RZ400 
 
 mm 
 
 BBBHBBB 
 
VP ~? 
 
 
 O"** 
 
 ^ *< 
 
 ^ 9 - 
 
 A 
 
 tf 
 
 
 ,^ 
 
 4 O 
 
 &iv. < 
 
 

 -J- A 
 
 
 

 ; The Way To 
 Perfect Healing 
 
 BY WILLIAM E. TOWNE 
 
THE WAY TO PERFECT 
 HEALING 
 
 THE POWER OF THE WORD IN ANCIENT AND 
 MODERN SPIRITUAL HEALING. HOW TO AP- 
 PLY THIS POWER IN SELF-HEALING. HOW 
 TO TRAIN THE MIND TO REALIZE HEALTH 
 
 By William E. Towne 
 
 'SPEAK THE WORD ONLY AND 
 MY SERVANT SHALL BE HEALED" 
 
 PRICE, 50 CENTS 
 
 Published by WILLIAM E. TOWNE, Holyoke, Mass. 
 
D D 
 
 
 Copyright May 25th, 1910 
 
 BY 
 
 William E. Towns 
 
 ©CI.A265488 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 To all who hunger for harmony this 
 little book may carry healing. 
 
 It is not claimed that it contains any 
 new teachings. It is a new statement 
 of old truth. It is an attempt to bring 
 into clear relief the true principle by 
 which Jesus healed the sick and raised 
 the dead. 
 
 Make this book your daily compan- 
 ion, read and re-read it, and it will 
 guide you into health and joy. 
 
 The Author. 
 
ELEMENTS OF ANCIENT HEAL- 
 ING. 
 
 The Word. 
 
 For the bread of God is he which 
 cometh down from heaven, and giveth 
 life unto the world. — St. John 6 : 33. 
 
 Why do ye not understand my 
 speech? even because ye cannot hear 
 my word. — St. John 8: 43. 
 
 The New Testament is primarily a 
 record of healing and of healing philos- 
 ophy. 
 
 The healing taught and manifested 
 by Jesus consisted in coming into a 
 consciousness of wholeness. Those 
 who were healed were "made whole." 
 The palsied, the lame, and the blind 
 were regarded as lacking in wholeness. 
 
This lack of wholeness was a lack of 
 at-one-ment with the will of God, or 
 the One Principle and Primal Source 
 of life. It was a condition of con- 
 sciousness. 
 
 The man with a palsied arm is only 
 partially conscious of his own life. 
 His real self is not palsied. The soul, 
 the divine Principle within him, is 
 eternally alive. The spiritual forces 
 of his being are ready to flow through 
 the palsied arm and give it life so soon 
 as the word of authority shall call them 
 into action. 
 
 The palsied man has denied the life 
 within until it has ceased to manifest, 
 and he is no longer whole in conscious- 
 ness. He lives in only a part of his 
 temple. He regards the remainder of 
 himself as dead. 
 
 Man is led into such imperfect con- 
 
ditions of consciousness (which man- 
 ifest in the body as disease) by fear 
 and through judging from material 
 conditions and mortal consciousness. 
 
 One sees that a finger is crushed, 
 and, judging from a knowledge of mat- 
 ter, believes it can never be healed. 
 
 The truth is that the Divine Mind, 
 which builded the body in the first 
 place, using matter as a means of ex- 
 pression, can rebuild any part of that 
 body, if the consciousness will but 
 awaken to the truth. 
 
 The healing which Jesus taught and 
 manifested was so perfect, so cleansing, 
 so sublime and far-reaching, that it 
 could only culminate in eternal life — 
 an eternal consciousness of well-being 
 and wholeness for those who accepted 
 it fully. It was not a temporal cleans- 
 ing or healing of a part, but a resur- 
 
8 
 
 rection of the mind to a new plane of 
 living. It manifested in a desire to 
 "go and sin no more." 
 
 Disease and inharmony — a lack of 
 wholeness in consciousness — arise from 
 the errors of mortal mind in the inter- 
 pretation of truth. 
 
 Disease results can only be wiped out 
 by knowing the truth and expressing it 
 through the Word. 
 
 The consciousness of the people 
 whom Jesus healed was changed by his 
 spoken Word. They accepted his Word 
 and had faith in its results. He in- 
 spired faith because he possessed it — 
 because he knew himself and spoke 
 with authority. 
 
SOURCE OF ALL HEALING. 
 
 "And this is life eternal, that they 
 might know thee the only true God, and 
 Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." 
 
 To know God is to realize God, the 
 One Principle of life, the eternal Word, 
 the Divine Pattern. 
 
 "In the beginning was the Word, 
 and the Word was with God, and the 
 Word was God. 
 
 "The same was in the beginning with 
 God. 
 
 "All things were made by him; and 
 without him was not anything made 
 that was made." 
 
 All healing proceeds from the crea- 
 tive Word. 
 
10 
 
 Those who heard the "words" of 
 Jesus (which were scientific expres- 
 sions of the One Word) were healed. 
 Those who refused to hear his words 
 remained in error and sin (shortcom- 
 ing, lack of wholeness). 
 
 "And the man believed the word that 
 Jesus had spoken unto him, and he 
 went his way. '* * * Why do ye not 
 understand my speech? even because ye 
 cannot hear my word." 
 
 The Word is the potentiality of that 
 which is, the Eternal One. Our words 
 (including our thoughts) are our rec- 
 ognition of the One. 
 
 Our words are but our finite at- 
 tempts to glimpse the Infinite — the In- 
 finite Pattern, the Infinite Reality or 
 Principle in all manifestation. 
 
 To speak the Word is to make way 
 for its realization and manifestation. 
 
11 
 
 When you speak the Word in faith 
 your consciousness is open to the en- 
 trance of truth. 
 
 Without faith there is a barrier of 
 doubt in your mind which will prevent 
 the Word from manifesting. 
 
 Jesus healed by dissolving forever 
 this barrier of doubt in the conscious- 
 ness of the diseased one. This the 
 Master was able to do because of his 
 great faith and understanding. He 
 spoke with authority. 
 
 To successfully speak the Word of 
 health to yourself or others, it is first 
 necessary to still the mortal mind, that 
 the Word may come forth into mani- 
 festation. 
 
 The Word is eternal. It awaits to 
 be spoken into realization. 
 
 Faith makes the necessary connec- 
 tion between your mortal consciousness 
 
12 
 
 and the Word of Divine Principle or 
 Truth. 
 
 When you affirm "I am Health," you 
 are putting yourself into alignment for 
 the Word to manifest through you. 
 
 Live, think, and act in harmony with 
 what you desire to become. 
 
 God is love. Therefore think, speak, 
 and act love. 
 
 God is just. Think, speak, and act 
 with as nearly absolute justice as you 
 can. 
 
 We are weaving always after the 
 divine pattern. This pattern is the 
 Word of truth, which exists from ever- 
 lasting to everlasting. 
 
 In proportion as we are at-one with 
 this Word, do our mortal words have 
 power. 
 
 The Word is creative power. With- 
 out it "was not anything made which 
 
13 
 
 was made." It is the seed in the mind 
 which springs up and bears fruit after 
 its kind, IP we do not check its growth 
 with mortal error thoughts. 
 
 Doubt, fear, envy, hatred, are weeds 
 which choke the growth of truth in the 
 mind. Where these exist the creative 
 power of the Word manifests in dis- 
 torted form. 
 
 When we become too engrossed in 
 material things we lose our spiritual 
 consciousness and our connection with 
 the creative source. We become sepa- 
 rated from that which gives life to 
 materiality. The result is inharmony. 
 We are mistaking a reflection for the 
 thing itself. 
 
 Mortality is only a mirage of Spirit. 
 
 To become lost in mortality — the 
 material — is to cut one's self off from 
 the source, so that one cannot "under- 
 
14 
 
 stand the speech" of God (One Prin- 
 ciple of Life). 
 
 In such a mental condition, man 
 builds around himself well-nigh impen- 
 etrable walls of prejudice, fixed and 
 narrow beliefs, and error thoughts 
 along certain lines. 
 
 He lives in an unreal world, even 
 while he thinks that nothing is real but 
 that which he can see, feel, taste, hear, 
 or smell. 
 
 Jesus shattered these walls of delu- 
 sion in the minds of his patients by the 
 power of his spoken Word. 
 
 Nearly all the sick whom Jesus 
 healed were hopeless cases. Many of 
 them had suffered for years. Some of 
 them had spent large sums of money 
 upon physicians without gaining any 
 relief. Some had even entered upon 
 the sleep of death, and were brought 
 
15 
 
 back to life by the quickening Word of 
 power spoken by Jesus. 
 
 These sick people whom Jesus healed 
 had "reached the end of their rope." 
 They had no hope of relief except in 
 this one direction. All human methods 
 had failed. They were therefore ready 
 to accept the seed of the Word. It was 
 no longer choked by the mental rubbish 
 in their minds. Their faith in Jesus 
 was sufficient to open their minds to 
 the Word. Jesus inspired great faith, 
 because he was the living embodiment 
 of truth. So they received the Word 
 and were healed. 
 
RECEIVING THE TRUTH. 
 
 One of the most difficult features of 
 mental healing is to induce people to 
 receive the Truth. 
 
 We are all so mentally constructed 
 that we do not want to know Truth. 
 We want only our conception of what 
 Truth ought to be. We want the heal- 
 ing to come according to our ideas. 
 
 The first great requirement in all 
 healing is that we be "as little chil- 
 dren" ready to be taught and led by the 
 Spirit, "It is the Spirit that quicken- 
 eth. * * * Howbeit when he, the 
 Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide 
 you into all truth." 
 
18 
 
 The wisest souls are the least arro- 
 gant. The truly wise know that out of 
 mistakes and suffering, if we trust the 
 leading of the Spirit, arise truth and 
 healing. 
 
 Did not Job find permanent healing 
 and a hundred and forty years of life 
 after he set his will in line with the 
 will of the Spirit? 
 
 Do not be too sure that you are not 
 getting just the medicine you need. 
 
 If you dig down deep to the roots of 
 your troubles you will find they are 
 growing from the seed of your own 
 words. 
 
 "I'm afraid I'm going to have a 
 headache," brings a headache. 
 
 "I hate that man," brings hatred and 
 the fruits of hatred in return. 
 
HOW TO REALIZE HEALTH. 
 
 Fullness of peace, happiness, and 
 health abide in the Word. 
 
 "For the bread of God is he which 
 cometh down from heaven and giveth 
 life unto the world." 
 
 To realize the fullness of life it is 
 necessary to come into harmony with 
 the Creative Word of Life. This we 
 can do by speaking and thinking the 
 Truth, according to our highest con- 
 ception of it. 
 
 The One Life IS health, harmony, 
 and power. 
 
 We are one with that Life, and hence 
 are entitled to manifest health, har- 
 mony, and power. 
 
20 
 
 If our faith and our words are in 
 alignment with this truth, we shall 
 realize what we desire and affirm. 
 
 You can make connection with the 
 creative Word through your finite 
 word and affirmation, and by faith. 
 Keep your mental attitude true to the 
 Word, and you will realize its power 
 growing up within you. 
 
 "Whoso keepeth his word, in him 
 verily is the love of God perfected." 
 
 The mortal mind must be resur- 
 rected from its belief in disease and 
 death before complete healing can take 
 place. 
 
 Disease is not a result of some force 
 or power outside yourself and beyond 
 your reach. 
 
 Once you awaken to this fact the 
 Word of Truth has a chance to unify 
 
21 
 
 the forces of your body and bring you 
 into health. 
 
 While you are holding a belief in the 
 power of disease you are a divided be- 
 ing, and the love of God cannot be per- 
 fected in you. 
 
UNITY. 
 
 Everywhere in the teachings of 
 Jesus we find emphasized the idea of 
 unity. 
 
 The healing, purifying, joy-bringing 
 philosophy which he taught was based 
 upon the foundation statement that he 
 and the Father were one, and that all 
 who believed upon them were also one 
 with them. 
 
 To believe in God is to believe in 
 Absolute Truth, in the One Principle of 
 Being. 
 
 To believe in Jesus is to believe in 
 the Truth which he made manifest to 
 man through his work and teachings. 
 
24 
 
 He was the first example of a man 
 living in harmony with Truth or God. 
 
 He came to teach the world the way 
 to harmony and happiness and health. 
 
 He affirmed that those who accepted, 
 and acted upon, the principles of Truth 
 would be able to do the things which he 
 did. 
 
 "He that believeth on me, the works 
 that I do shall he do also; and greater 
 works than these shall he do; because 
 I go unto my Father." 
 
 Unity with the One was to put them 
 in touch with the source of power and 
 healing. When they realized their 
 unity, then they could speak the Word 
 of power. 
 
 "// ye abide in me, and my words 
 abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, 
 and it shall be done unto you." 
 
 "I and my Father are one." 
 
25 
 
 "At that day ye shall know that I am 
 in my Father, and ye in me and I in 
 you." 
 
 To the man who was healed of a 
 disease of thirty-eight years' standing, 
 Jesus said, "Behold, thou art made 
 whole," i. e. y the man became conscious 
 within himself of his unity with Truth. 
 
 When this wholeness of consciousness 
 is complete, and carried out to its log- 
 ical conclusion, the man is "saved." 
 He has returned to his Father's house. 
 He no longer sees two forces — one evil, 
 one good — working in the world. He 
 knows that the devil is but a commis- 
 sioner of the Father; that the "evil" 
 forces which once seemed to surround 
 him and beat him down were but 
 angels in disguise, sent to teach him a 
 needed lesson. He now sees evil every- 
 where transmuted to good. He sees 
 
26 
 
 that error has no real basis. He is 
 now nearing the point where he can 
 realize that "God shall wipe away all 
 tears from their eyes; and there shall 
 be no more death, neither sorrow nor 
 crying, neither shall there be any more 
 pain: for the former things are passed 
 away." 
 
 The man who has developed thus far 
 has passed through the process of res- 
 urrection in his own consciousness. 
 
 Instead of dwelling in a conscious- 
 ness of error (of his own creation) he 
 now sees Truth on every hand. 
 
 He now desires only Truth, and 
 ceases to hug his mortal errors. 
 
 "J seek not mine own will, but the 
 will of the Father which hath sent me." 
 
 The great power of Christ lay in his 
 willingness to do "the will of the Fa- 
 ther." 
 
27 
 
 His will was aligned with the will of 
 his Father, because he was conscious of 
 his unity with the Father. And God 
 cannot be both truth and error. 
 
 Jesus' sense of separateness was so 
 completely wiped out, his desire to fol- 
 low after the errors of mortal mind so 
 far obliterated, that all the force of his 
 desire led him to live according to the 
 will of the One Life. 
 
 And this was what made his Word so 
 pregnant with power, so mighty to 
 heal. 
 
 One great element in ALL healing is 
 the establishment of this sense of unity 
 — in a degree the Cosmic sense. 
 
 Take, for example, the experience of 
 religious conversion. Many who un- 
 dergo the experience of a real conver- 
 sion are so filled with a consciousness 
 of Good, of the great Principle of 
 
28 
 
 Unity, that they actually feel all bur- 
 dens roll away and only peace and joy 
 unspeakable remain. 
 
 One good old church deacon whom I 
 knew, used to say that after his con- 
 version he felt as if he could jump over 
 a barn. I think such experiences are 
 caused by a temporary birth of the Cos- 
 mic sense, which is only another name 
 for a consciousness of Unity. The re- 
 ligious ecstasy, sublime emotions, the 
 passion to sacrifice the personal will, 
 all tend to bring about UNION of the 
 personal will with the "will of the 
 Father." 
 
 In our present stage of unfoldment 
 this Cosmic sense seldom lingers for 
 any great length of time; but it is a 
 prophecy of the perfect cleansing, heal- 
 ing, and spiritual resurrection which is 
 
29 
 
 now beginning to manifest among the 
 people of earth. 
 
 One very successful mental healer 
 uses the word agreement in describing 
 the consciousness of wholeness which he 
 induces in his patients. The patient 
 comes into mental agreement with the 
 forces of Life — the Principle of Life. 
 The patient and healer AGREE that the 
 former is whole, and the wholeness 
 manifests. 
 
 Was it not something like this which 
 Jesus had in mind when he said, 
 "Where two or three are gathered to- 
 gether in my name there I will be in 
 the midst of them"? 
 
 Where two or three gather with high 
 and earnest aspirations the spirit of 
 unity is far more apt to be present than 
 in a larger gathering. 
 
 The fire of faith burned brightly in 
 
30 
 
 the midst of the first small gatherings 
 of Christians, but with growing num- 
 bers and the increase of material 
 power, the sense of unity has departed 
 in degree. 
 
 For those early Christians even 
 death itself had no terrors, so great 
 was their consciousness of unity with 
 the Father. They foresaw that even 
 death was to be wiped out for those 
 who accepted and put in practice the 
 healing knowledge which Jesus taught. 
 
FAITH. 
 
 Faith brings one to this conscious- 
 ness of unity, which results in harmony 
 and healing. Even blind faith some- 
 times works what appear to be 
 miracles. 
 
 Through faith alone does man ac- 
 quire the willingness to yield his per- 
 sonal will to the One Will, which is law, 
 order, harmony, joy, health. 
 
 Faith works results in a material 
 way, because all great material works 
 have a spiritual foundation. 
 
 The works of an Edison, a Marconi, 
 or a Gates are a high manifestation of 
 faith. 
 
 Faith applied to business makes a 
 Rockefeller, a Vanderbilt, or a Gould. 
 
32 
 
 Without faith one is seriously handi- 
 capped in life. 
 
 Faith is the vital element of being. 
 
 If you are not faithful toward the 
 Source of your Being vou cut off your 
 own life. 
 
 Doubt is always disintegrating. 
 
 Faith always tends toward concen- 
 tration and constructiveness in the 
 truest sense. 
 
 Faith builds upon eternal laws. 
 
 Faith says, "Let us do something/' 
 
 Faith arises and lives and loves and 
 works. 
 
 Doubt sits still and thinks despairing 
 thoughts and devitalizes every one and 
 everything in sight. 
 
 Faith is action. 
 
 Doubt is death, the opposite of action. 
 
 We can only have faith by getting 
 rid of doubt. 
 
33 
 
 Job put all his doubts behind him 
 and declared, "Though he slay me yet 
 will I trust him." And all his trials 
 and troubles worked for Job's highest 
 good and brought him final peace. 
 
 The life urge finds in you no channel 
 while you are filled with doubt. 
 
 Faith quickens within you the vital 
 powers of life. 
 
 Realize that you have life within 
 yourself; that the One Life is mani- 
 festing through you, and that nothing 
 (no-thing) outside yourself has power 
 to work ill to that life. 
 
 "A man's foes are they of his own 
 household." The thoughts you enter- 
 tain in your mind about things without 
 yourself are the mischief workers. 
 
 Your negative imaginings are the 
 only workers of evil. You can always 
 dispel them by faith in Good. 
 
LOVE. 
 
 Love and faith and the consciousness 
 of unity are interwoven in conscious- 
 ness. 
 
 Love is a means to faith. 
 
 We cannot enjoy faith in mankind 
 and hate our brother. 
 
 "Love casteth out all fear." Faith 
 exists only where there is an absence 
 of fear. 
 
 "Whenever men understand each 
 other, love increases," says Mr. Fill- 
 more. Some one else has said, "To 
 know all is to forgive all." Misunder- 
 standing is the sole cause of hatred and 
 lack of faith. 
 
36 
 
 Forgive and love (yourself as well 
 as others) and your word shall be preg- 
 nant with power. 
 
 You thus become an instrument for 
 manifesting the Divine Principle or 
 Plan. 
 
 To love is to manifest life. 
 
 Love constructively and you become 
 your own creator and re-creator. 
 
 A consciousness of unity leads one 
 to love unselfishly. When Walt Whit- 
 man saw the officers of the law drag- 
 ging a murderer past his Camden 
 home, he exclaimed, deeply moved, "I 
 am that man." 
 
 Love is the softening, melting mani- 
 festation of the Spirit which makes 
 over matter into new forms and shapes. 
 It breaks up the old hardness and re- 
 news the flesh. 
 
 Hard feelings literally harden the 
 
37 
 
 body and bring lime to the joints, 
 stiffness to the muscles, and gray hairs 
 to the head. Hard feelings are a fruit- 
 ful cause of indigestion and possibly of 
 cancer. 
 
 The young in heart are those who 
 love. 
 
 Over and over again Jesus associated 
 the idea of forgiveness with his healing : 
 "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be for- 
 given thee," etc., etc. 
 
 Forgiveness is an expression of the 
 highest love. It is a constructive ex- 
 pression of love. It opens the way for 
 the realization of unity and healing. 
 
 When you forgive any one you take 
 him into harmony in your conscious- 
 ness. And harmony is health. 
 
 "Forgive us our debts as we forgive 
 our debtors" is a scientific prayer. In 
 proportion as we can live according to 
 
38 
 
 the spirit of that petition we realize 
 harmony and health. 
 
 Inharmony cannot exist where there 
 is love and forgiveness. 
 
 Fear is the greatest cause of disease. 
 And "perfect love casteth out fear." 
 Fear always brings about some sort of 
 inharmony. 
 
 Harmony requires adaptability. 
 Love develops adaptability. When we 
 do not shrink back in fear, we are 
 drawn into channels of harmony. 
 
 Love of and faith in Divine Mind 
 protect us from accident. 
 
 Reckless persons are often said to be 
 fearless. They are not really more 
 fearless than others, but use their mor- 
 tal will to force themselves into places 
 of danger. 
 
 This is not working in accord with 
 
39 
 
 Divine Harmony, and such forced fear- 
 lessness does not protect from acci- 
 dent. 
 
 "In quietness and confidence shall be 
 thy strength.' ' The real fearlessness 
 which love imparts is based upon confi- 
 dence. We do not fear or hate that in 
 which we have confidence. 
 
 Our confidence in the integrity of the 
 universe is assured when we see that 
 Divine Mind is the only reality. God 
 or Good cannot hate or fear him- 
 self. 
 
 Hate, fear, and evil are but mortal, 
 erroneous conceptions of the All Good. 
 To entertain fear and hate obscures 
 the Truth and keeps us in bondage to 
 disease. Love wipes out the error and 
 restores harmony. 
 
 Why is a child happier and more 
 harmonious in his life than an adult? 
 
40 
 
 Because he loves freely, seldom enter- 
 tains resentment, and is full of faith 
 in everything. 
 
 Resentment is a form of fear. Re- 
 sentment is a re-sending of the thought 
 or idea of another person, or of the 
 impression made upon the mind by 
 another person or thing. We are 
 afraid of an image which our mortal 
 mind conjures up, and so we re-send 
 it — resent it. 
 
 If we were filled with love and lived 
 by love we should be able to see farther 
 than the outward appearances of others, 
 and so would become convinced that 
 there was nothing to resent. We 
 should be able to perceive the truth in 
 them. We should so joy in the truth 
 that we should completely forget to 
 resent the error. 
 
 And this recognition of truth on our 
 
41 
 
 part would help to bring it out in 
 others. 
 
 You can best help others to overcome 
 error by a fuller recognition of the 
 truth in them. 
 
 This does not mean that it is never 
 wise to call the attention of another to 
 an error, but that when we do so we 
 should speak in the consciousness of 
 love and truth and not of revenge and 
 resentment. 
 
HARMONY. 
 
 If you have realized unity, faith, and 
 love in your consciousness, harmony 
 should be the result. 
 
 Harmony is the manifestation of Di- 
 vine Mind or Truth. To be accurate 
 is to express God. To be orderly in 
 all that you do makes for health and 
 success. Accuracy takes you away 
 from discord, and develops poise. 
 
 If the Divine Mind is invited into 
 your consciousness you will learn to be 
 calm in the face of all difficulties. 
 
 Before one can manifest divine har- 
 mony, law, and order, there must be a 
 letting go of what the Christian Scien- 
 tists aptly term the mortal mind. 
 
44 
 
 The limited, personal self, with all 
 its inharmonious desires, strivings, en- 
 vyings, bitterness, must be washed 
 with the consciousness of Divine Prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 Some accomplish this through con- 
 version to a religious belief; others 
 through love; many through self-com- 
 munion. 
 
 Until the Divine Mind is supreme in 
 the consciousness, there will always be 
 discord, sickness, and bitterness of 
 mind. 
 
 The mortal will controls the body. 
 Until this will is harmonized with Di- 
 vine Principle, harmony cannot come 
 forth in fullness. 
 
REGENERATION. 
 
 Regeneration is a wonderful word. 
 I feel as if the condition of regenera- 
 tion were always waiting just around 
 the corner, for myself, for you, for 
 every one. It is awaiting our spoken 
 word, spoken in faith, to spring into a 
 glorious fullness of manifestation. 
 
 All that is real in life is also eternal. 
 The Principle by which we express 
 life cannot die any more than a prin- 
 ciple in mathematics can be wiped out. 
 
 Why, then, can we not re-build our- 
 selves, "re-generate or produce" our- 
 selves anew? We lack only the key to 
 the method. And I believe we shall 
 find that. Modern Christian Science 
 
46 
 
 and new thought come very close to it. 
 We shall use the truth which they con- 
 tain and fuller knowledge of truth will 
 grow out of it. 
 
 The first step in regeneration is to 
 ally ourselves with the Principle of 
 life and youth and freedom and joy 
 and gratitude and praise. 
 
 It is a dangerous thing to "know it 
 all." An attitude of mind that makes 
 you sit down and rest in your knowl- 
 edge of life is suicidal. We shall con- 
 tinue to go through the experience of 
 death, continue to hug decay, continue 
 to show age and white hair and tooth- 
 less gums and trembling hands and 
 tottering feet, until we intensely de- 
 sire TO KNOW THE PRINCIPLE OP LIFE, 
 
 and are willing to have our favorite 
 beliefs, theories, and customs over- 
 turned. 
 
47 
 
 There is a power of regeneration in 
 new ideas. A new conception of life 
 may build us over. The Divine Mind 
 knows only Life. If we can but let go 
 the mortal mind conception of the inev- 
 itableness of old age and death long 
 enough to permit the inspiration of the 
 Divine Mind to replace it, we may start 
 at once on the road to regeneration. 
 
 To produce ourselves anew! To be- 
 gin each day as a new morning of 
 creation! Why not? The fact that 
 no one whom we know has yet turned 
 back the tide of decay and old age is no 
 proof that it cannot and will not be 
 done. 
 
 Material scientists have pronounced 
 it possible to overcome old age. Up in 
 Maine there is a physician named C. A. 
 Stephens, who has been working and 
 experimenting for years with the sole 
 
48 
 
 aim to discover a way to perpetuate 
 life indefinitely in the human body. 
 He is now experimenting especially 
 upon foods, as he believes that one of 
 the first steps in combating old age is 
 to discover a better, more perfect food 
 than has yet been evolved. 
 
 Bible prophets foretold that the last 
 enemy of man, death, would finally be 
 destroyed or overcome. 
 
 I am more and more convinced that 
 the only cause of death is an accumula- 
 tion of unfavorable hypnotic impres- 
 sions. The mind follows a treadmill 
 of experience. It slips easily into ruts 
 dug by one's ancestors. When we 
 meet with disappointment, obstacles, 
 unpleasant experiences, the mind is 
 thrown back upon itself. After many 
 such experiences (and many such are 
 incident to every life) the reaction 
 
49 
 
 causes the mind to lose its resiliency, 
 youth recedes, and the tired vibrations 
 of middle age come to the front. 
 
 It is all primarily a mental and spir- 
 itual process. The physical follows after 
 the mind in its journey through life. 
 
 How shall we teach the mind to 
 maintain the resiliency of youth? 
 First by joying in work. Then by look- 
 ing upon every obstacle as a means to 
 desirable and delightful experience. 
 We should not regard life as "hard." 
 That is what makes us grow old. We 
 try too hard to do the work of living 
 our lives ourselves. We ought instead 
 to trust to the Life Principle. Let it 
 work out its destiny through us. 
 
 Then we worry too much about re- 
 sults. Worry always causes unfavor- 
 able reaction. Results should be left 
 to the Principle of Life. 
 
50 
 
 More faith, more joyful trust, more 
 letting go, is what we need in order to 
 lessen the unfavorable reactions and 
 maintain youth. 
 
A SPIRITUAL CONCEPTION OF 
 THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 Most men live continually in a ma- 
 terial conception of life. And this is 
 why they never come into union with 
 real life. They see that all the mate- 
 rial forms of life inevitably decay and 
 die. And the mind naturally allows 
 this conception of life to carry the body 
 along into the currents of decay and old 
 age, which have been set up and main- 
 tained by this material conception of 
 life since the days of man's first ap- 
 pearance upon earth. 
 
 We grow from the negative towards 
 the more positive. "Howbeit that was 
 not first which is spiritual but that 
 
52 
 
 which is natural; and afterward that 
 which is spiritual." 
 
 From out this material belief as to 
 the nature of life must come a clearer 
 understanding of the spiritual Source 
 of life. We must come to see God, the 
 one Good, as the only real source and 
 substance of life, and the material, 
 mortal form as only the outer shell in 
 which the real life dwells. 
 
 Through this spiritual understand- 
 ing of life we shall find the way to a 
 life that does not die. We shall come 
 into harmony with the eternal vibra- 
 tions of youth. 
 
 "For this corruptible must put on 
 incorruption, and this mortal must put 
 on immortality. 
 
 "So when this corruptible shall have 
 put on incorruption, and this mortal 
 shall have put on immortality, then 
 
53 
 
 shall be brought to pass the saying that 
 is written, Death is swallowed up in 
 victory." 
 
 Man's corruptible body may become 
 incorruptible through this entering 
 into a spiritual conception of life. 
 
 The spirit does not grow old. Divine 
 Principle is not subject to change. By 
 entrance into a consciousness of Spirit- 
 ual Principle as the reality of life the 
 entire body will take on the vibrations 
 of the incorruptible. 
 
 "And so it is written, the first man 
 Adam was made a living soul; the last 
 Adam was made a quickening spirit." 
 
 The life in man has been submerged 
 in error thoughts of materiality. It 
 awaits the "quickening spirit" of a 
 spiritual understanding to bring it 
 forth in incorruption. 
 
 A spiritual conception of life brings 
 
54 
 
 harmony out of chaos. It explains the 
 mystery of seeming evil. It brings 
 completeness where before there seemed 
 but incompleteness. 
 
 Man as God's image and likeness, a 
 perfect reflection of the Father, cannot 
 know sorrow and weakness. He can 
 only know his own erroneous and ma- 
 terial conception of evil. 
 
 Whenever circumstances surround 
 you with seeming evil, cling fast to 
 your spiritual conception of life. Re- 
 member that as the life of your life 
 is God, no harm can befall you. That 
 every experience, rightly viewed from 
 the spiritual side, brings you only 
 strength. 
 
 You, being one with the Divine Prin- 
 ciple of life, can have no real concep- 
 tion of sin, sickness, pain, and death. 
 These have nothing to do with God. 
 
55 
 
 They are only no-things. We have 
 given them power because of our minds 
 being weighted with this material be- 
 lief as to life and its nature. Spiritual 
 understanding frees us from the power 
 of these negatives. 
 
A PLACE OF PEACE AND MORE 
 ABOUT THE WORD. 
 
 A spiritual outlook upon life brings 
 the mind to its true resting place. 
 The mind no longer wanders in the 
 wilderness of mortal concepts of dis- 
 ease, negations, and harmful things. 
 
 The mind of God knows only peace. 
 The mind of man is filled with peace 
 when he realizes that God is the Divine 
 Principle of his being. 
 
 Out in the realm of mortal mind 
 there is only inharmony, confusion, 
 lack of order, because mortal, limited 
 mind can never see cause and effect in 
 their completeness but must always 
 make its judgments and decisions from 
 only a part of the premises. 
 
58 
 
 To be healed in body you must see 
 yourself as whole. You must realize 
 that the inharmony of mortal mind can 
 not affect the peace, order, and har- 
 mony of Divine Mind, which is the 
 only reality of your life. 
 
 Pain and disease are only the absence 
 of life. They possess no power in them- 
 selves except as mortal mind endows 
 them with it. 
 
 The peace and power which comes 
 with a knowledge of the supremacy of 
 truth, sweeps aside and dissolves error. 
 
 You can never get far away from 
 Divine Life. It is always waiting to 
 spring forth whenever you cease, even 
 for a moment, to be hypnotized by the 
 error thoughts of mortal mind, and are 
 ready to speak the WORD of Truth. 
 
 The Word resides in the silence. 
 "In the beginning was the Word, and 
 
59 
 
 the Word was with God, and the Word 
 was God." 
 
 From out this silent place of the 
 Word, man comes at birth ; to it he re- 
 turns at death. The Word is the One 
 Life, And from the Word comes the 
 only healing power. 
 
 When you are sick, discouraged, 
 filled with negative ideas, you do not 
 receive this Word of healing. You will 
 not receive it. It finds no place in your 
 consciousness. Instead your conscious- 
 ness is so centered upon the things in 
 the noise that it cannot take in any- 
 thing else. 
 
 If you would still the ideas of mortal 
 mind and meditate upon your oneness 
 with Divine Life for a few minutes 
 the healing vibrations of harmony and 
 peace would come forth from the place 
 
60 
 
 of stillness and replace the discord 
 reigning in your mind. 
 
 For all forms of discord spring up 
 primarily in the mind before they show 
 forth in the body. The false (limited 
 and unreal) ideas of mortal mind show 
 forth in discord and disease. The ideas 
 of Divine Mind must come forth to re- 
 place these before healing can take 
 place. 
 
 The Word of truth is powerful to 
 heal all inharmony. "All things were 
 made by him; and without him was not 
 anything made that was made." * * * 
 "Speak the word only, and my servant 
 shall be healed." 
 
 Let the Word of healing come into 
 your mind. Invite it in by faith, by a 
 prayerful attitude — if you believe in 
 prayer — by gratitude and praise and 
 thankfulness. 
 
61 
 
 Cast out haughtiness of mind. 
 
 Cast out intellectual pride. 
 
 Cast out the spirit of domination 
 that arises from a stubborn will. 
 
 Cast out envy, hatred, and malicious- 
 ness. 
 
 Invite in ideas of love, meekness, 
 generosity, gratitude, good will. 
 
 All these constructive ideas await in 
 the Place of Peace and will come up in 
 your conscious mind if you make a 
 place for them and invite them. 
 
 The place of stillness is the place of 
 power. Power is generated in the 
 silence. It is not until it comes into 
 action and begins to touch the objective 
 that you find any accompaniment of 
 noise. Therefore do not despise or 
 shun the silence. Do not be afraid of 
 keeping still. Do not avoid being alone. 
 
 In the silence of solitude you may 
 
62 
 
 find your best opportunities for growth 
 and healing. In the silence you may 
 plant the seed of wholeness and har- 
 mony which will transform you. 
 
 Few people are near enough to nor- 
 mal to ever enjoy being alone. The 
 majority crave excitement and the com- 
 pany of other mortals. Living upon 
 the mortal and material plane they can- 
 not comprehend the real life which 
 comes out of the silence. They are 
 like the prodigal son who fed on husks 
 while wandering far from his father 
 who was waiting and glad to feed the 
 son upon the best in his home. . It only 
 remained for the son to return and 
 receive of his father's bounty. 
 
 So for those tired and earth-bound 
 souls who are struggling to find hap- 
 piness in a world of discord, it only 
 remains to invoke the peace and 
 
63 
 
 strength which awaits in the silence 
 and they may find joy and renewal of 
 life. 
 
 Speak the Word that will open the 
 mind to peace and renewal and then 
 await in silence for the seed to spring 
 up and grow. 
 
 The Word comes up in the mind 
 literally like a seed. An idea takes 
 root and around it clusters your atten- 
 tion, interest, and vital forces. Gradu- 
 ally it becomes a living thing and is 
 reproduced upon the material plane. 
 
THE POWER OF IDEAS. 
 
 Each idea reproduces after its kind. 
 Each idea, if entertained, is bound to 
 attract about it many similar ideas. 
 These ideas may become a great power. 
 
 Just think of the wonderful ideas of 
 power and the far-reaching results for 
 good which sprang from Roosevelt's 
 sterling honesty and his advocating up- 
 rightness in the conduct of national 
 affairs. The entire nation felt a great 
 impetus toward honesty and threw off 
 much of its indifference to dishonesty 
 in public work. In every farthest, 
 most obscure corner of the land you 
 will find the good effects of this one 
 man's ideas. 
 
66 
 
 These ideas were not so new or won- 
 derful, but they were spoken forth into 
 action with faith and power behind 
 them, and the people responded to them 
 because they bore the stamp of Truth. 
 
 This shows what one man can do 
 who possesses divine enthusiasm and to 
 whom Truth is a living thing, greater 
 and more real than the things of the 
 material world. 
 
 The great men of the world who ac- 
 complish marvelous things are always 
 possessed of divine vision. Who knows 
 what dreams of a great state which 
 should safeguard the rights of millions 
 may have inspired Napoleon in his con- 
 quests ! His desire for personal power 
 may have been a powerful moving fac- 
 tor in his life, but surely there was 
 something more than that in his 
 make-up or he could not have retained 
 
67 
 
 the devoted loyalty of his legions of 
 soldiers. 
 
 To the great financier who crushes 
 his smaller rivals and seeks to dominate 
 his world of business there is given 
 some vision of a great institution, 
 greater and more effective than any 
 that has gone before. Few such men 
 coldly calculate the results to them- 
 selves. It is the idea, the enthusiasm 
 for the business itself, which draws 
 them on. 
 
 To them the vision, the ideal, is as 
 real as the things of the material world, 
 and they get results. 
 
 If you would get results, awake to 
 the value of your ideals and ideas. 
 Trust to the ideas that come into your 
 consciousness from the silence. Seek 
 for your own ideas. Seek to tap the 
 well of creative energy within yourself. 
 
68 
 
 Seek for the promptings of your own 
 soul, or your own higher self. 
 
 So long as you seek outside yourself 
 for life and satisfaction you are not 
 trusting the Spirit of all Life which 
 lives through you. 
 
A CONSCIOUSNESS OF HEALTH 
 AND HARMONY. 
 
 Health and harmony are normal con- 
 ditions. Life is harmony. Discord is 
 not life but a denial of life. 
 
 Let your prayer to the One Life be: 
 "Give me the consciousness of the 
 supremacy of health and harmony." 
 
 If you concentrate upon the cure of 
 some one organ, you are very apt to 
 make it feel worse than before. Your 
 mental attitude makes it possible for 
 mortal mind to be drawn into the chan- 
 nels of disease and inharmony. 
 
 To analyze and dissect disease and 
 dwell upon symptoms is to give power 
 to disease. Mortal mind grows into 
 
70 
 
 the likeness of that upon which it is 
 centered. 
 
 Forget disease, forget the organ that 
 seems to give you trouble, and seek the 
 CONSCIOUSNESS of health and harmony. 
 
 When the mind is turned away from 
 disease and symptoms and led to dwell 
 upon the supremacy of harmony, and 
 the allness of Divine Principle, the 
 symptoms of disease disappear. 
 
 Disease is held in the consciousness 
 largely through fear. Nature is al- 
 ways trying to preserve harmony. The 
 processes of Nature are in the direction 
 of healing. But through fear man in- 
 terferes with these processes and pre- 
 vents the restoration of harmony. 
 
 If you cover your lawn with a rubber 
 blanket the grass will die because the 
 sunshine and moisture cannot reach it. 
 In the same way if you tense your body 
 
71 
 
 through fear, and imbue every nerve 
 center with a consciousness of fear and 
 a belief in inharmony as a normal con- 
 dition, and also with the belief that 
 disease is greater and more powerful 
 than health and altogether outside your 
 own ability to control — under such 
 conditions the consciousness of health, 
 which comes from the silence of Prin- 
 ciple, cannot be yours. It can find no 
 dwelling place with you because you 
 have shut it out. 
 
 Speak the Word of health, and har- 
 mony, open your mind in faith, believe 
 in the supremacy of good rather than 
 evil, and your condition will quickly 
 change for the better. Each atom of 
 your body will begin to re-align itself 
 in harmony with Truth. As your con- 
 sciousness of the supremacy of good 
 expands, your body will be thoroughly 
 
72 
 
 cleansed from the vibrations of disease 
 or inharmony. Disease will be dis- 
 solved by the consciousness of Truth. 
 I have read a little story of an old 
 man sitting by the fireside and affect- 
 ing the motion of a distant star through 
 the winking of his eyelids. This illus- 
 trates the far-reaching consequences of 
 our smallest acts. When we pour into 
 our consciousness a flood of negative 
 conceptions of disease and its nature 
 we are preparing for a harvest of dis- 
 cord. When we turn our thoughts in 
 the direction of Truth, and consider 
 health as normal, good as supreme, 
 faith as creative, then we are prepar- 
 ing ourselves for that consciousness of 
 health and harmony which means joy, 
 peace, and a happy life. 
 
THE HABIT OF PRAISE. 
 
 The dead praise not the Lord. — 
 Psalms 115: 17. 
 
 Because thy lovingkindness is better 
 than life, my lips shall praise thee. — 
 Psalms 63 : 3. 
 
 But I will hope continually, and will 
 yet praise thee more and more. — 
 Psalms 71: 14. 
 
 The real object and aim of all an- 
 cient and modern religions is to bind 
 back or reunite man with his Source; 
 to bring man into harmonious rela- 
 tions with the universe. 
 
 This means nothing less than a com- 
 plete cleansing and harmonizing of the 
 entire being. It means health and hap- 
 
74 
 
 piness. This is what every religion 
 aims at, however much the objective 
 point may have been obscured by dog- 
 mas and foolish doctrines. 
 
 And all religions have embodied the 
 idea of praise in some form. There is 
 a psychological and scientific reason 
 for this. To hold the mind in an atti- 
 tude of praise toward the source of all 
 power and life is to render possible 
 the manifestation of power and life. 
 
 Life and power go where they are 
 welcomed and recognized. If you keep 
 your mind in an attitude of praise 
 toward Divine Principle which is the 
 source and substance of your being, 
 you will have no room in your mind for 
 error thoughts of denial of life and 
 strength. 
 
 If you refuse to recognize and be- 
 lieve in the Divine Principle which 
 
75 
 
 manifests as love, life, and power, you 
 simply drive it from your conscious- 
 ness. You do not affect Divine Prin- 
 ciple by your attitude. You only affect 
 yourself. You replace truth with error 
 in your mortal mind. You draw a 
 mental picture of error (the absence 
 of truth) and cling to it as real. And 
 the results are just what you expect. 
 
 Praise opens the mind to truth and 
 love and health. Those who never feel 
 the impulse to praise are already be- 
 ginning to die. Mr. Fillmore once 
 wrote an article upon "Praise" for 
 Unity from which I quote the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
 "There is an invisible thought-stuff 
 which the mind lays hold of, and 
 through a law, not yet fully under- 
 stood, makes things. Every thought 
 moves upon this invisible substance in 
 
76 
 
 increasing or diminishing degree. 
 When we praise the richness and opu- 
 lence of our God, this thought-stuff is 
 tremendously increased in our mental 
 atmosphere, and is reflected into every- 
 thing our minds and hands touch. We 
 can impregnate with it the commonest 
 things, and transform them to the pat- 
 tern of our ideals. A failing business 
 proposition can, through this law per- 
 sistently applied, be praised right into 
 a successful one. Even inanimate 
 things seem to receive the word of 
 praise, and go smoothly where before 
 they have been contrary. A lady used 
 this law on her sewing machine which 
 she had been holding in bad order. She 
 said it gave her no trouble afterward. 
 A linotype operator testified that he 
 received a certain spiritual treatment 
 given him by a healer at a certain 
 
77 
 
 hour, and his linotype, which had been 
 acting badly, immediately fell into har- 
 monious ways. A lady in a country 
 town who had a rag carpet on her par- 
 lor floor, that she had hoped for years 
 might be replaced by a Brussels or in- 
 grain, heard of this law and began 
 praising the old carpet. Inside of two 
 weeks, greatly to her surprise, she was 
 given a brand-new carpet from an un- 
 expected source. These are a few sim- 
 ple illustrations of the possibilities 
 latent in praise. Whether the inani- 
 mate things were changed, or the atti- 
 tude of the individual toward them, 
 does not matter, so long as the desired 
 end was attained. 
 
 "Whatever you want to increase, no 
 matter what it may be, praise it. Give 
 thanks that it is now fulfilling your 
 ideal. You can praise yourself from 
 
78 
 
 weakness to strength; from ignorance 
 to intelligence; from poverty to afflu- 
 ence; from sickness to health. The 
 little lad with a few loaves and fishes 
 furnished the seed that increased 
 through the prayer and thanksgiving 
 of Jesus sufficiently to feed five thou- 
 sand people." 
 
SUMMARY. 
 
 There is One Divine Principle and 
 Substance in the universe. 
 
 This Principle manifests as Life, 
 Love, Harmony, Power, Intelligence, 
 etc. 
 
 It is omnipresent. 
 
 Man is an expression of this Divine 
 Principle. Man is created in the image 
 and likeness of this Principle, and in 
 proportion as man reflects perfectly 
 Divine Principle he is harmonious and 
 healthy. 
 
 Disease and inharmony spring from 
 the error which man pictures in his 
 mortal (limited) mind. Disease is 
 simply the absence of truth. A man 
 might close his eyes and declare that 
 there was no light. All error arises 
 from closing the consciousness against 
 
80 
 
 truth, and filling the mind with pic- 
 tures of error — allowing the mind to 
 become hypnotized with error thoughts. 
 
 Bless and praise and fill the mind 
 with gratitude toward Divine Principle 
 and you invite harmony and love and 
 health to abide with you. 
 
 Let your prayer be, "Give me the 
 consciousness of health." 
 
 Have an objective point in all your 
 thinking. Be definite. 
 
 Do not seek to attract health for one 
 particular organ ; do not treat yourself 
 too much for one particular disease. 
 Seek rather to cast out the belief in 
 inharmony as a whole, and recognize 
 that no form of inharmony is based 
 upon eternal truth. 
 
 Health, Life, Love, Harmony, are 
 the eternal verities. 
 
One copy <fcl. to Cat. Div. 
 
\3 
 
 «I0^' 
 

 o, ' * * ' 
 
 
 * ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 ; * 
 
 -V 
 
 4 o» 
 
 (a-. ^. t :£mlf&' *o\? jar. -*o* 
 
 
 
 nv 7 5 >*. 
 
 
 
 
 * & v c o " o „ ^ ■ 
 
 3 1 ^ 
 
 a V 
 
 
 ^, 
 
 
 
MOoaaoomMiuuuutm 
 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 DDDES^flflTS 11 } 
 
 B fS flft SflMBBJ 
 
 ■HHH 
 ggflHfl ifflfl pOTHinnfi 
 88E888ra3 ' 89BHL 
 
 BgBBB SgBEBBE K 
 
 39 WMBt WM8BI 
 
 BHBi 
 
 m 
 
 hhBBhhSB 
 
 BHBBL. 
 HHH £S$8 
 
 MMMfe 
 
 BHBHKflMMfliflmiBiBim 
 ffflffffffWftfflm 
 
 SHUntE 
 
 HHra 
 
 jfijfrfjJBB gfe^a 
 
 mm 
 
 
 B888 BflPDPiMiri lil 
 
 ifl 
 
 r ii [fj r j ; MronBifflM 
 
 £g»H 
 
 iflgflffftffgfir: rmwWnnro 
 
 IflflflflDBMDMI MMflggf 
 
 HhHhh 
 SHBHBH 
 
 BB&&