dispense with them all, as Mesmer finally did with the "magnets," and as many faith-healers and the Roman Catholics do with the oil.[1]
THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF ANSWER TO PRAYER
Is there then no warrant in the New Testament for the ordinary Christian to pray for the sick, and is there no utility in such prayers? "There's a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will." The New Testament affirms that "All things work together for good to them that love God," It teaches that the highest good is the knowledge and love of God, and that the Spirit of God has constant access to the minds of men, and sets forth an all-inclusive doctrine of Providence without whom not even a sparrow falls. It does not say that prayer will always secure the recovery of the sick, for it gives the instance of Paul who had a "thorn in the flesh," and who besought the Lord thrice that this thing should depart from him, but received, "My grace is sufficient for thee."
None can demonstrate that God cannot work through second causes, bringing about results which, when they come, appear to be entirely natural, but which would not have come except through special providence, or in answer to prayer. The New Testament declares that he does so interpose "according to his will." It was not his will for Paul, and he did not remove the thorn, but gave spiritual blessings instead. Prayer for the sick is one of the most consoling privileges, and it would be a strange omission
- ↑ The Roman Catholics use oil in the "sacrament of extreme unction, which is administered in view of death.
