Later British Ministries—Spiritual Reinforcement

Chapter 15, 1897-1909

Views on Health and Healing

In the crucible of physical affliction many men have had their characters refined and their spiritual vision clarified. This was true of Dr. Pierson. The last fourteen years of his life were years of almost constant suffering. In January, 1897, when he was sixty years of age his head and ears began to trouble him so as to interfere considerably with his hearing and continuous mental work. Through association with George Müller and others the thought of God as his physician had taken great hold upon his mind and he determined to take this ailment to God in prayer without recourse to medical treatment. On five or six occasions his suffering was so severe that he started to consult a specialist but stopped and turned back before reaching the door. He had many warm friends among physicians and greatly honored them and their profession so that he did not, on ordinary occasions, refuse the use of medicine, but at this time it seemed to him that God was testing his faith. In Boston, on January 25th, he consulted a physician who said that he evidently had inflammation of the inner ear and advised him at once to consult an aurist. Instead he determined to leave his case in the hands of God and exactly one month later all trouble disappeared. Upon a second examination the