Spiritual Healing

to the blind, and an arm Avithered and useless for sixteen years suddenly became perfectly whole. Moreover, " we have seen cancers disappear within twenty minutes." We make bold to say at once that, whatever it was that disappeared, it was not cancer, and it is not surprising that these remarkable statements should have produced a large amount of newspaper correspondence from medical and scientific men and clergymen. The former are, naturally, sceptical of claims which appear, on the face of them, to be extravagant, and Sir Bryan Donkin has gone to the root of the matter by asking for proofs. No such proofs have yet been forthcoming, and those who are acquainted with the literature, at once copious and curious, of the subject know how often the same demand has been made in the past and how rare has been any convincing response. Faith-healing is almost as old as humanity, and it has been a happy hunting-ground for the charlatan and the imposter. This is not to say that faith and prayer are incapable of removing certain classes of disorders. There is substantial reason for believing, in given circumstances, in their efficacy, and there is abundant experience to show that the doctor and the priest may work together with results which neither of them could achieve separately. But healing by faith, whether it be by the laying on of hands, accompanied by prayer, in a church,