Editorial May 1, 1902 Issue

Charge to Candidates

Editor

The charge given to the candidate for consecration to the office of bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church contains, among others, the following admonitions: "Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd, not a wolf; feed them, deveour them not. Hold up the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken, bring again the outcast, seek the lost." This charge was originally, as we understand, incorporated by Wesley into the formulary of consecration. It has been retained in it ever since. The revised book of Doctrines and Discipline of 1892 contains it. In view of this, is it improper for us to ask why that part of the charge which commands the healing of the sick has been, and still is, a dead letter? We are quite sure that Wesley was a firm believer in the power of God to heal the sick by direct means. Why then do not his followers so believe, and believing, exercise the power? Why, especially, do so many of them scout the possibility of divine healing now?

Even if the admonition in question means healing by indirect or material means, it none the less has been ignored. There seems to be no conception that the office of bishop and physician, or of priest and healer, is one and the same.

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