02.06. The Testimony of Missions

The Ministry of Healing Or, Miracles of Cure in All Ages by A. J. Gordon 6. The Testimony of Missions

There is a special and weighty reason why we should lay emphasis on any testimonies on this subject coming from those who are preaching the gospel among the Pagans. The rigid logic which is supposed to fence out miracles from modern Christendom, does not seem to have been careful to include heathendom in its prohibition. For when it is said that "miracles belong to the planting of Christianity not to its progress and development;" it will at once strike us that missions are practically the planting of Christianity. There is really little if any difference between Paul at Melita, and Judson in India. In each instance it is the herald of the Gospel set down among a superstitious and idolatrous people. And admitting the proposition just quoted to be true, it would be very difficult to say why if Paul went into the house of Publius in the one place and laid his hands on his sick father and healed him, it might not be permitted Judson to go into some home in Burmah and do the same. And if it be said that signs are not needed while we have the history of the Christian Church, and the influence of powerful Christian nations for the authentication and enforcement of the gospel (See Alford on Mark 16:1-20), it must still be remembered that these forces are practically powerless until by the planting of Christianity the heathen have been made acquainted with Ecclesiastical History and brought in contact with Christian civilization; so that the argument comes back again to this conclusion: -- that if miracles belong to the planting of Christianity, there would be no inherent improbability of their appearing on missionary fields, and among those who are engaged in introducing the Gospel into new countries. The justness of this conclusion has been recognized by several writers.

We are glad to find, for example so devout and eminent a theologian as Professor Christlieb of Bonn accepting most candidly and frankly this position. For after admitting the force of the argument against miracles in Christianized countries he says: -- "Our age however is still characterized by the establishment of new Churches. The work of missions is outwardly at least more extended than it ever was before. In this region therefore, according to our former rule, miracles should not be entirely wanting. (Abp. Tillotson puts forth a similar view. Works, x. p.230.) Nor are they. We cannot therefore fully admit the proposition that no more miracles are performed in our day. In the history of modern missions we find many wonderful occurrences which unmistakably remind us of the apostolic age. In both periods there are similar hhindrancesto be overcome in the heathen world and similar confirmations of the word are needed to convince the dull sense of men: we may therefore expect miracles in this case." (Modern Doubt and Christian Belief, p.332.) And then as though less afraid of the imputation of credulity than of skepticism, he gives several instances, in the genuineness of which he expresses entire confidence. These we believe are but samples of hundreds that might be produced were it not for the exceeding timidity, the shyness amounting almost to shame-facedness with which so many Christians approach this subject. Of course with this sentiment of distrust generally prevailing on the subject, we could hardly expect that witnesses would be very forward in reporting things indiscreetly supernatural, though quite confident of having seen them.

We venture however to give several instances of what seems to be divine healing, as they have been reported from missionary fields -- the first three being those cited by Dr. Christlieb in the work just referred to: -- "And now read the history of Hans Egede, the first Evangelical missionary in Greenland. He had given the Esquimaux a pictorial representation of the miracles of Christ before he had mastered their language. His hearers, who, like many in the time of Christ, had a perception only for bodily relief, urge him to prove the power of this Redeemer of the world upon their sick people. With many sighs and prayers he ventures to lay his hands upon several, prays over them, and lo, he makes them whole in the name of Jesus Christ! The Lord could not reveal himself plainly enough to this mentally blunted and degraded race by merely spiritual means, and therefore bodily signs were needed."

"At a Rhenish mission station in South Africa in 1858, an earnest native Christian saw an old friend who had become lame in both legs. Impressed with a peculiar sense of believing confidence, he went into the bushes to pray, and then came straight up to the cripple, and said, ’The same Jesus who made the lame to walk, can do so still: I say to thee, in the name of Jesus, rise and walk! The lame man, with kindred faith, raised himself on his staff and walked, to the astonishment of all who knew him." (Vide the Memoire of Kleinschmidt, Barmen 1866, p.58,ff).

Another most remarkable instance occurred in the case of a missionary of the Rhenish society, named Nommensen, working in Sumatra. "On one occasion a heathen who had designs on his life managed secretly to mix a deadly poison in the rice which Nommensen was preparing for his dinner. Without suspicion, the missionary ate the rice, and the heathen watched for him to fall down dead. Instead of this, however, the promise contained in Mark 16:18 was fulfilled, and he did not experience the slightest inconvenience. The heathen, by this palpable miraculous proof of the Christian God’s power, became convinced of the truth, and was eventually converted; but not until his conscience had impelled him to confess his guilt to Nommensen, did the latter know from what danger he had been preserved. This incident is well attested, and the missionary still lives." (1873, vide, Rohden Geschichte der rhein, Missionsgesellsschaft, p.324.)

It will be seen that these instances cover several specifications in Mark 16:17-18. Their miraculous character cannot of course be vouched for with certainty. For we have not witnesses supernaturally inspired to accredit works supernaturally wrought, if there are such still. But one would hardly wish to charge deception on those who have reported them. For us, however, their probability rests more strongly on the words of the great commission under which these missionaries were acting than on the trust-worthiness of human testimony. ("But, inasmuch as far later times are full of testimonies to this point, I know not from what motive some persons restrain the gift to the first ages. While I readily grant to such persons that there was a richer abundance of miracles in order that the foundation of so great a structure might, in spite of the world’s power, be laid, I cannot with them perceive why we should believe that this promise of Christ has ceased to be in force. Wherefore, if any one preach Christ, as he would have himself preached, to the nations that know him not (for miracles are peculiarly intended for such, 1 Corinthians 14:22), I doubt not that the promise will still be found to stand good; for the gifts of God are without repentance (Romans 11:29). But we, whenever the fault lies in our own sloth or unbelief, throw the blame on him." -- Hugh Grotius. 1583-1645.)

Doctrines which have been almost universally denied are certain to force themselves into acceptance again if they are in the Bible, and that Bible is studied. And a promise in the missionary’s commission which says: "These signs shall follow" is liable now and then to break through custom and prejudice and get itself fulfilled. Besides that commission is certain to fall into the hands of native preachers, who are unskilled in the arts of refining and spiritualizing scripture, and who know no better than to take God literally at his word. And who can tell what may not happen when a Christian who has not learned to doubt comes to God to claim the fulfillment of one of his promises? In such a case we may hear of miracles quite artless and rude in their form. A missionary of the Presbyterian Board who has been laboring for many years in China, declares that with the New Testament in their hands, the native Christians are constantly finding and putting in practice the promises for miraculous healing. This fact has led him to a careful revision of his opinions on the subject. He writes: "Fully believing that the gifts of the Spirit were not to be taken from the Church, I feel assured that our faith ought to exercise and claim their use now. The salvation aimed for by all, should be present release from sin and the power of Satan. If this is attained then the whole advantage of Christ’s life, death and resurrection will be secured. Healing is as much a part of this as any verbal proclamation of the good news. The ministry of healing, therefore, can not be divorced from the duty of the missionary." An honored missionary among the Karens gives the following experience: "While traveling in the Pegu district I was strongly urged to visit an out of the way village, in which were only a few Christians. Entering the house of one of them, I had been seated but a little while when there came in a Karen, an entire stranger, but whose salutation proved him a Christian. He at once said that hearing that the teacher had come to visit the village, he came to beg that I would go and pray for his son who was very ill, he feared dying. He quoted James 5:14-15 as his excuse. Of course Mrs.----- and myself went at once, accompanied by the three or four Christians of the house in which we were. The patient was found to be a child of about fifteen years of age, possibly not over fourteen, but through scrofula, he was distorted and crippled so that he could not walk, indeed had never walked upright but crept painfully on knees and hands. He was greatly wasted, and had been much worse for some weeks, and at the time was perfectly helpless through extreme weakness. He had every appearance of one near death. We prayed, each in turn, the lad mingling short requests with ours. I think in all seven brethren offered petitions. A little bottle of medicine was left from our scanty supplies and we took leave of the poor little fellow. Six months afterwards the father came to the city, and on inquiring of him he said that his son was well, -- well as he had never been in his life, and was actually walking on his feet, that the heathen families living in the village were deeply impressed, and said unhesitatingly that our prayers had saved him. I asked him his own opinion. He, most emphatically, in his strong Karen way, said: ’God has done it; God has healed him.’ He then said, ’Teacher this is no new thing; I was with your father-inlaw many times when God, in answer to prayers, healed the sick, and that is why I asked you to pray with my boy, and now he is healed.’"

Many testimonies have been recently published by missionaries of their own recovery from hopeless sickness through the prayers of faith. We can give place to but one, and that quite abridged in form. It is from Rev. Albert Norton, and is written to Dr. Stanton of Cincinnati, formerly moderator of the General Assembly. After describing his terrible sickness in Elichpoor, India, June, 1879 -- an abscess in the liver which had worked itself through the pleura and was discharging itself into the right lung -- the most intense pain ever endured, and withal malarious remittent fever, etc. He continues: "I was thinking only of how I might die as easy as possible, when I was aroused by strong desire to live for my family, and to preach the unsearchable riches of the Gospel, and the thought came ’Why cannot God heal you?’ My dear wife was the only Christian believer, except an ignorant Kerkoo lad, within eighteen miles. At my request she anointed me with oil, and united her prayers with mine that God might at once heal me. While I was praying vocally, before I felt any change in my body, I felt perfectly certain that God had heard and answered our prayers. When we were through praying we commenced praising; for the acute pain in my right side, and the fever, had left me. I was able at once to read some from the Bible, and to look out some passages from the Greek Testament. Neither the fever nor the acute pain returned, and from that hour I began rapidly to grow stronger. In a few days I was able to walk half a mile without fatigue. In this sickness I took no medicine, and had the help of no physician but Jesus. To him be all the praise and glory. Why should it be thought a strange thing that he can heal our bodies? It is written of him, ’Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.’ Is it not said of our Lord, ’Who healeth all thy diseases,’ as well as ’Who forgiveth all their iniquities’?" (The Great Physician, by Rev. W.E. Boardman, p.73.)

We must believe, however, that if God really stretched forth his hand to heal in these instances, it was for the furtherance of the gospel as the chief purpose. Miracles are the signs and not the substance of Christianity. They are for the confirmation of the Word, and not merely for the comfort of the body. And this fact especially enhances the probability that they might not be entirely wanting in heathen lands. The blind man must read his Bible by means of raised letters and through the coarser sense of touch, since he is lacking in eyesight. And what if to the blind pagans, God should be pleased now and then to present the gospel embossed in signs and wonders, if "haply they might feel after him and find him" in this way, when they could not at first discern him with the spiritual understanding? No more serious objection could be made against this method than that it is a revival of the primitive. -- "And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." Not for the satisfaction of the flesh but for the glory of God and the vindication of his truth does our Lord stretch out his healing hand and "make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations." If it should be his good pleasure to make use of those other miracles, the miracles of martyrdom ("Martyrdoms I reckon amongst miracles, because they exceed the strength of human nature"-- Bacon), and to show the power of his grace in the supernatural endurance of his servants under suffering, the same end has been reached. Perpetua and Felicitas, going to a terrible death with a serenity rising into absolute joy -- the declaration of utter insensibility to pain made before a multitude of witnesses -- who has not read of the thrilling impression thus produced upon the heathen, and of the irresistible impulse thereby given to the truth? These are but miracles of healing seen on their reverse side; the Lord’s hand stretched out to rob death of its pain, instead of robbing death of its victim. "That the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified whether by my life or by my death"; whether by my cure or by my patience under suffering -- this must be our prayer always. But God be praised that he willeth the health of his people and not their hurt. The priests of Baal seek to prove their God by cutting themselves with knives and lancets. Elijah has just proved his God by calling the widow’s dead son to life and delivering him to his mother. How greatly do the idolators, with their endless worship of self-torture, need to be taught this truth: that our God is one that makes alive and not one that killeth.

Would, then, that the heathen could know Christ as the Healer! Who has not said it as he has read of the awful loathsomeness of their sicknesses and the cruel impositions of their doctors. Next to the intolerable tyranny of evil priests is that of "the forgers of lies, the physicians of no value," with which every pagan nation is afflicted. Can we describe or imagine the joy of the heathen’s deliverance from the hopeless search for peace of conscience, as he finds Christ, the sin pardoner? "Great Spirit, untie the load of our sins. If this load were bound round our shoulders we could untie it for ourselves; but it is bound round our hearts, and we cannot untie it, but thou canst. Lord untie it now." So prayed a poor Fiji Islander (Journal of Wesleyan Missions). Was not the revelation beyond all price that made known to him the fact that Christ "bore our sins in his own body on the tree," and so could instantly lift the load which he had toiled in vain to lift? And what if added to this he could hear and appropriate that other revelation, that "himself bare our sicknesses?" If when "the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint, from the sole of the foot even unto the head, no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores;" and if, after spending all his living on false physicians, his wounds "have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment," he could then know the Saviour’s healing touch laid upon him, and hear the word "thou art made whole," what glory would he give to our Lord and Redeemer! Is it unbecoming or presumptuous for us to conjecture what effects would ensue if the gospel were thus to be preached on heathen fields "with signs following"? Sickness is the dark shadow of sin, and nowhere does it lie so heavily as on the pagan nations. If now and then that shadow were seen to be lifted by the Lard’s hand, the event could hardly fail to open a wide and effectual door of entrance for the gospel. God forbid that we should desire or grasp for anything which it is not his pleasure to give. But what if it should seem to us that the great commission demands these signs instead of forbidding them? Baptism, that sign of Christ’s death and resurrection and of our justification thereby, is in the commission: and what bitter battles have been fought in the Church for its maintenance! And healing the sick, that sign of Christ glorified and alive forevermore, is in the commission just as unequivocally. And yet we are so weak and perplexed and impotent before it. Yes! it is there: "But who is sufficient for these things?" Who of us would quite dare to repeat on behalf of our Missionary brethren, some of whom are laboring among hostile rulers, and blood-thirsty tribes, the apostles prayer -- "And now Lord behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal: and that signs and wonders may be done in the name of thy holy child Jesus?" If we cannot utter this prayer we may at least join in the petition which a devout commentator breathes over the closing words of Mark’s Gospel. "Let us cry to the Lord: strengthen and bless thou the hands of thine authenticated messengers: that they may rightly lay them upon men; and that before thy coming again thy promise may be abundantly fulfilled: they shall be healed: it shall be well with them" (Stier’s Word’s of Jesus).