Healing and Revival

"God Still Heals Today"

Sarah Minot Chase Musgrove was born March 10, 1839 in Bristol, New Hampshire. Her parents emigrated from England in 1832 and eventually settled in Bristol. Musgrove was one of eleven children born to the couple. She attended Tilton Seminary (which was what a basic teaching school was called in those days) and graduated in 1865. She began to teach school and went on to teach College as well. She became associated with the Second Street Presbyterian Church in Troy, New York as its missionary. However her health collapsed in 1877. She said that she saw many doctors but none were able to help her. She must have been in dire straits because in the summer 1881 she was brought to the Brooklyn Home for Incurables run by Miss Fanny Campbell. She said that she was not expected to live out the year. The Home was run along the lines of Charles Cullis' Faith Home. People came as a last resort, with no finances, were cared for and prayed for until they either got better or died.

While Musgrove was at the Home she came into contact with two women from New London, Connecticut. They were friends with Ethan Otis Allen, a Methodist layman who had a well-known healing ministry, in New England. They asked if he could be sent for that Musgrove could receive prayer. She prayed about it and felt that it was a good thing. The women immediately wrote to Allen. While he was praying whether he should go God spoke to him and told to "Go I will raise her up for My glory." Allen traveled from his home in Springfield, Massachusetts to the Home for Incurables in Brooklyn, New York. On January 28, 1882 Allen came in to the Home to pray for Musgrove. He confirmed her salvation and read scripture to her. He asked if she would believe that God wanted to heal her immediately. She assented so Allen prayed for her with the words, "They that believe shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." They began to praise God together and she felt new life "thrilled and thrilled" through her body. She was immediately healed. She got up committed to serve God with her life.

After her healing Musgrove returned to Troy, New York and began teaching High School. She believed in her heart that God was calling her to Christian service. She desired to open a home where people could be taught and could receive prayer for healing in Lansingburgh, New York. She became involved with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in the early 1880s. There she began to draw people who were hungry for more of God's presence and purpose. She started meetings in the parlor of the local Methodist Church but they did not agree with her teaching. In 1883 she rented a room on President Street and began a Sunday afternoon meeting. The meetings were successful enough that she moved in May 1884 to a larger facility on Glen Avenue. In 1886 she moved again to a building on Third Street. The mission was run along "Faith Lines" which meant that money was not asked for or collected. Musgrove did not receive a salary and believed that God would provide through prayer. It was four years before a collection box was even put in the Mission to give people a place to put donations.

A critical part of Musgrove's work was teaching Divine Healing and praying for the sick. She kept in contact with Ethan Otis Allen and he would come to Troy to minister and pray for people. She was a friend of Carrie Judd Montgomery. Wherever she went she communicated the message "God still heals today." The Chapel's meetings were normally Sunday afternoon and several evenings so people could attend their regular church services in the morning. She also was the coordinator of an Alliance Convention with A. B. Simpson when it was held in Troy in 1887. In 1894 a local Alliance meeting was held in Troy and Musgrove taught on Divine Healing. After the 1887 convention Musgrove knew she needed larger facilities. She began saving money and praying about the change. Her group supported missionaries and often spoke where asked in other churches and homes around Troy. She continued to gather people and in 1896 moved to a bigger facility on Sixth Avenue. Not only did she live there, but there was a chapel which could hold 150 people, a large book room, and a baptistery. The bookroom was also a distribution point for Alliance literature.

In the early 1900s Musgrove felt the need for an evangelist and Harry Moore and S. Tomlinson ran most of the meetings. Somewhere around 1916 a shift occurred. Alliance literature began to list Musgrove as pastor of the Four-Fold Gospel Chapel, although meetings were still being held Sunday afternoons and evenings. The chapel continued as an independent ministry until 1926 when it was incorporated into the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination. Musgrove then retired and moved to Bristol, New Hampshire to be near her family. She continued her ministry through writing and encouraging others until shortly before her death. She had a stroke in October 1933 and died November 29th of the same year.

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