Page:Medicine and the church; being a series of studies on the relationship between the practice of medicine and the church's ministry to the sick (IA medicinechurchbe00rhodiala).pdf/235

 (iv) The charisma, or gift, of healing, is named by St. Paul among the spiritual gifts of the Apostolic Church, and is associated in one place with the working of miracles ('powers'). We have endeavoured to show that it was not intended as a transient but a permanent endowment of the Church. But, in the degree in which the Church corporate falls short in spirituality, her spiritual powers wane. The Encyclical Letter and Report of the recent Lambeth Conference mark a step in advance, though it may not be a long step, towards the revival of this healing agency of the Church. The Committee appointed to report on this particular subject was of opinion 'that the prayers for the restoration of health, which it recommends, may be fitly accompanied by the apostolic act of the Laying-on-of-Hands.' We may be disposed to regret that this primitive rite is not mentioned in Resolution 35, which recommends 'the provision for use in Pastoral Visitation of some additional prayers for the restoration of health more hopeful and direct than those contained in the present Office for the Visitation of the Sick.' Desiring, as we do, to follow 'the example' of our Lord Himself and not merely of 'His