SICKNESS AND TROUBLE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 905, 24 February 1930, Page 14

SICKNESS AND TROUBLE

NOT VISITATIONS FROM ON HIGH "‘DOCTRINE QUITE WRONG” “The universal doctrine that sickness and trouble are visitations from God is entirely wrong, as such affilictions are abhorrent to Him. On the contrary, the fault lies with mankind. For 400 or 500 years healing has been part of the work of the Church, but has later been disregarded.” The foregoing words were spoken by Mr. J. M. Hickson, the Anglican missioner of spiritual healing, who has ministered in New Zealand on two occasions since 1923. He was preaching a farewell sermon at a largely attended service conducted by the Auckland City Mission in the Lewis Eady Hall last evening. Mr. Hickson will return to England on March 3 to conduct a special mission in London. In making a plea for a deeper and wider appreciation of the value of spiritual help Mr. Hickson laid emphasis on the necessity for following the precepts of Jesus Christ, who came into the world not only to preach but also to heal. “I believe: in spiritual healing because 1 believe in Christ,” Mr. Hickson said. “Our Lord has ordered the Church to carry on His work. Unless prayers are accompanied by action, then faith is dead,” he added. Doctors were God’s healing ministers in the physical plane. Science had created nothing, but it had helped the world to understand the creation of God. If sickness or trouble occurred in the mental, moral or spiritual sense doctors could accomplish nothing. The power of mind inevitably triumphed over matter. That was seen in the often successful use made of “suggestion” by physicians. Stronger than both mind and matter, however, was the power of the spirit. Spiritual healing -was the transference of life from God to man. The world needed a fresh vision which would help it to realise what it professed to believe. Once that conviction was implanted in the hearts of the people divine help would follow. Both organic and nervous disorders could be treated by spiritual healing as Christ had healed the leper as well as the mentally sick.

The power of prayer, Mr. Hickson concluded, had during his visit brought about cures throughout all the dioceses of the Dominion, and his final words would be “Learn to pray.” The speaker paid a tribute to the work of the City Missioner, the Rev. Jasper Calder.