The Communistic Societies of the United States: From Personal Visit and ObservationNordhoff, Charles
History
The Communistic Societies of the United States: From Personal Visit and Observation
Nordhoff, Charles
Collective settlements -- United States
They believe that the exercise of sufficient faith in prayer to God is
capable of restoring the sick to health; and assert that there have been
in their experience and among their membership a number of such cures.
In a "Free-Church Tract," dated "Oneida Reserve, 1850," there is an
account of such a cure of Mrs. M. A. Hall, ill of consumption, and given
up by her physicians. In this case J. H. Noyes and Mrs. Cragin were
those whose "power of faith" was supposed to have acted; and Mrs. Hall
herself wrote, two years later: "From a helpless, bed-ridden state, in
which I was unable to move, or even to be moved without excruciating
pain, I was _instantly_ raised to a consciousness of perfect health.
I was constrained to declare again and again that I was perfectly well.
My eyes, which before could not bear the light, were opened to the blaze
of day and became strong. My appetite was restored, and all pain
removed." This is said to have taken place in June, 1847. The following
case is reported in the _Circular_ for February 9th of the present
year (1874), and the description of the injury, which immediately
follows, is given by Dr. Cragin--a member of the Oneida Community--whom I
understand to be a regularly educated physician. The sufferer was a
woman, Mrs. M. Her hand was passed between the rubber rollers of a
wringing-machine. The machine was new, and the rollers were screwed down
so that it brought a very heavy pressure on her hand, evidently crowding
the bones all out of place and stretching the ligaments, besides
seriously injuring the nerves of her hand and arm. When she came here
from Wallingford Community, several weeks after the accident, not only
the nerves of her hand were essentially paralyzed, but the trunk nerve of
her arm was paralyzed and caused her a great deal of suffering. It was as
helpless as though completely paralyzed: she had not sufficient control
over her hand to bend her fingers.
"That was her condition up to the time of the cure. I could not see from
the time she came here to the time of the cure that there was any change
for the better. I told her the first time I examined her hand that,
according to the ordinary course of such things, she must not expect to
get the use of it under twelve months, if she did then. At the same time
I told her I would not limit the power of God.
"Her general health improved, but her hand caused her the acutest
suffering. It would awaken her in the night, and oblige her to get up
and spend hours in rubbing it and trying to allay the pain. If any one
has had a jumping toothache, he can imagine something what her suffering
was, only the pain extended over the whole hand and arm, instead of
being confined to one small place like a tooth. I have known of strong
men who had the nervous system of an arm similarly affected, who begged
that their arms might be taken off, and have indeed suffered amputation
rather than endure the pain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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