Irreverent Use of the Word of God.
By James White
A FRIEND sends us a doctor's circular in which great and wonderful things are promised, and asks our opinion of it. Without any evidence whatever, we should look with suspicion on such claims, having known so many humbugs of the same class. But there is something in this circular which should insure it and its writer a just condemnation in the minds of all who love the Bible or esteem the blessings which the gospel grants to fallen humanity. It says: “The Doctor derives his power of healing from a peculiar gift of Nature, which he has possessed from early childhood. ‘Now there are diversities of gifts—to another the gift of healing.’ His method of curing is by rubbing or laying on of the hands. ‘These signs shall follow them that believe. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.’” The gospel method is not that of “rubbing,” which is to exert a magnetic or mesmeric influence, but the laying on of hands to impart the blessing of God by the aid of the Holy Spirit. And any one who claims that the gifts of the Spirit of God, of which Paul speaks in 1 Cor. 12, are “a peculiar gift of Nature,” which he has “possessed from early childhood,” proves himself an ignorant impostor. When the Scriptures are so abused, it becomes the lover of Christian truth and Christian principles, to have no communion with those who by profession make merchandise of the power of God's Spirit. When any come to you, professing to heal diseases by the gifts of God's Spirit, and say, “Charges reasonable,” it is not worth while to ask how you shall treat them, or whether you shall run after them.