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."