HOLINESS AND HEALING.
BY MARY E. MAHAN.
I notice in the Christian
Standard and Home Journal, an editorial entitled, “More Holiness, less
Healing.” The whole tenor of the article is, as I think, misleading. The editor
remarks: “We were amazed that the result of our inquiry, to find how many talk
and write about scarcely anything else than some remarkable case of healing.
Several persons of deep piety and great usefulness have thus not only lost
their fervor, but also their influence. They have ceased to be useful, and seem
to have no interest or enjoyment in anything else than some marvelous story of
healing, or relief from bodily pain. In their fanaticism they have set aside
the legitimate use of all appropriate means for the recovery of health, and are
seeking to add to the list of wonderful ‘faith cures.’”
From our
standpoint, the reverse of this statement is correct. On this side of the
Atlantic, according to our observation and experience, the Lord uses none as
instruments in faith-healing but those who are sanctified and wholly
consecrated to Him. And wherever persons become baptized with the Holy Ghost
and with power, there is more or less of faith-healing; the two go together,
hand in hand. The more true holiness anyone possesses, just so much more will
there me manifested the healing power of the Holy Ghost. And nowhere have I
seen such marvelous power manifested as in those who have laid aside all
remedial agents and trusted Christ alone to heal their bodies just as they have
trusted Him to sanctify their souls.
They who thus
trust, not only receive healing, but also a larger measure of the Holy Spirit
than they ever before experienced. They are brought into the closes communion
and fellowship with God, His presence becoming more real to them from day to
day until their whole being is illuminated by the light and glory of Heaven.
Instead of making healing by faith the most prominent theme, they make a clean
heart and union with Christ the all-important condition of being healed. The
conviction also obtains that if healing were possible without salvation from
all sin it would be of little value, and only of temporary continuance, as
Christ said to the man He had healed, “Behold thou art made whole; sin no more
lest a worse thing come upon thee.”
If anyone claims
that healing by faith diverts the mind from the doctrine of holiness, he might
with the same consistency affirm that Christ lessened His influence for the
promotion of the doctrine which He taught His followers, by turning aside to
heal the sick. Instead, however, of diminishing His influence or weakening His
doctrine it was the seal of His Divinity.
So in the
holiness movement of the present day; wherever it is incontestably proven by
reliable witness that individuals are healed by the power of the Holy Ghost in
answer to the prayer of faith, the conviction of the truth of the doctrine of
holiness gains ground among believers and the community generally. Of the
recent glorious revivals in Switzerland, Sweden and Norway, healing by faith is
a prominent characteristic; nor does it lessen the revival power, but
manifestly adds to its efficiency, convincing sinners of the truth of the
gospel of Christ.
If we rightly
read facts reported in such holiness publication as the “Guide to Holiness,
Times of Refreshing, Triumphs of Faith, and many others, the connection between
holiness and faith-healing is the same on the other as on this side of the
Atlantic. We need, in illustration, but to refer to the most impressive facts
reported in the June number of the Guide to Holiness and Triumphs of
Faith.
We hail this new
baptism of the Holy Ghost and enduement of power for service; salvation from
all sin, as well as healing by faith, as Pentecost come again.
“Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
London, England.
