THE MISSION OF HEALING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2652, 30 October 1923, Page 2

THE MISSION OF HEALING.

SERMON BY THE REV. FRANK MeDONALD. Before a large congregation in the local Presbyterian Church on Sunday evening, the Rev. Frank McDonald spoke interestingly on his personal observations and experiences in connection with the recent Mission of Healing conducted by Mr Hickson. He based his address on the text from''Matthew XI 5: “The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” The Rev McDonald said the Mission gave a new vision of the ever-living, everpresent, and ever-loving Christ, a vision of new possibilities of service; a manifestation of long disused power for greater works, a. unity of the Christian Churches and a. tremendous responsibility to Christ and to suffering and sinful men. A prominent business man in Palmerston North, not an orthodox church man, had expressed the opinion that the cures affected, after medical science had failed, had eonvinced him of the success ..of the Mission in its highest sense. Yet. said the speaker, there were clever folk who spoke of the Mission as a delusion. If this was so, then he said with all reverence: “God send more such delusions, that give the multitude a spiritual uplift, that chase pain and disease away from suffering people, give sight to the blind, bearing of the deaf, make the lame to walk, and the sick to be made whole.” Those clever people will tell you of psychic phenomena, auto-suggestion, mind over matter. As a student of psychology formally \ears, ho had been keenly observant of all that had taken place and lie was convinced that it was the power of God. Such clever folk will try and create doubt in the minds of those whose cures are not yet complete. This he condemned. Those whose faith had been aroused bad witnessed Hie manifestations of the power of God and would continue in faith nothing doubting, despite wlmt clever folk say; “He who. hath begun a good work in you will complete it.” The preacher urged personal contact in faith with God and to bring His life into the individual spirit and the spirit of life in Christ Jesus will free them from the law of sin and death and will quicken the mortal bodies.' He read portion of an editorial from a newspaper on the mission which testified to (lie good work accomplished and the spiritual uplift to the people. This was not “what the parson tells yon” but the opinion of a .journalist who dealt with matters of the world. Concluding, he said are we now to thank God and >it still"? or shall we not lather thank God for His manifestations and go on in His name to the new door of possibility and hope set open to us. This; Mission, he said, is the beginning of a great revival and it is a call to service. no concluded with an eloquent personal appeal to his congregation to answer the call fo ser- \ ice. At All Saints’ Church, a similar address was delivered by the Rev. Yv. IT. Walton to a congregation which occupied the full seating capacity of the building. I,IO^PATIENTS AT NAPIER. __ Napier, Last Night. The Hickson Mission in Napier was opened this evening by a public mu vice in St. John’s Cathedral, which was filled in every part by an immense crowd, not even an inch of standing space being vacant, and outside were hundreds who were unable to gain admission. So large was the crowd that the assistance of the police was necessary to regulate the traffic, which, however, ilid not get. out of hand. The gathering in the Cathedral to-night indicated the intense interest taken in the Mission, during which some eleven hundred will be presented for the laying on of hands. To-night’s service was public, but on the succeeding days admission requires to be by ticket, in order that patients may receive attention first. A healing service will be held to-morrow morning. Mr Hickson delivered an address similar to tjiose in other centres.