moves heaven and disposes the soul, and affects the world of spirits, and increases the power of all orderly means of healing, both mental and physical.
It comes to this then in regard to faith and the prayer of faith as agents in healing, that there is a true and spurious faith and a right and wrong kind of prayer; that so far forth as inducing states of mind and thence of body are concerned, either may contribute to the effect of relief from bodily ills, and the spurious sometimes more quickly and manifestly than the true; but that healing secured by a false faith and selfish prayer is at the expense of a spiritual bondage which is worse than sickness. But this is a warning and appeal in behalf of a true faith and a right prayer as against what is false and wrong, not against the place and value of such means in the healing of the sick. In general it may be said, that a true faith always involves the acknowledgment that the Lord's ends are eternal, and that we do not know what temporary states and circumstances may be best for us; and the spirit of its prayer, whatever the petition, is always "not my will but thine be done."
