosworth ia the Alliance Tabernacle, To- 
 ronto, Canada, April 20, 1923, As a Part of His Sermon Answering 
 the Question, “Is There a Gospel of Healing?” 
 
 
 
 1. Since the seven compound names of Jehovah, 
 one of which Jehovah-Rapha (I am the Lord that 
 healeth thee) reveal His redemptive relationship 
 toward each person, do they not point to Calvary? 
 
 2. Since all the promises of God are yea and 
 amen in Him do not these seven names including 
 Jehovah-Rapha (the Lord our Healer) owe their 
 existence and their power to the redeeming work 
 of Christ on the cross? 
 
 3. Has not every believer the same redemptive 
 right to call upon Christ as Jehovah-Rapha (the 
 Healer of his body) as he has to call upon Him as 
 Jehovah-Tsidkenu (the Healer of his soul)? Is 
 not His name given for healing as long as it is for 
 salvation? 
 
 4. If bodily healing is to be obtained independ- 
 ent of Calvary, as opposers teach, why was it that 
 
138 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 no blessing of the Year of Jubilee was to be an- 
 nounced by the sounding of the trumpet until the 
 Day of Atonement? 
 
 5. If healing for the body was not a part of 
 Christ’s redeeming work, why were types of the 
 Atonement given in connection with healing 
 throughout the Old Testament? 
 
 6. If healing was not in the Atonement why 
 were the dying Israelites required to look at the 
 type of the Atonement for bodily healing? If both 
 forgiveness and healing came by a look at the type, 
 why not from the antitype? 
 
 7. Since their curse was removed by the lifting 
 up of the type of Christ was not our curse a dis- 
 ease also removed by the lifting up of Christ Him- 
 self? (Galatians 3:13.) 
 
 8. In the passage, “Surely He hath borne our 
 sicknesses and carried our pains” (Isaiah 53:4) 
 why are the same Hebrew verbs for “borne” and 
 “carried” employed as are used in verses 11 and 12 
 for the substitutionary bearing of sin unless they 
 have the same substitutionary and expiatory char- 
 acter? 
 
 9. If healing was not provided for all in re- 
 demption, how did the multitudes obtain from 
 Christ what God did not provide? 
 
THIRTY-ONE QUESTIONS 139 
 
 10. If the body was not included in redemption, 
 how can there be a resurrection or how can cor- 
 ruption put on incorruption or mortality put on 
 immortality? Were not the physical as well as 
 the spiritual earnests (foretastes) of our coming 
 redemption enjoyed by God’s people throughout 
 history? 
 
 11. Why should not the second Adam take away 
 all that the first Adam brought upon us? 
 
 12. Since the Church is the body of Christ does 
 God want the body of Christ sick? Is it not His 
 will to heal any part of the body of Christ? If 
 not, why does He command “any sick’ in it to be 
 anointed for healing? 
 
 13. Are human imperfections of any sort, be 
 they physical or moral, God’s will or are they 
 man’s mistakes? 
 
 14. Since “the body is for the Lord, a living sac- 
 rifice unto God” would He not rather have a well 
 body than a wrecked one? If not, how can He 
 make us “perfect in every good work to do His will’ 
 or have us “thoroughly furnished unto every good 
 work?” 
 
 15. Since bodily healing in the New Testament 
 was called a mercy and it was mercy and compas- 
 sion that moved Jesus to heal all who came to Him, 
 
140 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 is not the promise of God still true, “He is plen- 
 teous in Mercy unto all that call upon Him?” 
 
 16. Does not the glorious Gospel dispensation 
 offer as much mercy and compassion to its suf- 
 ferers as did the darker dispensations? If not, 
 why would God withdraw this mercy and this Old 
 Testament privilege from a better dispensation 
 with its “better Covenant?” 
 
 17. If as some teach, God has another method 
 for our healing today, why would God adopt a less 
 successful method for our better dispensation? 
 
 18. Since Christ came to do the Father’s will, 
 was not the universal healing of all the sick who 
 came to Him, a revelation of the will of God for 
 our bodies? 
 
 19. Did not Jesus emphatically say that He 
 would continue His same works in answer to our 
 prayers while He is with the Father (John 14:12- 
 13) and is not this promise alone a complete an- 
 swer to all opposers? 
 
 20. Why would the Holy Spirit who healed all 
 the sick before His dispensation began, do less 
 after He entered into office on the day of Pente- 
 cost? Or did the Miracle-Worker enter office to 
 do away with miracles? 
 
_ THIRTY-ONE QUESTIONS 141 
 
 21. Is not the book of the Acts of the Holy 
 Ghost a revelation of the way He wants to con- 
 tinue to act through the Church? 
 
 22. How can God justify us and at the same 
 time require us to remain under the curse of the 
 law which Jesus redeemed us from by bearing it 
 for us on the cross? (Gal. 3:13.) 
 
 23. Since “The Son of God was manifested that 
 He might destroy the works of the devil” has He 
 now relinquished this purpose which He retained 
 even during the bloody sweat of Gethsemane and 
 the tortures of Calvary? Or does He now want 
 the works of the devil in our bodies to continue 
 that He formerly wanted to destroy? Does God 
 want a cancer,—‘“a plague,’ “a curse’—‘“the 
 works of the devil’? in the members of Christ? 
 “Know ye not that your bodies are the members 
 of Christ?” (I Cor. 6:15). 
 
 24. Are the proofs of Divine Healing among 
 the one hundred and eighty-four persons who tes- 
 tified in‘this Tabernacle the last two Friday 
 nights, less bright and convincing than the proofs 
 of Spiritual Redemption among professed Chris- 
 tians today? 
 
 Are not these 184 who have been healed in bet- 
 ter health physically than a like number of pro- 
 fessed Christians are spiritually? 
 
 _ Would not the physical health of these 184 com- 
 
142 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 pare favorably with the spiritual health of even 
 the same number of ministers of our day? 
 
 25. Would not the argument commonly em- 
 ployed against Divine Healing, drawn from its 
 failures, if employed against justification, regen- 
 eration and all the rest be simply overwhelming? 
 
 26. Does the fact that Christ could do no mir- 
 acle at Nazareth prove anything except the un- 
 belief of the people or would it be right to con- 
 clude, bcause of the failure of Christ’s disciples 
 to cast out the epileptic spirit from the boy, that 
 it was not God’s will to deliver him? Christ 
 proved by healing him that it is God’s will to heal 
 even those who fail to receive it. 
 
 27. Is not God as willing to show the mercy of 
 healing to His worshipers as He is to show the 
 mercy of forgiveness to His enemies? (Rom. 8:32). 
 
 28. If Paul (as a New York minister says) 
 “was the sickest of men suffering from opthalmia - 
 of the eyes,” or if, as others teach, his “thorn in 
 the flesh” was physical weakness instead of what 
 Paul himself says it was, “Satan’s angel” inflicting 
 the many buffetings which Paul enumerates, how 
 could he labor more abundantly than all the other 
 apostles? Or since he had strength to do more 
 work than all the others, how could his “weak- 
 nesses” be physical? Since Paul’s “thorn” did not 
 
THIRTY-ONE QUESTIONS 143 
 
 hinder His faith for the universal healing of “all 
 the rest of the sick folk on the Island” of Melita, 
 (Moffatt’s trans.) why should it hinder ours? 
 Would not Pavzl’s failure to be healed, if he was 
 sick, hinder the universal faith of these heathen 
 for their healing? Why do traditional teachers 
 substitute “ophthalmia of the eyes” or sickness, 
 (neither of which Paul mentions) for the “re- 
 proaches,” ‘‘necessities,” “persecutions,” ‘“‘dis- 
 tresses” and all the other buffetings at the hands 
 of “Satan’s angels’’ which he does mention. If the 
 former constitute his “thorn” why does he not say 
 he takes pleasure in the former instead of the 
 latter? How could Paul, sick in body, or with the 
 unsightly disease of ‘“‘ophthalmia of the eyes,” and 
 unable to be healed, “make the Gentiles obedient 
 by word and deed through mighty signs and won- 
 ders?” (Rom. 15:18-19.) 
 
 29. If sickness is the will of God, then would not 
 every physician be a law-breaker, every trained 
 nurse be defying the Almighty, every hospital a 
 house-of rebellion instead of a house of mercy, and 
 instead of supporting hospitals should we not then 
 do our utmost to close them? 
 
 30. Since Jesus in the Gospels never commis- 
 sioned anybody to preach the Gospel without com- 
 manding them to heal the sick, how can we obey 
 this command if there is no Gospel (good news) 
 of healing to proclaim to the sick as a basis for 
 
104 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 their faith? Or, since faith is expecting God to 
 keep His promise, how can there be faith for heal- 
 ing if God has not promised it? And since the 
 Bible is full of promises of healing are they not 
 all Gospel (good news) to the sick? Since “faith 
 cometh by hearing . . . the Word” how can the 
 sick have faith for healing if there is nothing for 
 them to hear? 
 
 31. “Could the loving heart of the Son of God, 
 Who had compassion upon the sick, and healed all 
 who had need of healing, cease to regard the suf- 
 ferings of His own when He had become exalted 
 at the right hand of the Father?’—Kenneth 
 Mackenzie. 
 
TESTIMONIES 
 
 
 
 Miraculous Healing of One Leads Many to Soul 
 Salvation—Physical Blessings Also Follow 
 
 The five testimonies combined under this head- 
 ing call attention to the spiritual and physical 
 blessings that follow constantly the healing of a 
 single individual. The result of the healing of 
 Aeneas was that all Lydda and Saron turned to 
 God. His healing was as important as the salva- 
 tion of two cities. Through the healing of the lame 
 man at the beautiful gate of the temple, 5000 men 
 were saved. Paul tells us of God’s purpose “‘to 
 make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed 
 through mighty signs and wonders.” 
 
 The persons healed constantly receive with such 
 physical blessings an infilling of the Spirit and a 
 compassion for others that send them out to seek 
 the salvation ‘of others and to tell them that they, 
 too, can receive from a loving God the healing that 
 they need for their own bodies. 
 
 Thrilling testimonies telling of such a “chain of 
 blessings” are continually being received. 
 
 Saved and healed of her affliction, Mrs. J. B. 
 
146 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 Long, of 38 Clifton Park, North Side, Pittsburgh, 
 Pa., sought to fulfill the promise she made to take 
 a message of Divine healing to some sick friends. 
 Prompted by the Holy Spirit, she went to the altar 
 with her own bodily affliction. Anointed by the 
 Rev. E. D. Whiteside and Evangelist Fred Francis 
 Bosworth she arose to be a spiritual blessing to 
 others. How faithfully she is fulfilling her prom- 
 ise is shown in her determination to carry the 
 Gospel with its messages of bodily healing to the 
 sick in soul and body. Souls saved and hodies 
 healed bring blessed assurance of happiness to the 
 benighted and forsaken. 
 
 Cracked Knees—Painful to Walk— 
 Now Climb Steps 
 
 More than a year ago I was healed of total deaf- 
 mess in my right ear and also cracked knee-caps. 
 The deafness was due to nervous break-down 
 which I had more than ten years ago and it left 
 me deaf for more than five years. On my way to 
 church one night in company with Miss Elizabeth 
 Taylor, i fell and cracked my knees. They caused 
 me great suffering for several years and kept 
 growing worse all the time. 
 
 I could scarcely go up and down the steps, but 
 now, praise God, Ican run. I live on the hill top 
 and to take the street car, it is necessary to go 
 down a flight of 185 steps. I used to suffer agony 
 in holding on the rail and trying to get down, but 
 bless His dear name, I can now run down and I 
 
TESTIMONIES 147 
 
 never go down those steps without lifting my 
 heart to God in true thankfulness for what He has 
 done. 
 
 It was during the first Bosworth Campaign in 
 Pittsburgh, that I was healed. I sat in the meet- 
 ing looking at the wonderful sight of people being 
 saved and healed. I had been saved 38 years be- 
 fore when I was just a little girl. The thought 
 came to me that night how sweet it would be to 
 be able to take a message of Divine healing to 
 some of my sick friends. Just then the thought 
 came to me how can I carry the gospel of healing 
 to any one unless I have a testimony of my own? 
 That decided me. 
 
 Without the least hesitation I went to the altar 
 with my own bodily ills and was anointed. Broth- 
 er F. F. Bosworth and Rev. E. D. Whiteside 
 prayed with me and I was instantly healed. It 
 was complete and during the year following my 
 healing I have never had any return of the trouble. 
 I was saved to serve and I was anxious to be 
 healed that I might serve Him better. As I walked 
 up Ohio street that night to take the car, I sudden- 
 ly seemed to be in a new world. 
 
 I believe at that time God gave me a fresh 
 baptism of His Holy Spirit. This has been the 
 most wonderful year of my life, for God has so 
 sweetly used me in His service. Truly, there is 
 joy in the service of the King. I have had more 
 spiritual blessings follow my healing and Christ 
 has been nearer and dearer to me than ever before. 
 
148 CHRIST THE HEALER , 
 
 I find the great secret of this joy comes from 
 testifying to the power of God. The night I was 
 healed I testified to a member of my Church on 
 the car. I knew it would spread. The following 
 week my pastor called me aside, told me what he 
 had heard and asked if it was true. I told him it 
 was true. Hecould not see it my way at first, but 
 when I gave him Scripture for it (Matt. 8:16-17) 
 the Lord fully convinced him. 
 
 The following week our services opened. It was 
 the best revival we ever knew. One evening each 
 week, our pastor spoke on Divine healing. The 
 invitation went out to those seeking salvation or 
 healing. The pastor anointed, while Brother I. E. 
 Hoover and I laid hands on the sick. Many were 
 healed while we prayed with them. 
 
 I felt I was just an empty vessel lying at the 
 Master’s feet, ready to be filled and used in His 
 service The next day after my healing, I asked 
 the Lord to send me to some one who needed heal- 
 ing, that I might tell my story. The face of a 
 friend of mine came before me, Mrs. Sadie Robin- 
 son, 11 Brightridge street. I went to call and 
 found her in bed, having been ill for many weeks. 
 
 The next day Brother I. E. Hoover offered his 
 machine; we took her to the C. & M. A. Tabernacle, 
 Arch street, where she was anointed by Brother 
 Bosworth and healed. It resulted in the salvation 
 of four in her family. God has been wonderfully 
 using her, to His honor and glory. One of her 
 neighbors, Mrs. Bigley, a great sufferer for 30 
 
TESTIMONIES 149 
 
 years, whose testimony follows, had heard of Mrs. 
 Robinson’s healing and sent for her and myself. 
 We spent an afternoon with her studying the Bible 
 together. She was very anxious. 
 
 I went again in a few days with Mr. Fred Col- 
 lins who was healed at the Bosworth meeting, Mr. 
 I. E. Hoover and the Rev. Kreamer, the Baptist 
 minister. We prayed with Mrs. Bigley, anointed 
 her and she was healed. : 
 
 That was on Saturday. The following Tuesday 
 she was up, perfectly wcll, had on her shoes, and 
 without a sign of her old trouble. She was beam- 
 ing with happiness and has had no return of any 
 of her troubles which had been of 30 years’ dura- 
 tion. Her son Was also.brought to Christ and 
 healed at the Sheraden Tabernacle. 
 
 I find that the most important thing in the 
 Christian life is perfect obedience to the will of 
 God. It is very sweet to live in the inner circle. 
 Although it may cut us off from those around us, 
 yet it is sweet to know we have His approval.— 
 Mrs. J. B. Long, 38 Clifton Park, North Side, 
 Pittsburgh, Pa., December 29, 1921. | 
 
 Mrs. Taylor Confirms Mrs. Long’s Testimony 
 
 IT am well acquainted with Mrs. Long. We both 
 belong to the same church and I was with her the 
 night she fell and cracked her knee-caps. She 
 was laid up for some time They were also healed 
 and she has no more trouble with them.—Eliz- 
 abeth Taylor, 22 Overlook street, North Side, 
 Pittsburgh, Pa., December 29, 1921. 
 
150 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 Carried by Three—Came Out Alone—Was 
 Almost Dead—Now Healed 
 
 Heaurxsc or Nervous Breax-Down Resutrs 1x 
 SauvatTion oF Hussanp anp Turee Davcurers 
 
 In the early fall of last year, 1920, I was taken © 
 very ill with nervous break-down of body and 
 mind as well as inward trouble. I was kept at 
 home for two weeks under the care of one of our 
 best doctors. One day I would seemingly be bet- 
 ter, but the next day would be worse and so on 
 until some kind friends came and took me to their 
 home in the country. There I was free from all 
 city noise and I received the best treatment and all 
 the love and kindness that one could receive. I 
 was there six weeks, but had just the same results, 
 being kept under a quieting tonic most of the time, — 
 nights as well as days. 
 
 After six weeks, I was brought back, if any- 
 thing, worse than before. The next day after 
 being brought home the blessed Lord sent one of 
 His faithful servants to me, Mrs. Mary Long, of 
 38 Clifton Park, North Side. She gave me her 
 testimony and prayed for me. She was all love 
 and kindness. One day she mended some of my 
 son’s greasy working clothes, and another day 
 helped the children prepare the meal. I tell this 
 to the glory of God to show what one will do when 
 the Holy Ghost has the right of way with them. 
 
 On Monday, November 15, 1920, she and two 
 others, dear Christians, came with a machine and 
 took me to the Tabernacle on Arch street. There 
 Brother Bosworth prayed for me and anointed me 
 
TESTIMONIES 151 
 
 and I was healed immediately. Bless God, Jesus 
 did it in answer to prayer. It took three to help 
 me into the Tabernacle, but I walked out without 
 the aid of a human hand, leaning heavily on the 
 arm of Jesus. 
 
 Oh, He was and still is so precious tome. The 
 morning of the 15th, that I was taken to the 
 Tabernacle, my husband and family truly believed 
 I could not possibly live the day out. That even- 
 ing I prepared the evening meal with very little 
 help from the children. My healing has been the 
 means of my husband and three daughters giving 
 their hearts to Christ. They are standing firmly 
 to-day on the solid rock, Christ Jesus, praise God. 
 
 The next morning, the 16th, I took a street car 
 and went to the meeting without a human being 
 with me. Jesus was with me and still is. The 
 day after that, the 17th, I cleaned three rooms 
 completely, singing and praising God all the time. 
 Since that I have been attacked a few times, and 
 each time the dear Lord has sent Sister Long to 
 me and she has prayed for me, and bless God, each 
 time I have been healed. I truly have much to 
 praise God for. 
 
 I knew Sister Long before her healing, how she 
 was afflicted, and since she has been delivered. I 
 praise God for the way He is using her to His 
 glory. May He add His blessing to my testimony. 
 
 Your sister in the Lord Jesus Christ, Mrs. Sadie 
 Robinson, 11 Brightridge street, North Side, 
 Pittsburgh, Pa., December 31, 1921. 
 
152 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 Nervousness Cured—Suffered for Years 
 
 CRAFTON, PA.—Miss Hazel D. Benz, 20 Cleve- 
 land Avenue. I have suffered from nervous affec- 
 tion for five years. It arose from spinal trouble, 
 the doctors said. JI had no control over the mus- 
 cles in my head. My face and mouth were con- 
 stantly twitching and distorted. My eyes were 
 similarly affected. My head moved about. Spec- 
 ialist after specialist was consulted. None of 
 them were able to help me. They could not deter- 
 mine what caused the trouble. Finally, I heard 
 of the meetings at the Sheraden Tabernacle. I 
 came November 4th. When the invitation was 
 given I went forward, was prayed for and 
 anointed. The twitching and contortions stopped 
 immediately and have not returned. 
 
 In a letter written several months later, con- 
 firming her testimony, Miss Benz says: 
 
 “Since I was healed of my serious nervous 
 trouble four months ago, my mother, sister, broth- 
 er-in-law and step-father have been saved. I 
 have myself gained eighteen and one-half pounds 
 in weight.” 
 
 Varicose Veins—Blood Pressure—Limbs 
 Swelled—Trouble Gone 
 
 In commemoration of the birth of our Lord and 
 Savior, Jesus Christ on this beautiful Christmas 
 day, I know of no better tribute than the testimony 
 of my dear mother and myself. I hope in giving 
 
TESTIMONIES 153 
 
 it, that it may be used to bring peace and joy to 
 some poor tired sinner or to help some poor suffer- 
 er to be healed, all “to the Glory of God.” 
 
 About five months ago, my mother, who had 
 been troubled with varicose veins for over 30 
 years, an awful high blood pressure and swelling 
 of the limbs developing into a dropsical condition 
 for nearly 10 years, and who had been unable to 
 walk for 10 weeks, heard of one of our neighbors, 
 Mrs. Robinson, being healed by ‘faith in Cod.” 
 The case was so wonderful that we inquired and 
 found out that a Mrs. J. B. Long had taken this 
 woman to some church; so we found where Mrs. 
 Long lived and asked her to come and see mother. 
 Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Long came and prayed 
 with mother and explained the wonderful things 
 in store for all who believed. Later, Mrs. Long 
 and three of the church came to see us, prayed 
 with mother and anointed her. Three days later, 
 she could put her shoes on and walk, which she 
 had not done for 10 long weeks. 
 
 Meanwhile, mother had read her Bible, and as 
 God revealed Himself to her in prayer, she was 
 greatly blessed and all the pain and aches left her 
 limbs, the varicose veins started to dry up and all 
 swelling recede. Her general health became bet- 
 ter and the high blood pressure began to disap- 
 pear, something that the doctors had claimed was 
 impossible except by electric treatments. They 
 had advised her removal to a hospital months ago. 
 
 To-day finds mother in better health than she 
 
154 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 has been in years and there has been no return of 
 any of her old ailments. Glory to God for His 
 blessings. Being saved and healed herself, she 
 has found consolation and happiness in the work 
 of God and in His promises. 
 
 Meanwhile Mrs. Long continued to call on us. 
 She was never in a hurry to go and always had 
 prayer before leaving. 
 
 When I saw the wonderful works of God in my 
 mother, I too, started to search the Scriptures and 
 found God’s promises were the same to me if I 
 believed. On one of Mrs. Long’s visits, she told 
 me of her own life and of others. After telling 
 me it was the last day of the Tabernacle services, 
 she persuaded me to go. Well, with Mrs. Robin- 
 son and her husband, who had also been saved and 
 healed, I went. It was a day I will never forget 
 as long as I live. 
 
 After listening to the evangelist, at the end of 
 his sermon, he called for all who wished to be 
 saved or healed or prayed for to come forward. 
 All the time I had been listening, I had been silent- 
 ly praying for God to lead me. With Brother 
 Robinson, I went forward and I was saved by the 
 blood of Christ. 
 
 I had been suffering from nervous disorders 
 and bad health for 15 years, had been through 
 three very serious operations and never had a well 
 day. After being prayed for and anointed by one 
 of the workers, I came home and glory to God, “by 
 His stripes” I was healed. I have enjoyed my 
 
TESTIMONIES “155 
 
 meals ever since, have never been bothered with 
 any stomach trouble at all and my nerves have 
 been strengthened wonderfully. Mother and I are 
 so happy and the further on we go the sweeter 
 this life gets. It seems we both are getting the 
 good things God has in store for all who believe. 
 I also want to mention this: in one week I prayed 
 to God for five things which a person would think 
 were nearly impossible, but glory be to His holy 
 name, I got all I asked for. 
 
 Please print this so that some one may see it 
 and profit by our experience and get peace and 
 happiness like we did. All who believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. This is His 
 promise and praise His blessed name He never 
 breaks His promises. Our Bible is a great source 
 of happiness now and my one hope is that God 
 may use me in the advancement of His work in 
 any way Hechooses. Weare thankful to God and 
 will always be His co-workers here until He takes 
 us to be with Him over there.—Carson A. Bigley, 
 1321 Pennsylvania avenue, North Side, Pitts- 
 burgh, Pa., December 25, 1917. 
 
 Eye Specialists Outrivaled by Simple Faith 
 
 I was a church member and had been one for 
 five years. I knew that Jesus was the Son of God 
 and that He shed his blood on the cross. But I 
 did not know—had never heard that it was for 
 me—that I was lost and that I could be saved and 
 know it—instead of waiting until I died to learn 
 whether I got to Heaven or not. 
 
156 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 However, I was proud of the church and would 
 never think of going into another denomination’s 
 meeting. But I was in need of healing. I had 
 been very far-sighted all my life and had been 
 cross-eyed in one eye for fifteen years. I wore 
 powerful glasses for over eleven years and had to 
 have them changed by a specialist about every six 
 months. When deprived of my glasses for just 
 a few moments, I would suffer severe headaches, 
 and could not see well enough to distinguish faces 
 or furniture. Everything would be hazy and 
 blurred. 
 
 A friend, in Pittsburgh, sent me a Tribune giv- 
 ing testimonies and announcing the Bosworth 
 meetings in Detroit. I went to the meeting Jan- 
 uary 11, 1921, and was saved right in my seat. I 
 don’t remember the text or anything about that 
 night except that I felt much lighter when I went 
 out than when I came in. That week the Lord 
 began dealing with me, and “behold old things 
 passed away and all things became as new.” 
 
 The next morning, I went up for healing. 
 Brother B. B. Bosworth prayed for me and I was 
 instantly healed. He held up the seeker’s card 
 and I could read everything on it. I was just 
 dumfounded. For two hours my eyes were per-. 
 fectly straight and my vision normal. Then both 
 went back and were worse than they had ever been 
 all the rest of that day and all the next day. 
 
 Some of the folks at home tried to urge me to 
 put my glasses back on—they said that I would 
 
TESTIMONIES 157 
 
 go blind altogether. But, thank God—lI refused 
 and just trusted Him. The following day my eyes 
 were perfectly straight and kept getting stronger 
 all along, until now they are just as normal as any- 
 one’s. I forgot to mention that during the time 
 the Lord was testing me, I could read my Bible, 
 but nothing else. Two weeks after the Lord so 
 wonderfully healed me, He baptized and filled me 
 with the Holy Ghost and still keeps me filled. 
 
 I do praise God that He put healing in the Gos- 
 pel and that the Bosworth Brothers ever came to 
 Detroit and told us about it. Since the Lord healed 
 me, I have never even had the headache from my 
 eyes. 
 
 There is no one more real to me than my Lord 
 and He is nearer and dearer each day. I could 
 never begin to tell what He has done for me. Al- 
 most every time I give my testimony, I hear of 
 some one who has been helped either physically or 
 spiritually. 
 
 I praise God that He cares for all things that 
 concern us. When the Lord told us to go to St. 
 Paul, we had only two cents (Mrs. Monroe and I). 
 After we told the Lord we would go, He gave us 
 the fare. I had never heard of any such thing as 
 trusting the Lord for financial aid, ’till Mr. Bos- 
 worth told of his experiences. “Faith cometh by 
 hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” 
 
 One morning, we had thirteen cents; after 
 getting a light breakfast, we had one cent left. So 
 we cried out, shouting “Glory” in the pocketbooks. 
 
158 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 (No one knew that we had gone on faith.) At 
 the exact time that we did this, a special delivery 
 letter was sent to us with two dollars init. Three 
 days later, when our rent was due, the Lord sent 
 in fourteen dollars. That is the way He provided. 
 When I was coming home, we had five dollars and 
 twelve cents. JI asked the Lord for my fare. By 
 twelve that night (Saturday), He sent it in and 
 one dollar and eighty-five cents more. 
 
 I have had to rely on His promises for every- 
 thing since, and He has never failed me. 
 
 Use this testimony as you see fit—by the guid- 
 ance of the Holy Spirit and all for the glory of 
 God. 
 
 Mrs. Edith I. Watt Lau, 3704 Wabash 
 
 Avenue, Detroit, Mich. 
 
 (This testimony was given a year after her 
 healing.) 
 
 Healed of Cancer 
 
 About four years ago, a cancer started on my 
 face. It was, at first, apparently only a small 
 wart on my nose. I kept scratching it until it 
 became a sore, and then it was apparent that a 
 cancer had developed. At that time I suffered 
 very much, but before the second year the pain 
 and agony were extreme. 
 
 It was necessary to keep my face covered, both 
 on account of its appearance and the necessity of 
 keeping cloths saturated with ether and other 
 
TESTIMONIES 159 
 
 anaesthetics to check the pain. I spent about 
 $500.00 for anaesthetics during the last year I was 
 sick. This was the only means of easing the suf- 
 fering. When I removed the cloth, the pain was 
 so intense that I was blinded and could not see my 
 hand before my face. 
 
 I went from one physician to another in Ohio, 
 Indiana, New York and New Jersey, wherever I 
 heard of a good one, looking for relief. JI am sure 
 I consulted more than fifty of them. But all of 
 them said there was no hope and that they could 
 do nothing for me. 
 
 But praise the Lord, in September, 1920, I heard 
 of the Bosworth meetings which were being held 
 in my home town, Lima, Ohio. I went prompted 
 by no other desire than to get healed. I had nev- 
 er heard the gospel preached in this way before 
 and went forward immediately. When I was asked — 
 to pray I did not know how and the words had to 
 be put into my mouth, but as I repeated them, 
 faith came into my heart, and I began to be very 
 happy. 
 
 They laid hands on me for healing and as they 
 did so I could feel the power of God going through 
 my body. It rose up into my face. The feeling 
 was that of a tight rubber cap over my face which 
 was being slipped off, little by little. When it 
 reached the top of my head, I saw a bright light 
 and I had a vision of Jesus standing right before 
 me. Then I shouted in earnest, although I had 
 not been able to do so before. As soon as the 
 
160 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 hands were laid on me, the pain ceased, and I 
 knew I was healed. Others tell me I cried out, “I 
 am saved and healed,” and that I threw away the 
 cloth which had covered my face. I was so happy 
 that I was not aware of what I was doing. I 
 shouted and shouted with joy, went home shout- 
 ing, shouted almost all night and continued shout- 
 ing when I arose in the morning. 
 
 When I arose, my daughter had gotten break- 
 fast. She looked at me and exclaimed, “Oh, 
 mother!” There was a big looking-glass in the 
 dining room and I looked in that. I saw that my 
 upper lip, parts of which had been eaten away 
 previously, was healed. It had been eaten away 
 so that the roots of my teeth showed. During 
 the night it had filled in with new flesh, was 
 covered with fresh skin and was as solid and clear 
 as it is at present. There were no traces left of 
 the cancer except the scars. Two scabs which 
 had been on my face were still there, but later 
 disappeared. But wherever the skin had been 
 gone it was completely healed during the night 
 and the new skin had formed. 
 
 My right thumb had been crippled for four 
 years. My instep had been broken. They were 
 both healed at the same time as the cancer. I 
 have not had pain from either of them since that 
 time. 
 
 When I saw that my lip was restored, I shouted 
 so loud that the home soon filled up with neigh- 
 bors, to whom I told the story of what God had 
 done for me. 
 
TESTIMONIES 161 
 
 My children took my healing as an indication 
 that the Lord would soon take me to heaven and 
 if I went out to the neighbors and stayed longer 
 than I expected, they would come to see if I was 
 still on the earth. 
 
 For two years I had not been able to take any- 
 thing except soup or milk. I could not open my 
 mouth far enough to take food in, and had to sip 
 liquid from a small spoon held to my lips. I was 
 healed on Friday night, and on Saturday morning 
 I took up knife and fork and began to eat just as 
 I did before I was afflicted. When the Bosworth 
 Brothers eame to see me the same morning, I took 
 a large tablespoon, opened my mouth wide and 
 showed them how I could eat then. When they 
 came, I was out visiting the neighbors and show- 
 ing them my face, but they waited at my home 
 until I returned and rejoiced with me over the 
 healing. 
 
 On Sunday, I went out to be baptized. On Sat- 
 urday, something had said to me, “go into the 
 water.” Brother Bosworth explained to me what 
 it meant and I obeyed and was baptized 
 
 On Monday, my daughter had a bushel of apples 
 and I sat peeling them and singing, “I know the 
 Lord laid His hands on me; He healed the sick and 
 raised the dead.” I peeled the whole bushel before 
 I realized that something had happened to my 
 crippled hand. Then I found it was perfectly well. 
 
 As soon as the news of my healing spread, I had 
 many callers asking for confirmation of it. 1 re- 
 
162 CHRIST THE HEALER “ 
 
 ceived letters from all over the world asking about 
 it and one day I received nineteen. I also had 
 many of out-of-town callers on the same errand. 
 I was able to refer them to any of my neighbors 
 about my previous condition, as all knew it. 
 
 Three months ago, a doctor who had formerly 
 prescribed for me, came to my house. He asked 
 me how I was getting along. I told him I was 
 well and praising the Lord. He wanted to know 
 what doctor I had. I told him, “Dr. Jesus.” He 
 said, ““How long has he been here?” I answered, 
 “As long as I have.” He did not know that I 
 meant the Lord Jesus Christ. When he under- 
 stood, he shouted with laughter and was very 
 happy over it. 
 
 On Monday, after peeling the apples, I went 
 and prayed for a woman who had a cancer. She 
 went to the meeting a night or two afterward and 
 was healed. As I came out of her house praising 
 the Lord, I passed the gas plant. The men work- 
 ing there asked me what the matter was. One of 
 them must have been a Christian for when I told 
 them, he began to shout. 
 
 Since my healing a year ago, I have not had any 
 symptoms whatever of the cancer or any pain in 
 my hand or foot, but about a month before coming 
 to Toledo, I let a very large lump of coal fall on 
 my foot. it was very badly bruised. Three or 
 four days before I came here, a piece of bone about 
 one-half inch long, came out of it. After coming 
 to Toledo, I was prayed for and the foot healed. 
 
TESTIMONIES 163. 
 
 There has been no pain in it since then. 
 
 Since I was saved, I have been called away many 
 times to pray for the sick. In one case, it was a 
 little boy, Billy Jones, who had been confined to 
 his bed for several months. He was paralyzed 
 and had bad sores on his back and face. I prayed 
 for him and told the parents that in nine days he 
 would walk. I said that, because it seemed that 
 a voice came to me with that message. In just 
 nine days from that time, he walked to my house, 
 two biocks away. 
 
 One aay last winter, I was without coal. I 
 knew that the Lord had promised to take care of 
 me, so I prayed about it. On going down stairs 
 I found a lump of coal that filled a bushel basket 
 when we broke it up. I never learned who sent it. 
 When I pray for anything I need, I am sure to get 
 it, just as if I had a friendly neighbor and she had 
 given ittome. Ido not always get it right away, 
 but it comes nevertheless. 
 
 Just before I came to Toledo on this visit, I said 
 to the Lord, “I would like to be in the Bosworth 
 meetings once more.” He immediately provided 
 the money for me to go to Toledo. I knew I was 
 going to a strange place, so I said, ‘“‘Lord, I know 
 you are going to take care of me.” Through no 
 effort of mine, He provided a beautiful place for 
 me to stay while here. 
 
 When I had the cancer, I was obliged to sell my 
 clothes to provide money for the ether, drugs and 
 other needs; so when I was healed, I was neces- 
 
164 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 sarily poor. But He has provided ever since. I 
 have never wanted for a thing. 
 
 The first of April, last, we were exposed to the 
 smallpox. The authorities quarantined us and 
 would not provide for us. I prayed and one day 
 when we had run out of everything, there stood a 
 man at the door with a great big basket of things. 
 Both my daughter and I had a bad case of the dis- 
 ease but had no physician except Jesus and came 
 out all right, without any scars. 
 
 After nearly three years of suffering, to be in- 
 stantly set free! It is almost too good to be true. 
 
 Miss Lida Clark’s Confirmation of Mrs. Alice Baker’s 
 Cancer Testimony 
 
 I was present at the time Mrs. Baker was healed 
 of her cancer. After she had been anointed and 
 prayed for, she said to some one, “Take that cloth 
 off.” The other person loosened it from her face 
 and Mrs. Baker took it and threw it away. She 
 appeared to be just filled with the Holy Spirit. 
 She cried out, “I am saved and healed,” as she 
 sprang to her feet. It could not have appeared to 
 the audience that she was healed, any more than 
 it did to me. Her face was a horrible sight. It 
 was 2 mass of blood, pus and open sores. But she 
 said afterward that the pain had ceased and that 
 she had the assurance in her heart that she was 
 healed. 
 
 The odor from the cancer was so offensive that 
 the worker who filled out her card, was sick from 
 
TESTIMONIES 165 
 
 it that evening and all the next day. But there 
 was no odor the next night. Isat right alongside 
 of her and know that this was the case. And the 
 cancer, the holes in her lip and all the sores had 
 disappeared. She was healed—that was unde- 
 niable. 
 
 After her healing, I saw a physician who had 
 treated her during her illness. After hearing that 
 she had been healed, he asked me to tell him what 
 I had actually seen. I told him that I saw her 
 come in with the cloth on her face, was present 
 when she was prayed for, heard her say, as she 
 took the cloth off, that she was healed, and saw 
 her walk down the street without the cloth. 
 
 He said that it was impossible, that she could 
 not walk out without the cloth over her face, be- 
 cause the pain would have been so intense as to 
 blind her and she could not find her way out of the 
 hall. He said, “Girl, you have been hypnotized, 
 that could not be so.” 
 
 I saw him again after he had seen her, and he 
 said it certainly was a marvelous thing for her. 
 He acknowledged it was so. 
 
 Miss Lida Clark, 68214 S. Main St., Lima, Ohio. 
 
 Monster Cancer Healed 
 CHICAGO, ILL., Mrs. R. Jerolaman of 7111 Eber- 
 hart avenue.—lI visited Mrs. Trina Odegard, 224 
 Hoy avenue, Woodstock, IIl., May, 1921, and was 
 greatly surprised to see her in the condition in 
 which I found her, more dead than alive. We 
 
166 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 knew she had suffered with ulcers of the stomach 
 for twenty-five years or more and were of the 
 opinion she had a cancer. Her meal consisted of 
 a half slice of bread, and when I urged her to eat 
 more, she told me if she did, the pains would kill 
 her. She was barely able to walk across the floor. 
 
 After I left, she consulted three physicians in 
 Woodstock; had an X-ray photograph taken and 
 learned she had a serious case of cancer, far too 
 advanced to even suggest an operation, as the phy- 
 Sicians gave as their opinion she would never pull 
 through. They gave her about two weeks to live. 
 She decided to consult a specialist here in Chicago, 
 and he told her the same thing. It was during 
 this visit in July, 1921, that she heard of the Bos- 
 worth tent meetings at Cicero and North avenues. 
 She was taken there at once and when prayed for, 
 was healed instantly. She said the power of God 
 went down through her body from head to foot 
 during the prayer. ° 
 
 Her soreness, pain and suffering were all over 
 instantly. The cancer was eliminated by the power 
 of God. She was so hungry before leaving the 
 tent, she could hardly wait until she got where she 
 could get something to eat. She visited us the 
 next day, ate the heartiest meal I had ever seen 
 her eat in many a year and there was not the 
 slightest evidence of serious after-effect. 
 
 It has been six months since her healing, and 
 when I called her up the other evening, she was 
 getting along fine. She has gained in weight and 
 
TESTIMONIES 167 
 
 is hungry all the time. The people in Woodstock 
 were astonished, as they never expected to seé her 
 return alive after making the trip to Chicago. 
 
 It was through her wonderful healing that 
 mother and I were saved. We wanted to serve a 
 God that was so loving and we gave our hearts te 
 Him right then and there. I am happier every 
 day since I was converted. 
 
 These, however, are not all the blessings we 
 received. I had been ailing and doctoring for al- 
 most four years. I was so nervous that at times 
 I almost went into hysterics. I was terribly 
 anemic and also had internal trouble for which I 
 had undergone an operation two and a half years 
 before. After that, I was worse than ever, not 
 being able to gain weight or strength, whatever 
 I did. I took nerve tonics, blood tonics and serum 
 injections. Nothing seemed to do me any good. 
 I became disgusted with life and decided to stop 
 doctoring. 
 
 I thank God that He led me to the Bosworth 
 tent meetings, as I know He wanted me to go there 
 so that He might save and heal me. I was not 
 saved before that and my healing came as soon as 
 I gave myself to Jesus. I am gaining in weight, 
 am stronger than I have ever been and am not 
 nervous any more. I also thank God for the per- 
 fect peace and joy that I rave in my heart, and life 
 with Christ is all joy and happiness. 
 
 Mother experienced a wonderful healing. One 
 doctor said I had better see that she was taken 
 
168 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 care of immediately or I would not have her with 
 me very long. He said that she must have an ope- 
 ration for gall and appendix trouble as the pains 
 were so severe she could not sleep. She had un- 
 dergone an operation seven years ago and had 
 not been well since. She also suffered an abdom- 
 inal rupture after returning home from the hos- 
 pital and so dreaded the thought of another opera- 
 tion. After being prayed for, she felt the power 
 of God going through her and cried for joy. Her 
 pains have left her entirely, and, praise the Lord, 
 the rupture is being healed. 
 
 Mrs. Killick’s Testimony 
 
 I had suffered for years with a cancer on the 
 leg. The pain caused me to tear my hair and was 
 too intense to to describe. ‘The doctors operated 
 but brought no relief. For two years after the 
 operation I had not been able to lace my boot on 
 account of the swelling, nor could I walk properly, 
 kneel down, do my work or go out. The cancer 
 was pronounced a Melanotic Sarcoma. I had been 
 confined to my bed continuously for four months. 
 
 Soon after being anointed and prayed with, the 
 pain almost instantaneously left, and the swelling 
 rapidly disappeared. The cancer has now com- 
 pletely gone and only a few scars show where the 
 black monster with its hideous head lived. The 
 flesh has become pure and clean and my health is 
 perfect. 
 
TESTIMONIES 169 
 
 After being healed, I went to the doctor, who 
 simply laughed and said, ‘‘Well, I am pleased to 
 see it, Mrs. Killick, but I will bet you ten dollars 
 it will be back in six months.” 
 
 It is now nearly two years and my condition is 
 as described. | 
 
 Mrs. Killick, 45 Ferrier street, Toronto. 
 
 Healing of Miss Nix 
 
 In October, 1921, I was healed by the power of 
 God from cancer, sugar diabetes and enlargement 
 of the heart, a twisted spine, almost total paraly- 
 sis from the hips to the feet, the condition of being 
 a nervous wreck and of almost total blindness. I 
 had suffered from the cancer for one and a half 
 years, and from the other troubles for seven years. 
 I walked only with crutches and when I went out, 
 it was in a wheel chair. The doctor who treated 
 me said, a few weeks ago, that I had been one of 
 the greatest sufferers he had known. 
 
 About the twelfth of October, I had a bad spell 
 and sent for the doctor. He said that I had about 
 ten days to live, and no more. On October the 
 fifteenth, a little man who was in the habit of 
 _ bringing my newspaper, came to the door and in- 
 quired as to my condition. He asked to see me 
 and was granted permission with the suggestion 
 that I undoubtedly would not recognize him. Be- 
 fore he went out I knew him but was unable to 
 
 speak. 
 
170 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 He said, “Mrs. Killick, who has been healed of 
 a terrible cancer, is coming here. Would you like 
 to see her?” JI nodded assent. She came to see 
 me and told me that God wanted to heal me. She 
 read the Bible to me and prayed, but I do not re- 
 member now what she said. She sang a hymn 
 and I do remember that. It was: 
 Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
 That were a present far too small. 
 Love, so amazing, so Divine, 
 Demands my soul, my life, my all. 
 She departed saying that she would come back 
 again at night. I lay in bed thinking, and when 
 
 ~ my friend who was taking care of me came in, I 
 
 said, “If God has healed that woman He will heal 
 me.” | 
 
 I asked the Lord what He would have me do and 
 I heard Him say plainly, “Put on your shoes and 
 stockings.” My friend said, “Dear, you cannot 
 get up,” but she brought the shoes and stockings. 
 She lifted my foot to dress it and I felt no differ- 
 ence, but the moment the stocking touched my 
 foot, I felt the power of God touch my body. It 
 started at my feet just where I was obeying the | 
 command, and spread all over my body. I got up 
 on my feet, although I had not stood alone for 
 four years. Then I asked to have my clothes 
 brought to me and I dressed alone. I walked into 
 the bedroom and did up my hair. My friend 
 asked, “‘What are you going to do now?” I said 
 that I was going to help her to get supper. She 
 
TESTIMONIES a7? 
 
 asked me what I was going to eat, and I told her 
 the same as she was. Previously, I had eaten 
 only eggs and orange juice. I ate just what she 
 ate. 
 
 I went to bed at nine and slept until six in the 
 morning. I could not stay abed, but got up, zte 
 breakfast, washed the dishes and asked God what 
 He would like to have me do to glorify Him. I 
 heard Him say, “Wax that floor.” The tempter 
 said, ‘You cannot do that, you have not been on 
 your knees for years.” I waxed the floor from 
 end to end, and Mrs. Killick saw it completed when 
 she returned’in the afternoon. She said, “I am 
 going to give my testimony in the little Salvation 
 Army Hall. Will you give yours?” 
 
 She offered to get an automobile to take me 
 down, but I refused and walked all the way. When 
 I reached there, the power of God so overcame me, 
 I could not speak and remained but a few mo- 
 ments. 
 
 From that hour to this God has given me 
 strength and guided my steps. Last summer, I 
 had charge of one of the largest summer homes of 
 the Anglican Church, and often worked from six 
 in the morning until two.or three o’clock the next 
 morning. I have been feeling perfectly well ever 
 since my healing except for an attack of pneu- 
 monia from which the Lord delivered me without 
 the aid of medicine or physician. My testimony 
 has been a means of blessing to many, and some 
 of the girls attending our own little Mission Hall | 
 
172 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 which I was led to open in faith, have been con- 
 verted and healed through it. 
 
 Do you wonder that I love God? He has blessed 
 me spiritually as well as physically and I am sure 
 I am the happiest woman on earth. Better than 
 my own healing He has used me mightily to tell 
 others what He has done for me, and many have 
 been wonderfully healed. 
 
 Miss R. Nix, 412 Dundas street, E., Toronto. 
 
 Miraculous Healing Followed by Conversion 
 of Twenty Relatives 
 
 I have been suffering with stomach trouble for 
 many years (about 30 years). Twenty years ago 
 I had the first operation for Tumor. . I got to the 
 place where nothing stayed on my stomach and 
 could not think of eating fruit. I have had three 
 operations since the first one. Had fourteen dif- 
 ferent doctors attending me. Got to the place 
 where I could not even take any more medicine on 
 account of the condition of my stomach. Found 
 I had a fallen stomach. Last June I found I had 
 an inward Goiter. My condition grew worse. At 
 last I found [had a Cancer. I went to the People’s 
 Tabernacle at Bethlehm, Pa., and was anointed 
 and prayed for and God did so compassionately 
 touch my body, praise His Name! I cried for joy. 
 The Lord has never been so dear to me. I did not 
 realize He loved me so. Things are different. I 
 see that He was just waiting to come and heal 
 
TESTIMONIES 173 
 
 me. I am healed of all my diseases, praise His 
 name! 
 
 What is still better, I brought my husband, 
 mother, daughter, sons, sisters and brothers, sis- 
 ter-in-law, nieces and one nephew. Twenty in 
 all, and they were all converted. God made a 
 clean sweep. “Thou shalt be saved and thy 
 house.” —Mrs. Edward A. Bander, R. F. D. No. 3, 
 Easton, Pa. 
 
 Healed of Brights Disease and Other Ailments 
 
 While listening to the full Gospel, which I heard 
 you preach in St. Petersburg, Fla., last January, 
 I received untold spiritual and physical blessings; 
 and it was such a revelation to me to know that 
 God is so willing to heal, that I hope and pray I 
 may be used to tell others. 
 
 After doctoring for five years for Brights dis- 
 
 ease, high blood pressure (240 and over), sinus 
 infection, and several minor ailments, I was told 
 that I could live only three months. 
 _ I had been to numerous doctors of high reputa- 
 tion in the United States and Canada, (Mayo Bros. 
 and John Hopkins), to chiropractors and osteo- 
 paths, and felt that everything had been done 
 that human aid could do. 
 
 But, thank God, He wonderfully healed me phys- 
 ically, and I feel like a new person. Spells that 
 I used to have three times a week have not re- 
 turned since. My blood pressure is down and the 
 doctor told me that my heart was normal. And 
 
174 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 I was able to immediately discard my glasses, 
 which I have had to wear for years.—Lela Beach, 
 Cornwall, Ont., Canada. 
 
 Nurse Healed of Varicose Veins 
 
 For the past four years I have suffered with 
 varicose veins. It was impossible for me to stand 
 on my feet even for a few minutes without con- 
 stantly shifting my weight from one foot to the 
 other. Three different times for four months at 
 a time, I was compelled to stay off my feet en- 
 tirely. 
 
 My limbs were so swollen and inflamed that I 
 could not bear any covering over them, even in 
 the Winter time, and I always slept with the 
 windows open and my limbs exposed to the cold 
 air regardless of the temperature of the room. 
 
 Several days ago I came to the tabernacle, and, 
 after receiving instruction and teaching on divine 
 healing, I was anointed and prayed for. I am en- 
 tirely free from pain in my body, and am able 
 to walk and work every day without any dis- 
 comfort. The knots or lumps on my limbs were 
 the size of hen’s eggs, but they have completely 
 disappeared; praise the Lord! 
 
 I wish to thank God also, for the healing of my 
 little ten-year old daughter. She had suffered 
 with chronic bronchitis all her life, continually 
 under the doctor’s care and yet never free from 
 coughing day and night. Since being anointed 
 
TESTIMONIES 175 
 
 and prayed for, she has been entirely delivered, 
 for which we praise His dear name. 
 
 I shall be glad to have this testimony pubiished 
 for His glory and the blessing of others.—Beth 
 P. Kvans, No. 2 Ackiey Ave., Johnson City, N. Y. 
 
 Lord Couldn’t Wait! Eager to Bless His 
 Children 
 
 In 1914, some time in December, I was unload- 
 ing cars of coal and in some way I twisted my 
 back. I started for my home, but was picked up 
 and carried home, as I could not walk because of 
 the intense suffering. 
 
 For three months I could not walk, and for 
 three years I could not sleep on a bed. I had to 
 sleep on the floor, as I could not bear to lie on 
 anything that was not perfectly flat. My left 
 side was paralyzed, and was so numb I could 
 hardly walk. 
 
 When I heard of the Bosworth brothers coming 
 here, and read of their great faith in the Lord 
 for healing, I felt my time had come to be healed. 
 I got a healing card, but when I came forward 
 and found that I could not be prayed for until 
 the card had been numbered, I just felt like that 
 man of whom we read in the Bible, who every time 
 he came to the pool at the troubling of the waters, 
 was always too late, and someone else had slipped 
 in ahead of him. 
 
 I was standing in front of the platform, feeling 
 
176 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 very much disappointed, and as I turned to go 
 back to my seat the Lord spoke to me and said: 
 “If you are willing, I will make you whole!” I 
 said, “Lord, I am willing.” Praise the Lord, He 
 straightened my back and healed the paralyzed 
 side, and I can go to bed now and sleep like a 
 baby. 
 
 Praise the Lord, and may He heal all that come 
 to Him, is my prayer.—Harvey B. Whitecotton, 
 1502 Bates St., Indianapolis, Ind. 
 
 Crippled and Deformed from Infantile Paralysis; 
 Instantly Healed 
 
 I want you to tell everybody and read this in 
 your meetings, so everyone will know what God 
 has done for me. 
 
 When I was one year old I had Infantile Pa- 
 ralysis. Had to walk on my toe and my heel was 
 up to the top of my shoe. My foot also turned 
 outward. Last Wednesday, February 17th, our 
 kind neighbor, Mrs. Howell, called to me and askea 
 me to go with her to the Bosworth meetings, say- 
 ing that I would be healed if I were a good boy 
 and did no bad deeds. I asked Auntie, who is 
 very old and who is keeping our home together 
 for father since my mother died with the “Flu,” 
 and she said I might go. I came with Mrs. Howell 
 for three evenings. On Friday, February 19th, 
 I was anointed and prayed for. We had only 
 reached our seat a few minutes when my heel 
 went down and my foot went over to the other 
 
TESTIMONIES 177 
 
 one. It felt just as if someone took hold and 
 pulled it down and then over to the other one. 
 Now I can step on my whole foot and put my 
 feet together like any of my other brothers. To- 
 day, three days after being healed, I’m learning 
 to use roller skates. I’m the happiest boy in 
 Easton. I am thirteen years old. I want you to 
 tell other crippled boys what God has done for 
 me. I will always thank Him and pray every day 
 and ask Him to help other little boys.—John Jr. 
 Snyder, 600 S. 28rd St., Easton, Pa. 
 
 Woman Dumb Is Instantly Healed 
 
 More than three years ago through sickness, I 
 completely lost my power of speech. I have had 
 several physicians and all told me I could never 
 regain my voice. Some of them told me that the 
 vocal organs were paralyzed. During all this time 
 I have never been able to make an audible sound. 
 
 I have also been a great sufferer from Rheu- 
 matism and Gall-stones. My friends tried to 
 make me think it would do me no good to go to 
 Bethlehem to be anointed for healing, but I came 
 and was anointed and prayed for on February 
 2nd and was instantly healed. When I walked 
 from the platform back to my seat I found my 
 voice completely restored so that after three years 
 of total silence I could speak normally and can 
 ever since, praise the Lord! My pastor, who did 
 not believe I could .be healed, was greatly sur- 
 prised to find I could talk when I met him on the 
 
178 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 street. He said, “I have been a ‘doubting Thomas,’ 
 but now I am compelled to believe.” 
 
 The pastor of the Baptist Church in Bangor 
 asked me to come to his church on Sunday, which 
 I did. After telling the audience about the mir- 
 acle, he had me stand and show them how I could 
 speak. 
 
 I was also healed of my Rheumatism and Gall- 
 stones. I am so thankful to God for His mercy. 
 —Mrs. Thomas Hughes, 151 Northhampton St., 
 Bangor, Pa. 
 
 Woman Instantly Healed of Two Cancers 
 Answer to Prayer 
 
 Fifteen years ago my health broke and I was 
 compelled to give up my work, as my whole body 
 seemed to be filled with some kind of poison that 
 puzzled the doctors. For twelve years I suffered 
 untold agony without any hope of ever being well 
 again. Three and a half years ago 1 grew so much 
 worse that I had a doctor four months steady, 
 and got worse all the time. Was later told I hada 
 cancer at the mouth of the large bowel and fast- 
 ened to the spleen. I grew worse and the poison 
 affected my left arm and side until I was drawn 
 crooked and would scream with agony and pain 
 and beg the folks to hold my arm tight as it felt 
 as though it were being pulled out of the socket. 
 Later the cancer spread to my mouth, going in 
 from the throat and under the tongue until it was 
 as thick as another tongue and the roots spread 
 
TESTIMONIES . 179 
 
 out and wrapped the membrane under my tongue. 
 A Philadelphia physician, after treating me for a 
 while, urged me to go to the Philadelphia Hos- 
 pital to see if they would use radium. After sev- 
 eral of the professors there examined me, they 
 decided they could do nothing for me, as the can- 
 cer in my side was fastened to the spleen and the 
 one in my mouth was fast to a blood artery, so I 
 came home to die. I was a hopeless case. They 
 could do nothing. I started to pray to God to have 
 mercy, and wept in my room alone, and talked 
 with Almighty God in Jesus’ name until he took 
 all fear from me. I made up my mind to suffer un- 
 til he called me. I got to the place where I was tak- 
 ing eighteen doses of medicine a day; nine doses of 
 asafoetida to hold my nerves and stomach and to 
 keep me from vomiting, as I had violent headaches 
 and turns of vomiting. Suffered this way for two 
 years, but thank God for Christian friends who 
 persuaded me to go to the Bosworth meetings 
 being held in Philadelphia. I prayed about it un- 
 til the Lord showed me to go. I thank God I 
 obeyed. I heard the Gospel in mighty power 
 preached there. I went to the enquiry room three 
 times and heard the instructions. I then got the 
 Evangelist’s book ‘Christ the Healer,” studied the 
 references and found that healing was for me. On 
 Monday night, June 14, I went to the platform and 
 was anointed for healing, and, praise God, He met 
 me right there and I was instantly healed. When 
 I was being prayed for I felt a shock go through 
 
180 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 my body just like electricity. It seemed as though 
 someone grasped the cancer under my tongue and 
 was drawing it out of my mouth. I was instantly 
 healed then and there of my terrible cancers, have 
 taken no medicine since that time, am eating 
 whatever I want and have no pain whatever. I 
 thank God that the Bosworth Party ever came to 
 Philadelphia. May God bless them every one. I 
 hope this will help some other sufferer to the 
 glorious deliverance I have found.—Mrs. B. Ed- 
 wards, 4120 Westfield Ave., Camden, N. J. 
 
APPROPRIATING FAITH 
 
 A Sapplement to 
 “How te Appropriate the Redemptive and Covenant 
 Blessing of Bodily Healing” 
 (Pages 84-114) 
 
 The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians 
 tells us exactly how God works miracles. ‘He 
 (God) that ministereth to you the Spirit (the © 
 Spirit is the Miracle Worker), and worketh mir- 
 acles among you, doeth He it by the works of the 
 law, or by the hearing (message) of faith? Even 
 as Abraham believed God” (Gal. 3:5). Moffatt 
 translates this passage: ‘“‘When He supplies you 
 with the Spirit, and works miracles among you, 
 is it because you do what the law commands, or 
 because you believe the Gospel message? Why, 
 it is as with Abraham, he had faith.” 
 
 In this passage God tells us that He works 
 miracles upon our bodies in exactly the same way 
 as upon our souls, and that is, by having us hear 
 and “believe the Gospel Message.” In fact, God’s 
 way of doing everything is by making promises 
 and then by fulfilling them wherever they pro- 
 duce faith. He says, it is with us “as with Abra- 
 
182 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 ham.” How was it with Abraham? Note care- 
 fully: | 3 
 
 He simply believed the word of God; “he had 
 faith” that God would do exactly as He promised. 
 
 He was “fully persuaded” by the Word of God 
 alone. 
 
 He held fast the beginning of his confidence 
 when his faith was tested.. 
 
 He was wholly occupied with the Word of God 
 in the matter. 
 
 He refused to cast away his confidence when 
 God, by telling him to offer Isaac, was apparently 
 removing the visible encouragement to his faith. 
 
 He “considered not his own body” or the fact 
 that he was about a hundred years old, neither 
 “the deadness of Sarah’s womb,” as any barrier or 
 any reason for doubting that Isaac would be born 
 (Rom. 4:19). These things, which, according to 
 nature, made the birth of Isaac impossible, were 
 not considered by Abraham as the slightest rea- 
 son for doubting. He knew his age; he recognized 
 the barreness of Sarah; he weighed the difficul- 
 ties; but notwithstanding the impossible, he be- 
 lieved God. 
 
 “Under utterly hopeless circumstances,” by 
 “looking unto the promise of God” he “waxed 
 strong in faith,” being “fully persuaded” (‘‘ab- 
 solutely certain’—Weymouth) that God would 
 fulfill His promise. Note well: it was by “look- 
 ing unto the promise of God” that Abraham 
 “waxed strong in faith.” “Every one that look- 
 
APPROPRIATING FAITH 183 | 
 
 eth upon it’? (God’s remedy and God’s promise) 
 was likewise the condition God required for the 
 healing of the dying Israelites (Num. 21:8). 
 When coming to God for healing, be sure that 
 this shall be your attitude, because there is no 
 healing promised except on this condition. 
 
 To the extent that we base faith on our im- 
 provement, or are affected by our symptoms, or 
 
 by what we see or feel, instead of by the word 
 of God alone, just to that extent ours is not real 
 faith. To be occupied with what we see or feel is 
 to exactly reverse the condition God lays down 
 for us to follow. ‘Every one that looketh at it 
 shall live,’”’ simply means that every one who, like 
 Abraham, so occupies himself with God’s promise 
 that he is no longer affected by symptoms, ‘“‘shall 
 recover.” It means, the word of God (not what 
 we see or feel) shall be the basis of our faith. 
 Our “looking unto the promise of God’’ is to be 
 kept up until we are healed. If the word of God 
 is a good reason for looking to God for mercy, 
 then there is no time to stop looking until God 
 withdraws His word. 
 
 Note, it was by continuing to look unto the 
 promise of God that Abraham experienced the 
 miracle. To be occupied with symptoms and in- 
 fluenced by them, instead of God’s word, is to 
 question the veracity of God. Instead of making 
 God a liar, Jonah, from within the fish, gave the 
 name “lying vanities” to the symptoms and cir- 
 cumstances which seemed to stand in the way of 
 
184. CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 his expecting God’s mercy. Realizing that it was 
 symptoms and not God that was lying to him, he 
 said, “They that observe lying vanities forsake 
 their own mercy.’ God never refuses mercy, but 
 many “forsake” it by observing their symptoms, 
 which are real, but which are “lying vanities,” 
 when they say to us that God is not “‘plenteous in 
 mercy to all that call upon Him.” 
 
 Abraham’s faith was not based on anything he 
 saw; and you must see to it that yours is not. 
 All that Abraham could see was contrary to 
 what he was expecting. After Isaac was born, 
 Abraham had a prop for his faith that, through 
 Isaac, “all the nations of the earth shall be 
 blessed.” With his eyes upon Isaac—the chan- 
 nel through which God was to fulfill the rest of 
 His promise—it was easy to believe. So God 
 tested his faith, telling him, by offering Isaac, to 
 destroy the channel. This did not daunt Abra- 
 ham. Real faith thrives on a test. Since he still 
 had God’s word for it, he was ready to remove 
 every visible encouragement to his expectation, 
 and yet continue to be “fully persuaded.” God 
 had to halt him or he would have offered Isaac. 
 This test was God’s way of perfecting his faith, 
 not of destroying it. 
 
 If, after coming to God for healing, He finds 
 you more encouraged by your improvement than 
 by His Word, He may find it necessary to 
 test your faith, in order to teach you the glorious 
 lesson of believing His word, when every sense 
 
APPROPRIATING FAITH 185 
 
 contradicts Him. Faith has to do only with the 
 Word of God. 
 
 In Heb. 10:35, 36, God says, to all whose faith 
 is based on His Word, “Cast not therefore away 
 your confidence, which hath great recompense of 
 reward, for ye have need of patience that, after 
 ye have done the will of God, ye might receive 
 the promise.” “For we are made partakers 
 if we hold the beginning of our confidence stead- 
 fast to the end” (Heb. 3:14). 
 
 Directiy contrary to this, after being anointed 
 and prayed for, instead of rejoicing in the prom- 
 ise of God, I have heard some say in disappoint- 
 ment, “I thought sure I was going to be healed.”’ 
 Instantly, I knew they had never caught the idea 
 of what faith is. Their idea was to get well first, 
 and then to believe that God had heard prayer. 
 If God’s word were the sole reason for their expec- 
 tation, they would have held fast the beginning 
 of their confidence. It is never proper or reason- 
 able to cast away your confidence as long as you 
 have the word of God as its basis. It is promised 
 that we shall be partakers, only on the condition 
 that we “hold the beginning of our confidence 
 steadfast.” During the interim between God’s 
 promise and its fulfillment, instead of watching 
 symptoms and casting away his confidence be- 
 cause he had nothing visible to encourage him, 
 Abraham did exactly the reverse. By “looking - 
 unto the promise of God, he wavered not through 
 unbelief; but waxed strong in faith, giving glory 
 
186 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 to God” (Rom. 4:20 R. V.). After Jonah, from 
 within the fish, prayed for mercy, he did not cast 
 away his confidence because there was no visible 
 proof that his prayer was heard. He held fast 
 his confidence, and added to it, in advance, “the 
 sacrifice of thanksgiving.” After marching 
 around the walls of Jericho, Joshua and the 
 children of Israel did not cast away their confi- 
 dence because the walls of the City were still up. 
 ‘Their faith was based on God’s word: “I have 
 delivered Jericho into thy hands.” If none of 
 these cast away their confidence, why should you? 
 
 Your state of mind should be the same as 
 Noah’s, when he was building a ship on dry land 
 and putting pitch into the cracks to keep the 
 water out. In his mind, the fact of a coming 
 flood was fully settled, and the word of God was 
 the sole reason for this state of mind. Your state 
 of mind should be the same as Abraham’s. With 
 him, the matter of Isaac being born was fully 
 settled, even though all the symptoms were to 
 the contrary. God’s word, to you, concerning 
 your healing, is just as clear and explicit as it was 
 to Abraham. 
 
 In Mark 11:24, Jesus tells us exactly the con- 
 ditions he requires for our appropriation of any 
 of the blessings He has promised. He says, “What 
 things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe 
 that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” 
 That is, “ye shall have them” after you believe 
 He has heard your prayer. As Jesus said, “I 
 
APPROPRIATING FAITH 187 
 
 thank Thee that Thou hast heard me,” while Laz- 
 arus was still dead; so we should be able to say, 
 “fT thank Thee that Thou hast heard me” while 
 we are still sick. ‘Ye shall have them” is your 
 answer from Jesus and is also your proof that 
 your prayer has been heard. To faith, the Word 
 of God is the Voice of God. He has not promised 
 us that our healing shall begin until after we be- 
 lieve that he has heard our prayer. “If we ask 
 anything according to his will, he heareth us.” If 
 this is true, then believe your prayer has been 
 heard when you really pray. We must be able 
 to say, ““We know we have the petition we desire 
 of him,” not because we see the answer, but be- 
 cause “God is faithful who also will do it.” 
 
 It is never proper to base faith on our improve- 
 ment after prayer. I have heard some say, with 
 great delight, “Oh, Iam so much better since I was 
 prayed for; now I know I will get well!” This 
 means, that in the place of God’s promise, they 
 have some other reason for expecting to get well. 
 There is no reason for faith as good as the word 
 of God. Suppose, as soon as I pray for a man’s 
 healing, he could know he was just fifty per cent 
 improved. This improvement in his condition is not 
 near as good a reason for knowing he will entirely 
 recover as is the promise of God, even though, 
 after prayer, he should become fifty per cent worse. 
 Suppose you promise your child a certain thing, 
 and the next day you find that she is expecting 
 exactly what you promised, but not because you 
 
188 CHRIST THE HEALER 
 
 promised it,—she has some other reason for ex- 
 pecting it. This would grieve you, for it would 
 prove she did not trust your word. 
 
 It honors God to believe Him even while every 
 sense contradicts Him; and He promises to honor 
 those who honor Him. God has promised to re- 
 spond only to the faith that is produced by and 
 rests in His Word, or promise. Some expect to 
 believe they have been heard as soon as they feel 
 better. He did not say that He sent better feel- 
 ings to produce faith and then healed them,—‘‘He 
 sent His Word and healed them.” God himself 
 “sent His Word’; we did not “worm” it out of 
 Him. How absurd, then, to doubt it. Is it not 
 more rational to expect God to keep His promise 
 than to expect Him to break it? Really, 
 nothing can be more ridiculous or absurd than to 
 allow symptoms or feelings to cause us to doubt 
 the fulfillment of God’s promises. Suppose your 
 child, after being promised a new dress, should 
 sprain her ankle, and should cast away her confi- 
 dence for the dress because the ankle was painful. 
 You say to her, “My dear child, I promised to get 
 you the new dress. Can you not believe my 
 word?” She answers: “But, Mother, my ankle 
 still hurts. It doesn’t feel a bit better; it seems 
 to be getting worse.” How absurd is such rea- 
 soning. Now if it be absurd to doubt one promise, 
 because of pain, then it is equally ridiculous to 
 doubt any promise. Suppose, again, that after you 
 promise her the new dress, she runs to the mirror 
 
APPROPRIATING FAITH 189 
 
 to see if she looks any more “dressed up,” and then 
 says: “I cannot see any difference; I do not look 
 a bit better ;” and then gives up the idea of hav- 
 ing a new dress. 
 
 To learn how to believe that God hears us when 
 we pray, is a much greater blessing than is the 
 healing itself, because then, the prayer of faith 
 can be repeated ten thousand times, for ourselves 
 and others, and thus our whole life be spent in 
 obtaining the fulfillment of Divine promises. 
 
 Thus we have seen how Abraham experienced 
 a miracle; and God says it is with us “as with 
 Abraham.” In this same way, therefore, we may 
 all receive the fulfillment of God’s promises, “who 
 also walk in the same steps of that faith of our 
 Father Abraham” (Rom. 4:12). 
 

 
eM 
 nani 
 
 Vial! 
 
 th) i 
 
 ri 
 \ 
 
 eR it 
 hat Hh ) 4 
 Parvin 
 Pa a Nn 
 
 
 
Pre. xs 
 =e 
 
 neh 4 
 ae 
 " ae § 
 
 
 

 

 
 are 
 
\ 
 | 
 Bs 
 
 iy. th its 
 
 i 
 dM 
 
 
 
RC603 .B74 
 age the os sermons on — 
 
 A 
 
 1 1012 00028 5389