V* * 4* p feat 4 & * • -; ♦ a DlSm iggCOLVABlA .:-':J.-.^w--J • *-*'* r **4L r «- * Transferred from the Library of Congress to D. C. Public Library for use therein under Sec. 69, Copyright law, 1908. Copyright, igog By H. M. Caldwell Co. Copyright, ign By H. M. Caldwell Co. Electrotyped and Printed by THE COLONIAL PRESS C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U.S.A. !U 292362 MAHS»B&U5D fROU PUBLIC LIBRAF' CONTENTS Foreword. The Universal Mind. The Divinity of Man. The Powers and Possibilities of the Sub- conscious Mind. Faith as a Vital Force. The Law of Suggestion. Auto - Suggestion. Mind and Medicine. Physical Wholeness, .* Awakening Latent, Mental Powers. The Achievement of Character. The Conquest of Fear and Worry. The Psychology of Prayer. Spiritual Consciousness. The Rediscovery of Jesus. FOREWORD We are living to-day in the midst of a great religious movement that is the more interesting because it seems to have been so spontaneous. It is not to be confused with the New Theo- logical Movement. This latter has proceeded from the schools, from the scholars and the theologians. The movement to which I refer has come from the laity, from the rank and file of the people; it is not a product of the schools. Wherever you go to-day you will find groups of people who are read- ing and talking of the spiritual life, people that you are surprised to find interested in the subject. Sometimes the books they are reading and the 5 FOREWORD language they use seem rather fan- tastic, and to the critic even absurd; but, nevertheless, it must be honestly admitted that this literature which is in the hands of so many people to-day, and these conversations which may be heard in so many different quarters, are essentially idealistic and optimistic. We are told that the nineteenth cen- tury was materialistic; if that be so, then certainly the dawning of this twentieth century gives promise of be- ing a spiritual, perhaps even a mystical age. Men like Renan and Paulsen, who stood as prophets in their genera- tion, predicted the time not far dis- tant when there should be a new form of religion, and it would almost seem as if these predictions were being realized in this great popular move- ment of our time. This movement presents various phases, and has found expression in many different organiza- FOREWORD tions. There is the Christian Science Church, now a full fledged organiza- tion with its magnificent church edifices scattered throughout the country, and its hundreds of thousands of adherents. There is Mental Science, with its multi- tude of students to be found every- where. There are many " Meta- physical Healing " organizations also coming under this same head. There is the phenomenon of Faith Cure which is constantly expressing itself anew from generation to generation. There is the New Thought Movement, the phrase which I have selected to stand for the general movement of thought in this direction, and there are New Thought study classes in every com- munity of any size. And then there is, latest of all, the Emmanuel Church Movement with headquarters in Bos- ton and numerous branches springing up all over the country. No one is 7 FOREWORD in a position to rightly interpret the significance of these modern cults, until he recognizes that New Thought, Metaphysical Healing, Mental Science, Christian Science, Faith Cure, the Emmanuel Movement, are all varying phases of a deep underlying movement of our age. When one investigates this subject, he is surprised to find how rapidly its literature has grown. The writers in this field are legion, — people like Ralph Waldo Trine, Charles Brodie Patterson, Henry Wood, Horace Fletcher, Horatio Dresser, Edward Car- penter, Ursula Gesterfeld and a literal host of other writers less well known, men and women whose books or pam- phlets, all deal with some phase of this New Thought Movement. In many of our bookstores I have been told in each instance that the " best seller " next to the latest novel was the New 8 FOREWORD Thought literature; and I know of several cases where religious book- stores, very much against their in- clination, have been obliged to clear off two or three sections of their shelves and replace the older theologi- cal books with New Thought literature; because, as they say, " The people demand it, and if we do not have this literature for which they inquire, we simply lose their patronage." This literature has found its way into multi- tudes of homes of those who are out- side of all churches and into homes of multitudes who are active members of the established churches of the land. Then there are various monthly pub- lications, of greater or lesser import, each with its own circle of readers. The amount of literature on the sub- ject is tremendously significant, when one stops to think of how young this movement really is, and of how it has 9 FOREWORD proceeded not from the schools or the scholars, but from the laity. The number of followers of this movement, is also a most significant fact. I do not refer alone to the people who have withdrawn from the churches where they have been members for many years, and have joined another organization such as a Christian Sci- ence Church, but I mean the people who read this literature, who have accepted more or less of its teachings, who are practising in their daily lives many of its principles; the people whose conversation betrays the fact that they are familiar with the line of thought, with the ideals, with the con- victions that underlie this New Thought Movement. I have been sur- prised to find travelling salesmen in the Pullman sleeping cars talking about this matter among themselves and reading books along this line. I have 10 FOREWORD been amazed, in offices of certain busi- ness men whom I thought forever immune against religious literature of any kind, to see lying upon their desks little booklets bearing unmis- takably the ear marks of the New Thought philosophy. I have known practical business men more than once, who have found their greatest pleasure in buying in large quantities and send- ing to various friends, books of this class which have been extremely help- ful in their own lives, and they simply desire to pass the good word along. Now it would seem high time that a movement that has created so volu- minous a literature, that has attracted to itself so numerous a following, that has already formed its organizations and has its study classes all over the country, should be regarded as worthy of serious and thoughtful consideration. The time has gone by when the pulpit 11 FOREWORD or the press should be content to in- dulge in mere criticism or ridicule, least of all, in wholesale condemnation. How bitter has been the criticism which Christian Science has received; how preachers and physicians and journalists and humorists and writers of every class have simply vied with one another in finding fault with, or making fun of this modern cult! I confess frankly, for myself, that I find it utterly impossible to accept the metaphysics or the philosophy so- called, of Mrs. Eddy's teachings; but here is the fact, that in all honesty we are bound to admit; — that in this movement with all its strange philo- sophical contradictions, with its faulty metaphysics and often unscientific sci- ence, there is a power, a life, a vital faith, and men and women are blessed and made happier by it. No honest or intelligent person can deny the fact 12 FOREWORD to-day. When we see a hard-headed, prosaic business man who has appar- ently never been influenced at all by the sentiments of religion, undergoing a sort of new conversion and becoming a fervent and ardent Christian; when we see an ailing wife whom physicians have not been able to help, finally restored, apparently to perfect health and physical comfort; when we find a victim of some evil habit enabled to cast off the shackles that have bound him and become once more a free man ; when we find the home which was hell- ish in its atmosphere, taking into its midst this belief and becoming trans- formed literally into a heavenly place, we should be frank and glad to admit that there is some truth and power in the movement. It is not strange that new truths should first appear under the form of crudity or extravagance, or sometimes even of absurdity. As 13 FOREWORD a matter of fact this is just the way that all new ideas first made their appearance in the world. This is the history of the beginnings of all the sciences, and then as time went on that which was true persisted and the absurdity or the crudity, the extrava- gance or the error, has gradually fallen away and disappeared. If we are wise we will not be so swift in our condemnation, because a truth is expressed in a crude, or even in an absurd form. Our chief endeavor should be, not to find fault with a movement that has gained such magni- tude and influence, but if possible, to find out the truth that it contains, sift the error from the truth, and thus make ourselves the possessors of the living principle that lies at its heart. This is the aim, however imper- fectly realized, of the chapters that follow. I leave to others the task of 14 FOREWORD criticising or condemning Christian Science or Mental Science or Meta- physical Healing or the Emmanuel Movement. I am endeavoring, as far as possible, to get at the principles underlying all these kindred phases of thought, from which their real truth and vitality proceed. There is a great difference between a fact, and the theory that explains that fact. The history of thought is full of the ex- periences of men who have attempted to explain by their theories certain facts, and yet as time has elapsed their first theories have been exchanged for truer and more accurate explanations. As we seek to comprehend these various phases of the New Thought Move- ment, while we admit the fact of the great good that is done, the lives that are transformed, the homes that are made happier, the pain that is relieved, the diseases — at least of a certain 15 FOREWORD type — that are cured, at the same time we may not be quite satisfied with the theories which have been put forth to explain these facts. As we begin to study seriously the New Thought Movement we have as an aid to a better understanding of its phe- nomena, all the wealth of the newer Psychology with its wonderful dis- closures. We understand to-day as we could not have understood a genera- tion ago, the wondrous operations of the sub-conscious or the subjective mind; the new meaning and the pos- sible workings of the law of Suggestion from without, or of Auto-Suggestion from within; and we know the im- mense influence that mental environ- ment has upon the individual. This great religious movement, as I have phrased it, is on another side just as truly a great scientific movement. The religious spirit which lies at the heart 16 FOREWORD of the movement, is at last grasping hands with the true scientific spirit, as it is making clear and plain, the possibilities of mind and its power over the individual. I recently cut from the columns of the " New York Times " this little clipping, which only emphasizes the great need which clearly exists, of helping to make clear and meaningful the underlying truth or principle of these various phases of thought. It is headed " To Explain Mind Cures." " ' A scientific exposition of mind cure, or psychotherapy, is about to be given to the American public along university extension lines in treatises which will set forth the underlying truth of Christian Science, Mental Healing, Faith cure, New Thought, and the Emmanuel Movement,' W. B. Parker of 30 Church Street announced yesterday. ' These will be by the most 17 FOREWORD prominent scientists and physicians making investigations along these lines in this country and abroad. Of the at- titude in this country to mental science Dr. Richard C. Cabot of Harvard Uni- versity, who is to be one of the writers, says: " 'Scientific, rational mind cure (mind cure is the English for psychotherapy) has been used in America in a system- atic way only within the last decade; American physicians fought shy of it for a long time. They had reasons for this, but not, in my opinion, good rea- sons. One of the most important of these reasons lay in the fact that Chris- tian Scientists and other unorthodox schools of healing were already in the field and in competition with medical men. To suggest in any way that there might be truth in these foolish and unreasonable systems has seemed im- 18 FOREWORD possible to the American physician. In Europe, on the other hand, where there has been no movement among the laity, where psychotherapy has been wholly in the hands of the physicians, its scientific and reasonable sides have been developed, while we in America have sat by and watched the antics and extravagances of Mrs. Eddy and her school with disgust or with horror, but without any steady or consistent attempt to find out the truth be- hind their fallacies and absurdities) or to apply this truth in our own way. This is simply indicative of the general tendency to-day on the part of scientific men, not only to recognize the truths that there may be in the New Thought Movement, but to sepa- rate them from the extravagances and absurdities with which they have been heretofore so largely associated in this 19 FOREWORD country. In my work I am con- stantly meeting men and women who have come into contact, through an experience, personal or otherwise, with the workings of New Thought in some one of its various phases; they have been impressed with the power of the truth expressed, and yet they have not been able to explain it; they do not see just how this New Thought fits into their sys- tem of religious beliefs; they are confused and uncertain, and so are turning here and there to find, if pos- sible, some light upon the subject. It is for the sake of furnishing to all such whatever of light may have come to me in the search for truth, that this book is given to the public. In most general terms, what seem to be the essential elements of this movement? I am dealing now not with its separate phases, but with the 20 FOREWORD principle which underlies the Move- ment as a whole. The chapters which follow take up the separate principles and show their application to the curing of disease, to the transforma- tion of moral character, to the develop- ment of latent mental possibilities, and to the enlargement of one's own spiritual life. On its religious side, the New Thought Movement finds its key- note in the words of the Apostle Paul, " For in Him we live and move and have our being." Its teachings in- volve the honest, earnest and per- sistent endeavor to realize the truth of these words, the application of this principle in a more determined way than it ever has been applied, to every day experience and to every condition of human life, in order that men and women may realize not on Sundays or in moments of especial religious fer- 21 FOREWORD vour only, but in every moment of life that " In Him we live and move and have our being." This is the religious significance of the New Thought Movement. What does the Emmanuel Movement mean? What are they trying to do in that old Church in Boston? They are just re- minding people of God, in an age when men have well nigh forgotten Him in any real or vital sense. This is not a new truth, but it is a new applica- tion of the old truth. It is an attempt to make men see what is involved in the fact. If the Apostle was right when he said, " In Him we live and move and have our being," then what follows for my physical life, for my mental life, for my moral life, for my spiritual being? It is a new realization of what has always been true, and a pressing of this truth home upon the hearts and lives of men. 22 FOREWORD On the scientific side the New Thought Movement accepts the dis- closures of the wonderful power of mind over matter, of mind over the body, of mind over physical condi- tions. It is not implied that the psychologist of to-day draws the line hard and fast, and states in just so many words what mind is able to do with body and what it is not able to do, but the psychologists and our leading physicians are recognizing that very many, if not most of the ills to which flesh is heir, proceed from dis- ordered mental states or are due to abnormal mental conditions, and that instead of doctoring from outside, the thing needed is to get down to the root of the trouble, to get back to the source of the disorder, to set right the mental conditions, to create a different mental atmosphere, and that only thus can harmony be brought out of the FOREWORD existing discord. This is the scientific side of it. Few realize how volumi- nous the literature is upon simply this phase of the subject. I have upon my desk a score of books, most of them published within the last five years, dealing with this subject strictly from the scientific standpoint; books written by professors in German uni- versities, by leading physicians in Eng- land and in this country, all recognizing the tremendous part played by the mind in the cure of at least certain kinds of diseases and in the transforma- tion of moral character. It is a mistake to think that the New Thought Move- ment confines itself to the cure of bodily ills. While it lays emphasis upon the power of the mind to accom- plish wonders in the physical body, it goes much deeper than that and shows man how mental powers can be de- veloped and moral weaknesses over- 24 FOREWORD come, how conditions in the home, which have produced a suspicious or embittered atmosphere, can be changed, and how a man's relations in his business can be so altered that things will run more smoothly and he himself be more successful. It has to do with the whole range of a man's life. It affects him in all the domain of his wonderfully complex nature. If it has the actual influence upon the man, that these leaders claim it may have, it may transform him from center to circumference. The curing of bodily ills is one phase of the working of the principle; but the curing of the mind, the awakening of the soul, the en- larging of the horizon and making strong and symmetrical the moral and spiritual nature, — these are things which are just as possible in the domain of the working of this truth. The New Thought Movement stands 25 FOREWORD in the clearest sense for an applied Christianity. It is in no sense anti- Christian. It certainly is not un- christian. It takes the fundamental teachings of Jesus Christ as they apply to practical life, to daily conduct, to actual living, and sets them forth with an emphasis that, unfortunately, the pulpit has not always given to them. The prevailing tendency in the pul- pit, has been to spend too much time upon the discussion of theological subjects, dogmas and creeds, and altogether too little time upon the practical questions of daily living that make up the actual conduct of man. The idea that fear, worry and anxiety are sins and can be overcome, is as old as the teaching of Jesus when He said, " Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not neither do they spin, yet your Heavenly Father cares for them. Why take ye thought FOREWORD for the morrow? Why are ye anxious about meat and drink and raiment? " Jesus is seeking to have man see that he can and ought to cast out of his life forever these dread feelings, fear and worry and anxiety, the arch-enemies of happiness, peace and power. But the pulpit has been discussing the Inspiration of the Bible or the Trinity, the Incarnation, or the Atonement, while the practical needs of men's lives have too often been left unsatis- fied. Why have so many people been attracted to Christian Science or other similar organizations? It has not been because of the metaphysics of Mrs. Eddy; it has not been because of the philosophy that is put forth to explain the phenomena or the facts as wit- nessed in these various organizations. The last thing that anybody accepts in a religion is its dogmas. The meta- physics of Buddhism, for example, are n FOREWORD an absolute negation of everything that we suppose goes to make religion — denial of God, denial of the soul, denial of immortality, denial of the worth-whileness of life, — and yet in spite of the metaphysics, Buddha still receives the adoration of multitudes of people, who find inspiration and power in his life and in his example. People do not embrace religion because of its theology or because of its metaphysics. That is the last thing they embrace. People accept a religion when they see it doing something practical, when it yields visible fruits in life and char- acter. In the long run that religion has the largest following which is doing the most practical good, regard- less of its metaphysics; and that re- ligion has the smallest following which is doing the least practical good, re- gardless of its theology. There is an increasing number who admit, whether 28 FOREWORD they can explain it satisfactorily or not, a power that is getting results, that is doing for them what the conventional religion of the Church has failed to do; working transformations in their lives and in their homes, that the teachings of the Pulpit have failed to accomplish thus far. Eventually men believe the things which are most useful, most practical and most beneficial. This is what man really wants to believe, and this surely is one of the chief tests of Truth, viz. : — whether it does do good, whether it can accomplish re- sults, whether it does bring things to pass. " By their fruits," said Jesus, " ye shall know them." A man who has been born and brought up in the atmosphere of the Church and who has been a professing Christian all his life, said to me recently, " You are telling us to accept Jesus Christ, to have faith in Christ, and we 29 FOREWORD do come to Him, and as best we know how we try to have faith in Him; and then you say, in the words of Paul, ' Now work out your own salvation.' But it is a great task that you impose; I may have faith in Jesus Christ but I am conscious of turmoil, of struggle and conflict within; I am conscious that there is little or none of ' the peace of God that passeth all understanding ' filling my soul; I am conscious that I have a temper that gets the best of me, or an appetite that I find it hard to handle; I have faith in Jesus Christ, but you tell me, ' Work out your own salvation, build yourself up into the Christ-like character.' And I ask you very naturally, ' How am I to do it? ' That is what you ministers do not tell us. How are we going to become Christ-like, when we know ourselves to be what we are to-day? ' : I think it is a just criticism on much of the FOREWORD preaching and teaching of the Church, and reveals one reason for the wide- spread influence of the New Thought Movement. It does try to tell people how they can conquer this weakness and overcome that fault, and how they can apply the law so as to insure progress toward the Christ-like char- acter. This is really what we want to know; this is what we go to church for; this ought to be the prime busi- ness of the preacher everywhere, to help men and women see how they can build within themselves and others the perfect character. This New Thought Movement is also surcharged with the spirit that looks for the good in everybody and in everything; it minimizes the bad and the evil; it seeks to forget all that is ugly and hateful, all that is selfish or sinful, and it is constantly striving to look beyond and behind these things 31 FOREWORD for the better elements, for the nobler part that is to be found in every human life; and so it is full of the spirit of encouragement and hope. In other words, its constant method is positive and constructive rather than negative and destructive. Would that all men might catch this spirit, so that we could look beyond the bad in other people and see only the good, so that we could forget to criticise and seek only to en- courage, so that we could put away the ugly and the unbeautiful things of life and not parade them in our homes or before our children, but let only the good, the beautiful and the true things of life be their constant inspiration! The New Thought spirit inculcates only the broadest charity and the ut- most sympathy. Again you say that this is not new. No, it is not new. It is just as old as the sayings of Jesus. But it is newly applied. It teaches us, 32 FOREWORD for example, that when we cherish the feelings of anger or hatred, or envy, or jealousy, we are not only hurting the person towards whom we cherish these feelings, but we are hurting ourselves. It tells us that thoughts are living things, and that when we think these evil or unkind thoughts of other people, we are digging a great gulf between ourselves and these other lives, which never can be bridged. It teaches men that it is wrong for them to judge harshly and unkindly. It tells men constantly and all the time, " Your own will come to you, as sure as God is God." If you send out good cheer, good cheer comes back; if you send out sympathy and love, sympathy and love will come back to you. What you think, what your will creates within you goes forth unseen but most surely on its errand, and evokes in other lives the similar thing. We all know this to 33 FOREWORD be true; but because of the explana- tion given, a new emphasis is placed on the reasons for being sympathetic and charitable, kind and brotherly always; and so we begin to enter more deeply into the real spirit of human brotherhood and the genuine spirit of kindly helpfulness one toward another. In the last place, the spirit of this movement emphasizes the fact that the truest way to aid the body, the surest method by which abnormal physical or moral conditions can be overcome, is through spiritual development, by get- ting the mind right, by creating the right atmosphere within, by enlarging the spiritual horizon of one's life. In this way only can the highest results be attained, both within and without. In a single sentence, the essential truth in the New Thought Movement is, that the real home of man is within. 34 FOREWORD This is where he really lives. Here is the source of the atmosphere that makes the home beautiful or helpful — not the rugs or pictures or furniture — but the inner life. This is the source of the power in your life that makes you a strong and influential personality. It does not depend upon external con- ditions, but upon what you are within. The New Thought emphasizes the profound truth, which has been the teaching of idealism in every day and generation, that in the inner conscious- ness, in the will, in the actual thought of the individual, lie the real sources of power, of health, of true progress. The teaching of the New Thought Movement, in its essentials, is simply the realization, the carrying out, the deeper and more detailed application of Jesus' words when He said, " The kingdom of God is within you." 35 THE UNIVERSAL MIND OR, THE IMMANENT GOD THE UNIVERSAL MIND OR, THE IMMANENT GOD T was Tolstoi who said some time ago, that the trouble with this age of ours is that it has lost the sense of God. Multitudes of people believe in God to-day, in fact nearly every intelligent man and woman believes in God; but belief in God is vastly different from realizing God; and whether a man's belief in God is of any vital value, depends, of course, upon what his belief in God really is. As history re- veals, progress in religion has always gone hand in hand with the improve- THE UNIVERSAL MIND ment that has taken place in man's notions of God. As one by one the crude, narrow, and superstitious ideas concerning God have fallen away, we find that the religious life of man has been making true and actual progress. But to-day it would seem, almost more than at any other time in the past history of the race, men are crying out for a real God, — not a god of theology, not a god of dogmas or doc- trines, not a god of theory, — but a God who can be realized, who there- fore becomes an actual power in every- day life. The prevailing temper of the minds of men and women to-day, both in- side the Church and out, is one of unrest and dissatisfaction; they are more or less conscious that they are not getting out of religion all that they might. Many of us have that feeling; and not a few clergymen often go home 4 OR, THE IMMANENT GOD Sunday nights, with the same unrest uppermost. We wonder if we are getting from our religion — and that is only another way of asking, if we are getting out of our supposed relations with God — as much as we have the right to expect. If religion simply means attending church services, lis- tening to the choir and the preacher, or taking part in some of the various activities of Church life; if religion brings to daily experience only the instruction as to life's programme but not the divine strength to carry out that programme, only the description of life's ideals but not the dynamic power by which these ideals may be realized in character, then we are justified in asking whether we are getting out of our religion, whether our beliefs in God are yielding us, all we have the right to expect. To-day, as in every age, earnest men are crying out, just V 5 THE UNIVERSAL MIND as the old French iconoclast Diderot cried out to the Church of his day, that was stifling truth and binding it fast with fetters, " Release your God," or in other words, " Enlarge your con- ception of God." This is the great demand that the thinking world is making of religion to-day. The key-note on the religious side of the New Thought movement, — and I use this title to describe the underlying principles, of which Chris- tian Science, Mental Healing, Em- manuel Church movement, and vari- ous New Thought centres, are but dif- ferent expressions, — the foundation truth underlying this great religious as well as psychological movement of our day, is found in the words of Paul, " For in Him we live and move and have our being." In other words, the religious inspiration of the New Thought movement is 6 OR, THE IMMANENT GOD found in its enlarged conception of God. We are all familiar with the tradi- tional notion of God that has generally held sway throughout Christian his- tory. We owe it in part to Judea, in part to Greek philosophy, in part to art and poetry, and to the philosophizing of the early Church fathers. All these different streams have contributed to- wards this traditional notion of God. In a single word, it was the idea of a God, who was a sort of " magnified man," who sat somewhere afar off, outside and apart from the universe, on a stupendous throne. This God in some far distant past had created the universe out of nothing instanter, by direct fiat, much as a man would make a machine. And then, having set " the machine " going, He turned His back upon it, in " sublime indif- ference." Whenever this God might 7 THE UNIVERSAL MIND choose, He reached down, and in some miraculous way, arbitrarily or capri- ciously, made changes in His machinery, or manifested His power in startling, spectacular ways to the children of men. His whole relation to men was a relation of mediation. He could never come into direct contact with the human soul. To quote: " God is a being of an essentially different nature from man, between whom and Him there is no kinship; so that we may not argue concerning Him from our notions of goodness; so that we may not really know Him by the study of nature; so that we are absolutely dependent for any and all knowledge of Him upon an external, miraculous revelation." Some- thing like this has been the traditional notion of God. This is just where the great conflict between theology and science has come in. The argu- ment of science with theology has been 8 OR, THE IMMANENT GOD against this idea of God, a conception which has long been, to the scientific mind, absolutely unthinkable. But in this wonderful new century, we have been gradually enlarging our conception of the Deity. We do not think of God in the terms our fathers employed. He is no longer this Mag- nified Being apart from the universe, sitting on the great white throne, who only occasionally and then arbitrarily or capriciously, expresses His life or reveals His will, in the universe which He has created. Our thought of God to-day is of a Supreme Power, back of, underlying, and in all things. God is the Infinite, the Illimitable, the Eter- nal, the Unchangeable Being. He is, He always was, and He always shall be. He is Omnipotent; that is, the Being of all Power. He is Omniscient; that is, the All-knowing and All-seeing Being. He is Omnipresent; that is, 9 THE UNIVERSAL MIND the Being everywhere present. He is Omni -good; that is, the absolutely Righteous and All-loving Father. These are not new terms used to describe God. They are old terms. But what we need to see is, that the revelations of the newer thinking of the last gen- eration, have put into these old terms a new content, which has made them tremendously vital, whereas for most of us they have been merely abstrac- tions, containing little or no real mean- ing. So we may think of God to-day in terms prevalent in the scientific or philosophical world, as the Uni- versal Mind, the Universal Substance, the Ultimate Reality, or the Soul of the Universe. The name is nothing, if only we are conscious of the Reality. I imagine most of us will prefer to use the old familiar name of God, putting into it the new content and deeper meaning which is coming to us through 10 OR, THE IMMANENT GOD the various channels of present-day thought. As one of the results of the investi- gations and discoveries of modern sci- ence, we have come to see, as the pre- vious generations never could have un- derstood, that this universe in which we live is, in point of time, an eternal universe. The old idea, that four thousand and four years before Christ, God created the worlds, has disap- peared from the thinking of intelligent people. As we study geology, and examine the strata in which are found fossil remains of living organisms, — strata in some parts of the world twenty miles in thickness, — we do not wonder that the geologists infer a period of time approximating a hundred million years, during which such deposits have been slowly made. Our later knowl- edge discloses the fact, that the still lower Azoic strata, which were sup- 11 THE UNIVERSAL MIND posed to be absolutely devoid of any remains of life, are filled with micro- scopic fossils. As fresh discoveries constantly reveal new stretches of time, the geologist comes back from his investigations with the stupendous state- ment, that not four thousand or a hundred thousand or a million or a hundred million, but as near as the imagination of the scientist can figure it out at all, this world of ours has had an existence of at least a thousand million years. Can we realize what that means ? A thousand million years during which our planet has been in existence, not to mention other planets known to be vastly older ! It practi- cally means for us an Eternal universe. But not only in point of time, but of space as well, the idea of the universe has been immeasurably enlarged by the discoveries of man. We are told that with the naked eye we are able 12 OR, THE IMMANENT GOD to discern about two thousand stars in the heavens ; with an opera glass we can see, perhaps, one hundred times as many; but with the latest and best improved telescope we are enabled to look leagues beyond, into depths of space that fairly baffle the imagination. Our American astronomers, like Pro- fessors Dolbear and Newcombe, tell us, as the result of astronomical observa- tion, that unquestionably there are in the universe one hundred million worlds. The late Royal Astronomer of Ireland, in a book published just before his death, gives it as his opinion, that there are at least thirty million stars or suns, each one the centre of a planetary system, averaging perhaps ten planets apiece; which means, according to his estimate, that there are three hundred million worlds in this universe, the majority of them vastly larger than the planet upon which we live. Can we 13 THE UNIVERSAL MIND realize what this means, as to our conception of the universe in its extent in space? Any number of illustrations might be given mathe- matically, to illustrate the greatness of the universe. "If you let the ring upon a woman's finger represent the orbit of the earth, the nearest fixed star would be a mile and a half away, and the great body of the starry world scores of hundreds of miles beyond that." The brain fairly reels, and the imagination totters. It is impossible for the mind of man to conceive at all of such infinite stretches of space. Can one conceive of any boundary to such a universe, of any line that marks its limits in space ? As ex-President Hill used to say, the revelations in a single drop of water under the micro- scope are just as wonderful as is this infinite universe over our heads. He tells us we can rightly conceive the 14 OR, THE IMMANENT GOD atoms in a drop of water, as the stars and suns of a universe like unto that above, — as those stars and suns are the atoms of a larger universe. To all practical purposes then, our universe to-day is an Infinite universe. This is not all. We are coming to realize that the universe in which we live is practically Omnipotent. You have stood perhaps by some great mountain range, you have climbed the Catskills, and looked down those precipitous cliffs, and then you have tried to realize how infinite the force that must have been expended in the travail throes of earth, in order to produce such mountain peaks. I am indebted to Doctor Savage for an il- lustration which he somewhere gives. If you take a bar of steel, one mile square, and place it alongside of the Catskills, it would out-tower every one of the Catskill peaks; and yet it would 15 THE UNIVERSAL MIND take 87,000 of these bars of steel one mile square, to represent the power of gravitation that holds the moon in its orbit as^ it revolves around the earth. And what is the moon but just a little worn-out asteroid of our planetary system ? The electricity that plays in the thunder-cloud over our heads — how little we know or understand its power ! How little it would take of that seemingly infinite power to destroy an entire planet! The universe in which we live is Omnipotent, surcharged with power, a power so stupendously great that we cannot conceive it. But this is not all. Our enlarged conception of the universe has brought to us a conception, unknown to our fathers, of Law and Order. We know to-day that everything in this universe of God is under the reign of Law ; that every crystal is always formed exactly and invariably according to the same 16 OR, THE IMMANENT GOD geometrical pattern; that every seed always blossoms out invariably into the same flower; that the tiny violet droops on its stem, not by accident, but according to law. As Tyndall says, " the same law that forms the tear-drop moulds a planet." It is all law. There is no longer any room in this universe for caprice, or arbitrary will; it is law, it is order throughout, from centre to circumference. Another thing, still more remarkable, to be said about this enlarged idea of the universe is that everywhere we go we find the clear indications of Life, There was a time, when the scientist talked a great deal about " dead mat- ter." There is no such thing in scien- tific thinking to-day as dead matter. It is all living matter, absolutely. If you hold in your hand certain sub- stances, carbon, sulphur, and saltpetre, there is nothing especially expressive 17 THE UNIVERSAL MIND of energy or force. They are inert. If you bring them together you have gunpowder. Whence has come the power that now exists in this explosive ? Did you put it in as you mixed them together ? Not at all. Where did it come from ? You ask the scientist, and he says it is due to " inherent energy." What does he mean by that ? Perhaps he, himself, does not altogether under- stand. The dead matter of former times is alive with what is called " points of force." I read only recently of some German chemists who have been experimenting with inorganic matter, and have publicly made the announce- ment, that they have been able to pro- duce living matter out of what seemed to be dead matter. They mix oil and potash in certain proportions, and the result is a substance that resembles, in all its movements, the amoeba, one of the lowest forms of animal life. If 18 OR, THE IMMANENT GOD moves about, changes its form, and absorbs into itself certain objects, rejecting others. The old line of de- marcation between organic and in- organic, between the living world and the dead world, has vanished, and we are confronted by the stupendous thought, that what we call dead matter is alive throughout, not to the thinking of the religionist, remember, but to that of the scientist as well. Professor Dolbear declares that we always find life associated with matter, and there appears to be good reason for holding that every atom is alive. It was Her- bert Spencer who said before he died, that the conception toward which Nat- ural Science is tending, was not a dead world of matter, but rather of a uni- verse everywhere alive. . There is something else to be said about this new universe into which we have been ushered, which is still more 19 THE UNIVERSAL MIND wonderful and startling, and that is, that this universe of ours is not only living in all its tiniest atoms, but that Mind is present everywhere through- out the universe. Professor Paulsen, of Berlin University, one of the leading philosophical and scientific writers of the Continent, in one of his recent books, argues at great length to show that every physical process is always accompanied by a psychic process. He means that wherever you find physical matter, there you will find mind present in some form. One of the leading scientists in Washington, who has studied the subject for years, declares that the tiny cell, which is the unit of all organisms, is an embodied bit of mind ; that what used to be called vital, or physiological processes of the cell, are now recognized as psychic processes; and he goes on to prove, by the behaviour of this physical cell, 20 OR, THE IMMANENT GOD that all functions of the tiny cell must proceed from mind. :< In short, that the life of a cell must consist solely of its mental activities. What has hitherto been called the vital and physiological processes are in reality psychological processes ; and the life of a cell is noth- ing more than its mind." We are living in a world which is full of life and energy, in which there is no such thing as dead or lifeless matter, and in which we are forced to recognize everywhere mental powers and activities. Still another fact must be noted about this enlarged universe into which we have come, — it is a Unity. The ancients could not construe the universe in terms of unity. They did not dream of the unity that we know to exist. With the spectroscope we can examine the elements of the sun, the moon, and stars, and we find that the same ele- ments are there that are here. We 21 THE UNIVERSAL MIND study the forces of these heavenly bod- ies millions of miles removed from us, and discover that the same forces, — gravitation, heat, light and electricity, — operate there just as they do here. The same laws prevail there that pre- vail here; and wherever man can go, wherever he may search, wherever his wonderful instruments have been able to penetrate, everywhere he finds not only law, but the same law; there is unity throughout. Water runs down- hill here, and it runs down-hill on the planet farthest removed. There is one more step in our fas- cinating journey. As we ponder upon the marvellous facts which modern science predicates of the universe, grad- ually there emerges from our thinking the luminous, yet at first startling thought: " Then there is no other way to think of this universe except as being a living Organism" Can we grasp 22 OR, THE IMMANENT GOD the conception ? The old materialistic idea of the universe, as a machine made up of physical matter, and run simply in accordance with certain physical laws, is no longer possible to the re- flecting mind, and we are thinking to-day of the universe as an Organism, alive throughout, surcharged with vital energy, throbbing and pulsating with the powers of mind from its very centre to its farthest circumference; not a dead world, not a mechanical world, not a world once made by a God who sits afar off, but an Organism which is living, breathing, and pulsating constantly, with this infinite energy, this infinite life, this infinite power. This is the light that the newer thinking of science has thrown upon the problem of man's age-long search after a real God. No truly religious man can fail to be profoundly grateful for these divine revelations of science, 23 THE UNIVERSAL MIND which are helping immeasurably to make God real to countless human lives. No longer do we look to some dis- tant throne to find God. No longer do we journey afar through the uni- verse to ascertain His dwelling-place. We know that if there is a God at all, He is this Infinite Spirit that fills the universe full of His life, His mind, and His energy constantly. The scientist and the philosopher to-day, when asked for their conception of God, will answer, " There is only one concep- tion that we can entertain of God, viz., He is this Universal Mind, He is this Supreme Power that fills the universe. He not only once created, but He is continually creating; He is not only here, but He is everywhere." This Infinite Life, this Universal Mind, this Soul of the Universe, this God who is really pervading and sustaining all 24 OE, THE IMMANENT GOD that goes to make up this wondrous universe, this is what the ' new theolo- gian calls the Immanent God; this is what the New Thought movement calls the Universal Mind. It is the God who is conceived of as dwelling in His world. According to the old German proverb, it is " God sleeping in the stone, dreaming in the animal, coming to consciousness in man." You recall how Wordsworth, in these very beautiful lines, gives expression to the same thought: " I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused; Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns And the round ocean and the living air And the blue sky, and in the mind of man; A motion and a spirit that impels All thinking things, all objects of all thoughts, Aid rolls through all things." 25 \f THE UNIVERSAL MIND In other words, then, the universe is God clothed. The universe is " the living garment of God;" or, as James Martineau declared, " The universe which includes and enfolds us round is the life dwelling of an Eternal Mind." Can we state in still simpler terms this tremendous truth ? Let us make the attempt. The relation of this Infinite Power, or God, to the universe, is the same as the relation of man's soul to his body. The universe as we see it is God's body ; then God is the soul of the universe, just as you are the soul of your body. Can you lay your finger on yourself ? Is your hand, you ? Is your foot, you ? Is your brain, you ? Where are you ? Can any one localize you in your body ? You pervade your body through and through. When you are looking intently at some object, to all practical purposes you are in your eyes. When you are consciously 26 OR, THE IMMANENT GOD working with your hands, to all in- tents and purposes you are in your hands. You are immanent in your body. There is not one atom of your body where you are not — but still, you are not your body. The time is com- ing when you will surrender your body to the forces of dissolution, but you will not perish. Now God is the soul of the universe, just as your soul is immanent in the body. If it makes it any clearer, take the conception of Swedenborg. Imagine this universe, shaped like a gigantic human body; then God is to this infinite form, or universe, what you are to your physical form, or body. This does not mean that God is identical with the universe, but that He is in every part of it, thrilling, pulsating, living in it all, just as you live and thrill and pulsate throughout your body. And just as you, who dwell within the body, also transcend the 27 THE UNIVERSAL MIND body, so does God transcend the uni- verse, whose soul He is. This has been the conception of a philosopher here and there, it has been the thought of a poet like Wordsworth now and then, it has been the idea entertained by certain so-called free thinkers in the past history of religious thought; but never until to-day has it come to be the great vital conception of God that has dawned on men's hearts, that has made possible such new vistas of truth, and opened up before every individual life, so glorious an outlook and such great sources of power. How stupendous the thought, that God is not outside but within; that I cannot escape Him, however I may try, for He is here ! The God of infinite power, whose greatness I see manifested every- where in nature about me, is the same God who is waiting to manifest Himself within me. Even as I write these 28 OR, THE IMMANENT GOD words I am conscious that they open up undreamed of possibilities, in the attainment of character and of develop- ment along spiritual lines. Oh, that we might profoundly realize that we are not the men and women we might be; we are not as strong, we are not as pure, we are not as effective in our work, we are not as helpful in our relations with others ! We catch glimpses now and then of what it means to be a real man or a real woman, and then the clouds gather and we lose the vision ; but the fact that the glimpse has once come, that we once caught the vision of the meaning of manhood and womanhood, ought to be the surest sign to us that the selfish and materialistic lives we are living, do not begin to represent what we can be, and what we may attain, if we but come to understand ourselves and the infinite resources of power at our command. 29 THE UNIVERSAL MIND This is the New Thought of God that is finding its way into so many lives, that is helping men and women in so many different places, and under so many various names, to live the life of strength, of self-control, of peace, and of power. Emmanuel — " God with us." This is what men want, what men hunger for, and what men are searching after to-day, — a real God, — not a god who once was, but a God who now is ; not a god who once spake, but a God who now speaks ; not a god who once wrought, but a God who works to-day; and that God is here, and that God is within us. It is for us to realize the consciousness of our oneness with Him. " Speak to Him thou, for He hears, and Spirit with spirit can meet; Closer is He than breathing And nearer than hands and feet." 30 THE DIVINITY OF MAN THE DIVINITY OP MAN VERY new thought of God must involve new thoughts of man. It is upon a man's idea of God that his idea of himself really depends. If his con- ception of God is narrow and unworthy, so must be his conceptiqn of himself; if, on the other hand, his thought of God is lofty and noble, his thoughts of himself must inevitably become lofty and noble. If the new thought of God, which has been influencing countless minds, and has brought new peace and power into so many lives, is essentially, the idea of a Supreme Power, back of, underlying, and in all things, then, 33 THE DIVINITY OF MAN what is man ? What is the normal re- lation between God and man ? Can there be any distinct boundary line between them ? Is there a divine side to man, which opens out into the un- fathomable depths of the Infinite ? History is largely made up of the attempts of humanity to build walls of separation. Men have been con- tinually putting up bars around them- selves, shutting out God and nature and their fellow-men. They have drawn sharp lines between their own souls and the Universal Soul. In the early life of the race, there seems to have been a divine nearness and in- timacy, which has been gradually lost, as civilization has advanced. Man has never lacked a so-called religion, but it has usually become formal and lifeless. To the patriarchs of simple and devout life, God was a present, all- important factor. While their con- 34 THE DIVINITY OF MAN ception of the divine character was limited and low, nevertheless, it was near and real. To the North American Indian, before he became " civilized," nature was the great revelator, and he lived in the immediate presence of the " Great Spirit." Even the pantheism and paganism of the Greeks contained so much of the intuitive element that Paul declared that " God was not far from every one of them." " As certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring." But as a material and artificial civilization grew up, and formal systems and institutions began to multiply, more and more men grew out of touch with the divine and unseen. The intellectual faculty be- came more highly developed, until it overshadowed the earlier perception. The primitive Church, pure and spirit- ual at first, gradually became theologi- cal, institutional, and polemic. From 35 THE DIVINITY OF MAN time to time, great souls have sought to tear down the walls of separation, as did George Fox, in the Quaker movement in England, but the great majority have failed to catch the vision. To- day, however, the ancient walls are slowly crumbling. Men are " feeling after God," and finding Him; and in finding Him, they are discovering them- selves. If we were to ask the old theologian, " What is Man ? " he might reply in words something like this: " Man is a fallen creature. In the sin of Adam he fell. He then became totally and absolutely depraved, and as a result he has been ever since, but a * poor, weak worm of the dust.' : Yet as we quote these familiar words, we feel keenly that this answer no longer satisfies the intelligent man. If we were to ask the rather overconfident medical student, he might reply: " Man is the most 36 THE DIVINITY OF MAN highly developed vertebrate, who has worsted all competitors in the struggle for existence, and to-day stands in the forefront of living creatures." Yet this does not satisfy. If we put the same question to the cynical pessimist, he would tell us: " Life is but a vapour; a breath, that passes away; a mere bubble upon the ocean of causation, here to-day and gone to-morrow, and gone for ever." The words of the old pessimist, Omar Khayyam, are even yet the fit expression of such a philos- ophy: " The worldly Hope, men set their hearts upon, Turns ashes — or it prospers ; and anon Like snow upon the Desert's dusty face Lighting a little hour or two, — is gone." Or, if we ask the man who has wasted his substance in riotous living, he might most fittingly reply, in the sad lament of Lord Byron: 37 THE DIVINITY OF MAN " My days are in the sere and yellow leaf, The flowers and fruit of love are gone; The worm, the canker and the grief, Are mine alone." If we should put this question to the average busy city man or woman, I presume we would receive from mul- titudes the answer, " My time is al- together taken up with just living. My horizon is narrow and contracted. I do not have time to think, or, if I do ask the meaning of my life, I find my- self unable to make any progress toward the solution of the mystery." And yet I venture to believe that in all men, there lies beneath these answers which might be given to our question, a vague consciousness that life is vastly more than such words would indicate. Whether we can formulate it in speech or not, whether we have any experience or knowledge to warrant us in the faith, there is a deep instinctive feeling in 38 THE DIVINITY OF MAN every man, that life is something more than a breath or a vapour, it is more than this superficial existence, man is not merely a " weak worm of the dust," it it is not enough to call him an insoluble mystery! My life has a reality, it pos- sesses meaning, it contains a deep significance, if only I can discover the truth about myself. Where shall we find the truer and more satisfying answer to our question, " What is man ? " If we turn back to the words of the ancient prophet, we find him saying, " God created man in His own image." As we turn to the New Testament we find that Jesus Christ utters the same truth when He teaches men to say " Our Father," and when He tries to help them understand that the relation of God to man is the relation of fatherhood, and that there- fore the relation of man to God should be the filial relation. This is the clear 39 THE DIVINITY OF MAN teaching of the Bible, and yet how vari- ous have been the interpretations put upon these familiar words, " Made in the image of God," and " Children of God." After all these centuries, how little we perceive of their profounder meaning. To most of us, I imagine, these phrases have been but poetry, simply beautiful figures of speech. We have seldom inquired deeply into their actual truth and asked, " What is their real significance for me as an individual man or woman ? " Now, it is the chief glory of the newer thinking of our day, that we are coming to interpret the poetry or the figure of 'speech suggested by these words, in terms that are freighted with profound meaning for every human soul. What truth can the words, " Made in God's image," contain, if not this: That when God created man He im- parted His very life to him, so that in 40 THE DIVINITY OF MAN man, simply as man, the divine char- acteristics are resident. Speaking re- ligiously, we say that in man God implanted a soul. But what is the soul but an emanation from God, an actual part of God Himself? What else can we mean, when we say, " Man is made in the image of God," unless we recog- nize that there is created in man, at the outset, a receptivity to the life, the mind, the love of the infinite God ? The old gulf that has existed so long in human thinking, between God and man, is being bridged at last, and we are coming to realize that man, by virtue of his being, is akin to God. God's life, to use a figure of speech, flows in man's veins. So that it is no longer poetry, but literal fact, to say that our lives are essentially the same as God's life; the only difference is one of degree. This is the only construction that can be put on the teaching of Jesus, 41 THE DIVINITY OF MAN as to the Fatherhood of God. He cer- tainly does not mean that God is oui father, only in the sense that he sus- tains a fatherly attitude towards us. Fatherhood, if it means anything, im- plies that the actual life of the father has been imparted. If we are children of God, we are such, only because in some real sense we possess within our- selves the very life of God. It can mean nothing less than that. Men talk of escaping from God, or of living their lives apart from Him. Can you not see, with the newer thought of God before us, how utterly impossible that is, when God's life is my life and I am a part of God ? God is not localized somewhere in space, a Being from whom I can escape, or upon whom I can turn my back if I choose. God dwells within me, and I can no more escape from God than I can get away from myself. If this were not true, 42 THE DIVINITY OF MAN there would be no such thing as life for me, I could lay no claim to the possession of mind, there would be none of the powers or abilities within me, of which I am becoming daily more and more conscious. We all know the wonderful and fas- cinating story of the evolution of man upon the earth. But the deeper signifi- cance of that story is nothing less than this : That from the very moment man first awoke to being, he has been slowly unfolding in consciousness, and that many have now reached the stage of spiritual development where they have become conscious of the existence and immanence of God, and thus know, rather than merely hold a belief, based upon the real or assumed authority of other men. This God-consciousness to which the race is rapidly tending is the result of the unfoldment and evo- lution of man for ages, and when fully 43 THE DIVINITY OF MAN possessed by the race will completely revolutionize our present conceptions of life, our ethics, customs, economics, and religion. Not always with the same degree of rapidity has man developed. There have been periods in his life when he has apparently been blind to the fact of his oneness with God ; but, however slowly, yet most surely, he has been progressing toward the goal, where he sees and realizes that his life, in its essence, is one with the Divine Life, that in his deeper consciousness he is akin to God. The great seers, the great poets, the great prophets, the great sages in every age and clime, have simply been those more deeply con- scious of their oneness with God, who have learned how to open their lives more fully to the incoming of the Divine Spirit, than have the rank and file of men about them. 44 THE DIVINITY OF MAN It is most interesting and also pro- foundly significant, to note how science to-day is throwing tremendous light upon this idea of man in his relation to the Infinite God. When a student in college, our professor in psychology told his classes frankly that there was no text-book on the subject worthy or adequate. " The older psycholo- gies," he said, " are out of date, and we are waiting now for the new psychology to be written." Since then, new dis- coveries have steadily been made in the psychological field, and yet the new psychology has not been written; and in our great universities they are still using James', Baldwin's, or Dewey's Psychology, but everywhere with the understanding that these books are no longer entirely satisfactory and must be supplemented by lectures, and collateral reading of more recent books or articles, that deal with the newer discoveries 45 THE DIVINITY OF MAN and conceptions of the psychology of our day. The time will come when some great mind will take this immense amount of new data that has been gath- ered, and generalizing from these facts, deduce the true laws and principles. Not until then will the new psychology be written. Perhaps it is just as well that as yet no such written psychology exists, for it leaves the mind of man more free and open to investigate truth wheresoever he may choose. However, there are some things which we do know, as to the rev- elations of the newer psychology. Professor James of Harvard admits frankly, in one of his recent books, that the phenomena of hypnotism, thought-transference, telepathy, mind reading, clairvoyancy, and clairaudi- ence, have been scientifically demon- strated. I do not refer to these phenomena as we see them employed 46 THE DIVINITY OF MAN so many times by quacks, charlatans, or unscrupulous persons. I am speak- ing now from the standpoint of science. The psychologists of to-day recognize and admit the scientific basis for these and many other facts formerly ignored or denied. The statement is made in the Edinburgh Review that thirty- nine living scientists of acknowledged standing, have openly avowed their belief in spiritual existences, and even, under certain conditions, in spirit-re- turn. Most of us are aware that the newer psychology teaches that man has two minds; or, as seems to me a better way of putting it, that there are two different forms of expression, or two different planes, upon which the one underlying unity, wliich we call the mind of man, is able to function. The subjective, the subconscious, or the subliminal mind, are all terms used to 47 THE DIVINITY OF MAN describe one of these expressions of mind, and that the most wonderful. On the other hand, there is the objective mind, with whose operations we are most familiar. This is not the place to discuss the powers and possibilities of the subconscious mind in man. Just now I want you to see that the newer psychology which recognizes the sub- conscious mind, and admits its powers, undreamed of heretofore, is proving to us most clearly that this subconscious mind, resident in all, is of the same essence as the Universal Mind. Re- member, this is from science, not re- ligion. We are no longer obliged to rest content with the statement of the Bible, that man is " made in the image of God," or that he is " the child of God." Science to-day has come for- ward to affirm that in his deeper self, in his subconscious or subliminal being, man possesses the qualities that re- 48 THE DIVINITY OF MAN late him vitally and essentially to the Infinite Mind of the Universe. Can we understand what this means, when scarce a quarter of a century ago the leading scientists were telling us, that mind was to be construed in terms of matter, and that the brain secreted thought just as the liver secretes bile ? Do we realize the sweeping change in the attitude of the scientific world, when we recall that twenty-five years ago Mr. Tyndall, in an address in London, made the statement that " the promise and potency of all life is to be found in matter; " and that scarcely a quarter of a century afterwards, Sir William Crookes, speaking on the same platform, and holding as prominent and influential a position in scientific circles, made the statement that " the promise and potency, not only of mat- ter, but of the entire universe, is found in life," — an exact reversal of posi- 49 THE DIVINITY OF MAN tion ? Twenty-five years ago it was believed that life, mind, and soul could only be construed in terms of matter; and to-day we are told just as emphat- ically, that there is no explanation for the universe or for man, save in terms of Infinite Life. Truly the new light is breaking when the scientist of to-day takes the position that in man's deeper self, in his subconscious mind, he is akin to the Universal Soul, the Infinite Mind of God. But some one may ask, " What then is the mission of Jesus Christ in the world and what is His relation to man ? " The unique thing about Jesus Christ, as compared with all other characters who have appeared in history, was His profound consciousness of God. This was what constituted His divinity. As He went up and down through Judea and Galilee, mingling with men of all classes, He never seemed to lose sight 50 THE DIVINITY OF MAN of the fact that He was one with God. He said, " I have come to show you the Father; he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." As we study His life, His teachings, and His personality, this is the one thing that leaves its final impress upon our minds. Here is One possessing, as no other man in history, the God-consciousness. We call Him the Perfect One, the Ideal Man; what do we mean by these phrases ? If it is true that man was originally created with this divine life in him, and if the evolution of man has meant the unfolding of the conscious- ness of the divine within, then Jesus stands at the highest goal toward which this development, taking place always and everywhere in the life of humanity, has been tending from the beginning ? Jesus Christ is the One in whose life exists this perfect consciousness of one- ness with God. The difference there- 51 THE DIVINITY OF MAN fore between Jesus and every other man, is not a difference in kind, but rather a difference in degree. There are not two kinds of divinity. The same God is in you and in me that was in Jesus Christ; only in Him there was the fulness of consciousness of the divine life, while we are groping our way, and more or less imperfectly, seek- ing to realize our oneness with God. Did you ever notice in your reading of the Gospels, that Jesus never does anything for man that He does not ask man to do for himself ? Jesus always identifies His life with man's life, and man's life with His. He says, " As I am one with My Father, I pray that ye also may be one; " "As the Father hath sent Me into the world, just so I am sending you into the world." He called Himself " the Light of the world "; but He also said " Ye are the light of the world." And again, in that 52 THE DIVINITY OF MAN sublimest prophecy ever made to falter- ing humanity, " Ye therefore shall be perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect." Could there be any higher demand ? Could He ask any- thing more of man ? Could He in any way show a greater confidence in man's powers to realize the divine in himself, than when He says, " Ye therefore shall be perfect, even as God is perfect " ? And can you conceive of Jesus, mocking the aspiring spirit of man, by asking him to achieve in himself the impos- sible ? The trouble all down through the ages has been, that we have set Jesus Christ over and apart from humanity, as if He were a sort of being different in kind from the rest of humanity, as if He were a magical creation, neither altogether human nor altogether di- vine, and therefore occupying a position somewhere midway between heaven and 53 THE DIVINITY OF MAN earth. We have preached about His teachings, His ideals, and His com- mands. We have said to man, again and again, " Such was the beautiful, symmetrical, divine life He lived. But we are different, we are not like Him, we can never attain to His likeness." But such a view is to destroy for us the reality of His life, to miss the actual meaning of His teachings, and to cru- cify Him afresh. Let me repeat, a careful study of the Gospels reveals the fact that Jesus never does anything for man that He does not ask him to do for himself. His great purpose was to bring man to the same plane of God-consciousness that He occupied. He sought to show men constantly, that just as He lived the life of oneness with the Father, so they might, and should, enter into the realization of their oneness with the Father. How else will you interpret 54 THE DIVINITY OF MAN those many passages in Paul's writings, which we have regarded as rather mystical, where he speaks of u being crucified with Christ,'' and " dying with Christ;" "being buried with Christ," and " being raised again with Christ; " where he says, " Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus " ? What does Paul intend, but to identify every life with Jesus Christ and say to every man, " This God-consciousness was the supreme fact in His life, and so it ought to be in yours; you have the power, you have the capacity, you have the ability within yourself to realize your oneness with God, as Jesus Christ realized it in Himself " ? Our mistake has been in putting Jesus Christ so far away from us, and admitting this wide gulf of difference between His life and ours. His mission in the world was to teach men how to live His kind of a 55 THE DIVINITY OF MAN life. He said, " I am the Way and the Truth and the Life;" or, as President Harper used to love to put it, " I am the way to Truth and Life;" I am the way to live. We say that Jesus Christ came to save men from their sins. But how ? Once again, by developing within them the consciousness of their oneness with God. That is the only way that any one is saved from sin. For sin is selfish- ness, and selfishness means separate- ness, exclusiveness, aloofness from God and humanity. The only true way by which you can put selfishness out of your life — the only way you can get down to the source of all sins, and erad- icate the root sin — is by coming into oneness with the Universal Life, by forgetting your little claims, your petty ambitions, your individual desires, in the overwhelming desire and purpose of becoming one with Him and one 56 THE DIVINITY OF MAN with humanity. That is just how Jesus Christ saves men. It is by pointing out the way in His own life, and then by helping men to walk out along the line of this realization of their oneness with God; helping them to see that the kind of life He lived, which in its essence was a life filled with the God- consciousness, is the kind of life that every man and woman everywhere can live, if they choose. Not merely by believing things about Christ, but by catching His viewpoint, by sharing His spirit, by holding His thoughts, by living His life, will man be saved, now and in eternity. I said at the outset that it was a man's thought about himself that de- termined the kind of man he really was. If you think of yourself as weak and helpless, like a chip tossed to and fro on the waves of life's sea; if you think of yourself in terms of matter merely, 57 THE DIVINITY OF MAN soon to crumble into dust ; if you think of yourself as utterly unable to realize in yourself, here and now, the ideals you cherish, it is no wonder you do not progress very far toward the attainment of the highest and best things in char- acter. But let a man once take into his deepest thought and life this vital realization, that he is not weak and helpless; that he is not a poor and pitiable object, buffeted by circum- stances and change; that he never was a " weak worm of the dust; " that he never is totally and absolutely depraved ; that while ignorance and selfishness have kept him often from reaching the highest and best of which he is capable, still he is an actual part of God, his life is one with . the Father's life, and that it only rests with him to enter more deeply and more continu- ally into the realization of this oneness between himself and the Infinite God, 58 THE DIVINITY OF MAN — then his life takes on a new meaning and dignity, a new grandeur and power, such as it has never before pos- sessed. I have somewhere seen a painting of two faces by an idealist, a young woman of nineteen. The first one Was rarely beautiful in form and fea- ture; but as you looked into the eyes, you discerned an indescribable sadness, a sense of dissatisfaction with self and hunger for the unattainable. And you turned away, sad at heart, because of the soul's unrest depicted on the coun- tenance. The other face, cheek almost touching cheek, was the same, and yet, not the same; a face out of which the hunger and unrest and dissatisfac- tion had fled, a face radiant with serenity and self -poise and peace. What a graphic outline of the oft-repeated story, of the human being not yet awake to its divine Self, — hungry, anxious, 59 THE DIVINITY OF MAN sad, yearning for it knows not what; and all the time the divine Self, the real Self, the true Being, is close at hand, only waiting for recognition. Oh, the sad and restless and anxious faces all about us, betokening the deeper hunger and unrest of the soul! How close to us is the divine Self, few yet realize. But it is within every one of us, waiting only for recognition, waiting only to be awakened, when it may reveal its won- drous powers. And when any individual once comes to a realization of that deeper or divine Self, it brings the permanent conscious- ness of the Source whence our life comes and whither it flows. It means for such souls, as step by step they con- tinue to walk in the light, the constant increase of peace, of power, and of joy. God help us to be so deeply earnest in the search for our diviner Self, that we shall not rest content until we have 60 THE DIVINITY OF MAN discovered the secret of living the life, that is life, indeed! "I go to prove my soul ! I see my way as birds their trackless way. I shall arrive ! What time, what circuit first, I ask not: but unless God send His hail, Or blinding fire-balls, sleet or stifling snow, In some time, His good time, I shall arrive; He guides me and the bird. In His good time ! " 61 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES OP THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND O rightly estimate and correctly interpret the new Religious movement of our day, one must approach it with a clear understanding of the psychological principles which constitute its scien- tific basis. Our Age has been witness- ing a most interesting and significant development in the ancient science of Psychology. Many years ago Pro- fessor James of Harvard University prefaced a lecture upon Psychology with these words : " Perhaps there are some of you who would like to 3 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES inquire what practical benefits this science of Psychology has for the world. I reply, absolutely none." And yet to-day, as Dr. Worcester has said, Professor James might, if he chose, be one of the most successful Neurol- ogists of the age, with his consummate skill as a physiological psychologist. James defines Psychology as " The Science of mental processes." Halleck calls it " The science of the mind." Baldwin, in a still more comprehensive statement, defines it as " The science of the Self." It has been my privilege for a number of years to study along these lines, to come into personal con- tact with some of the men who are recognized as authorities in this field, and I am merely employing the results of their work, the conclusions, final or not, as the case may be, to which they have come. One other word needs to be said : it behooves no man to-day, 4 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND in this sphere of thought, to be over- dogmatic. The field of inquiry is too vast, and the possible explanations of the phenomena observed too varied, to admit of unanimity of opinion. The psychologists who have given their lives to the study of the problems in- volved, are not agreed as to many things. Not a few of the leaders, how- ever, are practically unanimous as respects certain fundamental princi- ples. Opinions are varied, from that of Janet who held that the phenomena of the sub-conscious mind were merely the concomitant of hysteria, to the view of those who claim that such phenomena furnish nothing less than the positive proof of man's divine origin, of his spiritual nature, and of his Eternal Destiny. As the result of my own study and experience, I am quite ready to agree with Professor James and other recognized authorities 6 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES in this field, as to the reality of the sub- conscious mind. And if the discussion of this subject seems to be leading us far afield, let us keep in mind that it is not merely for the sake of the Psychology, but rather that in the end we may see its vital bearings upon man's life and the meaning of religion. We have already seen that the most important contributions of the newer Psychology are involved in the idea of the dual mind of man. Thomas J. Hudson in his " Laws of Psychic Phe- nomena " claims that man has two minds, the objective and subjective. Psychologists, however, because of the greater simplicity and for the sake of unity, prefer to think of one mind, though functioning on two different planes. " The sub-conscious mind is not a second mind; to think so is to place an artificial barrier between the outer person and the limitless within. 6 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND There is but one mind ; the outer phase is the conscious, the inner phase is the sub-conscious." For the sake of con- venience, we may speak of the conscious or objective mind, and the sub-con- scious or subjective mind. The mind of man then, according to this view, is conscious and sub-conscious, external and internal, objective and subjective. The conscious mind acts, the sub- conscious re-acts; the conscious mind produces the impression, the sub-con- scious produces the expression ; the con- scious mind determines what is to be done; the sub-conscious furnishes the mental material and the power with which to do it. The conscious mind takes cognizance of the objective world. Its means of observation are the five physical senses. It is the outgrowth of man's physical necessities. It is his guide in his struggle with his material environment. Its highest function is 7 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES that of reasoning. The sub-conscious mind, on the other hand, takes cogni- zance of its environment, by means independent of the physical senses. It perceives by intuition. It is the seat of the emotions and storehouse of memory. It performs its highest func- tions when the objective senses are in abeyance. Dr. Hudson adds to this view the two propositions: " That the subjective mind is constantly ame- nable to control by suggestion,'' and " That it is incapable of inductive reasoning." The sub-conscious mind is intuitively the source of the deepest desires, the deepest impulses, the deep- est sentiments, the deepest convictions that become potent in shaping life and character. If this be true, the sub- conscious mind is the power behind the throne; it is the source of dynamic energy in a man's life; it receives the impression of the thoughts and desires 8 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND produced by the conscious mind, and expresses them inevitably, in the phys- ical organism, in the personality, in the character of the individual. The sub-conscious mind is " the great within," — an inner mental world from which all things proceed, that appear in the being of man. There are many, doubtless, who aie curious to know the facts which have convinced the modern Psychologist that there is such a thing as the sub- conscious mind. Let me briefly call your attention to some of the phe- nomena which have led to this conclu- sion. Students of life in its lower forms have long been convinced, that here are expressed many activities, which can- not be satisfactorily explained merely in terms of matter. Sir William Daw- son tells of watching with his magni- fying glass the operations of an amoeba, one of the lowest forms of animal life, 9 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES as it was trying to swallow a one-celled plant; of how it lengthened itself out and went through prodigious efforts in its attempt to absorb this morsel of food ; and when it found itself unequal to the task, threw it aside and moved off in another direction. George Henry Lewes, one of the early investigators in the field of physiological Psychology, proved by unmistakable evidence that in animals possessing no brain what- ever, there are activities revealing pur- pose, showing adaptation of means to end, which can only be accounted for by some kind of mind. Every scientist has recognized the presence of this something in the lower animals. They have called it " instinct." But what has that word meant ? It has only been a term to veil our ignorance. Wherever we perceive purposive actions, or the adaptation of means to end, we must recognize some form of mental activity. 10 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND Mere matter will not account for it. Only mind explains ; but a mind below the plane of consciousness. As we come higher up the scale we find the ant, with its wonderfully com- plex life, its marvelous " instinct," its social organization. If you have read Maeterlinck's " Life of the Bee," you know the wonderful story he tells of the activities carried on with consummate skill by the different classes of bees, and of the perfectly articulated society that exists within the hive. The modern psychologist tells us that the instinct of the ant and the bee is simply another name for mind; a mind not as individ- ual or as progressive as that of which we are conscious in ourselves, but mind none the less, operating on the sub- conscious plane. Coming still higher, we find the beaver constructing his ingenious hut with an almost human skill. The intelligent dog or horse 11 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES will reason, will remember, will cherish feelings of affection or hatred, will be suspicious or confiding. Here, at least, we recognize a mind, closely similar to the mind of man. This is one class of facts that has led psychologists to feel that there is much more of mind in the animal world than expresses itself in the conscious life of man. There is a great unconscious realm where mind is present, where mind operates, where mind controls activi- ties. If we turn our attention to man, we are met again by numerous expressions of mental activity which lie in a realm outside of man's consciousness. We will all fall asleep to-night. The con- scious mind will, apparently, be dead. The five avenues through which it re- ceives knowledge will be closed ; yet the heart will go on beating, the lungs will continue to expand and contract, all 12 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND the digestive processes will go on, as normally; just the right amount of blood needed by each organ of the body will be furnished ; in short, the entire complex life of the physical organism goes on unaltered and undis- turbed. What is the explanation ? We have said in the past, "It is due to the response of each organ to its mechan- ical stimulus." But what power con- trols and co-ordinates all these various organs ? What is it that holds them together so that to-morrow morning you awaken from unconsciousness, the same personality as when you went to sleep ? We call the human body a perfect machine, and we speak of it in terms of wonder and admiration; but it is surely a curious kind of " ma- chine," that can regulate its own actions, that can repair its own waste, that can substitute a perfect organ for one that has become defective. We do not 13 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES generally use the word " machine " in this sense. Any machine made by man requires the machinist or the engineer to regulate it and see that it runs smoothly. No machine runs on indefinitely without requiring careful adjustment and skillful attention. What constitutes the " machinist " in man ? What is the power that controls and regulates his activities, whether sleeping or waking? Psychology affirms that the only power capable of such marvel- ous activities is the power of mind, functioning, however, on the sub-con- scious plane. The somnambulist arises from his bed in sleep, walks long dis- tances, performs all manner of absurd and even perilous feats, impossible in his waking moments, carries on a more or less intelligent conversation, and in the morning remembers nothing of the night's experiences. It is the same intelligence that manifests itself 14 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND in the hypnotic subject who obeys blindly the will of the one exercising control. Another class of facts relates to the wonderful way in which the physical organism constantly tends to recover equilibrium when attacked by injury or disease. Among reptiles, if a foot or leg is lost, immediately the new member begins to grow. If a worm is cut in two, at once the part destroyed begins to form again, with all its organs properly adjusted. For cen- turies, the profession of medicine has been familiar with the phrase, " Vis medicatrix naturae," or, " The healing power of nature ; " and from the very beginning of medicine, this force has been recognized. Ambroise Pare wrote on the wall of his hospital, " I dress the wound, and God heals it ; " or, as another famous doctor once said, " We amuse our patients, while nature cures 15 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES them." Every physician recognizes that there is in nature a force capable of repairing the damage done, and of bringing harmony out of discordant conditions. So that the statement has been made, that of all sick persons, probably two-thirds could recover of their own accord, without any medical assistance. What this curative power is, and the laws of its operation, are questions to be considered elsewhere. It is sufficient for our argument to say that the remedial powers of nature must proceed from the mind, operating in the sub-conscious. These are some of the facts that lead the modern Psychologist to affirm so confidently the reality of the sub-conscious mind. Let us now define more in detail the distinctive powers of the sub-conscious as compared with those of the conscious mind. In the first place, we are told that the sub-conscious mind perceives 16 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND truth intuitively and immediately. Our conscious minds arrive at truth through the process of induction. We begin with the simple fact; slowly and with painstaking care we gather our data, and at length, by the laborious method of inductive reasoning, we reach the general law or principle or truth. The sub-conscious mind, by the power of intuition, is enabled to apprehend essen- tial truth, antecedent to, and independ- ent of reason, experience or instruc- tion. Many of the great minds in the past have stood forth above their fellows, because they seemed to be gifted in some wonderful way with this intuitive power. Jesus of Nazareth, nineteen hundred years ago, possessed the intuitive mind. Read His words as they have come down to us, His profound yet simple statements of truth regarding God and man, the meaning of man's life and his Eternal Destiny. 17 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES Nowhere will you find an indication of any reasoning process. Jesus does not argue from isolated facts up to general laws and principles. He is not a logician. But He utters some great Truth, by a flash of intuitive insight, as when He said to the woman of Samaria, " God is a Spirit, they that worship Him, must worship in spirit and in truth." He grasped truth intuitively, without going through the laborious methods which characterize our mental processes. It is by the exercise of this faculty that the Prophet, ancient or modern, is enabled to grasp fundamental truths. We call it " in- spiration," and certainly it is the basis of all we know of inspiration. One of the most striking illustrations of the intuitive mind is found in our own Ralph Waldo Emerson. As has been said, "One might just as well begin at the end of any of his essays, and 18 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND read backwards, for all the difference that is made in the sense." In Emer- son's writings, each sentence stands alone by itself. He does not begin with a few facts, and then work out an elaborate argument; he never starts with a premise, and draws from that a logical conclusion. But one sentence follows another, clean cut and lumi- nous, many of them revealing marvel- ous insight. We call him a great philosopher, but not in the ordinary sense in which we apply that term to Kant, or Hegel or Spencer. He is only entitled to the name because of his rare ability to perceive truth intuitively. We regard the feminine mind to a greater or less degree as an intuitive mind, by which we mean that the average woman does not reason logically as man usually reasons, and yet she arrives at conclusions, scarce knowing how. There are many of us, when we come 19 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES to a crisis where help is needed on some problem, who instinctively turn to our wives or mothers for their judgment on the matter. We have learned from experience, that their judgment, while not the result of long reasoning proc- esses, is usually correct. The feminine mind perceives intuitively, as the mascu- line mind does not. The same power is observed in children, who often amaze us by their unexpected knowl- edge and original statements of truth. This pow r er of intuition is the funda- mental faculty of the sub-conscious mind that dwells in every one of us. The next faculty is that of deductive reasoning. It is the inseparable con- comitant of intuition. " The latter grasps the law by instantaneous per- ception, and the former, with the same inconceivable rapidity of mentation, deduces all legitimate conclusions and consequences, near and remote." OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND Another power possessed by the sub- conscious mind is that of a potentially perfect memory. Ninety-nine one-hun- dredths of what we see, or hear, or experience, passes out of our conscious life and is forgotten. If you have never tried the experiment, it might be Worth while to sit down some quiet evening with pencil and paper, and write all that you know, all that you can remem- ber to have learned, all your past experi- ences. You will be surprised to find how soon your powers of memory will be exhausted. Our conscious memory is decidedly limited. It does not begin to contain the smallest fractional part of what we have seen and read and learned and experienced. Now what becomes of all these facts and experiences that once existed in our conscious life ? Are they absolutely lost to us ? Not at all ; they have simply dropped below the plane of the 21 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES conscious and lie in the sub-conscious mind, to be evoked again into being under certain conditions. The psy- chologists tell us that in all probability the sub-conscious mind possesses the per- fect memory, that it never forgets any- thing; that everything you have seen, everything you have heard, everything you have read, every fleeting impression made upon your life, every experience through which you have passed, is lodged in the sub-conscious mind. But you ask, " How do they know this ? " Take the experience of delirium, in which people will describe experiences, recall scenes, dates and faces that had long since faded out of conscious memory. There is the not uncommon experience, of tremendous mental lucid- ity just before death, when, in drown- ing or sudden accident, all the past life seems to rise before one, and the things long forgotten are brought once m OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND more into consciousness. From whence does this forgotten life spring thus suddenly into being ? From the sub- conscious mind. The fragrance of a flower will recall scenes and events that had been entirely obliterated from memory. The revisiting of childhood's home, or the meeting with some old friend, will bring before us events and experiences of which we had not thought for years. Bring them from where ? From the sub-conscious, where they have lain all unsuspected, these many years. The classic story told by Coleridge describes a girl, so ignorant that she could not even read or write her name, who in her early life had worked as a servant in the house of an old scholar, whom she often overheard reading aloud passages from the He- brew, Greek and Latin classics. What she heard had absolutely no meaning 23 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES whatever for her conscious mind. But years afterward, during her delirium, while sick in a hospital, she repeated page after page of the classic litera- ture as perfectly as the scholar had originally repeated them in her hearing. These sounds, meaningless to her ob- jective mind, were registered in the sub-conscious, and in the hour of de- lirium years later, were given back again. One of the leading clergymen of New York City tells in a recent book the following experience: He was giving an address on some important occasion to a crowded house; friends and offi- cials of the organization were seated behind him on the platform. As he came to a particular place in his ad- dress, he entirely lost the line of thought, and could not recall the next sentence, as written in his manuscript. While confronting this dilemma, not knowing 24 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND what to do, to his immense relief, a friend who sat just behind spoke the two or three words that came next in his address as written. He caught the words, took up the line of thought and continued his address to the end. After- wards he turned to the friend and said, " I don't know how to thank you for helping me, as you did." His friend replied, " I did not help you." " Why," he said, " you gave me just the words I was trying to remember. But how did you know them ? " His friend replied: " You are mistaken; I did not say anything. I did not open my lips during the entire evening." Where did the needed words come from ? His own explanation is, that in the moment of stress, in his intense desire, they were given him out of the sub-conscious. We have all had the experience of ransacking our brains, to find some name we have forgotten, until finally 25 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES we give up the effort to recall; and then suddenly, as we are thinking about something entirely different, the name rises into our consciousness. Be- cause of these and many other similar facts, the psychologist predicates of the sub-conscious mind a potentially perfect memory. The next power of the sub-conscious, is what has been designated as tele- kinetic energy. It is simply the power by which ponderable bodies are moved without physical contact or mechan- ical appliances. It is the power, genu- inely exercised, though not always, by so-called " spirit-mediums." In mak- ing this statement, I am aware that I shall run counter to the prejudices of some, and transcend the sphere of observation of many. But if you have read the book entitled " Shadow World " by Hamlin Garland, or if you are familiar with the writings of Sir William 26 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND Crookes and Sir Oliver Lodge, of England, or if you have given any time to the study of psychic phenomena, you know that in many cases such phenomena have been demonstrated to be genuine. The explanation is that the sub-conscious mind, embodied or disembodied, is able under certfin conditions to exert a force sufficient to lift a table, move chairs and perform all sorts of feats with physical bodies, without recourse to mechanical means or physical force. Another striking characteristic of the sub-conscious mind is its telepathic faculty, or the power possessed by the sub-conscious minds of men, of com- municating intelligence from one to another, independently of all ordinary sensory channels of transmission. If you are familiar with the Proceedings of the London Society for Psychical Research, you know how numerous are 27 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES the instances given of verified cases of telepathic influence. Men like Pro- fessors James, Hyslop, Elmer T. Gates, and many others, are telling us that mind can communicate with mind, not only in the same locality, but across miles and miles of space. Upon the evidences of the Scientist to-day, tel- epathy is as indubitably proved as is telegraphy. Many of the phenomena of mediumship can be explained by telepathy. A good medium is usually a good telepathist. Telepathy is a scientific fact that we are coming to understand more and more, as we dis- cover the laws that control the opera- tion of this tremendous mental force. Psychologists say it is the sub-conscious mind that possesses the telepathic power, which explains many of the mysteries and enigmas about which we are now reading and hearing so much. 28 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND We are also coming to understand how large a part the sub-conscious plays in many of the conscious experi- ences of human life. Think of the geniuses of the race, in literature, in art, or in music. Balzac would go for days and even months without any sign of the creative power; then there would come upon him a perfect frenzy of thought; he would shut himself in his room away from his friends, and write for thirty-six or even forty-eight hours at a stretch, without taking food or rest, under the inspiration of the thoughts struggling for expression. George Eliot tells us that her best writing came, she knew not from what source. These moments of up-lift and inspiration, in which genius does its greatest and best work, would indicate that one has been able, in some way, to command the sub-conscious mind, and make himself, for the time being, the 29 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES master of its wondrous powers. These are the great creative moments in literature, in music and in art. There are other experiences through which we ourselves may have passed, or which are familiar to us in other lives. Take the instance of the frail mother, with only enough strength to do each day's work, who in the presence of some special emergency, where sev- eral of the children are taken seriously ill, will throw herself into the work of caring for them day and night, tasting food only irregularly, going without her sleep for days and even weeks. Friends marvel why she doesn't break down, and collapse utterly. But when the emergency is over, this same frail woman seems to be stronger than ever. What power is it, in this critical experi- ence, that enables her to do things she never could have done ordinarily ? The powers of the sub-conscious mind 30 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND called into operation by her need, says Psychology. Let me call attention to but one other class of experiences, where a person confronts conditions calling for heroism or self-sacrifice. It may be some one, who in the sudden crisis exhibits a depth of feeling, reveals a heroism, and manifests a spirit of self- effacement, that we never deemed him capable of, and that he himself never thought he possessed. The stress of the emergency has simply awakened and called into consciousness powers heretofore unrecognized and unknown. Perhaps it is unnecessary in this connection to mention additional il- lustrations of the workings of these wondrous powers, resident in the sub- conscious mind. Let me suggest, very briefly, the deeper significance for man's higher spiritual nature, of this sub-conscious realm, whose threshold 31 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES we are just beginning to cross, and whose powers and laws we do not yet fully understand. It is apparent to all that there is no conscious mind in the helpless babe; it lives its animal life, performing the various functions of the body, solely bv means of its sub-conscious mind. 1/ Gradually, as it learns how to use its physical senses, knowledge comes from the external world, and a conscious mind begins to emerge. This is evolved very slowly by the physical necessities of the material environment. It de- pends upon the brain as its organ. It is thus an accompaniment of our phys- ical life. It is limited in its powers. It is apparently intended for temporary use, so long as we inhabit the physical body. With the destruction of the brain, as far as we can see, it ceases to exist. It is not so, however, with the sub- 32 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND conscious mind. Every living being, even down to the tiny cell, exhibits the presence of this manifestation of mind. It is the power that controls and co- ordinates all the various organs of the body in the animal and in the babe, long before the conscious mind appears. It controls and regulates the functions of the body, after the brain has become diseased and reason has fled. It does not depend on the brain as its organ of expression. Then it need not dis- appear when the brain has ceased to exist. Indeed it may only begin its true functioning when the soul has left the body. Whence comes this mind, what is its nature, what is its destiny ? Think for a moment of our modern thought of God as the Universal Mind, immanent in all things. How can we describe the Infinite Mind of the Universe ? Certainly God must think intuitively. He must per- 33 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES ceive truth immediately. He needs not to employ the long laborious in- ductive process, through which we have to pass, in our search for truth. He would not be God if He did. The Infinite Mind is the intuitive mind. God's mind then, which perceives in- tuitively all laws, all principles, all truths, must inevitably deduce the infinite applications and the universal consequences, of these laws or princi- ples or truths. This follows naturally as a concomitant of intuition. God's mind also is one in which memory is absolute and perfect. With Him there is no past, or present, or future. It is all the Eternal Now, wherein is no place for forgetting or remembering. Now if it is true, as we have tried to show, that the sub-conscious mind in man is the intuitive mind, that it reasons deductively, and possesses, po- tentially at least, the perfect memory, 34 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIXD do you not see that the sub-conscious mind in your life and mine is absolutely akin to the mind of God, part and parcel of the Infinite Mind of the Uni- verse ? You cannot escape the con- clusion, that at last man has discovered within himself, the scientific basis for the faith that we are all made in His image, and are in very truth children of God. We do not need to go back to the Old Testament or even to the words of Jesus for that truth, in the light of the revelations of modern Psychology as to the meaning and powers of the sub-conscious mind in man. Do you realize what that may mean for your life and mine ? We are no longer employing poetry or figure of speech or beautiful sentiment, when we say that God's life is in us, and we are a part of the Infinite; indeed, we are stating literal, scientific truth; and therefore, all that is necessary, if we 35 THE POWERS AND POSSIBILITIES are to attain the beauty of soul, the symmetry of character, the nobility of life, as we see it in Jesus Christ, is to enter into the realization of our oneness with God. We shall consider elsewhere the Law of Suggestion, that great instrument by which we reach this sub-conscious mind and command it to do our bidding. I wonder if I have made clear the possi- ble bearing of all these marvelous dis- closures of Psychology, which have been so inadequately described, upon our higher moral and spiritual lives. Listen, then, to the word of Science, which is none the less the word of God: Every thought you think, every im- pulse you feel, every desire you formu- late, every ambition you cherish, — whether you express them to the world or not, — are all ineffaceably registered in your deep inner life. By means of these wonderful powers at its command, 36 OF THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND the sub-conscious mind takes your thought, your impulse, your desire and your ambition, be they high or low, be they right or wrong, be they selfish or unselfish, be they noble or ignoble, and translates them, not possibly, but most surely, into your physical organism, your personality, your character, for time and eternity. Oh, that we might come to see what it means, to record these thoughts and desires upon " the great within " of our beings! We may be able to put un- worthy thoughts and low desires out of our conscious minds; but, if they have ever had a real existence there, the solemn truth remains, that they have gone deeper down into the sub-con- scious self, there to work themselves out inevitably, in life and personality, in manhood and womanhood, in charac- ter and in Destiny. 37 FAITH AS A VITAL FOKCE FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE HE master-key to success, in every realm of human life, is Faith. Faith has inspired every truly great career that has blessed the world. Faith has made possible every great Institution that has enriched the life of humanity. Faith is the scarlet thread running through all the religions of the world, and revealing their essential unity. It is Faith that lifts man above the level of the brute, and makes him master over the physical world. We speak of Love as the crowning summit toward which man has been steadily climbing from the beginning; we think of the perfected man, or the fully developed 41 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE man, or the saved man, as one in whom the principle of Love reigns supreme; but faith is the pathway to love, and there can be no love whatsoever that does not contain the implicit faith. When Jesus proclaimed the potency of Faith on the hilltops of Palestine nine- teen hundred years ago, He revealed for all time the true secret of man's ultimate triumph over things of time and sense. But what is Faith ? As a positive vital force in life, faith has been as yet but little understood. There has been so much confusion of thought as to the real meaning of faith; it is con- founded with so many things which it is not, that most of us find it difficult to define just what it is, what power it exerts, or according to what laws it operates. Faith certainly is not credulity. We admire the unquestioning faith of the 42 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE child and in the child it is beautiful; but it is credulity born of inexperience and ignorance, unworthy of our respect in the man. The credulous faith of the child, is the prophecy of the intelligent faith of manhood. But the man of " blind faith," who accepts truth or conducts his life simply on the au- thority of another, without personal knowledge or experience, has not yet emerged from the childhood of faith. The child accepts the statements of parents and teachers without a ques- tion. Such a mental attitude belongs to the child's stage of development, but a man's faith must be his own, born out of his personal struggle for truth. Nor is faith merely an hypothesis. Many a person who says, " I believe," really means " I suppose it is true." Such a belief has never penetrated the outer surface of life. Persons of this mind have really never given enough 43 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE attention to the subject to be able to say intelligently whether they believe or not. Many who recite the creeds in our churches to-day only say the words, without any actual experience to justify their truth. Others are saying the same creed, and it has been repeated by multitudes for centuries, and so they suppose it must be true. Faith is no mere hypothesis, the only substitute for knowledge not yet attained. We must rule out also the definition given by the young theological student, that " faith is the faculty by which one is enabled to believe what he knows is not true," although many good people still seem to think that this is the chief function of faith. But our greatest error arises from the common tendency of confounding faith with belief. Belief is the intellec- tual body, while faith is the inner soul. Beliefs are variable, they are constantly 44 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE changing, they are but symbols of reality; whereas faith is the inner, eternal, permanent reality, underlying all the various forms of belief. Beliefs pass, faith remains. It is a great mis- fortune, when belief becomes so crystal- lized as to lose the flexibility which per- mits it to interpret faith, conformably to the changing mental states of suc- cessive epochs. It is faith, not doubt, that creates the new theologies from age to age. Belief, in the strict definition of the word, is the intellectual acceptance of a certain statement of truth, or the acceptance by the mind of an intellec- tual proposition about certain facts or principles. A man may accept these intellectual statements, he may give intellectual allegiance to these proposi- tions, and yet his life may be in no wise influenced by them; just as a man can accept certain intellectual statements 45 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE about business or politics or science, and yet in no sense be a business man, nor a politician, nor a scientist. Such beliefs are purely theoretical, they exist in the intellect alone; they have not touched the heart, or conscience, or will. It is only when we come to feel this distinction between faith and belief, that we are in a position to discern the meaning of vital faith, and its real power in our lives. If one studies the Gospels, he will find that Jesus almost invariably uses the word " Faith," as meaning some- thing distinct from mere intellectual belief. When the sick came to Him for healing, Jesus never asked them, " What are your religious beliefs, what do you think about God, what are your beliefs about my person or my mission in the world ? " He said to the blind men who sought Him, " Believe ye that I am able to do this ? They said unto 46 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE Him, 'Yea, Lord.'" This is His typical method with all who come to Him for help. He does not ask assent to a mere intellectual proposition, but rather, " Have you enough faith, or courage, or confidence in my power to help, to trust yourselves to me ? " Ap- parently Jesus was not concerned as to their intellectual conceptions of religion. His insistent demand was for faith, as an inner, co-operating force. He is always trying to help men see that faith is not believing an intellectual statement of truth, — the scribes and pharisees, whose religious attitude he constantly condemns, do that — but rather, an inner, dynamic, spiritual force, that translates the truth under- lying beliefs into daily life and character, and thus leads one to trust himself utterly to the object of his faith, what- ever it may be. This is the psycho- logical conception of Faith, — as a 47 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE faculty of the mind, nay, better still, as the sum total of a man's whole atti- tude, whereby he has the courage to trust himself absolutely to the object of his faith. Faith is never passive; it must be active. It is not simply theoretical acquiescence; it is positive co-opera- tion. It is not asking; it is believing that we have that for which we ask, and living as if we had already received. It involves the launching of conscience and heart and will in the direction of the object of one's faith. You say you believe in God, but does your life reveal the God-power ? If it does, you have faith. You believe that Jesus reveals the true way of Life, but are you living that kind of a life ? If you are, you have faith. You believe that death is not the end of life, but have you realized your own immortality here and now, and banished all fear 48 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE of the future ? If you have, you know the meaning of faith. Perhaps I can make the distinction still clearer, by the homely illustration of the boy walking along the country road after dark who sees in the distance a formi- dable looking object. He stops, un- certain as to its nature; it may be a man lying in wait for him, it may be some strange animal, or it may be a harmless old stump. As he hesitates and wonders, he finally comes to the conclusion that it is only a stump. Now he believes something; but his faith only appears when he walks boldly over to the dark object and proves his belief to be correct. So I. may believe that God is Infinite Goodness, that His life is my life, for " in Him I live, move and have my being," that all the resources of the Infinite are therefore at my command; but I only begin to exercise faith when I rest back con- FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE fidently in His goodness, when 1 let His life flow through me, when I appro- priate and make His power my own. Most of us are in the attitude of the boy who believes it is only a stump, but lacks the faith to walk courageously forward and put his belief to the actual test of experience, out of which alone, can knowledge be born. Faith, in the sense that we have de- fined it, is an absolutely normal, natural thing, and common to every life. We all live by faith, whether we realize it or not. It is this power which has made possible every successful career, which underlies nine-tenths of all our daily experiences, and without which we should simply cease to live. The popular mind has had the feeling that faith was something belonging exclusively to religion; and the com- mon impression prevails that the so- called conflict of Science and Religion 50 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE grows out of the fact that Religion is based on faith, while Science is not. But as a matter of fact, the conflict of Science with Religion has never been between Science and Faith, as I am defining it. It has always been between Science and beliefs, between Science and certain intellectual statements about truth, made by the Church or the creed, with which the conclusions of Science have not agreed. But Science has never denied the fact of faith, as a vital force in human life. Science itself rests on such faith, and in the nature of things cannot do otherwise, just as truly as does Religion. As Professor Royce has abundantly shown, the whole structure of Science rests upon a body of great faiths, which must be trusted if Science is to make any advance, but which have not yet been proved. For example, the one great faith to which every scientist is 51 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE passionately attached, and in devotion to which he does all his work, is the faith that Nature is intelligible, that in spite of all appearances to the con- trary, Nature can be understood. Such a faith lies back of all scientific ad- vances and discoveries. If you should ask the scientist, " What right have you to affirm that Nature always acts uniformly according to certain fixed laws, that the law of cause and effect operates everywhere throughout the Universe ? " He would probably look you blankly in the face and reply, " Well, if you do not accept these first principles as axiomatic, you know noth- ing of the scientific spirit, for the uni- formity of Nature's laws is the under- lying faith of the scientist." Hence, faith is not something peculiar to the realm of Religion. The religious man employs as his foundation premise in the realm of the spirit, the same faith 52 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE from which the scientist must proceed in the realm of matter. But what of the ordinary life; is it also lived by faith ? By far the major part of your experiences every day are based on faith. The clothes you wear, the food you eat, the medicine you take, the car you board on your way down-town, the deposits you make in the bank, the articles you buy, the letters you mail, the journey you take, the falling asleep after your busy day is over — are all acts involving the element of faith — this inner power by which you trust yourself absolutely to people and things, where full and posi- tive knowledge is impossible in advance. Life at every step means taking risks; it is walking not by sight but by faith. Do you know that the car will land you safely at your office ? Do you know positively that your letter con- taining the draft will reach its desti- 53 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE nation ? Do you know that the train you take is going to escape all possible accidents ? You act by faith in the majority of things you do, not the faith that is merely an intellectual belief, but the faith that carries with it your entire self, and leads you to trust your- self absolutely to the object of your faith. A man, who may be an agnostic in his religious thinking, is taken sick. He calls his physician up on the phone and describes his symptoms. In a little while the messenger delivers the medicine, and without a question the sick man takes it according to direc- tions. Is there no faith here — faith in the voice heard over the phone, in the physician's judgment, in the ac- curacy of the drug clerk who put up the prescription, in the directions for taking, in the power of the medicine to help his condition? He may not 54 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE know what the medicine is, nor the laws by which it affects his body, but he trusts himself — his very life, to the judgment of the physician and the power of the drug. Or, he may be in some business crisis, where much money is involved. He needs counsel and advice. He calls up his lawyer, and follows his advice implicitly. Is there no faith expressed in such an act ? He may believe something about the repu- tation of this lawyer, he may know him well enough personally to feel pretty confident that his judgment is good, and that he will advise him honestly as well as wisely; and yet, when all is said and done, he must exercise faith. By following the advice given, he reveals his faith, and trusts himself to the lawyer, the object of his faith. Or, he wants to make an investment, and after careful scrutiny of various possi- ble forms of investment, he finally 55 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE decides to put his money in a certain institution or enterprise. Does he ex- ercise no faith ? He may think he has examined all the facts thoroughly, and so knows just what he is doing, and yet, judging from human experience, does he ever know positively ? In the crown- ing experience of life for the young man and woman, as they plight their troth before the altar, and declare in God's presence that they are taking one another for better or for worse, till death do them part — is there no faith in this supremest enterprise of human life ? It matters not how long they have been acquainted, do they ever know all, and can they have the posi- tive knowledge that this union upon which they are now entering, will yield the love and happiness for which they yearn ? In the little as well as in the great experiences of life, we all walk by faith, 56 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE and not by sight. To destroy faith is to destroy life itself. Humanity, without this eternal inner principle of faith, would be like a body, out of which the soul had for ever fled, and man would lack all initiative, all courage, all hope, all love; no longer would there be any aggressive activity, no new enterprises would be launched, no new reforms inaugurated, no new institutions founded, no further ad- vance made in science or philosophy or art or music or literature or politics or invention; the death-knell of progress would be sounded, for it is faith that moves the world. Who are the great ones of earth, but the men and women possessed of such a vital faith ? What cared Wendell Phillips when they pelted him with rotten eggs and met his arguments with hisses and derision, as he went through this country in the interests of the slave ? 57 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE He had faith in his enterprise. Multi- tudes of people in the North believed that slavery was wrong, many could have made as effective an appeal, but they lacked the faith which made Phillips the Prophet of God to his generation. What cared William Lloyd Garrison, when they dragged him through the streets of Boston at the heels of the howling mob; how dared he face the muskets levelled at his head, and even the scaffold itself? He had faith in the principles of righteousness. When Beecher stood in England be- fore those rude and disorderly crowds, which were bent upon silencing his message, what made him the master of that critical situation ? He had faith in the great Cause which had taken him to England, to make plain the truth to our Anglo-Saxon kinsmen. What was it that caused Abraham Lincoln to tower head and shoulders above his 58 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE counsellors ? It was his faith in his divinely appointed mission. I do not know what Lincoln believed theo- logically, and I do not care; I only know that his life was the noblest, sub- limest expression of faith, that this country has ever seen. Now faith is the same, whether we exercise it in things, in enterprises, in our fellowmen or in God. The dif- ference does not lie in the quality of the faith, but in the object toward which it is directed. But whatever its object, faith is not credulity, it is not intellec- tual belief — it is ever and always this inner vital force, to whose leading we trust ourselves utterly. With this conception of faith clearly in mind, let us seek its illustration first, in the realm of physical healing. In every healing cult from the time of the ancient Egyptians down to the present, faith has been an indispensable factor 59 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE making for recovery. Whether it has been the sacred relics of the mediaeval saints, or the modern Roman Catholic shrine; the mesmerism of the Eight- eenth Century or the " metaphysics " of Mrs. Eddy; the insistent prayer of a Dr. Dowie, or the treatment by a mental healer; the intelligent suggestion of the modern Psychologist, or the auto- suggestion of the individual himself — the faith of the patient has been, if not the chief, as least one of the deciding, influences. Every physician will admit that the drug, without the faith of the sufferer in his own recovery, is well- nigh useless. In the sphere of the physical, results are obtained, — no matter what the cause, — if only it succeeds in evoking faith. It may be a sensible or an absurd object, it may be a true or superstitious doctrine, it may be a sound or a false philosophy, it may be an honest or a fraudulent person, 60 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE but whatever be the cause, if it only succeeds in awakening faith, physical benefits are obtained. How is it that faith has this power over bodily conditions ? Modern Psy- chology gives the explanation. It tells us " that the processes of the body are controlled by the two great nerve sys- tems, the cerebro-spinal, and the sym- pathetic. Our conscious acts are per- formed through the mechanism of the brain; but the involuntary physical processes, such as the circulation of the blood, the assimilation of food, in fact, all the vital chemistries of the body, are carried on by means of the sympathetic nerve system." Fear, doubt, worry, disorganize and paralyze the delicate machinery of the nervous organism, and as a result its various activities are disturbed. On the other hand, faith stimulates and harmonizes them. It has been well said, " there is no tonic 61 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE so uplifting and renewing as joy and confidence, which set in active exer- cise every constructive power of the body. Faith is a confident and joyous emotion. Any object which excites it profoundly affects the unconscious bodily functions. It sets the body at ease and enables its functions to be carried on calmly and normally." Such is the power of even a blind or credu- lous faith in the realm of the physical. Such a faith cannot, however, re- construct character. " A superstitious faith may and does work physiological blessing; ethically and spiritually it can achieve only harm." In the higher realm of the ethical and spiritual life, the thing of first importance is that one's faith should be directed only toward objects of supremest worth — the loftiest ideals, the noblest purposes, the truest con- ceptions of God and Life. This is 62 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE why, from the time of Jesus Christ, man's faith has been turning more and more generally towards Him, His ideals, His spirit, His purposes in life, His ideas of God and man. It may be that some are asking " What is the value and meaning of faith in Jesus Christ ? " If we say the supreme object of faith is the realization of God who dwells within as well as without, what is accomplished by faith in Jesus ? The New Testament apparently teaches it, and the Church has been preaching its necessity for centuries, but what is the reason for faith in Him ? Let me attempt an answer. The greatest influence in all the world, for calling out in human life this power of faith, is the influence of per- sonality. Sermons do not often accom- plish it ; reading abstract books seldom produces it. The person whose faith faculty is aroused and active, so that FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE it is possible for him to advance toward ever enlarging success, is generally the one who somewhere, somehow, has caught the inspiration from another personality. It is Carlyle who says, that it is never the age that leads in progress, but always the individual; and he means by that, that the great movements of history, making for hu- man betterment, centre around great personalities. It is her great person- alities that give to England's history its chief glory. It is the great per- sonalities in our own life, past and present, that give America her proud place among the nations of the w v orld. The idea of the supreme power of great personalities is the key-thought that runs through all of Browning's poetry. He perceives, as few of the great poets, that life's inspiration comes through its great personalities, because they have the power of calling out in human lives 64 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE the faculty of faith, by which men are enabled to attain similar heights. Your boy, careless and without am- bition, reads for the first time the life of Garfield, Lincoln or Washington, and you begin to see a change in him. You say, "At last my boy has awak- ened to the meaning and possibilities of life." He may not be able to explain it himself, but he has come in contact, through biography, with a great per- sonality, and his faith in his own powers and capabilities is called into being. Or, you are a young man in business. You have been fairly successful, but there has been nothing startling, and you sometimes wonder whether you have really found the right place for your abilities. Then, one day, you come into personal contact with some great personality in the commercial or industrial world, and from that meet- ing you have gone back to your work 65 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE with a new vision of your opportunity, and a new faith in your power to achieve. The influence of another per- sonality has awakened within you that which was dormant; it has evoked the faith by which you climb towards success. It is not sermons that make people good ; it is not reading the Bible merely that transforms character. But when we come face to face with some life so strong, so pure, so self-poised and so unselfish, that it puts our meagre attain- ments to shame, and yet fires the heart with the purpose to reach such beauty and symmetry in our own characters, then the new faith is born in us, that makes all things possible. When we realize this truth, I think we must see the value of faith in Jesus Christ. If Lincoln's personality has exerted a wondrous influence in count- less lives; if Washington, Gladstone, 66 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE John Bright, John Howard, Garibaldi, David Livingston, Florence Nightin- gale and scores of other truly great men and women, have been the means of awakening in others the same faith by which they made life glorious, then how much greater must be the power of a personality like Jesus Christ, who towers head and shoulders above them all. Let us keep clear the distinction, — faith in Jesus Christ is not synony- mous with belief in certain things about Him. One can believe all the ortho- dox doctrines about Jesus Christ, and be in no respect influenced by Him. What one believes intellectually does not necessarily signify nor save. But when you come face to face with His personality, and feel the constraining influence of His life upon you; when you stand in reverence before His courage, His purity, His unselfishness, 67 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE His disinterested love, His God-like manliness; when what He was, and what He did, calls out in you so, intense a faith, that you can say: " I may not understand all the theology, I cannot frame all the definitions, I am not able to explain the atonement or the incar- nation or the trinity, but I know that here is a character worthy of my fol- lowing, worthy of my faith, worthy of my best, and I yield myself to His leadership," — then the real life of faith begins for you. Your faith in Him is not credulity, it is not hypoth- esis, it is no mere intellectual belief; it is this inner vital force by which you launch your life in the direction He points out. We must all believe some- thing about Him, if we think at all, and if we seek to solve the problem which His life presents in history; but what I want you to see, is that back of all our theology about Jesus Christ 68 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE lies the one essential need, viz. the faith that makes us faithful to Him. What can faith in Him mean, but faith in His message, faith in His ideals, faith in His thoughts concerning God and man, and man's relations to his fellows ? Merely for a man to say, " I have faith in Jesus," would mean no more than if one had said, " I have faith in Lincoln," without knowing or caring about the great principles for which Lincoln stood. But when one can say, " I have enough faith in Him to study His methods, to try to catch His viewpoint as He looked out upon life and men, to seek to understand His thought of God and the future, to cherish His ideals and express His spirit," then, and not till then, does one begin to be saved. The real difference between men religiously is not, as we commonly suppose, the difference in their beliefs; FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE it is rather the difference in the degree of faith they possess. Men are not separated, from the viewpoint of Eter- nity, because they are Catholics or Protestants, Jews or Gentiles; because they are living in the Occident, where Christianity is the prevailing form of religion, or living in the Orient, where other beliefs prevail; the thing that really divides people, is not that some believe in the Nicene Creed and some in the Westminster Catechism, and some in the Thirty-nine Articles. The only real distinction between men, in this world, or in the world to come, depends upon the degree of this inner, vital faith which they possess. All men have faith, for all must live by faith, but some are exercising their faith in the direction of these objects of supremest worth, while others are content to exercise their faith exclu- sively in all that pertains to their 70 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE material existence, forgetting that life is vastly more than meat and drink and raiment. When Jesus said to the disciples of old, "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, be thou removed and cast into the depths of the sea, and it would obey you," He was evidently speaking of a power about which most of us know little or nothing; and after nineteen hundred years, we are as blind to His real meaning as were the disciples of old. How much real religious faith do we possess ? We believe in our heredity both physical and spiritual. But our real faith is in our physical heredity, for scarcely a day passes that we do not hear someone say " My weakness, physical or moral, is due to inherited tendencies, and I must suffer the penalty." We have so much faith in the power of heredity that we yield 71 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE ourselves to such thoughts constantly, and allow them to control our lives. But this is only half the story. Why not have faith in your Divine, as well as your physical heredity ? You are the child of your parents and grandparents, but you say you believe you are the child of God. Then, exercise faith in your inheritance from God, and re- member that as God's child, with His life flowing through you, you can over- come all tendencies to weakness in any form. We believe in the power of environment, good and bad, but we have more faith in the evils of our environment, than in its good. We think more about the evil, grumble at the hardships under which we live and rebel against the obstacles in our path. Why not have at least as strong a faith in the good existing in every environment ? Why not look for the beautiful, the true, the noble and the 72 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE encouraging, in our conditions and our associates ? We all have faith in the contagion of certain diseases. If the epidemic comes, or sickness manifests itself, we take precautions or send for the doctor, and rightly so. Why can we not have just as much faith in the contagion of good health, good spirits and good cheer ? We believe that thoughts are living things, and that discordant mental moods must inevi- tably poison the body, but why not show our real faith in these facts, by banishing all fear and worry, and living constantly in the mental atmosphere of harmony and trust and love ? We really believe that men have more good in them than evil, but our active faith is in their dishonesty rather than their honesty, in their impurity rather than their purity, in their meanness and selfishness, rather than in their unself- ishness and nobility. In spite of our 73 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE beliefs, our actual faith is in the evil of men's natures, rather than the good ; and our distrust and suspicion only help to bring out their worst side, while discouraging their better selves. The fact is, that we are all using the power of faith every day we live, but alas! not along the lines which might yield us the most glorious results. The newer thinking of to-day is seeking to show us how, by the power of sug- gestion and autosuggestion, we can vitalize, with strong, intense faith, the thoughts and . desires and ideals that we want to realize in ourselves; for faith is the soul of every suggestion, and alone makes it effective in its influence on the deeper self within. If you really want to see results accomplished in yourself; if you are bent upon driving out fear and worry; if you want to cure the tendency to- wards discouragement and despair; if 74 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE you truly desire to rid yourself of the besetting sin, or inherited weakness; if you want to make your home a para- dise upon earth, and banish for ever all the bitter and hateful and unkind thoughts; if you want to create about yourself such an atmosphere of kindli- ness, good cheer and hopefulness, as will be an inspiration to others ; if you aspire towards the constant unfolding of the spiritual consciousness within, bringing its vision of God, and its realization of the life eternal, — then think these lofty ideals, and think them constantly, and think them in faith, believing they are yours, and you shall know the victory " that overcometh the world." We all know enough, we all believe enough, we are all doing enough, — the reason our lives are so disappoint- ing, is because we realize so little of faith's vital meaning and power. A1J 75 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE the rich resources of the Infinite God are at our disposal now and always, if by faith we can but appropriate them and make them our own, for " in Him we live and move and have our being." We are like the child, whose father, blessed with wealth and overflowing with love, builds the magnificent home and furnishes it with everything that beauty and comfort might suggest, and then says to his child, "It is all yours, to use and enjoy, and my great- est joy is found in your perfect happi- ness." But the child goes up to some meagrely furnished attic chamber, and refuses to come down and enjoy all the beauty and comfort provided by the father's love, — living in the father's house of plenty and yet, holding aloof, and through blindness or wilfulness, depriving itself of its rightful posses- sions. Oh! that we might see that God is 76 FAITH AS A VITAL FORCE never to blame, only we ourselves, if our lives are lived in the barren attic of loneliness, or the dark cellar of despair. God has placed at our dis- posal all this splendid equipment for physical, mental, moral and spiritual symmetry and perfection, which we have only to appropriate and make our own forever. " According to your faith be it unto you," is as true to-day as it was when Jesus uttered these words. It is as true for us as it was for the disciples of old. Faith is the master-key that discloses the secret of the life of victory over things of time and sense. May God help us to enter into its deeper mean- ing, and realize its power! 77 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION THE LAW OF SUGGESTION HE Ancient Philosopher, who said, " As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," was probably not familiar with the principles of the newer Psychology . Nevertheless , this old Hebrew thinker has stated most clearly the fundamental thought of Psy- chology as applied both to man's body and soul. The most important fact which has yet been discovered in regard to the sub-conscious mind, is the fact that it is suggestible, or in other words, that it is subject to influence and direction. In this, it does not differ from the conscious mind, except that under certain condi- tions, it is more amenable to external 3 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION control, and seems to lie in closer con- tact with the physical organism. The thought once lodged in the sub-con- scious, seems to be more influential both in our physical and moral life than when it simply holds a place in the conscious mind. At the very outset, let us free our minds of the idea so prevalent, that this influence of suggestion is something strange or uncanny or even super- natural. As a matter of fact, the power of suggestion is something that we are all using, consciously or unconsciously, in the every day experiences of life. Your child falls and hurts herself, and begins to cry. Instantly you help her up and kissing the bruised place, you say, " Mother has kissed it, and made it well again; " and under the influence of your sug- gestion, she ceases to cry. If we are wise wc do not constantly talk to our 4 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION children about their innocent wrong- doings, but we seek to divert their minds from that which we feel is wrong or harmful, by suggesting some- thing better. You find yourself unable to sleep, your mind is filled with dis- turbing or anxious thoughts; finally you realize that this " does not pay," and dismiss from your mind such thoughts, and in a few moments are asleep. You have diverted your mind from the troublesome things, and by the power of suggestion have induced the sleep needed. In the home there is some annoying experience. It may be very petty and yet it disturbs. You lose your equilibrium for the moment, and as you seek to recover your self -poise, you say to yourself, "It is very foolish to become worried or troubled over this thing. I am going to forget it." You turn your attention to some other task, or you take up a 5 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION book — anything to divert your thought from the annoyance. It is the power of suggestion that you use to recover mental poise. Speaking generally, anything we really sense; that is, — see, hear, taste, smell or feel — is a suggestion. In the psychological sense, suggestion means much more than this. It stands for a clear, definite perception, thought or mental image, of sufficient force to make an impression on the sub-con- scious mind. In other words, mental perceptions, thoughts and desires be- come " suggestions " in the technical sense, only when lodged in this inner self. Let me illustrate the difference be- tween suggestion, speaking, generally, and suggestion in this technical sense. You have attended a church service. Everything in the place of worship has furnished suggestions — thedecora- 6 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION tions, the stained glass windows, the character of the woodwork, the music of the choir. Then comes the sermon. Suppose the preacher takes some clear- cut, definite statement from the Bible, such as the words, " The wages of sin is death." As he unfolds the meaning of the text, suppose that he reiterates the text over and over again, illustra- ting it first in one way, then in another. The service closes, and as you go back to your home, gradually the suggestions furnished by the music, the decorations, the woodwork, or the stained glass windows, fade out of your mind. But the next day you face some temptation, and there comes into your mind, you know not just how, the words of the text, " The wages of sin is death." It causes you to hesitate, and after the momentary struggle you turn your back upon the temptation . The thought of the text has furnished a suggestion 7 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION so strong, that it has become a control- ling factor in your conduct, and it may be, influences your life for ever. Of all the various suggestions made upon you that Sunday morning, the text alone has become a suggestion in the tech- nical sense, because it was strong enough to lodge itself deep down in your sub- conscious self. Let a man take a retrospect of his past, and if he reflects carefully, he will find that every serious act of his life may be traced back ultimately to a suggestion. It may have come as you talked with some friend; it may have come from some sermon or lecture to which you have listened; it may have come from the pages of some book that impressed you profoundly ; it may have come out of some deep experience of your life. Every effect has its cause, and if it Were always possible for us to trace back these serious acts of our THE LAW OF SUGGESTION lives to their ultimate causes, we should find in the last analysis a suggestion, whatever its source. Every act of our lives, whether for weal or for woe, began in the little germ of suggestion. It may have unfolded very gradually; in the beginning, the germ planted may have been so faintly impressed upon you, that memory cannot recall the time when it was first lodged in the mind; but nevertheless, the source of the whole range of human conduct, may be traced back to these first suggestions. So you see Mental Suggestion is not a radically new or startling thing. It is simply the deeper understanding, and the persistent and consistent applica- tion of a law of mind, which is as old as the human race. Let us turn our attention first to the power of sug- gestion as we see it operative in our general life as human beings. There is the suggestive power of THE LAW OF SUGGESTION Heredity. We are all carrying in our bodies, in our moral characters, in our temperaments, in our personalities, ele- ments which have come to us from the past. But in what sense do they come from the past ? There is much errone- ous thinking about heredity. The in- telligent physician will tell you that the actual disease is not transmitted, but only the tendency toward the disease. A weakened nerve condition, or possi- bly a defective organism may be trans- mitted, but not the disease itself. Let it be the tendency to tuberculosis, or insanity, or cancer; only under certain conditions, by no means invariably, does the actual disease manifest itself. It is just as true that bad habits are not transmitted. There may be handed down a weakened will, or an immoral tendency, but the actual evil habit is not transmitted. That the tendency, rather than the thing itself, is trans- 10 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION mitted, seems to be the general theory of Heredity accepted by modern scholars. How do the scientists explain, then, the appearance in generation after generation of certain forms of disease ? How can we account for the fact that in successive generations we see the same immoral tendencies mani- festing themselves, as in the famous Juke family ? We are convinced today that these tragic facts are best explained by the power of suggestion. A man looks back and says, " My father died of tuberculosis," or " My mother died of cancer," or, " There is insanity in my family." The mental picture of the dread disease is in his mind, and furnishes the suggestion. Under cer- tain conditions, such as a low state of vitality, or when in a mood of depres- sion, he broods over the fact of the family taint, the suggestion becomes so strong as to produce conditions that 11 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION bring about the actual disease. So with evil habits. The immoral tendency which may be transmitted is developed into actual wrong conduct by sugges- tion. The child of criminal parents who becomes a criminal is not in any sense born a criminal, except through the power of suggestion. If you have studied the subject, you know how tre- mendously startling are the facts dis- closed as to the power of pre-natal sug- gestion in the life of the unborn child. Boys and girls, immortal souls, are started wrong from infancy, physically, morally and spiritually, by the pre- natal suggestions of the mother. The biographer of Lord Byron tells us that the only way to understand his brilliant and yet strangely tragic and immoral life, is by a careful study of the pre- natal suggestions furnished by his mother. We take greater pains in breeding cattle, than we do in bringing 12 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION children into the world — to our shame be it said. Then there is the suggestive power of Environment, to which we are all more or less susceptible. The furnish- ings of the home give to the child un- consciously some of the strongest sug- gestions. The child, fortunate enough to be reared in a home where good taste and the love for the truly beautiful is expressed, is constantly influenced, during these impressionable years, by powerful suggestions of beauty and good taste. A child reared in other surroundings, is influenced by the oppo- site suggestions. We know how much the mental and spiritual atmosphere of the home means to the growing child. Let the atmosphere be discordant, " like sweet bells out of tune: " where there is a clashing of wills, manifesting itself in petty quarrels, impatient speech or angry gestures, and the child is con- 13 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION stantly receiving suggestions, which almost inevitably flower forth in ignoble traits of character. The home, on the other hand, whose habitual atmosphere is one of harmony and peace, where misunderstandings, if they arise, are always settled " behind the scenes," where parents are wise enough and self- controlled enough, never to give way to impatience or anger in the presence of their children — such a home at- mosphere, and there are many such " heavenly homes," is silently and yet constantly lodging in the child's mind, suggestions that must translate them- selves into beautiful, noble character in after years. We recognize certain national traits of character as due to the physical environment of a people. Some his- torians # explain the great differences in temperament between nations, chiefly by the difference in physical conditions. 14 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION Cloudy skies or prevailing stormy weather, sooner or later make their impress upon the life of a people; while a country in which the skies are generally bright, and where the air is clear and bracing, furnishes a mental and moral, as well as physical tonic to its inhabitants. Who can estimate the influence of the atmosphere of the school-room upon its pupils ? How anxious we are that the environment of our children, during these school days, shall be right. The personality of the teacher, her spiritual and mental attitude, can poison irrep- arably the atmosphere of the school- room, so that we see its injurious effect in our children. The teacher who is self-controlled, cheerful, hopeful, good- natured and sympathetic, can make the atmosphere one of the most tremen- dously educative factors in the child's experience. The deepest lessons of 15 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION life for young or old, are not the result of direct, deliberate instruction; they are the lessons we learn indirectly, that are taught us by suggestion. Our age has gone to the extreme in the matter of advertising. It makes no difference as to the thing, if only advertised properly, it sells. No matter how foul or poisonous the ingredients in the patent medicine, if only it is advertised long enough and ' big " enough, it succeeds. We all fall under the influence of the big department store today through its extensive adver- tising. Everywhere, in the daily papers, on the board fence, in the cars, and worst of all on the face of Nature, we are met by the picture or the rhyme or the big letters ; and the man who keeps up that sort of advertising, by and by wins the public. iVs Barnum said," We all like to be humbugged," and the success of advertising is simply due to 16 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION suggestion. The cheapness cf any particular article, or its unusual value, makes its impression; and most of us will follow the lure of the advertisement, if it be only persuasive enough, and spend our money again and again for things we really do not need, and that we had no idea of buying at the outset. One of the most potent suggestions in the history of humanity has been that furnished by Superstition. It is Less- ing who says, " we are all swayed by our superstitions, even after we have come to understand them." If you have read Zola's masterpiece, : ' Lourdes," you will recall the tragic- ally vivid picture which he draws of the Roman Catholic shrine in the little French town of Lourdes, and of the annual pilgrimage of thousands of ailing people from all over Europe. He describes with wonderful acuteness the psychological influences which are 17 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION brought to bear upon these invalids, and how in many cases genuine cures are wrought. How will you explain the healing by the Sacred relics or bones in China, in India and in Africa ? How can you explain the curative powers which are experienced by many who have touched the holy coat at Treves ? It is said that the sick pilgrims at Lourdes spend every year from a million and a half to two million dollars. What is the explanation? The power of suggestion. You say it is super- stition, and you are right, so far as the explanation of the cure is concerned; but the Sacred shrine or the bones or the relics or the coat or what not, furnish the mental suggestion, which in many cases undoubtedly is effective in working the cure. We need not flatter ourselves that we are free from all superstition; there may be one of my readers who is carrying a chestnut 18 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION in his pocket or wearing a metal ring on some particular finger; or who hesitates to sit down to a dinner with thirteen, or to make a journey on Friday. Superstition in some form persists, through the power of suggestion, in every civilization and in every religion. There is no suggestion in all the world so powerful as that furnished by some hoary superstition. The new Psychol- ogy is the sworn enemy of Superstition. It furnishes a scientific explanation of many phenomena that in the past have been the food upon which superstition has flourished. It explodes the super- stition of Witchcraft, thus assisting in the destruction of a delusion that has caused, within the Christian Era, the butchery by legal process of fourteen millions of hapless and innocent vic- tims. Visit the famous Continental Spas, with their mineral baths, their sulphur 19 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION and iron springs, where invalids who can pay the price, journey every year for then health. Ask any of the physi- cians at these places whether they really think that the benefits, when obtained, are due to the mineral water, or to the power of suggestion. How many times does the doctor say to his wealthy patient, " You need a sea voyage; if you will only travel you will be cured." Do you really think there is anything particular help- ful in the sea voyage itself, or the travel- ling ? These things may be beneficial, nevertheless the real fact is, that in this way the patient is taken out of the old atmosphere, and his mind diverted; in other words, a new line of suggestions is furnished that in many cases work the cure. The sea voyage, or the jour- ney, is the excuse for the suggestion, or the mechanical means by which the suggestion is made to the mind. The THE LAW OF SUGGESTION chief thing needed, in all such cases, is to change the mental atmosphere of the patient. Suggestive therapeutics or Psycho- therapy is claiming more and more of our attention today. Its principles underlie all these various healing cults, and play a tremendous part in the regular practice of medicine; and as we shall see, the great truth upon which Psychotherapy depends, is the power of suggestion. The Professor of Healing, what- ever may be his special school, who claims that all means are to be dis- regarded, is absolutely wrong. I can- not believe that any intelligent man has a right to ignore any of the great means by which human suffering and disease can be alleviated or cured; but for a man to deny that there are mental and spiritual healing powers, is just as absurd and wrong. We must admit 21 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION frankly that drugs do have a chemical effect; we cannot pronounce worthless, the rubbing of the masseur or the manipulations of the osteopath; the hydropath deserves some credit; diet, exercise and recreation all play their part. All these means are beneficial, they are factors in making for all-round physical well-being. But in the light of today's knowledge, we must recognize that along with all these agencies, there is always present the power of sugges- tion, in the influence of the mind over the body. Just how great that power is, no one perhaps can dogmatically assert today. That it is greater than we have ever dreamed, is without question. The future alone will reveal the extent of its power. Another way in which we witness this power of suggestion, is in the forma- tion of public opinion. Public opinion is the concensus of the opinions of a THE LAW OF SUGGESTION community, a city, a nation, or an age; but what creates public opinion on any question? We know how the strong, positive, vigorous thinking of a few minds, is able to create public sentiment in any community, or age. Public opinion is created not by the rank and file of men, but rather by the positive thinking of the few, who hold places of influence or positions of leadership. The times in the life of a people, when some great wave of feeling sweeps over a community, are due to mental influ- ences affecting the mass of men. This is why the financial panic of 1907-08 was described, and rightly, as a" psy- chological panic." How often, in a political campaign, do we witness a complete change of sentiment as respects different candi- dates. In the recent New York State election, there was such a complete reversal of sentiment within two weeks, 23 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION that New York State saved itself from lasting disgrace by sending Governor Hughes back to Albany. What caused the change of sentiment ? My own opinion is that it was due to nothing less than the fact that here and there, throughout the State and the country, there was the strong thinking, the positive vigorous desire, on the part of high-minded men and women. In the recent play, called " The Witching Hour," the author illustrates the same power of the thinking of peo- ple, even to the extent of influencing the decision of a jury in a criminal case. Whether such power is possible may be questioned; but nevertheless, we understand today that public feeling and sentiment, social, political and religious, is due primarily to the fact that a number of individuals are holding certain thoughts, have taken a certain mental attitude towards the questions 24 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION involved, and their thoughts go forth in great thought vibrations, to influence and even to radically change the think- ing of multitudes of other minds. The same phenomena are to be ob- served in times of religious revival, especially among ignorant or highly emotional people, such as the coloured race in the South. The psychologist explains rationally many of the phe- nomena which are witnessed at such a time. The muscular trance, the experience of ecstasy which the negro often reaches in religious meetings, par- ticularly if they are protracted long enough, is nothing more than the result of suggestion. We have attributed, even in our more settled communities, many of the experiences of religious revivals to the spirit of God, when they are really due to the power of mental suggestion. A very interesting book has been published recently by Pro- 25 *THE LAW OF SUGGESTION fessor Davenport on " The Psycho- logical Element in Religious Revivals." It is immensely revealing along this line, and shows what a tremendous part suggestion plays, when people are brought together in large companies under emotional stress. Enough has been said, as respects suggestion in its general aspect. It is nothing new or startling. It is a power which we all, consciously or uncon- sciously, employ every day and almost every hour. We are all susceptible to it, to a greater or less degree. Let me refer briefly to the workings of the Law of Suggestion, in its more technical sense. We have already seen that in the psychological sense, suggestion is a thought or mental image, held so definitely and intensely in the conscious mind, that it becomes lodged in the sub-conscious self. There are three essentials to the successful lodging of a 26 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION suggestion. (1) There must be a clear and definite idea of what you want to do. If you are the parent or the teacher, you must clearly formulate in your own mind a mental picture of the end you desire to attain. Suppose the child shows a tendency towards dishonesty, which you desire to overcome. Clearly, in your own mind, you must make the mental picture of the honest boy. Exclude from your mind every other thought about your child, for the time being. (2) There must be a series of suggestions or mental pictures given the child, adapted to the end which you have in view. (3) There must be the regular daily repetition of the mental picture or the suggestion. Let me illustrate by a concrete case the workings of these principles. Pro- fessor N. N. Riddell, one of the pioneers in the practical application of these psychological principles to child training, 27 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION tells of his experience in a California town several years ago, where he was delivering a course of lectures. He wanted a boy to distribute hand -bills. He finally found one, but as he was about to employ him, he was told that the boy was notoriously dishonest. His reputation was so fixed in the community that the storekeepers always kept their eyes on him when he went by, and if he came inside they watched him every moment. The boy's own mother told the Professor that he was incorrigible, and that she had been obliged to send him away from home when he was only nine years of age. Professor Riddell hired the boy and then talked frankly with him. He said, " Now I am going to be honest with you, and you are going to be honest with me and we are going to be honest with everybody else." In the course of the conversation, he asked him, if he had 28 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION ever been tempted to do anything dis- honest. The boy confessed he had. Little by little the boy told of how he had stolen repeatedly. Then the Pro- fessor, without attempting to rebuke him harshly, said, " In your heart you are an honest boy, you really want to do the right thing, and I am going to trust you implicitly and we are going to get along all right together; you are not going to steal from me, any more than I am going to steal from you, and you are not going to steal from any one else." As he talked the little fellow burst into tears, and then, while in the tender, sympathetic mood, the Pro- fessor said, " Now you are an honest boy, you do not do dishonest things, you will never steal again." Several times during the day, he talked with him quietly in the same strain, that is, repeated the suggestion of honesty. Within forty-eight hours he sent him 29 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION to the bank with a ten-dollar bill, to get the change. His mother had said that formerly he could not be trusted with a dime. He worked with the Pro- fessor for three weeks, and there was not a single sign of any dishonest or thieving tendency, and the Professor says in his published lecture, that the last he heard the boy was absolutely cured of his dishonesty. This illus- trates the workings of these three essential principles: there must be first the clear-cut idea of what you want to do; then there must be the series of mental pictures or images adapted to the end you have in view; lastly there must be the constant repetition of the suggestion. v Practical experiments have demon- strated beyond question, the efficiency of suggestion. The mind of the dull- ard may be gradually awakened, vi- cious and cruel tendencies can be o ver- so THE LAW OF SUGGESTION come, the elements of virtue, purity, honesty or kindness may be so estab- lished in the sub-conscious mind, as to make them the controlling factors in character. Some lives are much more susceptible and responsive to the in- fluence of suggestion than others, but all can be affected. Some can be changed much more rapidly than others, but patient, persistent effort, wisely directed, is sure to bring results in all. There is another form of suggestion, known as auto-suggestion, where the suggestion does not come from outside, but rather from one's own conscious mind. This is the highest form of the operation of this wonderful Law of Suggestion, for when we can clearly understand the law and its method of operation within ourselves, then we can create the thought, we can produce the impression, we can lodge in the sub- conscious mind the suggestion that will 31 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION work out within ourselves, physical health, mental power and moral strength. How mighty the force that is resident in all our thoughts ! We are only begin- ning to understand the potentiality of thoughts, — the thoughts we carry with us, and the thoughts of those about us. I am not referring now to the power of one mind, to deliberately convey thought to another mind, according to the established laws of telepathy. I am speaking rather of the influence of the thoughts that we unconsciously carry with us and their power over other lives. There are some people, who, at first meeting, attract us, and others who repel us. Every person carries about himself a thought aura, which is made up of the essence of the thoughts of his mind. The psychic tells us that the thought aura is apparent to his clairvoyant vision, and can de- 32 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION scribe the various shades of colour discernible. Here are fifty or more men and women at a reception, or social gathering. Have you ever noticed how, after an hour or so, these people will be broken up into little groups ? And if you have walked among the sev- eral groups and listened to the conversa- tion, you know how each group has a distinct individuality of its own. Over here, a company of men absorbed in business conversation ; yonder, a group of men interested especially in political topics; in another corner a company of ladies discussing perhaps some social gossip. What is it that divides a company of people into these several groups, and gives to each group a dis- tinctive character of its own ? It is the law that " like attracts like." It is be- cause every one of us carries with him a mental atmosphere, from which are constantly going forth vibrations, the 33 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION character of which depends upon the thoughts we cherish. We may keep our lips sealed tight, we may never whisper even in the still hour of the night, the character of our thought to others; but, nevertheless, the tremen- dous power of just our thoughts, for good or for evil, cannot longer be questioned. It is true beyond contra- diction, that our thinking makes us the men and women that we are, creates not only in us, but about us, a certain atmosphere ; so that as we move among men, whether we deliberately intend it or not, by virtue of the mental atmos- phere we carry with us, we are either making them better and nobler, or else injuring them irreparably. The one who holds the positive, hopeful, confident, good-natured, kindly, courageous mental attitude, is the person who inevitably radiates sunshine and gladness, good health 34 THE LAW OF SUGGESTION and cheer, confidence and happiness, wherever he may go. The one who holds the negative, despondent, fearful, timorous, anxious or sorrowful mental attitude, whether he intends it or not, is, by the law of suggestion, creating forces that make people sad arid dis- couraged, fearful and anxious. We may never utter a word, but, "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." Every thought you think possesses this suggestive power. It sows its seed in every life you touch. It makes the atmosphere of the home a blessing or curse. How earnestly desirous we should be of understanding the poten- tiality of our thinking, and these laws by which it operates for the upbuild- ing, the transforming and the ennobling of other lives, as well as our own! 35 AUTO-SUGGESTION AUTO-SUGGESTION O the one who has arrived at a true understanding of his own being and the laws of his own nature, is reserved the proud distinction of consciously making him- self what he will. In the lower animals, and even among the majority of men, the work of developing the mind and build- ing up the character, is largely performed by outside forces — environment, asso- ciation, and suggestions of various kinds. But the developed man knows that he himself has a hand in his own up- building. Man is coming to his own at last. No longer in theory, but in actual fact, man is becoming the Master AUTO-SUGGESTION of his Fate. Man is his own educator; man is his own moral and religious teacher; man is his own physician. We need to keep in mind constantly that the wonderful power of which man has become conscious today, be- comes effective only as the right thoughts, the right impulses and the right desires are transmitted from his conscious mind to the hidden depths of the life within. As we have already seen, there are three general forms of suggestion. There are the innumerable suggestions from without, to which we are all more or less subject: heredity and environ- ment, physical and mental, the country in which we live, the Spirit of the Age into which we are born, the friends with whom we associate, the books we read, all the varied experiences through which we pass, are constantly furnishing us with suggestions, which 40 AUTO-SUGGESTION have a greater or lesser influence upon our lives and characters. A second form of suggestion to be briefly mentioned is Hypnotic Sugges- tion. We are all familiar with the mar- velous power of Hypnotism and have doubtless witnessed many illustrations of its working. Professor John Duncan Quackenbos in his book entitled " Hyp- notism in Mental and Moral Culture " defines Hypnotism as follows: " Hyp- notism, or hypnotic sleep, implies a mind condition in which the mental action and the will-power of a sensitive subject are under the control of an operator who has induced the state." The Scientist and the physician have been investigating for some years in this interesting field. Hypnosis has been found most efficacious in the so- called functional nervous diseases. All forms of hysteria are amenable to hypnotic treatment. Chronic alcohol- 41 AUTO-SUGGESTION ism has also been overcome by hyp- notism. In spite of what has been accomplished in this field, however, I cannot refrain from uttering in this connection a word of solemn warning. There seems to be a great confusion in the average mind, as to Hypnotism and its results, beneficial or otherwise. In the hands of the skilled scientist or the conscientious physician, hypnotism may exert, for the time being, a beneficial influence; yet even then it presents grave dangers. Among my friends is a man who has gained eminence in the field of hypnotic suggestion. He is a skilled physician, who has been un- usually successful in the treatment of nervous and mental disorders by hyp- notism. After about three years of successful practising, he abandoned entirely the use of hypnotism in his work and absolutely refuses today to employ its power. In conversation 42 AUTO-SUGGESTION with him I asked the question " why ? " He replied — and I know no man more conscientious — "I simply came to understand that it did more harm than good to the individual whom I hypno- tized." I think you will see in a mo- ment just why. Hypnotic suggestion implies that some will-power outside, steps in and takes possession of your own will, and dethrones for the time being your reason. While under the influence of this external control, you are the helpless subject. We may have confidence in the scientist or the physi- cian, but I want to remind you that the great citadel of man's soul lies in his own self-co?itrol, and when we surren- der that control to another person, I care not who it is, we are surrendering our God-given and inalienable birth- right, — the will, — and are by just that much weakening our power to control ourselves. Every time the patient 43 AUTO-SUGGESTION comes back to the Hypnotist he falls more easily under his control, until, as I have witnessed myself, in the case of this professional friend, he simply had to look at some of his patients, and they would instantly pass into the hypnotic state. No wonder he said ; ' Any power which gets possession of another soul to the degree that I have gained control of some of my patients, is a dangerous power, and I dare not continue to employ it." If this is the experience of the con- scientious Physician, what shall we say of that large class, who use this power for the purposes of revenue only ? Hypnotism has been " popularized " in recent years and made the basis of entertainments of various kinds. There is a class of magazines that are full of advertisements to the effect that some self-styled " Professor " offers a Course of Lessons, in the " Art of Hypnotism." 44 AUTO-SUGGESTION From inquiries made, it has been discovered that these " Professors " are doing a thriving business. Simply to read through any such advertise- ments with a knowledge of what is involved in hypnotism, is enough to make one tremble at the possibilities presented for injury and even crime. There is no language strong enough to denounce such dastardly criminals and charlatans. But the ruined lives and shattered reasons of those who have been subjects of hypnotic suggestion in all innocence, should keep us from ever consenting to surrender one iota of our self-control to another will. The third form of suggestion, and the one that chiefly concerns us now, is Auto-suggestion. This is the highest form of suggestion, because it proceeds from within, from one's own conscious mind. To understand and operate the law of auto-suggestion, means to attain 45 AUTO-SUGGESTION the highest degree of self-control and self-mastery. This power is resident within every one of us. The sub-con- scious mind may be likened to a vast warehouse which we, wisely or foolishly, are constantly filling with material of various kinds. We are continually storing up thoughts, desires, and am- bitions, in this " great within," and they are being transformed constantly into life and character, whether we will or no. The great responsibility rests upon us, — we, the individual egos, who stand back of both conscious and sub-conscious minds, — to see to it that only the right material goes into the storehouse, that only the right thoughts and desires and impulses are allowed to make their deep impression on the hidden sources of our lives. It is for the sake of making every man and woman independent of other influences, and teaching each individual how to 46 AUTO-SUGGESTION use the law, and employ these forces for himself, that we are interested in obtaining a right understanding of what is meant by auto-suggestion. The psychological principle underly- ing auto-suggestion is precisely the same that underlies suggestion in gen- eral. It simply means that for the time being we disassociate in our minds cer- tain thoughts from other thoughts. We deliberately narrow, by our own will- power, the range of our consciousness, so that certain ideas are retained, and a great mass of other ideas are excluded. This is the principle upon which sug- gestion everywhere works. By shutting out certain ideas, we are enabled to concentrate the mind's attention upon the ideas which we choose to retain in the field of consciousness. The range of illustrations of the work- ings of auto-suggestion, is wide indeed. The power and the value of the old 47 AUTO-SUGGESTION amulets and charms worn by the primi- tive savage, lay simply in this: They furnished the auto-suggestion, they were the symbols of an inner mental state, the objects to which the yearning or desire could attach itself. The same is true of the Christian Crucifix or the Roman Catholic beads. Religion in all its forms is filled with the same power of auto-suggestion. During the Middle Ages, you know how marvelous are the well-authenticated stories of miracles and wonders which history has not until recently been able to explain. Many of these, which have been rejected by the scientific mind as incredible, and accepted by the religious mind as miraculous, are now seen to be neither one nor the other, but realities to be explained by psychical processes, not understood at the time. Perhaps the most striking of these phenomena is that of Stigmatization. St. Francis of 48 AUTO-SUGGESTION Assisi furnishes the earliest historical case. His contemplation of the wounds of Jesus was of such an intense charac- ter, and so long continued, that his own body finally presented appearances similar to the mental picture, which he had so long entertained. Not only were there similar wounds in his hands and feet, and side, but the appearance of nails in the wounds was so realistic that we are told, after his death, the attempt was made to draw them out. There have been something like ninety or a hundred cases of a similar charac- ter since his day, and the same experi- ence is paralleled in our own time in the case of certain hysterical patients. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's story, " The Scarlet Letter," we have a description of a phenomenon, in the scarlet letter emblazoned on the breast of Arthur Dimmesdale, which modern psychology is perfectly able to accept as credible. 49 AUTO-SUGGESTION During the recent Spanish- American War the following story is told, by a prominent physician who served at the time in one of the hospitals in the South. In passing through the typhoid fever ward, he came to the bedside of a soldier who had been very low, and after examining him, said to the nurse, " He cannot live another hour." The sick man heard the words. As the doctor turned away, he raised himself up in bed and fairly shouted out, ' I will live," — and he did. What was it but the antagonism aroused in this dying man by the assertion of the doctor that he was doomed to die, which started such a strong counter auto-suggestion that the man was able to recover ? Every physician can tell you of cases in his own experience, of those who have been on the border land between this world and the next, where there seemed no possible chance for recovery; and 50 AUTO-SUGGESTION then, in that critical hour, something has occurred, — perhaps the arrival of some dear one from a distance, or the receiving of some letter or telegram of hopeful assurance and encouragement, that has turned the tide of the ebbing life; and the person who the doctor felt could not be saved by any human means, has slowly returned to health. It is the power of auto-suggestion work- ing through the sub-conscious mind upon the body and bringing back the stream of health and vitality. The strongest auto-suggestions that the conscious mind is constantly fur- nishing, are those that proceed from our habitual or prevalent thoughts and desires. We can divide man's thinking into two general classes, harmonious thinking and discordant thinking. By harmonious thinking, we mean all thoughts of peace and quietness, good cheer, and hopefulness, courage, kind- 51 AUTO-SUGGESTION liness, sympathy, confidence and trust. These are all harmonious thoughts and make directly for the harmonious life, physical, mental, moral and spiritual. Among discordant thoughts, we must put first of all, anger, hatred, envy, jealousy, lust, greed, cruelty and all malevolent thoughts. To these must be added thoughts of extreme grief and sorrow with their attendants, regrets and dis- appointments. Here belong also fear, doubt and uncertainty, all worry and anxiety, depression and despair. We must also include in this class all self- condemnatory thoughts, disparage- ment, self-belittling, with their accom- panying self -consciousness. All sinful or erroneous thoughts are discordant in their nature, and must inevitably, by the law of auto-suggestion, work discord in the whole range of man's being. The world has long been interested 52 AUTO-SUGGESTION in right and wrong actions. We are at last discovering that all our actions go back for their sources to right and wrong thinking. Prof. Elmer T. Gates, of Washington, has made a number of experiments running through a period of many years, with people while under the influence of harmonious thoughts, and again with the same persons under the influence of some of these discordant thoughts, with strikingly significant re- sults. He has shown unquestionably that the man thinking discordant thoughts is affected throughout his entire organism. His conclusions are very definite: " Every mental activity creates a definite chemical change and a definite anatomical structure in the being who exercises the mental activity ;" and again, " The mind of man can by an effort of the will, properly directed, produce measurable changes in the chemistry of the secretions and ex- 53 AUTO-SUGGESTION cretions of the body." Experiments comparing agreeable exercises with those not so agreeable, prove that the activities in which men take pleasure, set in motion a richer supply of blood than those attendant upon discordant thinking. We have all had personal experience with some of these discord- ant types of mind. In business you may be associated with one whose habitual thinking is suspicious or dis- trustful, and you know how uncertain, or depressed or even angry you feel, especially if your nature is quite the opposite. Or when we go into the presence of great sorrow or grief, we feel how these discordant thoughts have for the time being, at least, changed by their suggestions, the . characters and even the countenances of our friends, and we seek to shake from our- selves the heavy pall of sorrow. In the same way, the person whose thinking 54 AUTO-SUGGESTION is lustful, is gradually transformed into the sensual character, who repels us the moment we come into his presence. The important thing to remember is this: That by the power of auto- suggestion, we are enabled to hold whatever quality of thought we choose. We can banish from our minds the anger, the hatred, the jealousy — thoughts that we know to be so harm- ful; we can banish from our minds these thoughts of sorrow, and regret and disappointment, which are so de- pressing to ourselves and to all who come near us : we can banish, if we will, the thoughts of worry and anxiety, that are the direct cause of so much nervous breakdown in this hurrying, bustling age of ours. We must never forget that in the crafts which we are sailing over Life's sea, you and I are the steersmen, not someone else, unless we ignorantly or foolishly surrender the helm to other 55 AUTO-SUGGESTION hands. This sub-conscious self within us is no navigator; it does not under- stand seamanship; it cannot see the headlands or the reefs jutting out be- yond. It may be likened to the brave men down in the hold of the battleship who keep the engines going, but who have no eyes or ears for what is going on above. So this sub-conscious self, without eyes or ears or the power of inductive reasoning, down there at the centre of our being, takes what we are constantly sending, and with these materials does faithfully its appointed task. We are the steersmen, we stand on deck where we can scan the horizon, and descry the dangerous reefs and treacherous shoals. We can, with steady hand and strong nerve, keep our vessel headed right if we will, for we are the helmsmen. God has placed the conscious mind in every life as the great guardian of the inner self, and says to 56 AUTO-SUGGESTION it, "Your duty is to watch zealously the entrance into your life. It is for you, and you alone, to say what in- fluences and forces shall go into the secret depths of your being." Environ- ment, heredity, the suggestions from association, all the influences that come from these various sources into our lives, we are to meet at the entrance to the conscious mind, and we must say to some, " You may enter," and to others, " You may not enter." As we value our Eternal Selves, we must stand there on guard, ceaselessly vigi- lant, always alert and ever ready to decide that only the right thought, the right impulse and the right desire, shall be allowed a place within the mind. But you say, " Aye, there's the rub; how can I control my thinking ? I have learned enough about the operations of the mind, to know that discordant 57 AUTO-SUGGESTION thinking, through the power of auto- suggestion, is absolutely dangerous to life at every point; I have gone far enough to know that if my life is to realize the highest and best, it must be a life in which harmonious thinking prevails. But how can I command my thoughts ? " As a young man said to me recently, " I go along all right for a few days and then I find myself plunged into the deepest kind of de- pression." I asked him if he had ever tried to locate the cause of these moods. He replied, " It has been that way with our family always, my mother was just like that, as was her mother before her." I said to him, " On ycur own admission then, it is due to suggestion; you are constantly saying to yourself, ' This moody depression is in my family, my mother and grandmother experienced it, and of course, I have to suffer from it in the same way.' Did you ever think 58 AUTO-SUGGESTION that it was possible for you, by auto- suggestion, to neutralize that suggestion of heredity in your life and change those conditions ? " He replied, " I never thought of it before, but I believe you are right and I am going to try." An- other man said to me recently, " I am the slave of an appetite. When the impulse comes upon me to drink liquor, I am obliged to yield. How am I going to control such thoughts and impulses so that they shall not control me ? " This is the really pertinent question for every one of us. There are two ways by which it is possible to control our thoughts and so make sure that the thinking of our minds shall be harmonious rather than discordant. The first is the direct and simple method. It is this, stop thinking discordant thoughts. When we have come clearly to see that the real wrong resides potentially in the thought; that 59 AUTO-SUGGESTION we suffer physically, morally and spiritually because of the character of our thinking, then nobody but an ignoramus or a fool would do anything else but stop thinking that kind of thought. If it is hatred, stop thinking hate; if it is jealousy, stop thinking jealousy; if it is lust, stop thinking lustful thoughts; if it is grief or worry or fear, banish such thoughts from the mind. When we know that such thoughts tend to check the respiration, to change the character of the blood, to manifest themselves chemically in the secretions or excretions of the body — if they have such an actual physical effect as that, to say nothing of their effect on character, then in God's name, stop thinking these thoughts. But you say, " That sounds very simple, but it is not quite so easy to practise it." I grant you that while it may be an easy thing for the man who has the strongly 60 AUTO-SUGGESTION developed will, the difficulty is that most of us have been thinking wrongly for so long, and know so little about will-power, that we do not find it an easy thing to stop thinking the dis- cordant thoughts even when we have learned that they are harmful in the extreme. So for most people, as yet, this method usually meets with appar- ent failure. The second method is that of sub- stitution. There are two ways of empty- ing a glass of water. You can turn it bottom side up, when the water of course will flowout; or you can drop shot into it, one by one, until gradually the shot expel the water. It is the method of substituting something else. So, as you seek to change the character of your thinking, if you do not succeed at first by sheer will-power, then try the substitution method, and put some- thing else into your mind at once. 61 AUTO-SUGGESTION Divert your mind from the discordant thought by thinking in other channels. Do not wait a moment, when the wrong thought gets into your mind, but turn to the magazine or the book, and read until your mind is filled with other thoughts. Or, take up some task that calls for all your energy, and forces you to concentrate your mental activi- ties along other lines. It may be a little difficult at first, but I want to tell you, on the experience of multi- tudes of men and women, one of these two methods, if persevered in, will succeed in every life. *The trouble is, we all dally with thoughts that we know should not be entertained by the mind a moment, and sometimes, I fear, we rather enjoy them than not, for- getting the tremendous power they wield in our lives. I grow so weary of the way men and women often excuse themselves, as I AUTO-SUGGESTION remember how these same people talk to their children. If your child, in the presence of something that you know he ought to do, says " I can't," you reply, " There is no such word as * can't ' in the dictionary, my child." You do not let him live in the realm of " I can't." You tell him over and over again that what must be done, can be done, and that he has the power to go ahead and do it. But when we pass out of childhood, and as mature beings, face these great fundamental problems of our natures, we are worse than the children. I talked with a man recently, who is trying to break an evil habit. Over and over again he wailed out, " I have tried, but I can't." I care not how strong the habit, or of how long standing, I care not how tightly the chains of discordant think- ing are fastened upon us, — the first thing we must recognize, is the fact 63 AUTO-SUGGESTION that within our deep essential selves, we are one with the Infinite God ; that no sin on our part, no wrong thinking of ours, has ever wholly separated us from Him; that we are essentially divine, and that therefore we can, we can do the thing that we want to do, and that we know we ought to do. I wish sometimes that these chil- dren of ours who have heard our in- structions so often along this line, could just turn about and give us a little of the same advice. This is how Chris- tian Science, Metaphysical teachings, theosophical doctrines, and other so- called modern cults, which many people have been studying more or less care- fully in the last few years, have brought new power into many lives ; they have furnished a method by which the will-power has been cultivated, and people who once said, " I can't do this thing," have learned that they can do 64 AUTO-SUGGESTION it, and have thereby attained the de- sired end. Let me make just one or two practi- cal suggestions as to the method of using this power of auto-suggestion in our daily lives. In the writings of Henry Wood, one of the sanest thinkers along new thought lines, a most prac- tical method is described under what he calls " The Power of Ideal Sug- gestion." If a man is seriously con- cerned in the matter of developing himself physically, mentally, morally and spiritually, he certainly ought to be willing to give a little time to it. Let one set aside half an hour or even fifteen minutes every day. Let him go into some room by himself, where he can be undisturbed, quiet and alone ; let him get just as far away from the sights and sounds of ordinary life as possible. Then let him take some simple statement of truth, for 65 AUTO-SUGGESTION example, " God is here," or " I am God's child; " or if he is the victim of some habit, just the statement, " I am free," or "I can and I will;" and as he sits alone in the silence, let him fill his mind full of this one thought. You might say, " Intellectually, this sounds very foolish; these are trite statements, which we may believe or not, but after all what good is to be gained by just repeating over to one's self these words ? ' ' The conscious mind sees no use in it whatsoever, but I want to tell you it is truly scientific, for it is the practical application of the great law of auto-suggestion, it is the true method by which we reach the sub- conscious self. Remember, this sub- conscious mind is deep in the centre of our complex life; it does not see w T hat we see, or hear what we hear, it is waiting to receive the material that we send down, and every time you 66 AUTO-SUGGESTION say " God is here," " God is here," " God is here," filling your mind with the thought implied in these words, you are sending down the suggestion that must take rootage, because of the constant reiteration, in the very depths of your being. Do this not once but every day, and after a time, note the result. But you say that seems absurd. Stop a moment. Do we really want to rid ourselves of these discordant thoughts ? Are we in dead earnest about it ? You may have been a pro- fessing Christian, a follower of that Matchless Life, for many years, and yet you are conscious that there is precious little in your life to remind others of Him; how earnest is your desire to become " perfect even as He is perfect ? " I am not thinking now of coarse or flagrant sins, but are we always self -poised, are we as kindly and sympa- 67 AUTO-SUGGESTION the tic, are we as cheerful and hopeful, are we as patient and trustful, as we ought to be, if we are seeking to follow Him in daily life? If you are going along a country road and a pebble gets into your shoe, you take the shoe off and toss the pebble aside; in other words, you remoye the cause of the dis- comfort at any cost. When we know beyond the shadow of a doubt, that our thoughts are injuring our lives, for time and eternity, and that through us they are hurting all other lives about us, ought we not to be just as willing to pay any price, to get rid of the discordant and harmful thought ? Let a man take the fifteen minutes, as many a busy man today is doing, and get away somewhere from the noise and turmoil of it all, and just say to himself, " I am God's child, I am God's child, I am God's child." No man can do this very many days, without carrying 68 AUTO-SUGGESTION into all of life, — the life of the home, the life of business, the social life, — a sense of dignity and confidence and power such as he has never experienced before. Another hint as to the best time for lodging an auto-suggestion, so that it may become effective. It is during sleep, when the conscious mind is thoroughly quiescent, that the sub- conscious mind is most thoroughly awake. When you lie down to sleep at night, suppose you spend the last waking moments in picturing to your- self clearly and definitely the man or woman you want to be. You know what these last thoughts at night con- tain for most of us, — the worries, the anxieties, the perplexities, the problems of the day just gone, or else, the anxious anticipation of the day that is to come. Now just banish them all, and picture to yourself clearly the ideal man or woman you long to be. Think back 69 AUTO-SUGGESTION over the past day and see where you failed to be patient with the children, or where you lost your temper in busi- ness. The many mistakes and little failures, of which no one of us is very proud, rise before us, as sad reminders of what we might have been. In these last waking moments picture clearly and intensely to yourself the opposites. If you have been impatient, create the mental image of yourself as calmly patient. As you fall asleep, say to yourself, " God helping me I will be patient, I can be patient in the pres- ence of the things that vex me so often, and tomorrow I will not lose my self- control." As you fall asleep, that last thought in your conscious mind is lodged in the sub-conscious, and your sub-conscious takes it up and does the work while you sleep; and you rise in the morning to find yourself calm and self -poised, as you have not been, per- 70 AUTO-SUGGESTION haps for days. I am not describing a beautiful theory merely. I am telling you what has been demonstrated to be true in countless lives. Are you really in earnest in this matter of making yourself, not in name only but in very truth, God's Child ? If you are, you can do it. I am simply bringing you the scientific method for the operation of these wonderful powers, with which God has endowed every soul. All that is required of us, is the patient, persistent and systematic ap- plication of the new knowledge that has come; and in your life and mine there will shine forth the beauty, the purity, the nobility, and the divineness of character revealed in the Master. Always and everywhere, by the power of auto-suggestion, we are building the spiritual manhood and womanhood within. What kind of material are we using ? 71 MIND AND MEDICINE MIND AND MEDICINE O the most casual observer, religious thought in America is just now very much ab- sorbed in the Gospel of Heal- ing. It would almost seem in reading the daily papers, not to speak of the more exhaustive literature on the sub- ject, as if Religion, Medicine and Psychology had joined hands in form- ing a New Religion, that is apparently sweeping this country from end to end. Many writers have referred to this striking movement as a " new faith ; " and yet, in the minds of its leaders it is not so much a new Faith, as it is a return to the original Faith of Jesus of 3 MIND AND MEDICINE Nazareth. As we read the Gospels, we cannot escape the conviction that Jesus regarded His work in the world as two- fold: It was (1) to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, and (2) to heal the sick. It is certainly significant, when one stops to reflect upon the Gospel narrative, how much of His time and energy was spent in caring for the bodies of men. The Founder of Chris- tianity, in whom we see the revelation of a truly spiritual religion, spent con- siderably more time in looking after people's physical welfare than He did in preaching sermons. When He sends forth His Apostles, to continue the work which He had begun, He entrusts to them the same two-fold Commis- sion : they are to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, and they are to heal the sick. And then, in His final words of instruction and encouragement He says, " And greater works than 4 MIND AND MEDICINE these, will ye do." The view of the Church in these later centuries has been, that the power which Jesus exercised in healing the sick was super- natural, a power with which He was endowed, as being peculiarly the Son of God, a power that has not been vouchsafed to others, a power that the Church does not possess to-day. The age of such " miracles," at least so says the Protestant world, ended with the Apostles. And yet if we admit that these won- ders were wrought, if we accept as historical these stories, telling of how Jesus went about healing the sick, or how they brought their sick to be healed by Him, certainly we are bound to admit that it must have been due to powers that were not contrary to law, but rather that proceeded from the knowledge of higher laws. Few intel- ligent persons to-day would care to 5 MIND AND MEDICINE claim that these healing works of Jesus were miracles in the old sense, of being exceptions to the great universal work- ing of God's laws. If He did these things which the Gospels record, it must have been because of a knowl- edge of some power perfectly natural which He understood, and of which we, at least until recently, have been igno- rant. The meaning of the word " miracle," as used in the Gospels, is " wonder," or "marvel," — something so extraordinary that it was not un- derstood by those who witnessed it. It by no means implies an act contrary to law. Many of the leaders of the present movement to unite Religion and Medi- cine are telling us that the Church has been shorn of its powers very largely, because it has neglected one- half of the work entrusted to it viz., the healing of the sick. One of the 6 MIND AND MEDICINE strongest arguments for Christian Sci- ence lies in the fact that it has en- deavoured, however faulty its philos- ophy, or whatever failures it may have made in individual cases, to not only preach the Gospel as interpreted by Mrs. Eddy, but to heal the sick as well. And in the face of undisputed cures accomplished, the churches have had nothing to say, except to make the old excuse that the age when the Church should care for the bodies of men has gone by, and all healing of the sick should now be left to skilled and trained physicians. Whatever may be our personal opin- ions as to the efficacy of Mental Heal- ing, or as to the function of the Church in healing the sick, certainly no person of intelligence to-day, within the Church or outside, can fail to be respectful in the presence of a movement which has already assumed such proportions, 7 MIND AND MEDICINE created so large a literature, and en- rolled so many illustrious names among its leaders. The time has arrived when ridicule and condemnation should give place to a frank and sympathetic endeavour to sift the truth from error, and discover the facts. With all due credit to the Christian Science movement for the way in which it has called the attention of the Church in general to this phase of work, nevertheless the modern scientific interest in the cure of the body through the aid of the mind antedates by several years the organization of Christian Science. Psychotherapy, or in plain English, Mind Healing, received its latter-day momentum about twenty- five years ago, when Charcot, Freud and Janet gave it new impulse by their researches and teachings. The present popular interest, outside of Christian Science circles, may be said to 8 MIND AND MEDICINE date from the institution of what is now known as the Emmanuel Movement, in connection with the old Episcopal Church of that name in Boston. Most people by this time are familiar with the story. Dr. Worcester of Emmanuel Church had formerly been rector of one of the leading Episcopal Churches in Philadelphia. In his congregation was Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, the Dean of the Medical Profession in America. In frequent conversations, Dr. Mitchell expressed the desire that the two Pro- fessions of Medicine and the Ministry might be brought into closer and more vital relationship. Dr. Mitchell ex- plained fully his views as to the way in which the ministry, rightly trained, could tremendously supplement the work of the physician, and vice versa, how the physician could supplement and aid the work of the minister. With this idea in mind, Dr. Worcester re- 9 MIND AND MEDICINE signed his Philadelphia church, and went abroad, where he spent several years in special studies in Psychology. Finally he returned to the Emmanuel Church in Boston, and with the assist- ance of Dr. McComb, also a specially trained man, instituted what is now known throughout the country as the Emmanuel Movement. Before this movement really assumed proportions, Emmanuel Church had been doing con- siderable work for the poor who were afflicted with tuberculosis. It em- ployed only the latest and most sci- entific methods for the treatment of this disease. The hospital was adapted to out-of-door treatment, and tents were rented to those who could afford to pay — and all under the auspices of the Church. Dr. Worcester has made the statement that this work with tubercular patients has resulted in eighty per cent, of cures. About three 10 MIND AND MEDICINE years ago, a clinic was established in connection with the church. Physi- cians of standing were added to the staff, giving their services gratuitously. Every person who applied for help was turned over to these scientifically trained men. Each individual case was diagnosed. If it was discovered that the trouble was organic, the case was turned over to the proper physician or surgeon. If the disease was diagnosed as func- tional, it was given to one of these specially trained men for mental treat- ment. There may be some who do not clearly understand the distinction be- tween organic and functional disorders. Stating it generally, organic diseases are those which have their origin in the physical organism ; functional disorders are those whose cause is mental or nervous. This distinction is constantly made by the Emmanuel Church workers, 11 MIND AND MEDICINE and has called out much criticism* especially from the Christian Scientists, who have said, " Why draw any line at all ? If the sub-conscious mind, by which you claim to be able to reach these various functional disorders, is in reality a part of the Infinite Mind, why can you not cure all diseases ? Why have any staff of physicians or surgeons ? Why not do all the Work, as we are striving to do in Christian Science ? " Nevertheless, this distinc- tion has been made, and I think very wisely, for as a matter of fact, while Christian Science claims to be able to cure all manner of diseases, organic as well as functional, still as we know, it does not always meet with success. One of the leading Christian Sci- ence healers in Chicago, an admirable woman in every way, and one who has done a tremendous amount of good in the world, and has been unquestionably 12 MIND AND MEDICINE instrumental in effecting many cures, died only a few weeks ago after a linger- ing illness from cancer. Another Chris- tian Science teacher who conducted many classes in my old home city, and was thoroughly beloved and respected by all who knew her, was suddenly stricken with blindness a few years ago. This is by no means to cast dis- paragement upon any genuine cure ac- complished through Christian Science. Medicine does not always cure. I refer to these cases simply to show that in this field of Suggestive Therapeutics there is need for caution and common- sense. We gain nothing by exaggera- tion. We do not need to claim every- thing, as did an osteopathic friend of mine, who, when asked what oste- opathy could do, replied, " We can cure everything now but snake bite, and in a very little while we expect to control 13 MIND AND MEDICINE even that." We are still on the thresh- old of the whole subject of the sub- conscious mind and its power over the physical body. We are feeling our way, by many different paths, and one day we shall arrive at the whole truth. The time may come when, as we become more conversant with these laws and their operation, we shall be able to control not only functional dis- orders but organic as well; but at the present stage of human development, with our present knowledge of the sub- conscious mind and its powers, the leaders in this field are saying, Let us confine for the present, at least, our application of these principles to func- tional disorders, springing not from broken down physical tissue, but rather from the mind, or the " nervous sys- tem." There is a tremendous field here; for, as every doctor knows, about two- thirds or one-half of all human mala- 14 MIND AND MEDICINE dies are functional in their character rather than organic. It must be re- membered, however, that the authori- ties in Suggestive Therapeutics frankly admit the tremendous influence of the mind even in organic diseases. Since the beginning of the Emmanuel Movement, various branches have sprung up in different parts of the country. In Chicago, Bishop Fallows, of the Reformed Episcopal Church, has established a clinic in connection with his church. In New York City, Dr. Loring W. Batten, rector of St. Mark's Church, has recently instituted a similar clinic. Dr. Birckhead, suc- cessor of Dr. Rainsford, has said that St. George's Church is about to in- stitute some such work, the exact nature of which is not yet announced; but he feels that the Church must in some way begin to show a vital interest in the work of healing the sick and 15 MIND AND MEDICINE caring for the bodies of men. Dr. Mac Donald, of Washington Avenue Baptist Church, Brooklyn, has been devoting considerable attention to this work. Dr. Lyman Powell, rector of St. John's Church, in Northampton, Massachusetts, has established a clinic. Besides these, there are a large number of other churches, more or less promi- nent throughout the country, that have either already established or are pre- paring to establish branches of the Emmanuel Movement. Men like Bishop Fallows and Dr. Worcester go so far as to say that it is only a question of a very little time before all the churches will add to their many functions the work of heal- ing the sick. This may be an open question in the minds of many. There can be no doubt in the case of the Emmanuel Church, Boston, where the leaders are specially trained for such 16 MIND AND MEDICINE work; but we can see how great injury might be done and much harm arise if all churches, regardless of whether their pastors have any fitness or have received special training in Psychology or the methods of Suggestive Thera- peutics, should rush pellmell into this movement. In my judgment this work must be done, if done rightly and effec- tively, by those who are specially fitted and trained. It may be that the time will come when in our theological semi- naries students will be required to take a course in Suggestive Therapeutics. Just now, however, it would seem to be the part of wisdom for us to respect- fully help in every possible way these churches that are especially equipped for this work and whose pastors are trained for such service, and meantime, to further study and carefully ob- serve this movement before we decide that all churches ought to add the 17 MIND AND MEDICINE work of healing to their other activi- ties. We sometimes speak as if the subject of Mental Healing was purely modern, and had only existed for the last generation or so; but I would remind you that as far back as history goes, we find that mental healing under various names and different forms has been practised and apparently with success. In the oldest civilization with which we are acquainted, that of Egypt, hun- dreds of years before the Christian era, it had a prominent place. The histo- rian Glidden remarks: " Their priests evidently appear to have perfectly com- prehended the method of exciting that internal sanative instinct in the human organism, which in general is a pro- found mystery, even to the individual who excites it ; and which was naturally enough, in those remote ages, repre- sented as the immediate gift of the 18 MIND AND MEDICINE gods. Nowhere else was this internal faculty so generally cultivated for the cure of the sick." The excavations at Cavvadias furnish much interesting material, showing that the miraculous cures of Epidaurus were effected at this ancient Greek shrine, 500 years before our era, by suggestion, and pre- cisely in the same manner as to-day at Lourdes. Livy tells us that the temples of the gods of Rome were rich in the number of offerings which the people used to make in return for the cures received from them; and Pliny tells of Etruscan spells used by Theophrastus for sciatica, by Cato for the cure of dislocated limbs, and by Varro for gout. Our own Druid ancestors, using similar methods, were consulted by the Emperor Aurelius. In these early days the power was attributed directly to the gods. It was supposed to be an arbitrary answer to 19 MIND AND MEDICINE prayer, or else a supernatural bestowal from Heaven of some divine gift. Yet psychologists, because of the various forms of healing which take place in modern times — whether at some sa- cred shrine, or by touching some holy relic, through the faith cure of Dowieism or the denial of disease by Christian Science, — believe that all are to be explained, by the power of the mind over the body through the law of suggestion. During the Middle Ages there were occasional priests who seemed to be vested with a " gift of healing." Such powers were attributed directly to the agencies of Heaven, merely because such marvels were not understood. Roman Catholic history as well as Protestant, has a great deal to say about the miraculous healing power of certain priests or other saintly indi- viduals. We know how saintship was 20 MIND AND MEDICINE often won, among the Catholics of the Middle Ages, because of the wonderful "miracles" or, as we understand to-day, the psychological cures accomplished. But coming down to modern times, I want to bring you a few brief extracts from leading physicians to-day, who stand in the fore-front of their profes- sion and are recognized authorities in England and America. Sir Andrew Clark says: " It is im- possible for us to deal knowingly and wisely with various disorders of the body without distinctly recognizing the agency of states and conditions of mind, often in producing and always in modifying them." Dr. Maudsley says : " Perhaps we do not as physicians consider suffi- ciently the influence of mental states in the production of disease, their im- portance as symptoms, or take all the advantages which we might get from 21 MIND AND MEDICINE them in our effort to cure disease. Quackery seems to have got hold of a truth which legitimate medicine fails to appreciate." Dr. Robertson says: "While the influence of the mind over the body is universally recognized, its employ- ment as a therapeutic agent is purposely used by but a few in the regular ranks of the profession." Sir S. Wilks remarks: " The doctor soon finds that in treating his patient the practice of medicine is not only one of physic, but of psychology; and that the effect of his drugs depends as much upon the constitution of the patient's mind as that of his body." Dr. Shoemaker of Philadelphia says: " Psychotherapism plays a most im- portant part in the ordinary every-day practice of medicine. The influence of the mind upon the bodily functions is so great that every experienced, intelli- MIND AND MEDICINE gent physician is glad to enlist so potent an auxiliary." We read in "The Lancet:" ' Though the therapeutic effect of faith and hope is not detailed in our text-books, they are enough to turn the scale in favour of recovery; and yet they are but two of the many mental medicines which a judicious physician may use in the management of disease." Dr. Affleck says: " The power of suggestion as a factor in therapeutics has gained wide recognition in recent times." " A day will come," says De Fleury, " when there shall arise an upright and intelligent physician, strong enough to defy ridicule, and authorized by a noble life and the merit of his labours to lay claim to the superior dignity of a moralist. If he knows the human heart well he can draw the sick of soul to him." 23 MIND AND MEDICINE Dr. A. Morrison, President of the iEsculapian Society, says: " We often do less than half of our duty in not exploring the mental life of the patient. A good deal has been written on pro- longed vascular tension due to physical causes. Is there no such state as pro- longed mental tension due to moral causes ? ... In such cases, if the phy- sician is to be of any service to his patient, it must be by the agency of mind on mind; and this takes us out of the vestibule littered with micro- scopes, crucibles, and retorts into that inner chamber — the holy of holies, in the life of a physician and his patients — where heart and mind are laid bare to the sympathetic gaze of a fellow-man, whose discretion may be relied upon, and who may, from his training in the knowledge of the human soul as well as the human body, be able to cure his brother of a disturbing factor in his life 24 MIND AND MEDICINE beyond the reach of the most advanced therapeutics of a purely physical kind." One of the last words of Henry Gawen Sutton, teacher of pathology at the London Hospital, was: " Don't underrate the influence of your own personality. Learn to give confidence to your patients." Dr. A. T. Schofieldsays: " To con- strain a feeble mind to be governed by a good one is not a superhuman labour for one who goes about it adroitly. The moment the eye of the patient meets the eye of the physician, psychological action, influencing the course of the disease, at once takes place through the patient's unconscious mind." To these names should be added the following, all of whom are enlisted in the cause of Suggestive Therapeutics: Forel, Bernheim, Dubois, Liebcault, Tuckey and Vogt of Europe; Prof. 25 MIND AND MEDICINE Jastrow of Wisconsin University, Jack- son, Royce, and Southard of Harvard, Woodworth and Peterson of Columbia, Coriat of Boston City Hospital; and of American physicians, Morton Prince, Boris Sidis, Jas. J. Putnam, Richard C. Cabot, Lewelys F. Barker and many others. I make these quotations for the sake of proving that the whole method of the modern physician is changed, whether he has admitted it publicly or not. I imagine there is no intelligent physician in active practice to-day, who is not using psychotherapy every day of his life. It may be through the conscious power of his own personality, it may be by a clear understanding of the law of Suggestion, it may be by. recourse to some harmless deception, such as the bread pill — but every intelligent doc- tor is recognizing the truth of what these men of prominence here express; 26 MIND AND MEDICINE and while many of them are not saying anything about it to their patients or the world outside, they are coming more and more to realize the large part which mind plays in disease. A few months ago I met at the steamer a physician and surgeon who stands in the front rank of his profes- sion in the Middle West ; a man whose ear is always close to the ground, and who is unusually alert and eager to obtain the very latest discoveries in his pro- fession. He was just returning from a year's trip around the world. He had spent much time in the hospitals of Japan, China, India, also at Vienna, Berlin and London. I asked him what he had brought back to enrich his professional life. His reply was very significant: " There is a world-wide movement on in the medical profession, tending more and more toward the prevention of disease . ' ' Then he added : 27 MIND AND MEDICINE " In your lifetime, and perhaps in mine, we will see the use of drugs reduced to the minimum." Another physician said to me recently: " The chief trouble is that the whole business of drugs has been so tremendously com- mercialized. The great drug manu- facturing companies are continually bringing out some new combination of drugs and forcing them on the physician and the helpless public, until we are simply swamped with innumerable * remedies.' : There are a hundred different remedies for every known disease, each one, naturally, claiming to be the best. Dr. Osier, formerly of Johns Hopkins University, wrote back to this country from Europe, that " within a few years we shall see nine- tenths of all the drugs with which the American people now dope themselves dumped into the bottom of the sea." One of the greatest crimes, committed MIND AND MEDICINE by the people against themselves, is their startling use of patent medicines. If the advertiser is only an artist in his line, most of us are susceptible enough to his Suggestion. But as every doctor knows, the patent medicines which are annually sold in this country, literally by the hundreds of carloads, have done and are doing an inestimable amount of harm to the physical life of the people. And the reaction against their use has already begun. Let me say a word about the physi- cian in his relation to this movement of mental healing. From my own experi- ence I believe there is no nobler class of men on the face of the earth than physicians and surgeons. They are for the most part heroic, self-sacrificing, untiring men, whose services to suffer- ing humanity have never yet been worthily appreciated. I have no sym- pathy whatever with the general tirade 29 MIND AND MEDICINE which is heard in certain quarters against the medical profession. I want to remind you of one or two things which we should always remember, before we criticize the doctors unduly. Take one single illustration. Have you stopped to realize what the discovery of chloroform has meant to the world ? Can any one estimate the amount of human suffering and pain that has been relieved, and from which poor humanity has been saved, simply because of the discovery of chloroform ? Do you realize what preventative measures have been brought about by the doctor ? There was a time a few years ago when the Panama Canal region was known as the Death Zone, but to-day the death rate is lower there than in the City of New York. Who changed the conditions ? The doctor, the trained scientific man who went down there and instituted sanitary laws 30 MIND AND MEDICINE and regulations. Many will remember when it was not an uncommon thing for cholera or smallpox to sweep over certain portions of our large cities, and we are all familiar with the frightful ravages wrought by the yellow fever in our Southern cities. Why do we no longer fear these plagues ? It is due to the scientific and self-sacrificing work of the doctor. Why is the death rate to-day so extremely low in New York City, even with its slum quarters — only seventeen or eighteen, and even drop- ping one month this last summer to as low as thirteen per thousand ? It is chiefly due to the doctor, the trained scientific man, working with the Board of Health. It is these heroic and courageous men who are locating the dark rooms, and condemning the tene- ment houses where conditions are such as to foster disease in all its various forms, who are insisting that the streets 31 MIND AND MEDICINE be kept clean and who are placing all possible restrictions about contagious diseases. We have by no means done all we might in this regard, but we must never forget that whatever has been accomplished in the direction of a more healthful city has been due chiefly to the physician. We need to remember when we are tempted to criticize the doctor, that the greatest part of his work is not in curing disease, but in preventing it, and thus making impossible these awful scourges which have ravaged nations or cities from the beginning of time. Think of the accomplishments in the field of surgery. Even Mrs. Eddy admits that in the case of a fractured bone or a dislocated limb the surgeon must be called in. I think nobody would be foolish enough to claim that when a man breaks his leg he can sit down and by concentrating his thoughts m MIND AND MEDICINE upon it, mend the fracture. Surgery is an exact science, as medicine is not and perhaps never can be. Who can estimate the amount of good accom- plished by modern surgery, the suffer- ing that has been relieved, the indi- viduals who have been saved to their homes and families and to society ? We should bow our heads in reverence in the presence, of the skilled and con- scientious physician or surgeon. But what is extremely significant is this, that the intelligent physician to-day everywhere, is changing his method, is depending less on drugs and more on the remedial powers of the mind. Ian MacClaren, in his story " A Doctor of the Old School," tells of Dr. MacClure, who had been called to a farm, where a boy had been badly crushed in a machine. A neighbour in telling the experience afterwards says: " It was michty tae see him come intae the 33 MIND AND MEDICINE yaird that day; the verra look o' him wes victory." And our modern doctor is learning how to carry victory in his face, in the tone of his voice, in his every action, as he goes into the sick room. He has become more and more skillful in the art of Suggestion. As I have stood by his side many a time, I have marveled at the skill, with which he used all the knowledge of modern psychology, in seeking to effect the cure. The greatest present need is that the true mental healer should always have the profoundest respect for the true and conscientious physician; and also, that the true physician should have a genuine respect for the trained, con- scientious and honest mental healer. If this present movement continues to grow in extent and power, it must mean that the Church, Medicine and Psychology will come into even closer fellowship and work together in a more 34 MIND AND MEDICINE vital sympathy. Does not such a vision presage a great and glorious future? We have come to see in all these wonderful movements of thought, that man is not a being to be separated into different compartments, so that we can turn his body over to some doctor, his soul over to some minister, and his mind over to some educator. Man is a unit, — body, soul and mind, — and if we are going to train men, who shall be in every sense symmetrical characters, our educators and our ministers and our doctors must work in harmony, with man and for man. This is the goal to which all our thought to-day is tending. When that day dawns we shall at last attain to a truly scientific religion, and a truly sacred science. 35 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS PHYSICAL WHOLENESS MONG all peoples and in every age, nothing has been so persistently sought as bodily health. The Elixir of Life has been the dream not only of the early alchemists but even of some modern chemists and yet we seem to be no nearer the consummation of that age- old desire than were the Ancients. On the contrary, we find that physical disorders are steadily growing more subtile and complex. Physicians are increasing in number in a much larger proportion than the population, while diseases and remedies of every kind multiply constantly. Insanity, insom- 39 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS nia and all forms of nervous disorders are increasingly prevalent. Professor Paul DuBoise, of Berne University, has recently written a book on " The Psychic Treatment of Nerv- ous Disorders," consisting of thirty- five chapters devoted to more than that number of different manifestations of nervous disease. Specialists grow more numerous, and each finds what he is looking for. Some years ago a friend of mine was taken sick, and after seek- ing in vain for relief through his family physician, consulted one of the leading specialists in the city where he lived. He told him the trouble was with his heart; that was his specialty. A little later he consulted another specialist. This man told him he had diabetes; that was his specialty. Another diag- nosed his case as due to uric acid in the blood; that was his specialty. Still another told him that the cause of his 40 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS difficulty lay in his digestive organs; that was his specialty. Finally the man died of a malady which none of these specialists had discovered. We need not question the honesty or intelligence of any of these men. It only shows the natural tendency, unless the case is very clear and simple as few cases are, for each specialist to discover symptoms of his own special disease, and treat the case accordingly. Yet in spite of these discouraging facts, the time is fast approaching when it will be much easier for people to possess health and strength than to be without them, for both these blessings come through conformity to Law both outer and inner. For centuries men have sought health in the outer realm of sanitation, hygiene and drugs. " These ought ye to have done " — with the exception of a greatly superfluous amount of drugs — " but not to have 41 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS left the others undone." It is no disparagement of sanitary or hygienic laws when I affirm that at last man is beginning to realize that the laws which pertain to the inner life are far more important even than these external laws. In a previous essay I sought to de- scribe the background of the Movement for Health which is just now attracting so much interest, and pointed out the distinguished men who have already given it their support, thus showing that it is not a Movement to be treated with anything less than respect. The average man certainly has a right to know the facts; our only desire is for the truth. Even if there is but a modicum of virtue in mental thera- peutics making for the alleviation of human suffering, surely the world needs sadly its reinforcement; and if it con- tains no truth, if it proceeds from a baseless idealism, then by all means let 42 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS us admit frankly the hollowness of its claims. Have we to-day in mental thera- peutics a great principle, capable of wide application, that lies so near every one of us that we have hitherto looked through it or beyond it? Are there certain orderly forces in the mind, far more potent for good in the life of humanity than are these great forces recently harnessed in the realm of electricity ? These are some of the questions that naturally arise in the mind of every earnest seeker after truth. At the beginning of our discussion it is necessary that we should do some accurate defining. Mental therapeu- tics is not to be confused with Christian Science, or Faith Cure, nor is it to be regarded simply as a new competitor of the other healing agencies already in the field. Although we often use the words " Christian Science " in a PHYSICAL WHOLENESS rather loose and general sense, neverthe- less, in the strict sense, Christian Sci- ence should be identified with a dis- tinct school which takes for its exclusive text-book a work entitled " Science and Health," by Mrs. Mary B. G. Eddy, and the Bible as interpreted through it. This is said in an impartial spirit, as a matter of definition and simple justice to all concerned. The process of Mrs. Eddy begins with the denial of everything evil. It depends for its basis upon the assump- tion of the unreality of the body and of so-called material things. Matter is unreal; pain is a fiction; disease is imaginary. For myself I do not believe we gain anything by denying facts which are clearly patent to all. It is true we are souls, but souls living on the physi- cal plane, and the body is a reality on its own plane and in the degree in which the real unity of life is expressed 44 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS through it. Hence, to deny the reality of the physical body, of pain and disease, is only a juggling with words. If we say, in good faith, there is no sin, sickness or disease, we have simply succeeded in hypnotizing ourselves into a belief that is an error. All these con- ditions do exist. They are not " real " in the sense of being permanent; they are but transitory conditions through which the soul passes, but they cannot be overcome through mere denial. The system of denial, which really lies at the basis of Christian Science, results, in fact, in emphasizing the reality of the very conditions from which we seek deliverance. The way to escape from darkness is not to deny that dark- ness exists. The only way to dispel darkness is to let in the light. Error of any kind is to be overcome not by the denial that error exists, but by affirming the existence and power of the 45 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS truth. There is another form of denial which is both true and rational. This is the affirmation of the superiority of the mind over the body, involving the denial that body can, of and for itself, do anything or feel anything. This is no mere denial or negation; it rather arises from the positive assertion of the higher law. There is a great difference between an imaginary disease and a disease of the imagination. The tendency in the past has been to regard many mental and nervous disorders as purely imaginary, and so unworthy of serious attention. Suggestive Thera- peutics recognizes that such so-called " imaginary disorders " are really dis- eases of the mind, causing the individ- ual oftentimes more pain and suffering by far, than would be produced by organic diseases. Faith Cure, in the proper sense, presumes upon special divine inter- 46 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS position in answer to prayer. It im- plies a suspension and violation of the orderly laws of the universe. Owing to the working of mental forces, many remarkable cures do take place under the administration of both Christian Science and Faith Cure, only the modus operandi is misunderstood. Nor are we to think of Mental Healing as merely another competitor in the field of the " pathies," seeking to relieve human suffering. This broader science of Mental Healing recognizes no external authority as located in a single person or text-book. " It is a development from within, rather than a system from without. It is a life rather than a doctrine. It is a new consciousness, rather than a new philosophy. It is a spiritual optimism, rather than a material or pessimistic realism. Its business is to bring inner ideals into outward actualized expres- 47 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS sion. It lias to do with the intuition as well as with the intellect. It recog- nizes that the inner and real nature of man is in most intimate relation with the Universal Mind of God." Its underlying principle consists in a recognition of mental causation for all outward phenomena. But the idea of mental causation for physical con- ditions is in substantial harmony with the highest and best thought of the seers and philosophers, from Plato down to the present time. " If primary causes for physical ills are resident in the clay of the body, there is no warrant whatever for healing through mind. If, however, causative forces are located in the mental realm, there is no logical basis, per se, for anything else." We are all in bondage to the seen, and constantly speak of mere occasions as causes. In popular language, we say that the draught caused the cold, the 48 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS contagion caused the fever, or the unfriendly microbe the disease. As a matter of fact, these are occasions but not causes. The cause in every case, is in the subjective conditions which we usually call the susceptibility of the individual. Occasions are always without; causes within. Ten people sit in the same draught, are exposed to the same contagion, or swallow the same microbes. Some will suffer, and perhaps die, while the others go scot free. The doctor and nurse can breathe the atmosphere of contagious disease continually, but they rarely succumb themselves. The people during an epidemic who are most fearful, are usually, on the testimony of physicians, the first ones to succumb to the disease. All this shows that occasions are only oppor- tunities. Owing to general low develop- ment, such opportunities must often 49 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS be avoided, but even then they never become causes. The true method is to so fortify our inner mental and phys- ical life that we shall no longer be sus- ceptible to external influences, so that the contagion we all breathe and the microbes we all swallow shall have no power over us. The time may come — it has not arrived yet — when the scientist will be able to locate the mental cause for every known disease; will be able to state just why at such a time a particular person took cold or came down with fever. Remember, we are but standing on the threshold of the great realm of mental dynamics; but dimly conscious as yet that mental and moral conditions are the most potent forces that make for health and happiness. It is not necessary in this connection to discuss the different diseases which experience has demonstrated can be 50 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS successfully treated by the mind. My purpose is to present as clearly as possible the general principles which, if followed out systematically and per- sistently, must result in physical health, strength and happiness. If we are to understand and effect- ively apply in our lives the laws of mental healing, we must realize at the outset the unity of our life. We speak of the individual as consisting of soul, mind and body. We know that mind and body are not two separate entities. Mind expresses itself through the body and directly influences the body, and in turn, the body influences the mind. Mind and body are constantly acting and reacting on one another. Then we speak of the soul as if that were another distinct entity, something sepa- rate from mind and body. But what we mean by soul or spirit is simply the spiritual ego, the individual who 51 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS stands back of mind and body, and uses both as instruments of expression. Soul, the term used to describe the highest expression of individual entity, is not different from or independent of the Universal Soul of all things. Soul, mind and body are, then, bound to- gether in the closest kind of unity. These thoughts once fairly grasped, it becomes comparatively easy to under- stand the absolute oneness of Life, and yet, the One Life manifesting itself in many ways and through many degrees. We must not pick these different expressions of life apart and think of them as though they were entirely distinct. We must realize that they are, in the last analysis, all one, that the life which flows through this grand Universe is all one — One Life, One Intelligence. Still further, man must recognize his oneness with all humanity; that the life which flows in 52 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS his veins is the same life that flows in the veins of every human being. He must be lifted out of his sense of little- ness, his sense of isolation, his sense of being merely a personal entity, into the sense of his oneness with the Whole, of his life as part and parcel of all life, inextricably bound up with the life of humanity. This consciousness of life's unity does not come to one suddenly. It is developed as one dwells upon the thought of life, as one seeks to realize the deeper meaning of life, as one endeavours to get back to causes and tries to interpret relationships. In other words, it is as a man thinks. The trouble with most of us is that we spend very little time in actual thinking; but when one begins to seriously think upon such subjects, he finds, in com- pany with the great philosophers of all times, that there is no other way to interpret human life except in terms of 53 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS its oneness with the Infinite Life of the Universe. The next essential is to cultivate within our mental life the elements of faith, hope and love. Faith is the opposite of distrust or suspicion. Hope is the opposite of discouragement and melancholy. Love is the opposite of selfishness. There is a profound phil- osophy underlying the statement of the Apostle Paul, " Now abideth these three, faith, hope and love." To cultivate faith and hope and love means to foster harmonious thinking, for the opposite of these things constitutes the very essence of discordant thought. But faith in what ? Faith in your own power to live the life of freedom and self-control, the life full of composure and cheerfulness, the life that is de- livered from all fear of sickness and disease. Is the phrase your own power a correct one? That depends upon 54 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS how it is understood. The power acts through you. In that sense, it is your own, because it is expressed through you. In the narrower sense, it is not your own. " Of myself I can do noth- ing," said the Master. " The Father working in me, He doeth the works." What we call faith in our own powers is really just the recognition of the power that God has given us to use. Faith, as the New Testament uses the word, is not to be confused with belief in certain dogmas of religion; it is a dynamic faith in one's own power to realize health, happiness and peace within. The element of Hope is the only true solvent of despair, discouragement, melancholy, fear and dread. Every doctor knows that these mental moods constitute the deadliest foes to physical health and strength. Hope means confidence, cheerfulness and 55 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS brightness. To cultivate Hope means to look on trie bright side, not only of things but of people, and to believe in the bright side of things and of people. It is an easy thing to unconsciously form the habit of always seeing the darker side, of always anticipating what may happen in the future to cloud the sky. If we are going to live in the atmosphere of Hope, — one of the strongest allies of strength and health, — we must cultivate the opposite of all these tendencies of our nature. If we desire, we can make brightness, cheerfulness, composure, hope for the future, faith in ourselves and con- fidence in our fellows, the great domi- nant forces of our daily lives. Then cultivate most earnestly the spirit of Love. The root of all discord in thinking, that plays such havoc with our bodies as well as our souls, is selfish- ness, in the form of greed, avarice, 56 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS pride, jealousy, envy, or any other of these malign influences. Foster within yourself the opposite of selfishness. When Paul concludes with the words, " The greatest of these is Love," and when Jesus sums up all the Law and the Prophets in the one great com- mandment — love to God and love to man — they understood how the life lived in the atmosphere of love, the life whose attitude was habitually one of loving thoughts and loving desires, must inevitably be the life possessed of fulness of strength and health, both of body and soul. We all believe in love, we all approve the sermon that treats of love, and we are all quick to say that what we need in our lives is more of the spirit of love. But, ask yourself the question, " How earnestly, how persistently, how systematically in my every-day life, am I seeking to hold and cultivate in my mind only loving 57 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS thoughts ? " How often do you take mental inventory and say, " This is an envious thought, and that is a jealous thought, and that is a melancholy thought; and I am allowing such thoughts to lodge in my mind, and so control my life ? " Read the wonderful thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, and then compare the ideal it presents with your daily life. ' 6 Love suffereth long and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endure th all things. Love never faileth." If we should determine to live in the at- mosphere of that single chapter of the Bible for six months, we should marvel at the transformation in our- 58 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS selves and in those about us. Culti- vate the spirit of faith and hope and love in this systematic way, just as earnestly as you would cultivate your muscles by exercise, or the powers of your mind by study — and see the result. Another fundamental need is to change our negative thoughts to positive. I wonder if any one realizes how much of his thinking is on the plane of the negative. An old proverb says that a man is either his own physician at forty or else he is a fool. But however much we know at forty, we are all of us fools, in this respect at least, that in our conversation we pay altogether too much attention to sickness and physical condi- tions. Dr. Heber Newton tells of once spending a month in a sanitarium. The sanitary regulations and the hygiene were correct; but he says the mental atmosphere was harmful in the extreme. 59 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS Attending a concert given one evening for the patients, there came a sudden lull in the music, and in the comparative silence the only words that fell upon his ears were these, " Rheumatism, in- fluenza, pneumonia, nervous prostra- tion, etc." What kind of a place was that in which to find health? The whole atmosphere was surcharged with the thoughts of people who dwelt con- stantly on their physical disorders and sufferings. When we come together how much of the time is spent in con- versing about our own physical con- ditions or else those of our friends. Our talking is by no means an idle or meaningless thing. Every time we dwell upon such things in conversation we are giving potent suggestions of ill- health to ourselves and others. What we talk about habitually, is simply an indication of what we think habitually, and what we think habitually is what 60 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS we, sooner or later, become in our- selves. Cease thinking thoughts of sickness, and you will soon stop talking along lines which only create the atmosphere that makes for ill-health and disease. Did you ever wonder why the children of the rich, petted and coddled from the cradle, with a nurse to dog their every footstep, who are bundled up with the greatest care every time they step outside the door, and are constantly warned against eating this or drinking that — why such chil- dren, protected and safeguarded by all these influences, turn out so often weak, puny and sickly? The children of the street, on the other hand, about whom nobody seems to care, who have never had the guardianship of a nurse, whose parents know nothing and care less about the laws of diet, often grow up to be strong, robust and hearty. One of the causes unquestionably lies in 61 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS the fact that in the homes of the rich, an atmosphere is created by the over- fond parent or the too- careful nurse, in which the child is made to fear and dread countless ills, of which the street gamin never dreams ;^and what is feared is invited. I have a friend who believes so strongly in the power of words, even casually spoken, that when she meets a friend she never says, " I hope you are well to-day." She has changed her greeting, and always says, " I hope you are good to-day; " and if we are good in the broad sense of the word, we will be well. What we need in all the range of our conversation at home and elsewhere, is to transfer our think- ing from the negative to the positive plane. Think only healthful thoughts and speak only healthful words. Let the thoughts that are uppermost in your mind, whether you are alone or with others, be always those thoughts 62 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS that make for health and strength and power. If we could cultivate the habit of living our lives on the plane of the positive, not in the realm of what we fear or dread, or doubt, or distrust, our " susceptibility " to sickness of all kinds would largely disappear. Once again, we need to cultivate the imaging faculty. We must take pains to outline in our minds definitely, clearly and intensely what we mean by Health. Picture in your mind the perfect man — image and likeness of his Creator, without spot or blemish. It is not enough to repeat formulas, par- rot fashion. If you discover the root trouble to be hatred, anger or jealousy, then picture to yourself the idea of love as the great reality; if selfishness is the cause, replace it by the thought that we are all members of one body, etc. In this connection, there is tre- mendous need of the power of Concert- 63 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS tration. The great weakness in most of our lives is traceable to the fact that we have so little command over our mental forces; our minds fly from one thing to another. We no sooner begin to think about one subject than im- mediately our attention is diverted, and we find ourselves thinking about something else. What makes the suc- cessful scientist ? His power of con- centration in one field of investigation. What makes the great inventor like Edison ? His power to concentrate all his energies in one direction. What constitutes the true student ? His ability to take his book in hand and sit down for hours together and concen- trate his attention on the problems in which he is interested. Here is where most of us fail. Our weakness men- tally and therefore physically, nine times out of ten, is due to the fact that we do not command our mental forces, 64 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS that we do not know how to concen- trate our mental powers; that we no sooner touch one subject than we are drawn away to something else. Yet I want to affirm that if any man or woman is really in earnest in this matter, they can cultivate their powers of mental concentration just as truly as any other power. The first thing is to recognize its real need in your life. Then realizing that you cannot be any better, mentally or physically, until you cultivate these powers, set yourself to the task. Let it be by the systematic and persistent practice of holding your mind steadily to the subject in hand. With a book before you, or in the quiet hour as you sit alone, take some uplifting thought into your mind and resolve to shut out every other thought for the time being. Suppose you take the thought, " I am God's child." Approach it from one direction then from another. " Who 65 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS is God ? " and " What does it mean to be God's child ? " or, " If I am God's child, what is my relation to Him ? " " If I am God's child, what part of God is it that I possess, that I can appropriate and use to my own up- building ? " Think all around the thought suggested, and then think back again. Look at its truths from this standpoint and from that, but concentrate your mind on the one central thought, to the exclusion of everything else. Exercise your mind in this way daily, and note the results. You will come forth from such an experience with a sense of power that you have never felt before, with your mind renewed, your strength quickened and your confidence in God and your- self wonderfully increased. Then there is needed the cultivation of peace and restfulness. A few years ago a well-known German physician 66 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS visited this country. On his return he wrote that he had discovered in the increasingly prevalent nervous break- down of the American people a new disease, which he called " Americani- tis." Every doctor knows that nervous breakdown, in the last analysis, is due to mental conditions. It is the nervous hurry, the waste of nervous energy due to lack of self-control, that results in so many different forms of nervous disorders. All this could be checked and controlled and cured, if we would simply take pains to cultivate in our- selves peace, restfulness and quiet- ness. I know a woman who found herself getting into a very nervous condition, and in consequence giving way to an impatient spirit in her speech, until the habit seemed fixed. She finally realized that the fault was altogether with herself, that it lay in her own lack 67 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS of mental poise, and she said, " I am going to conquer this thing." She pictured clearly to herself the ideal of self-control and patience, and finally resolved not to utter one impatient word for a week. At the end of that time the habit was broken. Practise self-control and self-poise as you would practise your music at the piano or your problems in the school room or your exercises in the gymnasium. Be dead in earnest in winning the victory over yourself by developing your powers to the full. It will take time to reach perfection, but that is what we are here for, and it can be done. One last essential is the cultivation of silence. If men and women would simply stop in the midst of their busy life for a few moments every day, and be still, and in the silence think upon the great realities of life, they would be amazed at the result. I have a friend, 68 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS who is a manager of a street railway system in one of the Western cities, who told me a few years ago that, in the multiplicity of his duties, he found he was losing all control of himself and was unable to do his required work. He made it a rule every day after lunch, to go upstairs to a room by himself, in the building where he worked, and spend a half hour alone. I asked him if he prayed. He said, " No, I do not believe you would call it prayer. I close my eyes and just stop and think carefully and slowly and clearly about the things which are really worth while in life; and I have found I cannot do without it now." If we could but realize the necessity of taking time to go away into the Silence, and just let our feverish lives sink down to some of these deep, eternal principles of life and religion, there is nothing in the world that would send us back to our 69 / PHYSICAL WHOLENESS work with greater physical vitality, greater buoyancy and greater strength. Do not misconstrue iny meaning. Do not imagine me as saying that when you are sick or weak all you have to do is to think you are well, and you are well. This is a caricature on mental healing. I have not said that. What I have said is that when you are sick, your mental condition and your thoughts are far more important than the physical effects from which you suffer. Exactly as you take care of the nourishment of the body, just as you see to it that three times a day you eat the proper food in the proper quantities, so the mind, which lies back of all physical conditions, must receive its proper nourishment in the form of health-producing thoughts, if you are to eradicate the primary cause of your disorder; and it is in your power to give the right food to your mind. 70 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS Nourish your mind with these thoughts of faith, hope and love, these thoughts of confidence and composure, cheer- fulness and hope, and you will begin to see changes taking place in your ab- normal or disordered physical con- dition. There are four ways in which mental therapeutics can be applied in one's own personal life. First of all, by the direct power of the sub-conscious mind inherent in itself. This is what the doctor would call the vis medicatrix natures. It is what the doctor means when he says in certain cases, " We have done all we can. Now we must let nature do the rest." All intelligent physicians know that this " power of nature " is the power of the sub- conscious mind. In the case where the doctor says, " We can do no more, there is no hope," and yet the patient slowly comes back to life, the recovery 71 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS is due to the remedial powers of nature, or the power of the sub-conscious mind. In the second place, there is the power of the sub-conscious mind influenced directly by external suggestion; where the trained and skillful practitioner by his own suggestion, or the wise parent in the case of the child, calls into activity these remedial and cura- tive powers of the mind. In the third place, there is the power of the sub- conscious mind influenced indirectly by the conscious mind, because of faith in persons, systems, places, etc. And lastly, there is the power of the auto- suggestion which the sick person sends to the sub-conscious mind himself, by his determination to get well, shake off illness, ignore pain, etc. Perhaps you are thinking, " This is a beautiful theory, but will these prin- ciples work ? " They have worked in multitudes of cases. I could tell you 72 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS of a man, of whom I know, bound hand and foot by the appetite for strong drink for twenty years. He came into the realization of his own powers through this method, and to-day is free and doing a man's work in the world. I could tell in detail of a man who has had a bitter up-hill struggle for forty years, who came to the verge of suicide because he felt there was noth- ing left for him in life — a complete nervous breakdown. That man to-day, after having practised these principles for only three weeks, is back again at his occupation, earning his livelihood, happy and strong. Or I could tell you of a case described to me within a fortnight, of a woman who came from a Western city. For thirty long years she had been the victim of fears of every kind, and had developed into a complete nervous wreck. The skilled physician who examined her said, 73 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS " There is no use trying to do anything for her by mental suggestion; her case is extreme ; it is perfectly hope- less; nobody can help her." That woman, after four weeks' treatment, has gone back to her home again, per- fectly strong and in her right mind. These are a few results about which I happen to know personally. However it may seem to you, the individuals who will take these principles and incor- porate them in their lives, making them the basis of daily experience, will reap the same results that have come to many others. The timid and fearful child who has lost sight of his father in the crowded street, cries out with joy and reassur- ance, as he conies again into his father's presence and grasps his hand. The crowd may jostle him, but he is no longer afraid. The darkness may be intense, but it does not frighten him 74 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS now. His father is there, and he holds his father's hand; and as they walk together through the night the child knows naught save the perfect con- fidence and love, that cast out all fear. In setting forth the psychological side of mental healing and while believing that Suggestive Therapeutics must be put upon a scientific and rational basis, nevertheless I would not have you miss its religious significance. In addition to the scientific principles in- volved, the deep need of our lives, the great need of the age in which we live, is to catch afresh the vision of God. It is possible for me to realize, like the little child, that God's hand clasps mine; that, in spite of the dark- ness and the storm, in spite of the struggle and the crowd, in spite of all the phantoms of fear and dread, I am in His presence now and always; nothing in the whole universe of space, 75 PHYSICAL WHOLENESS nothing in the whole eternity of time can ever harm me, can ever utterly discourage me, for I am God's child and His life is my life. As we grow into such a consciousness of the divine power resident within us, the hardest problems will be solved, darkness and dread, doubt, and uncertainty, with all the malign diseases of soul and body, will gradually but surely disappear. 76 AWAKENING LATENT MENTAL POWERS AWAKENING LATENT MENTAL POWERS HE task set every individual life, — clear, insistent, final — is this : " Work out your own salvation," physically, men- tally, morally and spiritually. The assurance of ultimate victory is found in the truth, "For it is God who worketh in you." In all reverence, God cannot accomplish man's salvation alone; man cannot accomplish his salvation apart from God. The great goal toward which humanity has been tending from the beginning, man's complete, all-around salvation, in all parts of his complex nature, is to be 3 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS accomplished only through the co- operation of God and man; or better still, God in man. " Work out your own salvation, for it is God who work- eth in you." We have suggested some of the ways by which any individual, through the aid of the powers resident within, might learn to control his physical conditions and to a very large degree prevent sickness or disease from rinding a lodging place in his life. Let us now go a step further and consider the wondrous powers of the sub-conscious mind over man's mental life, in the development of his latent possibilities. In an article entitled, " The Energies of Men," published recently in the Philosophical Review, Professor James uses these words: " Most of us feel as if we lived habitually with a sort of cloud weighing upon us, below our highest notch of clearness in discern- 4 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS ment, sureness in reasoning and firm- ness in deciding." Further on in the article, he describes how men from time to time, through various experi- ences, and chiefly by the aid of Sugges- tion, are enabled to " tap new levels of energy," and thus disclose in themselves forces of which they had been hitherto ignorant. Professor James is here describing a common experience. We are all more or less conscious that we are not living up to our highest mental capacity; in our daily work we are not expressing our very best ability; when we under- take some enterprise we do not see it through with that measure of power, of which we believe ourselves truly ca- pable. How many times we come to the end of the week, or reach the comple- tion of some task with the regretful feeling, that if we could only retrace our steps and try it over again, we 5 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS should succeed much better. Then, there do come times to everyone of us, when we seem to break through this " cloud that rests upon us so habitu- ally," when we are lifted to higher planes of mental activity, when we can command our mental resources as we do not ordinarily. Then it is that we are able to do our work with a facility, an ease, a precision, an effectiveness, that causes us to marvel at our own skill and power. After such an experi- ence we naturally ask the question, " Why have I been able to do so easily and successfully what, at another time, I would have done laboriously and most unsatisfactorily ? If at some times I am conscious of possessing such powers, why not at all times ? " The answer lies in our ignorance of our- selves and the laws of our mental being. We all do " tap levels of new energy " at times, and that we cannot do so 6 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS habitually, is due to our ignorance of the powers and capacities with which we are all endowed, and which need only to be called forth and developed,. A young man called recently and told me of his past life. He had lacked the advantages of an education in his early youth and had gone to work while quite a lad. In the course of the con- versation, he said, " In these last few years I have awakened, and come to see why I have failed, why I don't get along faster, why I am not more successful in my daily work." And then touching his head, he said, " The trouble is here; it is with my mind. I did not have the chance to study. I am not educated. I do not know how to use my mental powers; and as I compare myself with other men I feel the handicap of my mental limitations." How often we experience the same feeling as we come into the presence of 7 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS the trained mind, with all its faculties at command, exhibiting in its work a power and skill that calls forth our greatest admiration. There is no more laudable ambition in life, than the ambition for personal power. Every earnest person pauses now and then, to ask the vital question: ' How can / become more powerful and effective; how command supplies of available energy adequate to my need ? " I might bring you specific instances of the way in which different individuals throughout the world have employed the power of the sub-conscious mind to develop themselves intellectually, and thus made possible a more effec- tive and successful life. Dr. Coste de La Grange, a prominent French physician, who has been working in this field of investigation for years, tells of the way in which he experi- mented upon himself with auto-sug- 8 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS gestion. He was called upon frequently to attend social functions. Such affairs were to him as unattractive as they are to most men. He was a ready enough conversationalist in his office or with men of his own profession, but else- where he was a dismal failure. So he tried the power of auto-suggestion, and found, as he states in an address before scientific men in Paris, that the conversational powers which seemed to be denied him in the social atmosphere, were given him in an unusual degree, and he attained a fluency and ease that he had never deemed possible. He had an ambition to write, but when he attempted to put his thoughts on paper, he found it impossible to write more than a dozen lines, and even these were far from satisfactory. Once again he tried, suggesting to himself that he should have an abundance of ideas and that he should be able to express them 9 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS in an attractive form. To his surprise after practising in this way, he found he could write for hours at a stretch with the greatest ease. I might remind you of Voltaire, who tells us that more than once when confronted by problems in his literary or philosophical work, which he found himself incapable of solving, he had gone to sleep only to awaken in the morning to find the difficulty removed, or his problem solved. Coleridge tells us how again and again, some of his most beautiful verses came to him during the hours of sleep, after he had striven laboriously in his waking hours, but to no effect. All the great writers bear witness to the same experience. The mathematicians tell us that in solving mathematical prob- lems, that which could not be done in the waking hours has often been accom- plished while asleep. 10 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS But it is not my purpose to dwell upon such specific cases, or describe the way in which the sub-conscious mind has operated to make mental effort more successful. I desire rather, to point out some of the general prin- ciples, by conforming to which every individual, no matter who he is or where he stands, may be able to call upon these inner forces for his own larger mental development. Once again, the first thing for us to realize, is the fact of our close relation to the Infinite and Universal energy from whence all power proceeds. We may think of energy or force, as being absolute and universal. It is the same energy that manifests itself in all the myriad forms of life; that expresses itself in various and wonderful or- ganisms; that is manifested in the life of the trees, the flowers and the grass; in the life of the animals, the birds, the 11 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS fishes, and the reptiles; that finally reveals itself in man's complex being — a being so wonderful, that as we study him, we are fairly amazed at the ease and power with which he is able to direct this stream of energy that flows through his being. We are all naturally proud. We like to think of ourselves as the originators of power; we like to believe that we create energy of various kinds. But as a matter of fact, no man, strictly speaking, creates energy. He is simply a specialized transmitter of the Univer- sal Energy, of God's powers. Let me bring an illustration from the field of electricity. No scientist can tell what electricity is. Various definitions have been attempted, but they all fall short of the reality. If you were to talk with the electrician in his laboratory, you might say, " It is marvelous how you have been able to harness electricity 12 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS and make it serve your commands," and he would reply, " You mistake the facts entirely. Electricity does not serve me. I am not the master of electricity. I am its servant. Elec- tricity is the master. All that I have done or can do, is simply to observe the phenomena, to study the laws, and then to create certain conditions by means of which it may please electricity to ex- press itself. I construct this piece of machinery, and then if it pleases, elec- tricity may manifest itself and I obtain the current in my machine. But I am simply electricity's servant." In much the same relation do we stand to the Infinite Energy of the universe. We do not originate or create any energy whatsoever; we are but the servants, the instruments which this energy uses; we are the channels through which this energy is transmitted. We may, be- cause of our individualized powers, our 13 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS personalities, our own wills, turn it into this or that channel; we may apply it wisely or misdirect it foolishly, but the source of all energy is ever the same. Infinite energy is in us and streams through us, while we seek to give it adequate expression through the various functions of mind and body. Our chief concern, then, should be to perfect the mechanism, and keep the organism in good working order, with soul, mind and body so skillfully attuned, as to provide a free channel for the noblest expression of this Eternal Energy. If we are to realize to the full our inner resources of power, we must learn to think more and more continually of our intimate relation to the Infinite Energy. Realizing this, no one is limited in any absolute sense, and the possibility of ' tapping new levels of power," is always ours, for the supply is inexhaustible. 14 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS We need also to recognize that each of us is capable of the highest and best in the range of mental activity. Think for a moment, of the wonderful way in which man is being revealed to himself to-day. We talk about the new knowl- edge of nature that has been disclosed to us in the last century of scientific investigation; but the newest of the New Knowledge and by far the greatest, is the New Knowledge of Man. And this new land of Man is being explored by the daring Columbuses of our own time, as it never has been explored in the past. Think of what man has accomplished. When he first came into existence upon this planet he found only a wild, trackless, undeveloped wilderness. All the arts and industries, all tools and machinery, have been developed by man. Every institution that exists in the world to-day, — educational, political, religious, — has 15 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS been thought out and then wrought out by man. All sciences, all philosophies, all literature — yea, the very language which he speaks, are the result of man's creative thought. Compare the life as it is lived in a city like New York with the life in the old Colonial days of this country. Picture the private houses and the public buildings, the multitude of conveniences and comforts, the trans- portation, lighting and heating facili- ties, the telegraph and the telephone, — the things which we are all using to-day with scarcely a thought, and then remember that they were all unknown and undreamed of, one hundred years ago. It is man who has wrought these wonders. As the old astronomer said, when he turned his telescope towards the starry heavens, " the greatest won- der of all is the being at the small end of the telescope, — the man who has invented the telescope and brought 16 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS these unseen worlds into our range of vision; who weighs them, explores their substances and measures their distances. When we turn to man's achievements in special fields of human activity, we find in the realm of music such names as Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Liszt, Rubenstein and Paderewski; in art, Phidias, Raphael, Angelo, Rem- brandt, Corot and Millet; in inven- tion, Watt, Morse, Stephenson, Fulton, and Edison; in the realm of poetry, Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, Tennyson and Browning; in the realm of discovery and exploration, Columbus, Cook, Livingston and Peary ; in science, Newton, Galileo, Copernicus, Hum- boldt and Darwin; the renowned ora- tors, Demosthenes, Cicero, Burke, Gladstone and our own Phillips. Think of the deep wisdom of the prophets, philosophers and seers, Plato, Isaiah, 17 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS Kant, Hegel and Emerson; of the illustrious leaders of mankind, Moses, Luther, Cromwell, Washington, Lin- coln; yes, of the religious leaders and saviours of the world, Buddha,, Con- fucius, Zoroaster, and, greatest of all, because He leads them all, both by what He was in Himself and by what He taught, Jesus of Nazareth. How sublime these lives, how glorious their achievements! It ought to lift our hearts to the highest pitch of enthusias- tic gratitude, just to think what men have accomplished in the world. But what shall we think of the other lives ? Are these we have mentioned, these geniuses of humanity, composed of exceptional clay ? Do they belong to an exclusive class that the rank and file of men and women need never expect to enter ? The old saying that we generally use in a disparaging sense, " Human nature is about the same the 18 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS world over," can be applied in a vastly higher sense, " Human nature is the same the world over." All men have like faculties, like powers, differing only in degree but not in kind. In every soul there is the germ, the inborn capacity, the latent ability, that might, if opportunity and time were afforded, unfold into the philosopher, the poet, the artist or the musician. Every man is, in embryo^a possible hero, or prophet, or seer, or saint; all that is needed is the opportunity and the time for de- velopment. Human nature is the same. What one man can do, or has done, reveals an open door that all other men may enter. Whatever any man pos- sesses must be potential in all others. This is the great significance of the Life Beyond. We shall not be translated through the experience of Death to " seats of everlasting bliss," but we shall enter spheres of existence, where 19 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS We must continue to unfold our latent powers, continue our growth and de- velopment, as perhaps we never had opportunity in this world, or else were too indifferent or ignorant to seize, when it came. And that will be Heaven for you and for me. Nothing less than that could ever satisfy the awakened soul of man. When one begins to think of himself in this way, as essentially one with these greatest and noblest of earth; when he begins to recognize that he is himself capable of the highest and best attainments, he is taking a long stride towards the realization of power in his own life. We need no one else to tell us why we fail and come short of the highest. We have not confidence in our own selves, in our own ability and powers. We belittle ourselves and constantly underrate our abilities. If we are given a task, at once we say, 20 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS " Well, I am afraid I can't do that." We attempt to solve some problem, with the thought at the very outset, that perhaps we shall fail. We enter some new employment, with the fear or misgiving that we shall not be able to give satisfaction. We are failing a dozen times every week, because we have not enough faith in our power to do the thing, and to do it better than anybody else in God's world. But with the new light gained, we can no longer honestly tarry in the atmosphere of disparagement and self- belittling; we can no longer complain because we have not been born as others, or endowed with different powers and faculties. Read the lives of the great geniuses — follow them from the cradle to the glorious heights of success, and then take to your own heart the lesson. Most of these great ones of earth have 21 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS come out of poverty, through hard- ships, trials and privations of every kind. The greatness they attained was not won easily, or suddenly, but by dint of hard, prodigious labours, through the greatest sacrifices, by most persistent efforts, centered in one direction. The men and women whose names we reverence in literature, carried their manuscripts from publisher to pub- lisher, only to meet rebuff or refusal. Over and over again did they re-write and re-polish their material; and only at last, oftentimes not until after their death in direst poverty, was their greatness recognized. Greatness is al- ways arrived at slowly, — through strug- gle and toil, through pain and sacrifice, in loneliness and grief. I am not so sure but that the only genius is the genius for hard and unremitting work. Few of the geniuses were born with the golden spoon in their mouths, or with 22 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS some great faculty already developed. It is not the precocious child that turns out the man of genius; usually, he is forgotten, ere he emerges from his teens. Thank God! that these great lives are of the same mould as ours ; and if they have attained heights and de- veloped powers that we know nothing about, it is not because the same powers do not exist in us; it is rather because they have worked as we have not, they have come to understand themselves and learned how to call forth their powers, while we have only skimmed life's surface; they have not been con- tent with anything but the highest and best, while we are satisfied with the paltry mediocre. If we are going to be saved mentally, — for God is seek- ing to save men mentally, as well as morally and spiritually, — it will be because we will to work out our own salvation through confidence in our- AWAKENING LATENT POWERS selves, because we believe in our power and ability to achieve only the highest. The next necessity, if we are to realize an increase of power in our lives, is that we shall do some clear, definite and accurate thinking about ourselves. The old Greek philosopher was right, when he said that the most important knowledge was the knowledge of one- self, and yet it seems as if this is the branch of knowledge in which we are most deficient. We must know our- selves, if we are to grow along the lines of power. We need to analyze ourselves; to sit down and confront ourselves as we might another individ- ual. We must discover whether the intellectual or the emotional or the vo- litional temperament predominates in us. We need to ask the question, " As I go through life do I see things, or do I think things ? " Most of us only see things, and do little or no real thinking. John 24 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS Ruskin says somewhere, that the reason we all cannot sit down with pencil and paper, and draw a horse, is because we have never really thought a horse; we have seen thousands of horses, but the man who can draw a horse and put the curves where they ought to be, and make the picture look like the living animal, is the man who not only sees, but thinks the horse. Ask the question, " Am I merely looking with everybody else, or am I perceiving clearly and definitely the actual conditions, facts and experi- ences in my every-day life ? " Discover whether you are strong or weak in translating your thoughts into action. It may be that you belong to the class of Amiel and Joubert, wonderfully talented and cultivated men, and yet, to the amazement of all their friends, they never accomplished anything worthy their powers. As Saint Beuve 25 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS said of Joubert, he lived in the region between " The Time-has-not-come-yet" and ' The Time-h as-passed." His friends repeatedly asked him, " When are you going to write the great book ? " His reply invariably was, " The time has not arrived yet." The years rolled on and at last his pathetic answer to their questionings was, " The time has passed." Multitudes of men are in the same tragic class. We have talents enough and time enough and ability enough, God knows, but we fail in the actual doing. Find out whether your mental life is simply expending itself in the thin air of desires and plans and hopes, while you dawdle and procrasti- nate till at last you, too, will be obliged to sadly say, " The time is passed. I have lost the opportunity for accom- plishing what I might have done." Take an exact inventory of your attain- ments, and thus come to know yourself. 26 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS Draw the line about your strong points and underline your weak points. Find out what your limitations are. Be glad of the things that you can do and do well, and then face honestly the things where you fail, the work you bungle. When you come to such clear knowledge of yourself, you are in a position to begin effective work in self -development and in overcoming failings or weaknesses. The first requirement is that one should possess the maximum of mental control. I have emphasized the need of mental concentration in all of life, if we would achieve results. It is especially true in this realm of our intellectual powers. We have taken the burning glass and placed a piece of paper on the table and let the sun's rays fall directly upon it, with the result that the paper is merely warmed; then by focusing the sun's rays on one defi- nite spot, we can so concentrate them 27 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS that the intense heat burns a hole in the paper. The power of concentra- tion is as true of man's intellectual life as it is of the sun's rays. Most of us have never learned how to focus our mental powers on one thing for any length of time. If you were to walk down the street, and ask the first thou- sand people you met to concentrate their minds to the exclusion of every- thing else on some one idea for a single minute, you would not find twenty- five who could do it. That is why we fail in the development of our latent mental powers. We do not know how to control our thoughts. The result is that they wander here and there, like the will-o'-the-wisp, darting first in one direction and then in another. If you are discussing with a friend some religious or political topic, by and by you say, " Well, I don't know; it may be that you are right," and there you 28 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS drop the conversation. This is where most of us leave any serious train of thought, — in the air. Did you ever think what a confession of mental weak- ness it is ? No man ought to stop short of conclusions in his thinking. Think the subject out to some end. It makes no difference whether you arrive at the conclusions of others, but, at any rate reach some conclusions of your own. What would become of the workman, who began a piece of work, and in a few moments took up something else, and then something else, etc. ? His services would not be required very long. And yet in our mental life we keep wandering from subject to sub- ject, from field to field; and even after we have analyzed ourselves, and see clearly the strong and weak places in our mental life, we lack the power to concentrate on the things so sadly needed. 29 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS There are three men in history, well worth studying for their remarkable powers of mental control. Napoleon was one of the greatest men intellectu- ally, of whom history speaks. His biographers tell us that naturally he was of a very sympathetic, humane and generous nature, and yet, if that be true, there were many times when he could absolutely exclude every such thought, and become as cold and hard as steel. He tells us himself that he used to keep every subject in a separate compartment of his mind, and he said, ;< I never let them get mixed; when I am working on one particular subject I am working with the contents of that particular compartment, and not of any other." After he had prepared for a campaign, he could throw the matter off his mind completely. At Jena he slept on the ground while the battle was raging. At Austerlitz, after he had 30 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS made the final preparations for battle, he lay down on the straw in a little hut and fell asleep as peacefully as a child. Therein lies the secret of the greatness of Napoleon. Mr. Smalley, one of the recent biographers of Glad- stone, tells us that the mental char- acteristic which lay at the foundation of Gladstone's great career, was his ability to exclude from his mind everything but the subject immediately in hand. Jacob Biis in his Story of President Roosevelt states that in his judgment the secret of Roosevelt's success or greatness as a man lies in his power to shut everything out of his mind except the one thing he is considering. Mr. Roosevelt himself tells us that he is not a great man, that he is possessed of no special intellectual ability, that he has no exceptional knowledge. In view of these statements, it would seem that the secret of Mr. Roosevelt's 31 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS power to do things, to bring things to pass while other men theorize and talk, is found in his powers of mental control. Amid the wild excitement, at the close of the Convention which placed him in the Vice-President's chair, Albert Shaw says that Mr. Roosevelt sat in an inner room quietly reading Thu- cydides. There is nothing in all the world that would mean more to our lives mentally, physically and morally than to per- sistently practice, with all the strength we possess, the power of control- ling our minds, by excluding all other things, and concentrating our thoughts and desires upon those ele- ments of strength which we wish to attain. This is the key to the whole problem of mental development, — that we shall learn how to live continually in the presence of the thoughts or faculties 32 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS which we earnestly desire to see de- veloped in ourselves. If a person aspires to become an artist and is dead in earnest, he seeks out the living artists, and gets as close to them as he can; he reads the biographies, and studies the pictures of the great art- ists of the past — in a word, he lives in the realm of Art. If a man wants to attain success in the com- mercial world he observes the lives of successful merchants; he touches as many of these lives personally as he can, studies their methods and tries to discover the secret of their power. He lives, in his thinking, in the realm of business or commerce. If a man desires to develop himself along any line whatsoever, the secret of his ultimate success will be found in this, that he has the determination and per- sistency to live constantly in the pres- ence of his Supreme Ambition. When 33 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS the conscious mind can see clearly the kind of power and mental force re- quired, and impresses that idea upon the sub-conscious, with the deepest and strongest desire for its realization, the impression thus made will call forth, in time, the power and intelli- gence required. The law is this : " The sub-conscious will respond with the exact quantity and quality, that you were conscious of, or that you mentally discerned, at the time the impression was made." It is, therefore, extremely important to elevate the conscious mind into the largest and most superior states of thought and feeling possible, before the effort is made to impress the sub- conscious. Thus to live constantly in the deep interior feeling of greater power, greater intelligence, greater per- sonal worth and greater mental bril- liancy, is to constantly call upon the 34 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS sub-conscious to produce these things in ever larger measure. We have gone far enough in human development, and have explored suffi- ciently in this " new country " of man, to say without exaggeration, that the possibilities for human development here on this planet, not to speak of the future, are practically limitless. Any individual can be, in time, what he earnestly desires to be, if he but set his face steadfastly in the direction of that one thing and bring all his powers to bear upon its attainment. The power of auto-suggestion in the matter of solving special problems, or making critical choices, in the desire to obtain unusual brilliancy for some special task, or in developing the faculty of memory, has been demon- strated again and again. There is nothing so ordinary, so trivial in every- day life concerning which you cannot 35 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS or should not call upon your inner powers for help. Above all things let us remember that whatever special end w T e may have in view, our daily, yes, hourly motto must be, to aim higher. As we fall asleep each night let it be in the thought, " It matters not how well or how poorly I did my work to-day, I will be more successful, I am going to do more effective work to-morrow." Let your thoughts of power always lead your actual expres- sion of power. Never allow yourself to be satisfied with what you are doing. The complete salvation which God has planned for every man is a salvation of his all-around nature. God is seek- ing to save man physically and men- tally, as well as morally and spiritually, by teaching him that it is God who works in, as man works out. Every vision of truth we catch, every particle of power we gain, all the light that 36 AWAKENING LATENT POWERS shines on our pathway, is to be em- ployed by us in attaining this perfect symmetry of life and character. Let us ever remember, that into the Life Beyond we must carry ourselves, noth- ing else but ourselves. The external gains we make here, of wealth and position and fame, must all be left behind when we pass the portals of Death. Shall we carry a Self just emerging from its infancy, mentally, morally and spiritually, or shall we go into that clearer light of the Eternal Day having developed to the full the powers resident within us, there to con- tinue our growth and development, forever and ever? Let us be so in earnest with ourselves, let us realize so clearly that " all things are ours," because we are God's, eternally His, that every step we take shall be a step forward into ever-increasing power, " till the clouds break and the shadows forever flee away." 37 THE ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER THE ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER HE words of Jesus, "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the teaching," might be translated so as to read, " Whoever really and earnestly chooses to do right and perseveres in that atti- tude, shall learn how." The problem of problems in moral development is this problem of the how. All of us are familiar with the ideals of moral character, but how to realize these lofty ideals in ourselves and in Society is the supreme question. The inner life of every individual presents a battle ground for opposing forces. No 41 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER one of us is either wholly good or wholly bad. We are all sometimes good, and sometimes bad. We know that we are possessed of impulses good, and impulses evil, of tendencies upward and tendencies downward. There are times when we carry our- selves with a pride and arrogance that is an offence and injury to our friends; there are other times when we live the quiet, humble and unobtrusive life. We are sometimes selfish and at other times unselfish. There are days when we are able to live serenely in the higher reaches of our nature, when our think- ing and our actions find beautiful expression on the high plane of the Spirit; and then there are other days when we seem to drop to lower planes where thoughts, words and deeds are unworthy our manhood and woman- hood. How often we say in wonder and sad regret, with the Apostle Paul, 42 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER ' The good that I would do, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do." This experience, common to every life, only reveals the fact that here on this earthly plane we are souls in-the- making; our characters are not yet fully formed; we are in the process of character-building. No one has yet realized all the wondrous possibilities of human character, save Him we call Perfect. We are all making more or less rapid progress toward the shining heights beyond. Doubtless all my readers regard themselves as moral characters, and as such they are regarded by their friends. In a general sense this is true — we are moral men and women. And yet in the strict and absolute sense, is it true of any one of us ? Besides the actual moral convictions we possess, there are a thousand ties that bind us to right conduct, — the reputation we 43 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER bear among men and upon which we pride ourselves, the ties of home and family, our personal pride, the ideals and sentiments of the community in w T hich we live, the fear lest w T e lose our self-respect, or even the baser fear lest shame and disgrace may come upon us. All these and many other considerations are tremendous influ- ences in the life of every individual, in preventing wrong actions. But the truly moral man, in the absolute sense, is the man who at all times and under all circumstances in- variably does the right. Can you say that this definition is true of your life ? It is a question that only you yourself can answer. Try to imagine yourself with all restrictions removed, what would you do then, what kind of a life would yours be under such cir- cumstances ? Were there not a repu- tation to sustain, were there no ties of 44 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER home and friends to bind me, were there no fear of detection and conse- quent disgrace, — were all these re- strictions swept away, how would I act, what would my conduct be ? This is the supreme test of moral character. To put the question in another form, think of yourself in some foreign land or strange community where not a soul knows you, where nobody about whom you care can see or hear, — under these conditions what would you do and what would you be ? Per- haps no one of us can answer such a hypothetical question with any degree of certainty. Our reputation is what men think us to be, our character is what God knows us to be, and un- fortunately these do not often agree. We only know that we are to-day what we actually are, not always what men think we are. This is why a man's reputation in the outside world 45 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER is sometimes very different from the opinion held of him in his own home, or by his intimate friends. Heredity, environment, and the use that we have made of all the influences proceeding from these two sources, have brought us to our present stage of moral development, but we are still in the process of character-building. We have not attained as yet. Under certain conditions and facing other circum- stances we might do very differently from what we now do. There cannot be the slightest question if these are the facts about human life, that the main business of every man and woman is to go on steadily, persistently and ear- nestly towards the perfection of moral character, the completion of the work that is now in progress in every human life. In this inner struggle, where opposing forces are constantly contend- ing, no one can doubt that our supreme 46 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER duty is daily and hourly to fight the battle with all forms of moral weak- ness, never yielding to the tendencies which are downward and degrading, but always and only to those influences which are upward and ennobling. As a matter of fact, is it not true that since the restraining hand of parent or teacher has been removed, we have remained in our moral lives pretty much what we were at that time ? Parents and teachers play a tremendous part in shaping moral char- acter, fashioning moral ideals, and de- veloping right habits within us. But after youth has passed, after we leave home and schoolroom, and begin to live our own lives as men and women in the world, frankly, — have we made much real progress in moral character since then? Character, we are told, is practically fixed for most people when they reach the age of 25. How 47 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER many of us are rigorously and system- atically taking ourselves in hand every day in this matter of overcoming moral imperfections and weaknesses ? We excuse and attempt to justify ourselves on various pretexts. We say, "It is my temperament," or " It was char- acteristic of my parents," or else, " I am what I am; " and so we go on spending our time in the search for wealth or happiness, discharging more or less faithfully the duties of daily life, and yet, how little real, earnest and intelligent effort do we give each day to the eradication of these moral weak- nesses, to the completion within our- selves of the truly moral character! We may divide wrongdoing in man's moral life into two general classes, (1) sins and (2) faults. This may seem to some a distinction without a difference, and yet by common agreement we seem to be justified in making such a dis- 48 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER tinction. Moral weakness, then, may consist in actual sin, or serious fault; and yet whether it be a sin or fault, it is a moral weakness; and as such it should be recognized and banished from life for ever. Upon that we must stand agreed. We all know what is meant by sin. There are the grosser sins of the appetites and of the passions; there are the heinous sins which Society recognizes as such, against which its laws are directed, to the infringe- ment of which various penalties are attached; there are the sins of pride, which go beyond mere human faults, in the harm wrought; there are the many sins of selfishness, such as avarice, greed, jealousy, envy, hate, cruelty, etc., which the laws of Society do not reach, but which are none the less sins. Such are the more flagrant sins, the more heinous wrongs, the more deadly weaknesses in human life, and we are 49 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER familiar with them all. They confront us constantly in the columns of the daily papers, in the lives of those about us, oftentimes even in our own lives. They are the black sins, if you will, that bring greatest suffering and dep- rivation into human hearts and homes. Yet while we assume that we are not guilty of any of these sins, there may be a tendency in our lives — God only knows — leading in any one of these various directions, a tendency of which we may be conscious, which must needs be overcome before character is attained. All the criminals are not behind the bars. There are multi- tudes of men and women in the world, whom Society does not regard as crimi- nals, whose sins have never been detected by the eye of the law, who imagine that they have safely covered their tracks and hidden deep away the sins which have been and are still 50 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER being committed. But whether they are detected by Society, whether their friends ever come to see them in their true light or not, the influence on character is just as deadly, — often far more so, — for the undetected crimi- nal, as for the one in prison cell. It is, however, to this second class of moral weaknesses that I want to especially direct your thought, because here is where we are most apt to be blind and indifferent, — the faults of life, the infinitesimal wrongs, the petty sins, the temperamental weaknesses, the personal foibles and failings of men, the ten thousand different im- perfections with which the daily life of every one abounds. They are not so flagrant that we can call them actual sins, but they are harmful; they are working mischief in ourselves and others continually; they are keeping us back from the highest attainments; and yet 51 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER we have grown so used to their presence in our lives that we scarcely give them a serious thought. These faults with which human lives abound are associated with every part of man's life. There are faults of the tongue, of the hand, of the reason, of the conscience, of the affections, of the sentiments, — there is no part of man's complex nature that is free from these failings. Sometimes they are due to a lack of activity, and sometimes to an excess of energy. The fault exists be- cause there is too much or too little of what, in proper proportions, is not bad in itself. I would it were possible for us to see the danger, the mischief and the harm of these minor moral defects, if allowed to continue unchecked in our lives, and first, because these faults are the step- ping stones to actual sins. They go before, they prepare the way, they tend 52 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER to dull the moral sensibilities, and blur the moral vision; so that at last we find ourselves no longer able to dis- criminate clearly between right and wrong, to draw the line sharply between the high or the low ideal. Carelessness in speech may not be sin at first, but let it be continued, and by degrees it almost inevitably leads to falsehood. The habit of exaggeration in conversa- tion seems trivial, and yet, if unwatched, creates the mental confusion where one does not know whether he is telling the actual truth or not. It may be unintentional, for I am not speaking of conscious dishonesty which is always sin, but unconsciously these little faults of carelessness and exaggeration in speech lead to falsehood and misrepre- sentation that work actual injury to the lives of others. There is a wide margin, I grant you, between honesty and dishonesty, where it is difficult to 53 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER draw the line and say just when one becomes actually dishonest. There is carelessness and irregularity and often- times a low sense of honour, yet we do not feel like calling these things dis- honest in themselves. I have heard a business man, speaking of an associate, use language like this: " I do not like to say he is dishonest. I do not think that he means to be dishonest, but his sense of honour permits him to do things that I could never do;" and yet, this low sense of honour, this carelessness and irregularity which may not be intentional dishonesty, inevitably tends towards the dishonest act and becomes at last the veritable sin. These faults which seem so trivial, which we often- times regard of not sufficient importance to grapple with and put out of our lives, are the stepping stones to serious things, to graver faults, to more heinous wrongs, to actual sin itself. They are 54 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER the influences which undermine char- acter, weakening its structure at the very basis of manhood and woman- hood. Another reason why these faults work such havoc in moral life, is because of their cumulative tendency. If we could separate the little faults committed to-day from the same faults committed to-morrow, and so on through the week, and keep them separate, perhaps no great harm would be done; but as the fault is repeated over and over, it seems to grow in its intensity and cumulative power. To illustrate, a little sharpness in the voice now and then may not be altogether an un- pleasant thing. It may furnish some of the spice of life, as we say. We tire of people of the " patient Griselda " type, so passive that they scarcely speak above a whisper, who never dare call their souls their own. There are 55 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER occasions when we like to see the spirit flash out, the temper of a man assert itself, as in the case of standing up for one's rights. But add to that manifes- tation of temper a little more temper, and then a little more, and then still a little more, and by and by you have the shrew, the scold, the nagging wife or husband, who poisons the atmos- phere and makes life miserable for all around. Such faults multiply them- selves, they gain in intensity and power as they go on unwatched and un- checked, and by and by the thing which at the outset was trivial, becomes a serious fault, a grave flaw, a great weakness in one's moral life. These faults are also harmful and mischievous in the extreme, because they silently propagate themselves and work injury in directions that were never dreamed of. There is the pinhole of rust in the roof. You do not call a painter, 56 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER it seems so slight a thing; it only lets a small drop of water through, and that very slowly; surely not much harm will be done before spring. But leaks go on working day and night, and the dampness finds its way into the attic, and by and by through the wall, into the next story, behind the bookcases; and still down to the lower story where the costly pictures and engravings hang ; the servants come down-stairs sneezing, the children are coughing, the books are mildewed, the pictures damaged, and at last the little leak in the roof, if neglected, becomes a potent force to work harm and injury, not only to the house itself but to all its inmates. The power of even the smallest fault, allowed to go on unchecked in human life, works its injury through a thousand different avenues and carries its mis- chief in directions of which we may have never dreamed ., 57 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER But perhaps the greatest injury wrought by these faults of moral life lies in the fact that they destroy inevi- tably the beauty, symmetry and nobility of character. There is something in the very word character that implies har- monious combination, fineness and the proper sense of proportion. There is no nobler word in the English language. Character means symmetry; it means all-around nobility; it means well- balanced proportion of all faculties and virtues. When we speak of one as being " a strong character," this is essentially what we have in mind — a well-balanced, a symmetrical, a beau- tifully proportioned man or woman. Now the little fault overlays the beauty, mars the symmetry, or destroys the beautiful proportion of virtues in human life. There are different ways of destroying the beauty of a picture. You can cut and slash it from its 58 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER frame, or, as in times of war, the cannon ball may come crashing through the wall and destroy it at once, where it hangs. Or some masterpiece of art may hang neglected in a convent kitchen, where the steam from the range, and the smoke from the chimney, and the dust of ages gather upon it; these incrustations of time may wrap themselves about it, and by and by the beauty of the picture has vanished as effectually as if it had been dragged from its frame and burned in the fire. This is what these faults, these moral weaknesses and failings and defects do for human character. They mar, they overlay, they become like unsightly incrustations that wrap themselves about us; and so inevitably, as time goes on, instead of being the noble man and the beautiful woman we might have been, the beauty or symmetry of our characters has well-nigh vanished. 59 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER We all love precious stones, but no one wants to own an imperfect jewel. The dealer in precious stones says, " This would be a very valuable diamond, but you see that flaw — it is not worth a quarter of its seeming value." And no man wants a diamond with a flaw. Or he says, " Your emerald is large and beautiful, but it is feathered; " and when you hear that about the stone, how it instantly sinks in your estima- tion. Or your opal may give forth beautiful reflections, but it is imperfect because there is a scratch across its face, and you lose all pride in wearing it. It is just the same with character. These faults destroy the beauty and the perfection of life, that God waits to reveal in every one of us; and by indulging such faults we limit our- selves and diminish our influence for good. How many there are all about us, in whom we see splendid qualities 60 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER and noble virtues — yes, but side by side with these excellencies are grave faults, great weaknesses, many failings. There is no tree in all nature so gor- geous as the red maple, whether in its spring blossoming or autumn colouring. But it usually grows in a swamp, and to reach it you have to pick your way carefully from bog to bog, generally soiling, your clothes and wetting your feet, and you come back from the expedition wondering why in the world red maples have to grow in swamps. So there is many a life, beautiful to look upon from a distance, noble in its virtues, strong in many qualities, — but it is surrounded by a swamp of faults; and the life which might be the source of inspiration and strength has limited itself, has diminished its powers, has weakened tremendously its influence. Oh! that we might see how these fil ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER faults which we are content to tolerate in ourselves, which we go on indulging day after day, which we justify or con- done on the flimsiest pretext, are really moral weaknesses and defects, things that mar our lives and keep us from the highest attainments, and may, if unchecked, undermine and destroy char- acter ! What is the true method of over- coming these moral defects ? Here is where the new Psychology comes in to throw tremendous light on this problem of the How. As religious teachers we have been altogether too prone to spend our time in dealing with abstract questions of theology, or else we have been content to hold up the ideal of the perfect life, — all of which is right and necessary; but where we have failed has been in our answers to the question, " How can I attain the perfection of life and char- 62 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER acter revealed in Jesus Christ ? " Per- haps we have not known just how our- selves, and we ought to be profoundly grateful to God that through the in- vestigations of the newer psychologists we have received so large a measure of light on this great problem of how the moral life within us is to be developed towards the highest and divines t ideals. According to Psychology, there is a physical basis for every virtue and for every vice. Back in the brain there is the centre from which proceed all manifestations and expressions, both of good or evil. Prof. De Mott, in his famous lecture on " The Building of Character," uses these significant words : ' The physical basis of a vicious life is a net-work of trunk lines in which the incarrying waves of stimulation waken in the soul a host of accustomed activities, such as vile memories, allur- 63 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER ing imaginations, craving appetites and their like, having well-worn routes through the out-carrying nerves to whatever lines of conduct have been followed in their development. The physical basis of a virtuous life is a network of trunk lines where the in- coming waves of stimulation on reach- ing the cerebral hemispheres of the brain find their well-worn tracks, with switches already set, leading to the God- given higher possessions of the soul — holy memories, pure imaginations, con- centrated ambitions, righteous judg- ments and a will, whose nerve connec- tions with these higher faculties is so perfect that at once the commands for right conduct are flashed forth through the out-going nerve tracks, and instantly obeyed. Here we stand face to face with a tremendous fact. Every volun- tary act, whether good or evil, beats its own path a little smoother, so to 64 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER speak, for another of like character. Every day we live, deciding against the right, we are voluntarily strength- ening with our own blood the meshes of our physical organism which at last bind us body and soul, wretched slaves to passions and appetites of our own nurturing." Here is the statement for the physical basis of the moral life, or its opposite, from a scientific authority. Every noble and every ignoble act may be traced back to its own brain centre. The law of brain building is exactly the same in this respect, as the law of muscle building. Every time we exercise the physical muscles we are strengthening them and their power to accomplish results. Every time we excite or exer- cise a feeling or sentiment or train of thought, whether it is high or low, we are strengthening the brain centre, whence that feeling or sentiment or 65 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER activity proceeds. Every time we live in the realm of pure thoughts, we are strengthening by the law of suggestion the brain centre from which pure action proceeds. Every moment we spend in the atmosphere of impure thinking we are strengthening the brain centre from which all impure action proceeds. This is the physical basis for all our thinking and for all our actions. But, and this is the vital thing to remember, by our thinking, we can diminish the activity of certain brain centres, and immeas- urably increase the activity of others, through the potency of suggestion. We have been taught that it is possible for a person who has pursued a certain course of life for a long period of time to be suddenly transformed, and from thenceforth live absolutely and wholly the opposite kind of life; and yet this idea belongs more to fiction than to fact, more to religious teaching 66 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER than to religious experience. Character is a thing of slow growth, as are most things of great worth. There is no question that a man who has lived a vicious or criminal life, may, by sound conversion, be transformed so that his face is set in an entirely new direction, so that he henceforth espouses a new set of ideals and purposes, so that he ' becomes a new creature ; " and yet the becoming a new creature is a slow process. John B. Gough, the drunkard, was saved wonderfully by divine power, and yet Mr. Gough tells us himself that almost to the day of his death he fought a constant battle with his appe- tite for drink. The actions which have worn their paths in the gray matter of the brain tend to repeat themselves, until the power of their particular brain centres is weakened or dimin- ished; and in some cases, as in Mr. Gough's, seemingly, that power is never 67 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER entirely overcome in this life. Such is the awful power of habit. Gen. Joe Wheeler at the Battle of Santiago, as the Spaniards were fleeing, called out, " Forward, men, the Yankees are run- ning ! " In the excitement of the hour he had been carried back to the scenes of the early days of '60, when he was fighting on the Confederate side, and the old brain centre, established a generation before, became once again active. It is the same in the moral life. Sudden conversions, where they are genuine, mean that the new life has been begun, but only begun; and the transformation of character is a life- long process. That is why we find so often that men and women who have professed conversion, more or less quickly drop back into their old habits of life. It is because they are not per- sistent and patient enough in forming the new brain centres from whence 68 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER must be permanently expressed the new life, that may in very truth be born in them, and yet which is soon stifled by the power of these habits of the past. We ought to have all charity for such men and women. We must " forgive seventy times seven," and more if need be, as we think of the shackles and chains which these habits of years' standing have fastened upon their lives. The great educational reformers and our leading criminologists are coming to see and understand these principles as they never did in the past, before the newer Psychology threw its light on the way in which moral character grows and habits are formed. The prin- ciple in moral development is exactly the same as in mental development. We must recognize that it is for us to furnish the mental suggestions of those virtues or traits of character, which we 69 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER are desirous of realizing in our lives. Right thinking, right desires, right re- solves patiently and faithfully persisted in, must inevitably strengthen the brain centres whence all right action proceeds ; and at the same time, simply by being let alone, the brain centres producing wrong actions will gradually diminish in strength. The three rules apply here as else- where. The first thing necessary is a clear conception of what you want to accomplish in your life. Do not be afraid to face frankly your weaknesses just as they exist. Be honest with yourself and with God, whether you are with your fellow man or not. And when you have faced fearlessly your own faults and weaknesses, get clearly in mind the image of the opposite of the things you have found to be hurtful in your life. If it is a tendency to hasty speech, hold the ideal of self-control 70 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER and kindness in speech, and think that ideal intensely until it lodges itself deep in your sub-conscious self. If it is a tendency towards insincerity or exaggeration, or perhaps dishonesty in some of its many forms, then hold the opposite ideal. Say to yourself, :< I realize the need of speaking the truth always and everywhere; I will be strictly accurate in my speech; I will not exaggerate, I will be absolutely honest with myself and others." Day by day keep that ideal enshrined in your mental life. If it be the tendency to any of the grosser sins of the passions or appetites, let the method be exactly the same. Say to yourself, " I will conquer, and the appetite or passion that may be strong within can never control me, for I am the master of my fate." Carry that thought with you day and night. Then by a series of suggestions adapted to the desired end, 71 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER by the regular and persistent following up of these suggestions, not all at once, but gradually — you will establish the new brain centres out of which these noble activities proceed. And as your thought and attention is turned from the old habits and practices, the brain centres that started those activities gradually diminish in strength and power. This is inexorable law. This is true psychology. This is based upon scientific as well as religious experi- ence. The hardest part comes at the beginning, when we are first trying to break old habits and form new ones, but faithfulness and patience will win the day. There is no virtue that cannot be established. There is no vice or weakness that cannot be eradi- cated through this method. What has been accomplished in multitudes of lives can be accomplished in our- selves, if we will. It all depends upon 72 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER how dead in earnest we are in this matter of building the moral character, of living the truly moral life that at all times and under all circumstances invariably does the right. It may be that some will ask, " Are you not leaving God out of it ? " By no means. These laws of psychology are God's laws. The power that we use when we employ any of these powers of mind, is God's power. God is not a Being who dwells afar, whom I must beseech and with whom I must plead, in order to have Him grant my cry for help. The God in whom we believe and in whom Jesus trusted, is " the God in whom I live and move and have my being." All these laws of nature and of psychology are truly His laws, and the power that you and I use as we conform to these laws, is all God-given power; and so once again we discover that it is God working 73 ACHIEVEMENT OF CHARACTER in us, as we work out, in obedience to His great laws. Only let us remember that we are not in this earthly life, primarily to gain riches; we are not here first of all to be happy; we are not here to seek pleasure only ; we are not here to attain the applause of the world; if we can get these things legitimately, let us get them by all means, but let us never forget that they are always the inci- dentals of our life here, never the end of life. The great end and purpose of our being here at all, is that we shall grow a souk that we shall build a character, that we shall fashion, under God, the manhood and womanhood that shall outlast all influences of Time. 74 THE CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY THE CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY |NE of the most practical re- sults of the Newer Thinking, has been to point out the in- jurious effect of all Fear and its kindred thoughts ; and also to prove the possibility of overcoming such dis- cordant mental states. We all come into life bringing with us a heritage of fears. According to the biologists, fear is one of the primary forms of the emo- tional life, and is awakened along with the element of surprise. Fear is prac- tically universal in the animal realm, where apparently there are no forms so low as not to exhibit at times this CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY instinctive tendency. Darwin says that even the earthworm will become fright- ened and turn and dart into its hole, when alarmed, as readily as the rabbit. Fear exists thus universally among animals because of the working of the law of natural selection, which pre- scribes that any organism may survive in just the degree that it adjusts itself to its environment. Without the element of fear no animal organism would be able to long survive a hostile environ- ment. But while fear seems to be a device of Nature for the protection of the animal organism, this is only half the story, for even among the lower animals fear creates tremendous disadvantages. There are many times when the animal falls short of accom- plishing its purpose and fails to survive solely because of its fear. Still, we are bound to admit thai within certain limits, in the lower animal realm, the 4 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY element of fear has played and does play an eminently useful part. In the human family from the time of birth, the ehild exhibits this same instinctive fear. It is what Mosso calls " hereditary fear." Every mother knows the instinctive fear of falling, shown by the babe on her knee. " The fear of children for dogs and cats, before they have learned why they are to be feared, is a consequence of hered- ity?" the inheritance, according to Mosso, of man's sub-human ancestry. We are all born to an heritage of fears, many of which we outgrow, while by others we are held in life-long bondage. President Stanley Hall in his " Study of Fears" remarks: "There is no one without fear, and the psychologists who calculate the percentage of fearless people are thinking of shock or panic or acute fright, but not of the subtler forms, like fear of God, of dishonour, CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY or failure of their highest purpose. Not only does every one fear, but all should fear." And yet I submit that " fear of God, dishonour, etc.," as President Hall uses the word, is something vastly different from what we ordinarily mean by fear, and because of the confusion in thought should not be used in such connections. It is always " Ignorance that is the mother of fear," and the education of the child consists in freeing it from its fears, at every stage of its progress. " Ye shall know the truth," said Jesus, " and the truth shall make you free." Every advance into knowl- edge but narrows the field in which fear operates. This has been the his- tory of the race, as it is of the individual. Freedom from fear does not neces- sarily mean blind recklessness. It may be the ripe result of that wisdom which, while reverent and cautious, has never- theless banished all fear thoughts for CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY ever. It is to this ultimate goal that humanity is surely tending in its higher development. The man who does right simply because he is afraid to do wrong is still in his moral childhood; while the man who is " religious " because he fears God, is still in the Kindergarten of religious experience. It is self-evident that God intends us, as spiritual beings, to gradually over- come and forever conquer this heritage from the past, this vestige of our animal- hood, just as we have overcome so many other inherited tendencies. The spirit- ual man must outgrow his animal na- ture, and fear, as we use the word, in any of its many forms, belongs to the ignorance of the past. When we know the truth, we no longer fear, and where we do not yet know, we have learned to trust and not be afraid. The process of our inner development into the divine consciousness, in other words, 7 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY our salvation, means nothing less than the slow but sure conquering of all fear. There has been no slave holder in all the world so tyrannical as fear; monarch and peasant, learned and unlearned, old and young, have all, to a greater or less degree, yielded obedi- ence temporarily to this most harsh of all cruel taskmasters. Fear has darkened the sky, has warped the mind, has weakened the will, has poisoned the heart, has blinded the eves to the real God, has destroved happiness both for oneself and others, has quenched the fever of ambition and hope, — in short, has done more to defeat the real purpose of life and dim its glory, than all the other forces which have cursed mankind and kept the human race in bondage. But the light has begun to break and man is fast learning that there is nothing to 8 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY fear, but his own fear. The only devil is the devil of Fear, and every man's personal devil is his leading Fear, to which he bows in abject slavery./ The fears that beset human lives are legion, and no attempt can be made to enumerate them. Let me only sug- gest some of their most common forms. Most of the fears of childhood are out- grown, and yet many of them persist into later life. The child's fear of the dark is one of the commonest. One of our leading novelists describes in most vivid language, the actual agony he suffered as a child from the terror that filled his mind at night, when the light was put out. One of the first conscious fears which I recall, was the fear of the cemetery. I cannot account for its origin; it may have been hereditary, it may have been due to some story heard, or some book read, as a child. After becoming a high-school student CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY I remember more than once, in the effort to conquer this fear, going out of my way in the evening for the sake of walking around a certain cemetery; and yet every time it was with a clinch- ing of fists and gritting of teeth; such potent suggestions are these fears of early life! The fear of thunder storms, of fire, of elevators, of tunnels, of going on the water, of high places, etc. — who has not experienced some such fear, in the past if not in the present ? Such fears are most real to the one who experiences them, and not by ridicule or punishment can they be overcome, but rather by patient, sympathetic re-education of the victim. The business or professional man confronts the fear of failure. Presi- dent Hall would say that such a fear, up to a certain point, is an incentive to success; a man who fears failure is the one who does his best to avoid 10 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY failure. And yet this is to take a negative attitude toward success. A man who fears failure in the sense that the possibility of failure is con- stantly before his mind, is, in the nature of things, prevented from doing his best work, and hindered in ac- complishing the largest success. He needs to be left free to achieve the best results. Much of his energy, physical and mental, is necessarily consumed in fear of failure. The artist does his best work when he is absolutely free from self -consciousness ; in his truly creative moments, he simply puts brush to canvas without any fear of failure or distrust of his powers. Then only is he working in the " inspired mood." The public singer never accomplishes her greatest triumph, unless there is the absence of self -consciousness. If she goes before the audience with the feeling of fear, or the dread of failure, 11 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY inevitably the strength needed for suc- cess has vanished. Multitudes of people are deprived of their real power in business, or are handicapped in the race for professional success, simply by this fear of possible failure which haunts them like a hideous spectre. Then there is the fear that comes to so many in middle life, of poverty and financial dependency. How many lives are harassed and anxious over- much, because of this too-common fear. I do not agree with those writers who would have us believe that poverty is no evil, though I am perfectly con- scious that there are many worse evils in life. A man may be poor in this world's goods and yet dwell in the midst of happiness, within and with- out. Luxuries, mere things, are not necessary to happiness, for a man's life consists not in the number of things he possesses. But the poverty that 12 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY leads to dependency on others, that means helplessness in old age, that perhaps points unmistakably towards the poor house, — that is a different thing. There should be in every life such a healthy forethought as shall lead to prudence, industry and thrift. But having done our honest work, making such wise provision as is pos- sible for old age or sickness or for those dependent upon us, let us in faith leave the future to God, before whom a sparrow's fall is not without regard. The anxious fear for the needs of to- morrow only takes the sunshine out of to-day, and embitters the present hour. Another common form of fear, is that of sickness or disease. How many there are who say : " I have had this fear hanging over me ever since I was a child ; my father died of such a disease and my grandfather before him, and 13 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY I do not know any day but that I may be likewise afflicted." Here, as in the case of one's failure in business, it is the fear that creates the predisposition towards the thing feared. There may be some slight palpitation of the heart, and one begins to fear serious trouble. The mental attitude both aggravates the actual condition and is the cause of new symptoms. The fear of disease is the thing that invites disease just as the fear of failure in business is the thing that invites failure, because it handicaps and unfits one, physically and mentally, for over- coming the conditions that lead to failure or disease. As a result many of us go through life, if not actually diseased, in the constant fear that this form of sickness or that will come upon us, until we become a constant burden to ourselves and others. As an old Oriental proverb puts it: " The 14 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY plague killed five thousand people. Fifty thousand died of fear." Then there is the fear of old age. None of us want to grow old. We do not like to see the gray hairs. We do not enjoy the consciousness that we cannot do the day's work with the same energy and facility as formerly. We do not like to count the years off, as the birthdays come around, and realize that we are beginning the de- scent of life's hillside, that we have passed life's meridian, and that now the work must be done, the burdens borne and the problems solved by the younger men and women, while we step aside and are forgotten. No, we do not want to grow old. But we for- get that it is the great onward move- ment of Life that carries every one at length into the period of old age. To fear old age is as foolish as it would be for the child to fear the time when it 15 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY must leave the toys of the nursery for the lessons of the schoolroom. There is nothing disgraceful about it. It ought to be the glorious harvest time for every man and woman, if the heart keeps young and the mind retains its grasp upon the realities. It is the time for retrospection, and also for hopeful forward looking. There is really noth- ing in the period of old age that should cause dread. And yet we allow this fear to haunt us and cloud our sky. There is also the fear which is even more universal — the fear of death. There are many elements that enter into the fear of death. This is not the place to consider them all, only let me say that I think the great surprise to every man and woman who passes through the experience of death, will be to find how absolutely groundless all their fears have been. Professor Osier, in his Harvard lecture upon 16 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY Immortality, tells of his experience at five hundred deathbeds. He says that of this number, only ninety experienced any unpleasant sensations or suffered any pain during the hour of death. He goes on to generalize from his ex- perience and that of all physicians, and concludes that death, in the great ma- jority of instances, is nothing more than falling asleep. We are not afraid to pass from the state of consciousness to the state of slumber, and that is all that death means, for by far the great majority. There are cases where suf- fering continues to the moment of death, but it should be remembered that such suffering belongs to the pre- vious illness and is not a part of death. Death only comes as a release from pain. The hard part is not for the one who dies, but for those who re- main. Let us go a step further and think 17 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY of the experience of death as we think of old age, as belonging to the divine plan, just as much a part of God's gracious purpose for us as is life itself; then death is never the end of life but only one of the incidents in life; and the Life moves on surely and steadily through all the shadows that cluster about the earthward side of death, into a larger and better existence. If we could rest down in confidence in this divine plan for life, — a plan that includes death, only as one of its many experiences, I am sure we would find ourselves relieved of much of the fear and anxiety that haunt this final experience of earthly life for so many. Finally there is the religious fear, which has wrought incalculable injury in the history of mankind. There have been periods in the past when fear in religion, has been more monstrous and terrible than in any other realm of 18 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY human thought. There have been political tyrants, who have employed the weapon of fear and caused men to crouch abjectly at their feet. So there have been religious tyrants who have wielded the same weapon and made mental and moral cowards of their fol- lowers. If you are familiar with Church History you know how tremendous the wrongs done humanity in the name of Religion, through the power of fear as wielded by both Protestants and Catholics. Men in whose minds God has kindled a great light, have been afraid to do their own thinking for fear that the Church would pro- nounce its anathema against them. Great minds like that of Copernicus, and great moral leaders like Savona- rola, have stultified themselves and denied their honest thought, because the Church threatened ex-communica- tion. We cannot denounce too strongly 19 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY these dark chapters in the history of religion, when fear has dictated and controlled the thoughts and actions of men. Fear is not an essential part of true religion, and when the Church, through blindness or selfishness, has employed fear as a weapon or appealed to fear as a motive, it has always had to pay the penalty sooner or later, in the loss of faith and respect on the part of those it has attempted to coerce. I am glad that we are fast coming to the time when men can no longer be frightened into obeying God, when men are no longer afraid not to go to church, when men no longer fear that if they do not accept some particular creed or the dogmas of some special institution they will be sent to hell. God has no desire to coerce any single individual. God's great work in the world is edu- cative and redemptive, and He is constantly seeking to bring men to the 20 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY point where they will voluntarily and cheerfully accept His laws and follow His guidance, not through fear or cowardice, but because they have come to understand that His way is best and that life in Him leads to the highest. I know that the old Hebrew writer says, " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," but I cannot forget that the God in whom he be- lieved was a tyrannical character who ruled in anger and was desirous of taking vengeance upon His disobedient children. When I compare the charac- ter of the God he worshipped, with the God of the New Testament, I am content to let his God go, and accept the God whom Jesus revealed. For Jesus said " God is Love," and His summation of tfre law is to love God and man. If I love my father I do not fear him, and if I fear him I do not love him; and when I read these 21 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY words of John: " Perfect love casteth out fear/' and " He that dvvelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God dwell- eth in him," and " He that dwelleth in fear is not yet perfected in love," I begin to understand the great ideal which Jesus set forth, that man through love should absolutely conquer every tendency of fear in his nature, — until at last, " perfected in love " he learns to live victoriously, the life of perfect confidence and trust in his Heavenly Father. The worst thing about fear is that it constitutes nothing less than atheism. If religion involves belief in the God of love whom Jesus revealed, and con- sists in entering into vital relations with that God as One who is present here and now, then to fear such a God is an actual form of unfaith; it is sham and hollow mockery. So I repudiate forever every statement of religious CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY doctrine, every form of religious be- lief, every interpretation of the Bible, which would in any sense lead men to do other than trust and love God with a perfect confidence, in which is no room for fear. The element of fear in human life is parent to all such mentally debilitating moods as apprehension, timidity, cow- ardice, depression, superstition, self -de- preciation, doubting and worry. This last is probably the most prevalent form of the Fear thought, and the icorry habit has become the great American vice. We must all plead guilty to this vice. We are all familiar with it. We can worry about anything, and I sup- pose that sometime or other we have all worried about pretty much everything. As the chief American vice, it is due in large part to the strenuous condi- tions under which we have been living for the last generation or two. It lies 23 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY back of what is called the great dis- ease of modern times — nervousness or nervous prostration, for which neu- rasthenia is the technical term. We are told of cerebral neurasthenia, spinal neurasthenia, visceral neurasthenia, and cardiac neurasthenia, but wherever lo- cated, it means nerve fatigue, or nerve exhaustion. The number of nerve specialists is steadily increasing, and so prevalent is the disorder, that many a doctor when the patient comes to him for the first time, immediately asks the question, " What is on your mind, what are you worrying about ? " The woman who said that she spent half of her time doing things, and the other half worrying about what she had done, represents a great multitude; and yet on reflection, what is more foolish than worry ? As a Chinese proverb states it: " The legs of the stork are long, the legs of the duck are short; you cannot 24 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY make the legs of the stork short, neither can you make the legs of the duck long. Why worry ? " There are two things that it is ab- solutely useless for us to worry about. First, the things that we cannot help. How utterly useless is worry when we cannot help the thing. And second, the thing that we can help. Worry only hinders us from helping. If you cannot help conditions, worry only makes it impossible for you to bear them; if you can help them, then by all means change the conditions and so banish the cause of your worry. We all go through the days carrying the worry, which in the beginning was a very small thing causing personal anx- iety or solicitude; but it has steadily grown, until the whole mind is dark- ened and the heart embittered; slowly but surely it becomes contagious, until it has darkened the lives of others in 25 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY the same household; and by and by we awake to the realization that we are confirmed in the worry habit, of all habits the most injurious to human happiness and the highest development of character. These worries of life may proceed from various primary conditions. There are worries that may be traced back to a state of excessive self -consciousness. We are hyper-sensitive about ourselves ; whatever is said or not said, whatever is done or not done, we always con- strue as having reference to ourselves ; with the result that we are always imagining that we have been in- sulted or slighted or criticized by people who never dreamed of hurt- ing us. Without realizing it such people actually regard themselves as the centre of the world. If people are talking, they must be talking about them; if others are passing criticism, 26 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY it must be a criticism upon them; if people do not see them, depend upon it, it was meant as an intentional snub. This conceit does us no harm when we remember that there are as many centres of the universe as there are people and other thinking animals. When we forget this, our troubles be- gin. If such is our tendency we need to modify our over-sensitive self -con- sciousness by externalizing our thoughts and broadening our interests; in other words we need to practise the art of forgetting self. Another cause from whence worry proceeds, is the tendency to obsession, which psychology defines as an unduly insistent and compulsive thought, habit of mind, or tendency to action. Most children are obsessed by various ideas. It is shown in the boy who has to kick every post he passes, or who must step across every other board in the walk, 27 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY or who is impelled to count the win- dows as he goes along the block, or who cannot help biting his nails. He is the legitimate father of the man who cannot eat an egg if it is boiled less or more than four minutes, or the man who cannot work unless there is ab- solute silence in the room, or the person who can never sleep if the steam pipes are cracking, etc., ad infinitum. These are simple illustrations of obsession where the mind is possessed by a cer- tain idea and becomes its slave. Such impelling ideas are the prolific source of petty worries and anxieties of all kinds. The natural history of every worry may be illustrated by the common experience of having a friend start on a journey. There steals into the mind a thought of uncertainty whether he will reach his destination in safety. Right here in this initial doubt is the CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY parting of the ways. The first dis- cordant thought, no matter how small, should be instantly dropped out of the mind as unreservedly as a stone is dropped from the hand. Unless this is done, the worry increases; thoughts of accidents fill the mind, a hundred possible but altogether improbable dan- gers seem to be threatening your friend, until at last the first feeling of uncer- tainty has become an anxious, fore- boding mental mood, destroying peace, preventing sleep, and poisoning all of life. This is typical of all worries. They begin in the little doubt or uncer- tainty, they end in poison for the body, depression for the mind, and bitterness for the heart, not to mention the gloom and unhappiness for the home. If we could but realize that not one in a hundred of the things about which we worry ever take place; if we could only sit down calmly and with common CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY sense, analyze our worries, and get back to the basis of fact that lies beneath the worry, we should smile at our folly and be ashamed of our weakness in allow- ing such trivial things, usually of our own imagining, to create such havoc in our lives. In Frances Hodgson Burnett's beautiful story, " The Dawn of a To-morrow," we listen to the little old variety actress talking to the blase Londoner, who has worried himself into thinking that life is no longer worth living. She says to him, " The trouble with you, my friend, is that you think things is worse than they are." Is not that the chief trouble with us all ? We are all prone to " think things is worse than they are," and so we become addicted to the worry habit, forgetting that the worry is in the mind and therefore can be controlled, whether we can control the object of our worry or not. 30 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY Booker T. Washington, in his book, '' Up from Slavery," in commenting upon his own experience, uses these sensible words, " I think I am learning more and more each year, that all worry consumes, and to no purpose, just so much physical and mental strength that otherwise might be given to effective work." It is not hard work that kills. Anybody can stand hard work if the mind is peaceful and har- monious and free from anxiety; it is the work into which the anxious element enters, the work which is ac- companied by worry, the work done in the atmosphere of discordant think- ing, that leads to the almost inevitable breakdown, physical or mental. What practical suggestions can be made as to the method of overcoming this great enemy of human happiness, — fear and its offspring, worry ? First we must recognize frankly that fear and 31 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY worry are sins. We need to look them straight in the face, and give them their real name — sin, just as truly sin as getting drunk or robbing a bank. Did you ever stop to think that the command of Jesus, not to worry, is as explicit and insistent a command as any He ever gave ? If the pulpit had been preaching against the sin of worry, as vigorously as it has been thundering against the sins of unbelief, there would be more vital faith in the world to-day. Worry is sin. There is no place in the truly religious life for this worry habit, which takes happi- ness out of the heart and sweetness out of the home; which so depresses the mind and poisons the body. When we allow ourselves to treat worry or fear lightly, as if they were things we would be better off without, perhaps, but which we need not make any serious effort to overcome, we have not yet 32 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY awakened to their fatal influence upon human character and spiritual devel- opment. Then, make up your mind that you can be free from the bondage of worry. I am satisfied that a great many of us are living in the atmosphere of anxiety and worry because we have no very strong inclination to get out of it. This may not be a kind thing to say, but I have known a good many troubled people, who really knew how ground- less were their worries, how injurious to themselves, and how much unhappi- ness they brought to others, who still persisted in their worrying, as if they could not give it up, and kept " rolling it like a sweet morsel under the tongue." People say, " I cannot help worrying," — well, if you cannot help it, nobody can help it for you; but any one can help it if he will. O for some power to rouse the 33 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY mind, the will and the conscience of those who say, " I would like to stop, but I can't ; you know it is my temper- ament!" It is within the range of pos- sibilities for any one to break the shackles of worry if he will. We have not regarded it as anything very dan- gerous, but merely as something rather annoying. Learn to look upon it as a vice, to be put out of your life at any cost; and then make up your mind that you yourself are to blame, that no conditions or circumstances can make you worry unless you want to. Remember, the two things you need never worry about are the thing you cannot help and the thing you can help, and these cover just about the whole range of human experience. When one looks at it in this light and realizes the uselessness, the folly and the sin of worrying about anything whatever, only then has he assumed the 34 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY mental attitude where worry can no longer tyrannize over him. If you are really in earnest in freeing your life from the useless wor- ries, sit down and calmly analyze your worry, get down to its root cause, find out just what lies beneath this mood that has grown to be habitual; and when you discover the root cause, push everything else aside, except the one thing from whence your worry pro- ceeds. Then say to yourself: " I have analyzed my worry, I know what its source really is, now can I change this thing ? If I cannot, then it is my duty to make friends with it, to fall in line with the inevitable, and to live as hero- ically, as patiently and trustfully as I can in its presence; if I can change it, then by the help of the God who dwells within me, I will change it." When you take your worries one by one and treat them in this systematic fashion, 35 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY you will find yourself making real headway, — but just to bemoan the fact that you are anxious and worried, without stopping to analyze your mental condition, will accomplish nothing. Our thinking must be turned into other channels than those which we know will lead to the worrisome thoughts. When trying to go to sleep, if you think of the clanging of the street cars, it gets on your nerves, and by and by it is impossible to sleep because of the noise. What do you do ? You be- gin to think of something else, and before you know it you have forgotten all about the noise. You have sub- stituted another thought for that which a moment ago seemed the only thought possible to your consciousness. In just the same way treat these worrisome thoughts. Stop thinking them. If you cannot do it by sheer will power, then substitute some new line of 36 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY thought. Therein lies the value of the fad, for the busy, overworked man or woman, who finds that things are get- ting on the nerves, and who is con- scious that the tendency to worry is growing. Let it be the long daily walk, or golf, or gymnasium exercise, or rid- ing; some special study of flowers or trees or mushrooms, or history; or if the taste inclines, tools and the work- bench. It makes little difference what it is, only let there be something outside the routine of your life, to which you give your thought and energy, at least for a little while every day or every week. Most of the inmates of our asylums are people whose lives were lived in narrow restricted grooves. What most of us need, especially in this busy age, is greater va- riety, some time when we can get out of the rut, where we can think thoughts and do things outside the 37 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY range of the ordinary thoughts and duties of life. The last suggestion is in the words of none other than Professor William James, who says in his " Talks to Teachers," " The great sovereign cure for worry is religious faith. The turbu- lent billows of the fretful surface leave the deep parts of the ocean undisturbed, and to him who has a hold of vaster and more permanent realities, the hourly vicissitudes of his personal destiny, seem relatively insignificant things." Have you ever had such an experience ? It may have come in some time of business calamity, when riches were swept away ; it may have been in great sorrow when all that seemed worth while in life was taken from you; it may have been some deep experience in the life of another near and dear to you, to whom your heart has gone out in truest sympathy; but in such a 38 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY revealing hour of life, have you never felt the paltriness and insignificance of all these things about which we grow so anxious and fearful ? No man ever ascends to the heights or goes down to the depths without realizing that, after all, there is nothing much that really counts, but God and his own soul. In the final analysis it will be found that all fear comes from belief in separation from God. But actual separation from God is impossible, be- cause we live, move and have our being in Him. Hence the groundlessness of all fears, to the one of religious faith. I am not arguing for any particular creed, I am not speaking of any special system of religious doctrines, but I do affirm on the testimony of multitudes, that the greatest aid in curing the worry and anxiety of human life is a deep and abiding religious faith; a faith that enables one to know his one- 39 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY ness with God, that helps one realize the infinite goodness of the Eternal Father, that makes it possible for one to begin each day in the glad confidence that nothing can come to really hurt one, that there is nothing to be feared except one's own fear, that a man can face each duty and enter upon every task in the perfect confidence that as he does his best, he can safely leave the rest with God. A man can live here and now, so humbly, so trust- fully, so earnestly and so lovingly, that whether the day is dark overhead or the path is rough to his feet, he is un- disturbed and unaffrighted, for he bears within himself the deep and abiding faith of one who has realized the pres- ence of God. I do not refer to an experience pos- sible only to the few, but to average men and women whom it has been my privilege to know; whose lives, 40 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY lived amidst the trials and disappoint- ments of our common experience, are nevertheless serene and calm, whose very faces bespeak the inner peace that passeth all understanding, for they have gained the victory over fear and worry. I would rather reach that height of spiritual development, and live the confident, trustful life of faith in the unseen, than possess the wealth of a Crcesus. It may be yours and mine. The religious faith that does not steadily lead toward that goal, is a spurious article. It makes no difference how long we have been members of the church, nor how much we know of the Bible, nor what creed we profess, if we have not learned how to trust God and not be afraid, how to live through our days, taking no anxious thought for the mor- row, if we are still troubled about meat and drink and raiment, if we are still 41 CONQUEST OF FEAR AND WORRY worried about tilings or people, if we dread the future of possible sickness or old age, if we cannot see beyond the shadows of death, " the light that never was on land or sea " — then, whatever faith may be to others, it is quite meaningless for us; for the faith that saves is the faith that de- velops in us the consciousness of God, and when we know that, we know peace. 42 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PKAYER THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER OTHING more clearly reveals the long journey man has come in his religious development, than the history of Prayer. Men have always prayed. However we may be distracted by the superficial- ities of life, however difficult we may find it to commune in any constant way with the Infinite, nevertheless great mo- ments come in all our lives, when pro- founder thoughts are stirred and the heart's frozen depths are melted, and we must pray. It may be some expe- rience of great joy, when the heart goes out naturally in thanksgiving; it may be a time of great sorrow, when one 45 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER confronts bitter loneliness in the sepa- ration from all that is dearest in life, and the heart instinctively reaches out after God ; or, sudden death may come upon one whose life has been careless or indifferent, and in the quick awak- ening to the consciousness that he must cross the boundary line between the present and the unknown future, a man will commit his soul to God. In the early childhood of the race prayer was a simple and natural thing. The savage beat his fetish when it was not complacent enough. Rites and ceremonies were followed; mysterious syllables, when uttered by the voice in a certain way were supposed to have an irresistible effect; gestures, menac- ing or wheedling, were also employed. The chief object of prayer, in its earliest forms, was to move the god to carry out man's wishes, and bend his will to that of man. Primitive man be- 46 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER lieved himself to be surrounded by un- seen gods, who were to him very much like his neighbours, to be dealt with by the self -same means employed in dealing with his fellows. Ruse, vio- lence, seduction, bribes or threats were common methods by which the god was approached. " It was human selfishness addressing itself naively to the selfishness of the gods." The god who failed to grant the heart's desire, deserved to be chastised for his ob- stinacy. Sacrifice, at first, was merely a form of prayer. The gods to whom sacri- fices were made stood higher and were regarded as possessing greater power than man, but as yet there was no Supreme God. These gods were jeal- ous of one another, some having the power to thwart the will and purpose of others, and man approached his god as he would his superior anywhere, 47 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER — with something in his hands. To secure his favour or appease his wrath, he brought the offerings he believed to be most acceptable. Like mortals, the gods had need of nourishment, and so were brought the finest fruits of the human repast; libations, pres- ents of honey, and fine flour, the first- lings of the flock, etc. How hard it has been for man to believe in the good- ness of his gods! He saw their anger expressed in the evils that befell him. Was a god supposed to have been of- fended ? Men trembled for years be- neath the strokes of his wrath; they offered expiatory sacrifices, invented penances, humiliations, tortures, with- out ever being sure that the divine vengeance was appeased. As men began to perceive the idea of the unity of God, and polytheism gradually gave place to monotheism, still there was not much essential 48 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER change in prayer. Until the last four hundred years in the scientific mind, and until at least the last one hundred years in the popular mind, the Universe was a very small affair. It was no larger than our solar system as we know it. It consisted of the earth with its satellite, the moon, and just a little way beyond was the blue vault, with its twinkling stars. Just above the sky God was seated upon a throne, surrounded by His court and attended by angels, waiting to do His bidding. The average mind regarded prayer as the means by which this God, sitting yonder on His throne outside of this little Universe which He had made much as the mechanic makes his ma- chine, might be approached and His will won over to harmony with the will of the one who prayed. Within our own generation, men have practically held the same idea of prayer. 49 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER I can remember in my boyhood when people came together in time of drought to pray for rain. Many will recall, in times of epidemics, how Christians would assemble for special services of fasting and prayer, in order that the plague might be averted ; — the under- lying thought being, that God might send the rain if He chose; that He had sent sickness, and therefore might abate its scourge; that if men only prayed persistently enough, God might be induced to change His will, and arbi- trarily grant their petition from His distant throne. I think you will admit that while many people have been gradually thinking their way out of the older con- ceptions of man's relation to. God and of the meaning of prayer, nevertheless, until quite recently the popular mind has held ideas which, in their essence, are akin to the notions of the primi- 50 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER tive savage, viz. : that God was a being to be approached in a certain way, ac- cording to certain prescribed rules, and that if one only prayed earnestly and persistently enough, God might possibly be induced to hear the appeal and grant the boon desired. Within the last half century, many new difficulties have presented them- selves to this conception of prayer. In the first place, we are living in a new Universe, unknown to our fathers. The Copernican System of Astronomy has displaced the old Ptolemaic System, and we now know that our solar sys- tem is only one of millions. When Kepler announced his laws of planetary motion, when Newton discovered the law of gravitation, and fifty years ago, when Darwin gave to the world " The Origin of Species " and " The Descent of Man," and the law of Evolution be- came the key to the study of the 51 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER sciences, including man and his his- tory upon the earth, multitudes of people felt as if God were being shut out of the universe and His place taken by impersonal law. The old notion of God has been unquestionably de- throned, and yet, as Professor Knox of Union Theological Seminary recently stated, there is no field of thought that has profited more by the great work of Charles Darwin than the field of religion. The leading thinkers in all parts of the civilized world have abandoned entirely the mechanical notion of the universe : that God is a great Personage who sits outside of and apart from the universe, governing the machine which he has made from outside. We no longer think of God as occasionally expressing His will or manifesting His power in such a mechanical universe — we cannot believe that if somebody 52 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER prays, or because of His own arbitrary will or caprice, He changes His pur- pose and interferes with the workings of things on the earth. We know that there is no tiniest corner in any part of this universe where law does not control. The scientists have proven beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the law of cause and effect is, from centre to circumference, the law of the universe. Let us keep clearly in mind the newer thought of God, as being in the uni- verse, not outside; of the universe, as being a great living organism, whose living soul is God. Then what we call the "Reign of Law" — this changeless order by which things are brought to pass — is simply God's orderly method of expressing His life and of accomplishing His gracious purposes. This is the conception which we entertain to-day of God's relation 53 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER to the universe. He is not outside, but within. He is the soul, He is the mind, He is the heart, He is the will of the universe, manifesting Himself everywhere, present everywhere; and what we call laws — the law of gravi- tation, the law of planetary motion, the law of evolution — are but the divine methods by which the infinite life and mind and goodness of God are constantly expressing themselves. Standing in such a wondrous uni- verse, pulsating and thrilling through- out with the Infinite Presence, what becomes of prayer ? Is it something that has been outgrown ? Should it rightfully disappear with the disap- pearance of the old crude science and theology of other days ? In this age of modern science, is there any longer a place for the exercise of prayer ? These are questions that trouble many minds. Underlying all its various forms, 54 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER what is the real essence of prayer ? Let me borrow an illustration from Dr. Savage. Suppose my earthly father had built for me a wonderful house, and then hidden himself in some one room of the house, inaccessible to me. Suppose he had so arranged it that if I fulfill certain conditions I might have my every desire granted. By pressing one electric button, food might be furnished me; by pressing another button, clothing might be brought; touching another button, I would have books; another, music would greet my ears; whatever I desire I have by complying with this pre-established and changeless order of things. Do you not see that all my desires would be granted by my father, just as truly when I fulfilled the conditions of pressing these buttons, as if he were actually visible and with his own hands gave me what I wished? We all pray as 55 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER much as primitive man, though we have outgrown his forms. Every man prays every day and every hour when he is conscious. He can not escape praying, if he would; for what is prayer but earnest, intense desire ? If I wish a thing, I am praying. If I aspire toward something higher and better, if I reach out my hand to grasp what I want, no matter how long my search or by what methods, I am pray- ing. Anything that I strive to attain, I pray for, and consciously or uncon- sciously, I pray to God for it; for God is the one centre and source of all the riches both material and spiritual that this universe contains, and I am His child. Let us keep this clearly in mind; the real essence of prayer is true desire. Prayer does not consist in the words one may use, but rather in the secret desire of the heart, with which our 56 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER words may often be in direct conflict. How often it is true of our verbal prayers, that we have said words over and over again, and yet our prayers have apparently yielded us nothing; simply because we have not really desired the things asked for. The thing actually desired is the thing we pray for, not the petition that may be expressed in words. This is the trouble with so much of our public praying; it consists in words rather than intense inner desire. While there may be a place for public prayer, yet I cannot but feel that it is a very imperfect form of prayer. As a matter of fact, public prayers are seldom real prayers. Con- sciously, or unconsciously, they are usually addressed to the audience rather than to God. They consist of rhetoric rather than of intense desire or aspira- tion. Few men are able to forget the audience and surroundings and really 57 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER commune with God, in public. The deepest prayers cannot be put into words. True prayer is this intense inner desire of the heart, deeper than any human speech to express; so profound, so vital and so spiritual, that it must wing its way silently to the Eternal. A second thing to be recognized, is that the earnest desire, or true prayer, must comply with the conditions which God has laid down in His pre-estab- lished order, and these conditions differ on different planes of life. We have learned what these conditions are on the material plane. If I am an intel- ligent farmer and pray for a bountiful harvest, I know that my prayer or desire for a successful season must be coupled with the fulfillment of the conditions whereby crops grow success- fully. There must be the proper soil, the right seed, the skillful care of the 58 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER tender shoots, the proper amount of moisture and sunshine, if my crop is to be all I hope. And if I sit back and content myself with the mere desire or prayer for a harvest without obeying God's laws, I know in the nature of things, it must be a failure. To go back to the illustration of the wonderful house built for me: my father says, "All things are yours by simply touching the right button." It is my father who satisfies my desires, or answers, my prayers, although I have to fulfill the intermediate conditions. So with my desires as a farmer: it is God who gives the harvest, for He is the great source of all life, but I have to fulfill the conditions, I must touch the right button ; I have to do more than earnestly desire I must supplement my desire with; active obedience to these plain conditions whereby a har- vest is brought to perfection. 59 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER If I am desirous of securing an edu- cation, I pray, that is, I have the in- tense desire for knowledge; and yet this alone will not suffice! There are certain conditions in accordance with which knowledge is obtained, and only as my desire or prayer couples itself with these conditions can I ever expect to gain knowledge . I must secure books, I must attend school. I must read, I must study, I must observe, I must reflect upon what I learn; and only as I fulfill these conditions, is my prayer answered. A young man asked me recently if I thought that prayer would help him to be successful in his business life. By all means, if his prayer or his earnest desire for success leads him to fulfill the conditions by which business suc- cess is obtained; if, in other words, he not only has the desire for success, but goes forth each day with the determina- 60 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER tion to be alert, to be persistent, to be conscientious, to be faithful in his tasks, to give satisfaction to his em- ployers, in short, to obey the laws mak- ing for business success. Simply to carry about with me the wish for suc- cess in business, or to kneel at my bed at night and put that wish into words, will not make me successful. My desire must be projected into the fulfillment of the conditions whereby success comes. We dare not ask God to work a miracle, that is, to violate one of the general laws by which He rules the physical world, but there are cases on the physical plane, where the Divine Will has not been unalterably ex- pressed. The law of death, for ex- ample, is not as clear and definite as the laws of physics. In any given case, no matter what the disease, no physi- cian can state positively, " This man 61 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER is bound to die." While there is life there is hope, we say, and up to almost the last moment, there is the chance that the patient may rally; something may happen within or without, that will tend to rouse the vital forces, and bring recovery. Have we a right, then, to pray in the case of sickness, and is such prayer ever answered ? At this point the new psychology has revealed how powerful a factor prayer may be in the recovery from disease. Professor James, in speaking of the value of prayer, uses these words: " As regards prayer for the sick, if any medical fact can be con- sidered to stand firm, it is that under certain conditions prayer may con- tribute to recovery, and should be encouraged as a therapeutic measure." Psychology recognizes the unity of mind and body, and the mutual action and reaction of mind upon body. We 62 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER have seen how the physical is affected by the spiritual. Speaking from the scientific standpoint, the modus oper- andi of prayer in the case of sick- ness is this: Prayer offered by the sick person or by his friends tends to soothe the mind, dispel fears, encour- age confidence and hope, and lifts the soul into a higher region than the earthly. This renewed mental atmos- phere is conducive to recovery, for through the nervous system it tends to act as a tonic and revitalizing force upon the whole physical organism. I do not think any intelligent physician to-day would object to prayer, if the sick man so desired, as an aid to re- covery. Religiously explained, answers to prayers in times of sickness imply no miracle. God violates no one of His laws, but rather expresses His life-giving power through the psycho- logical laws, which we are just begin- 63 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER ning to perceive, in the wondrous power of mind over matter, operating in the realm of the sub-conscious. But it is God none the less, though psychol- ogy explains His workings. Prayer is the means by which we are brought into such relations with Him that His power flows through us. In this view of prayer, it is not sup- posed that some absentee God, apart from and outside of the universe, hears the prayer offered by the bedside and sends down in some miraculous way His divine power. Our view of prayer depends on our conception of the rela- tion in which we stand to God. Ac- cording to the modern conception, the God whom prayer reaches, is the God within. We are organically related to Him, in some such way as thoughts exist in the mind. Prayer is not like sitting down at a long-distance 'phone and calling up a friend, miles away, 64 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER expressing one's desires, and then wait- ing for the answer to be returned. How crude are all such notions! But we are in Him and He in us; and when we realize that in this deeper self, in the inner life of every one there dwells the Divine life, and that prayer does not have to ascend to some distant throne, but through one's own mind reaches this deeper, this inner, this Divine self, this God in man, then prayer becomes for us a practical and vital power. In this way the difficulties which have perplexed so many minds, in regard to praying for the sick or afflicted, are largely removed. We can understand psychologically the operation of the power of prayer when we recognize that the God who is reached and who responds, is the God who dwells in every one of us, and who answers oui prayers through the laws of psychol- ogy, — His prescribed conditions, — 65 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER whereby we receive blessings in our physical bodies. On the higher plane of the moral and spiritual life, here again the essence of prayer is the intense, earnest desire coupled with the fulfillment of the con- ditions that prevail on this higher plane. We have already seen that there are fixed conditions which the laws of nature determine for us in the realm of the material and the physical, and no desire or prayer can be granted unless it is brought into harmony with the workings of these so-called natural laws, which are the laws of God. No intelligent man would dare ask that God should violate His own laws. For one to ask that God should change these laws for him, for his friends or for his community, would simply mean asking God to put the whole universe out of adjustment, and plunge order into chaos. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER Many of the laws which obtain in the realm of the moral and spiritual life we have already come to understand; there are many toward which we are still groping our way. The new psy- chology has thrown tremendous light upon the spiritual laws announced by Jesus, by complying with which we are able to receive the answer to our intense and earnest desires for moral and spiritual quickening. Here is one who desires to conquer some evil habit. He has been taught as a boy to pray to God and that God will help him; but his thought is of the God who is far-distant, who, if He chooses, will issue an edict for the power needed to be granted him. But he finds it hard to believe in such a God, and his faith in the power of prayer is well-nigh gone. Under the newer view what does prayer for such a man mean ? He recognizes that God is not without any 67 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER more than He is within,, that all that is necessary for him to do, is to hold in his own heart and mind this intense, earnest desire to overcome the moral weakness; and this earnest desire or prayer of his makes itself felt in his deeper inmost Self. As we have al- ready seen, the sub-conscious mind which is nothing less than the power of God itself, takes up the thoughts and desires we send down to it, and trans- lates them into life and character. We have had a good deal to say of the power of Suggestion, whether com- ing from without or in the form of Auto- suggestion. I wonder if you will be surprised when I say that the law of Suggestion gives us the scientific ex- planation for prayer. As we come to realize our true relation to God, that we are in Him and He in us; that in this deeper self, in this sub-conscious realm of our natures, we possess that 68 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER which links us to the Infinite Mind, and makes us akin to the Universal Soul of God, then, when we send down to that deeper Self this earnest desire, when we earnestly hold in our minds these ideal thoughts of what we want to achieve in our moral and spiritual life, psychologically, we are employing the power of suggestion; religiously we are laying hold of the power of prayer, and in either case we are reach- ing the sources of infinite power, in the God who dwells within us. I wonder if you see that instead of outgrowing prayer we have been grow- ing into a profounder and more spirit- ual conception of w T hat prayer is, and its possibilities in our daily lives. Every invention is a prayer, every discovery is a prayer, every bit of honest work done in the desire for success is a prayer, every expression of love is prayer. We need to banish forever 69 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER the false distinction between things religious and secular. From centre to circumference of this universe all is sacred, for God is everywhere, reveal- ing Himself in everything. Instead of prayer consisting of a particular form of words, offered in a certain physical attitude of the body, prayer is the de- sire, the aspiration, the secret ambition going forth from every man's heart every hour of his life. Do we receive answers to our pray- ers ? Jesus said: "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypo- crites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, that they may be seen of men. Verily, they have their reward." We have interpreted these words as words of condemnation. I do not think that Jesus means them in that sense at all. He says, in the case of one who prays to be seen of men, that his prayer is answered, for 70 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER his real prayer is to be seen of men, not the words he may utter. The man who cherishes the desire for wealth and personal fame, if it is strong and intense enough, and he fulfills the conditions whereby wealth and fame are attained, may reach his goal; and yet every night he may pray that God will make him pure and unselfish and kindly and humble. The real prayer of your life is that secret, intense desire that is with you day and night, not the words which pass your lips when in the attitude of prayer. Every thought you cherish, every ideal you hold, every ambition that is a real and vital part of yourself, is the real prayer of your life; and these real prayers, sooner or later, are answered. It does not need the Bible to prove it. Psychology gives us the reasons why, and human experience bears witness every day to its truth. 71 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER What can be said as to the value of prayer for others ? We know how large a part such prayer has played in the religious life of the past. With our newer thought of God, is there any need of praying for others ? Think a moment! According to the scientist, the fact of telepathy has been clearly proven. Thought-transference is no longer an hypothesis. When we read in the papers recently the thrilling ex- perience on board the steamer " Re- public," as that wonderful machine sent forth its wireless messages into the darkness of the night, calling to its aid numerous vessels hundreds of miles distant, what did it mean ? I talked with a gentleman recently who is helping to perfect an organization to put upon the market the wireless telephone. He is in personal touch with the leading men in the electrical field to-day, and he said: " The world 72 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER is going to be startled as it never has been, by the new discoveries which we are preparing to make public." What do such inventions reveal, if not that this universe is in reality a great whispering gallery in which the law of vibrations governs throughout, where not only physical but mental forces travel with the rapidity of light- ning? In an age when telepathy is admitted, when wireless telegraphy is in constant use, and the wireless tele- phone is soon to appear, how can any one longer question the fact that our thoughts travel from us to other lives, and influence other characters for weal or for woe? Shall a mother, then, pray for her wayward son ? Why not ? Under the old view she prayed to a God who was in some distant heaven, for her boy who was struggling on earth with evil. She did not understand just how, 73 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER but she believed that if she prayed long enough and earnestly enough, some power from God might reach and save her boy. The fact remains the same, but what is the explanation to-day ? She knows that as God is in her, so He is in her wayward boy; and she knows that her thoughts and desires, the strongest forces in her mother's heart, can travel through miles of space if need be, and influence the boy — becoming, not all at once, per- haps, but eventually, the great factor in bringing him to himself. But, you. say, would you explain the influence of a mother's prayer merely by telep- athy ? What is telepathy but God's divine law whereby one soul may reach and transform another soul ? Our prayers to God, when they consist of these earnest, intense desires that others may be blessed, are not prayers to some distant throne; they are but 74 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER the means whereby spiritual forces from the God in us reach the indwell- ing God in those for whom we pray. But we have not yet spoken of prayer in its highest manifestations — the prayer that consists of communion with the Infinite. We have been think- ing of prayer as petition, as asking for blessings, material or spiritual, either for ourselves or for others. I have tried to help you see that there is a scientific basis for prayer as petition, on both the material and spiritual planes. And yet if this is all we know of prayer, we have missed the highest. One of the most wonderful things about Jesus Christ is His teaching in regard to prayer. We never read of His having made a public prayer, but we read often of His going apart alone to pray. Is there need of many words, for a child to make its father understand ? It is the heathen, says / 75 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER Jesus, who make many prayers. The Father knows your need before you ask Him. It is a mark of unbelief to be anxious about food and drink and raiment; your Heavenly Father takes care of the sparrows and the flowers, and will He not take care of you? Jesus' whole thought is this: The essential thing, is not to multiply peti- tions, but to live near Him, and feel Him ever near. In a man's spiritual development, as the history of prayer is unfolded in his own personal life, this is the inevitable trend : from asking for things on the material plane we move to a higher plane and are content to ask for things spiritual, and from asking for things spiritual we move on still further, until we cease to ask for anything at all, until prayer reaches its highest form, of communion of the soul with God's soul. I sit down by the side of my friend, I take his hand 76 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER and look into his eyes; there exists the bond of sympathy, and we ex- change ideas. I rise at length encour- aged and uplifted, as does he. I have not asked him for anything; he has not asked me for anything. I have not expected to change him, and he has not tried to change me. As two true friends we have spent the hour in com- munion. This is prayer at its highest and best. What would the father think if his boy should beg and plead over and over again for him to do some- thing that was good and right ? It would sadden the father's heart inex- pressibly, and whether he said it to the boy or not, he would say to himself, " Does not my child understand that everything that is best for him he is going to get from me, and that he does not need to beg and plead for it?" I heard a man in prayer-meeting once say, " Oh, Lord, it is high time that 77 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER Thou shouldest begin to work. Why dost Thou leave the multitude to per- ish ? " Could anything be more blas- phemous ? As if God were not always working, as if God were not a great deal more concerned that men and women should be saved than you and I; as if we had to beg and plead with God to " come down and manifest His power in saving men." Can you not see how childish all such prayer actually is, and how it is really prompted by unfaith in God's goodness ? He is your Father. Is He not almighty and all-good ? Does He not love you better than you love your- selves ? Does He not make all things work together for the good of His children ? If trials come or dangers threaten, can you not trust God, and believe that these experiences are per- mitted for your own highest develop- ment ? 78 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER It is a long journey from the prayer of selfishness that seeks to bend God's will to ours, to the prayer of Jesus in the garden, " Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done." And yet this is the pathway over which we all at length must come. He only prays truly who is conscious that God's will is best, His way right. I Would never dare to ask God to change His will. If I thought for a moment that my prayer would effect any change in God, I would ask to be stricken dumb before the prayer left my lips. Who am I, to say what God's will should be ? If I trust Him and believe that He is the God whom Jesus came to reveal, the God of infinite love, the all-wise Father of the human race, then be it mine only to trust Him and seek to live in communion with Him. The reason that our prayers or de- sires have failed so often of fruition 79 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER is simply because we lack the vital force of faith which alone assures the answer. If we could but realize that the reason why we are still in the lower stages of development, why we have not yet emerged from the kindergarten room of spiritual experience, why our lives are lived on low levels instead of high, is not that we do not pray enough, but because we do not know how to pray aright and put so little faith into our prayers or desires. Jesus said: " All things whatsoever ye ask and pray for, believe that ye have them and ye shall receive them." Let the young man who goes forth to business be- lieve firmly that he is going to be suc- cessful, and nothing can defeat him in the attainment of his end ? Let the student but feel that he cannot fail of reaching the heights of knowledge, and there is no power that can prevent him from attaining his ideals. 80 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER The things you ask for, the things you desire, " Believe that ye have thern and ye shall receive them." This is the principle of Jesus, corroborated by the psychology which explains the real significance of the law of suggestion. It is when you believe that you have the desire of your heart that your prayer is answered, for when the de- sire is so intense and strong that noth- ing can thwart its power, it cannot fail of accomplishing its transforming work within. The opportunity of communion with the Infinite is the daily opportunity of our lives, the priceless privilege of the soul. How quick we should be to recognize its meaning! Jesus said, " When ye pray, enter into thy inner chamber " — that is, enter into the chamber of your inner soul and shut the door, and in silence ki pray to thy Father." If we should resolve to test 81 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER the privilege of prayer by going into the silence, shutting the door upon the outer world, and there in communion alone with God come into vitaLrelation with the great Divine resources within, our lives would tell the story; men would know that we had been with Him, and learned of Him. Let me quote in closing a few words from Sir Oliver Lodge, Principal of the University of Birmingham, one of the foremost scientists, and perhaps the leading physicist in the world to- day, a thorough-going evolutionist who accepts and believes in all that is called modern science, but whose faith in prayer is strong and vital. It is not the old form of prayer of which he is speaking; it is prayer revitalized by our newer thinking. He says: " In prayer we come into close com- munion with a Higher than we know, and seek to contemplate divine per- 82 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRAYER fection. Its climax and consummation is attained when we realize the per- manence, the entire goodness, and the fatherly love of the Divine Being. The highest type of prayer has for its object not any material benefits, beyond those necessary for our activity and usefulness, but the enlightenment and amendment of our wills, the elevation of all humanity and the coming of God's kingdom." We have not yet outgrown prayer; rather are we coming to understand what the Apostle means by " praying without ceasing," when every desire, every aspiration, all honest work done, all love expressed, shall constitute the habitual prayer of the inner life, binding us ever more closely to the Eternal, and rinding its realization in our union with God. 83 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS r SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS HAT am I? Whence came I ? Whither am I going ? What is the object of my exist- ence here ? These questions have been asked by man in all ages and in every clime. If the countless worlds surrounding the millions of suns in our Universe are inhabited by con- scious beings, these same questions are asked there. For most of us these questions still remain unan- swered. We have sought, we have studied, we have believed, we have puzzled, we have theorized, we have guessed, and yet how much do we really know, how many of these deeper SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS problems of man's being have we actually solved in personal experience ? As Tennyson pathetically expressed it, " For what am I ? An infant crying in the night, An infant crying for the light, And with no language but a cry." We are like the caged squirrel, who chases around his wheel until at last exhausted, he finds himself just where he started. Many of us have eagerly begun to climb the mountain of Knowl- edge. We have read books, have studied earnestly, have listened to lec- tures and addresses and sermons of every kind, and finally, weary in body and mind, we have reached the top of the mountain, only to find that our mountain is a mere tableland, and high above us stretch lofty peaks yet un- sealed. Or we have set out in the quest for spiritual truth; we have turned to 4 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS first one authority, and then another. We have most earnestly sought for spiritual bread, and we have been given the cold stones of dogma or creed, of church ordinance or ecclesias- tical authority, and we have turned from our search well-nigh in despair. But even in our despair we cannot for- get that this hunger of the soul is the surest sign that somewhere there must be found the spiritual bread. Just as there is physical food to meet the needs of the body; just as there is nourish- ment for the hunger of the mind, so the presence within us of this spiritual thirst, this soul-hunger for reality, is the positive proof of the ultimate satis- faction of our deepest longings and noblest aspirations. Most of us have failed in our search — we are still restless, anxious, troubled, doubting and fearful, because we have been looking outside, for that which can 5 • SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS only be found within. Happiness, peace, power, satisfaction, can never be found in externals. If discovered at all, it will only be as they are realized in one's inner spiritual con- sciousness, " For the kingdom of God is within you." We have commonly associated spirit- ual life mainly with some future ex- istence. Much of the preaching of the church has tended to give the im- pression that we would one day become spiritual beings, but that now the spiritual life was an ideal to be cher- ished, rather than a fact to be realized in daily experience; or else, if this has not been our idea, we have heard so many strange and abnormal types of character called " spiritual," that we have said to ourselves, " If the ' spirit- ual ' life leads to such results, I prefer to turn my quest in other directions." The first question to be faced frankly 6 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS and if possible, honestly answered, is this: " Is there such a thing as a nor- mal spiritual life possible to all men — to be lived not in some distant sphere but here and now in this present world ? And if so, in what does it consist, and how is it to be attained ? " Will you think with me briefly, of the deeper meaning of life as we know it and observe its development ? The most wonderful and altogether the most significant thing to be said about life, is this: That as we trace it from its earliest beginnings up to the present time, we find a gradual unfolding oj consciousness. You may never have thought of it in just this way, but a little reflection will prove that life, from its lowest to its highest forms, has always consisted in the slow but sure unfoldment of consciousness. Until recently scientists have divided matter into organic and inorganic, and they 7 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS have regarded a large part of the uni- verse as consisting of dead, or non- living matter. But the more advanced scientists, as we have seen, are telling us that there is no longer any such thing as "dead matter;" that vital and even psychic processes are to be found in the lowest kingdom. If there is life, there must be the first faint hints of sensation, and sensation is the be- ginning of consciousness. Intelligence is merely a matter of degree, and even the mineral has its law of life which it obeys. As we enter the organic world, the signs of a low form of consciousness become more apparent. Among the lower forms of life, where it is difficult to distinguish between the plant and animal, there are wants which the organism has power to satisfy, reveal- ing a simple form of mental effort, which appears to be wholly along sub- conscious lines. It is this which is 8 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS often spoken of as the " life force " in plants. In some of the higher forms of plant life, however, there appears a hint of independent " life action," — a faint indication of the beginning of consciousness. Among animals further up the scale, we discern a much higher grade of consciousness, varying in degree in the different species. The degree of consciousness in the highest animals, such as the horse and dog, almost approaches that of the lowest forms of the human race, and certainly reaches that of the young child. What we need to observe in the evolution of plants and animals, is the slow de- velopment of this something, that in man we finally call " consciousness." The plants and animals highest in the scale approach most nearly to what we mean by " the state of conscious- ness ; " those lowest down are the least conscious, — though the hints and sug- 9 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS gestions of a consciousness yet to be, are discernible even in these lowest forms. In the human family, the little child lives its first two or three years, in a state of simple consciousness, which is a condition of awareness of outward things — i. e. things other than the inner self. The child's consciousness consists wholly of physical sensations, hunger, thirst, heat, cold, painful and pleasurable feelings. By and by there dawns a great day in the life of the child, when the " ego " emerges into consciousness, and the child becomes a self-conscious being. Self-conscious- ness is an awareness of the inner self — the result of turning the mental gaze inward. Little by little is unfolded gradually the more clearly defined consciousness of the " ego." The child compares itself with other children, contrasts itself with other members 10 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS of the family, sets itself over against brother and sister or parent, the "ego" asserting itself more definitely as the child grows into the deeper conscious- ness of its selfhood. This is what we mean by growth in the child; not physical or mental development merely, but the deepening or unfolding of self- consciousness. If this is lacking, the child is abnormal, and we are justly concerned. There are many people who know very little about the deeper possibilities of self -consciousness ; they take themselves as a matter of course, they rarely turn their gaze inward; they do not stop to analyze their mental faculties or become conversant with their mental powers and possibilities; they simply live in this outward objec- tive world like thoughtless children. Then there are others who become morbidly self-conscious, who direct their gaze inward so constantly, that they 11 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS lose vital contact with the objective world and become abnormal in their living and thinking. As we observe those who have ar- rived at self -consciousness, here again we find all degrees of development, for the self-conscious life may be lived on different planes. Multitudes of people about us, neither very good or very bad, are living on the physical plane, in the sense that the physical life or the life of the body is the dom- inating life. I do not mean that there is no mental or moral life, but what- ever exists of the higher life is plainly subordinated to the physical. Such a person thinks of himself, when he thinks at all, as being a body; if he speaks of his mind or soul, it is in the same way that he would speak of his hat or his coat, — something that he has, instead of what he is; but he has no deep realizing consciousness of the 12 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS meaning of mind and soul. He eats, drinks, sleeps and performs many tasks every day. He uses his mind just enough to discharge the duties of daily life. He may sink to the plane of the sensual life, or he may simply live on the surface, this sensuous life. You cannot call him an intellectual man. You cannot call him in the deep sense a moral man, though he may break no law of societv. You cannot call him in any true sense a spiritual man, for he knows not the meaning of spirit. It is the physical life which predomi- nates in him. Such a man does not suffer, except as pain attacks the body. He does not worry about mental prob- lems. He does not vex his soul with the deeper questions of life. These things do not concern him, for he is not conscious of them. He wonders that anybody in the world should be con- cerned about such matters. It is 13 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS enough for him to eat and sleep and do his work and go the routine round year after year. He enjoys a sort of animal happiness, and it seems rather a pity that he has to be awakened and face the pain of the next stage of develop- ment — but life is inexorable — the child must grow in spite of pain, even by means of pain ; and he has only reached as yet the child's plane of physical consciousness. Then there are many who have passed out of the physical plane of con- sciousness, into the mental. They are living on the intellectual plane. They have come to understand something of the power of the Intellect. They enjoy reading, music, art, travel; they find pleasure in conversation with other intellectual friends. The body is a part of them, but it is held in abeyance; it no longer controls. It is an instru- ment to be used by them, and the 14 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS dominating " ego " is the intellectual. We all know people who find their greatest joy and satisfaction in the pleasures of the intellectual life, to whom the physical temptations make little or no appeal, who live day after day in the higher atmosphere of thought or study. This plane represents a dis- tinct unfoldment of consciousness, a decided advance on the consciousness of the physical plane. Here we find the moral life more or less highly de- veloped, though the intellectual life is by no means free from its peculiar besetting sins. Is there a still higher plane of con- sciousness, above the moral and in- tellectual ? Unquestionably there is, and the consciousness of man must still continue to unfold, until it reaches the spiritual plane. There can be no question that the higher, or " spiritual man," must be the moral man, but 15 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS I think we must all agree that the moral man may not be the spiritual man, in the sense that he has not yet reached this higher plane of conscious- ness. It is impossible to draw any hard and fast line. The physical blends into the intellectual, and the intellectual blends into the spiritual. You will never find a man who is altogether physical, or one who is altogether in- tellectual, any more than you will find one who is altogether spiritual. These different planes of consciousness im- pinge on one another. But the real question is this: After we have grown out of the simple consciousness of the child, into self -consciousness ; after we have passed through the physical stage to the moral and intellectual, is there still a higher plane of consciousness for man ? We have heard the preacher talk about the spiritual life since child- hood, but has it any reality ? Has it 16 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS any basis in fact ? Is there any actual ground in human experience for think- ing that man's consciousness may un- fold into the life of the Spirit ? I firmly believe there is, and these are some of the reasons for my con- viction. First, because the Intellectual life does not satisfy. Tolstoi somewhere says, " As soon as the Intellect has taken control of a person, new worlds are opened and desires are multiplied a thousand-fold. Thev become as numerous as the radii of a circle; and the mind with care and anxiety sets itself first to cultivate and then to gratify these desires, thinking that happiness is to be attained in that way." There are rare pleasures in the intellectual life, known only to those who have experienced them ; but there are poign- ant pains as well. The more one thinks, the greater the capacity for suffering. One may start out ever so 17 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ambitiously in the solution of life's problems, but before long, if he follows the guidance of Intellect solely, he finds himself back at the place where he began. At the end of every intel- lectual journey, stands the old question, " Why ? " There is a weariness in the life of the Intellect merely, which all great thinkers have experienced. The intellect can achieve wondrous results and answer many questions within its own field, but its field is circumscribed, and in the end man is still unsatisfied. The deeper problems of existence are not solved by the intellect. You can- not demonstrate the Being of God by the reason; you cannot prove the existence of a future life by the reason; you cannot demonstrate by intellectual processes alone that you are a Soul. These deeper truths of life elude us on the intellectual plane. Another reason for the belief that 18 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS there is a higher plane of conscious- ness beyond the Intellectual, is found in the fact that there is no one who does not live at times on that higher plane. Whether he be a professing Christian or not, every one lives on this higher plane of spiritual consciousness in some experiences of life. Justice, kindness, mercy, sympathy and disinterested love — are these the product of cold intel- lect ? From the standpoint of logic merely, is there any reason why you should not trample your brother in the mire and take his belongings if you choose ? From the coldly intel- lectual standpoint is there any reason why you should forget yourself and make sacrifices and go forth on errands of mercy ? The coldly intellectual man or woman, as we use the expres- sion, stands to us as the type of the ex- treme of selfishness, of brutality and inhumanity. There is no one quite 19 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS so repellent as the intellectual person who is without human sympathy, kind- ness and love. And these qualities which are expressed to a greater or less degree in every life, are not dictated by the Intellect; we do not reason about these things — we listen to the voice within and obey. At such times, one is living in the spiritual conscious- ness. I do not care what the act may be or how trivial it may seem, if it is done unselfishly, one is living, for the moment at least, the spiritual life; for unselfish love in any of its forms is the fruit of the Spirit. If you could find a person so depraved, that he never had a kindly thought, or spoke a loving word, or did an unselfish deed, then you would have discovered a life abso- lutely unspiritual, in which there was no spiritual life. But even in the lowest criminals and outcasts of society, there are at times outbursts of unselfishness, 20 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS flashes of kindness, that prove the ex- istence in them of the Divine Spark, even yet — in spite of all our theologies. The trouble lies here, that with most of us, the spiritual life is an occasional or spasmodic thing ; we live on the plane of the spirit for this little while, and then we drop to the intellectual or physical plane. The spiritual con- sciousness is but faintly developed in us, and we are not yet confirmed and habitual in our life on the spiritual plane. Psychology furnishes still further evi- dence of the spiritual stage of con- sciousness. Professors Star buck and Coe, who have made an exhaustive study of the development of conscious- ness in human life, tell us, as the result of generalizations from a multitude of carefully observed facts, that there is a time in every normal life, some- where between the ages of fifteen to twenty, when there takes place a moral 21 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS and spiritual awakening. It is at this time that the boy or girl begins to ask, " What is my relation to the universe or to God, what should be my rela- tions to others ? " It is then that the altruistic sentiments are aroused and earnest life-purposes formed. It is the natural time for religious conversion to take place; and if parents and teachers are only wise and sympathetic, the boy or girl enters naturally upon the next stage in the unfolding of con- sciousness — viz. the spiritual. The law of Evolution written deep in our own natures, — this law of " going on," this instinct deep as life itself, that makes us feel we are here to grow constantly into higher and richer experiences, is another evidence for the spiritual life. No matter how far we have come physically, morally or intellectually, we know we cannot stand still; for the law of growth is 22 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS the law of life, as it is the law of the universe. Every stage in life hereto- fore has been preparatory to some- thing higher, and the man who attains the greatest heights intellectually is conscious that he has not reached the final summit. It may seem vague, we may not understand just what that higher state is to be, but in all of us there is a power urging us on, leading us forward, forcing us to believe that we have not yet exhausted life's meaning or drained to its dregs life's cup of possibilities. If further reason were needed to show that there is something beyond the life on the Intellectual and Moral plane, there is the testimony of count- less lives in all ages, who have lived at least to a degree this higher life and have become more or less deeply con- scious of their spiritual natures. Spiritual life, then, is the life lived 23 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS by those in whom consciousness has unfolded beyond the intellectual and moral stage, disclosing to view the possibilities on the spiritual plane. It is perfectly normal. It is part of God's plan for the development of every life. We are all in the process of unfolding; the only difference is that some are farther on than others. Can we at- tempt to characterize in words, the life of one whose soul has awakened, whose consciousness has unfolded into the spiritual ? In describing the meaning of the Spiritual life, I realize that I am attempting the impossible. I can only offer hints and suggestions as to its deeper significance. My words will doubtless be full of meaning for some, and have little or no meaning for others. There are experiences of the spiritual consciousness of which we dare not speak, for fear they would not be understood. 24 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS The one who has awakened, here and now, to his spiritual consciousness, realizes for the first time what the " ego " actually is. Henceforth he regards body and mind solely as in- struments to be used. He knows that he is not dependent upon the physical body, but is conscious of having always existed, and of being destined for an eternal existence. The past does not worry him; the future causes no anx- iety; he has attained to the conscious- ness of his spiritual selfhood which he knows to be imperishable and eternal. He goes through the days in the glad consciousness that nothing can hurt, nothing can injure, nothing can destroy him ; that he is not the body, he is not the intellect; he is the soul, the spiritual " ego " who stands back of and em- ploys both for great and glorious ends. Such an awakened soul is keenly joyous in the presence of the Now. 25 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS He regards himself as a vital part of the whole. He feels himself as everv- 1/ where at home in the universe. He knows that he is an emanation of the Divine, a particle of God, if you will, housed for a little while in this mechan- ism we call the body. He may not be able to solve all the problems, but he does not demand their instant explana- tion, knowing that in God's good time, as he continues to unfold in spiritual consciousness, the light will break and the meaning of life's mystery will be more fully revealed. He is daily con- scious of the nearness of the Universal presence. His faith consists no longer in beliefs about God, for his faith has be- come knowledge, and he lives day after day in the glad consciousness of his one- ness with the Eternal Father. He be- lieves not only that God created him sometime in the past, but that God is in him now, sustaining and keeping, nour- 26 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ishing and leading, teaching and de- veloping him at every step he takes in life's journey. Not only is he conscious of his oneness with God, but he realizes just as truly his oneness with man. He no longer draws any distinction between himself and his fellows. As he looks out upon society, he sees all men as his brothers and all women as his sisters. Hate, envy, jealousy, rancour, cruelty, selfishness, greed and avarice — these things fall away from him, be- cause he sees himself as a part of all other lives. He knows that whatever is good for one is good for all, and that whatever hurts one, hurts all. He knows full well that he can never injure another without injuring himself, that his life is knit up inextricably with all humanity; and so his heart inevit- ably goes out in disinterested love to all men and women. He loves the vilest man, he loves the most degraded 27 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS woman, because he sees the possibility of the spiritual consciousness one day being developed in them; he under- stands that they are journeying as he has journeyed, and while he has gone far beyond them, still he knows that they too must travel the same pathway — that no life can ever be left out when the gracious purposes of God are made complete. What men call sin, he translates into terms of ignorance and selfishness. He no longer despises and condemns others. He pities them and he tries to help them with all the strength of his loving manhood. The spiritual man not only realizes his one- ness with God, but he never fails to realize his oneness with all humanity. The awakened Soul is sure that while all is law yet all is love; that God is infinite Love — He always has been and always must be. All the lurking fear in his heart vanishes entirely, for 28 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS he knows now that his fear of God in days gone by was due to his ignorance of God. As he looks upon men and women, struggling and striving, grop- ing their way, slipping backward, rising and falling again and again, he knows that God looks down upon them all with infinite tenderness and compassion simply because He understands; and that some day, as sure as God is God, these erring, sinning, struggling, falling men and women will reach up their hands to the outstretched hand of the Eternal, and forevermore follow where He leads. The spiritual man is no longer fearful in the presence of death, for he has learned at last that life and death, the twin mysteries, are but one after all; that death is never the end of life but only an incident in life; that whenever death may come, it is simply a rebirth ; that as these earthly gar- ments fall away, the real Self continues 29 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS to unfold into ever more abounding Life. These and other experiences, too lofty for words to express, are born in the soul when it awakens to life on the plane of spiritual consciousness. All about us men and women are attaining to it, some slowly, some more rapidly; we are all spiritual to a degree, very few of us have yet learned how to live habitually on the spiritual plane. Sometimes the soul awakens to this new consciousness suddenly. It may be through some startling experience, such as sorrow, or calamity, or great disappointment. But for most men, the development into this next stage of consciousness is slow and gradual. Most of us are slowly awakening. We are like the man roused from a deep sleep, who rubs his eyes and wonders where he is; his sleep has gone, but he is not yet thoroughly awake. This 30 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS is where most of us stand. We are not satisfied with the intellectual or moral or physical life which we have been living, and we have begun to yield ourselves to the Spirit and live upon this higher plane, at least occa- sionally; but we are rubbing our eyes, we do not see clearly, we have not yet learned how to live the spiritual life continuously. A few years ago it was my privilege to know a prominent physician, who held a place of wide influence in his home city, because of his exceptional ability — thoroughly upright and re- spected for his fearless honesty, and yet, a man who despised religion, and had nothing good to say for the churches. He always spoke of himself as a materialist; he did not believe in God, the soul, or a future life; he be- lieved that religion was merely a sur- vival of old superstitions, and should 31 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS have no place in the intellectual life of our day. He used to spend his Sunday evenings with a little group of friends, reading the works of ma- terialistic writers. One day he was taken sick with typhoid fever. He was only sick a week. The fever was low. The doctors and nurses all agreed that during this week's illness he was never delirious. He died at the end of the seventh day, not from the typhoid fever, but as the result of other com- plications. They had no idea that he would die up to the last twelve hours of his life. On the night before the day on which he died, two doctors who were his closest friends, his wife, — an extremely intellectual woman, — and the nurse, all of whom shared his materialistic views, were present in the room. About ten o'clock he called his wife to the bedside and motioned for the others to come near. Remem- 32 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ber, he had not been a very sick man, nobody anticipated that death was near, the complications had not set in as yet, and he was in the full control of his mental faculties. What he said was written down by his wife after- wards and I read his words which were in substance these: " You know what my life has been. You know me to be an honest man, you know I am not afraid to face either the present or the future. You know how honestly I have disbelieved in all religion. I tell you now and I want you to believe that I am speaking out of what I know, that I have been all wrong. I know there is a God. I know there is a future life. I know I have a soul." And then turning to one of the doctors present, he said, " After I am dead I want you to go to the Academy of Medicine and tell the other doctors what I have just told you." After his 33 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS death these four people tacitly agreed to make no mention of this startling experience for a month. Each one was left free to think the experience over by himself, and come to his own conclusions. At the end of the month they came together and after talking the matter over, they all agreed that he was perfectly rational, that it was the honest conviction of his own mind, that whatever may have led him to such a complete change of attitude, it was an honest and intelligent change on his part; and they believed it to such a degree that his friend went to the next meeting of the Academy of Medicine, and gave the message from their former member. I do not know what this man saw or experienced in those few days of sickness, but knowing the individuals and all the circumstances as I do, I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that certain experiences did 34 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS come to him, that actual knowledge, — I do not know just how, — was given him, because of which he was justified in saying, " I know there is a God and a future life." It has been to me a striking illustration of the fact that it is possible for men and women to become aware of these great realities of the spiritual world, here in this life, before the portals of death have been passed. This man had lived on the intellectual plane, an intense intellec- tual life, but there came the time before death, when he learned the truth, when his soul awakened as his spiritual con- sciousness began to unfold. I have stated what seems to me strong evidence for the spiritual life, not by quoting passages of Scripture, as might have been done, but by pre- senting the evidence of human expe- rience to-day. The Bible is but the record of human experience in an age 35 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS long since gone; I have sought to bring you that experience in terms of to-day's life, as we see and know it. Nothing can be clearer than that Humanity is being prepared for the next stage in its development; that we are standing on the threshold of a new era — the era of the Spiritual Man. The race has evolved through simple consciousness, through physical, in- tellectual and moral consciousness, and To-morrow will usher in the new age of the spiritual consciousness of the race. The time is coming, not very far off, when, we will look back upon these records of warfare, bloodshed, killing, extermination, just as to-day we look back upon the old gladiatorial combats in the Colosseum of Ancient Rome. The time is coming in the evolution of the race, when men will regard our economic and social in- humanity to our brothers and sisters 36 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS as horrible and incredible in an age of our intellectual development, ex- actly as we now look back upon the barbarities and cruelties practised in the primitive life of man. The race is surely growing, and when the spirit- ual consciousness of humanity is once attained, the brotherhood of man will be no idle dream, but an every-day truth translated into actual life. The message of Jesus in its simplest terms, was the same truth reiterated and emphasized, — that men are spirit- ual beings, that all they need is to realize their oneness with God and their oneness with their fellows. To accept Jesus Christ means not merely believing certain things about the historical Jesus, who lived in Palestine 1900 years ago; it involves vastly more than that; it means that a man shall surrender him- self, in loyalty to the Christ who dwells in every one of us, to the Christ waiting 37 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS to be revealed in every one of us, to the Christ Spirit which we all possess, in some measure, or at some time; only then does our acceptance of Him, our faith in Him, our belief in Him — I care not what terms you use, — be- come a saving power, because this is the only way that we become like Him. It may be that you are standing at the foot of the hill that leads to the spiritual heights above; as you think of your life it may seem that you have never awakened to your spiritual con- sciousness, as if your life had been altogether lived on the physical or in- tellectual, or moral plane. Perhaps you can see only one step ahead. Take the one step. Make up your mind to persevere in your quest for Truth and life, no matter what your disappoint- ments have been. Live in the great thought that you are a Spiritual Being, that the body and intellect are only 38 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS instruments for you to use, that death can never touch you at all, that you are one with God and one with your fellows. It may be that you will find many things that must be cast aside, — prejudices, narrowness, bigotry, meannesses of various kinds, self-com- placency, pride and self -righteousness — you will have to get rid of all these encumbrances as you climb the heights, but rest assured, it is worth while. The true solution of the supreme prob- lem of every life is found in spiritual development, as we enter this higher state of consciousness and the soul begins to manifest its life and express its powers. What others have achieved, you may achieve; what others can do, you can do. If you hold to these thoughts, and shut your eyes to every- thing that is not spiritual, by the wondrous power of suggestion the spiritual consciousness will gradually 39 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS unfold within you, for "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." Thus as we enter into this spiritual consciousness, gradually the fruit of the Spirit will be apparent in us. How often we struggle, and agonize, and pray for the realization of those ideal qualities of character, such as peace, joy, love, meekness, gentleness, etc., and sadly wonder why our lives fail to reveal them. It is simply because we begin at the wrong end. The fruit will appear if the sources of life are pure. Begin with the inner life, whence all outward manifestations must proceed. As day by day we enter more deeply into the spiritual consciousness of our divine self-hood, — love, joy, peace, long-suffering, meekness, gentleness, goodness, faith, temperance, against which there is no law, will become the dominant and abiding qualities of our characters. 40 THE KEDISCOVERY OF JESUS THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS HERE can be no question as to the greatness of the century just closed. If you have read Alfred Russell Wallace's book entitled " The Wonderful Century," you have in mind a most clear and vivid picture of its astonishing character. In one chapter the author compares the progress made during the past century with that made by all the preceding centuries of history. Up until the beginning of the nineteenth century, there were only five great prac- tical discoveries and inventions, which, according to Mr. Wallace, deserve to rank in the first-class. During the 43 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS last hundred years there have been thirteen. Of theoretical discoveries, the number made in the last century have been just about equal to those made during the entire lifetime of the race. In all past history he finds only eight great principles, or fundamental theories antecedent to the nineteenth century, as compared with twelve dur- ing this century; so that his conclusion seems justified, that " to get any ade- quate comparison with the nineteenth century, we must take, not any one preceding century or group of centu- ries, but rather the whole preceding epoch of human history." One cannot read Mr. Wallace's summing up of the work of the century, without feeling that it is in very truth a " wonderful century," out of which we have just come. And yet, wonderful as its achievements have been, its true great- ness lies in the achievements to which 44 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS it has opened up the way. Every dis- covery simply points the way for new and further discoveries. During the last century man has been learning the secrets of nature and gaining ever in- creasing dominion over physical forces. At last the time has arrived, when man is beginning to learn the secrets of his own being, and is about to attain the mastery over himself. Our century is preparing the way for a century still more wonderful — beyond the dream of imagination. The new physical order is plainly preparing the way for a new social order; and yet nothing is clearer to the leading students of our social prob- lems, than the fact that before the new social order can be ushered in there must appear the new Man, with a new spirit, a new mind, a new conscience, — in short, the man in whom lives the awakened soul. The new century 45 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS upon which we have just entered will see this new man standing upon the earth, radiant in his new r intelligence, master of himself, mentally and phys- ically, glorious in the consciousness of his divine sonship. Unless we misread altogether the signs of the times, the work of the new century is to be psy- chic, rather than political or economic. It is to be more moral than intellectual. It is to be more spiritual than moral. It will consist primarily in leading man into the holy of holies of his inner Self, and revealing to him the wondrous possibilities of his life as a child of God. The newer thinking of our age along all lines is but helping to prepare the way for the coming of the new, the truly spiritual man who is yet to be upon the earth. I have tried to help you see that the New Thought Move- ment, in its essentials, consists of 40 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS the blending of two thought-streams, one psychological, and one religious. Rightly understood it is not, in any sense, something apart from the essen- tials of Christianity. It is not hostile to the churches; neither does it an- tagonize the true spiritual activities of the Church. In its great essentials — and that is all that concerns us just now — it is part and parcel of the central truths of Christianity, and is in closest sympathy with the funda- mental purpose, the life and work of the Church. No one will question that Jesus stands in history, as the true exponent of the essentials of Christian- ity. If we desired to teach a person who knew nothing whatever about Christianity its real truth and meaning, we would not send him to any particu- lar church, or to any historic statement of theological belief; we would pre- sumably put the Gospels into his hands, 47 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS and let him learn directly from the words of Jesus. If the teachings of the New Thought Movement are contra- dictory to the fundamental teachings of Jesus, if they are in opposition to the principles that lay at the founda- tion of His life and constituted the essence of His message, then certainly, as Christians, we might well pause and consider. But if it should be found that there is a close and vital relation between the New Thought teaching, so-called, and the fundamental teach- ings of Jesus ; if this modern movement, which is in accord with scientific teach- ings, should also prove to be in the closest sympathy with the message of Jesus, then certainly our faith and confidence in the authority of Jesus could not fail to be tremendously strengthened. We have not been accustomed to think of Jesus as a philosopher or a 48 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS scientist. The world has regarded him for these many centuries, regardless of its theology about Him, as its greatest moral and religious Teacher. It is assuredly true that Jesus did not elab- orate any philosophic theory. He made no pretence to a systematic or scientific arrangement of His subjects. Nor is it recorded that He appealed to the reasoning faculties of His hearers by the use of logical formulas. It is strikingly characteristic of Jesus as a teacher that, in most instances, He merely cast His statements in the axio- matic form, leaving their accuracy and truth to be perceived by the intuition of His hearers. While this is true, nevertheless, that there is some basic system, whether of science or philos- ophy, underlying the teachings of Jesus, I think no intelligent follower of Him would dare deny; for the God who reveals Himself in Jesus must be the 49 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS same God who is revealed in nature and the mind of man. Science and philosophy represent the attempts of the human mind to get at the ultimate facts of existence, and then to reasonably explain these facts. If Jesus is divine, then certainly His utterances must in the last analysis accord with the absolute basic truths of existence. Otherwise His authority would mean nothing for the intelligent man. If His axiomatic statements recorded in the Gospels do not harmonize with man's best and deepest thinking on these problems of the moral and spiritual life, then the authority of Jesus as a teacher of truth must vanish. I firmly believe that the time will yet come when that which is imperfect in the conclusions of science and phi- losophy, and that which is still imperfect in the conclusions of theology, will so far approximate accuracy in the state- 50 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS ment of truth, that each will be seen to be in perfect harmony with all the others. Then it will be possible to give the whole human race the most con- vincing reasons for the existence of Jesus' precepts, and the supreme reason why they should be obeyed. " When that time comes, the value of these teachings will be immensely enhanced for those who look to reason rather than to authority, while it will not de- tract in the slightest from the alle- giance of those who accept Him, chiefly on the basis of His divinity ; and it will furnish both classes with abundant reasons why His teachings should be accepted as, in very truth, the message of God to man." Let us consider first, some of these fundamental teachings of Jesus, in comparison with what we have found to be the essential teachings of the New Thought movement, both in its relig- 51 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS ious and psychological aspects. Jesus taught that religion is first and fore- most a thing of the inner life, rather than ' of outward observances. He lived and taught in an age when re- ligion was a thoroughly established system. The temple with its priest- hood and sacrificial ritual, the syna- gogue with its regular worship, the traditions of the elders, the binding authority of innumerable petty rules — these constituted the religious sys- tem of His day. Apparently Jesus paid no attention to the sacrifices car- ried on in the temple. He was not at all particular about attending the syna- gogue services. He utterly disregarded the religious restrictions of His time. Judging from His words, He regarded the religion of the leaders of that day as superficial, mechanical and insincere. He said to His followers: " Unless your righteousness shall exceed the 52 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS righteousness," or " go far deeper than the righteousness of these scribes and Pharisees," these religious leaders, these church members of that day, " ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." We know that the " right- eousness " of the scribes and Pharisees was legal and formal, a thing of the head and not of the heart. It consisted in outward obedience to conventional religious customs, in conformance to established rituals, in the intellectual acceptance of orthodox creeds; in a word, it was external rather than in- ternal, it was mechanical rather than vital, it was hypocritical rather than genuine. No one has ever spoken more earnestly and emphatically against this whole conception of religion than did Jesus. Nowhere does He say that religion consists in Church attendance, in believing creeds or in conforming to rituals. These things upon which 53 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS we have laid so much stress during the intervening centuries apparently had little significance for Him. All the time He was trying to help men see that religion consists not in outward observances, but in the inward life and disposition. What is this but the real starting point of the modern movement, which puts life before theology, which believes in the God who is within, as well as without, and which recognizes so fully the possibilities for development of the inner life of man ? Then you will recall that the first message of Jesus to men was, " Re- pent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand;" and when He sent His apostles out He instructed them to say, into whatever place they came, " Re- pent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." This was also the mes- sage of John the Baptist, who pre- 54 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS ceded Jesus. The meaning of the Greek word for " repent " is actually this: " Change your mind, or change your thinking." This first message of Jesus to His age and entrusted by Him to His apostles, was evidently, in His mind, the key-note to the whole moral and religious situation. What men needed first, in His judgment, was a change of mind, a transformation in their thinking. This is exactly where the New Thought movement places its emphasis to-day. Let me be a little more specific in the application of this thought of Jesus. All New Testament scholars, of what- ever school, are agreed that in the Sermon on the Mount, as it is recorded in Matthew's Gospel, we have the fundamental ethical and spiritual prin- ciples enunciated by Jesus, the real heart of His message to man. The New Testament student is also pretty 55 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS well satisfied that in the essentials of this Sermon on the Mount we have the " final residuum " which Biblical criti- cism cannot touch. In other words, whatever else in the Gospel narratives may be open to doubt or uncertainty, in the Sermon on the Mount we approach as near the genuine thought and actual principles of Jesus as is possible after the lapse of these centuries. Since this is the opinion of those competent to judge, let us consider briefly the main thought which underlies all the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. Here we read, " Moses of old said to you, ye shall not kill, but I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment." Jesus had said, " I am come not to destroy but to fulfil " the old law — to interpret its deeper truth, to trace it back to its real spiritual meaning. The sin of murder, he says, 56 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS lies not in the overt act, but in the dis- cordant thought of anger, from which all murder proceeds. He that is angry with his brother has already committed the sin. Once again, " Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not com- mit adultery, but I say unto you that every man that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed sin." The act itself, according to Moses, was the crime ; Jesus presses the impure act back to its real source in impure think- ing. The sin lies in the mind that harbours adulterous thoughts. Banish all such thoughts, and you have abol- ished the cause of the sin. Again He says, " Ye have been taught, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, resist not evil." This passage has been the cornerstone of the religious philosophy of Count Leo Tolstoi, and Christian men have called him a visionary, or 57 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS insane, for taking these words literally. What does Jesus mean by " Resist not evil," except this: that merely to con- tend against evil is to accentuate that evil; the method is negative; it is useless. We are to " overcome evil with good," to fill the heart with a new affection, to inspire the bad individual or the evil society with a new spirit. This method is positive; it will suc- ceed. It is just as absurd to contend against evil as it would be to struggle against the darkness in the room; throw open the curtains and let in the light, and the darkness disappears of itself. We are learning from the con- sideration of the newer psychological principles the same truth; that every time we fight against evil, we are only emphasizing that evil. Let a minister preach against some immoral book, and everybody rushes off post haste to buy the book; or let him denounce a lewd 58 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS play and the theatre is crowded for weeks to come. If you have a boy with a tendency to prevarication, just keep telling him over and over again that he cannot tell the truth, that he does not know the truth when he sees it, and you are making him a more pronounced liar than ever. Jesus and the New Psychology are at one in telling us that the true method of eradicating evil is to forget all about the evil, whether in the child, in the book, or in society, and earnestly seek to foster the opposite of the evil. Do not denounce vices, but preach the virtues. Emphasize in the child's life the beauty and nobility of truth and sincerity. Forget, as far as he is con- cerned, all his weaknesses, and keep constantly before him the great ideals. For nineteen hundred years the world, and for the most part the Church, have been following the negative method 59 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS of dealing with evil. We have said that Jesus was an idealist, and His words impractical. In the light of modern psychology we are coming to realize the profound philosophy underlying these words. But the time is coming when we will be wise enough to follow the positive method of Jesus, both in deal- ing with evil in ourselves and in so- ciety, and when that day dawns, evil will disappear. : ' Resist not evil; but overcome evil with good." Here is another of the axioms of Jesus, " Judge not, that ye be not judged; " or, literally translated, " Con- demn not." The word is much stronger than our word to " judge," or to pass judgment upon; it means to condemn harshly or bitterly. " Condemn not, that ye be not condemned, for with what condemnation ye condemn, ye shall be condemned." Do not these words take on a new meaning in the 60 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS light of modern thought ? Shall a man carry in his mind the discordant thoughts of condemnation or harsh criticism? The condemnatory spirit has been back of all wars between nations ; it has been the cause of every quarrel and misunderstanding; when men have held condemnatory thoughts towards others and gone forth in that spirit, inevitably such discordant think- ing has yielded its brood of pesti- lential results. Whether it be in the form of violence, inflicting bodily in- jury, or in the form of malicious slander, unkind criticism or petty gossip, never- theless the sin committed and the injury wrought to others must be traced back to the condemnatory thoughts. " Do not condemn people harshly," says Jesus, " because when you do, the same condemnation you make on others, will in turn be made upon you." What is tbis but His way of stating the 61 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS psychological law, " Your own will come to you ? " Just as sure as the sun will rise to-morrow morning, if you hold bitter and hateful thoughts of others, they will hold bitter and hate- ful thoughts of you; and if you hold kind and helpful thoughts of others, they will inevitably hold kind and help- ful thoughts of you. " Like breeds like," is a law of mind as well as body. If others do not love you, it is because you do not love them. Psychology explains through telepathic principles the profound meaning of this axiomatic statement of Jesus. " Take no anxious thought for the morrow," says Jesus. Men have said many times that it is impossible to obey this plain command. How can we live in the midst of this busy life of ours, beset by cares of every kind, and yet take no anxious thought for the morrow ? And yet Jesift does not 62 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS stand alone, but the scientific physician is telling us that the great cause of physical and nervous breakdown so prevalent in our age, a large if not the chief factor in disease of every kind, is found in these twin evils, — fear and worry, — and unless we can learn to master our worries we will become a race of weaklings. Jesus does not state the psychology underlying His words. It has been left for modern thought to discover their scientific basis, in the inevitable influence of mental conditions on the body. In the Beatitudes which occur at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, — Blessed are the poor in Spirit, Blessed are the meek, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst, Blessed are the merciful, Blessed is the peacemaker, — Jesus is again pointing out that the way to true happiness lies in the inner mental disposition or mental attitude 63 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS of the individual. He says, upon your real thoughts depends your blessedness ; if you are humble in mind, if you are meek and merciful and a peacemaker, if in your mental disposition you are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, then you shall know the meaning of " blessedness." The climax of the Beatitudes is reached when He says, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." What is it to be " pure in heart " but to exclude every impure or discordant thought ? And they who have attained to this have already the Kingdom within them, and perceive God immediately and intuitively. Jesus' teaching in regard to for- giveness illustrates the same truth. The word " forgive " really means to let go, to cast away, to put out of the mind absolutely. Jesus would have us " for- give as we would be forgiven." There 64 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS is no one who seeks forgiveness for some wrong done but desires the person wronged to forgive, in this sense of putting it out of mind and forgetting it absolutely. This is what we seek in forgiveness. And Jesus said, If you want to be forgiven in this way, you must forgive in the same way. Forgive- ness is not an external tangible thing; it is purely a mental act. It belongs to the inner life; to forgive another in any true sense means to cast out the unforgiving or discordant thought from the mind forever. If we seek that kind of forgiveness from others, — and who of us does not ? — the only way to obtain it is by cleansing the mind of all save thoughts of love. In the Golden Rule is summed up all the ethical and spiritual teachings of Jesus. "As ye would that men should do unto you, do ye also to them likewise." This does not refer merely 65 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS to physical injury that we hope to escape at the hands of our fellows. That is to apply it merely to the lower physical plane. But in the whole range of human relationship, said Jesus, if you want other people to think kindly, and respectfully, and lovingly and help- fully of you, then hold the same thoughts of them. In our deeper selves we all desire to be well thought of, we want people to think kindly of us, we want to be regarded as incapable of mean or low actions. This is the deep instinctive craving of every one. If each one should avoid discordant thinking about all others, as he would have others avoid it about himself, it would terminate all discordant or er- roneous thinking of every kind, and as a result all discordant conduct would be ended. In these teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, which is admitted to be 66 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS the declaration by Jesus of His funda- mental ethical and spiritual teachings, He has selected certain sins which are typical of all forms of sin or selfishness, and in every instance he traces the wrong back to the thought, to the men- tal attitude of the individual. Could any teaching be more modern or more truly scientific ? These truths have always been in the Bible, but what we need to see is that the newer thinking of to-day has helped us immensely in the inter- pretation of the teachings of Jesus, and in their application to life and character. Jesus uttered these words nineteen hundred years ago, but it has remained for the newer thought, both scientific and religious , of our own day, to reveal to us their profounder meaning. In His teaching He is in exact accord with the best and latest teaching of science on the whole sub- 67 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS ject of character-building. In a word, science tells us to-day that character, happiness, success, in the truest sense, depend upon two things — right think- ing and right living, and this is the essential message of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. A lawyer asked Him the tremen- dously pertinent question, " Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life ? " It is not a speculative question; it is intensely personal and practical, dealing with the supreme thing in re- ligion; and Jesus replied, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself." In this reply of Jesus is contained the secret of the religious life. God is ab- solute Good, God is Truth, God is Love. When a man loves Goodness with all his being; when he loves Truth THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS until he is willing to make any sacrifice for the sake of Truth; when he loves Love, until Love becomes the control- ling principle of life, there will be no room left in the mind for inharmonious thoughts, from whence proceed all forms of evil. If you can conceive of one filling his mind full of love for God and his fellow-men, have you not reached the only possible conception of a perfect life ? There can be no place in such a life for wrong doing. If every wrong act must proceed from its parent- thought back in the mind, then when the mind is full of this love, neither im- perfection nor discord can enter; then and not until then shall we be wholly saved. This is as sound psychology as it is true Christianity. Jesus reached the great climax of His doctrine of Love when He said, :< It has been said, Thou shalt love thy 69 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS neighbour and hate thine enemy, but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven." Here is the real test and the hardest of all, as to the degree of love in our lives. If we can forgive our enemies, we can love everybody. That is why Jesus places the ideal so high. He knows that when a man reaches the point where he can love even his ene- mies, then his life will be completely under the domination of love. All forms of hate are discord. Love is perfect harmony. Love and hate can- not both occupy the same mind at the same time. The exclusion of hate is the preparation for love, and the enter- tainment of love means the exclusion of hate. This supreme demand of 70 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS Jesus also stands on a distinctly scien- tific basis. Let me leave out the intervening clauses, and read the argument and conclusion which Jesus draws, " Love your enemies, that ye may be the chil- dren of your Father who is in heaven; ye therefore shall be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect." I wonder if we realize the tremendous significance of these words. " Love your enemies in order that you may become the children of your Father in Heaven." Then notice, He does not command us to be perfect as God is perfect; He puts it in the form of a prediction: " Ye therefore, because love is supreme in your lives, shall be perfect even as your Father who is in Heaven is perfect." This is the sublimest utterance that ever fell on human ears. Men have always turned their yearning gaze towards perfection. 71 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS But perfection has been a dizzy height for man to contemplate. No scientist, no philosopher, no ethical teacher has ever dared to more than hint at the possibility of man's attaining to per- fection. Jesus taught it. He does not command it; He promises it, if only man fills his mind and heart with love. There is no external devil forever seeking to keep us down and drive us back; that theory belongs to the superstition of childhood. There is no Prince of Evil roaming through the earth, invisible in form, seeking to pre- vent us from attaining the completion and perfection of our manhood and womanhood. Jesus points out the way, and modern thought explains the philosophy of it, whereby any man may make sure and steady progress towards perfection. Drive out the discordant thoughts, says Jesus, and fill the mind with love, — love for God 72 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS and love for man, — and then the only causes of all evil will be banished from your life, " Then ye shall be children of your Father in Heaven, and ye shall be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect." We have not yet begun to understand how vital and practical — yes, and simple, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It does not consist in metaphysical subtleties, in theological abstractions, or in ecclesiastical requirements. I have brought you face to face with Jesus, and in the presence of His teach- ings corroborated by science, I dare to affirm that we can become like Him, and that our likeness to Him will ap- pear in just the degree that we learn how to substitute for all discordant thinking the God-like thoughts of love. It is a common-place truism to say that religion is in a state of transition. We have been told that many times. 73 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS There are many who feel that religion is decaying, that faith is on the wane. In reality, religion is but disintegrating many of the old forms of faith, in prep- aration for a new and higher form of integration. If you compare the close of the eighteenth century with the close of the nineteenth, you will see the tre- mendous gain for faith. The old shallow scepticism, the cheap and vul- gar infidelity which characterized the close of the eighteenth century, is no longer possible for man, and we do not find it expressed to-day either from platform or in literature. All the de- structive work of the last century, — Biblical criticism, the historical study of Christian institutions, the conflict of modern science with theology, the study of comparative religions, the tremendous revealing power of the new social movements, — all of these, while destroying many traditional forms 74 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS of faith, have but cleared away much that has been outgrown, and have been preparing the way for a renaissance — a new birth of faith and hope and love, which constitute the abiding es- sentials of religion. Within the Church and without, the living spiritual life is demanding some new form of expres- sion; and it will find it, yea, it is finding it. The deep consciousness of the in- dwelling God is being recognized and realized as it never has been in the past. A rebirth of religion is taking place in our midst. You cannot inter- pret present movements of thought and activity in any other way. When we think of the spiritual power and the moral earnestness existing outside the Church to-day, when we remember the ever increasing literature, dealing specifically with spiritual problems, and furnishing spiritual nourishment and inspiration to multitudes, what is the 75 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS significance of it all, unless as Tenny- son explains it; " Our little systems have their day, They have their day and cease to be ; They are but broken lights of Thee, And Thou, O Lord, art more than they." Within the Church and without, this renewal of religion consists in a return to the Founder of Christianity, a setting aside of traditional creeds, and an honest, earnest attempt to find out what He taught and the things for which He stood. A new discovery of Jesus is taking place in our age, whether we realize it or not. The old theological Christ may be disappearing, but the divinely human Jesus is re-appearing. It is not that we regard Jesus as being any less the Son of God, but we regard Him as being vastly more the Son of Man. We think of His life as the norm, the 76 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS type, the example, the real inspiration for the life of every individual. What He did, we believe through the in- dwelling God we can accomplish; we cannot read His message without com- ing to feel that He expected that we should become like Him, and live His kind of life, and complete His work in the world. It is this rediscovery of Jesus that is preparing the way for the new birth of Christianity. It is no new religion that is coming; it is rather a new and more spiritual conception of the pro- found religion of Jesus, as He taught and lived it. Let us rejoice in every ray of light that has come from the new thinking of our age, in all its phases; let us be glad for the revelations made by the newer psychology, if for nothing else, because they have helped us to more truly interpret Him, and more practi- 77 THE REDISCOVERY OF JESUS cally apply His teachings. As we walk in the light that has coine, and in the new light still to shine; as we who pro- fess to be followers of Him, and we who at least are interested in hearing about Him, and learning what He taught — as we all earnestly and honestly strive to know the truth in order that we may live the truth, we shall be led out into the life of the Spirit ; and if His proph- ecy means anything at all, we shall at length become " perfect even as He is perfect." 78 Stew-** Deacidified using tne booKKeeper prucebb. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Nov. 2004 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724)779-2111 40 M. P. L. 583 7-27-18 R -828-19 3EL