PRAYER FOR PHYSICAL HEALING. 551 



physical appliances, but he can do the same without these apphances, and can even 

 destroy life by acts of his will without acting in any physical way upon his vic- 

 tim. And if the will of finite man can act upon nature in harmony with her 

 laws, and the spirit of man can directly move for good or ill his fellow man with- 

 out any known use of these laws, has not the infinite God equal power? There 

 are higher laws than the physical by which mind acts on mind and spirit on 

 spirit, and if man can move man thus without the incumbrance of physical laws, 

 cannot God? Rev. E. P. Roe has beautifully said : "The throne of God seems 

 a long way round to reach the friend at our side — for the mother to reach the 

 child in her arms — but it usually proves the quickest and most effectual way." 



" Is any sick among you ? let him call for the elders of the church; and let 

 them pray over him, annointing him with oil in the name of the Lord ; and the 

 prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." •' The ef- 

 fectual, fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much." " Elias was a man 

 subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain ; 

 and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And 

 he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth her 

 fruit." These are declarations of infinite wisdom, from him who holds in his 

 hand the last link in the long chain of nature which makes tangible communica- 

 tion between God and man, and of God the spirit who, we doubt not, can reach, 

 the spirit of man in a much more direct way. 



True, prayers from thousands of Christian hearts went to heaven for the re- 

 covery of our murdered President ; and yet he died. Does this disprove the effi- 

 cacy of prayer? Nay, verily. May not Christ's reply to his disciples, when 

 they asked why they could not heal the lunatic who was sore vexed with a devil, 

 explain the matter? " Because of your little faith." If you had sufficient faith 

 you might have removed this mountain of difficulty. " Howbeit this kind goeth 

 not out but by prayer and fasting." Did the destruction of Sodom prove that 

 Abraham's prayers for its preservation were of no avail ? Were not his petitions • 

 granted just so long as his faith held out and he continued to offer them ? Who 

 shall say that if he had persevered till he had reduced the number of righteous 

 necessary to save the city to one (Lot), God would not still have given him the 

 city! Men in prayer are too much hke the aged lady behind a runaway horse, 

 who could trust in the Lord till the breeching broke, and then lost all expectation 

 of help. So long as the good President and his noble wife, with the surgeons, 

 held on to the bare '■'■chance''^ of recovery, the people saw encouragement to 

 pray ; but when the last chance had vanished from the eyes of men, and the only 

 hope was in God, might not then the faith that would have honored God alone, 

 and that 'cometh by prayer and fasting, have prevailed and raised, as from the 

 dead, him whom all the world now mourns ? 



