I have called your attention to the discrediting which befell the Irvingite gifts. This discrediting was wrought not only by the course of history which confounded all the expectations based on them, but also by the confession which was made by one and another of the " gifted" per- sons that they had suffered from delusion. Let me re- mind you of this, and at the same time point out that all the gifts are involved in this discrediting. The character- istic Irvingite gift was the "tongues," and the accompany- ing "prophecy." Robert Baxter introduced a new mani- festation of authoritative and predictive deliverances, which was assumed to belong to the "Apostolic" gift. But all the "prophets" committed themselves, when speak- ing in "the power," to the genuineness of his inspiration. Their credit falls thus with his. But again, their gifts are inextricably bound up with the gift of "healing." You will remember that Mary Campbell "spoke with tongues" be- fore she was healed; and that the descent of the "power" on Margaret Macdonald was preliminary to its descent on James Macdonald, who by it was made the first faith- healer of the movement. By him both Margaret Mac- donald's and Mary Campbell's healing was performed — the initial steps of the restoration of the "gifts."
It is impossible to separate these cases of healing from the other gifts with which they are historically connected. And in general the several "gifts" appear on the pages of the New Testament together, and form so clearly connected a body that it would be difficult to separate them from one another. Nevertheless many attempt their separation, and, discarding or at any rate neglecting the other gifts
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revived in the Irvingite movement, contend vigorously that the gift of healing the sick is a permanent endowment of the church, and has been illustrated by numerous cases essentially like those of Margaret Macdonald and Mary Campbell down to to-day. This assertion is very clearly made by a clergyman of the church of England, Joseph William Reynolds, in a book dealing with what he calls The Natural History of Immortality. "Many facts, attested by honest, capable, painstaking witnesses," he says,1 " show the reality in our own days of healings which exceed the limits of all known natural and human means, so that no reasonable doubt ought to exist as to their being given of God in confirmation of our Christian faith. Clergy and laity of the English church, various non-conforming minis- ters, medical men, lawyers, and professors of physical sci- ence, with a large number of healed persons, present indis- putable evidence that the Gift of Healing is now, as in the Apostolic Age, one of the signs which follow those who believe." The claim is precise, and the belief which it expresses is somewhat wide-spread. Already thirty years ago (1887)2 there were more than thirty "Faith-Homes" established in America, for the treatment of disease by prayer alone ; and in England and on the European Conti- nent there were many more. International conferences had already been held by its advocates, and conventions of narrower constituency beyond number. It counts ad- herents in every church, and, if for no other reason than its great diffusion, it demands careful attention.
I am a little embarrassed to know how to take up the subject so as to do it justice and to bring the full truth out clearly. On the whole, I fancy it will be fairest to select a representative book advocating this teaching, and to begin with an analysis of its argument. The way being thus opened, we shall probably be able to orient ourselves with reference to the problem itself in a comparatively brief space. The book I have selected for this purpose as, on
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