When, the Church
understands that the body also shares in the redemption effected by
Christ, by which it may be restored to its original destiny, and become
the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit, to serve as His fit instrument
and to be sanctified by His presence,—then the Church will also
recognize the place which Divine Healing has in the Bible and in the
counsels of God.—Andrew Murray.
IT may have been in consequence of the heavy strain cast upon him by the
continuous travelling and preaching of the evangelistic tour, that Mr.
Murray began, towards the end of 1879, to suffer from a relaxed throat,
which interrupted his regular ministrations and imposed upon him a
silence lasting, with occasional recoveries, for more than two years.
Early in 1880 we find him under the roof of his brother-in-law, Mr. F.
F. Rutherfoord, at Mowbray, seeking to escape from the kind enquiries of
visitors and friends, and to shield his throat from the unkind westerly
breezes. All through the year his throat seems to have continued in an
unsatisfactory condition. Important conferences were held at Montagu and
at Worcester, where, though present in spirit, he could only deliver his
message through the medium of papers which were read to the assembled
brethren. In October the Synod met in Cape Town, but though the duty of
formally opening the gathering fell to him as retiring Moderator, he was
unable to officiate, and the inaugural ceremony was performed by Dr.
Philip Faure, the Assessor. The minutes, however, inform us that on the
motion of the minister of Cradock the whole gathering by rising
expressed its gratitude to the retiring Moderator, and its sincere
regret that a weakness of the throat prevented him from taking active
part, as heretofore, in its proceedings.
During the early months of 1881 Mr. Murray spent several weeks in the
Karroo, in the hope that the dry climate, and treatment at the hands of
a doctor of special qualifications, might effect a cure. It was in many
respects an anxious time. The Transvaal War of Independence had just
broken out, and the eldest daughter, Emmie, was teaching in Pretoria,
while a sister, Eliza, the wife of the Rev. Hendrik Neethling, and a
brother, James, were residing in the Transvaal, within thirty miles of
Majuba Mountain.1 In spite of all anxieties Mr. Murray employed his time
in writing diligently for De Christen, the journal which from the
commencement of 1880 (though only for a short period) supplanted the
Kerkbode, and in issuing tracts and booklets of a devotional nature. A
few extracts from letters dating from this period will give some idea of
the direction of his thoughts and of the tasks which occupied his time
of enforced leisure—
To his Wife.
Murraysburg, 28th January, 1881.—On my arrival here I saw the doctor at
once. He says he can say nothing positive. He must try for a fortnight
and see what effect his applications have, and then he will be able to
give an opinion as to what he thinks of a cure. I have to see him once
every day to have the throat washed, and morning and evening I have to
inhale for ten minutes the steam from boiling water, with something
mixed into it. I am to take a regular walk in the morning before
breakfast, and to speak as little as possible. This last injunction has
been made known to all friends, so that I can keep quite quiet. I spend
the greater part of the day alone, either in my room or in the garden. .
. .
As I have brought no work with me I have begun making notes on the daily
readings of our Union.2 Whether I ever use them or not, they are
profitable to myself. In reading I feel how difficult it must be for
people of little intelligence to understand and profit by what is found
in the prophets. So I have commenced these notes, which with the
co-operation of others may perhaps some day come to something. . . .
Murraysburg, 15th February, 1881.—Mima [his sister, wife of the Rev. A.
A. Louw] is very much concerned about my being so solitary in my room,
but I enjoy the quiet and have not yet found time hanging heavy upon me.
I have not done very much reading, but a good deal of study. For
practical reading I have taken up again some old books, McCheyne’s Life
and Tersteegen—both very beautiful and profitable. A letter in the
former has led my thoughts a good deal to the question of God’s purpose
with this long silence. You know what I have said about the two views of
affliction, the one always seeing in it chastisement for sin, the other
regarding it in the light of kindness and love. And you know what very
great kindness I have felt it, to have such a time for the renewal of
bodily strength, and of mental quiet and refreshment for the work before
me. The thought has come whether I might not be in danger of overlooking
the former aspect. I have been asking the Lord to show me what specially
there is that He wants changed. The general answer is a very easy one,
and yet it is difficult to realize at once distinctly where and how the
change is to come. What is needed is a more spiritual life, more of the
power of the Holy Ghost, in the life first and then in the preaching.
And yet it looks as if one’s life is very much of a settled thing, and
as if there is not much prospect of one’s being lifted to a difierent
platform. If the Holy Spirit were to come in great power to search out
and expose either individual failings or the general low state of
devotion in the soul, this would be the first step towards forsaking
what is behind. Let us pray earnestly that our gracious God would search
and try us and see whether there be any evil way in us. . . .
From Murraysburg he paid a visit to the old home at Graaff-Reinet, and
greatly enjoyed the stay with his brother Charles. The latter sent a
paragraph to De Christen which caused considerable uneasiness and
anxiety to the Wellington circles. It ran as follows: “The minister of
Wellington is at Graaff-Reinet at present. The condition of his throat
shows no improvement. He speaks as little as possible and that little as
softly as possible.” Mrs. Murray evidently voiced the concern of the
congregation at this doleful report, and received the following lines in
reply—
To his Wife.
Murraysburg, 12th March, 1881.—I am so sorry that you should have been
troubled by Charles’ notice in De Christen. I cannot say that it struck
me, for it just said what is the fact. I am under orders to use the
voice as little as possible, and therefore I speak little and in a low
voice. When people here ask me if I feel better I never say Yes, for I
feel no difference. You know I have never written anything about being
or feeling better. I have only said that the doctor gives hopes of
complete restoration in three months, though not to full work again. I
do not like to tease him with questions, and therefore have not asked,
since returning from Graaff-Reinet, what he thinks of the probable time
still needed. In the course of next week I may do so. Because I said the
doctor has good hopes, people say I am better, but a little reflection
shows the difference. Be restful, whatever you hear; and be sure I write
you all there is to say.
Murraysburg, 13th March, 1881.—There is nothing very special to report
from here. I only saw a notice of four lines about Manus [Rev. H. S.
Bosman of Pretoria] and Emmie in the Zuid Afrikaan. If you have no news
when this reaches you, I would write to Mrs. Faure. I think that if she
has no letters herself, she will have enquired where that notice came
from. By this time the decision has taken place as to the result of the
armistice. God grant it may be peace. Did you read, in the Zuid Afrikaan
of the 8th or 10th instant, a piece of Dutch poetry by Ter Haar—an
appeal to Gladstone? I think it was well done. . . .
I am enjoying my time for writing. I think I told you of a little book I
am engaged on, concerning following Christ, and in between another tract
for our Scripture Union. If the Union is to be kept up, there must be
communication between the members mutually: they must feel that they are
not forgotten. The former subject interests me deeply. May God give me
the right words, "words which the Holy Ghost teachetk,” to set forth as
a living picture the Christ we are to be dke. If we could only study it
as we study the pictures of the Masters, until we see the beauty of
every trait of His character ! This would make us long to be like Him.
Murraysburg, 16th March, 1881.—When I saw the doctor to-day, I was a
little bit surprised to hear him say that by the end of next week the
treatment would be at an end. It would not be advisable, he said, to
continue the application of the silver nitrate, and after that there was
nothing needed but care and the gentle and gradual exercise of the
voice. I almost feel as if I would prefer waiting a couple of months
longer to have a complete cure before beginning again. But he does not
appear to encourage this idea. He says I must begin preaching by reading
or speaking aloud in a room, and so go on to short addresses slowly
uttered. All the same I want very much to stay here a week or two
longer, to see how the throat gets on when I begin to speak.
We are longing for confirmation of the news of peace. The Lord grant it
may be true and a sure peace. I have offered myself to Him if ever He
sees fit to use me for the Transvaal (once they have quieted down), to
take them the special message of His saving love. But that cannot be
soon, both for their sakes and mine. . . .
Murraysburg, 26th March, 1881.—We have just received the tidings of
peace. I do bless God for it. I had begun to fear it would be difficult
to agree on terms which both parties would think would satisfy their
honour. I do pray God the arrangements may be permanent. Now of course
Emmie can come away. But there will be the new difficulty of whether
they will be willing to leave just as they can commence their work
again. I would not wonder if Manus persuaded them to stay. At all
events, there is every prospect of our hearing soon now. Dear child ! I
long to know what this three months’ imprisonment and inactivity will
have been to her.
I have just read a little tract, Ons Land en ores Volk, published at the
Paarl. I should not wonder if Mr. J. de Villiers were the writer. It is
worth reading to see how strongly the feeling of nationality is
asserting itself and mingling with the religious sentiment of the
people. One hardly knows what to say of it. That there has been much
that is unholy and evil in the anti-English sentiments which helped to
stir up this movement is true. And yet there are in it elements of good
which must be nourished. A more strongly developed national life in our
half-slumbering Dutch population will afford a more vigorous stock for
the Christian life to be grafted on. If we cannot influence the movement
directly, we must try and put in abundantly the salt which can save it
from corruption.
I have been getting on quite nicely with my writing. Strange that I
marked out, in that manuscript book you sent me, the plan of a book some
ten or twelve years ago, and that it should all at once flow from the
pen so easily. Writing makes me wonder at our slowness of growth. How
little the example of Christ is our real law and rule. Even the question
hanging above the mantelpiece in our bedroom, “ What would Jesus do ? "
does not give the real help. It requires spiritual insight to be able to
answer that question. His own Spirit alone, working in fellowship with
Himself, can give such an answer as will really influence us, so that
the thought of what Jesus would do becomes a power compelling us to do
it.
Murraysburg, 12th April, 1881.—I preached yesterday for twenty-five
minutes, and the doctor says it has done me no harm. There is still a
huskiness about the throat, which he says will wear off with the use of
the voice. My text was 1 John ii. 6, “Abiding in Him, walking like Him.”
Let us bless the Lord for again permitting me to preach Christ, and pray
that it may henceforth be in the power of the Hdy Ghost. . . .
Mr. Murray’s strong sense of duty is apparent from his letters to his
daughter Emmie, who, after having been confined in Pretoria during the
war, was at length free to return home. He had assured himself that she
was quite well and had suffered no privations during her incarceration,
and his sympathy was at once aroused for Mr. Bosman and the school,
which would suffer by her departure. He writes on this and cognate
matters as follows—
To his daughter Emmie.
We were delighted to hear from you from Heilbron. Do send us your
journals at once—we surely can pay the postage—we are longing to know
all about your long confinement. Now that peace is arranged and school
has begun again, I think it far best you should return at once [to
Pretoria]. We are deeply grateful to hear you are so well, and hope you
may still long feel the benefit of the enforced holiday. At whose
expense were you kept in the fort? Did Government provide all who were
there with rations ? And had your party still to do their own cooking?
From your last I see that your heart begins to long for home, and that
you find it difficult, amid all the rumours that surround you, to look
brightly towards your work at Pretoria. As far as I can see, you need
not trouble yourself about the rumours. I have a strong hope that the
God who so unexpectedly intervened to give peace will perfect what He
has begun and give a lasting settlement of what now appears so
difficult. You must not forget that all the English, who want the
British Government to stay, will do their utmost to agitate and stir up
strong feeling, so as to make it appear impossible for the Government to
leave the country. Do not be too much disturbed by the rumours, and if
the school be really going on, go back to it by all means at the
earliest opportunity that can be found. The place of our work is to us
the safest and the best. And if once you could get back to that, I think
you would find it more easy to forgo the pleasant thoughts of visiting
home again. You say you do not know whether Manus needs you, because he
has the two Misses Faure. But Catherine said positively that she was not
going to teach: her health was not good, and she was only going for a
year to rest. At all events there will be work enough waiting for you,
even should they be partially engaged. . . .
Towards the end of April Mr. Murray returned to Wellington with health
somewhat improved, after an absence of three months. The services of
Pentecost gave him the opportunity of pleading a cause which lay near to
his heart—that of missions—and of appealing to the congregation to show
its gratitude for his restoration by gifts for the work in general and
for the Institute at which future missionaries were being trained. The
result of his appeal, as we saw in the former chapter, was that the sum
of £2,000 was subscribed, and that the trustees were encouraged to
undertake the erection of permanent buildings for the Training
Institute. During the latter hqlf of 1881 Mr. Murray’s throat seemed to
be making gradual progress towards complete recovery. He preached
continually, and his discourses, to judge by those which were published
at frequent intervals in De Christen, were by no means brief. He was
also busily engaged during these months in completing his new Dutch
book, Gelijk Jezus (the original of Like Christ), and in issuing his
first venture in the English language. Abide in Christ, which had
already seen the light in Dutch dress, under the title Blijf in Jezus.
His brother John had been spending several months in Europe in the quest
of health, and Andrew writes to him under date 5th December, 1881—
To Professor John Murray.
I was glad to hear from Margaret [the Professor's daughter] last week
that you were the better for an operation. I shall be glad of a line
some time to get an idea of your whereabouts—medically. What do the
doctors say of the time that may be needed for your restoration and the
prospects of an entire return of health? You know that many are anxious
to hear, and we have hitherto only just said that you were getting on
well.
Margaret says you all enjoyed Aberdeen. If writing be not a burden, I
should be glad to have your impressions of the place where we spent so
much time together, and of the cousins. I wrote you a letter a couple of
months ago addressed to their care, but I do not know if you ever
received it. In it I told you that Nisbets were to publish my Abide in
Christ, and that I had said that, as you knew my handwriting, they might
let you have a last revise. If you did not receive it, could you please
place yourself into communication with them, saying if you can do it. By
all means say so, only let them know, as they may be delaying
publication until they hear from you.
You must be sure and go to Holland. Huet would like to have your
address. Write to him at Goes, stating where you are. All the Church
news from here I suppose you already know from De Christen. Retief has
accepted Moorreesburg and Marais, Goudini. I fear the more distant
congregations are waiting to call until it will be too late. S. J. du
Toit goes to the Transvaal, and this day week a call is to be issued by
the Consistory of North Paarl. It is said the one party wants Chari du
Toit. The other appears hardly to know where to turn. A. A. Louw and A.
D. Liickhoff are mentioned.
I have begun a rather large undertaking in issuing a prospectus for
subscribers to Ddchsels Bijbelverklaring in eight volumes at £5. I
hardly know how it will take, though some of our ministers are heartily
in favour of the scheme. My throat is decidedly improving. The last
three Sundays I have been preaching in good tone and length, and have
not suffered. We have unusually moist westerly winds, which I think keep
me back somewhat.
Some weeks later he writes again as follows—
To Professor John Murray.
I ought ere this to have written to say. Welcome back! And though the
reception the Cape has given you has not been a very friendly one,1 the
delay will make your restoration to us all the more acceptable when it
does come. And the stay at Saldanha Bay may possibly be what was needed
to give you a little more rest before beginning your work again. I trust
the heat will not be such as it is here, and that the visit may have so
much of a pleasant picnic life as not to be quite unbearable.
My throat was improving, but got put back, partly by a cold taken at
Moorreesburg on the occasion of the induction of Retief, and partly
owing to the strain of the New Year and prayer-week services.
Thanks for your hints on my English style in Abide in Christ, of which I
have now received a parcel from Nisbets. There are a good many misprints
still—e.g., strangulation for stagnation—but this cannot now be helped.
I feel a little nervous about my debut in English.
Mahan’s Baptism of the Spirit I have read with profit. It is a pity that
he insists so on his extraordinary exegesis "after that ye believed ye
were sealed”; which the Revised Version could have taught him to be
entirely wrong—“having believed ye were sealed.” But the book does one
good. It is strange how deep-seated our feeling is that to be full of
the Holy Ghost is something extraordinary, and how little we accept what
is surely true—to live well-pleasing to God day by day.
The set-back in the condition of his throat to which Mr. Murray refers
proved to be a somewhat serious relapse, so serious, indeed, that his
consistory threw out the suggestion that he should undertake a tour to
Europe for a complete change of air and scene, and in order to consult
the best medical opinion. Mr. Murray at once fell in with the
suggestionf arrangements were made for an absence extending over some
months, and in May of 1882, he sailed from Table Bay, accompanied by
Mrs. Murray. A few days before their departure an interesting ceremony
took place at Wellington, namely, the laying of the foundation-stone of
the new Training Institute. The part taken by Mr. Murray in the
proceedings was little more than formal. The stone was laid by Professor
Hofmeyr, who also delivered the address of the day, laying stress on the
meaning of this new departure, and of the blessing which the Institute
was destined to be for the Church and the Kingdom.
Before his departure for Europe Mr. Murray’s attention had been already
drawn to the question of healing by faith. He had perused, though
without any decided conviction, a book on the subject by an American,
Dr. Boardman, entitled The Lord thy Healer. Teachings concerning faith
healing had also been spread at the Cape by a certain Rev. Willem
Hazen-berg, who after having passed through a course of theology at
Kampen, the seminary of the Separatist Dutch Reformed Church in Holland,
had found his way to America, and from there to South Africa. Hazenberg
had interested himself in work among the Mohammedans in Cape Town, but
disheartened by the indifferent success achieved, had turned his
attention to the cure of disease by the exercise of faith. In two
letters to De Christen he propounded the following four theses, for
which he professed to find Scriptural ground: (1) the diseases of
believers must be regarded as judgments of God, (2) God desires to
remove instantly the diseases from which believers suffer, (3) this
removal of disease is secured by believing prayer, and (4) the prayer
which is efficacious in removing such diseases may be that of believing
intercessors. These positions of Hazenberg were not left unchallenged,
and exception was taken in particular to the first statement that
disease in the believer was necessarily a judgment on sin; but the new
doctrines found their way to many homes, and Hazenberg was in great
demand in all parts of the country to lay his hands upon the sick and
pray for their recovery.
The attitude which Mr. Murray adopted towards faith healing is best set
forth in his own words. From Europe he addressed to his congregation a
series of letters, two of which treat directly of the subject, and
explain the steps by which he was led to adopt for himself this method
of dealing with disease. On the 20th September, 1882, he writes— To his
Congregation at Wellington.
Let me now relate to you a few of my experiences in Europe. Let me begin
with the restoration of my health, since that was the chief object with
which you sent me hither. I wish to tell you something about the way by
which the Lord has led me in this matter.
At the Cape I had already frequently given thought to James v. 14-16,
—“the prayer of faith Shall heal the sick "—and in union with others I
had already made this matter of faith healing a subject of intercession.
What I had read concerning the work of Dorothea Triidel and Dr. Cullis
had removed from my mind all doubts but that the Lord even yet bestows
healing on the prayer of faith. And yet it was as though I could not
reach that faith. When I resolved upon the trip to Europe I felt that it
would be a serious question for me whether I should place myself under
the treatment of a physician, or should turn to those who appear to have
received this gift of healing from the Lord. I thought that I would have
time on board to think over this question and come to a decision.
How it happened I do not know, but on the voyage my attention was not
directed to the matter in any especial degree : I could only beseech the
Lord to guide me. The man whom I desired particularly to see was Pastor
Stockmaier, whom I had learnt to know in Switzerland five „ years
earlier as a truly spiritual man, of strong faith, and who now stood at
the head of an institute for faith healing. But I did not expect to meet
him before I goi fb Switzerland. And so it happened that, having
received no clear guidance, I placed myself the day after my arrival in
the hands of a famous London physician, Dr. Kidd. He prescribed a few
medicines for me to use and sent me to a cold-water establishment in the
vicinity of London, with directions that I should call on him from time
to time. The following week was appointed for the Mildmay Conference,
which was to last for three days, and I obtained permission to attend
it.
At this Conference, just a week after our arrival in London, I heard„
that Mr. Stockmaier was also present. I called on him and discussed my
throat trouble with him. In the course of our discussion I said that I,
too, had wanted to make use of James v. 14, but that it seemed to me
that I could not reach that faith. Perhaps that was due to the secret
doubt I cherished that it was certainly God’s will that I should be
healed. Would it not conduce in greater measure to His glory if I
remained silent, and served God in some other capacity? Surely suffering
and trial are means of grace which God employs to sanctify His people.
Mr. Stockmaier replied: “You are still fettered by the customary views
of Christians about suffering. Observe how carefully James distinguishes
in verses 13 and 14 between suffering and disease. Of suffering he says,
Is any among you afflicted (or suffering), let him pray—for patience
(Jas. i. 2-5, 12). But then again, Is any sick among you . . . the
prayer of faith shall save the sick. There is no unconditional promise
that suffering, arising from the many temptations and trials of life,
will be taken away; but there is such a promise in the case of
sickness.” I was obliged to admit this, and subsequently I thought that
I understood the matter still better. There is no promise of complete
deliverance from that suffering that comes upon the Christian from the
world without—it must serve to bless and sanctify him. But it is
different with disease, which has its seat within the body, and not
outside of it. The body has been redeemed ; the body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit; and, for the believer who can accept it, the Lord is ready
to reveal even in the case of the body His mighty power to deliver from
the dominion of sin.
Mr. Stockmaier invited me to attend, in the course of the following
week, the meetings of Dr. Boardman, writer of The Higher Christian
ijiLife, on the subject of faith healing. Shortly before my departure
from the Cape I had perused Dr. Boardman’s other work The Lord thy
Healer. but it left no special impreillon, perhaps because in my opinion
he built too exclusively upon the Old Testament. I now learnt that only
a few months before an institute for faith healing had been opened in
London under his supervision. This institute I visited in the following
week, when everything became clearer to me and I decided to ask if I
could not be received as an inmate. The reply was that there would be a
vacancy in the course of a few days, when I would be welcome.
I entered the institute three weeks after our arrival in London, and
remained in it for another three weeks. It would be difficult to
describe how much instruction and blessing I obtained during those
weeks. The matron was of the same name as ourselves—Miss Murray. Morning
by morning the sixteen or eighteen inmates were assembled around the
Word of God, and instructed as to what there still remained in
themselves to prevent them from appropriating the promise, and what
there was in Scripture to encourage them to faith and to complete
surrender.
I cannot remember that I have ever listened to expositions of the Word
of God in which greater simplicity and a more glorious spirit of faith
were revealed, combined with heart-searching application of God demand
to surrender everything to Him.
But why was it necessary to enter a Home, and to remain there for so
long a time ? Is not the prayer of faith the matter of a moment, just
like the imposition of hands or the anointing with oil of which James
speaks? Quite true. Yet in most cases time is needful in order to leam
what God's Word promises, and rightly to understand what the cause and
purpose of the disease really are, and which are the conditions and what
the meaning of healing. The stay in such a Home, with all its
surroundings, helps to make this matter plain, and to strengthen faith.
When Mr. Stockmaier prayed with me the first time, he made use of the
expression which occurs in x Corinthians xi. 31, 32, saying, "Lord,
teach him to judge himself, that he may no longer be judged or
chastened.” In that whole passage we find the main thoughts concerning
sickness and cure. Disease is a chastisement, because God judges us in
love so that we may not be condemned with the world. If we judge
ourselves in such manner as to discover the reason for which we are
being chastised, then, so soon as the reason for chastisement is
removed, the chastisement itself is no longer necessary. The disease was
designed to bring us to complete severance from what God disapproved of
in our life, and when the Lord has attained this purpose, the disease
itself may be removed. It is not necessary for me to say that God judges
us sometimes (though not always) for some definite sin. This may be lack
of complete consecration, the assertion of one’s own will, confidence in
one’s own strength in performing the Lord’s work, a forsaking of the
first love and tenderness in the walk with God, or the absence of that
gentleness which desires to follow only the leading of the Spirit of
God.
It is difficult to express what a sight we sometimes obtain of the
unutterable tenderness and sanctity of the surrender to which we are
called when we beseech the Lord for healing by faith. It fills the soul
with holy fear and reverence when we ask the Lord truly to impart to the
body the eternal youth of His heavenly life, and when we express our
readiness to receive the Holy Spirit in order to infuse health into the
body which He inhabits, and our readiness to live every day in complete
dependence upon the Lord for our bodily welfare. We learn to understand
how complete the surrender of the body to the Lord must be, down to the
very smallest particulars, and how the Lord, in thus giving and
preserving health by faith, is really effecting the most intimate union
with Himself.
When faith healing is regarded from this point of view, one of the chief
objections against it is removed. We are so apt to think that the
disease and the chastisement bring us the blessing, that the thought
hardly finds an entrance that the recovery from disease may bring even
greater blessing. And if the recovery consists in nothing but the
removal of the disease, our view of the matter would be justified. But
if the disease is only removable after its cause has been discovered and
removed, and after a closer contact with the living Lord, and a more
complete union of the body with Him, then we can understand that such a
recovery brings infinitely greater blessing to the soul than the disease
could convey.
I must bring this letter to a close. I write from the home of our
brother Faure at Doesburg [Holland]. We think of remaining here another
fortnight, and still adhere to the intention of leaving for the Cape on
the 19th of October next.
The following was Mr. Murray’s second letter on the subject of faith
healing —
To his Congregation at Wellington.
I was obliged to end my former letter on faith healing without having
said everything I wanted to, and therefore I write again on the same
matter.
One of the first things that struck me as being in conflict with my
expectations was that in most cases slow progress is made with the
healing process. I thought, and others have expressed the same opinion,
that if healing is an act of God’s almighty power, there can be no
reason why it should not be perfected at once. This point I discussed
with Dr. Boardman and others, whose reply was somewhat as follows—
“First of all, experience has taught that at the present time most cases
of healing are subject to this rule ; so that, even though we cannot
understand why it should be so, we have merely to observe what God
actually does. Then, too, we have to notice that this gradual recovery
stands in close connexion with learning to trust in the Lord and to
continue in constant dependence upon Him. It is as though the Lord, by
this slow and gradual process, is educating His child to the increasing
exercise of faith, and to a continuance in communion with Himself.”
This leads me to tell of one of the most important lessons which have
learnt. When I arrived at the Home my mind was chiefly set on the
healing : faith was a secondary consideration, which was to be employed
simply as a means to healing. But I soon discovered that God’s first
purpose was to develop faith, and that healing was a secondary question.
God’s purpose with us, as with Abraham, is first of all to make us true
believers. Disease and cure, to His mind, derive their importance from
the fact that they can awaken in us a stronger faith. Faith, again, is
of value in His eyes, not merely as the means by which we obtain a
blessing, but especially as the pathway to a fuller fellowship with
Himself and a fuller dependence upon His power. And if there be simple
souls, who with child-like faith cast themselves wholly upon the Lord,
recovery sometimes comes to them at once. But if there be those whose
minds must be .brought to believe by the way of reason and conviction,
the Spirit of God must, as it were, bear patiently with their needs and
take time to teach them fully the lesson of faith, so that they may
obtain not only the blessing of healing by faith, but the much greater
blessing of a closer union by faith with their Lord.
I subsequently discussed this subject with Mr. Stockmaier, who stands at
the head of a faith healing establishment at Hauptwal in Switzerland, He
told me how at one time he was wholly incapacitated from preaching by an
affection of the head, and that even after he had accepted the truth of
healing by the exercise of faith, the trouble in no wise disappeared
immediately. For more than two years the head affection continued, and
yet he was always able to perform his work m the power of fellowship
with the Lord by faith. He was led at this time, as though in
leading-strings (he also used the expression, like a dog at the end of a
chain), and he assured me that he would not for all the world have lost
what he learnt during those two years. An immediate cure would never
have brought him the same blessing. He counted it a great privilege that
God took him so completely in hand, in order to preserve him in
continual fellowship with Himself by means of the body, and the daily
bestowal upon it of supernatural power.
At first I could not entirely assent to this view of the matter. I asked
Dr. Boardman if it would not be a much more powerful proof, both for His
children and for the world at large, that God hears and answers prayer,
if the cure of disease were instantaneous and complete. I said that if I
could write to my congregation that I had wholly recovered my voice as
at the first, the thanksgiving would be more abundant to the glory of
God. Would it not also be for the greater glory of God if I desired of
Him this instantaneous restoration? His answer was, “The Lord knows
better than you or your congregation what is for His greater glory.
Leave it to Him to care for His own glory. Your duty is to hold fast to
Him as your Healer, in whom you already have the healing of your malady,
and He will enable you, in such manner as He sees fit, to perform all
your work.” In this point of view I was able, ultimately, wholly to
acquiesce.
So we see that in faith healing there is the same contrast as in the
spiritual life between feeling and believing. The body must be brought
under the same law of faith as the mind : it has been redeemed, and it
is now possessed by the Holy Ghost, in quite the same way as our
spiritual man. This idea is founded upon the expression which Matthew
the evangelist quotes from Isaiah, “He healed all that were sick, that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses ” (Matt. viii. 17).
In the well-known fifty-third of Isaiah sins and sicknesses are placed
alongside of each other in a very remarkable way, and are borne together
by Him in the suffering of which the chapter speaks. By bearing both He
overcame them both, and received power to deliver from their sway. We
have severed the one from the other, and have accepted the redemption of
the soul from sin as the fruit of Christ’s sufferings, but without
regarding the deliverance of the body from disease as in like manner the
fruit of His sufferings. The faith which says, “He has borne my sins to
free me from them,” must also learn to say, “He has carried my
sicknesses in order to deliver me from them also.” In the world there
will be trial and affliction and temptation in abundance, from which the
believer must expect no deliverance; but from the disease of the body
there can be deliverance through the Spirit who dwells in the body as
His temple.
Very noteworthy was the manner in which faith in the words quoted from
Isaiah effected the cure of a sick girl a few weeks before I visited the
Bethshan Home. She had suffered for years from a variety of diseases,
epilepsy among the rest. Several doctors declared that nothing could be
done for her. She was carried into the prayer-meeting, and lay half
unconscious on a sofa. Prayer was offered on her behalf. Shortly
afterwards she suddenly rose and said, "If He has borne my sicknesses, I
need not carry them any longer.” And within a short time she was
completely cured. She subsequently related how it seemed to her that she
heard a command to rise. The thought then intruded, "But I can’t rise: I
shall fall.” In answer she seemed to hear, “Himself took our infirmities
and bore our sicknesses,” and she accordingly arose and advanced to the
table standing in the midst. On subsequent occasions I more than once
heard her bear witness, with great joy depicted on her countenance, to
what the Lord had done for her.
Only yesterday I heard from a brother who has just arrived from
Switzerland of a similar case,—that of a girl who was so weak with
consumption that she could not be moved to a warmer climate for the
winter, as the doctor desired. She heard from Mr. Stockmaier of the
possibility of being cured by faith. One night she seemed to see very
clearly how the Lord had given His body for her body, just as for her
soul He had poured out His soul unto death. It seemed to her that she
actually beheld the Lord giving His body for her health and cure. Next
morning, to the amazement of every one, she got up out of bed, and now
is spreading great blessing by holding women’s meetings.
From these brief accounts you will perceive that faith healing has a
much higher aim than the mere deliverance of the body from certain
maladies: it points the road of holiness and full consecration which God
would have us follow. The question has arisen in my mind whether I may
not perhaps possess the gift, and have the vocation, to devote myself,
for a time at least, to this work. I notice in those who are engaged in
this labour that they must give almost all their time and strength to
it. In this manner only does faith acquire sufficient vitality and
strength to enable them to wrestle courageously with all the doubts and
difficulties of their patients. I spent last Sunday week at M&nne-dorf,
where Dorothea Triidel laboured-with so much-blessing. Her successor is
Samuel Zeller, and I found the opportunity of discussing this point with
him. He acknowledged that it was not the vocation of every one who had
been cured by faith to devote himself to the task of healing others. In
this matter he said that one must wait for God’s guidance, who would
assign to each his work according to his ability. For some he
acknowledged that the ordinary ministry of the Gospel might be a higher
vocation. But he expressed the opinion that, if the Church were to
flourish as in the earliest ages, and the leaders in the congregation
were again to be characterized by true spirituality, the gift of healing
would be found very much more frequently ; and that this would be the
case especially in the ministers of the Gospel, who would thus find a
powerful recommendation for their work in rescuing the lost and in
securing the sanctification of the children of God. May the Lord in His
own good time grant this ! Help me to pray that He would give me grace
to preserve faithfully and use rightly the blessing which He has
entrusted to me.
I close with the prayer for God’s richest blessings upon my
congregation, and upon our approaching reunion, as well as upon His
whole Church in South Africa.
The subject of faith healing continued to engross Mr. Murray’s attention
for several yeirs after his return to South Africa. In 1884 he
published, in Dutch, a small duodecimo volume of 183 pages, entitled
Jezus de Geneesheer der Kranken (Jesus the Physician of the Sick), in
which he developed his teachings concerning healing by faith, and
endeavoured to show their Scriptural basis. He described his booklet as
“a personal testimony of my faith,” and reminded his readers that, after
having been unable to perform his ordinary duties for more than two
years, he obtained the healing of his affection through the divine
mercy, and in answer to the prayers of those who recognized that God is
the healer of His people. He acknowledges in his preface that many
objections may be levelled at the doctrine of faith healing to which no
satisfactory answer can at present be found. But he states that his aim
is not so much to meet objections as to attempt an exposition of what
Scripture teaches on the subject. “ I do not expect as much blessing
from the removal of difficulties as from the power of the Word itself.
There are upright Christians who are willing, even though these truths
conflict with all their views, to submit themselves implicitly to the
instruction of God’s Word ; and it is my firm hope that the indication
of what Scripture teaches will bring light and blessing to such souls.”
In an introductory chapter he outlines the contents of the little volume
as follows—
FAITH HEALING—BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION.
Are not these glad tidings that reach us from different quarters, that
the Lord is again making Himself known to His people, as of old, by the
name The Lord thy Healer ? The number of witnesses daily increases who
can affirm from their own experience that there is still truth in the
promise, “The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall
raise him up.” Hearts are filled withthe glad expectation that this is
merely a sign that the Lord is in the midst of His people, in order to
bless them with His presence and with the fulness of His Spirit.
The Church has grown so unaccustomed to this action of the Spirit in
curing the body, she has for so long ascribed the loss of this gift to
the counsel of God rather than to her own unfaith, she has so
persistently overlooked all the utterances of Scripture on the subject,
or has explained them from the viewpoint of her own feeble life, that
the truth has remained hidden even from the eyes of many pious
expositors and theologians. It is the purpose of this little book to
enquire what Scripture has to say on this matter . . . and in this
introduction are adduced from the Bible the chief reasons why we believe
in Jesus as the Physician of the sick, and then the main conditions upon
which a sick person may obtain health from the Lord.
I. The Grounds for Faith in Jesus as the Physician of the Sick.
1. Because God’s Word expressly promises the cure of the sick by faith.
"The prayer of faith shall save the sick ” (Jas. v. 15). “ They shall
lay hands on the sick and they shall recover ” (Mark xvi. 18).
2. Because the Lord Jesus, our Surety, has borne our sicknesses as well
as our sins in His body. "Surely He hath borne our griefs” (margin
sicknesses) (Isa. liii. 4). "Himself bare our sicknesses ” (Matt. viii.
17).
3. Because Jesus has shown that it is His work no less than His desire
to heal diseases as well as to forgive sins. “And Jesus went about all
Galilee, preaching the gospel . . . and healing all manner of sickness
and all manner of disease ” (Matt. iv. 23). “Jesus said unto the sick of
the palsy, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee . . . arise,
take up thy bed and go into thine house ” (Matt. ix. 2, 6).
4. Because Jesus commanded and empowered His disciples both to preach
the Gospel and to heal the sick. “Then called He His twelve disciples
together . . . and sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal
the sick ” (Luke ix. 1,2). See also Luke x. 9 and Mark xvi. 15,18.
5. Because this is part of the work for which the Holy Spirit was given
and has come down from heaven. “There are diversities of gifts, but the
same Spirit ... to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit " (1
Cor. xii. 4, 9). See also Acts iv. 30, 31 ; v. 15 ; xiv. 3 ; xix. 11, 12
; xxviii. 8, 9.
6. Because the apostles preached healing as a part of the salvation by
faith in Jesus. "By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth doth this man
stand here before you whole . . . neither is there salvation in any
other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men by
which we must be saved ” (Acts iv. 10, 12. See also Acts iii. 16).
7. Because our body also is delivered from the power of Satan, and
because the Holy Spirit reveals His power even in the body. " Know ye
not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Cor. vi. 19).
8. Because the healing of the body and the hallowing of the soul are
very closely connected, and because in union with each other they enable
us fully to know and glorify Jesus. “If thou wilt diligently hearken to
the voice of the Lord thy God I will put none of these diseases upon
thee, for I am the Lord that healeth thee ” (Exod. xv. 26). See also
Psalm cii. 3; John ix. 38.
9. Because the Church must expect great outpourings of the Spirit in
these days, and may reckon upon this gift likewise. “I will pour water
upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my
Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring ” (Isa. xliv.
3). Pentecost was but a commencement; the promise is “over all flesh."
Now that the Lord is beginning to bestow His Spirit, we may certainly
expect a new manifestation of His wondrous power.
What has here been touched upon may seem strange to many readers, hut it
is further explained in this little book. To each one, however, who is
ready to accept these promises of God, we now give brief indications of
the manner in which the believing sick may obtain healing from their
Lord.
II. The Rules for Faith Healing.
1. Let the Word of God be your guide in this matter. Faith can build
upon nothing other than the Word of the living God. The instruction and
the encouragement which God’s children give are of great value, but if
you found upon the word of men, men may also soon cause you to doubt.
God’s Word commands us to seek the imposition of hands or the
intercessory prayer of His believing people : this is needful and brings
a great blessing. But our confidence is not to be built upon them, but
upon the Word of God. In that case, too, we will betake ourselves to the
Lord straightway, if there should be no true believers at hand. Seek to
know what God Himself speaks to you in His Word. You have here to do
with God Himself, who says, I am the Lord thy Healer.
2. Understand that sickness, is a chastisement on account of sin. God
makes use of the disease as a rod of correction, in order to discover to
us our sin and to draw us to Himself (1 Cor. xi. 30—32). In times of
sickness we must suffer the Holy Spirit to search our hearts, and so we
must discover, confess and renounce our sins. When sin has been
confessed and forsaken, the Lord is able to remove the chastisement. He
chastises only until His purpose has been attained. When sin has been
confessed and renounced, forgiveness and the cure of the disease can
follow at the same time.
3. Be assured, upon the strength of God’s Word and God’s promises that
it is the will of God to heal you. Unless I am firmly persuaded that
something is the will of God, I cannot pray for it in full assurance of
faith. I may indeed trust that God will do what is good and right, but I
cannot pray the prayer of faith. We are so accustomed to think that we
cannot know the will of God with reference to the removal of disease,
that we do not believe His promise concerning it. Seek to obtain an
insight into what the Word promises—what it says about the work and the
person of Jesus as Physician, and about the new life of the Holy Spirit
as affecting the body not less than the soul—and you will obtain the
assurance that the healing power of Jesus will restore health to your
body.
4. Accept by an act of faith the Lord fesus as your Physician, submit
your body to Him, and claim healing for yourself. Everything is as much
a matter of faith as with the forgiveness of sins. The sinner accepts
Jesus, surrenders his soul and all his sins to Him, and, upon the ground
of God’s Word, claims by faith the forgiveness of sins. Just so with
faith healing. Though the sinner feels no change and finds no light in
his heart, he says, Upon God’s Word I know that forgiveness is mine. So,
too, the sick one says, I have confessed and renounced my sin ; Jesus
has pardoned me ; He who pardons is also He who heals; believing in Him
I say, I have the healing; by faith I see that healing granted me in
heaven in my Jesus, and commence to sing "Bless the Lord, O my soul, who
healeth all thy diseases.”
5. Exercise your faith. "Stretch forth thine hand.” "Rise, take up thy
bed, and walk.” So Jesus commanded the sick. He who believes that he is
healed, even though he may feel no better, must exercise his will and
commence to act as one who realizes that health is beginning to return.
Do this in confidence in Christ’s word, with the eye of faith upon Him,
to His glory, and you will not be disappointed.
6. Do not be surprised if your faith is tested. Health by faith is an
inseparable part of the life of faith, and therefore here, too, faith
must be strengthened by being tested. Do not be astonished if the
disease does not immediately take a turn for the better. And if after
some improvement the disease grows worse, do not imagine that it is all
a mistake. If restoration to health is longer in coming than you expect,
do not be discouraged. These trials are indications that Satan is
unwilling to relinquish his power over your body (see Mark ix. 26), but
also a proof that God is willing to strengthen you to be healed wholly
and solely by faith in Jesus.
7. Dedicate yourself now, in the power of your Lord, to a new life of
faith.—This health, this new power, is something exceedingly sacred,
This new life is none other than the Holy Spirit in the body. Your body
is not your own any longer. You have no rights over it. Walk in tender
obedience to the voice of the Spirit. Healing and sanctification are
closely united. Let your motto for every day be, with quite new
emphasis, " The body for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”
8. Be a witness for Him who heals you. Do not speak much to those who do
not understand you. Do not argue with those who have no longing for the
Physician. Rather offer yourself to the Lord to acquaint those whom He
may bring to you with His glory. Be not ashamed to testify, as a witness
to the faith who knows what he says. Above all, work for Jesus with your
renewed strength, and bring poor sinners to the Saviour. Follow Jesus as
one who has been healed, and glorify God.
These are the main outlines of the doctrine of faith healing, as we have
attempted to explain them from Scripture. May it please the Lord to open
the eyes of His believing people, by His Holy Spirit, that they may see
His glory and by the Spirit’s quiet power to reveal in their hearts His
great name. The Lord thy Healer.
Mr. Murray apparently never receded from the position which he took up
towards faith healing in Jezus de Geneesheer der Kranken. The book was
circulated in America under the title Divine Healing, and a translation
in French, Jesus guerit les malades, also saw the light, but the Dutch
version, after the first edition was exhausted, was never reprinted. He
no doubt felt with increasing force the difficulties urged against the
doctrine. Several cases occurred in which faith was exercised and all
the conditions of healing seemed to be completely fulfilled, where yet
the disease refused to yield to prayer, and the death of the sick one
ensued. The earliest case of this nature was that of the Rev. Pieter F.
Hugo, who was married to a niece of Mr. Murray, and was therefore the
object of especial sympathy and prayer. Mr. Hugo developed symptoms of
consumption, which compelled him to suspend his pastoral labours and
threatened to terminate fatally. Leaving his congregation in the Eastern
Province he proceeded to Paarl, where he could enjoy the rest and
comfort of his mother's home and also be within easy reach of Mr.
Murray’s influence. For a time there appeared to be clear improvement,
and Mr. Hugo, who was a truly pious and devoted man, was firm in the
faith that he would recover. Acting iu accordance with the principle of
considering himself as already healed, he undertook a long journey to
Middelburg in the Central Karroo, in order to attend a ministerial
conference, at which Mr. Murray was also to be present.
Mr. Murray’s bulletins on the state of the patient’s health show how
carefully he was watching the case. “P. Hugo did not cough as much as at
home, so he says, and was not overtired.” “P. H. is still wonderfully
well, considering the distance travelled. The Lord be praised.” “P. Hugo
stood the two days’ hard driving—over ten hours [sixty miles]
yesterday—better than I thought, as far as fatigue is concerned. He
slept very well the last two nights, though he coughs a good deal. I
think this may be owing to the dust in travelling ’’ Mr. Hugo
accomplished the return journey to Paarl in safety, and then began
rapidly to weaken. One evening he complained of a feeling of utter
weariness, retired to his room, and shortly afterwards breathed his
last. His death occurred within a month of his visit to Middelburg, and
on the very day when the new building of the Training Institute was
opened at Wellington. His decease was a great blow to Mr. Murray, who
had cherished the most confident expectation of his nephew’s recovery.
A similar instance occurred more than twenty years later. An exceedingly
earnest and capable young missionary, Rev. Pieter Stofberg, was seized
with an internal malady which three doctors declared must prove fatal. A
general request was issued for intercession, and by many individual
friends and Christian circles prayer was made without ceasing unto God
for him. Mr. Murray himself, accompanied by his colleague, Rev. J. R.
Albertyn, proceeded to Robertson, where the sick man lay, in order to
lay his hands on him and pray for him. A distinct improvement was at
first noticeable. A few days later the following message was received
from Robertson and made public : “As the Lord has laid the condition of
our sick brother on the hearts of His people elsewhere, so, to, the
spirit of prayer has been shed upon many at this place. Though matters
seem to be, humanly speaking, wholly unfavourable, we have laid hold on
God in prayer, and expect a complete recovery. With marvellous calmness,
rest and peace, and in childlike faith Brother Stofberg rests assured
that the Lord is engaged in healing him. May God’s great name be at this
time more and more glorified by His children ! ” Yet notwithstanding the
fervent prayers which ascended to heaven on his behalf Mr. Stofberg died
within three weeks, and the faith of many who were awaiting news of his
restoration was grievously staggered. Mr. Murray ascribed this failure
of faith and prayer to effect the recovery of the sick man to the low
state of the Church, which had neither truly apprehended the truth nor
exercised the faith that is able to save and to heal.
Nearer home Mr. Murray’s application of the doctrine of faith healing to
individual cases was followed by much blessing and success. When he and
Mrs. Murray sailed for Europe in 1882, they left their younger children
under the charge of an old friend of the family, Miss McGill. On their
return they found this lady seriously ill. She met them with the words,
“I have lived just long enough to deliver up my charge to you again.”
Mr. Murray immediately replied, “By no means : though doctors despair,
there is hope and recovery in the Lord who heals us.” He then explained
to her the principles of faith healing, and offered earnest prayer for
her restoration. Miss McGill rapidly recovered strength, rose up from
her sick-bed, and was spared to labour for many years in connexion with
the Young Women’s Christian Association in Cape Town.
In the case of his own bodily health Mr. Murray continued for many years
to follow the principles of faith healing. In 1893, when travelling in
Natal on one of his evangelistic' tours, the cart in which he was
journeying was upset, and he sustained severe injuries to his arm and
his back. But in spite of this accident he determined to carry out his
programme, and in this determination he succeeded, though at first he
had to be assisted into the pulpit. On these prolonged tours his throat
still caused him occasional trouble, but he insisted on fulfilling all
his engagements, “looking to the Lord for healing,” and when he reached
home his throat was generally better rather than worse. When peace was
declared at the close of the Anglo-Boer War in 1902, he found himself
very much in need of rest after the continuous strain of three years of
toil and anxiety, and undertook another trip to Europe, where he
consulted medical men both in London and in Switzerland. After the death
of Mrs. Murray, who was like himself strongly convinced of the truth of
faith healing, he regularly consulted a doctor, mainly in order to
please his children ; and when confined, as he sometimes was, to a
sick-bed, no patient could be more obedient to instructions, more
cheerful in demeanour, or more grateful for the least attention.
These facts prove clearly that towards the end of his life.
Mr. Murray did not give the same prominence to faith healing as in the
years immediately following his stay at the Bethshan Institute of
Healing. It cannot be said that he relinquished the views he held in
1883, but he came to acknowledge that faith healing was not for every
one, but only for those choice spirits who are so simple and steadfast
in faith, and so completely detached from the world, as to be able
sincerely and unreservedly to place themselves in God’s hands. Some of
the views set forth on this question of faith healing, as for example
the assertion that suffering, even in the believer, is due to some
special sin, can hardly be regarded as true to Scripture or to
experience, and were probably not insisted on by Mr. Murray in later
years. In the fervency with which he both preached and practised the
doctrines of healing by faith, we have an instance of that intensity of
conviction which characterized him, and led him at times to lay such
exclusive stress on certain aspects of the truth as almost to overbear,
without removing, the doubts which other minds expressed and the
difficulties which weaker wills encountered. |