SPIRITUAL HEALING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18953, 29 August 1923, Page 8

SPIRITUAL HEALING.

RESTORATION OF SIGHT; A BISHOP’S MINISTRATIONS. (From Odr Own Correspondent.) _ SYDNEY. August 23. Tho gift of spiritual healing, of bringing to tho siok and the afflicted fresh hope through the exaltation of prayer and the laying on of hands, is not the monopoly of Mr Hickson after all. The restoration of a man’s sight by tho same method is now attributed to Dr Radford, Anglican Bishop of Goulburn, and one of Mr Hickson’s strongest supporters. The Rev. J. D. Nicholson, a country rector, has looked to the Divine Healer through Dr Radford as His instrument, for a way out of the darkness,' and not in vain. His sight, it is reported, had been steadily failing. ‘ An export held out no hope for him. and he sought Bishop Radford A special service was held at Goulburn. Two clergymen were present as intercessors, and awav in Mr Nicholson’s quiet little parish, his flock were praying. Immediately after the ministration, it is reported, Mr Nichol-I*' 1 *' son was conscious of a lifting of the burden which had oppressed him, physically and mentally, and, on rising to his feet, he found that he could see with his hitherto blind eye. Mr Nicholson remained in Goulburn over the week-end, and assisted at tho Sunday services in the cathedral. Bishop Radford described the hcn,u-~ 6er , vice as a wonderful and uplifting experience. But the clergy are not all as confident about their gifts as Dr Radford. At a conference of clergy in Sydney the other day to discuss future plans arising out of the Hickson mission, an ex-chaplain, who bad contracted shell shock at the war, collapsed, and had to be carried out. If hands were laid upon him—it was impossible to say, as the press were excluded from the conference—there was no evidence of its efficacy for tho poor chap was in a state of utter collapse when brought out. Nor was the subsequent spectacle of a young man rushing dramatically about for a doctor to come to the chaplain’s aid such as to convert unbelievers in spiritual healing. Anyway, a doctor had to be called In. But it certainty looked an admirable, if poignant, occasion, at a meeting of Mr Hickson’s supporters, to demonstrate their faith in divine healing. To act as the instrument of divine power is apparently the gift of few men.