by doing so we throw away Christ's teaching when He says by their fruits men are to be judged. We judge them by their works. What are the works? I suppose Jesus knew what He meant, and He meant to give His disciples the true idea when He called them together and gave them power to heal all sorts of diseases, and cast out devils. Did He mean to give power without any knowledge how to apply it, or did He give the knowledge with the power? If He gave the knowledge so that it could be applied, are not the ones who apply it better acquainted with the power than those who are ignorant of the power and the knowledge?
I will try to illustrate what Jesus meant by these powers, when He was accused of curing by ignorance. You may have seen in the paper an account of a young lady being cured by the prayers of a Mormon preacher. I have no doubt that he raised her up through his prayers, and the belief in Mormonism would naturally be established in the young lady's mind. This cure, as far as it goes, is to establish Mormonism. Now if the Mormons established all their belief and that is right, why do not all people who believe in prayer embrace Mormonism and all the Mormons preach?
When the disciples said to Jesus, We saw men casting out devils in Thy name and forbade them, He said, “Forbid them not, for they that are with us are not against us, and they that are not with us scattereth abroad.” Here Jesus showed the difference between His knowledge and theirs in using this power. The others cured, but the world was no wiser for their cures, so they scattered abroad. The cure was right, but it was done through ignorance.
This is the way with prayer. Prayer contains no knowledge and only leaves men in ignorance and superstition. Seeing this account in print, and knowing how it was done, I thought I would try the same experiment on a lady, myself, according to my way of curing disease. I have no creed or belief. What I know I can put into practice, and when I put it into practice I am conscious of it, and know what will be its effect. I sent to the lady (the subject of my experiment) who lived out of town, a letter, telling her I would try my power on her from the time I commenced the letter which was Sunday, and visit her at different times till the next Sabbath, and on the next Sabbath I would come between the hours of eleven and twelve, and make her rise from her bed, where she
