1903
The Occult in the Healing Art:
A Discussion of Faith, or Divine Healing, and Cognate Questions.
The following is a synopsis of a paper read before the Medical Society, convened at Shelby, Ohio, December 22, 1899, by Rev. John V. Potts:
The most complicated of all the sciences is that of The Healing Art. It comprehends all the forces of physical nature, enters the domain of the mind and concerns itself with the spiritual forces of the universe. It has been known in all historic ages and among all peoples, but has made the most marvelous advances among civilized nations in the last century. The deepest research and the most comprehensive, cultured and practical minds have been given to the development of the science of medicine. It has impelled the most earnest study of physical nature in its normal and in its abnormal states. Diseases are being traced to their sources as never before. The laboratory of nature is being assiduously opened and compelled to yield its curative elements for the help of man and beast. The hidden recesses of forest, field, rock, ocean and air are searched with the most scrutinizing care, in order that they may pay tribute to the life, longevity and happiness of man.
But in no historic age has charlatanism, quackery, deceit, fraud and imposition been so rampant as in this century. Empiricism is found in every school of medicine. The pretenders to medical skill are flooding the country with patent nostrums of the most infamous character. Conscienceless greed with the most acute use of chemistry is adulterating food, drink and medicines by wholesale and retail. If any one doubts this let him read the report of the dairy and food commissioner of Ohio. The same conditions prevail all over the United States. But the most dangerous of all these frauds now sweeping over the country is the occult delusion of "Faith Healing," "Divine Healing," healing by prayer, faith and the laying on of the hands, clairvoyance, magnetism, etc. It is the more dangerous because it appeals to the cupidity of man and to the religious element in his nature as well as the overmastering desire in every one to enjoy the blessing of good health. This artful deception has entered the pulpit and men in the garb of the sacred calling boldly and defiantly assert that the practice of medicine is a fraud, a denial of Divine power, that medicines should be thrown to the dogs and that drugs, doctors and devils are not only an alliteration in expression, but that they are equally from the same Satanic source.
The time was when the medical profession and the ministry looked on this movement with indifference, or viewed it with a quizzical eye. But with Mrs. Eddy, Dr. Dowie, Schlatter and a host of minor lights with their literature in the field, it has become too serious a question to be disposed of in that nonchalant manner.
The more serious inquiry is, how to successfully meet the issue? We have in this paper, a review or abstract of a recent work in manuscript, read with approval before the Medical Association of Crawford County, O., over one year ago, and by them thought worthy of publication. It seeks to thoroughly dispose of a whole brood of errors in a new medico-theological way, upon a scientific basis. The central point of attack and amplification are original and the monograph is full of statements, logically argued to a convincing conclusion. The author is a scientific theocrat and seems to have made a wide study of the subject from all points of view.
He states, for illustration, that all healing in its ultimatum is divine in its nature and character, but that the means to the end intervene. He makes concessions, but they only open the way for him to sweep away the foundations of the sophist on the so-called Divine Healing. Take the following paragraph: "There are five things necessary to Faith Healing. These are: 1. Knowledge. 2 Faith. 3. Obedience. 4. Humane remedial agents and agencies. 5. Occult contact, in order to the influx of life." Then he essays to amplify, illustrate and establish these points beyond successful controversy.
Two views of faith exist. One is that faith is the assent of the mind to a dogmatic statement. The other is that faith is the conviction of the mind arising from the presentation of the truth in such manner and in such measure as to gain the rational and willing assent of the human understanding. Our author asserts and demonstrates the latter view.
He disposes of the miracles of Christ after this fashion: "No Christian is disposed to deny the miracles of the Master. But it is manifest that He used remedial agents in every instance. In ignorance He taught the truth; in despair He imparted hope; in hunger He gave food; in paralysis He restored the wasted physical power; in blindness He removed the physical obstruction, and restored the optic nerve, and made the eye physically whole. For the deaf ear He removed the physical defect. The palsied limb was restored whole like as the other. He brought back the physical life to those He raised from the dead. He did not practice a pretense. To some He said, Go wash." This was hydropathy. For another, He made clay of earth and spittle. With this salve He anointed the eyes of the blind man. This was terrapathy. The woman touched the hem of His garment. Virtue or medicine went out of Him. This was magnetism. He had divine powers. All curative elements were at His command. He used them as they were needed. To mental diseases He applied mental remedies, to spiritual ailments He applied spiritual remedies, and to physical disorders He applied physical remedies.
God is consistent with Himself. He made nothing to ignore it. Everything in its own order and after its kind. James says, "Anoint with oil and pray." Both are enjoined. "Oil" is a synonym for "the proper remedy" in any given case. "Oil" here means medicine. Timothy was to take "a little wine for the stomach's sake." Luke was a physician and his calling was never interdicted.
Beyond the Pentecost and Paul, no evidence exists that miraculous powers were even perpetuated. He who would speak with tongues must study the languages. Those gifted in this direction become proficient in the mastery of language. Those who would understand theology must "study to show themselves approved of God," must "give attendance to reading," must "search the scriptures." Those who would have abundance of food must sow and cultivate and reap and garner, and not depend upon miraculous dispensations for food. Those who would have water must smite the earth with the spade, mattock and drill, or put the vessels in the rain to catch the falling showers, or find the rivers or the springs.
Those who would avoid disease must obey the mental, moral and physical laws; and the sick who would recover must use the means, the medicines, the appliances, the elements, be they mental, physical or spiritual, lying in the line of true faith healing.
The miracles simply foretoken the wonderful developments of scientific discovery and the unobstructed contact and intercommunion with the occult sphere. What Christ did by His mandate we must do by mastering and conforming to the forces of nature. What He did by His fiat in calling the curative elements from earth, air, water, animal, chemical and vegetable nature we must do in the laboratory and in true medical practice.
The object of the brochure is to carry conviction to the masses and save them from all these delusions; and to show that agriculture, commerce, law, medicine, pedagogics and theology are alike divine callings. These all have their commercial side, which should be subordinated, not to selfishness and greed of gain, but to the promotion of the best interests of the human races. The work is in short chapters, forcible and epigrammatic in style.
[The author is soliciting funds in this county to assist in the publication of this work. Prices: $1.50 and $1.00.]
—Bedford Gazette, Bedford, Pennsylvania, Feb. 6, 1903, p. 2.
Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts
Friday, May 18, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Prayed for Their Guardian Angel — And the Angel Came!
1921
A British Clergyman and His Wife Tell About a Most Remarkable Visitation — and All England Marvels at the Story and Its "Corroboration."
LONDON, Dec. 20. — Rev. Maurice Elliott, vicar in the village of Snitterby, Lincolnshire, believes in his guardian angel with the same certainty that he believes in the existence of his village grocer. For the clergyman, according to his sworn testimony, has seen this angel with his own eyes, has heard the sound of his voice, has touched his glistening robe. The angel came at a crisis in the clergyman's life and by his good counsel enabled him and his wife to meet the situation without disaster.
The revelation of Mr. Elliott created considerable talk all over England, but a sensation was caused when it became known that many of the facts of his visitation had been corroborated by a celebrated London physician. Since that time a number of other physicians declare that they have met with similar cases and believe Mr. Elliott's story implicitly. There is as much reason to believe that a person has a guardian angel, they say, as it is to believe any of the commonly accepted physical facts of life. They contend, that such a belief is as provable, by resort to the ordinary senses, as, for instance, the law of specific gravity.
Dr. Elliott is a popular member of the clergy and is highly regarded as a thinker. His interview with his guardian angel came at a time, he said, when his wife was about to have a child and her life was in serious danger.
He was very fearful regarding her condition and sought the advice of a London specialist. The specialist advised an immediate operation, but admitted that such an operation would involve a dangerous risk.
"My wife and I," said Dr. Elliott, "prayed with all our hearts for guidance in this troubled hour. We prayed that if there was an angel specially appointed to protect and guide me and mine — that he appear to us and counsel us. And the evening before my wife was to go into a nursing home he did appear.
"The angel was a male. His figure was more majestic than that of men on earth. His eyes were extraordinary in their beauty and brightness. Ha spoke with a voice that was bell-like. He came to us in our room and at his appearance we felt not the slightest sense of terror — only a feeling of complete calm. He spoke in everyday language. It was as if a link between us and heaven had been established.
"We asked him what we must do about the specialist's advice. He replied that the specialist was wrong in advising an operation and that such a course would be fatal. 'Don't have it,' he told us. 'The physician's diagnosis is wrong.'
"The angel's visit decided us. When the physician came the next day to see us about the removal of my wife to the nursing home, we told him what had happened and that Mrs. Elliott had made up her mind to forgo the operation.
"Naturally, the doctor was astonished beyond measure, but did not argue the matter with us. I might add that he has, himself, taken a keen interest in the case ever since.
"A few days later we again asked Divine guidance. We wanted the angel to direct us to a medical man who would confirm the angel's statement. Again our prayers were answered. The angel appeared to us as he had on his first visit and told us to go to Brighton where we could meet the doctor we so much desired to see.
"Following these instructions we packed our bags and left the next day for Brighton. Before we arrived at the station the angel came to us in our compartment I do not imagine anyone else in the coach saw him, for nothing was said of it. The angel walked with us through the town and guided us to a hotel. He walked normally. There was no gliding or passing through substances. I noticed that he wore sandals. He conversed with us a good part of the time.
"After giving us full instructions as to the doctor we would meet there, what the doctor would look like and when we should approach him, the angel dematerialized and since then has not appeared to us."
The second day at the hotel, Dr. Elliott says, he recognized the physician from the angel's description as the man passed down the corridor into the drawing-room. Dr. Elliott followed him into the drawing-room and stated his case without asking him if he were a physician, so sure was he that the angel was correct,
The physician was naturally much astonished at being approached by a man who didn't even know his name, but though he had come to Brighton for a rest, finally consented to make an examination of Mrs, Elliott and a diagnosis of her case. He did not think an operation was necessary — in fact, he advised strongly against it.
The child born after this remarkable experience is a strong, healthy girl. Dr. Elliott says that when the baby was christened in Winchester Cathedral a company of angels was plainly manifest to himself and his wife.
A Vision of the Savior
For reasons of medical ethics, the physician who attended Mrs. Elliott would not permit the use of his name, but he confirmed the Brighton occurrence in detail.
Having a large practice the physician said he had gone to Brighton for a few weeks' rest. He did not register as a medical man and nobody connected with the hotel or in the town knew him as such.
"Being on a holiday which I much needed," he said, "I naturally did not care to accept any cases. But when I asked Dr. Elliott how he knew I was a physician he told me his remarkable story. It interested me so much that I agreed to see his wife. I examined her and my own diagnosis of the case accorded exactly with what the angel had told them. They appeared much relieved when I gave them my opinion.
"While I have had no experience with spiritualism, in fact, I know scarcely nothing about it, I believe that with God all things are possible."
Concurrent with the Elliott case is that which is vouched for by Rev. W. J. L. Sheppard, who has been preaching at Braintree parish church, fifty miles out of London. A member of the congregation, a business man who had been associated in no way with spiritualism, told the pastor that he had seen a vision of Christ on the cross behind the chancel rail, during the progress of the service.
Rev. Dr. Sheppard recently announced the vision from the pulpit, saying to his startled congregation:
"During the evening service last Sunday a well known Braintree business man in the congregation saw a vision of the crucified Savior in the chancel of this church. He said he first saw the vision while kneeling in prayer. A bright light from a halo on the head of the crucified Christ filled the whole chancel and blotted out every other object. This is not a case of an emotional woman seeing a vision, but of a hard-headed man. The vision must be "taken as a divine revelation."
The business man told Mr. Sheppard that when he first saw the vision he bowed his head to collect his thoughts. He thought at first that it might be an optical illusion. When he looked up again the vision of the crucified Christ still filled the chancel. He looked at it about four minutes the second time. The vision did not speak or beckon to him, but looked with pleading eyes. Finally, the light from the halo faded gradually away and the vision disappeared. The man became quite ill and broke into a violent perspiration.
—Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Jan. 1, 1922, section 4, page 2.
A British Clergyman and His Wife Tell About a Most Remarkable Visitation — and All England Marvels at the Story and Its "Corroboration."
LONDON, Dec. 20. — Rev. Maurice Elliott, vicar in the village of Snitterby, Lincolnshire, believes in his guardian angel with the same certainty that he believes in the existence of his village grocer. For the clergyman, according to his sworn testimony, has seen this angel with his own eyes, has heard the sound of his voice, has touched his glistening robe. The angel came at a crisis in the clergyman's life and by his good counsel enabled him and his wife to meet the situation without disaster.
The revelation of Mr. Elliott created considerable talk all over England, but a sensation was caused when it became known that many of the facts of his visitation had been corroborated by a celebrated London physician. Since that time a number of other physicians declare that they have met with similar cases and believe Mr. Elliott's story implicitly. There is as much reason to believe that a person has a guardian angel, they say, as it is to believe any of the commonly accepted physical facts of life. They contend, that such a belief is as provable, by resort to the ordinary senses, as, for instance, the law of specific gravity.
Dr. Elliott is a popular member of the clergy and is highly regarded as a thinker. His interview with his guardian angel came at a time, he said, when his wife was about to have a child and her life was in serious danger.
He was very fearful regarding her condition and sought the advice of a London specialist. The specialist advised an immediate operation, but admitted that such an operation would involve a dangerous risk.
"My wife and I," said Dr. Elliott, "prayed with all our hearts for guidance in this troubled hour. We prayed that if there was an angel specially appointed to protect and guide me and mine — that he appear to us and counsel us. And the evening before my wife was to go into a nursing home he did appear.
"The angel was a male. His figure was more majestic than that of men on earth. His eyes were extraordinary in their beauty and brightness. Ha spoke with a voice that was bell-like. He came to us in our room and at his appearance we felt not the slightest sense of terror — only a feeling of complete calm. He spoke in everyday language. It was as if a link between us and heaven had been established.
"We asked him what we must do about the specialist's advice. He replied that the specialist was wrong in advising an operation and that such a course would be fatal. 'Don't have it,' he told us. 'The physician's diagnosis is wrong.'
"The angel's visit decided us. When the physician came the next day to see us about the removal of my wife to the nursing home, we told him what had happened and that Mrs. Elliott had made up her mind to forgo the operation.
"Naturally, the doctor was astonished beyond measure, but did not argue the matter with us. I might add that he has, himself, taken a keen interest in the case ever since.
"A few days later we again asked Divine guidance. We wanted the angel to direct us to a medical man who would confirm the angel's statement. Again our prayers were answered. The angel appeared to us as he had on his first visit and told us to go to Brighton where we could meet the doctor we so much desired to see.
"Following these instructions we packed our bags and left the next day for Brighton. Before we arrived at the station the angel came to us in our compartment I do not imagine anyone else in the coach saw him, for nothing was said of it. The angel walked with us through the town and guided us to a hotel. He walked normally. There was no gliding or passing through substances. I noticed that he wore sandals. He conversed with us a good part of the time.
"After giving us full instructions as to the doctor we would meet there, what the doctor would look like and when we should approach him, the angel dematerialized and since then has not appeared to us."
The second day at the hotel, Dr. Elliott says, he recognized the physician from the angel's description as the man passed down the corridor into the drawing-room. Dr. Elliott followed him into the drawing-room and stated his case without asking him if he were a physician, so sure was he that the angel was correct,
The physician was naturally much astonished at being approached by a man who didn't even know his name, but though he had come to Brighton for a rest, finally consented to make an examination of Mrs, Elliott and a diagnosis of her case. He did not think an operation was necessary — in fact, he advised strongly against it.
The child born after this remarkable experience is a strong, healthy girl. Dr. Elliott says that when the baby was christened in Winchester Cathedral a company of angels was plainly manifest to himself and his wife.
A Vision of the Savior
For reasons of medical ethics, the physician who attended Mrs. Elliott would not permit the use of his name, but he confirmed the Brighton occurrence in detail.
Having a large practice the physician said he had gone to Brighton for a few weeks' rest. He did not register as a medical man and nobody connected with the hotel or in the town knew him as such.
"Being on a holiday which I much needed," he said, "I naturally did not care to accept any cases. But when I asked Dr. Elliott how he knew I was a physician he told me his remarkable story. It interested me so much that I agreed to see his wife. I examined her and my own diagnosis of the case accorded exactly with what the angel had told them. They appeared much relieved when I gave them my opinion.
"While I have had no experience with spiritualism, in fact, I know scarcely nothing about it, I believe that with God all things are possible."
Concurrent with the Elliott case is that which is vouched for by Rev. W. J. L. Sheppard, who has been preaching at Braintree parish church, fifty miles out of London. A member of the congregation, a business man who had been associated in no way with spiritualism, told the pastor that he had seen a vision of Christ on the cross behind the chancel rail, during the progress of the service.
Rev. Dr. Sheppard recently announced the vision from the pulpit, saying to his startled congregation:
"During the evening service last Sunday a well known Braintree business man in the congregation saw a vision of the crucified Savior in the chancel of this church. He said he first saw the vision while kneeling in prayer. A bright light from a halo on the head of the crucified Christ filled the whole chancel and blotted out every other object. This is not a case of an emotional woman seeing a vision, but of a hard-headed man. The vision must be "taken as a divine revelation."
The business man told Mr. Sheppard that when he first saw the vision he bowed his head to collect his thoughts. He thought at first that it might be an optical illusion. When he looked up again the vision of the crucified Christ still filled the chancel. He looked at it about four minutes the second time. The vision did not speak or beckon to him, but looked with pleading eyes. Finally, the light from the halo faded gradually away and the vision disappeared. The man became quite ill and broke into a violent perspiration.
—Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Jan. 1, 1922, section 4, page 2.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Ira D. Sankey's Affliction
1903
Singer and Evangelist Will Probably Lose Sight In His Eye
New York, March 7. — The family of Ira D. Sankey has issued a statement prepared by an eye specialist who has been attending the evangelist. It says the evangelist's affliction was caused by overwork, and concludes with the statement that in the right eye the recovery of a moderate amount of sight is probable, but that "the left eye has not responded to treatment as the other has done, and at this time any anticipation that sight in this eye will be restored is hardly justifiable."
Singer and Evangelist Will Probably Lose Sight In His Eye
New York, March 7. — The family of Ira D. Sankey has issued a statement prepared by an eye specialist who has been attending the evangelist. It says the evangelist's affliction was caused by overwork, and concludes with the statement that in the right eye the recovery of a moderate amount of sight is probable, but that "the left eye has not responded to treatment as the other has done, and at this time any anticipation that sight in this eye will be restored is hardly justifiable."
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