FAITH “HEALING” MISSION.

Evening Star, Issue 21285, 14 December 1932, Page 8

FAITH “HEALING” MISSION.

Aucklaxd has been stirred lately by accounts of the activities of the Revival Fire Mission, conducted by a Mr A. 11. Dallimore, Avho if not an American has evidently spent some time in that country, from which have emanated many strange religious beliefs. Mr Dallimore is concerned with what is known as . “faith healing,” a subject that is greatly interesting the Christian world to-day. We had an example of it some years ago in Dunedin, when Mr James Hickson conducted a mission in the city. No one doubted his sincerity, and many realised that he had unusual gifts, but it is generally conceded that the enduring effects of bis visit were not substantial. It is a recognised fact that missions rouse the emotions, often to an intense degree. Sometimes the more conventional of them achieve lasting effects in individual cases, but generally the tide recedes to the point from which it began to flow. With a desire fully to explore the results of Mr Dallimore’s healing mission, a committee was set up at the instance of the Council of Christian Congregations in Auckland to examine the claims that were being made. It consisted of medical men, clergymen, and representatives of the University, with the Rev. W. Lawson Marsh as chairman. The - committee performed l its work in a spirit of patient inquiry, and it has submitted its report. The general effect of the document is condemnatory of Mr Dallimore’s work. It would naturally have been thought that the missioner would have welcomed the inquiry, and would have done everything in his power to assist an impartial body whose sole quest was for the truth. On the contrary, the report points out that Mr Dallimore took up and maintained an attitude of absolute refusal to cooperate with the committee in the endeavour to elucidate the facts. The committee does not deny the efficacy of faith and mental healing in certain cases, but it endorses the report of a select committee in 1914 which deprecated “ the independent treatment of disease by irresponsible and unqualified persons.” One of the most important points made by the committee is that, on the evidence before it, there is nothing in the physical results of what is here called “ faith healing ” which differs from those of “ nonreligious ” mental healing or suggestion, and that treatment by suggestion, whether religious or non-religious, is effective only in cases of what are termed functional nervous disorders. The committee’s warning, therefore, is timely that those who resort to healing by faith should not postpone till too late the medical treatment which is essential if organic disease is to be arrested. The report, in strong words, emphasised that in connection with this mission hopes were aroused that must end in disillusionment. “The permanent insults may be looked for in broken' homes, broken hearts, and broken careers when the idle testimonies of spiritual and physical blessings have long been buried in richly-deserved oblivion.” The chief value of this inquiry is that it is a warning to the public, for the report declares that one of the most disquieting facts in connection with the mission low been the amazing credulity shown

by a section of the people. That has been the case clown the ages. People are ever looking for the miraculous against the weight of experience. Few will doubt that there is such a thing as spiritual healing and that certain persons have powers in' this way, but the power is mostly within the patient himself. Where definite organic disease presents itself, then the sensible thing to do is to seek the advice of the physician, who has been trained in a scientific school which works on the accumulated knowledge of centuries acquired by patient research and observation.