Biography
Otto Stockmayer was born in 1838, in a German-speaking family, and spent most of his life in Switzerland. He was educated at the schools of his region and was raised in a Lutheran home. As a young man, he trained as a Lutheran pastor. He was a man of learning, with a strong interest in the Bible. He served for a time as a pastor in Hauptwil, in the canton of Thurgau, in the northeast of Switzerland. In his early years, he suffered from ill health. He was in poor condition, and he came to a deep spiritual experience through the ministry of prayer for the sick.
He was brought into contact with the work of Dorothea Trudel, the woman of Männedorf, who ran a home of prayer for the sick. After her death in 1862, he took part in the continuation of the work. He took over the leadership of the home and was the head of the establishment for a number of years. He was a man of calm and gentle manner. He taught that healing is part of the gospel and that the sick may be restored by faith and prayer. He also taught that sickness has a spiritual cause and that the believer should seek to be healed in body as well as soul.
He was a friend of other leaders in the movement for the deeper life. He was a speaker at the Keswick convention in England, and he made a number of visits there. He was a friend of the evangelical leaders in Britain, and he was well known in the United States. He took part in the first of the great conferences on the subject of divine healing, held at Oxford in 1880s. His ideas influenced A. B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, who was himself a leader in the movement for healing. Simpson visited him in Switzerland and said that he learned much from him.
He wrote a number of works on the subject of healing and the life of faith. The best known is Sickness and the Gospel, which was published in German and was translated into English. In it, he set out the biblical basis of divine healing. He wrote also on the topic of prayer and sanctification. His writings were marked by a sober and careful tone. He did not make exaggerated claims. He taught that healing is a gift from God, which cannot be forced. He held that God's will is sometimes to withhold healing. His restraint made him a trusted voice.
He was a pastor who cared for the troubled and the sick. He gave his time to those who came to him, and he lived simply. He also was a man who suffered. He had many personal trials and bore them with patience. He was a person of deep humility. He did not seek a public role, and he was content to work in a small place.