The Patea Mail. Established 1875. FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1883. A MIRACULOUS HEALER.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 989, 26 January 1883, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Established 1875. FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1883. A MIRACULOUS HEALER.

A short time hack wo gave our readers a brief account of a Maori prophetess in the North Island, who is said to he healing numerous people of their illnesses by means of cold, water. Since," that time a much more remarkable healer has made his appearance in. Wellington, in the person of an Englishman on this occasion, Mr Milner Stephen by name, whoso cures are connected with hot water, into which he himself has certainly got, and who has set all Wellington by the bars, one party insisting that ho is almost equal to the apostle Paul, and others being as confident that if the ’ martyrdom of Stephen' were now to ho repeated, .it would be a public benefit. Mr Stephen, professes to cure people almost instantaneously, and by miracle, and some classes of the community seem very thoroughly dis- : gusted by the assertion. The clergy and medical men in particular consider themselves most unfairly euchred, for all their best tricks’ are trumped. Here is a man who cure# people of aTargo variety of complaints, and yet he has dispensed with the preliminary 'of a medical diploma, an 1 here is one who,, according to his own account, is endowed with ranch more marvellous: powers than .any of the local clergy possess because he is a “ specially prayerful man.” In (ho miraculous part of Mr Stephen’s business wo, have not. the'.slightest belief. The only ' cause which he assigns for his special power ib one which there is not the slightest reason to” credit. The; current'-opinion about him iti Victoria, where he resided for many years, was that when young ho was quite ns “ fast ” a man. as most others, and , that when . a middle aged barrister he was not. a hit more squeamish than other legal gentlemen about making money when money was to be made. He may have taken a.sudden.start in t|ie religious world; notwithstanding his antecedents, late in life, and have become 1 a* complete full-blooded racer, but it isnof likely. ~ . . : Still he does really cure, or seems to do so, in such a manner that the most acute observers cannot detect- any deception, 'People blind; paralyzed, deaf,' rheumatic, ’*• suffering fijotn ; asthma or bronchitis, 'and other complaints are immediately cured, or say that they are, and persons whose legs of feet are not of the normal length, "find their extremities suddenly elongated. The only outward treatment is similar to. that adopted by mesmerists. The hands of .the operator ■are . generally . pressed to the side-of the head, and then to the part of the body affected, and •th e a in a (i tes the pail ten t i s tol d' Hint ho or - sheds cured. Sometimes the Tejcfuror, ’or healer as heVis pleased to. tqnri himself, breathes through a silver, tube. on . the diseased ;part, and sometimes, fie sells a bottle.’ of magnetised water or oil which th or patient is to apply internally or externally as the case may be. Whether' Mr Stephen himself really believes in all these adjuncts or not, w.o’cannot say ; probably like them, for the superstitious reverence for fetishes ofsome kind is, to a certain class of minds a necessary;'accompanist of the faith required to be created.' :

But while we regard Mr' Stephen’s claim, to miraculous power as preposterous rubbish, it is-a very cnriousdiquiry how he produces the effects perceptible after, his . treatment, Notwithstanding his disclaimer, we believe “that imesmerisrii has in reality a good deal to do with his treatment, and that faith bn .the part of the patient that he: or she is goingto be cured does the work. Whatever the real modus operandi_ may be, it is at any rate satisfactory to., learn that besides the usual remedies prescribed by medical .men ; for various complaints, there are other methods equally efficacious with their’s in addition. go we heartily wish. Mr Stephen bon voyage, trusting that he will continue to cure by his new. method, ever that method may be, and that in due course he Will cast aside tensions to special prayerfnlness,. and his other quackeries, and tell the public how he really goes to work. In that way he might not merely be an efficient healer, but also a most amusing and instructive lecturer.