Ever Increasing Faith

2011 Reprint of 1924 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947), was a British evangelist who was important in the early history of Pentecostalism. Wigglesworth believed that healing came through faith, and he was flexible about the methods he employed. When he was forbidden to lay hands on audience members by the authorities in Sweden, he preached for a "corporate healing", by which people laid hands on themselves. He also practiced anointing with oil, and the distribution of prayer handkerchiefs. Wigglesworth sometimes attributed ill-health to demons. Wigglesworth claimed that God had healed him of appendicitis and much of his ministry was focused on faith healing. There were many miracles attributed to him, some reported in the popular press and in Pentecostal magazines such as 'Confidence' which had been founded by Boddy. Wigglesworth avoided all medical treatment, despite suffering from kidney stones in his later years. These eventually passed naturally. He refused any surgical procedure, and stated that no knife would ever touch his body either in life or death.