Holiness Healing Reported at Marion

Indiana, 1905

An Aged Man Cured of Palsy as He Knelt at the Altar in a Holiness Tent

Marion, Ind., Aug. 18. — A remarkable case of healing is reported from the tent meeting of Levi Lupton, of the Holiness society, which is now holding its third annual meeting in the grove near the old normal building on Thirty-eighth street. A few weeks ago Mr. Lupton arrived in his private gospel car, which was sidetracked at a convenient point on the belt line, and he proceeded to arouse great spiritual interest in the vicinity of the tents at the scene of the camp meeting.

Wednesday was announced by Lupton as a time for divine healing. Among those who attended the meetings was Aaron Sims, a palsied man of near Fairmont. Sims was 77 years of age, and in addition to his palsy was crippled with rheumatism to the extent that he had to use a cane in walking. His afflictions had rested on him for many years.

When the invitation was extended to those assembled to come to the altar and be healed of their afflictions, Sims was one to go forward. For a long time he sat on the altar rail before kneeling to ask in prayer that his infirmities be taken away from him. He finally knelt, and in the midst of the shouting and exhortations going on all about him he quickly arose, threw away the cane on which he had leaned for many years, and ran and skipped like a boy, proclaiming that he was cured of his afflictions.

Those who had known Sims a long time could scarcely believe their eyes at the sight of him in activity. He apparently had no palsy or rheumatism. It was in the morning that the healing occurred and Aaron Sims remained about the tents all day uttering praises for his deliverance. Before leaving in the evening he presented Mr. Lupton his cane, stating that he was a poor man and had little else to give him.

—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Aug. 18, 1905, p. 8.

A Heavenly Guard — Dr. Talmage on the Mission of Angels

Oct. 29, 1899

A Guardian Angel For Every One, Says the Distinguished Preacher

Men and women of all circumstances, only partly appreciated or not appreciated at all, never feel lonely again or unregarded again! Angels all around, angels to approve, angels to help, angels to remember. Yea, while all the good angels are friends of the good, there is one special angel your bodyguard. This idea until this present study of angelology I supposed to be fanciful, but I find it clearly stated in the Bible. When the disciples were praying for Peter's deliverance from prison and he appeared at the door of the prayer meeting, they could not believe it was Peter. They said, "It is his angel." So these disciples, in special nearness to Christ, evidently believed that every worthy soul has an angel. Jesus said of his followers, "Their angels behold the face of my Father. " Elsewhere it is said, "He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." Angel shielded, angel protected, angel guarded, angel canopied, art thou! No wonder that Charles Wesley hymned these words:

Which of the petty kings of earth
Can boast a guard like ours,
Encircled from our second birth
With all the heavenly powers?

Yes, a guardian angel for each one of you. Put yourself now in accord with him When he suggests the right, follow it. When he warns you against the wrong, shun it. Sent forth from God to help you in this great battle against sin and death, accept his deliverance. When tempted to a feeling of loneliness and disheartenment, appropriate the promise, "The angel of the Lord encampeth around about them that fear him and delivereth them." Oh, I am so glad that the spaces between here and heaven are thronged with these supernaturals taking tidings home, bringing messages here, rolling back obstacles from our path and giving us defenses, for terrific are the forces who dispute our way, and if the nation of the good angels is on our side the nation of bad angels is on the other. Paul had it right when he said, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." In that awful fight may God send us mighty angelic re-enforcement! We want all their wings on our side, all their swords on our side, all their chariots on our side. Thank God that those who are for us!

—The Indiana Progress, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Nov. 1, 1899, p. 2, Thomas De Witt Talmage.