On the subject of baptism all the dear brethren at Aleppo have finally agreed and been baptized; thus the last little difference that I know between us is closed. How gracious the Lord is!
The Lord has laid his hand heavily on them. Dear Newman is but just raised from a bed of sickness. The schoolmaster whom they brought is so unwell, that dear John Parnell and his wife have taken him for the change of air to the water's side; they too have both been very ill. Mrs. Cronan is daily getting weaker and weaker, so they are prevented joining me now from ill health, as before from the disturbances, and in a short time Mrs. Parnell expects to be confined, which will still delay them, as well as the expectation of a friend or two from England and Ireland. Should the Lord not remove these difficulties to their coming before the spring, and my Bibles and Testaments arrive from Bussorah, I purpose, the Lord willing, perhaps even in about two months, going by the way of Mosul, Merdin, Diarbekr, Orsa, and Beer to Aleppo, there to consult and to be refreshed, should the Lord graciously smile upon us, and in my way to distribute his word and see the state of the places above mentioned.
When Mr. Newman was at the worst, and they had given up all hopes of him, they anointed him with oil according to the 14th of the 5th of James, and prayed over him, and the Lord had mercy on them, yea, and on me also, and restored him. It seems to me truly scriptural, and if the Church of Rome has perverted it to superstitious ends, ought we therefore to cast aside so plain a precept? By many it would be called plain popery, but this we must bear. I can feel a happiness in submitting to these directions of the Lord by the Spirit; they seem to us little, but surely whatsoever is of sufficient importance for the Spirit to command or direct, is sufficiently important for us worms to obey. With regard to miracles my mind is not at present prepared to embrace them fully: but this I do feel that the Apostle Paul, in Corinthians 12 and 14, when speaking of supernatural gifts for the edifying the Church and doing the work of God, points them out as things to be desired and prayed for then, and if they were desired to be prayed for then, why not now? I look on the argument from experience in the churches as of no weight, for unless it can be proved the churches have received faith on these powers, their not possessing the power is according to the whole analogy of faith. That distinguishing between apostolic times and present times is to my mind so dangerous a principle, and puts into the hands of any one so disposed, a sword that seems to me to reach the very vitals of the Gospel.