The Henson Journals
Tue 17 February 1925
Volume 38, Pages 218 to 219
[218]
Tuesday, February 17th, 1925.
Wherefore, also, those who are in truth His disciples, receiving grace from Him, do in His name perform miracles, so as to promote the welfare of other men, according to the gift which each one has received from Him. For some do certainly and truly drive out devils, so that those who have thus been cleansed from evil spirits frequently both believe in Christ, & join themselves to the Church. Others have foreknowledge of things to come: they see visions, & utter prophetic expressions. Others still, heal the sick by laying their hands upon them, and they are made whole. Yea, moreover, as I have said, the dead even have been raised up, and remained among us for many years. And what shall I more say? It is not possible to name the number of the gifts which the church scattered throughout the whole world has received from God in the Name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and which she exerts day by day for the benefit of the Gentiles, neither [219] practising description upon any, nor taking any reward from them on account of such miraculous interpositions. For as she has received freely from God, freely also does she minister to others.
Irenoeus against Heresies Bk. II. ch. XXXII.4
(This treatise was written c.180–185 A.D.)
That care for the sick was held to be a cardinal Christian duty is certain, but I find no evidence that this implied healing them by other than medical methods. The miracles of healing by the relics or at the tombs of the saints stood outside the normal ministry.
I wasted my morning on "Spiritual Healing", & walked in the Park after lunch. Rainbow, the Vicar of Shotton, brought his son, Gerald, a child of ten, to see me. I said that I wd interest myself in the boy's education, & on that account gave him a cheque for £25. He gave me an ill account of his predecessor, who seems to have combined the reputation of a good parish priest with the practice of a swindler!
A foolish letter from some fanatic, who had been moved to write to me by some account of my Manchester sermon, gives me the information that "Woodbine Willie" has been denouncing me in the pulpit of St Martin's in the Fields!!