What Should A Christian Do When Sick?

A Sermon

by

Rev. John Alex Dowie

General Overseer of the Christian Catholic Church in Zion.

Voices from the Healing Revival Series

No. 15

Published by The Revival Library

www.revival-library.org

email: librarian@revival-library.org

Table of Contents

What Should A Christian Do When Sick?

Copyright

The Sermon

Copyright

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The Sermon

Delivered in Central Zion Tabernacle, 1621-1633 Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, Lord’s Day, July 11, 1897.

Invocation.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight and profitable unto this people and to all to whom these words shall come, oh Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer.

I will ask you this question before I announce my text: Should not a Christian obey the commands of God as contained in His word?

Say Yes or No.

Voices:— “Yes.”

Then, there is no question what a Christian should do when sick.

Here is the apostolic command inspired by the Spirit of God showing you what was the practice of the primitive church.

What should a Christian do when sick?

“Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

“And the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him.

“Confess therefore your sins to one another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working.”—James 514-16. R. V.

A commonly quoted saying, amongst people who like to make declarations that they do not live up to, is “The religion of the Protestants is the Bible.”

It is a very good saying in a sense, although I do not approve- of it wholly even as perhaps they want it to be understood.

I BELIEVE THE RELIGION OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS GREATER THAN THE BIBLE.

I believe in the perpetuity of inspiration, and the perpetuity of the Life of God in His church.

A dead apostle or a dead epistle has no power.

The Spirit of God makes the words spoken in every age to live, and I have just as much right to ask today that the Holy Ghost shall guide me, inspire me, and control me in speaking in Chicago as Paul had when he spoke in Ephesus. ('Amen.')

I believe the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ is greater than the Bible; that there are thousands of things that Christ could not tell us, that we were not able to bear, and while no religion can ever be true that contradicts the Bible, yet that religion is forever true which fulfils and which develops, and which embodies, and which applies the principles of the Word of God.

Now, returning to the expression, I have a right to require of every Protestant to do what the Bible commands, and the answer to the question, what a Christian should do when sick, is provided by the Bible.

Neither in the Old Testament, nor in the New, from Genesis to Revelation, covering 4,100 years of human history of Divine Revelation, in no part of that Bible is there one single word approving doctors, surgeons, or drugs.

There is no provision in the Bible for any other healing of God’s people than God Himself.

They who say the opposite have a right to give us the chapter and verse and prove it.

On the other hand my lecture of last Sabbath day, tracing Divine Healing from Genesis to Revelation, provides the other answer. The lecture of today concentrates upon the question: What should a Christian do?

A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO BE A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH.

A Christian is a member of the Church, “that General Assembly and Church of the First-born, whose names are written in heaven,” and cannot help being if he is a true Christian.

Therefore, he ought to be identified with the visible Church in some form, even in some imperfect form. If I were pushed to it I would not hesitate to say that it would be better for a man or woman to be connected with the Church of Rome than not to be connected with any part of the Church.

Apostate though that church is, fallen though it be, it contains a vast mass of truth, and I have no sympathy with those who say, “I am going to be a Christian, but I refuse to be connected with any organization.’’

You might just as well in the late war have said, “I am going to be a soldier, but I decline to go into the army. I am going to be a soldier all on my own account. I am going to fight just as I like and where I like. I am going to fight rebels where I meet them and just as I like.” Now you were a soldier (to Mr Dinius) what did they call these fellows?

Mr Dinius:—“Guerrillas.”

Dr. Dowie:—Why they are not reckoned as soldiers. They were called sometimes guerrillas, and they were an utterly irregular kind of soldier. And they were not recognized as regular soldiers by either, and were shot as brigands and murderers.

A soldier in the great army of the Lord must be willing to enter and shoulder his musket, and wear the uniform of the regular army, in some of its many parts; and, if he cannot get a higher place than a full private, be a full private. It was the full privates that won the battles, anyhow. Generals directed them, but the full privates fought the fight, bled and died and won the battle.

A Christian ought to be associated with the Assembly, with the “Ecclesia,” as it is called in the New Testament. You know I am against denominations as they stand just now, but I would rather that a man, after all, was among the miserable Baptists with the water frozen sixty feet thick around the baptistery, or with the Presbyterians who have got great chunks of doctrine, which are just as hard as steel, and would require the stomach of an ostrich to digest. (Laughter.) I tell you I would rather they were in some portion of the Church of God, imperfect as it might be, than not under cover at all.

There were many regiments that were not of much account, and there were regiments during the war that were composed of splendidly educated men, and these men formed the crack regiments of the army, but everybody must be in the army one way or another.

WHEN YOU ARE IN THE CHURCH, YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO CALL FOR THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH.

But, if you are not inside of the church, what right have you to call for any elders?

A Christian is supposed to be associated with some portion of the Church of God, and I do not hesitate to say that it is evidence of a lower type of Christianity when a man says, “I will not be associated with any.” For instance, the other day a brother said to me, “ Well, Doctor I see so much inconsistency, and so much of this and that in the Church, that I cannot be connected with any, not even with your church. “

‘‘Well,” I said ‘‘The Lord bless you. I do not think we are very perfect, but oh, my brother, you who have such a perfect stamp of Christianity, why do you not come in and help us, (laughter) and bring us up to your own majestic standing? “

I think it is a piece of the greatest impudence for a man to tell you that he has reached so high a state of wisdom, knowledge and grace that his identification with you would be to his deterioration. It is his duty, if he is a Christian of such exalted character to get in amongst us and help us to be better.

I HAVE NO SYMPATHY WITH THE ‘GO-AS-YOU-LIKE’ AND ‘DO-AS-YOU PLEASE’ KIND OF CHRISTIANS.

I do not believe in guerrillas, and I have no confidence whatever in the man who will not come into the church and the army of the Living God, and be prepared to wear the uniform, shoulder his musket and walk in the ranks. Now, if you are in the Church you have a rightful claim and a right to call for help.

There are certain rights that a man has in the Church. Every Christian has a right to ask of every member of that church sympathy, love and co-operation in helping him when in distress of any kind.

IT IS THE BOUNDEN DUTY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD TO FIND HELP FOR ITS OWN POOR.

Help for its own sick; help for its own sad, sorrowing and lonely members; that help which God designed the Church to be always ready to extend lovingly and instantly to all its members.

It is the duty of the Church, and I feel it increasingly, to find ways in which its own members can co-operate with each other under circumstances that will enable them to make home happier, purer; away from bad influences, and to cooperate in industries in such a manner that they can get the reward for their labor, so that they will build and inhabit, and that they will sow and reap, and they will not build and another inhabit, and not sow and another reap.

I am a Christian Socialist to the center of my being.

I believe with all my heart, and ever have, and have ever taught, and have ever plead, that the Church of God must have all things in common and get back to its primitive power.

I do not say that all things in common means that all things are on a dead level of equality. Unity and equality are two different things. Absolutely different.

One man is worth a dollar a day. Another is worth five. Another is worth fifty. Another is worth a hundred. Another is priceless, and there are some who are not worth a red cent. (Laughter.)

The highest power in the Church of God is associated with the deepest humility.

If you are in the Church of God, you have a right to call for the elders.

WHO IS AN ELDER?

That is the next thing.

You will find a large number of person’s today who teach Divine Healing who are guilty of the grossest disorder in this matter.

They say that any one is an elder who possesses the requisite faith, or who says he does; and who will have the audacity to act as self-ordained.

The word elder, Presbuteros, has got a definite meaning; it is an office in the Church of God, and when a Christian is sick, the command is that the Christian is to call for the Elders of the Ecclesia. Elders of the Assembly or Church.

They are to do something when they come.

But the first question is: Who is an Elder?

Now, the only answer that can be given to that is to refer to the Ordination of Elders, and to see what an Elder is, according to the Scriptures.

It is in the epistle of Paul to Titus that you find the best definition of the Elder.

Now, I want you to count upon your fingers the number of qualifications as they go on. Here is the way to find out who an Elder is.

Now, listen!

“Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

“But hath in due times manifested His word through preaching according to the commandment of God our Savior.”

You will notice that these three verses contain the declaration that he is a minister, a servant of God, and an apostle in the kingdom and Church of God. He, therefore, is writing as an apostle. The church is founded upon “the Foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Corner Stone.”

The only authoritative word that can ever be spoken by an officer in the Church in the last resort is the word of an apostle.

You say, “One of the twelve apostles.” What are you talking about? There were twenty-one apostles whose names are here. There were only twelve at the time, but the apostolic office was continued as each apostle departed.

You will find James, the brother of the Lord, and Jude the brother of James who were not apostles when He was living, became apostles. You will find that Barnabas and Saul, who were not apostles when He was living, became apostles. There are sixteen.

You will find that Apollos was an apostle; you will find that Andronicus and Junias were called apostles. There are nineteen.

You will find that Epaphroditus is called an apostle. There are twenty of them, and I forgot the first one, Matthias, making twenty-one whose names are recorded in the Word of God.

The apostolic office was continued, and if the apostolic office was not continued Paul was not an apostle; Barnabas was not an apostle; James the brother of the Lord, was not an apostle; Jude, the brother of James, was not an apostle. And the Bible lies when it says they were apostles, or you lie, if you say they are not.

Now, Paul was an apostle. What does he say to Titus?

“To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour

“For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting.’

Now, here is an apostolic commission.

“And ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.”

Now, who is fit to be ordained as an elder?

Here, you see, is the definition.

“If any be blameless.”

That is the first thing. It does not matter if a man’s life may have been a sinful life. He may have been a thief; he may have been a liar; he may have been as the apostle Paul himself was, a murderer. He said, referring to Stephen’s death, that he was a murderer.

Now, he may have been all these things, but it is not what the man was; it is what he is. The first thing is that he is to be a man of blameless life. That is the first thing. It is not what he thinks about himself; it is not what other people say about him.

The first qualification for an apostle is, a man of good, blameless life, who stands without fear and without reproach.

The next thing is,

“The husband of one wife.”

Now, Brother Graves, [turning to Evangelist Graves whose healing is recorded in Leaves of Healing, Vol. 3, No. 39] you are not married and you cannot be an elder, you sinner. (Laughter.) You cannot be an elder, and no unmarried man or woman can be appointed or ordained to the office of elder; for women were elders. There were women elders, Presbuteras, as well as Presbuteros. The feminine form is used as well as the masculine.

Now, the first thing was that an elder must be blameless, and the husband of one wife; therefore a polygamist cannot be an elder. An unmarried man, an nonogamist, cannot be an elder.

First, blameless; second, the husband of one wife; third,

“Having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly.”

No man has a right to enter the office of elder who has not been able to keep his own household in order. How can he rule the Church of God, if he cannot rule his own house?

If his own children are going to the devil, how can he rule the Church of God? He cannot. And he has got no business to be an elder.

Let him exercise his authority, and let him exercise the disciplinary powers which as a father he has, and let him bring his house into order. No use saying a man cannot do it. He can. The laws of God and of man stand on his side in bringing his family into order.

‘It is a shocking shame and disgrace for a man to say, “I have got a boy ten years old, or twelve, or fourteen, or sixteen, and I cannot do anything with him. Cannot do anything with him? I would do something with him. I would make him do right. Cannot do anything with him? Why do you not exercise your authority? You can do it. You ought to do it. It is a shame for you to say you cannot. It is a disgrace for Christian fathers or mothers to say they cannot keep their children in order.

“For a bishop—”

The word bishop is simply the word episcopos, one who looks over, simply overseer; that is all there is to the word bishop.

I am a bishop, if you will have it, because I am overseeing. I have a kind of oversight over brother Graves here and I am not quite sure whether I have not an oversight over brother Peterson. He says I have, and I have a sort of oversight over these brethren here, and I have even an oversight over my father here, and keep him in order, and l think-I have an oversight over all these dear folks about me, and I have an oversight over a great many people in the world, and I thank God that I look over my field every morning, and every night, and I bow down before my God, and I ask Him who sees what they need, in His infinite mercy to bless them that day, and to help me that day. That is the kind of overseer I am. I am simply “the general roustabout, and I have got to pay the bills,” (Laughter,) and stand the knocks, and get all the abuse, and all that kind of thing. Then I get the honors too, honors from God; I get that.

“A bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God;”

Now, that is the thing,

“AS THE STEWARD OF GOD.”

Do you not see an overseer has to recognize that everything that comes into his hand is simply a stewardship?

Now, I realize that; I know that many things are going to come as God’s Steward in Zion, but a great deal has come to me in various ways, and I just look at it and say, “Now, Lord, that is your money, you sent it to me, help me to use it.” I ask God to help me to turn it into Leaves of Healing, and into Tabernacles, and to help people here and there, and when any man needs some little help, or woman, and is poor, in the Church, I do not call a church meeting, I do not go to a committee, but I love to help and I have the power to do it, as the steward of God.

Whatever instruction and knowledge He gave me, I am simply the steward of it, and whatever money He gave me, I am the steward of it; whatever time and influence He gave me, I am the steward of it. That is to say, I have got to give an account to Him, and I have got to use it in distributing it amongst the people, and in doing what I can to win men to God.

A voice:— “Are these terms identical?”

Dr. Dowie:—No, they are not. Presbuteros and Episcopos are not identical. Presbuteros simply means an elder, and Episcopos is an overseer, meaning that a man may be an elder and an overseer. He may be an elder and apostle.”

The greater includes the less, but the less does not include the greater. The office of apostle will include the office of prophet and teacher, and everything else. That is to say, that the apostle must be one whose office enables him to grasp the powers pertaining to all the offices.

But to continue the qualifications for eldership.

“Not self-willed.”

Now, friends, there is no doubt that here lies one of the hardest parts of the office, because there is not any man among us, and especially any man with any power, who has not got a tendency to self-will. He would not be worth a button without a strong will

I say this, that the will under God is one of the mightiest powers that enter into the composition of a man, and the human will seems to have been almost the one thing that escaped destruction by the fall of man. The Lord Jesus Christ appealed to the will of these Pharisees, and He said,

“Ye will not.”

And He’ said,

“If ye will,”

And He pointed out to them that they had the power to will or not to will. There was a tremendous power in these men of not willing, and there was a tremendous power when they willed.

Just look at Paul when he willed to be a Christian; when he said,

“Lord, what wilt Thou have me do?”

And surrendered his will. What a tremendous power he became by that very strength of will that he had always previously possessed, but which was so gloriously guided by God.

DO NOT CRUSH WILL IN YOUR CHILDREN.

Develop will; let them have all the will power they can contain. Let them exercise will, but let them be guided for God; not self-willed, but divinely controlled. Will is one of the great qualifications in ruling. You must have a strong will, but must not be self-willed. It must be God’s will, “not self-willed.”

“Not soon angry.”

Do not get angry too soon, but when you do get angry, get angry mightily; go at it!

“Be ye angry and sin not.”

Oh, I tell you the thing I am troubled about is there are a whole lot of elders that are never angry with anything.

(Laughter.) Everything is all right. They are always washing their hands in invisible soap and water; everything is all right. (Laughter.) Sweetness. Oh, my good Lord, save me from them!

One of them the other day got on to his pulpit down in New York; he got up; he drew a long breath, and he cast up his eyes, (laughter) and said:

“Ah! Ah! God, we love Thee. We do not want to be like Paul; we would like to be like John; we would like to lay our head upon thy breast, and be still.” (Laughter.)

Humbug! Unmitigated humbug! He never will have any chance of being like Paul. He has not got enough grit in him to be like Paul. He will never have a chance of being like John and James, for they were called Boanerges which means Sons of Thunder! My! When John fell upon anybody something happened. You just read that third epistle of John to the well beloved Gaius, and see how he talks of Diotrephes:

“But Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

“Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, speaking against us with malicious words.

When he comes to Diotrephes, look out! I guess it was a bad quarter of an hour for him There are many of that kind in the churches now-a-days, ‘‘ speaking against us with malicious words,” and we always give them a bad quarter of an hour when we get to dealing with their lies and impudence.

What did they think John was? John was a Son of Thunder! I tell you when he spoke he smote. He is the only one of them all who uses so frequently the strong term liar. He says:

“He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son.”

I tell you he is a strong fellow is John. He got angry, but he did not get angry soon, but when he got angry Diotrephes had to look out, for I tell you his anger was a divine anger. It was like the anger of the Master. When the Master got angry He just smote those Pharisees hip and thigh.

“Ye generation of vipers, how shall ye escape the damnation of hell?”

There is a time to be angry. I get angry just a little with the world, and the flesh, and the devil, and I do not mind letting them know about it either.

I am angry every day of my life with canting hypocrisy that I hate more than anything else.

Said the very same man, writing,

“Oh, just be like the pearl oyster.”

It is all a lie about the pearl oyster.

“The dear pearl oyster comes up to the surface of the water, and it opens its little mouth and a bit of grit or something comes into it and it shuts its mouth and sinks. It finds that it has got something in it that hurts it. And what does it do? Why the pearl oyster covers it around with its life and dies, and that is the pearl.”

That is all an imaginary piece of humbug and a lie.

“That is the way to do with sin. Do not fight it. Let the sin in and put around it the warm arms of your love and love the sin to death.”

That is what he said. That is what he wrote. That was what that peace-loving and sin-embracing so-called elder said down there in New York.

I hate that teaching. I am angry with it. It is unmitigated cant and humbug.

Love sin to death? I tell you, if you take sin into your bosom and start loving it to death it will burn you up. It will defile you. The only thing I have got to do with sin is to take it and cast it out. Is it loving Satan to love Sin?

Never attempt to love a thing to death. That is what the devil wants you to do.

“Not given to wine.”

No man can be an elder who takes wine; intoxicating wine. It is the poison of hell. It overthrew Noah, who had been faithful amidst a faithless world. It will destroy all who love it.

“No striker.”

No man can be an elder that strikes anybody. It is better to be killed than to kill. I carry no weapons of offence or defence. My life is in God’s holy keeping for Time and Eternity.

“Not given to filthy lucre.”

No man can be made an elder who is a greedy man.

‘But a lover of hospitality.” -

He has got to be a hospitable man; one who likes to take care of God’s children. Such a man who says: “Come along to supper with us.”

“A lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;

“Holding fast the faithful word, as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.’'

THESE ARE THE SIXTEEN QUALIFICATIONS FOR AN ELDER, AND

SUCH A ONE MUST BE ORDAINED, AND THEN HE IS AN ELDER.

And when a man lives up to these qualifications, or a woman, I tell you when you go to them, and say ‘‘ Pray for me,” and that man prays, and takes the oil in his finger and anoints you, and you are in earnest, you are going to be healed every time.

Now, I have not ordained one elder in this church. I tell you it takes time to find out a blameless man. It takes time to find men that fulfill all these qualifications. I could easily ordain men, could ordain them by the score, but, oh! friends, I do not want to ordain elders that are not elders. I do not want to ordain men that God cannot bless. I must see that they fulfil the qualifications.

I ORDAINED IN MY CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA TWO AS ELDERS, both of them godly. One was a very able man, splendidly educated, and in good position, and the other I went for a way down to the lowest rank socially, and I took a brick-layer, a man working every day, his hair beginning to get grey-”Why, “ he said, “Doctor, you do not mean to say you have chosen me to be an elder? “ When I spoke to him privately he said, “ I am not fit.” “Well, I said, who is to say you are fit, is it you, or is it I? Am I responsible or you?”

“You are.”

“Then,” I said, “You do what I tell you. I tell you to go into training for being an elder. Now, you are to take six months’ training. Do you hear?”

He said, “I will do what you tell me,” and he did.

Well, I told him what I wanted him to do in these six months, and that man did it. It was a private training, and I am not going to tell you what it is, because you are not fit to hear it; you are not there; it would be no use to you if I did tell you.

I told him. I said, “I believe I am guided by God in saying this.”

“Well,” he said, “I will do it.” He did it; the other man did it. They waited upon God. One midnight hour I ordained them both, but the man that has stood best, though both of them have stood, and the man who has a Church and Divine Healing Home in Brighton, near Melbourne, is that old man, that humble man whom I took from the lowest ranks almost.

When that man speaks, he speaks as a power, and when he prays, he does exactly what he was told by me years ago to do, and he does that to this day and he just does it humbly, and there are most remarkable healings.

He anointed some time ago a lady that had eczema all her life. She was tearing her skin, tearing herself to pieces almost, her whole body running blood at times, and was a horrible sight, and only now and then was she a little better. But meanwhile he led her to Christ; he was the means of her salvation; he was the means of her healing, and when she was ready he anointed her, and within less than a fortnight the whole of the disease fell off her, and today she is a perfectly healthy woman.

The wealthy lady who gave the home which he now has in Brighton, Melbourne, was anointed by him when dying with a tumour and God has mightily blessed him.

WE WANT ELDERS IN THIS CHURCH WHO’S TOUCH GOD CAN BLESS.

I have taken the material I had, and God has wonderfully used my brother Speicher. There has been no formal ordination of him. I have asked God to bless him all the way through. He has already been ordained to the Baptist ministry.

Brother Dinius here of the United Brethren and Brother Büchler out in Johannesburg of the Congregational, I believe we will have to have a re-anointing and separation of these brothers to this office of elders.

I have taken time this afternoon to show you who the Word of God says is an Elder.

Now, that does not mean anybody, and the consequence is that when anybody has been anointing, and everybody has imagined they were Elders, we have had the whole thing go to pieces.

Now, the Church of God is a Church, and Oh! That God would raise up and qualify Elders, (Amen) and that in every part of this great city, and to every part of the earth we might send them to the sick and the sorrowing. That is my great desire that we shall out of our own members find men and women that can be ordained as elders.

“Is any among you sick? Let them call for the elders of the church, and let them—”

Audience— “Pray over him.’”

Dr. Dowie:— “Anointing him with—”

Audience:— “Oil.' “

Dr. Dowie:— “In the name”—of Mah-hah-bone.

Audience:— “The Lord.”

Dr. Dowie:— “Baal-Sha-Lisha. You wretched Knights of Kadosh. In the name of whom ?

Audience:— “In the name of the Lord.”

Dr. Dowie:—What Lord is that?

A Voice:— “The Lord Jesus, the Son of the living God.”

Dr. Dowie:—these wretched men that drag the Church of God down into the hands of Baal. You have got the

“Baal Sha-Lisha,” brother Methodists, in most of your pulpits; you have got the “Baal Sha-Lisha,” Bishop Cheney; you have got the “Baal Sha-Lisha,” Jenkins Lloyd Jones; you have got the “Baal Sha-Lisha,” Pastor Lorimer, of Boston, and late of the Immanuel Church of Chicago. You have got the “Baal Sha-Lisha,” you wretched Freemasons. Repent. (Amen.)

Pray your prayers beside. Your Baal altars, but there is no God in heaven hears you, and there is not a god in hell will take any notice of you when you confront Elijah and Elijah’s God at Carmel.

The time is coming when these priests of Baal are going to be taken by a Divine hand down to the brook Kishon as on the day when Elijah triumphed, and there they are going to be separated forever from the Church of God on earth.

But, meanwhile,

“Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of—”

Audience:—”Faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up:

Dr. Dowie:—”And if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him.'

Sometimes that fails. Sometimes a faithful elder will pray, and people will not be healed. Then there comes another provision.

“Confess your faults one to another.”

There is the Confessional. Do not make any mistake. There is a Confessional in the Christian Catholic Church, and there must be, but it is voluntary. It is one where there is no priest who claims power in himself to give absolution.

Confess your sins one to another ye who have sinned against each other.

Tell each other; confess to some man of God, if you want to get godly counsel, to some Christian in your church in whom you have confidence.

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another that ye may be healed.”

Some of you will not get healing until you have owned up your sins. Wives own up your sins to your husbands. Brothers and sisters own up your sins to each other. Own up your sins, confess them, and get right with God. Then the supplication of some man—evidently something more than an elder,

“The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working.”—R. V

I think my ministry lies in that sixteenth verse. I have never anointed a single person, and I have not been asked to anoint people. God has used me in the laying on of hands, and I have been so used all the way through. I never anoint.

Anointing is all right, but I have not used a drop of oil in my life. I have never been called upon to anoint, and I have never dealt with that duty of an Elder. My ministry was the laying of hands on the sick when they had confessed sin, and I never close a service without a public confession, and a public consecration to God.

Now, friends, I want to put on record that it may go forth to other lands, what the teaching of this Voice from Zion is concerning what a Christian should do when sick, and who is an elder. Anyone who is not ordained by the hands of someone who is manifestly divinely commissioned, and who does not fulfil these various conditions as set forth in the Word of God, is not an Elder.

I want to see elders in this church, and I am praying for and expecting to have the joy of ordaining them. May God grant that they may be elders indeed, and let all the people say, amen? (Amen.)

CALL.

Now friends, every one of you who desires to forsake sin and sickness, and impurity of every kind, in spirit, soul and body, and who desires God to prepare you for whatever part in His service He designs you to take, rise up and tell Him your heart’s desire. (Apparently all rise.)

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION.

My God and Father. In Jesus’ name I come to Thee. Take me as I am Make me what I ought to be in Spirit, Soul and Body. Give me power to do right to any whom I may have wronged, to confess, to do right in Thy sight. Give Thy Holy Spirit, enabling me to trust in Jesus the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world, and to do His will, Thy will in Him, in all things. Cleanse my spirit; cleanse my soul; cleanse my body, and keep me clean for Jesus’ sake. [All repeat the prayer, clause by clause, after Dr. Dowie.]

The consecration Hymn was then sung. After a short intermission, Dr. Dowie made the charge to the candidates for baptism, and 51 received the ordinance of Believer’s Baptism by Triune Immersion. Their names and addresses are found on page 605 of Leaves of Healing, for July 17, 1897, Vol. 3, No. 38.

The audience was dismissed with the benediction.

Table of Contents

What Should A Christian Do When Sick?

Copyright

The Sermon