DR. GIBSON'S WARNING.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17700, 28 February 1923, Page 12

DR. GIBSON'S WARNING.

tO TEZ ZBITCa 03 "XiIZ P2£33." .Sir.—A few years ago a dignitary of ' the Church was reported as having said that he was astonished at the reception Chriscehurch people gave to new-fangled fads and wearies, both religious or pse ado-religious, and. secular, since teen the evidences of credulity have apparently increase-. One nas only to ioc/S throi-ja t:.e anno uni.e- ---: laenis of suncUy serv.ces in the satj oxcus-v rug;i.t papers, to realise tnat | there must be a number of peo- •' p.e who pin their raitn to the Scriptural text: "inere be many who sav who R-iii show us any goodr'' 1.:.s •oeing no, tie address of Dr. Gibson is timeiy; for it sounds an authoritative 1 wrnrng. Faith iieaUng. hypnotic inj fiueace, and auto-sujigetition are i.«'-n 6 ' I paraded as panaceas - } and one dreads i to thiaic that such cults, coupled wita I the pseudo-religions, are suggestive or. the decadence which, neiped to obliterj ate ancient Greece, i'aith-heaiing, as I a revived fad, will probably run its I course and then die again, Middiei aged and older readers of ••The Press/'' ■RT.iI remember Mr Milner -Stephens, who filled the roie of faith heaier, in, I think, the 'Bo's. He gave public de--monstration3 in Christc-hurch, and was credited with healing the lame, the halt, and the blind, also gout, rheumatism, and other ailments. Alas I the remedy was only transient. The old superstition of the King touching for j King's evil, now as dead as a door nail, | is not more unreasonable than some of the panaceas now offering. It is somewhat strange that in this educated age, a section of the populace should show a tendency to drift towards super stition. One could understand the at titude of the ancient world in this connexion. For instance, a comparatively recent and careful historian states; as follows:—"Apollomus of Tyana," | (who was probably a contemporary of Christ's) "was said to have raised the dead, healed the sick, cast out devils, and freed a young man from a vampire." Some of the supposed modern cures may possibly be about as worthy of credence as the ancient ones. Dr. Gibson deserves credit for showing that | he has the coujyse of his convictions. His warning protest is indeed timely, and should set men thinking,—Yours, etc., 7-pNO February 25th, 1923. •