FROM both the secular and religious press we learn that the bishops of the English Church have admitted the need of healing as practised in the early days of Christianity. It seems, however, that anointing with oil is held to be a necessary adjunct of the healing, and this naturally raises the question whether it was an accompaniment of the apostolic work. The only place where it is mentioned in the Gospels is in the 6th chapter of Mark, 13th verse, where it is stated that the disciples "anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them." In their commission from the Master, which immediately precedes this statement, we find no hint that oil was to be used, the instructions dealing wholly with mental and moral conditions; no reference being made to matter, except that they were to "shake off the dust" from their feet. Neither of the other evangelists refer to the use of oil, although Matthew is given to details, presumably from his having been a publican or tax-gatherer.
The authority for the use of oil in connection with healing, has usually been taken from James, 5:14; where the counsel is given to pray for any one who is sick, "anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." Then follows the unequivocal statement, "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up," — not the oil and the prayer, be it observed, but simply "the prayer of faith."
It is not necessary, however, nor desirable, to dismiss the subject of anointing until we have gained some measure of its true meaning. In the Old Testament it is frequently mentioned by the inspired writers. Who does not remember the beautiful words of the 23rd Psalm, "Thou anointest my head with oil;" and in another Psalm, "With my holy oil have I anointed him." Coming to the New Testament, we find the great Teacher, at the beginning of his healing ministry, quoting the prophecy, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;" then adding, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears;" and in Acts, 4:27, we find the disciples referring to "thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed." In pursuing the subject farther, we find Paul expressing this same spiritual sense of anointing, when he says in 2 Corinthians, 1:21, 22, "Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." If aught else were needed on this line, we have it in St. John's remarkable words, in his first Epistle, "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."
