CHAPTER XI

187Binet and Féré,Animal Magnetism, p. 8.

188C. Mackay,Extraordinary Popular Delusions, I, p. 278.

189Many works and encyclopedic articles on hypnotism have been consulted in the preparation of this chapter, all of which were valuable, and few of which stand out prominently.

"Medical cannot be separated from moral science, without reciprocal and essential mutilation."—Reid."Man is a dupeable animal. Quacks in medicine, quacks in religion, and quacks in politics know this, and act upon that knowledge. There is scarcely anyone who may not, like a trout, be taken by tickling."—Southey.

"Medical cannot be separated from moral science, without reciprocal and essential mutilation."—Reid.

"Man is a dupeable animal. Quacks in medicine, quacks in religion, and quacks in politics know this, and act upon that knowledge. There is scarcely anyone who may not, like a trout, be taken by tickling."—Southey.

"Canst thou minister to a mind diseas'd,Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,Raze out the written troubles of the brain,And with some sweet oblivious antidoteCleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuffWhich weighs upon the heart?"—Shakespeare."Joy, temperance, and repose,Slam the door on the doctor's nose."—Longfellow.

"Joy, temperance, and repose,Slam the door on the doctor's nose."—Longfellow.

There seems to have been a great development of mental healing during the nineteenth century. The healing by shrines, relics, and charms diminished in the latter part of the century on account of the lessening of superstition and the better understanding of mental laws, but additional work has thereby been laid upon the healers. The development of hypnotism and the exposition of the laws underlying it, the collection and publication of cases of cures by mental means, the lessening of faith in noxious doses of drugs, the increase of nervous diseases which are most easily helped by suggestivetherapeutics, the attempted duplication of apostolic gifts on the part of some sects and the general reaction against the materialism of the early part of the century as shown in the great revival of psychical study and research have all been factors in the demand for mental medicine.

The healers have been of various kinds. Having already dealt with the mesmerizers and hypnotizers, we shall now look only at the classes of independent and generally less scientific investigators and experimenters. Some have not been regular healers but healed only incidentally, as,e. g., the revivalists; some have followed James 5:14 f. in anointing with oil and praying—of these and others, some have had institutions for housing the patients; some have been peripatetic healers; some have simply used prayer; some have established their systems on metaphysical bases and been the founders of sects; some have combined the results of scientific investigations in an endeavor to help mankind. Many of these have simply followed the ways of their predecessors of former centuries, but a few started on new lines of procedure. Whatever the method, they have all, consciously or unconsciously, depended upon the influence of the patient's mind over his own body, and the now better understood laws of suggestion.

The revivals were eighteenth and nineteenth century phenomena, and in discussing the part whichtheir leaders have taken in healing we may well include the experience of Wesley. As a mere incident in his revival work, John Wesley (1703-1791), the great founder of Methodism, appeared in the rather unenviable role of exorcist. It is to his credit that he was not led away from his primary purpose by this experience, but returned to his preaching without any effort to add healing to his gifts. The account of his encounter with the demons can best be given by quoting his own words, as found in his Journal.

"October 25 [1739]. I was sent for to one in Bristol who was taken ill the evening before. She lay on the ground furiously gnashing her teeth and after a while roared aloud. It was not easy for three or four persons to hold her, especially when the name of Jesus was named. We prayed. The violence of her symptoms ceased, though without a complete deliverance." Wesley was sent for later in the day. "She began screaming before I came into the room, then broke out into a horrid laughter, mixed with blasphemy, grievous to hear. One who from many circumstances apprehended a preternatural agent to be concerned in this, asking, 'How didst thou dare to enter into a Christian?' was answered, 'She is not a Christian, she is mine.' Then another question, 'Dost thou not tremble at the name of Jesus?' No words followed, but she shrunk back and trembled exceedingly. 'Art thounot increasing thy own damnation?' It was faintly answered, 'Ay! Ay!' which was followed by fresh cursing and blasphemy ... with spitting, and all the expressions of strong aversion." Two days later Wesley called and prayed with her again, when "All her pangs ceased in a moment, she was filled with peace, and knew that the son of wickedness was departed from her." On October 28 he exorcised two more demons whom he had evidently (unconsciously) been the means of producing in two neurotic girls. He had a few other experiences in healing, but always in an incidental way.

JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIEJOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE

Charles G. Finney (1792-1875) had at least one experience as a healer. During revival services at Antwerp, N. Y., in 1824, two insane women were cured, but Finney was directly concerned in the restoration of only one of them. Of this he gives an account in his memoirs. "There were two very striking cases of instantaneous recovery from insanity during this revival. As I went into meeting in the afternoon of one Sabbath, I saw several ladies sitting in a pew, with a woman dressed in black who seemed to be in great distress of mind; and they were partly holding her, and preventing her from going out. As I came in, one of the ladies came to me and told me she was an insane woman.... I said a few words to her; but she replied that she must go; that she could not hear any praying, or preaching, or singing; that hell was her portion,and she could not endure anything that made her think of heaven. I cautioned the ladies, privately, to keep her in her seat, if they could, without her disturbing the meeting. I then went into the pulpit and read a hymn. As soon as the singing began, she struggled hard to get out. But the ladies obstructed her passage; and kindly but persistently prevented her escape.... As I proceeded ... all at once she startled the congregation by uttering a loud shriek. She then cast herself almost from her seat, held her head very low, and I could see that she 'trembled very exceedingly.'... As I proceeded she began to look up again, and soon sat upright, with face wonderfully changed, indicating triumphant joy and peace.... She glorified God and rejoiced with amazing triumph. About two years after, I met with her, and found her still full of joy and peace."190

The so-called "Mountain Evangelist," George O. Barnes, who was born in 1827, added healing to his other revival efforts. After leaving the Presbyterian Church he did his work mostly in Kentucky as an independent minister, and there anointed with oil according to James 5:14 f. In his records little is said about the cures, but the daily number of anointings is given, amounting to at least five thousand in all. He believed that the devil, not God, sends sickness: God is the great healer. Theanointing was simply a matter of faith. His formula varied and was very simple, ase. g., "Dear daughter, in Jesus's precious name I anoint thee with this oil of healing for thy maladies. Oh, go on thy way rejoicing. Be of good cheer. He is the great healer. He will make thee whole. He hath commanded it. Lean thy whole weight on Him."191His views may be judged by the following extract from a sermon of his on "Our Healer": "Oh, the hospitals and drug-stores, the bitter doses, the pains and racks, the tortures—great God, may this people believe to-day that thou hast nothing to do with this, that all came in with sin, and the devil manages it all; and wherever we are afflicted God stands by wringing His hands, and saying, '...Return to me, O backsliding children. Come back to me, and I will keep the devil off of you.'"192I take also some extracts from his daily record.

"July 19 [1881]. John and I took a long walk.... I shall not repeat the experiment, for I got many chiggers on me, which are tormenting me from head to foot while I write, I think because I trusted the pennyroyal to keep them off me instead of the Lord. It was not wilful, but a slip of forgetfulness, yet a door wide enough for Satan to enter a little bit. Now, instead of trying pennyroyal to get me rid of them, I will trust the Lord only.

"July 20. The chiggers gave exquisite torment. I shall never trust in pennyroyal again."July 21. Satan tried to get me wavering on the eye question, but the dear Lord set me up more firmly than ever."July 24. We have gotten into a little trouble by carelessly trying to help the dear Lord take care of his little organ. A key was silent, and yesterday Marie tried to remedy it. There was a good deal of taking out of keys, and dusting—result, two keys silent now, and one that won't be silent, but goes on in a bass wail through every song. So much for meddling with the dear Lord's work. We trust Him, when the lesson is learned, to set the little machine all right again.... The dear Lord cured the little organ this afternoon while we were at dinner; at least it was all right, as Marie with a happy smile informed me before she began to sing the first song. I gave thanks for it in the opening prayer, and then told the people all about it."July 27. Satan is not a little busy with me, injecting doubts as to the right to trust for eyes. Faith still quenches all his fiery darts, although it sorely tries me to be thus inactive in these long summer days, without reading my beautiful edition of Young's Concordance, useless at the bottom of my trunk. My Revised New Testament I can only get at through others."193

"July 20. The chiggers gave exquisite torment. I shall never trust in pennyroyal again.

"July 21. Satan tried to get me wavering on the eye question, but the dear Lord set me up more firmly than ever.

"July 24. We have gotten into a little trouble by carelessly trying to help the dear Lord take care of his little organ. A key was silent, and yesterday Marie tried to remedy it. There was a good deal of taking out of keys, and dusting—result, two keys silent now, and one that won't be silent, but goes on in a bass wail through every song. So much for meddling with the dear Lord's work. We trust Him, when the lesson is learned, to set the little machine all right again.... The dear Lord cured the little organ this afternoon while we were at dinner; at least it was all right, as Marie with a happy smile informed me before she began to sing the first song. I gave thanks for it in the opening prayer, and then told the people all about it.

"July 27. Satan is not a little busy with me, injecting doubts as to the right to trust for eyes. Faith still quenches all his fiery darts, although it sorely tries me to be thus inactive in these long summer days, without reading my beautiful edition of Young's Concordance, useless at the bottom of my trunk. My Revised New Testament I can only get at through others."193

Leaving now the revivalists, let us take up the cases of others not revivalists who used anointing for healing. In her native hamlet of Maennedorf, Switzerland, Dorothea Trudel (1813-1862), the descendant of some generations of faith healers, cured many. Soon people began to come to her from near and far and, finally, at the solicitation of a "patient" of rank, she purchased a home where the afflicted could be near her. In 1856 the health authorities interfered. She was fined; an appeal was taken and, finally, she was permitted to carry on her work in connection with the home under some formal restrictions. During the course of the trial some authenticated cases of cure were produced: "one stiff knee, pronounced incurable by the best surgeons of France, Germany, and Switzerland; a leading physician testified to the recovery of a hopeless patient of his own; a burned foot, which was about to be amputated to prevent impending death, was healed without means. The evidence was incontrovertible, and the cases numerous. The cure was often contemporaneous with the confession of Christ by the unbelieving patient; but duration of the sickness varied with each case. Lunatics were commonly sent forth cured in a brief while." Nothing miraculous was claimed and no war was waged against physicians. It was not asserted that a cure was infallibly made, but it was pointed out as a simpler and more direct method. The means employed were gentleness, discipline, Bible reading, prayer, and anointing. After the death of Dorothea the home continued under the supervision of Mr. Samuel Zeller.

Charles Cullis (1833-1892), a young physician of Boston, suffered a crushing bereavement in the death of his wife shortly after their marriage, and then vowed to devote his life to charity. Inspired by Müller'sLife of Trusthe established a number of charitable institutions, relying on prayer and faith for their support. Some of these institutions were for the cure of the sick, and in connection with these, and otherwise, Dr. Cullis anointed and prayed with all who came to him. Every summer a camp-meeting was held at Old Orchard Beach, Maine, where the large collections gathered were the subject of annual comment. He was followed in his work by Rev. A. B. Simpson, of New York, who now conducts it. The latter was formerly a Presbyterian minister but is now an independent. He still heals and takes up collections. From the efforts of Cullis and Simpson have come the Christian and Missionary Alliance and other similar organizations with Pentecost as the text and apostolic gifts as the much-sought-after prize. The proof of success is found in healing, speaking with tongues, trances, visions, and other abnormal phenomena.

The "Holy Ghost and Us" movement, with headquarters at Shiloh, Maine, was an outgrowth of the Christian and Missionary Alliance propaganda. Rev. F. W. Sanford (1863- ) was born on Bowdoinham Ridge, Maine. He graduated at Bates College in 1886 and attended Cobb Divinity School for a short time. His ordination took place in 1887, after which he held two pastorates of three years each, presumedly in Free Baptist churches. In 1891, while attending meetings at Old Orchard, he was inspired to start "a movement on strictly apostolic lines, which was to sweep the entire globe." He started on this new work early in 1893 with Shiloh, Maine, as the centre. Relying on faith alone, several buildings were erected and paid for, among which is Bethesda—a Home of Healing: "For those who believe God told the truth when He said, 'The prayer of Faith shall save the sick.'" In an account of the healing we read: "We have seen ... in at least one case, the restoration of the dead to life." Quite a following embraced the doctrine at one time, but lately there has been a considerable decline.

An institution for faith healing was established in the north of London by Rev. W. E. Boardman (1810-1886). He called it "Bethshan" or the "Nursery of Faith" and refused to permit it to be called a hospital. The usual method of treatment was by anointing with oil and prayer, but it was claimed that many also were healed by correspondence. The results professed were very extravagant, among the cases being cancer, paralysis, advanced consumption, chronic rheumatism, and lameness of different kinds. As a proof of the cure of the lastnamed affliction, numerous canes and crutches left behind by the healed were on exhibition.194

It is said that Lord Radstock practised healing through anointing in Australia about the same time.

There have been a number of prominent healers who have used prayer, and perhaps the laying on of hands, as the means for healing, and have usually eschewed anointing. Among these was Prince Hohenlohe (1794-1849). His was probably the greatest name in mental healing in the nineteenth century. He was born in Waldenburg and educated at several institutions. He was ordained priest in 1815 and officiated at Olmütz, Munich, and other places. In 1820 he met a peasant, Martin Michel, who had performed some wonderful cures, and in connection with him effected a so-called miraculous cure on a princess of Schwarzenberg who had been for some years a paralytic.195From this experience he became enthusiastic in healing, and he acquired such a fame as a performer of miraculous cures that multitudes flocked from different countries to receive the benefit of his supposed supernatural gifts. In one year (1848-49) there were eighteen thousand people who obtained access to him. His name and his titles probably had not a little to do with his wide influence. They wereAlexander Leopold Franz Emmerich, Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, Archbishop and Grand Provost of Grosswardein, Hungary, and Abbot of St. Michael's at Gaborjan.

The testimony concerning his cures is from reliable witnesses. Notice the letter written by the ex-King of Bavaria to Count von Sinsheim, describing his own case:

My dear Count:There are still miracles. The ten last days of the last month, the people of Würzburg might believe themselves in the times of the Apostles. The deaf heard, the blind saw, the lame freely walked, not by the aid of art, but by a few short prayers, and by the invocation of the name of Jesus.... On the evening of the 28th, the number of persons cured, of both sexes, and of every age, amounted to more than twenty. These were of all classes of the people, from the humblest to a prince of the blood, who, without any exterior means, recovered, on the 27th at noon, the hearing which he had lost from his infancy. This cure was effected by a prayer made for him during some minutes, by a priest who is scarcely more than twenty-seven years of age—the Prince Hohenlohe. Although I do not hear so well as the majority of the persons who are about me, there is no comparison between my actual state and that which it was before. Besides, I perceive daily that I hear more clearly.... My hearing, at present, is very sensitive. Last Friday, the music of the troop which defiled in the square in front of the palace, struck my tympanum so strongly, that for the first time, I was obliged to close the window of my cabinet.

My dear Count:

There are still miracles. The ten last days of the last month, the people of Würzburg might believe themselves in the times of the Apostles. The deaf heard, the blind saw, the lame freely walked, not by the aid of art, but by a few short prayers, and by the invocation of the name of Jesus.... On the evening of the 28th, the number of persons cured, of both sexes, and of every age, amounted to more than twenty. These were of all classes of the people, from the humblest to a prince of the blood, who, without any exterior means, recovered, on the 27th at noon, the hearing which he had lost from his infancy. This cure was effected by a prayer made for him during some minutes, by a priest who is scarcely more than twenty-seven years of age—the Prince Hohenlohe. Although I do not hear so well as the majority of the persons who are about me, there is no comparison between my actual state and that which it was before. Besides, I perceive daily that I hear more clearly.... My hearing, at present, is very sensitive. Last Friday, the music of the troop which defiled in the square in front of the palace, struck my tympanum so strongly, that for the first time, I was obliged to close the window of my cabinet.

The inhabitants of Würzburg have testified, by the most lively and sincere acclamations, the pleasure which my cure has given them. You are at liberty to communicate my letter, and to allow any one who wishes, to take a copy of it.Bruckenau,July 3d, 1822.Louis,Prince Royal.

Bruckenau,July 3d, 1822.Louis,Prince Royal.

Professor Onymus, of the University of Würzburg, reported a number of cases cured by Prince Hohenlohe, which he himself witnessed. He gives the following:

"Captain Ruthlein, an old gentleman of Thundorf, 70 years of age, who had long been pronounced incurable of paralysis, which kept his hand clenched, and who had not left his room for many years, has been perfectly cured. Eight days after his cure he paid me a visit, rejoicing in the happiness of being able to walk freely."A man, of about 50, named Bramdel, caused himself to be carried by six men from Carlstadt to the Court at Stauffenburg. His arms and legs were utterly paralyzed, hanging like those of a dead man, and his face was of a corpse-like pallor. On the prayer of the Prince he was instantly cured, rose to his feet, and walked perfectly, to the profound astonishment of all present."A student of Burglauer, near Murmerstadt, had lost for two years the use of his legs; he was brought in a carriage, and though he was only partially relieved by the first and second prayer of the Prince, at the third he found himself perfectly well."These cures are real and they are permanent. If any one would excite doubts of the genuineness of the cases operated by Prince Hohenlohe, it isonly necessary to come hither and consult a thousand other eye and ear witnesses like myself. Every one is ready to give all possible information about them."196

"A man, of about 50, named Bramdel, caused himself to be carried by six men from Carlstadt to the Court at Stauffenburg. His arms and legs were utterly paralyzed, hanging like those of a dead man, and his face was of a corpse-like pallor. On the prayer of the Prince he was instantly cured, rose to his feet, and walked perfectly, to the profound astonishment of all present.

"A student of Burglauer, near Murmerstadt, had lost for two years the use of his legs; he was brought in a carriage, and though he was only partially relieved by the first and second prayer of the Prince, at the third he found himself perfectly well.

"These cures are real and they are permanent. If any one would excite doubts of the genuineness of the cases operated by Prince Hohenlohe, it isonly necessary to come hither and consult a thousand other eye and ear witnesses like myself. Every one is ready to give all possible information about them."196

The Mormons, under the leadership of Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-1844), were healing the sick about the time that Prince Hohenlohe was performing his miracles on the other side of the water. Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont. The Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) was founded in 1830 in Palmyra, New York, and moved from there to Kirkland, Ohio; Independence, Missouri; Nauvoo, Illinois; and thence to Utah. Smith was successively first elder, prophet, seer, and revelator. The year the church was founded Smith began his healing career as an exorcist, casting the devil out of Newel Knight in Colesville, New York. Following this, there was a firm belief in demoniacal possession, and exorcism was practised by both Smith and his followers, principally by means of command. This exorcism led up to faith healing.

Smith's maternal uncle, Jason Mack, was a firm believer in healing by prayer and practised it; later, the Oneida Community of Perfectionists in western New York cured by faith; both of these facts would be known to the founder of Mormonism. After adopting faith healing he soon became proficient inthe art. Numerous well-attested cures were performed by Smith and his followers in other places. Elder Richards advertised in England "Bones set through Faith in Christ," and Elder Phillips made the additional statement that "while commanding the bones, they came together, making a noise like the crushing of an old basket." All forms of disease were treated, but not always successfully, as may be inferred from Smith's own words: "The cholera burst forth among us, even those on guard fell to the earth with their guns in their hands.... At the commencement I attempted to lay on hands for their recovery, but I quickly learned by painful experience, that when the great Jehovah decrees destruction upon any people, makes known His determination, man must not attempt to stay his hand." The means employed varied, but included at different times prayer, command, laying on of hands, consecrated handkerchiefs and other cloths, baptism, and infrequently anointing.197

Crossing the ocean again, we find Johann Christolph Blumhardt (1805-1880) performing wonderful acts of healing. He assumed his first independent charge in 1838 when he became pastor of the village church at Moettlinger, Wurtemberg. He was known afterward as Pastor Blumhardt. Among his parishioners was Gottliebin Ditters, generally thought to be possessed by an evil spirit. After two yearsprayer and care for this woman, he saw her restored to peace of mind. This was the beginning of a life of faith in the efficacy of prayer for healing. After the restoration of Gottliebin a spontaneous and entirely unexpected revival took place in Moettlinger. Multitudes came from afar to hear this sincere man preach his simple sermons, and in many cases bodily disease left those who confessed and upon whom Blumhardt laid his hands. It became noised about that those who repented, with whom the pastor prayed and upon whom he laid his hands, would be healed. "One morning a mother rushed to his house, saying that she had by an accident scalded her child with boiling soup. The infant was found screaming with agony. He took the child in his arms, prayed over it, and it grew quiet. It had no further pain, and the effects of the scalding were quickly gone. Another child was nearly blind with disease. A neighboring pastor, when consulted, said to the parents: 'If you believe Jesus can and will heal your child, by all means go to Blumhardt, but if you have not got the faith, don't do it on any account; let an operation be performed.' 'Well, we have faith,' they said, and went to Blumhardt. Three days after it was perfectly well." These events could not fail to attract attention, and miracles or healings from his prayers were of constant occurrence. In 1852 Blumhardt moved to Boll, Wurtemberg, and until his death he continued hishealing. He did not despise human means of healing, but he stoutly held that Jesus would answer the prayer of faith uttered for and by the sick.

About the middle of the century Father Mathew (1790-1856) attracted a large number of persons who were in need of healing. He was best known as the famous apostle of temperance, and was to Ireland in the nineteenth century what Wesley was to England in the eighteenth. He also travelled over England and Scotland and spent two years in America. In one period of nine months he induced two hundred thousand persons to take the temperance pledge. Among other things he cured blindness, lameness, paralysis, hysteria, headache, and lunacy. After his death the same diseases which he had cured during his lifetime were just as effectively relieved by visiting the good father's tomb, in the firm belief that a miracle would be performed. From the following cure, his first one, it will be seen that the discovery of his healing power was rather accidental.

"A young lady, of position and intelligence, was for years the victim of the most violent headaches, which assumed a chronic character. Eminent advice was had but in vain; the malady became more intense, the agony more excruciating. Starting up one day from the sofa on which she lay in a delirium of pain, she exclaimed—'I cannot endure this torture any longer; I will go and see what Father Mathewcan do for me.' She immediately proceeded to Lehanagh, where Father Mathew was then sick and feeble. Flinging herself on her knees before him she besought his prayers and blessing. In fact, stung by intolerable suffering she asked him to cure her. 'My dear child, you ask me what no mortal has power to do. The power to cure rests alone with God. I have no such power.' 'Then bless me, and pray for me—place your hand on my head,' implored the afflicted lady. 'I cannot refuse to pray for you, or to bless you,' said Father Mathew, who did pray for and bless her, and place his hand upon her poor throbbing brow. Was it faith?—was it magnetism?—was it the force of imagination exerted wonderfully? I shall not venture to pronounce what it was; but that lady returned to her home perfectly cured of her distressing malady. More than that—cured completely, from that moment, forward."198

About the same time, Mrs. Elizabeth Mix, a negro woman living in Connecticut, achieved great fame through her healing by prayer. Many testified to the efficacy of her prayers and bewailed her death.

GEORGE O. BARNESGEORGE O. BARNES

Francis Schlatter (1856-1909) was a native of Alsace, France. He was born a Roman Catholic and, so far as he was affiliated with any denomination, always remained one. When a year old, he was blind and deaf and was cured by his mother's prayers. He came to America in 1891, and first settled at Jamestown, Long Island. Early in 1893 he moved toDenver, Colorado, and in the following July he felt impelled by inner promptings to start out, he knew not whither. Probably mentally unbalanced, he wandered through the wilderness of the great Southwest without shoes or hat. Fasts, temptations, visions, arrests and imprisonments, and healings combined to furnish his experience during these wanderings, always, as he said, being led by the Father. In July, 1895, he arrived at Las Lunas, New Mexico, where he first attracted public attention as a healer. From here he went to Albuquerque, where he treated as many as six hundred persons in a day, many very effectively. After forty days' fast, which was broken by a hearty meal of solid food, he went to Denver and here reached the pinnacle of his fame and success. At the home of a sympathizer, daily from 9A. M.to 4P. M., he treated those who came to him, always without any remuneration. From two thousand to five thousand people would congregate in line, reaching nearly around a city block, five or six abreast, but he was never able to treat more than two thousand in a day. Crowds came from other cities, and some few from great distances, even the New England States. He stood inside a fence, and as each one came along he held the patient's hand for a short time; lifting up his eyes, he prayed and then assured the sufferer of relief within a certain time. Through the mail and in other ways he receivedhandkerchiefs which he blessed and returned with assurance of relief through them. Not all cases handled were restored to health or even noticeably eased, but large numbers testified to cures, some of which came immediately and others by degrees. He did not preach. Although he never claimed it, when asked, "Are you the Christ?" he always replied, "I am." He wore a beard and long hair, and dressed in the plainest clothes. In appearance he looked not unlike the pictures of the traditional Christ. Afterward he appeared in different parts of the United States, but never with the same success in healing as in Denver.199

The once famous Dr. Newton arrived in Boston in 1859 on one of his visits, and caused an extraordinary sensation. Astonishing results were reported in the way of cures. The lame, having no further need of crutches, left them behind; the blind were cured, and several chronic cases were relieved. He had many followers and disciples among whom was "Dr." Bryant, who settled in Detroit and healed there. Rev. J. M. Buckley, D.D., met Dr. Newton on a Mississippi steam-boat, when the latter was returning from Havana with his daughter who was very low with consumption, and the father doubted if she would reach home alive. When asked "Doctor, why could you not heal her?" he replied "It seems as if we cannot always affect our ownkindred." At this time he denounced his pupil, Dr. Bryant, as an "unmitigated fraud who had no genuine healing power."

"If Bryant be an unmitigated fraud, how do you account for the cures which he makes?" asked Dr. Buckley."Oh!" said the doctor, "they are caused by the faith of the people and the concentration of their minds upon his operations with the expectation of being cured. Now," said he, "nobody would go to see Bryant unless they had some faith that he might cure them, and when he begins his operations with great positiveness of manner, and when they see the crutches he has there, and hear the people testify that they have been cured, it produces a tremendous influence on them; and then he gets them started in the way of exercising, and they do a good many things that they thought they could not do; their appetites and spirits revive, and if toning them up can possibly reduce the diseased tendency, many of them will get well."Said Dr. Buckley: "Doctor, pardon me, is not that a correct account of the manner in which you perform your wonderful works?""Oh, no," said he; "the difference between a genuine healer and a quack like Bryant is as wide as the poles."200

"If Bryant be an unmitigated fraud, how do you account for the cures which he makes?" asked Dr. Buckley.

"Oh!" said the doctor, "they are caused by the faith of the people and the concentration of their minds upon his operations with the expectation of being cured. Now," said he, "nobody would go to see Bryant unless they had some faith that he might cure them, and when he begins his operations with great positiveness of manner, and when they see the crutches he has there, and hear the people testify that they have been cured, it produces a tremendous influence on them; and then he gets them started in the way of exercising, and they do a good many things that they thought they could not do; their appetites and spirits revive, and if toning them up can possibly reduce the diseased tendency, many of them will get well."

Said Dr. Buckley: "Doctor, pardon me, is not that a correct account of the manner in which you perform your wonderful works?"

"Oh, no," said he; "the difference between a genuine healer and a quack like Bryant is as wide as the poles."200

Father John of Cronstadt (1829-1908) was a saintly man, and furnishes us with an example of the healers among the Orthodox Church of the East. He was famed in all Russia for his sanctity, and was so thronged by crowds for his healing power that he often had to escape by side doors after celebrating the communion. His cures were many, but I choose his own account of one as an example.

"A certain person who was sick unto death from inflammation of the bowels for nine days, without having obtained the slightest relief from medical aid, as soon as he had communicated of the Holy Sacrament, upon the morning of the ninth day, regained his health and rose from his bed of sickness in the evening of the same day. He received the Holy Communion with firm faith. I prayed to the Lord to cure him. 'Lord,' said I, 'heal thy servant of his sickness. He is worthy, therefore grant him this. He loves thy priests and sends them his gifts.' I also prayed for him in church before the altar of the Lord, at the Liturgy, during the prayer: 'Thou who hast given us grace at this time, with one accord to make our common supplication unto thee,' and before the Holy Mysteries themselves. I prayed in the following words: 'Lord, our life! It is as easy for thee to cure every malady as it is for me to think of healing. It is as easy for thee to raise every man from the dead as it is for me to think of the possibility of the resurrection of the dead. Cure, then, thy servant Basil of his cruel malady, and do not let him die; do not let his wife and children be given up to weeping.' And the Lord graciously heard, and had mercy upon him,although he was within a hair's breadth of death. Glory to thine omnipotence and mercy, that thou, Lord, hast vouchsafed to hear me!"201

For the past century and a half healing has been carried on among the Pennsylvania Germans by means of a superstitious practice known as "Pow-wow." A book calledThe Sixth Book of Moses, or Black Artis said to be the basis of the practice. The practitioners are usually women of the most ignorant, degraded, and, not infrequently, immoral class, and in harmony with this, a firm belief in witchcraft is entertained by them. Notwithstanding this, they are employed at times by intelligent and respectable people, even by those whose standing in the community might well guarantee a disbelief in such incantations. The healers treat for burns, erysipelas and all skin diseases, goitre, tumors, rheumatism, and some other similar troubles. They have different formulas for the various diseases, and the belief is current that if a healer should reveal the formula to her own sex, she would lose her power, and if she told more than one of the opposite sex, the power would be taken from her. The following is the method of operating for burns:

"Take a piece of red woolen yarn and wrap it into the shape of a ball. Pass it slowly around the burn and while doing so, repeat three times, 'The fire burneth, water quencheth, the pain ceaseth.' Afterwhich reverse the movement and repeat the words again three times. Then take the yarn upstairs, pull out the chimney-stop, put the yarn in the chimney, and as soon as it disappears the burn is healed."

There have been a number of cases of local healers and I give two examples: "At the time of the prevalence of cholera in Canada, a man named Ayers, who came out of the States, and was said to be a graduate of the University of New Jersey, was given out to be St. Roche, the principal patron saint of the Canadians, and renowned for his power in averting pestilential diseases. He was reported to have descended from heaven to cure his suffering people of the cholera, and many were the cases in which he appeared to afford relief. Many were thus dispossessed of their fright in anticipation of the disease, who might, probably, but for his inspiriting influence, have fallen victims to their apprehensions. The remedy he employed was an admixture of maple sugar, charcoal, and lard."202

"TheMonthfor June, 1892, published an account, by the late Earl of Denbigh, of a cure worked by a member of a family named Cancelli of Lady Denbigh in 1850. She was suffering severely from rheumatism, and the Pope (Pius IX) mentioned to the Earl that near Foligno there was a family of

peasants who were credited with a miraculous power of curing rheumatic disorders. Lord Denbigh succeeded in getting one of the family, an old man, to come, and learned from him the legend of the cure. The belief was that in the reign of Nero, the Apostles Peter and Paul took refuge in the hut of an old couple named Cancelli, near Foligno, and, as a proof of gratitude, gave to the male descendants of the family living near the spot the power of curing rheumatic disorders to the end of time. Lord Denbigh described how the old man made a solemn invocation, using the sign of the cross, and, in fact, Lady Denbigh did recover at once. In a few days the pains returned, but she made an act of resignation, and they then left her, and never returned with any acuteness."203

What we may designate "Metaphysical Healing" originated with Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-1866). The movement was important, not so much on account of what Quimby himself was able to accomplish by it, as because of the work that has been carried on since by at least three of his pupils. He was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and in early life was a watch and clock maker. In 1840 he began experimenting with mesmerism, and accounts of these experiments were published in the Maine papers of that time. After this he developed a system of mental healing of his own, practising itin different towns in Maine for some years. About 1858 he settled as a practitioner in Portland and remained there until his death. I shall quote brief extracts in his own words, which portray his system.

"My practice is unlike all medical practice. I give no medicine, and make no outward applications. I tell the patient his troubles, and what he thinks is his disease; and my explanation is the cure. If I succeed in correcting his errors, I change the fluids of the system and establish the truth, or health. The truth is the cure. This mode of practice applies to all cases.""The greatest evil that follows taking an opinion for a truth is disease.""Man is made up of truth and belief; and, if he is deceived into a belief that he has, or is liable to have, a disease, the belief is catching, and the effect follows it.""Disease being made by our belief, or by our parents' belief, or by public opinion, there is no formula to be adopted, but every one must be reached in his particular case. Therefore it requires great shrewdness or wisdom to get the better of the error. Disease is our error and the work of the devil."204

"The greatest evil that follows taking an opinion for a truth is disease."

"Man is made up of truth and belief; and, if he is deceived into a belief that he has, or is liable to have, a disease, the belief is catching, and the effect follows it."

"Disease being made by our belief, or by our parents' belief, or by public opinion, there is no formula to be adopted, but every one must be reached in his particular case. Therefore it requires great shrewdness or wisdom to get the better of the error. Disease is our error and the work of the devil."204

Quimby made many wonderful and mostly speedy cures, and although he wrote out his system, it has never been published. Among his patients was Mrs. Patterson from Hill, New Hampshire, who went toPortland in 1862. She had been a confirmed invalid for six years. To quote her own words, published in thePortland Evening Courierin 1862, she made a rapid recovery. "Three weeks since I quitted my nurse and sick room en route for Portland. The belief of my recovery had died out of the hearts of those who were most anxious for it. With this mental and physical depression I first visited P. P. Quimby, and in less than one week from that time I ascended by a stairway of one hundred and eighty-two steps to the dome of the City Hall, and am improvingad infinitum. To the most subtle reasoning, such a proof, coupled, too, as it is with numberless similar ones, demonstrates his power to heal." Mrs. Patterson, afterward Mrs. Eddy, proclaimed after his death a doctrine very similar to Quimby's. She called it "Christian Science," a name Quimby applied to his teaching, although usually he called it "Science of Health."

Another patient of Quimby's was Julius A. Dresser, who visited him first in 1860. Of him Mr. Dresser says: "The first person in this age who penetrated the depths of truth so far as to discover and bring forth a true science of life, and publicly apply it to the healing of the sick, was Phineas Parkhurst Quimby of Belfast, Me."

Rev. W. F. Evans was still another patient and disciple of Quimby's. His testimony is as follows: "Disease being in its root a wrong belief, change thatbelief and we cure the disease.... The late Dr. Quimby, of Portland, one of the most successful healers of this or any age, embraced this view of the nature of disease, and by a long succession of most remarkable cures ... proved the truth of the theory.... Had he lived in a remote age or country, the wonderful facts which occurred in his practice would have now been deemed either mythical or miraculous."

These three, Messrs. Evans and Dresser and Mrs. Eddy, proved to be Quimby's most famous patients and disciples. Evans became a noted and voluminous writer on mental healing, Mr. Dresser has been identified with the New Thought movement of which his son H. W. Dresser is probably the best exponent, and Mrs. Eddy ruled the Christian Scientists with a rod of iron.

Warren F. Evans visited Quimby twice in the year 1863, and at these times obtained his knowledge of Quimby's methods. Up to this time he had been a Swedenborgian clergyman, and his beliefs enabled him the better to grasp the new doctrines. On the occasion of the second visit he told his healer that he thought he could cure the sick in this way, and Quimby agreed with him. On returning home he tried it, and his first attempts were so successful that he became a practitioner, using only mental means, and continued in this work. He wrote several books on the subject of mental healing, the first one,The Mental Cure, appearing in 1869, six years before Mrs. Eddy'sScience and Health.

Perhaps, strictly speaking, the New Thought movement does not come within the scope of our subject, except as we see in it an outgrowth and application of the Quimby doctrine, for two reasons. In the first place, its purpose is mental hygiene rather than cure, and it is all the more valuable for that. Of course, in establishing hygienic practices many disorders are cured, but prevention is the main feature. The second reason why we might perhaps not include it in a résumé of the healers is that it is intended to be for the use of the individual to prevent his employing a healer of any kind. The same objection, however, would do away to some extent with a discussion of Christian Science. The principles of New Thought are that the mind has an influence on the body, and that good, sweet, pure thoughts have a salutary effect, but the opposite ones injure the body. Don't worry, don't think of disease, don't look for trouble, but fill the mind with the opposite positive thoughts and life will be happy and the body will be well. The doctrines are expounded differently by the various leaders, and emphasis is laid on different points, some emphasizing more fully the religious aspects of the movement, for example. The principal writers on the subject are H. W. Dresser, R. W. Trine, H. Wood, and H. Fletcher.

Mrs. Mary A. Morse Baker Glover Patterson Eddy (1821-1910) was born at Bow, New Hampshire. After a precocious and neurotic childhood, she united with the Congregational Church when seventeen years of age. At the age of twenty-two she married George Washington Glover, probably the best of her husbands. His death, six months later, was followed by the birth of her only child and a ten years' widowhood. During this time she stayed with her relatives and had long periods of illness, principally of an hysterical character. She then experimented to some extent with mesmerism and clairvoyance. In 1853 she married Dr. Daniel Patterson, an itinerant dentist, from whom she got a divorce, and as Mrs. Patterson she went first to "Dr." Quimby in 1862. She visited Quimby again in 1864, at which time, with some others, she studied with him. After Quimby's death she began teaching what she then called his science. For the next few years she wandered from town to town about Boston in straitened circumstances, healing, teaching, and endeavoring to found an organized society. It was not, however, until 1875 that the organization was formed in Lynn, and later in the same year appeared herScience and Health. The years since then have been filled with controversies in the law courts and newspapers, caresses and blows from the ruling hand of Mother Eddy, and numerous developments from small beginnings, until nowover one hundred thousand are identified with the organization. These are almost without exception proselytes from other churches.

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