The Lame Healed.


Rev. Charles G. Finney, during his life-time, was familiar with the

circumstances connected with the remarkable healing of a sick lady in

Oberlin, O., the wife of Rev. R.D. Miller, and these facts were vouched

for as unquestionably authentic. Mr. Finney says:



"Mrs. Miller is the wife of a Congregational minister, and a lady of

unquestionably veracity. However the fact of her healing is to be

accounted for
her story is no doubt worthy of entire confidence, as we

have known her for years as a lame, suffering invalid, and now see her

in our midst in sound health. This instantaneous restoration will be

accounted for by different persons in different ways. Mrs. Miller and

those who were present regard the healing as supernatural and a direct

answer to prayer. The facts must speak for themselves. Why should not

the sick be healed in answer to the prayer of faith? Unbelief can

discredit them, but faith sees nothing incredible in such facts as are

stated by Mrs. Miller. Mrs. Miller's own statement is as follows, and it

is fully endorsed by the most reliable citizens and members of the First

church at Oberlin:



"From my parents I inherited a constitution subject to a chronic form of

rheumatism. In early life I was attacked with rheumatic weaknesses and

pains, which affected my whole system. For nearly forty years I was

subject to more or less suffering from this cause, sometimes unable to

attend meeting for months at a time. For seven years, until the last

three months, I have been unable to get about without the aid of crutch

or staff, generally both. I have used many liniments and remedies, but

with no permanently good result. I have been a Christian from early

life, but last Spring, in our revival, I received a spiritual refreshing

from the Lord, which gave a new impulse to my faith. Since then my

religion has been a new life to me.



"Last Summer, several of us Christian sisters were in the habit of

spending short seasons of prayer together, that the Lord would send us a

pastor. Some of our number had read the narrative of Dorothea Trudel,

and had spoken to me on the subject of healing in answer to prayer. My

faith had not then risen to this elevation. I had in fact accepted what

I supposed to be the will of God, and made up my mind to be a lame and

suffering invalid the rest of my life. I had long since ceased to use

remedies for the restoration of my health, and had not even thought of

praying in regard to it, for I regarded it as the will of God that I

should suffer in silent submission.



"Notwithstanding what had been said to me, I remained in this opinion

and in this attitude until the 26th of September, 1872, when several

ladies met at our house, by appointment, for a prayer-meeting. I had

been growing worse for some time, and was at that time unable to get out

to attend a meeting. I was suffering much pain that afternoon; indeed, I

was hardly able to be out of my bed. Up to this time none of the sisters

who had conversed with me about the subject of healing by faith, had

been able to tell me anything from their own experience. That afternoon,

one lady was present who could speak to me from her own experience of

being healed in answer to the prayer of faith. She related several

striking instances in which her prayers had been answered in the removal

of divers forms of disease to which she was subject. She also repeated a

number of passages of Scripture, which clearly justified the expectation

of being healed in answer to the prayer of faith. She also said that

Jesus had shown her that he was just as ready to heal diseases now as he

was when on earth; that such healing was expressly promised in

Scripture, in answer to the prayer of faith, and that it was nowhere

taken back. These facts, reasonings, and passages of Scripture, made a

deep impression on my mind, and, for the first time, I found myself able

to believe that Jesus would heal me in answer to prayer. She asked me if

I could join my faith with hers and ask for present healing. I told her

I felt that I could. We then knelt, and called upon the Lord. She

offered a mighty prayer to God, and I followed. While she was leading in

prayer I felt a quickening in my whole being, whereupon my pain

subsided, and when we rose from prayer I felt that a great change had

come over me, that I was cured. I found that I could walk without my

staff or crutch, or any assistance from any one. Since then my pains

have never returned; I have more than my youthful vigor; I walk with

more ease and rapidity than I ever did in my life, and I never felt so

fresh and young as I now do, at the age of fifty-two.



"Now, the hundred and third psalm is my psalm, and my youth is more than

renewed, like the eagle's. I cannot express the constant joy of my heart

for the wonderful healing of my soul and body. I feel as if I was every

whit made whole."



The testimony of eye-witnesses to this healing is as follows:



"We were all present at the time of the healing, and know the facts to

be true. We are all Christians, and have no interest in deceiving

anybody, and would by no means dishonor God by stating more than the

exact truth. Since the healing, Mrs. Miller is still with us, and in

excellent health. Neither the severe cold of last Winter, nor the

extreme heat of this Summer, has at all injured her health. From our

first acquaintance with her, she has been so lame as to be unable to

walk, except by the aid of crutches. Since which time she has been able

to walk without help, and appears perfectly well."



Her husband, also adding his testimony, says:



"She has been unable to walk without crutches for a series of years. A

long time ago, we tried many remedies and physicians, with no lasting

good results, and were expecting she would remain an invalid. Of late,

she had applied no remedy, nor taken any medicine. At the time of her

cure, she was much worse than for a long while before, being in great

pain continually, until the moment she fully believed, and, _in an

instant_, she was restored to perfect soundness. From that moment to

this she has not felt a particle of her former complaint.



"She can now walk for miles as fast as I wish to, without feeling very

much fatigue, does all her own housework, and attends seven meetings

during the week. In short, she is stronger, and seems as young and spry,

as when we were married, thirty-two years ago. The work of the dear

Savior in her cure seems to be perfect, and she is an astonishment to

all who knew her before and see her now. To _His_ name be all the

praise.



"Another lady, the same week my wife was healed, a member of the First

Congregational Church, confined to her bed with a complicated disease,

was prayed for, and restored at once to soundness."



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