IN ITS APPLICATION TO

THE HEALING OF THE SICK,

THE

REDEMPTION OF MAN FROM THE BONDAGE
OF SIN AND DEATH, AND HIS RESTO-

RATION TO AN EVERLASTING LIFE.

VOLUME I.

BY

E. J. ARENS.

BOSTON:

ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS,
No. 24 FRANKLIN STREET.

1884.

COPYRIGHT,

1884,

By E. J. ARENS.

All rights reserved.

BOSTON MEDICAL LIBRARY

IN THE

FRANCIS A. COUNTWAY
LIBRARY OF MEDICINE

PREFACE.

IN giving to the public this little book, no claims are made to originality as regards the doctrine set forth herein. The germ of this doctrine is coeval with time. Jesus and the apostles preached it, and applied it to the casting out of devils and to the healing of the sick.

In the fourteenth century, in those perilous times when Pope John XXII. and Louis of Bavaria were at variance, it is recorded that public worship wholly ceased on account of the manifesto issued by the Emperor in conjunction with the Princes of the Empire, proclaiming that all who would not recognize the dignity of the Emperor as God-given, should be held guilty of high treason. In those chaotic times, the more conscientious of the clergy, fearing the suspicion of heresy and dreading the Inquisition, formed themselves into a secret organization that they might strengthen each other in their common effort to live spiritual lives. They named this association Gottesfreunde, or Friends of God, citing the declaration of Jesus: "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you."