Healing Power of Mind 1884

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HEALING POWER OF MIND.
A TREATISE OX MIND-CURE, WITH ORIGINAL VIEWS ON
THE SUBJECT, AND COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS FOR

PRACTICE,
AND SELF-TREATMENT.
BY
JULIA ANDERSON ROOT.

Man is
Mind
the greatest fact in Nature,
is
the greatest fact in
Man."
OF THK
UNIVERSITY
SAN FRANCISCO
CO-OPEBATTVE PRINTING OFFICE, 424 MONTGOMERY STREET. 1884.
COPYRIGHT.
AUGUST,
1884.
PREFACE.
is just now exciting a great deal of public interest. few years several books have been published on the decided to add to the number. Our reasons for subject, and we have doing so are, that we hold some views different from any that have
The mind-cure
last
Within these
been printed, and, further, we wish to place before readers certain facts and principles that will enable them to successfully treat We have given several chapters on subjects that have a themselves. These bearing upon, and are intimately related to, mental healing.
hitherto
be more suggestive than chapters are intended in some instances to that they will in all to believe led nevertheless are we but exhaustive,
cases prove instructive.
"
^
"
" Mental healing," mind-cure," metaphysical science," or by In all ages of whatever name it may be known, is not a new system. the world there have been persons who have cured diseases that learned medical practitioners have pronounced incurable. These cases have been effected by the power of mind, and we are confident from our
own
experience, that the
more
this
invisible agent
is
upon the human system, the

in the world.
less
sickness and suffering
brought to bear we shall have
We
sec.t,
expect the aid and co-operation of our churches,

and, in
fact,
irrespective of
of
good and
of
of
intelligent people everyIt
where, in our efforts to lessen the

is
sum
human misery and woe.
sad to
see the lives of so the
many
disease,
when
remedy
lies in their
God's children embittered by own hands. Each and all can do
something towards remedying this state of things. Our efforts we feel will be crowned with at least as much success in the future as they have
been
in the past.

ist,
SAN FRANCISCO,
August
1884.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
GOD AND CREATION.

PAGE
What
is
Creation
Searches in the wrong direction
The
material world
cannot answer
infinite
The
invisible solves the
problem
Creation eternal and
The
personality of God Man created after the image of majesty of the soul Nature an effect of God
The
God
I
THE ORIGIN OF
Account
tion in Genesis not accepted
EVIL.
dualistic theory
Milton's argument a failure
Pope's argument not satisfactory The Evil a necessity of creatransgress
Christ's saying doing a necessity
Man must
Punishment
for
wrong
9
MIND AND MATTER.

Berkeley's views What matter is What pain is Sound The eye does not Nerves have no feeling Matter has no intellisee, nor the ear hear
visible
gence, sensation or feeling Brain, not the organ of the mind The ingoverns matter Mind, a picture gallery The silent power of
mind
the mortal
Mind endows matter with sensation The immortal mind, and mind Impressions last beyond death
15
THINGS SEEN AND UNSEEN.

The
egotist
The
forces of
and magnet
Nature are unseen The germ, acorn, telegraph Unseen living things Sight to be corrected by thought
21
Vision alone not to be trusted
MAN'S RELATION TO GOD AND CREATION.

The
influence
of
man on
in vain
Creation
Creation not
Nothing created
did
influence of faith
Man's arrogance What Christ meant by
made solely for man The power of mind The Can we do as Christ faith
25
VI
CONTENTS.
PAGE
THE MISSION AND DUTY OF MAN.

Useless to consult the material
The
intuition
Man's innate
belief
The
.
.
creating power not malignant Man compelled to believe in goodness Man placed in the world to perform a task God the Great Architect.
31
POWER OF MIND OVER BODY.

Cause and
effect
Mind
first
cause
Mind has
properties peculiar to itself
Power
death
A learned physician's opinion Homoeopath and allopath Professor Charcot on magnets A man supposed he was bleeding to
of mind
An
English physician's opinion
More
killed
by
fear
than by
35
disease
LAWS OF NATURE.
Objections to mind-cure Work in accordance with laws of nature Definition of laws of nature What is uniformity Laws of mind can override
laws of matter
Nothing impossible
43
DISEASE AND ITS REMEDIES.

Disease defined
Matter ignored as a curative agent
into a few principles Change in the theory of color serve to mystify Pathology and therapeutics Dr.
All things resolved Technical terms
Rush
Dr. Mason
Good
Dr. Waterhouse
Dr. Johnson
The worship
of drugs
47
SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENTS.
Bishop Cumberland's liberality
Christ's teaching of faith Quotations from Scripture concerning cures Christ's cures not miracles Christ's followers cure diseases Use of drugs condemned by Bible
53
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES.
Strictures of
San Francisco Bulletin
Our
letter to Bulletin
The
Editor's
reply
gores.
Man
mysteriously connected with his fellows
Opinion of Pytha63
HEREDITY AND LONGEVITY.

The prevalence
opinion
Mother's influence on children Montaigne's Peculiar cases of heredity Dr. Howe on drinking habitsRobert Collyer's Sermon Duration of life in animals and in men Old
age,
of disease
when
desirable
73
CONTENTS.
Vll
INSTRUCTIONS FOR HEALING.

PAGE
Principles must be mastered Innate consciousness Physical body a correspondence Mind distinct from body How to talk to patients Healers must have no doubt Avoid discussion with some patients Much not
understood
Blindness cured
Freedom of
will
Huxley's
the
Patients should be taught the science Reveille-Parise on Moral Therapeutics
The book of The sarcasm

spirit
opinion heart M.
of drug-men
Nerve required
in mind-healers
Missionary
needed
83
PROGRESS.
What
is
progress
faculties of
man
Bishop Heber What true progress means The possible Man an unfolding being Hepler's discovery Gilbert's
not progress
perception
Change,
Improvement of internal
man
98
Brighter day for humanity
Importance of work
EDUCATION OF MOTHERS.
Importance of maternity
and increase of abortion
Herbert Spencer's remarks Decrease of maternity Horses and dogs thought more of than men
The
for disposition of children
Fathers responsible child not the exclusive property of its parents race Infantile diseases prevented or cured
of superior beings
105
SPIRITUALISM.
No controversy
with spiritualists
We
mind
are all spirits
The Divine Fountain the source of healing The laying on of hands Why we cannot define
109
The
doctors in the other world
ANTIQUITY OF MIND CURE.

The mind-cure as old as the human race Opposition of medical practitioners The pedantry of some medical men The use of technical terms
Simplicity needed Dr. Park Quimby--A Boston journal's description anecdote of Dr. Quimby Mind-cure amongst ancient nations
An
113
EFFICACY OF PRAYER.
What
prayers Conventional blasphemy What prayers will be answered All men pray Man made better by praying 121 --Is prayer a force Prayer and labor both needed The three graces.
is
prayer
Good and bad
CONTENTS.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
PAGE
Investigations
Cured of diphtheria
Neuralgia cured
lady given up by
case of salivation abandoned by physiperfect cure physicians Several testimonials cians, but completely cured by mind treatment from patients cured when their cases were considered hopeless No
cause for despair
125
INSANITY.
The
line between sanity and insanity cannot be drawn Advanced sanity called insanity Arkwright and Fulton deemed insane Medical men can give us no rules Insanity has many causes Is often inherited
Asylums do not cure insanity
Try the mind-cure
133
NECESSITY OF CONDITIONS.
Conditions must be complied with Our imperfect knowledge necessitates conditions Mind makes conditions unnecessary Argument from the inebriate Drainage, food and air must receive attention The cholera
in
France
Killed by fear
Mind
the great preventive
137
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

What
" " "
"
is
God ? "Truth?
"Creation?
143
144 149
"Mind?
" Matter " Evil ?
?
147
" " "

"
148 150
"Time?
"
Religion
?
152 ice
1 55
"
"
Space
"Science?
156
J^
or
INTRODUCTION.
Physical courage
is
common enough
the world over.
Man, whether savage, semi-civilized or intelligent, shows himself to be possessed of powers that defy physical pain and despise death. The histories of all wars, whether amongst the barbarians or the enlightened
nations, are full of deeds of heroism.
But, the
man
that will beard the lion in his jungles, and march

flinching,
will
den
face the tiger in the
to
the
cannon's
mouth without
of public
little
yet
tremble at the breath
opinion
will
blanch at the attack of a scurrilous newsof duty by a

is
paper, and be turned from the path
opposition and ridicule.
Physical courage
common
both to
man and
beast, but
of rarer growth. And about the wants of the age, we say that the great want of the age is that very moral courage which, in spite
moral courage is a plant while we hear a great deal
of
and opposition, contempt and contumely, will dare to adhere to the true and the good. The great desire of most men is to be thought, or to seem to be, good and true, without much caring whether or not they possess these qualities. Public approbation and applause may be good things in
all
bitterness
X
their
INTRODUCTION.
way, but the
they
directions and
time
comes
perform
in the
lives
of
all
men when
tain
are
to
called
upon
to
think in ceracts
certain
that
run counter to popular knowledge and prejudice, and which are sure for a time to bring them an amount of
public
condemnation
and
ridicule.
This
book
is
we cannot but expect

our
efforts will
published in the interests of the health of humanity, and that amongst a certain class that
be received with disfavor and opposition.
We
refer of course to the medical practitioners.
We
shall certainly not say worse of this class than they say of themselves. But the fault we find with medical men
as a class
is,
that they speak
and
act as
if
they had a
monopoly of diseases and their cures.
act in certain grooves, dares to depart from their established methods. This fact is written all down the history of the practice of
They think and and woe be to the man who
medicine.
Every advanced thinker
in their
own ranks
been persecuted in every conceivable manner. Harvey, Jenner, Simpson, Elliotson, and a host of others who have made advanced steps have been pounced upon by the whole fraternity and characterized "as innovators and madmen. Who does not remember the fierce and bitter opposition that awaited
has
the
man who
discovered chloroform?
Even preachers
from the pulpit denounced the employment of that

anaesthetic as flying in the face of the Almighty,
who
INTRODUCTION.
XI
according to their notions, had ordained that man should feel the pain attending upon the amputation of a limb. could multiply these cases ad infinitum,
We
But our object is to call attention to the fact that no man, and no class of men dignify themselves by what titles they may can say to the advancing waves of knowledge, thus far shalt thou come and no further. True knowledge cometh from God, and it is no man's and no set of
as the
schoolmen would
say.
men's exclusive property.
And when men
can be
brought to recognize this great fact, and act upon it, then will the world come to rejoice in true progression.
As
the matter at present stands most people allow cer-
tain privileged classes to do their thinking for them, and as a consequence we are surrounded by an atmosMore particularly phere of mental and moral slavery. is this true of diseases and their remedies. Now, we want the moral courage that will dare to cut aloof from these old medical traditions, and take this matter of health and disease into our own hands. Is it not time that something should be done in this direction ? The flood-gates of disease are open and the whole army of medical practitioners are powerless to stem the tide. Archimedes is reported to have said, " Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum strong enough, and I will move the world." We say, give us the truth of metaphysical science and the courage to
Xll
INTRODUCTION.
it,
apply
and we
will
lift
from
off
humanity the mounthem.
tains of disease that have so
long oppressed
simple is truth and its application, when its prinThe old Romans, at immense exciples are known. pense and labor, built huge aqueducts over hill and
How
But the necessity of these costly labors was entirely done away with by a knowledge that water would rise to the level of its source.
valley.
But, to return to the subject of intellectual daring,

"
God," says Luther,
"
does not have his work made
manifest by cowards." All the blessings that we enjoy under the names of civil and religious liberty, all the
improvements that have taken place in science, have sprung from the small minority of daring and advanced
thinkers.
It
is
sad to think
by do not think at all. And yet God requires saying they of every man that he shall exercise the powers of his own mind, and without he does this, he lives in mental slavery, which is, after all, a more degrading position
than physical bondage. Let a man stand proudly and grandly before the material things of this universe, and not regard himself as an interloper in a world
men do
their thinking
large a number of proxy, which is the same as
how
where he deems matter everything and himself nothing. It is mind that is everything, and before its powers
matter
have
as nothing. It is this great truth that endeavored to set forth in the following pages.
is
we
GOD AND CREATION.

Creation
it
mean
lect
a stupendous word What does can interpret it to us so that our intelshall be fed and satisfied with the explanation ?
!
!
What
Who
learned and philosophical treatises have been written on this subject, but we venture to assert that
Many
but
few
authors,
either
ancient
or
modern,
have
advanced the human mind one step
in this direction.
Why
asked
is
this
We answer,
wrong wrong
basis
;
that
started on a
in the
;
because they have their questions have been

it is
direction.
They have ransacked

;
;
the rocks
they have sounded the depths of old ocean delved to the very bowels of the earth laid bare the fossil remains of bygone ages, and showed us the foot-
all the early forms of life, from the inconceivsmall insect to the huge monster that dwelt in the ably primeval forest and yet, after all these researches, the
prints of
human mind
beginning ? from a clam
did
!"
still
asks
"What
is
creation?
Had
it
Can
it have an ending ?" "All things But how exclaimed the elder Darwin.
he know that a clam or anything else was the beginning of life even on this earth, to say nothing of
GOD AND CREATION,
other planets and worlds and suns that everywhere roll on in the boundless fields of ether ? Says the divine
Herschel,
"Who
shall tell
what countless forms of
life
And yet, sleep beneath earth's granite pavements ?" most geologists assume to trace all forms of life as
coming
into existence after the laying
down and forma-
But suppose, that if instead of aiming tion of granite. to wring the secrets of God and creation from visible
and external nature, that we turn

internal
;
to the invisible
and
suppose we try the realm of mind and turn from the realm of matter. away
to
idea of creation implies a creator and according the popular notion, there was a time when this creator began to create which would mean that there
;
;
The
was a time when the Almighty world-builder was
idle.
The
sion.
Bible, reason, intuition,
all
is
forbid such a conclu-
We
are told that

;
God
the
same
to-day, yester-
day and forever and He, accordingly, was always a This creator, and has from all eternity been creating.
we
affirm is the only conclusion we can arrive at it is the only satisfactory stand that we can take in dealing with this subject. That this world had a beginning is
;
undoubtedly true but what is true of this earth cannot be true of an eternal universe that had no beginning.
;
we expect to fully understand this, we expect too much from the finite intellect but there are some things which we cannot understand and yet are comIf
;
GOD AND CREATION.

pelled to believe.
infinite space,
its infinitude.
For
instance,
who can understand

;
and yet we are compelled to believe in We can conceive of no boundary in other words, we cannot conceive of any obstruction in space where there is not something beyond. We believe in infinity of time and space because it is a law The cause of of mind that compels us so to believe. this belief comes from the invisible mind and not from
visible matter.
Now, we apply
the
same process of
creation.
reasoning, or rather of intuition, to No man by searching that is,
God and
;
realms of visible matter
searching in the can find out God but we can
get perceptions or conceptions of Him by trusting to what we shall call, for the want of better terms, the
instincts of our invisible soul.
pelled to believe that time
are
compelled to
So that as we are comand space are eternal, so we believe that God and creation are
eternal also.
All mythologies are full of ingenious endeavors to These attempts account for the beginning of creation. have been no more reasonable then are the endeavors
to account for the origin of time
that,
and space.
How
can
which from
?
its
beginning
The
very nature is eternal, have a idea is absurd and preposterous.
Amongst
to
the early Hindoos everything
come from
be hatched from an egg. ? It will be seen that these people reasoned
was supposed But where did the egg
GOD AND CREATION.
from the known phenomena of nature to account for As the egg from a chicken the origin of nature itself.
produces a chicken, so in their minds creation and even God Himself were hatched into being. Not only have
these attempts been made to account for God's existence by a material process, but millions of persons, even in Christian lands, want to know of God through
their material senses.
They want
to hear, touch
and
God the same as they can the mortal frame of a man God is a spirit and as such must be thought of and approached. The idea that God is a person and has parts like a man belongs to a pagan age. When we say God is not a person like a man, we do not
see
thereby deny that
We
have no desire
limit
he has no personality whatever. in this connection to fly to a dic-
tionary for a definition of the
would
that
our meaning.
word person, for Locke somewhere says,
that that
"a person
God
is
and
all
a thinking, intelligent being." mean a person in that He is distinct from nature, the eternal, intelligent and active principle of
is
is
We
and that as He is eternal so is creation co-eternal with God. Newton, the great Christian
creation
philosopher, says, that God is all eye, all arm, all ear. Of course these expressions are simply intended to convey to us that God is everywhere, and that he
is all
powerful to
:
execute
His own
will.
poet
writes
GOD AND CREATION.

"
When by
the wind the tree is shaken, There's not a bough or leaf can fall, But of its falling heed is taken
By One who
The
tree
sees and governs all.

fall
may
and be forgotten,
rank and rotten,
life
And
buried in the earth remain,

its juices,
Yet from
Springs vegetating
again.
The world
And And things
with creation teeming, nothing ever wholly dies,

is
that are destroyed in seeming,
In other shapes and forms arise.
And
nature
still
unfolds the tissue
Of unseen work by Spirit wrought, And not a work but hath its issue With blessing or with evil fraught."
With regard
Genesis,
i,
to the creation of
:
man we
in
are told in
26 and 27
said,
:
"And God
Let us make
man
our
own image,
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
after our likeness
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

of
So God created man God created he him
in his
:
own image, in the image male and female created he
them."
must put a reasonable and intelligent construcupon these sentences. Man cannot be made in the image and likeness of God in power and intelliThe finite cannot be like the infinite. God is gence.
tion
We
GOD AND CREATION.
not limited in knowledge and goodness, but man is. But man may be like unto God in the essence of his
being, because he is a spark fof the celestial fire. drop of water is, chemically speaking, in the image and
likeness of the whole ocean, but
it
has not the powers

roll
of the
mighty and bear ships on its bosom. In a broad and grand sense the drop is not like the ocean. And though man is in one sense the image and likeness of God, yet he is not like God in all things, for He has infinite and eternal powers not possessed by man.
whole ocean,
raise storms
for
the latter can
waves
call
Nevertheless, this divine likenesss, or if we may so it, this divine kinship, should awaken in the breast
of every man a conscious grandeur of his divine origin and mission. It was in a moment of inspiration that
a poet transported himself to the starry worlds above
and exclaimed,
"Even
here, I feel
I
Among these mighty things, that as I am akin to God that I am part

;
am
Of the use universal, and can grasp Some portion of that reason in the which The whole is ruled and founded, and that
have
A spirit nobler in
Than
Still,
its
cause and end,
Lovelier in order, greater in power,

all these bright
and swift immensities."
his
own
though man should grandly feel the majesty of existence, yet when he contemplates God and
GOD AND CREATION.

creation he will feel his
own
littleness.
He
will feel
his vast ignorance in the presence of this vast intelli-
gence.
" The Lord of
Sustains,
all,
Himself through
life
all diffused,
and
is
the
of all that lives,
Nature
is
but a
is
name
God."
for
an
effect,
Whose cause
THE ORIGIN OF
The
book of Genesis
is
EVIL,
account of the origin of evil as recorded in the

not accepted literally by intelligent
Christians of the present day. Philosophers have exercised their thought and ingenuity in endeavoring to solve this great problem, and yet to-day it remains
as great a mystery as ever.
" All nature
is
Pope says
but art unknown to thee; All chance, direction which thon canst not see; All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial
evil,
universal good."
After
all,
this
is
an unsatisfactory explanation.
It is
simply an admission of evil and an assertion that it is From whatever standpoint we view nature, we good. find that a system of dualism prevails through all her
There are light and darkness, heat and cold, and repulsion, upper and under, inner and Whatever name we call evil outer, and good and evil. whether as or some doubtful philosophers by, ignorance,
works.
attraction
term
undeveloped good," it is still our enemy in whatever shape it appears. To destroy it is our duty, and that of everyone on earth. Make heat, and the cold is banished kindle a light, and the darkness disit,
;
"
10
perses of
disease,
THE ORIGIN OF
itself; let in
EVIL.
the rays of truth and science upon
and it will flee away. Most theologians start the with assertion that there are two great powers in the universe, a God who is powerful for all good, and a
Devil
who
is
powerful
for
all
evil,
and that these
powers are co-existent and co-eternal, and have been warring against each other through all eternity for have admitted the personality of God, supremacy.
We
but
sin,
we deny
the personality of a Devil. Discord, error, sickness, ignorance and irreverence are the devils
that mislead
and torment
us.
We
let in
upon these the
light of God's truth.
ons which
He
fight disease with the weaphas placed in the minds of all His
We
children, and we can become conquerors.
Who
has not read Milton's Paradise Lost
This
grand old man in his blindness, conceived the idea that he could "in the height of his great argument justify the ways of God to man." According to his evil commenced when some idea, archangels in heaven began a war against their maker. They; and their adherents were overthrown in that war and were cast out of heaven. But does this idea settle the question ? Does it account for the origin of evil ? Let us see. Like produces like. The beginning of every action is a thought a thought good or bad is the seed of an action and it will at once be seen that no rebellious action could have taken place without being preceded
THE ORIGIN OF
by
EVIL.
11
rebellious thoughts or designs.

?
Whence came
those
They had their origin in something. thoughts They could not have an origin in goodness. Let no reader be startled when we assert that evil or discord or sin, or by whatever name we call it, is one of the This we submit is the doctrine necessities of creation. In Mat., 18:7, it is said, "Wo unto taught by Christ. of the world because offences, for it must needs be that
evil
offences
come but wo to
;
that
man by whom the
offence
must it needs be? Simply because it is a necessity, and this necessity is perfectly compatible God with the good and righteous government of God.
cometh."
Why
is
a creator, but
that
self, all
He cannot create a being equal to HimHe creates must be beneath Himself in

in
intelligence,
and
power, which
err,
is
the
same
as saying
that
ted,
we are limited or finite man must necessarily

sin
beings.
Being thus limiand from this error

the way, in the face
comes
of
all
and
suffering.
This
is
that
we account
let
the learned treatises on philosophy and theology, for the existence of the suffering and
misery of the world.
Now,
Man
the
is
us turn to the other side of the picture. made after the image of God he is a spark of
; ;
he possesses within himself the power to conquer error; to subdue disease and turn discord to harmony. Thus far we have shown the reasonableness, the justice and goodness of the creation. But
divine essence
12
THE ORIGIN OF
EVIL.
when we say that man is made after the image of God, we do not mean physically. When we affirm that man is made after the likeness of God, we do not mean alike
in
in
power,
in intelligence
and goodness, but
in likeness
having a part of his nature, in having a soul that is divine in its essence. But as this soul in him must, as
we have
before seen, from the necessities of creation be

its
it cannot grasp all knowledge it and thus errors, originates sin and sickness. The objection here that can be made is this If God has created man so that he must trangress, is it just that he should be punished for his trans-
limited in
powers,
must commit
gression
We
answer, perfectly
so,
because
it
is
necessity.
And we speak reverently there are necessities that surround God himself; in other words there are impos;
sibilities
even
to the
Great Creator.
We
need here
only again refer to the impossibility of God creating a alone is perfectly good, being equal to Himself.
He
and
create the perfectly good, but while He cannot do this He can and has created beings capable
He cannot
of continually striving after goodness and intelligence. This necessitates a man having a will and a power of
selection for his needs, wants
and progress.
fulfill
When
is
he
does not so select he does not

soul in
its
is
the needs of his

pain.
path of progression, and the result
This pain
necessaryand
just, for
without this reminder
THE ORIGIN OF
EVIL.
13
man would
not strive to unfold his being and fulfil his part in the great plan of his Creator. Now, if there are necessities that surround even
God Himself
sities that
in creation,
much more
in his
life.
so are there neces-
surround
man
are no respecters of persons.

eternal
The They are
laws of
like
God
Himself
and unchangeable.
It is
must punish all violations, knowingly or unknowingly. A law be constant and undeviating under
It
is
a necessity that they whether they are made

to
all
be a law must
circumstances.
not possible to conceive it otherwise. Who can imagine a law of gravitation determining in itself when
punish and when it shall not punish ? Who can imagine a power in the sea to say when man shall or
it
shall
shall not
drown
a
in
it ?
Whoever
man may
peasant, or whether he or plunges into it with suicidal intent
saint or savage, pope or falls into the water accidentally

be,
if
he remains
under water a
be death.
sufficient
is
That
length of time the result will a necessity of law and creation.
MIND AND MATTER.

Much
has been written on these subjects, and
we
:
shall touch
upon them only so
far as
relation to the purposes of this
they have a strict work. Byron wrote

it
"When Berkeley said there was No matter what he said."
no matter and proved
is
This might have been intended as a witticism, but it certainly no reply to the position taken by the great
subject,
philosopher.
this
not alone in his views upon for philosophers in all ages have en-
Berkeley
is
deavored to show to those
who claimed
that this
universe was nothing but a workshop, wherein all the changes we witness are but the results of the chemical
play of atoms, that after all they knew nothing about or at least made claims for it that neither fact nor it,
reason would warrant them in doing. What matter really is has never been defined. only know of it certain such as form, size, weight, color by properties, and so forth. These properties whether taken indi-
We
vidually or collectively are not matter itself, but only certain properties of a something that we call matter.
Color
is
but the color of something
size
is
only the
16
size of
MIND AND MATTER.

something
;
and so
it
can be said of
all
the
other properties but these are not the thing itself. Is there anything underlying all these properties ? If
so,
we do
not
know what
that
something
is.
How
do
conscious of those properties? It is only our sense of sight and touch and the obstructhrough tion we meet with in matter that we become conscious
of any existence. In other words, as we know of matter by properties, the recognition of those properties entirely depends upon senses or the quality of mind. Let us illustrate this still further. There is a some-
we become
Let a person be pricked thing that we call pain. with a needle, the result will be pain. What makes
that result.
Certainly not the needle.
The steel of which it is composed could feel no pain. What felt the pain ? Every physicist will at once say
that
was the nerve that felt the pain and without the existence of a nerve there could be no such thing
it
as pain.
We
if
speak of a burn from the

there were no nerves to
fire
producing
pain
is
but
feel,
there could
be no sensation of pain from the burn. Again, there another thing that we call sound. How is this made
?
up
Take
small bell and
ring
it.
The tongue
strikes against the side of the bell causing it to vibrate. These vibrations set the air in motion, producing in it
a wave-like motion, and when these waves fall upon the But if there ear, they produce a result we call sound.
MIND AND MATTER.

was no ear
to catch those
17
result as sound.
What we have
waves there could be no such said of feeling and
all
hearing can be applied with equal force of reasoning to But we must go one step further the other senses.
back.
When we
speak of the nerves of
sight, of hear-
wish to ing, of smell and so forth, we by no means imply that it is these material nerves that in themselves
perform the functions attributed to them. On the other hand we contend that it is not the eye that sees nor
the ear that
hears.
The eye
is
but the instrument

In
tele-
which conveys impressions to the invisible mind. itself it has no more the power to see than has the
Look at a human body when scope or microscope. All the organs are there the life has departed from it.
the nerves are
sation,
still
in existence,
but there
is
and the body, whether you dissect it can suffer no pain. And why ? Because the invisiit, ble power that felt, that saw, heard and performed all the other powers, has So that we are departed.
driven to the conclusion that matter, in itself, has no intelligence nor feeling, and does not possess even the power of motion. Thus, if we raise an arm and ask
the physicist or materialist by what power we perform the act, he readily answers that it is merely muscular
no senor burn
motion.
If
we ask
further,
what moved the muscles

then
He He
replies, the nerves. answers, the brain.
What
moved
the nerves?
We
further desire to
know
18
MIND AND MATTER.

?
what moved the brain

it
Here we answer
is
for
him and
not the organ of mind in say spirit. the same sense that the liver is the organ of hepatic Brain is the organ of the mind. It does not secretion.
is
the
Brain
produce mind, but
is
acted upon by
it.
The body does
not produce life, but is acted upon and vivified by it. Take a seed of any description, analyse it, subject it to
any chemical
its
is
test
you
please, can
!
you
is
tell
or point out
No principle of life ? that invisible power in
this is invisible,
it
that
Turn which way we will, thing. acts upon, that governs, animates
ble matter.
it
and yet it the all-important is the invisible that

visi-
and moves dead
And we know of no limit that the invisible when under the powers of science, has over used mind, In one sense we may call it all-powerful. matter. But if we know little about the nature of matter, so also do we know but little about the nature of mind. We know nothing of its essence, we only know of it by its powers and effects, and of these we are in the
main ignorant. How wonderful even is memory. By what process are words, ideas and scenes impressed upon and retained in the mind? Every mind is one vast picture gallery upon which is photographed all that we have seen, learned, suffered and enjoyed. Not always to be called up by our own volition, and
not always present to our consciousness. landscape, a verse, a quotation, may slumber in the mind for long,
MIND AND MATTER.
19
long years without being remembered, when suddenly some trifling thing will call up from the chambers of
sleep the
forgotten
impression.
Then
the effect of
mind upon mind is equally mysterious. How often are our thoughts and feelings projected into the mind of
own intention or knowledge. and how silent is this power of mind yet grand exercised there is no beating of drums, no blowing of trumpets, no sounding of gongs, no booming of cannon, and yet the effects of this silent power and march of mind are greater, grander, than the tramp of armed millions and the thunder of all the artillery in the
another without our
How
world.
The
noise, the
pomp, the power of the one
shall pass
away, but the other shall endure forever.
There is one other attribute of mind that we must notice, and that is its power to endow matter with the power of sensation, and enabling it to receive impressions. These impressions may become beliefs. But these sensations, impressions, and beliefs, are not
eternally lasting, but like the
matter which they are
impressed upon, can be removed and dissolved. Thus, it will be seen, that we make mind to have a
different names. "
But we give these two states two The soul pure and simple we call the immortal mind." The other condition which is produced by the influence of mind upon matter we call
two-fold existence. In
all
the " mortal mind."
investigations in the science
20
MIND AND MATTER.
of metaphysical healing, it is important to bear these Let it be understood that in mind. distinctions
though we say "mortal mind," we do not wish the reader to

infer
at the
that
this
condition will necessarily
pass
away
change
called death.
These impressions
and conditions if not conquered in this life, will have to be destroyed in the next sphere of existence by our
own
volition.
How
important then
it
is
for
our
own
happiness here and hereafter to live according to the spiritual laws of God.

"he
thinks he
It
is
commonly
said of the Egotist
knows it all, and what he does not know is not worth It may be affirmed more forcibly that men knowing." generally think they see it all, and that what they do There is no sense, no not see is not worth seeing.
power of the mind, that men are tyrannized over so much as by their eyesight, They are, in fact, to a very
St. Paul says large extent, the slaves of their vision. " The things which are seen are temporal, but the things
:
which are unseen are eternal."
He
doubtless
had
strict reference to spiritual things as distinguished from But we desire for a moment to call things material.
attention to the things which physicists class as natural phenomena. All the mighty forces of nature are unseen.
And
yet
how
hill
rarely
men
We
train of cars
gaze upon over
the locomotive
think of these things. as it speeds with its
and
valley, without for a

is
moment
thinking that
this
power
derived from an unseen
The steam in the steam-chest is as invisible as agent. the atmosphere we breathe. It is only when this steam
comes
in contact
with the atmosphere and
becomes
22
Men speak of the laws of condensed, that it is visible. nature as if they were things that they could see and handle. Whoever saw the law of gravitation or any
other law
?
And
make and govern
all
yet it is these invisible laws that the mighty and varied operations
which are ever taking place around us. The falling apple, the crumbling mountain, the moving avalanche,
the roaring cataract, the rushing river, the raindrop, the snowflake, all move and fall in obedience to this
invisible force of gravitation. gaze upon a forest of oaks and admire their towering strength as they
We
sway
their strong
arms
It is
in the blast.
fire will
in a
few hours sweep that forest forever from our
sight.
What
survives
the invisible that survives and
again builds up the visible. The forest is gone, but we have an acorn, and that acorn is capable of producing an oak and a forest or a million of forests. The acorn is
visible
it is
true,
but
it
is
not
its
visible parts that per-
and
petuate the oak. The germ, the life that sends out roots fibres, and trunks and branches, is an invisible some-
thing which we call life; and without this invisible someT e can thing survived we could have no visible oaks.
see a wire of the electric telegraph, and the batteries, and the operators at their instruments, but the power that enables us to send words and messages over conti-
nents and through seas is invisible. Electricity is invisible, but it exists in and around every particle of matter,

animate and inanimate.
in
23
Take
common magnet and
close proximity to a needle, the needle is hold it drawn to it by a force but because we cannot see that force, shall we say that it is of any less importance
;
than the needle and the magnet which
we can
see
How
forms of
few persons realize that even as regards the life in the animal and vegetable kingdom, that
by far the greater number of varieties are not discernible by the naked eye. There are living things "to whom the fragile blade of grass, that springeth in the morn and It has perisheth ere noon, is an unbounded world." been calculated that there are millions and millions of
insects in a cubic inch of water
;
they are so small,

it is
when compared with
the finest grain of sand, that
impossible for us to conceive how they can possess organs which enable them to pass and repass and avoid each other and yet they do these things, and
;
they show us that they have their likes and antipathies the same as the animals which are our everyday
companions. Again, our thought conclusion of our sight.
is
It is
often required to correct the not by our eyes alone that
we know
the earth moves.
We
ascertain this fact
by
the exercise of thought. Mere vision would lead us to come to exactly the opposite conclusion. So that, view
this universe in
first,
what aspect we please, we conclude, that with regard to the so-called material things,
24
that
it is

the invisible
;
mind
that corrects
all
and properly
informs our sense

verse
alone
it
is
things in the unithe unseen which has power, that moulds

it
next, that of
and fashions the things which are seen, and that

endures forever.
And when men
shall fully
understand and believe these things, that belief shall be to them as a new Messiah, purifying and regenerating their nature
will
exclaim
"
and then, in the fullness of joy, man am one with God !"
;

The questions that follow next in order are these What relation does man stand to creation and its creator ? What influence can he have over the world around ? To what extent can he make or mar his joys
:
and sorrows
Macaulay somewhere
says, that touch-
ing the ways of

as wise as the
with man, the ignorant savage is most learned philosopher. This may be
;
God
true as a matter of reason
but
in
it is
untrue as a matter
let
of faith and intuition.
But
order to
these faiths
aside his
and
intuitions
have
full play,
man must throw
intellectual pride.
ingredient that has led him into the grand error of believing that all things were
It is this
made purposely and

satirist writes
:
solely for his use.
A
?
well
known
"Has
Thy
God, thou
for
fool
worked
solely for thy good,
joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food
thy table feeds the wanton fawn, For him has kindly spread the flowery lawn Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings ?
Who
Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings.

Is it for thee the linnet
pours his throat
Loves of his own, and raptures swell the note.
26

The bounding
steed
you pompously bestride
Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride. Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain ?
The
Thine the
birds of heaven shall vindicate their grain, full harvest of the golden year ?
Part pays, and justly, the deserving steer ; The hog, that ploughs not, nor obeys thy call, Lives on the labors of this lord of all.
Know, Nature's children all divide her care, The fur that warms a monarch, warms a bear.
While man exclaims See all things for my use See man for mine !' replies a pampered goose. And just as short of reason he must fall,
'
!'
'
Who
thinks all
made
for ne, onot
one
for all."
poet Gray, in his immortal elegy, written in a country churchyard, too anxious to point a moral or adorn a tale, uses a false illustration when he writes
:
The
" Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear
Full
many
waste
a flower
its
And
born to blush unseen, sweetness on the desert air."

is
which have so often done duty in the pulpit, on the platform, and, in fact, in all the walks of literature and oratory, are a striking example of that intellectual pride and human conceit to which we have
lines,
These
called attention.
At
the
moment we
write, there are
countless myriads of the most gorgeous flowers of the most delicate hue and the choicest perfume, growing
and blossoming in a thousand nooks and dells, and where they grow blossom and display a beauty beyond the power of man to imitate, there they die and find
27
no record
corded
in
in the brain of
no book. and die that their perfume, their beauty, they and use are wasted ? This would indeed be telling God that he has made things in vain, because they were not intimately and immediately related to man and his con-'
thus live
man, and their history is reBut shall we say that because
Because all the rays of sunlight venience and comfort. do not fall upon man and the little patch of ground that he cultivates, shall we say that therefore those rays are
wasted
Unquestionably, every ray of light that falls from yonder sun, whether falling upon the barren rock,
?
the sterile desert or the

ocean," has
less
its
"
dark unfathomed caves of
use and mission.
Are
there not count-
the depths of the ocean, ay, in every drop of water, that require the nourishing rays of light to preserve and perpetuate " their existence ? All things that on the earth do
life in
forms of vegetable and animal
dwell, unto the earth
some
special
good do give."
The
grain of sand, the blade of grass, the tiny insect, the towering mountain, the rolling river and the sounding
sea, are as
much a necessary part of creation as man. "All are but parts of one stupendous whole." And when
to recognize this great
fact,
man comes
come
now,
then
will
he
to look at things with an eye of faith, and not as through the lens of a proud and utilitarian reason.
We
should not stand with arrogance before this mighty
creation that everywhere encircles us, but with humility
28

faith,
and
this
and then things that are now dark
to us will
appear bright as the noonday.

of
We
should gaze upon
with the single-mindedness of a kingdom " child. Whosoever shall not receive the Christ says, a of as little God child, shall in no wise enter kingdom
therein."
all
God
their
will
we
we approach God's works as if we knew mysteries then we shall know but little, but if sit down before them in humility and reverence
If
then
shall
we
shall learn
be enabled to mysteries and power.
more and more of His ways and enter into the kingdom of His
How
use the
far
man control and have power over and works of God ? There are some things that
can
that
exist in
and cannot be controlled by the mind of man. There are the movements of the heavenly bodies, these are exact and are founded upon the principles of divine mathematics. There are also other things over which he cannot from
are inexorable,
spite of
their very nature exercise the
control.
slightest
influence or
cannot destroy God's laws, but he can obey them and use them for his own happiness and It is in this sense that God has given him progress.
He
dominion over of what power

is
all
?
things around him. By the exercise the of mind. This power By power
the divinity in man.
When
it
is
told us that
God
made man after his own image we take it to mean that he made the spirit of man after his own essence.
29
Jesus taught this doctrine, He proclaimed that God acted through Him, that God spake through Him and
that
if
we wanted
in
to see
God
that
we
could do so in
<;
Him, and
as
He did.
ourselves when we thought and believed Thus we have presented to us the golden
key which opes the Palace of Eternity." Christ walked the wave, made the loaves and fishes, healed the sick and raised the dead. On what principles did He do He himself tells us, that His power these things? was from God. He never spake of disease as difficult He never employed drugs of any desor dangerous.
cription,
In
fact,
He
in all cases implied that the cure
for these diseases
was not
to
be found
in visible matter,
but in invisible mind.
brought to Him cases they could not heal, He said unto them, "Oh, ye of little faith." This age seems to have lost the meaning of the grandest and sublimest word in the English, or any other language, namely, FAITH. When St. Paul said ''faith is the substance of things hoped for the
When
his followers
evidence of things not seen," he did not intend to give a complete definition of that word. Whenever Christ
a meaning and power that were more potent for good than that possessed by all the other human powers combined.
faith,
used the word
He evidently
gave
to
it
He
spoke of
faith as a
law of God, as
real in its oper-
ation as
the law of gravitation or

is
which
this universe
any other law by and guided governed.
30
question will arise in the minds of some persons as to the possibility of people in modern days possessing the power of affecting cures upon the
as that recorded in Scripture.
tion
The
same method
We
answer
"
from two standpoints.
First,
we
this questake the words of
Christ himself,
that
I
who promised
fact,
his followers,
The works
do ye
shall do."
Next, we answer
from the standpoint of

*no escape for the
from which
the
the question there can be.
caviler or
skeptic.
We
take
" our stand upon the doctrine, by their fruits shall ye know them," so that from whatever point we consider
the relation of
man
to
God and
creation
however we
may view man
sphere of existence-
as a being of power and duties in this we are warranted in coming to the
conclusion, that it is through mind, and faith in its unlimited powers, that he can conquer all disease and
suffering,
and
error,
that
affect
him
in
his
journey
through
life.
THE MISSION AND DUTY OF

MAN.
Such of our readers as have perused Pope's Essay on Man, will agree with us that while that production
stands unrivalled as a
to satisfy either the
work of
its
kind, yet that
it
fails
head or
heart.
The work
is
entirely
of a materialistic kind.
Though
here and there are to
be found passages that appear to have their birth in the spiritual powers of our nature, yet the author seems
to think that
he could solve the problem of life, by reference to the visible world as judged of by the reasonViewed in this light the work is ing faculties of man. a splendid failure. What help does it give us to be
told to
"
Laugh where we must, be candid where we can, But vindicate the ways of God to man. Say first of God above or man below, What can we reason, but from what we know. Of man, what see we but his station here, From which to reason or to which refer Through worlds unnumbered though the God be known,
'Tis ours to trace
him only
in
our own."
We
man
have elsewhere
in
this
work aimed
to
show
that
cannot solve those mighty problems that relate to
32
existence by an appeal to reason, nor by consulting material nature. Here, again, we must refer to the
Man questions himself. What is the meaning of existence ? Why am I here ? What use am I to this universe? We affirm that there dwells,
intuitions
and
to faith.
deep down in the bosom of every man, a belief that he comes into the world to do some work which no other man can do a work imposed upon him by the very laws of his own being. This, to him, is an intuition.
He
cannot find the corroboration of this
in the material
modicum of work seems to be swaland the lowed up, only benefit he can witness is, that his labor enables him to clothe himself and procure food. If, perchance, he is enabled to lay aside a few pieces of yellow metal, yet the reflection will sometimes " Of what use can this be to me, I must soon come, pass away from earth, and as I cannot carry these things with me, of what use are they to me?" And still to what end have I lived ? the question comes Let us here try to explain and to illustrate. Man, we have " a of is but one In seen, part stupendous whole." other words, he is but one of the products of the great intelligent force that lies behind and produces and moves the whole universe. A grain of sand, a blade of
universe, for his
grass, a
pine tree, a mountain, could with as much reason assume to judge of the meaning of their exist-
ence as man.
We,
in
common
with
all
things, animate

and inanimate, are
33
alike products of the divine intelli-
Can the clay judge the potter ? Have we not gence. the right to presume, and is it not our reasonable duty to presume, that the power that produces and fashions
us and
all
power,
we
That things knows more than ourselves ? It could not are assured, is not malignant.
have sent us into existence to punish us for in this case it would have been better that we, and all things, should not have existed. Why is it that we have in
our
own
?
nature a something that
we
call
conscience,
is
that approves
what
is
right
and condemns what
Why wrong to condemn

because
are we, in spite of ourselves, compelled cruelty, untruth and injustice? Simply,
We
of the god-like within us. all feel that the thing that is false and unjust must is There no man so low down, there is no pass away.
we have something
soul stained so foully with sin but is compelled to love the good, the beautiful and true, and hate that which is false.
" The darkest night that shrouds the sky Of beauty hath a share The blackest heart has signs to tell, That God still lingers there. "
;
From what we have

the universe
is
here advanced
we conclude
justice,
that
founded on immutable
and no
man can
Sooner successfully fight against that justice. or later that which is untrue and unjust must pass away.
" And thus the world goes round and round,
And the genial seasons run, And ever the truth comes uppermost And ever is justice done."
34
this power behind nature being just, and posan sessing intelligence so far beyond that of the wisest of mortals that we cannot even conceive of its immen-
Now,
sity,
has not
made anything
faith,
in vain.
Our
intelligence,
glorified
by
assures us that
a purpose that we are in fact An carry out the wise and beneficent plan of God. a and architect plans his specifications are only temple, so many directions to workmen what they are to do for
its
we are in this life for workmen placed here to
erection.
;
He
says to one man,

walls
make
;
this
founda-
tion
to another, build these

;
to a third, carve
that
image
to a fourth, construct that roof.
And thus
where
he places
his
workmen
is
in the various
positions
they can be useful. say, "Of what use
no use
in
it.
It
is
But any of these workmen might my work? I can see no good, incomplete in itself and must end in
at
nothing."
But the architect who placed these men
their different tasks,
knew
that
if
every
performed harmonize
his
own
work, that
all
man faithfully their labors would

;
in the end, and the result would be a temple of beauty. Now, God is our Great Architect he has placed us in this life to perform our special and different
tasks,
and though we can see
in
them only incompletewill faithfully
ness, yet
God
can see that
if
we
perform
those tasks they will harmonize in the end, and the results will be of benefit to ourselves, of use to others,
and glory
to
Him.
POWER OF MIND OVER

As we have
BODY.
'*
Mind previously devoted a chapter to and Matter," our reflections in this connection will principally be confined to the effect of mind upon that particular
it
form of matter called the human body.
Here
will
is
be necessary to state our entire disbelief in what " that usually styled an axiom in philosophy, namely,
effect
its
every
have
It is
must have its cause, and every cause must Both as a matter of reason and coneffect."
sciousness
we deny
this.
What,
for instance,
is
volition
force in energy directed to Whence comes this force ?
some
answer
the
particular end.
it
We
is
the invisible mind.

far as volition
is
Mind
originates in in itself a first cause so
concerned.
not be observed of matter.

that
And The
same thing can

assumes
materialist
mind is not distinct from matter, or that mind is not an entity separate and apart from matter. If this assumption was true, then it would make man a mere
be acted upon and moved by physical causes. If matter has properties peculiar to itself so has mind, and one of these properties is that it can originate
machine
to
causes.
This
is
its
nature
it is
one of
its
attributes
36
of which
all

the ingenious reasoning of
man cannot
de-
prive
it.
Starting then from
this stand-point, the ex-
planation will
become easy
as to
how mind
such mastery over the material body. It and move it. It can fill it with health when wrongly When rightly didirected with disease and suffering. rected by faith and knowledge it can purge the body from all pain and impurities. Now, while this power has been seen and recognized in all ages and countries, even by the so-called learned physicians, yet they have always sought to limit this power or to share it with visible chemicals and drugs.
can gain can animate
prominent London physician recently sent a communication to the St. James Gazette, from which we con dense the following statement " You say you do not
*
:
quite grasp the scientific reasons' which I have tried to adduce for the assertion that if a sufferer from even in*
curable disease' will
'
only firmly
make up
his
mind that
he
is
will
going be justified/
I
'
to get well, in
many
cases his confidence

precisely the
'
These words were not

will
:
words
There is in ninety-nine cases out a a of hundred, possibility of finding a modus vivendi with disease, even though it be organic and incurable.'
'
used, but I reasons are these
adopt them.
The
scientific
The
While there hope is life there is hope,' and when life is no dies hope Nature is not an artisan but an longer worth living.'
very
'
first
condition of
life
is

ar:ist,
37
and with the aid of the
'
ghost
*
contrived lo put a good deal of This spirit chief work man.

tion,
(or spirit) she has into her artistic finish

'
'
is
the
life
of the crea-
with more than one source, if I may so say. Many live by mental and nervous energy. The multitude of this last class of livers is very great
and
it is
life
their
their 'go
when
bodies are wondrously weak and crippled, but and 'spirit' are remarkable, and they live Each those around them think they ought to die.
' ;
case must be dealt with individually but the task of finding a modus vivendi with incurable disease is not
' '
difficult,
one be found, the very fact of relieving the diseased organ from the task of playing first role in
if
and
the
to
"
drama
of
life
will, in
a majority of instances, help

it is
check the malady by which
affected.
is
When
man hopes,
is
it
his brain
stimulated, his ner-
vous system
creased.
Is
healthily excited, his vital energy is innot obvious that if the vital energy be
increased disease
may be
conquered, or at least outlived
and downlived?
ing to
Forgive
me
for
being so prolix in try-
be
plain."
Now, although
ercise of
shall not wait
the writer above quoted calls this ex-
mind power by the simple name of hope, we

here to dispute about terms.
We
take
it
on his part that there is an invisible something that has an incalculable and wondrous power in curing disease, when the visible drug proves ineffecto be an admission
38
tual.
The homoeopath
;
says, that the allopath
is
a poi;
soner
the
allopath
calls
the
homoeopath
a quack
while the eclectic claims to be wiser than both.
But
while they
all
admit the great power of mind as a cura-
tive agent they also claim that without the administration of drugs, according to their own learned method,
that diseases could not be cured.
the magnetic healer steps
in,
But just at this point and he says, "away with

;
your drugs, throw physic to the dogs I can cure by the invisible agent of magnetism, while you signally and wofully fail by the application of your visible nosBut permanent cures even by magnetism are trums."
by no means so certain as its votaries are wont to claim At one time there was a great rage for magnets, for it. but notwithstanding the numerous experiments on the subject, no satisfactory conclusions have been arrived It is now about a century ago that at on the subject. experiments of this nature were first made, and yet to-day it is by no means established that the magnet is
Professor Charcot, of Paris, made many experiments on patients with magnets, and he states that he has no faith whatever in the
of any remedial value whatever.
remedial efficacy of the magnet, except as
it
influenced
This is another admisthe imagination of the patient. sion of the power of mind, though Mons. Charcot tries
to limit
and explain
is
History
by the word imagination. replete with cases showing the effect of

it

mind over the body.
39
There
is
the account of the
man
been
who was condemned
to death for a crime that has
so frequently set forth in medical works. Some physicians obtained permission from the authorities to
perform an experiment
execution.
on
this
They bandaged
him
previous to his his eyes, laid him on a
man
couch, and caused
of water.
head over a bucket They then punctured his neck with a small
to hold his
instrument, but not sufficient to cause the blood to flow.
But they tried to convey to his mind the belief that the blood was flowing, by dropping some water from a smaller utensil into the bucket. At first they caused
the water to drop slowly, and then increased its falling. As this increased the man grew faint, his face became
livid,
became weaker and weaker, and the experimenters believing the man would die, ceased their operations and he at once resumed his wonted
his pulse
vitality.
But why,
us with
it
may be
on
asked, cite these cases
from
written
history?
E very-day
the
observation
will
furnish
proofs
for
authorities are almost
unanimous
subject. in their
The
best
belief that
there
unless
is
no sure cure
the efforts
in
confirmed habits of inebriety that direction are aided by a
In those localities that are strong exercise of the will. subject to attacks of cholera or deadly fevers, all observers are agreed that more persons die through fear than from any other cause.
40
Another leading English physician, in writing to the London Times in 1884, has some pertinent remarks upon the effect that the mind has over the body. We make the following extracts from his communication
:
"Now,
the
first
observation
am
anxious to
make
is,
that in the majority yes, without hesitation, I affirm, the majority of these cases it is not true that the lives
of the condemned
will
be one year, or even one day,
shorter than the average longevity of persons of their age and class who are presumed to be perfectly healthy.
I will go further and say this the dread they endure and the precautions they are compelled to take not only do not tend to lengthen their lives, but are calculated to abridge them. Long and careful observation " of what are called " diseased lives has led me to the conclusion that, eliminating the depressing and morbid influence of that self-consciousness which is bred of a condemned or suspected life, a man is just as well as he
taking the average of a sufficient period to cover the cycle of an average mode of existence. Most lives,
feels,
however monotonous they may

certain
"
be, are
marked by a
Take
of ups and downs." rhythmical succession the mean of these and that will be the standard
and base of probabilities as regards the reasonable " ex" pectancy of life, let what will be the matter with the Disease kills more victims through the individual. mind then by the body. If medicine were so precise
41
a science that a " prognosis" could be worked out on
trustworthy data, something like authority might be held to attach to the dictum of the family doctor or consulting physician but this is not the fact, and obser;
vation and experience combine to show that the duration of any particular life is beyond ken and out of
reach of even shrewd guessing until the approach of death is indicated by signs intelligible to all.
"
What
is
?
the moral to be
conclusions
be so foolish
drawn from these general Simply this let no one, young or old, as to be depressed by the dictum of the
physician or surgeon who, with portentous shake of the I head, gives a despairing opinion. repeat, that I the fear of believe that more persons are killed by
'
death
"
I
'
know
shall
than by disease. these assertions
will
be stigmatized as
;
rash,
and
so advisedly
is
be condemned for making them but I do I believe medicine as a science discredits medicine as an art. I am quite sure it does as far as
I
;
prognosis
as an art
concerned.
owes
the other hand, medicine as much, or more, to the ministry of
On
hope as to the influence of drugs." Surely these opinions, coming from a
man w ho was
r
taught from his youth to believe that any disease would succumb to drugs, if only the right ones could be
administered, are entitled to our serious consideration. Who can be blamed, after such opinions as these, from
doubting the power of drugs to cure disease
LAWS OF NATURE.
In the presentation of the theory of the mind-cure to persons who have never given the subject any consideration, amongst the common objections made are the
But you do not profess to cure in opposifollowing Do you work in harmony tion to the laws of nature ?
:
"
Do you not recognize that with the laws of nature ? there are peculiarities in certain diseases and have not certain herbs and mineral substances qualities stamped
;
upon them by their creator, and that, do what you will, you have to follow the laws and methods of nature or you must fail in your operations ?" To all these questions we answer, that we work in accordance with the laws of God, and not in opposition to them. The only difference between us is, that we call to obr aid the laws of invisible mind, and not the laws that bind and govern material drugs. There are men calling themselves philosophers,
write very learnedly about the laws of use technical terms and reason after the they most approved scholastic methods of logic but though
who
nature
they turn their logic mills very artistically, yet they do not grind us out one kernel of nourishing corn. They
44
are like
LAWS OF NATURE.
some of the equations
in algebraic
school books
there are plus and minus, a great deal of study and differentiating, but when the problem is finished we find
After all the learned treatises that that it ends in zero. have been written about the laws of nature, what do we know of them, what can we say of them ? The only complete definition that we can give of the laws of nature is, that they are the laws which produce the phenomena of nature. We cannot go behind them, and we cannot explain .the why and the wherefore of either the laws or the phenomena. Who can explain why one
seed put into the ground should produce a blue flower, and another a red a third an oak and another a pine
tree.
If we say these things
produce
after their kind,
we
we merely affirm that explanation of the fact are as are. they things are accustomed to say that the laws of nature act
make no
We
But what do we know of their uniformity ? That uniformity may be cut off or the of some other law. Let intervention abrogated by a man stand in the middle of a room, holding in his hand a small piece of steel he opens his hand with the palm downwards and the steel falls to the floor. Why does it fall? In obedience to the law of gravitation, one of the widest add best known of the laws of nature. Suppose, instead of falling to the floor it had ascended " to the ceiling and there adhered ? But this is not poswith unerring uniformity.
LAWS OF NATURE.
sible,"
45-
says
some
one,
"
for that
well-known law of nature."
magnet of sufficient force in flies upwards in obedience to the law of the magnet, and this law is just as much a law of nature, and no more and no less, as the law of gravitation. It is a law~
of nature that
if
would be contrary to a By no means. Place a the ceiling, and your steel
water
will
is
will
temperature that it be rendered inoperative and overcome by the warm They are both equally the laws of rays of the sun.
subjected to a certain cold become solid ice, but that law
though acting apparently in opposite directions. These examples will serve as illustrations of the fact that there is no such thing as constant uniformity in
nature,
the operation of any law. Other laws are brought into that these laws render So that we play inoperative.
can lay down no laws for nature and say that they are never contravened. All we can do, is to observe the
operations, record them,
and learn wisdom and humility. what do we of the laws of mind? know We Now, It is only here and there answer, almost nothing. that we have observed a few facts, and from these we have not as yet been enabled to formulate but few But what we do know is sufficient to conprinciples. vince us that the laws of mind can override the laws of matter and hold them as nothing. So that when we a is in opposition cannot be done because it say thing
to the
laws of nature,
let
us consider that until
we
46
LAWS OF NATURE.
know all the laws of nature and all the laws of mind, we are not in a position to pronounce anything impossible. Fortunately, we have facts both in sacred and
secular history that convince us of the almost omnipoChrist tent power of mind over matter and its laws.
did not walk the water by destroying a law of nature, but by calling to his aid the law of mind, and by the
aid of this law he performed his so-called miracles and And as in essence we are effected marvelous cures.
sure that our minds are one with God, so in proportion to our possession of the same, and faith in its power,
we
'
shall
be enabled to overcome
all
other laws and

talk
effect cures.
And, however learnedly people may

is
about the laws of nature, and what
impossible,
we
have
all
facts
defiance, for
that set their opinions and prophecies at we hold that in the direction of our work
things are possible with God.

the result of a departure Its true cause is not from the spiritual laws of God. to be attributed to the presence, absence, or decay of
is
What
disease
It
is
any part or parts of the human system. These disarrangements are the effects and not the causes of the disease. To remedy this state of things we have not to seek to build up materiality, but to aim at once to
Our duty in this spirit. we is so direction, apprehend, plain that it needs no further words to make it clear. This being conceded, the question arises, with what agents should we approach these mental causes ? Matter, we have already It is mind that seen, does not control or move mind.
call to
our aid the power of
controls
and moves matter. Matter being non-intelligent, what effect can it have upon intelligent minds ?
As
this
it
will,
has neither sense, feeling nor can have no dynamic power over mind, and can
matter
in
itself
make no departure from God's spiritual

entirely put aside
laws, so that
we
it as a curative agent. sufficient of this should be method simplicity to recommend it to the reflective mind. In mechanics,
and ignore
The very
48
other things being equal, the simplest machines are the most efficient. " It is surprising," says a philosopher,
things in the universe resolve themselves into In chemistry, many results of a few principles at last."
all
"how
things that were once considered to be primary elements have been found to be compounds, so that at last the
chemist
may
find that his metals
and minerals are but

In the
the results of a very few primary elements.
a few years ago a science of color, for instance would have been styled a fanatic or a madman,
man who
would have denied the existence of seven primary colors. Those who were supposed to know most on the subject proved beyond a doubt that it required seven primary colors from which to make all other colors and shades of color, namely: violet, indigo, blue, But how stands the green, yellow, orange and red.
fact to-day
:
They now
only recognize three primaries,
red. Some German philosnamely opher asserts that the time will come when all colors will be shown to be composed of two original colors. This cannot be scoffed at as a mere freak of the imagination, for it must be recollected that most of the different
blue, yellow
and
chemical substances are not different because they are composed of different ingredients, but because of their
different
proportions
of the
same elements.
Starch,
sugar, vinegar and alcohol, are very dissimilar in their nature and effects, but they are all alike composed of
DISEASE
the
in
AND
It is
ITS REMEDIES.
49
only the different proportions which these elements are mixed together that give
their distinctive differences.
is
same elements.
them
for
Now,
to
disease
legion, but
we
trace
them
names of one cause, and

the
them we have The world has
but one cure.

for
ages been perplexed, mystified
and imposed upon by the so-called science of medicine. A list of technical and high-sounding words and phrases have been wrapped around diseases and their remedies
until the multitude stands in
is
awe of the long
array.
It
not
too often the case that people reverence what they do understand. Call whiskey by its medical name,
"spiritus frumenti"
and
it
at
once inspires respect.
In-
stead of saying that a child has measles, state that it is afflicted with "rubiola" and the same disease with different
names
is
thought to be two distinct diseases.
desire to tear aside this word-fringe, and let in the light of Divine truth upon the whole mass of
Now, we
jargon and quackery.
Even amongst physicians we find skeptics regarding the utility of their own practice. Many openly admit that they have no very confident faith in the certainty
of their
and some deny the possibility of their ever constructing a scientific system of remedial methods. " " Medicine," says Papillon, may be summed up as the
art,
Whenever these application of certain sciences. sciences may advance, that art should do so also." But
OF THF
TTTk-r
T-T-r--^,
50
whatever may be said of the other sciences, we deny

that the science of medicine, as a curative or preventive
system, has advanced one step
employs are false. and learning, to the subject but of them, diseases have increased and multiplied.
agents
it
and this is because the Medical men have given their

;
time, talents
in spite
Their
studies with regard to the human system its construction, functions of the organs, their diseases and treatment are divided as follows: Anatomy teaches how
the organs are made physiology how they perform in a healthy state; pathology how they their functions
;
discharge them in a diseased state
and therapeutics
they discharge them in regard to media, that is to the medial agencies of every kind with which they say, may be brought in contact. Now, the modern physicthese for his knowledge how to ward off or cure disease. With the first two, anatomy
ian
relies
how
upon
all
and physiology, we have no quarrel, but against pathology and therapeutics we proclaim a bold and open war. The practice of medical men, in these directions, has been fraught with incalculable mischief to the health of The most honest and outspoken of the community. them have so confessed.
Dr. Benjamin Rush has said: " It is impossible to calculate the mischief Hippocrates has done by first
marking nature with his name, and afterwards letting her loose upon sick people."

Dr.
said
in
:
51
Mason Good, a
"
learned professor in London, the effects of medicine on the human system are
highest degree uncertain, except, indeed, that have already destroyed more lives than war, pesthey tilence and famine combined."
the
Dr.
Benjamin Waterhouse,
"
:
professor
in
Harvard
University, says Some other distinguished
am
sick of learned quackery."
physician has said: "It
would be better for mankind if all the drugs were thrown into the sea, but worse for the fishes."
Dr. James Johnson, of England, surgeon-extraordinary to the king, says "I declare my conscientious
:
opinion, founded on long observation and

that
if
reflection,
there was not a single physician, surgeon, apothecary, man-midwife, chemist, druggist or drug on the face of the earth, there would be less sickness and less
mortality."
? Mainly because the physician in has followed of to-day the footsteps of his predecessors. He reads in his books that certain diseases are
Why
these failures
symptoms, and that certain drugs adaccording to the quantity and method laid His diagnosis is often of the down, will effect cures. shallowest kind, but even when correct his remedies are still of the conventional description, and if, through
certain
known by
ministered
the vitality of the patient or by the power of mind, a cure is effected, he tries to convince his patient that his
52
recovery
is

entirely
due
to his careful administration of
false over-arching faith the prescribed drugs. The has grown up in the efficacy of these poisons. Israelites of old are no more to be condemned for their
Thus a
worship of the golden calf set up in the wilderness, than are the masses for their idolatry of the medical drugs
up amidst humanity in these days of enlightenment. We are endeavoring to wean them from their false The mafaith, and point them to the only true God. gicians have thrown down their rods, and now we throw down our rod of mind-cure, and it will swallow up all
set
the
rest.
have as yet taken no position for which we cannot find scriptural authority. The good Bishop Cum" berland said I read my Bible as I read a book of
:
We
put upon those facts such an interpretation as an enlightened Christian conscience enables me to
facts,
I
and
do."
This
is
just the liberty
we
take for ourselves and
concede to others.
advancing no new doctrine, but only aiming to give force and vitality to an old one a doctrine taught and practised by the Master. It
We are
appears to be assumed by large masses of church

bers, that Christianity consists in passing a
life
mem-
of praise and prayer, and preaching against the moral evils of the world. Christ taught both by precept and example
that
one of the chief duties of
life
was
to cure suffering
at once church
and banish bodily disease. The ancient temples were and hospital. The early Christians were
healers, conceiving it to be their imperative duty to follow in Christ's footsteps, for they felt the truth of the "
saying, Except ye have the spirit of Christ ye are none of his." feel that it is one of the most dam-
We
aging omissions
in the lives of
modern Christians
that
54
sufficient
prominence has not been given to the healing And, further, though they speak of faith as a necessary thing to spiritual salvation, yet they have lost sight of it as a word full of meaning, and having
of disease.
curing of all bodily disease. Christ constantly spoke of faith as the great and grand requisite in everything, especially to the curing of disease.
direct reference to
the
He never
to the use of drugs, for
advised his followers to have recourse he did not use them himself, evi-
dently
not recognizing them as useful or necessary Let us follow him through some of his jouragents. neys, and aim to learn lessons therefrom. subjoin
We
several passages from the scriptures, with their places When he had ended his sermon on the of reference.
act
mount, wherein he spake as man never spake, the first he performed was to cure a case of bodily infirmity:
"When
he was come down from the mountain, great
multitudes followed him.
And behold, And
there
if
came a leper
wilt,
and worshipped him, saying, Lord,

canst
thou
thou
make me
clean.
and touched him, saying, I immediately his leprosy was cleansed." Matt. 8; i, 2, 3. Here we take occasion to remark that this was an exWe hibition of the omnipotence of mind over matter.
desire to record not only cases of cure, but also to state events wherein he showed the power of mind over in-
Jesus put forth his hand, And will, be thou clean.
animate things.
"
55
And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples And behold, there arose a great tempest followed htm.
insomuch that the ship was covered with the And his disciples came to waves, but he was asleep. and awoke him him, saying, Lord, save us we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of Then he arose, and rebuked the winds little faith and the sea and there was a great calm." Matt. 8
in the sea,
;
!
23 to 26.
behold, they brought to him a man sick of the and Jesus, seeing their faith, said palsy, lying on a bed unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer thy
"
And
sins are forgiven thee."
Matt. 10;
it
2.
In the above quotation ness is spoken of as a sin.

this
in
will
be observed that sick-
It will
be necessary to bear
mind, for
it
is
by
sin that diseases are in the
world, and in proportion as we overcome sin we destroy disease but we can never overcome sin by the use of
;
drugs.
Again,
in
Matt. 9
to 29,
it is
recorded
"While he spake there came a certain

is
these things
unto them, behold,
ruler, and worshiped him, saying, even now dead but come and lay thy My daughter hand upon her and she shall live. And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. (And be:
hold, a
woman which was
diseased with
an issue of
blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the
56
of his garment.
hem may
For she
said within herself, If
touch his garment, I shall be whole. But and him turned when saw he he about, her, said, Jesus Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made
but
thee whole.
that
hour.)
And the woman was made whole from And when Jesus came into the ruler's
:
house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a for the maid is noise, he said unto them, Give place
And they laughed him to scorn. not dead, but sleepeth. But when the people were put forth, he went in, and
And the took her by the hand, and the maid arose. fame hereof went abroad into all that land. And when
Jesus departed
thence, two blind men followed him, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on crying, And when he was come into the house, the blind us. men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Then touched he their eyes, saying, AcYea, Lord.
cording to your
faith,
be
it
The
great lesson in the
unto you." above to be learned
is,
that
the power of faith in those possessing disease times a necessary element.
is
some-
the parable of the sower has some bearing upon the thorough success in some cases of the faith or mind-
As
he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow and when he sowed some seeds fell by the
cure,
we
;
here quote
it
"
And
way-side, and the fowls
57
;
some
earth
fell
;
came and devoured them up upon stony places, where they had not much
:
and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth and when the sun was up, they and because they had no root, they were scorched And some fell among thorns and the withered away. thorns sprung up, and choked them but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundred; ;
fold,
some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold. to hear, let him hear." Matt. 13; 7 to 9.
Who
hath ears
case of
Indeed, so necessary does faith seem to be in the some persons, that it appears to be almost im-
possible to cure in the power of

it
them without
their
own
individual faith
God
to restore
them
to health.
Hence,
:
recorded of Christ's sojourn in a certain place " And he did not many mighty works there, because of
is
their unbelief."
be found several scriptural accounts of cases of cure "And when they were come to the multiwill
:
Below
kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son for is a he lunatic, and sore vexed, for oft-times he falleth
tude, there
came
to
him a
certain
man
brought and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse How long generation, how long shall I be with you? shall I suffer you ? him And Jehither to me. Bring
fire,
into the
and
oft
into
the water.
And
him
to thy
disciples,
58
:
sus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him the child was cured from that very hour. Then
and
came
we
the disciples to Jesus apart, said, And Jesus said unto them, Because cast him out ?
and
Why
could not
of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this
mountain,
remove
Matt.
"
1
Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall and nothing shall be impossible unto you."
;
14 to 20.
And
behold, two blind
men
sitting
by the wayside,
when they heard that Jesus passed by, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son
;
cried out, saying,
of David.
And
the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace but they cried the more, saying, Have And Jesus Lord, thou son of David. mercy on us,
stood
ye that I shall do unto yon? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on
still,
and
called them,
and
said,
What
will
them, and touched their eyes and immediately their Matt. 20; eyes received sight, and they followed him."
:
30 to
"
34.
And
behold, there was a
woman which had
a spirit
of infirmity eighteen years, and was and could in no wise lift up herself.
bowed together, And when Jesus
saw
he
her,
Woman,
laid
he called her to him, and said unto her, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And
his
hands
on her
and
immediately she
59
was made
ii to 13.
"
straight,
and
glorified
God."
Luke 14;
And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off, and
they
said, Jesus, Master, have he saw them, he said unto mercy on us. And it them. Go shew yourselves unto the priests.
lifted
up
their voices,
and
And when
came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed." Luke 17; 12 to 14. " Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him,
When
spirit,
thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the
Lord,
if
and was troubled, and
said,
Where have ye
laid
him
wept.
They say unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him
!
And some
of them said, Could not this man, which
opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died ? Jesus therefore again
groaning
cave,
cometh to the grave. It was a and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her,
in himself,
:
not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God ? Then they took away
Said
60
laid.
the stone from the place where the dead was
And
Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me And I knew that thou near:
est
me
I
always
it,
by,
said
that they
but because of the people which stand may believe that thou hast sent
me.
And when
loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
he had thus spoken, he cried with a And he that was dead

;
came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go." St. John,
1 1
;
32 to 44.
are
The above
Christ.
It
some of the instances of cure by
might be here objected that though Christ that they were done by a miraculous power. Now, we do not believe in miracles,
effected these cures, yet
as the popular mind understands them. Many persons' ideas of miracles are that they are effects
that
is,
brought about by the rescinding, cutting off or overriding the laws of nature, which, after all, are the laws of God. But we say that God's laws never have been
and never can be
set
aside or contravened.
things recorded in the New Testament as the thousands of things that have occurred since the
Those miracles, and
days of Christ that are looked upon as miracles, are no miracles at all. They are the results of laws that are
brought into play, of which the mass of people are ignorant. Christ never claimed to perform miracles.
61
did was entirely in accordance with the laws He did not even claim that he alone possessed the power to perform the things which he did
of God.
What he
on the other hand, he said to his followers, "The works Peter that I do ye shall do, and greater than these." cured the lame man, Paul restored the cripple, and Christ's disciples everywhere went about curing diWhen they brought to him cases which he seases. could not cure, he simply said to them, "O ye of little
faith."
In closing this chapter it will be pertinent to refer to a very common expression that falls from the lips of even good Christians. When sickness overtakes them
In one they speak of it as an affliction from God. sense this is right, and from another view it is entirely
wrong.
is
Sickness
is
an
affliction
from
God
because
it
the result of a violation of God's laws.

iii,
In
Lamen-
grieve the children of men."
"For he doth not afflict willingly, nor David says: "No good thing will he withhold from them who walketh upHe is able and willing to cure all sickness rightly." and sorrow in those who will seek him aright. In Ex.
tations
33:
xxiii,
25
He
promises that
unto his voice, midst of them.
He
In
the people will hearken will take sickness away from the
if
ii
Chronicle, 16
12,
it
is
written:
"And Asa
diseased
in the thirty
in
his feet,
and ninth year of his reign was until his disease was exceeding
62
great : yet in his disease he sought not to .the And Asa slept with his LORD, but to the physicians.
fathers."
Since the days of Asa, just how many have slept with their fathers because they "sought not to the Lord
but to the physicians,"
less
it is
impossible to
tell.
Doubt-
many
millions.
As many more have
lived lives of
suffering because their whole system has been poisoned with drugs.
in San Francisco, California, engaged in effectcures and teaching the science of metaphysical ing healing, in the summer of 1884, the Evening Bulletin,
While
a paper that for respectability and thought was considered to occupy a leading position among the journals of that coast, made some strictures on the healing method.
We
were invited
to
make
a brief statement of our views
and claims, for publication in that paper. This we did, and as readers like to see both sides of the question discussed, we print the communication and the editor's answer, both appearing in the same issue
:
FAITH CURE AND MIND CURE.
EDITOR BULLETIN
peared an article though it contained some truths, yet gave but an imperfect
In your last Friday's issue apunder the above heading, which

:
outline
of the
I
science.
As
position and claims of this new have had considerable practice both as a
healer and teacher in metaphysical science, or as it is " the mind cure," I venture to ask for popularly called
space in your journal to set forth what we believe, and also what we claim to be able to perform.
64
First
contend that disease, whatever form it assume, is mental and not physical in other words,
;
We
may
that
diseases are but effects, having their origin in This will seem the regions of mind and not of matter.
all
to persons of the old school, a radical position to take, and yet a careful observation of the writings of all
practitioners reveal the fact that they have always recognized while administering their drugs, that after all, the cheerfulness, the hope, the faith, or to put it tersely, the
mind of the patients, is the great factor in restoring them to health. What is this but admitting that despondency, dread, apprehension and fear are the great
products of disease
?
ignore drugs in whatever form adminisAll outtered, as perfectly worthless curative agents. ward agents of whatever nature, although they may for
Second
we
a time appear to cure disease, yet, in the end, prove worthless. They are delusions and snares. They for
a time cover
or
up diseases, which reappear in some other form. While many persons
their first
are com-
pelled by facts to admit that cures have been effected by our method, they say that the diseases so cured are
always what medical

is
men
call of
a nervous kind.
not true.
We
recognize no
limit,
This and acknowledge
no
classification.
Third God, who
We
is
believe in one eternal and unchangeable
the
same
to-day, yesterday
and
for ever.
65
From Him cometh every good and perfect gift even The early Christians althe gift of healing of disease.
ways practiced the gifts of healing and declared that Christians of to-day, of those gifts came from God. whatever sect, will not dare to deny that Christ and his followers possessed and practiced the power of healing, but they seem disposed to doubt whether these powers have descended to modern times. We answer these doubts by an appeal to facts to be found in San Francisco and elsewhere. We recognize no permanent curative agent except the universal mind or God. The better we live, the closer becomes our relation to God, and we can draw from this universal fountain the power, which if
applied by knowledge,
ills
which
flesh
is
" equal to the curing of all the heir to." hear much in these
is
We
days of the power of magnetism, and the influence which departed spirits have upon the human organism. Whatever powers these may have, we know that they are of a limited and even doubtful character. All hu-
man
beings are spirits and as such can hold communion with the Infinite Spirit, and need not depend upon
departed friends to do the work in this mundane sphere which they can do themselves.
As all persons can work mathematics when they understand

Fourth
out
problems
in
the principles, so
any one can produce harmony in music by ruling out the discord. So also can any one bring health and har-
66
mony into their lives when they understand God's laws, and how to apply them. Disease is a discord, an error, and we recognize no power beneath the Divine to remove it. When this is recognized and acted upon, the
problem of disease or discord in God's children will be solved, and harmony, health and happiness will reign
upon the earth. In penning this
that I may expose and to the skepticism of some, myself These things have always been the heritage others. of those who have dared to step aside from the beaten track, but Divine power and the world of fact will in
I
am
conscious
to the ridicule of
the end win them over.

"
We
feel
with the old thinkers
that one, with
God,
is
a majority."
God
layeth his
I
hand on slowly, but His power is irresistible. that I cannot more fully express myself, but
regret as my
space must necessarily be limited in a journal that is published in so many public interests, I subscribe myself,
respectfully,

:
The "An
ago on
learned editor replied as follows
THE GIFT OF HEALING.

editorial
faith
which appeared in this paper some days and mind cures has elicited a reply, which
Of course the writer does appears in another column. It not agree with the views expressed in this journal. is presumed that there is such a thing as the philosophy
67
But of disease, including, of course, remedial agents. the diagnosis which our correspondent gives is not consistent wijth any philosophy which has thus far been
recognized
soul, to
in
the world.
It
is
simply that
all
diseases
originate in the
mind.
They
are
mere discords of the
be cured by a direct interposition of Providence, which amounts to a miraculous intervention applied to This theory discards all secondary personal healing.
agents, such as drugs and the help of skilled physicians
who know minutely the whole human anatomy, and who

have had the advantage of the best medical training which the world affords. It relegates the healing art
to a class of persons
who ignore the physical system both from policy and because they actually know nothing about it, and who prefer, for their own conscience, to locate all diseases of the mind, and to call for divine
removing them, counting human
is
assistance in
skill
as
nothing.
Now,
there
be In some cases the disease

treated in this
sion.
a class of diseases which possibly can way with some benefit to the patient.
is
nothing more than a delu-
There
is
a theory that the majority of the peoall
ple are not sane on
subjects.
There
is
some degree
of abnormalism.
That, however, is a fanciful theory, founded on nothing more than a class of mental phenomena which have a close connection with bodily in-
firmities.
To
say that the victim of neuralgia or dys-
68
pepsia, or
of a consuming fever, or of the small-pox,
has no physical disease, that his ailments are simply the result of a disease in his mind, or a disease which is to
be located
there,
is
good
is
right to call at
The skeptic has a simply absurd. once for a demonstration. The
is in a perfectly healthy condition with a fever or some actual disease, of prostrated his course mind, as a consequence, is affected by his condition. But that is a secondary considerabodily
individual
whose mind
tion.
The mind
cure in
all this
is
class of cases
is
per-
fectly hopeless.
The
disease
not there.
It is
not a
mind of the patient, but it is a poison in That cannot be removed by laying on of hands, nor by any degree of faith in an unseen power. There never has been a well authenticated case in modern times where a patient was cured
discord in the
his physical system.
of consumption by any medication of his mind, such as is involved in the faith-cure theory not a single instance where a malignant cancer has
in the last stages
been cured by
faith,
is
or a crushed limb restored.
Now,
there
partly real,
which are limited
a class of diseases, partly fictitious and to the nervous system and

If the
the mind of the victim.
individual
is
under a
delusion that something ails him, that is the disease. No doubt there are thousands in this condition. The
world
cases
is full
is
of delusions.
What
is
needful
if
it
in
such
to
remove the
delusion,
and
can be re-
69
justifies
moved by another
the means.
It
delusion,
perhaps the end
might better accord with the truth to tell the patient that nothing ails him. But in a morbid condition of mind that will not always do. Old Dr.
Abernethy and other God-fearing physicians would have told such patients that nothing under the heavens ailed them, and that their chief need was to get out into the bracing atmosphere, and take more cheerful
views of
life.
Just here
How many
bread
cure.
pills?
is room for the play of all sorts of quackery. cures have been effected by administering
old application of the faith believed that there was great virtue patient in the medicine and so got well that is, escaped from
That was an
The
his delusion.
sician
knows
In every insane asylum the skillful phythat a majority of his patients are suffer-
ing from delusions which are brought on by a bad condition of the physical system.
He knows just how
far
he can go with his mind cure; but he knows well enough that he cannot reach that ultimatum without
first
searching for disease in the physical system and applying his remedies there.
On the theory which our correspondent promulgates, what a beneficent work might be wrought in these asylums by the faith-cure practice There are a thousand in a all under some sort of a people single institution, delusion. Once remove this and the patient is well.
!
70
!
It is only a discord in the mind No doubt, any form of mental delusion is in the direction of insanity. It is
a a
symptom of unsound
gress far
mentality. If the symptoms proa of insanity is recorded. But in case enough majority of such cases some well-chosen remedial
agent, such as a change of climate, travel, medicine wisely administered, is all that is needful for the com-
And sometimes to be told bluntly that plaining party. there is no serious thing the matter, is a potent remedy. The province of faith cure and mind cure we conceive to be to exorcise from the
delusions.
mind of the patient

is
his
The
taint of
is
mental abnormalism
now
so
wide-spread that there

faith cure
and mind
cure.
ills
room for remedies included in These remedies cannot be

in
any other than an indirect When it is perceived that the mind is acting unway. favorably upon the body, a restoration of the one will have a beneficial influence on the other. This class of
applied
to physical
nervous diseases come
body, proloss of low tone and insomnia, spirits, ducing vitality. Of course if the mind can be brought into a healthy con-
in
time to affect the
go a long way toward restoring a healthy tone to the physical system. But when one is run over by a locomotive and his legs are mashed to a If anything jelly, the faith cure must be counted out. saves him it will be the surgeon's knife and good nursdition, the result will
ing.
When
a victim
is
overtaken by the yellow fever
71
and the poison

collapses
his mind.
is all
in his veins, or
the cholera which

is
his stomach, the trouble

It is
it
not primarily in absurd to refer this disease to any such
source,
and
would be arrant quackery
to
depend
upon the expedients recognized as belonging to the faith or mind cure. In the latter class of remedies there
and the mysterious. To this day great dependence is placed upon the incantations and pow-wow of medicine men among uncivilized and halfcivilized people. But among enlightened people it is
is
room
for the occult
supposed that such remedies are discarded; or they only furnish fresh illustrations of the delusions which have not yet been banished from the world."
In the above criticism the editor appears to have made some points against this science, without really
having done so. When we say that disease originates in the mind, we do not mean in all cases that it origipatient or particular person suffering from disease, but that it has its origin at some time or other in the error, mistake or discord of mortal
nates in the
mind of the
mind.
Man
is
his fellows.
is
It
mysteriously connected mentally with was Pythagoras who said that if there
souls will
one poor suffering soul in this universe, all other be affected until that suffering soul is re-
stored to health.
error
The error, the discord of one is the and discord of the whole, liable to be acted upon by fear and other agents, and made manifest as circum-
72
stances
may
dictate.
The
editor
is
further in error
when he
no
says that neuralgia, dyspepsia, or
consuming
recognize
fever cannot be cured by this method.

limit to this
We
applied. Of course we do not ignore the necessity of conditions. Christ himself recognized the necessity of conditions in effecting
power when properly
cures.
What
does
it
mean when
it is
stated
"And He
could do no mighty works there because of their unbeHere was an admission that belief or faith was lief "?
a necessary element to success in those particular cases. If a man should come to us with a disease, and obstinately refuse to believe that we could cure him, or strongly doubted that we had any power whatever to do him any good, these fears and doubts would go a
long way in keeping him in his diseased condition. But with the perfect knowledge in the mind of the operator,
and a perfect nize no limit

to be
faith in the
mind of the
any
patient,
we
recog-
to the cure of
class of disease.
For
the truth of this
we appeal to facts, some of which are found elsewhere in this work. We do not desire
through
all
to follow the learned editor
his objections
and quasi-objections. What he urges mainly against the mind-cure can be urged against cures by any method
or process whatever.

need no statistics to prove to us the fearful prevIn one shape or other alence of disease and suffering. they are to be found in every locality and in almost may justly assume that a vast deal every house.
We
We
of suffering might be prevented by the use of judicious means within the reach of every individual. It is certain that the diseases and appetites of parents are transmitted to their offspring. constantly find the children of those whe are addicted to the use of alcohol
We
and tobacco, manifesting o the same desire
for
these
things as their progenitors. Though the habits, mind and disposition of the father have considerable influence
determining the physical, mental and moral condition of his offspring, yet they cannot be compared to the inin
mother for good or for evil upon her children. These remarks are forcibly true of the period preceding the time when she becomes a mother. At these times mothers are in the habit of using vile drugs, and when this is not the case they often permit themselves to become violent in temper, or they inThese can be all obviadulge in desponding moods.
fluences of the
74

application
ted by a knowledge and

science.
of metaphysical
this
When
mothers understand and act upon
great Truth, a speedy improvement will take place in Man is an animal, and more than an the human race.
animal, and
it is
shame
in
to
our civilization that the
horse, the ox, the sheep and the
bestowed on them species than man.

" "
hog have more cares improving and perpetuating their
" Resemblance of Montaigne, in his essay on the Children to their Fathers," says "there is a certain sort
;
as of crafty humility that springs from presumption our for we confess that this, example, ignorance in
many things, and are so courteous as to acknowledge that there are in works of nature some qualities and conditions that are imperceptible to us, and of which
our understanding cannot discern the means and causes by which honest declaration we hope to obtain that
;
people shall also believe us
of,
those that
we say we
;
need not trouble ourselves to seek out miracles and strange difficulties methinks there are such incomprehensible wonders amongst the
do understand.
We
things that we ordinarily see as surpass all difficulties of miracles." In his essay he goes on and applies these remarks to inherited peculiarities of character,
figure, constitution
and
habits.
Many things
in nature
can be referred to law, and we can readily prophecy with a degree of certainty as to what will occur, and

sometimes
tell
75
the "
how
"
of their occurrence.
is
But
in
not possible. the matter of heredity this However, the lesson is forced upon us that traits are inherited,
and in some cases make their appearance after the lapse Sometimes they pertain of two or three generations.
to the configuration of the
body
;
at other times to a
peculiarity of the countenance

it is
while in
many instances
One
matters of disposition alone that are conspicuous. or two of these may be mentioned. Montaigne
at
states that in the family of Lepidus,
Rome, there
were three, not successively, but by intervals, that were In born with the same eye, covered with a cartilage. Greece there was a family, almost every member of which had the crown of the head pointed like a lancehead all whose heads were not so formed being regarded as illegitimate. Some years ago there was on exhibition in Europe a father and son, named Jeftichjew, whose faces were so covered with hair as to give them the appearance of Skye terriers the hair was as soft and as white as the fur of the Angora cat. A well
;
authenticated
case
is
that
of a
family
in
England,
named Lambert.
The
peculiarity affecting this family
appeared first in the person of Edward Lambert, whose whole body, except the face, the palms of the hands,
and the soles of the
feet,
was covered with a
sort of
He was the shell, consisting of horny excrescences. father of six children, all of whom, as soon as they had
76
reached the age of six weeks, presented the same peculiarity. Only one of them lived he married and trans;
mitted the peculiarity to all his sons. For five generations all the male members of the family were distinguished by the horny excrescences which had adorned
the body of Edward Lambert. There are many other cases of inherited physical peculiarities which could be given, but the above instances will be found sufficient for the purposes of this work.
hereditary transmission of qualities will be generally admitted, whether they are physical, mental or moral, and although wise and learned fathers do not
The
always possess wise and learned children, still there can be no doubt of the transmission of intellectual
forces
and tendencies. If the ancestry of our poets, and scientists warriors could be traced, we historians,
should find enough to convince us that they possessed special powers, sufficient to account for the transcen-
dant powers in their offspring. In this connection it will be well for our temperance friends to learn a lesson, which to some extent will af-
them argument against the use of stimulating drinks by parents. Dr. Howe says "The children of drunkards are deficient in bodily and vital energy, and are predisposed by their very organization to have
ford
:
a craving for alcoholic stimulants.
If
they pursue the
77
course of their fathers, which they have more temptation- to follow and less power to avoid than the children of the temperate, they add to their hereditary weakness, and increase the tendency to idiotcy or insanity
in their
constitution,
and
this
they leave to their child-
ren after them."
A sermon
we make
cago, entitled
was preached by Robert Collyer, of Chi" The Thorn in the Flesh," from which
:
" In the the following extract far-reaching influences that go to every life, and away backward as
certainly as forward, children are sometimes born with As they grow appetites fatally strong in their nature.
up the appetite grows with them, and speedily becomes a master, the master or tyrant, and by the time he arrives at
manhood
the
man
is
a slave.
heard a
man
him
say that for eight-and-twenty years the soul within
had
to stand like
an unsleeping
sentinel,
appetite for strong drink.
To
be a
man
guarding his at last, under
such a disadvantage, not to mention a saint, is as fine a piece of grace as can well be seen. There is no
larger vision than this of the Let the reader just think depravity of human nature." man for twenty-eight years beset by a deof this.
doctrine that
demands a
Has the preacher overdrawn mon, and yet not fall ? We do not want to discuss that total depravity doctrine, but we affirm that there was no necessity for that long besetment of temptation. Metaphys!
his picture
78
ical

science says,
"
Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Yea, the devil of appetite for strong drink. We have known of cases cured, and we further affirm that no outward circumstances without internal cure
will
prove
effective.
So
is
that in the
metaphysical science
part.
bound
to play
temperance reform an important
question has often been discussed as to the length of the term, if any, that Divine Providence has affixed to the duration of human life. The expression
"
The
(Gen., 6-5)
His days
shall
bean hundred and twenty
years," has been estimated by some to mean that this should be the extreme duration of life; others have
thought that
lived one
it
meant the average.

life
It is certain that
the duration of
varies in different ages.
Abraham
hundred and five years. Joshua died at one hundred and ten. When David wrote his Psalms, In eighty years was considered an extraordinary age.
" the QOth Psalm, verse 10, it is recorded The days of our years are three-score years and ten and if by reason of strength they be four-score years, yet is there However, there are many strength, labor and sorrow."
:
;
cases in our times where persons have attained to a
greater age than
and have passed their aged days in comfort and peace. How long man, under the most favorable circumstances, was intended to live, is a matter partly of observation and partly of A conjecture.
this,

:
79
"The distinguished French scientist, P. Flourens, says normal duration of human life may be treated in two
ways, as Haller and Buffon have done
physiologically.
historically or
historically what the and normal term of the life of man is, natural, ordinary, and they placed it between ninety and a hundred years. They afterwards sought, still historically, to learn what and Haller has is the extreme limit of human life, Buffon placed it at a little less than two centuries. that of life could be estithe total duration thought mated by the period of growth." Now, if we take the limit of the complete growth in man and the following named animals to be as follows, we may be able to
They sought
make some
intelligent
approximation as to the natural
duration of life.
This completion takes place

DUBATION OF LIFE.
In the camel at 8 years.
About 40
years.
" "
"
dog
"
" 3
"
"
10 to 12
"
"
Man
ing.
1 8 months. 9 to 10 considered to be about twenty years in growIf from the above table we conclude that ani-
cat
is
mals
then
of
live five times as
may we
life
long as their period of growth, not conclude that man will live five times
his period of growth,
human
which would make the duration one hundred years. But whether this is
80
so or not,
is

not so
much a matter of importance as the manner in which human beings lead their lives. A long life is not so much to be desired as a life of useBurke says: "Old age, when it has been atfulness.
tained in the paths of wisdom and virtue, claims uniAn old age of that kind is versal honor and respect." to be desired, but there are cases where persons have
whose career has been one continued course Others have had their declining years of selfishness. made miserable by diseases and pains marred and which might have been prevented. Give us health, The metaphysical healer will usefulness and long life.
lived long
bestow his time and talent not alone in curing diseases, but in preventing them he will prevent the impairment of health and the disturbing of the affections
and
intellect.
He will,
also, as
opportunity
may
occur,
minds of those with whom he comes in contact such ideas as will improve them spiritually, and thus lead them nearer to God. Wealth is a good thing to have., but too many sacrifice their lives and every Their cry has noble feeling of manhood to obtain it.
instil
into the
been gold
gold
"Bright and yellow, hard and cold;

Molten, graven,
hammered and rolled;

light to hold
;
Heavy
to get
and
Hoarded, bartered, bought and sold;

Stolen, borrowed, squandered, doled;
Spurned by the young, but hugged by the old; To the very verge of the churchyard mould."
81
that
We
must not
lose sight of the
fact
when we
speak of longevity and its diseases, that mental and moral diseases are often as dangerous, and sometimes more so, than the so-called physical diseases. In no
way
is
this
more
strikingly exhibited than in the insane
craving for money, which some aged persons display up The habit of grasping and to the edge of the grave.
hoarding has become so strong upon them, that they Of such souls we should appear powerless to resist it.
say that they have wandered far from their Maker, and have missed the true object and aims of life. They
men nor their God. They are and are neither friends, lovers nor citizens blind, torpid, of the world, and can have no sympathy with mankind.
neither love their fellow
They know nothing

admonishing
in this
of
human nor
divine love.
How
Henry
connection are the words of

life partake, dear as his eye He'll never them forsake
More
11
But souls that of his own good
He
loves as his
are to
own
;
self
They
Him
When
They
they shall die, then

live,
God Himself shall
die
they live in blest eternity."
Metaphysical science says, desire to

also desire to live well.
live long, but
Good
actions are of
more im-
portance than longevity, but if we live in accordance with God's laws, both are attainable.

previous chapters has either a direct or indirect bearing upon the subject of
All that
in
we have advanced
the present chapter, and it is absolutely necessary that the positions we have taken should be thoroughly understood,
otherwise the student

in
is
with
success
curing disease,
not likely to meet either in himself or

in
others.
The conviction must be

is
thoroughly implanted
the mind, that
mind and matter are two

in
distinct things,
whether matter
Next, that
it is
an organized or unorganized state. mind only that can feel, think and act,
and the only thing in creation that possesses force. For the truth of this proposition we do not rely simply upon mathematical demonstration and visible
but also upon that which namely, innate consciousness.
facts,
is
When
"
I
"
equally convincing, a person says,

in the
have a headache
is
"I" have pain
what the I" ? Plainly, it is stomach that speaks. It is something outside and independent of these organs, for it speaks of them as " " I being distinct from itself. says, "My" Again, this head aches, " My" stomach pains "me," " My" hands
"
stomach; not the head nor the
84
are cold, "
My"
feet are
warm.
Here
"
the
is
"
I
"
speaks
of
"
my"
things
that
is,
that the "I
not these or-
They are not me, but gans, but that it owns them. mine that is, I am something independent of them. This something is the soul. The position we take is, that the body and its organs are but the correspondences of a spiritual body and These spiritual organs are the real and lastorgans. while the material are but manifestations, and are ing, These material manifestations cannot connot lasting. trol the spiritual, but the spiritual can and does control the material. Upon a true understanding and conviction
of this great
this
is
truth lies
our success
in healing.
Without
understood, the student must turn back
to the contents of this book,
and become thoroughly
imbued with the doctrines and

as
truths herein taught. of the Then, organs of the body as being distinct from the soul, so we do of disease, and we ad-
we speak
If
dress
it
as such.
the healer has a critical or acute
as follows
case to treat, the patient should be addressed inaudibly " You are distinct from your body and its
:
organs.
You have nothing to fear. There is no dan'You' are not sick Then 'you' are deceived." ger. the healer should endeavor to find out the cause of the sickness, so that he can address the disease by name, and say to it, " You have no power to afflict this soul, for it is immortal and one with God, and governed by
;
85
His unerring and unchanging law of love and harmony, and there is no discord in His government." Then, to
prove that the patient is suffering only in belief, say that there is no life or intelligence in matter, and that the soul does not dwell in matter, but only acts upon it and has perfect control over it, and has it in its own
power to say whether the matter shall suffer or not. Remember, it is mind acting upon matter, and not matThis proves beyond a doubt that in a ter upon mind. true sense there is really no illness. For as matter can feel only as the mind says it can, and the soul being perfect and not dwelling in matter, does not suffer. Then, what is it that suffers? It is the mortal mind, and over
this the soul has
supreme control when you choose
to
exercise
it.
The
it
to discord or error in
soul itself cannot be sick or subject any way or under any circum-
subject to His law not patient suffering from a sin against God's laws, he will speedily recover. In treating a case of indigestion, which is one of the
stances, for
is
born of
God and
is
only, and
if
the
most prevalent diseases, say to the patient mentally: "Your stomach is not affected, it is in a perfectly healthy condition, and so are all the other organs; the blood is pure and circulates perfectly, and there is no
inherited taint in the blood."
tion,
If the case
is
is
consump-
any decay going dispute the evidence that there on in the tissues. Learn, if possible, in all cases, what
86
is
the underlying cause, and then dispute its power to do harm, and at the same time urge the patient to help
himself by banishing
all
doubts and fears of his

difficult
ulti-
mate recovery.
sible to cure a
It
is
very
in
case where the patient
doubter and has no faith
and almost imposa stubborn is God's power. He must be
taught to have implicit faith, and urged to take a brave stand and express his determination to recover from his sickness. When these things are accomplished, the
recovery is only a question of time. The reason why we address disease and bid
part, as
if
it
it
de-
was a person and could understand our language, is that experience proves that by so doing the mind becomes more concentrated and gains in
If we exhibit any weakness, power over the disease. in of faith doubt or want treating disease, either in ourselves or others, the disease will take a firmer hold and we are sure to fail. Our measure of success will be in proportion to our possession of knowledge and faith.
we doubt our power to heal, we power, for we are a part of Him.

If
are doubting God's
Very often, patients have a great desire to discuss, and will want the healer to make it plain to them how
cures can be effected.
cite
In these instances
it
is
well to
will
them cures
persons
that
have been
effected.
Facts
often prove effective
when reasoning
will fail.
is
Many
will
say that such a thing
impossi-

ble.
87
let
Arago
said,
"Outside of pure mathematics,

impossible."
no
is
man pronounce anything
Everything
The impossipossible that is not morally impossible. bilities of one age become the possibilities of the
next.
it
old practitioners in drugs have pronounced impossible to cure certain cases, but the metaphys-
The
ical
healer has cured
many
it is
of them.
As
a general thing
if
wise to avoid discussion with
they should have a stubborn disTo argue with an obstinate man will only position. cause him to adhere more closely to his errors. In
patients, especially
these cases you can only state results and give Conviction must be left to time.
facts.
The adherents of this science must make up their minds to receive some amount of misrepresentation, obloquy and even persecution; but it should always be remembered that he who possesses the truth has a mighty weapon at his command. One cure will have a greater effect upon the minds of most people than all the logical reasoning that can be employed. Then, every case which offers itself for cure is certain to have What will prove effective in peculiarities of its own. But there is a cure for one case may fail in another. is curable, and the practitioner of this that everything science must look upward and onward, never for a moment doubting of ultimate
success.
As
the mind-cure
is
really but
an exhibition of the
88
almost omnipotent power which mind has over matter, the student should be careful to master the principles
set forth in the chapters of this book.
It
is
true that
we know but little of what mind can do and cannot do; but we know of its mighty power through witnessing
and these results are sufficient to inspire us with unbounded confidence and infinite hope. Even persons who have well studied this system, and
its results,
practiced
is
it
in
it
much
with great success, still confess that there that they do not understand. They can
neither
comprehend nor describe the process of healing. But there are the facts, and no one can dispute these.
It
is
not light cases nor transitory pains alone that are cured, but contagious and hereditary diseases also have
In some instances these been successfully treated. have yielded to a few treatments, but sometimes a long In course of treatment has been found necessary. Charlestown resides a gentleman, whose eyes were covered with cataracts, and who had been told by one of the most eminent doctors of that city that he would be The patient went blind, that nothing could help him.
to a metaphysical healer, at that
time being so blind
that he could not read the signs on the street. After a few weeks of treatment both cataracts had disappeared.
Another
lady, in
125 sittings, To-day there
Medford, Mass., after a treatment of was relieved of even a worse blindness.

is
scarcely a locality in which cases of cure
89
Elsewhere in this book will be found are not found. an account of a few of the many cases which we ourselves have successfully effected.
Too much importance cannot be

fluence of the will
in
will itself is a curative agent,
attached to the
in-
Not that the effecting cures. but it directs and concen-
which are healing agents. It also keeps off evils. A person, to be a successful healer, either of himself or others, must believe not only in the power, A believer in the but also in the freedom of the will. necessitarian or fatalist doctrine, need never hope to meet with success. These people believe that every
trates forces
phenomenon
and
is
a cause of
its
also an effect of
is
invariable consequent, invariable antecedent, and this

its
antecedent again
is
an
effect of its antecedent,

is
and so
backwards forever.
This
the doctrine of necessity.
a true doctrine with regard to some things, Necessity and so also is freedom of the will. Two opposites explain and limit each other. of necessity without there
You
could
know nothing
was freedom, no more than

Will
is
you could know anything of pleasure, except by recognizing

it is it
as the opposite of pain.
first
cause
is
self-originating,
hence
its
power.
This
one
of the
great weapons metaphysical Huxley truly says " That man, I think, has had a liberal education, who
:
of the
healer.
has been so trained
in youth, that his
body
is
the ready
90

'
'
whose mind is stored with a knowledge of the great and fundamental truths of nature and the laws of her operations one who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will,,
servant of his
will,
;
the servant of a tender conscience

to love
all all
who
has learned
to hate
beauty, whether of nature or of art, vileness, and to respect others as himself."
Experience has taught us that although a patient may be fully cured of certain diseases, yet that these
diseases will return
if
the patient
is
exposed
it is
to the old
conditions and influences.
Hence
of the highest
importance that every person who is cured by this system should receive instructions how to treat himself.
a perpetual battle, for it is ever the human system, and on any fear, any admission of its presence, increases its The pitying expressions of friends, such as, power.
Contest with disease
is
the watch, ready to attack
are quite poorly," You need rest," You ought to consult a physician, "" have influences that tighten the chain of disease around
sick
"Oh, how
"
you look,"
"
"You
patients.
Sick persons want cheerful expressions and
encouragemeut of every kind. It will frequently be found that a patient, after one or two treatments, will exhibit symptoms that was in a might lead him to believe that he It worse condition than when the treatment began.

should be explained to him that this
is
91
but a break-
ing up of old conditions, and a bringing them to the surface in order to expunge them from the system. Then
it
must always be borne
in
mind
that moral treatment
goes a long way

there are
some
"
:
in effecting cures. Upon this subject excellent remarks in a work written by
M. Reveille-Parise on Moral Therapeutics.

thor says
all
The
au-
If a patient
dies
we open
his body,
rum-
mage among
the viscera, and scrutinize most narrowly
the organs and tissues, in the hope of discovering lesions of some sort or another. There is not a small
vessel,
tively
membrane, cavity or follicle which is not attenexamined the color, the weight, the thickness,
nothing escapes the eye of
the volume, the alteration the studious anatomist.
He
handles, touches, smells,
and one way or another. One thing only escapes his attention that is, he is looking at merely organic effects, forgetting all the while that he must mount higher up
looks at everything;
then he draws his conclusions
to discover their causes.
These organic
alterations are
observed perhaps in the body of a person who has suffered deeply from mental distress and anxiety these
;
have been the energetic cause of his decay, but they cannot be discovered in the laboratory or amphitheatre.
physicians of extensive experience are destitute of the ability of searching out the mental causes of disease. They cannot read the book of the
Many
92
heart,
and yet it is in this book that are inscribed day by day and hour by hour all the griefs, and all the miseries, and all the joys, and all the hopes of man, and in which will be found the most active and incessant prinseries of organic changes which constitute pathology. This is quite true whenever the equilibrium of our mental nature is long or very
ciple of that frightful
:
seriously disturbed, we may rest animal functions will suffer."

It
assured that
our
must always be remembered that we are not treatIt is mind affecting mind, and ing matter, but mind. we must aim to bring to our aid all the powers and forces of our souls. We must try to lift up and cherish the spirit, so that it will rise above all discord and inharmony. There must be a perfect understanding of these truths in both healer and patient. There must
be a mutual recognition of the influence that mind has over the entire human organization.
In his
work on
Mental
Hygiene,
Dr. Sweetzer
influence of the intellect and the passions says, upon the health and endurance of the human organization has
"The
ated in
large.
been but imperfectly understood and appreci^ its character and importance by mankind at
believe,
have formed any adequate estimate of the sum of bodily ills which have their source
mind.
Few, we
in the
Those of the medical

upon
concentrating their attention
profession, even, the physical, are too
93
;
prone
to neglect the
mental causes of disease
and thus
may
patients be subjected to the harshest medicines of the pharmacopaeia, the true origin of whose malady is
reach."
some inward sorrow, which a moral balm alone can

quotations of a like character works could be given, the healer in this medical from
Now, although many
science must not suppose that medical men will endorse On the other hand, they metaphysical healing.
are
ready with their cries of "quackery," "charlatanism," "humbuggery," and choice terms of a like imIf
port.
we can be
scolded, ridiculed
and frightened
from our path,
that task gratuitously.
there are numbers ready to perform Having put our hands to the
If in all cases the plow, we must not look back. healer does not meet with instant success, let him not
lose heart.
In the path of duty we require patience, kindness, knowledge and hearts of steel, to fight down disease, and also the opposition of those who desire to
make
a monopoly of treating diseases.

"Give us the nerve of
We
must look
upward and onward.

steel,
And the arm of fearless might, And the strength of will that is ready To battle for the right.
still
Give us the clear, cool brain, That is never asleep or dozing, But sparkling ever with bold endeavor To wake the world from its prosing.
94

Give us the heart
to feel
The sufferings of another, And fearless power in the dying hour
To
aid a suffering brother.

steel,
Give us the nerve of
And the arm of fearless might, And the heart that can love and feel, And the head that is always right.
For the foeman
is
now abroad,
with crimes
"
And
Let
1
the land
is filled
it
be our prayer to God,

give us the
Oh
men
for the times.'
The
ary
true healer
spirit in
must have something of the missionhim if he would be successful. And in
view of the fact that disease breeds suffering, poverty and crime, he can go forth into the world like a true missionary, scattering blessings amongst mankind. For these labors the world expects to reward him, so that at least he may be able to live and labor. And, like a
missionary, the healer must not fail to take into The worst account the power of kind words and acts.
true
way
to reform the
world
is
to
condemn
it,
and the
their
worst
errors,
way
is
to heal diseases
and cure persons of
to
condemn
the individual.
wherein the sun and wind disputed as
The old fable, to who would

still
make
the traveler take off his cloak, has
a good
The wind blew its hardest, which only moral for us. caused the traveler to cling more closely to his garBut the sun shed its silent rays warmer and ment.
warmer upon the man,
until
he quietly threw aside his

cloak.
95
Errors are garments that cling more closely to the person when subjected to harsh opposition and upbraiding, but will be quietly thrown aside when touched by the wand of kind treatment. Even the poor drunkdriven to his cups by censure and contemptIf erring men are appealed to as if they were men, and not despised brutes, success would more frequently attend the efforts of the reformer.
ard
may be
uous words.
We
should never
follies
sit in
harsh judgment upon the faults and
of others.
is
that there
The anatomist and sculptor tell us no human being that is perfectly formed.
One arm
the
one.
is
body is Sometimes the
longer or larger than the other, one side of a little differently shaped from the opposite
right eye
little
is
different
from the
left,
or the nose
may
be a
awry.
We
do not
find
So in our moral nature physical perfection anywhere. we can find defects in every human being. This should
teach us charity and whether the disease be physical, mental or moral, treatment that is based on sympathy
;
and kindness will prove censorious measures will
effective
fail.
when uncouth and

soft
"A
answer turneth
away wrath," when
The
severity will increase the flame. healer should recollect that his mission is amongst
He is a creator of happiness in conscious of doing this, he himothers, self will be reaping the highest blessings which it is
the highest on earth.
and when he
is
possible for
man
to reap
on earth.
PROGRESS.
What
is
progress
This question
life,
will
be answered
according to a
man's view of
and
his belief in the
meaning and mission of
existence.
man may mean an
increase of
;
Progress with one money with another a

;
while a third may claim that multiplicity of books means the entire freedom of the individual. There
it
is
no exact definition to be given to the word progress. Whether in the individual, or in the nation, we can
come
sist in
to the conclusion that true progress
does not con-
the accumulation of material wealth.

:
The good
Bishop Heber sang

'
What though
Blow
the spicy breezes
soft o'er
Ceylon's
is vile
isle,
Though every prospect
pleases,
And
only
man
"
!
Let us apply this truth to our state and nation. though our mines give forth their endless stores
though the golden grain waves in the breeze though our harbors are crowded with ships bearing the flags of every nation, if the pale image of woe, gaunt poverty, and loathsome disease stalk abroad in our
!
What What What
streets
Progress cannot simply
mean
the building of
98
PROGRESS.
it cannot large ships, whether for commerce or for war mean the construction of forts and the mobilization of
;
cannot mean even the increase of learning and science, if these are to be confined to a few. No no True human progress can only be seen and exhibarmies
;
it
Men ited in the growth of better men and women. and women who shall not be discriminated against because of sex or material possessions men and women who shall stand equally before the law written and un;
written, especially
ties
the latter
is
for while in
some
as for
locali-
the written law

is
as free for
woman
man,
yet there
demns
a cruel unwritten law in society that conwoman to eternal infamy for the same act for
is little
which there
or no condemnation for man.
We
need not enlarge on this subject, as the facts are plain to be seen and read of all men. Progress, to be true, must not be partial and one-sided it must reach and influence
all.
The whole
branch cultivated at
must grow, and not one the expense of all the rest.
tree
in the
unfolding of the faculties of the human soul. say unfolding, for the reason that the most ignorant savage is born with the possible faculties of the highest and grandest philosopher that
Progress also consists
We
" ever appeared on earth. possible faculties," say in in the primitive not existence are because they yet man. The embryo the tendency are there, but not No person of thought will conthe things themselves.
We
PROGRESS.
99
trunk,
tend that the oak
tree,
with
its
and branches,
and
leaves, are in the acorn.

is
But the tendency to be-
come these things
there.
So with
primitive
man
even phrenologically speaking, of the cultivated philosopher, and the latter will perform acts that seem to the savage like miracles he will even regard him as a god; The moral to be The wisest and most learned from these facts, is this advanced man is still an unfolded and unfolding being.
he does not possess the
faculties,
:
There are
to rely too
faculties
and powers
in the
human
soul that
our age has not yet witnessed.
much
for progress
have been taught what are called our upon
We
reasoning faculties
that
is,
the faculties that can weigh,
measure and draw conclusions from facts and phenomena. But even in our present undeveloped state, there are
evidences that
men
reasoning
faculties.
possess higher powers than these Kepler was a great mathematician
and a reasoning man, but he perceived or conceived of the orbit of Mars, and by a long process of calculation and reasoning he proved the truthfulness of his percepThat perception was simply the exhibition of a tion. power of the mind that has as yet received no name. That power in Kepler's mind grasped at once at a great
fact.
To say that it was an ignorant guess, would simply be a display of the grossest ignorance in those who Gilbert perceived that the would make the remark.
100
earth
PROGRESS.
was a great magnet, whose poles were north and

.
south
The
by numerous
periments.
truth of this perception has been verified accurate observations and reasonable ex-
Very many discoveries in all the walks of life have been made by people who did not possess in any marked degree these so-called reasoning faculties,
but they possessed a power of seizing hold of the truth. There are other methods of arriving at the secrets of
cesses.
nature than by those of the inductive and deductive proAs the soul is unfolded it seizes its own.
Upon
ties
the unfoldment of these other and higher facul-
And in proportion of man, depends our progress. as we live in accordance with God's laws, so will the
powers of our soul become unfolded
words,
;
or,
in
other
we
shall receive the influx of the

spirit.
wisdom and
power of the divine
Let us not mistake mere change for progress, or we shall be like the good woman whose only claim to the title of a progressionist was founded on the fact that
every week she changed the position of the furniture in her house. Change of government, of school books, of social relations, or a thousand other things, do not
This must be looked necessarily imply progression. for only in the growth and expansion of the soul. Then it is important to know that while we progress in
one direction that we do not retrogress

is
in another.
It
a lamentable fact that while
we
are compelled to ad-
PROGRESS.
101
mit an improvement in many directions, we have also to confess that the diseases of man have increased
to
an alarming extent.
And we
should recollect that
disease produces not only weakness and suffering, but also poverty and crime. It is one of the greatest dragchains upon human advancement. Any plan or sys-
tem of things
far
that will destroy or prevent disease,
is
so
an engine of progress.
metaphysical science. has been demonstrated in thousands of instances

that the healer
These powers we claim for That it possesses these powers,

;
so
in
and teacher
in this science is
adding
the no small degree to the progress of mankind. method by which this is done is the only true and lasting one and just because we do not trust for man's progress to an improvement merely of his outward cir-
And
cumstances.
We
begin
in
the interior.
No amount
of paint or powder will put the hue and color of health upon the cheek. To do this, we must improve internal
Put good thoughts into a man's mind and you will alter the appearance of his countenance, and he, because of the new thoughts and aspirations within
man.
him, will seek to improve his material surroundings. In proportion as we improve the mind of man, in proportion as
we make
the real
responding improvement ments of human existence.

the mountain peaks of
healthy, so will a cortake place in all the departIt

is
man
we can ascend hope, from whose lofty tops we

thus
102
PROGRESS.
behold the dawn of a better day.

in the
We can
truly exclaim
words of another
"A
brighter
When
morn awaits the human day, every transfer of earth's natural gifts Shall be a commerce of good words and works;
When
The
poverty and wealth, the thirst for fame,
fear of infamy, disease
and woe;
When
war, with its million horrors and fierce hate, Shall live but in the memory of Time;
Who, like a penitent libertine, shall start, look back, And shudder at his younger years."
But while we talk of progress,

that
it is
let
its
a thing that will

for
it,
come
it,
of
own
us not suppose accord.
We
may pray
it
aspire to
but
we must
also labor for

;
labor for
we
and then with head, heart and hand can not only hope for it, but can command it.
it
Great reformers have always been great workers. "Idleness," says the good book, "is the rust of the soul." Let all men and women see that they keep
their
all
own souls bright, and they down the paths of progress.

"
will
reflect
happiness
Work, while yet the daylight shines, With a loving heart and true,
For golden years are fleeting by,
And we
Wait not
For
are passing, too.
for
to-morrow's sun
thy way, thou can'st call thine
To beam upon
all that
own
Is in this
one to-day.
PROGRESS.
Then leam to make the most of Make glad each passing day;
life-
103
For time will never bring*thee back The chances swept away.
Leave no tender word unsaid
Do good
You know
With
while
life
shall last;
the mill can never grind the water that is past."
subject of maternity is one of such transcendent importance, not only to the parent, but to the entire race, that it seems marvelous that more has not been
The
written about
it.
It
is
true
there are difficulties sur-
rounding the treatment of the subject, but no false moChildren desty should teach us to ignore it entirely. have rights as well as adults, and have they not a right
sound and healthy constitutions ? How many poor children are ushered into the world whose lives, from the cradle to the grave, are one continued journey of sorrow and pain. Herbert Spencer, in his Treatise on
to
Seriously, is it not an astonishing fact, that though on the treatment of offspring depend their lives or deaths and their moral welfare or ruin, yet
Education, says
"
is
not a word of instruction on the treatment of offspring ever given to those who will hereafter be parents.
Is
it
not monstrous that the fate of a

left
new generation
should be
to
the chances of unreasoning custom,
impulse or fancy, joined with the suggestions of ignorant nurses and the prejudiced counsel of grandmothers
?
If a
merchant commenced business without any
106
knowledge of arithmetic and book-keeping, we should exclaim at his folly and look for disastrous conse-
Or if before studying anatomy, a man set up quences. as a surgical operator, we should wonder at his audacity
and
pity his
patients.
But that parents should begin
the difficult task of rearing children without ever having given a thought to the principles physical, moral which ought to guide them, excites or intellectual
neither surprise at the actors nor pity for their victims. * * Here are the indisputable facts that the development of children in mind and body rigorously
*
:
obeys certain laws, that unless conformed to by parents death is inevitable that unless they are in a great degree conformed to, there must result serious physical and mental defects, and that only when they are com;
conformed to, can a perfect maturity be reached. Judge then whether all who may one day be parents should not strive with some anxiety to learn what those
pletely
laws are."
It
is
a lamentable fact
that
there
is
a decrease of
healthy maternity among American women, and in some quarters there is an increase of the horrible pracThese evils must not be laid entirely tice of abortion.
at the
tor.
door of woman,
for
man
is
in part their instiga-
spread knowledge, and create a Even at the exhealthy sentiment on this subject. such fine horses, expert dogs, and pense of not having
We
want
to
fat
107
better class of
pigs,
we want
If
a stronger, healthier,
one or the other must be neglected, we Children are brought into the say let the pigs go. world inheriting the defects, physical and mental, of If these evils can be prevented, is it not their parents. our imperative duty to do it ? We shall thereby save the world an immense amount of misery, and also add There is not a to the future greatness of mankind.
children.
position in the world so sacred as that of being a mother. It involves duties of the very highest order, and it
should be remembered that the child

sive property of
it
is
not the exclu-
its
parents,
for as well as
belonging to
It is in them, belongs to its country and to its God. the power of the mother, to a very large extent, to
mold and make the character of her

cially
is
offspring.
Espetimes,
this true of pre-natal condition.
At these
by a wise direction of her own thoughts and will, guided by a thorough knowledge of metaphysical
science, she can in a great degree, determine the disposition of her child. Fathers, too, .should aim at these
periods to keep the mother in the happiest and calmest frame of mind. Violent fits of anger, and indeed ex-
Then in citement of every kind, should be avoided. after years, as soon as reason has sufficiently dawned
upon the mind, the child should be taught to conquer and treat itself. We have known quite young children
to acquire sufficient control over themselves so as to be
108
is more number
There is no study that able to conquer pain. important to children than the mind-cure.
of those infantile diseases, such as croup, measles and the like, when not prevented can be very much lessened
by bringing into exercise power which the mind has many cases where the danof disease diphtheria has been rendered compargerous Mothers atively harmless by this mental application. the know be to influence that mind has should taught over matter, and then for the sake of their children
in
their effects
and
pains,
by the parent and child the There are over the body.
they should use that knowledge.
What
if
a race of superior beings might be produced, mothers would use the power which God has put
in their in
hands.
a true sense,
Instead of having wives and mothers society is filled with women who ap-
parently care for nothing more than to make themselves milliners' blocks, and objects of fashion and admiration
for the
gaping crowd.
to disparage taste in we desire to lead woman, especially mothers, to higher aims in life, and point them to duties that are of lasting and eternal importance.
;
These remarks are not intended but dress, nor care for the same
SPIRITUALISM.
The mind-cure
and systems.
is
We
the most spiritual of all sciences have no desire to enter into a con-
troversy with that large body of citizens calling themselves Spiritualists. only wish to set ourselves right with them and others by stating that we neither
We
practice clairvoyance nor consult the spirits of the departed when performing our cures. rely upon the
We
Great
Infinite Spirit,
God, alone for aid.
We
ignore
alike drugs, magnetism, clairvoyance and the consultation of spirits. do not deny that some of these
We
temporary relief, but we doubt their We take the efficacy in effecting permanent cures. we must for for disease that cures effectual position draw from the Divine Fountain of our being, and this
things
may
afford
we can
God.
only do by placing ourselves

It is
only by taking this
While on this And spirits as those who have gone beyond the veil. us that the disembodied spirits carry Spiritualists tell with them the imperfections and errors acquired in this life, and that there, as here, are many unhappy,. inharhope
to succeed.
harmony with position that we can earth we are as much

in
110
SPIRITUALISM.
spirits.
monious
Of what
use, then,
is it
to call for aid
upon those who are like ourselves ? In this life, if we will, we can acquire the knowledge which, by the help of Him "from whom cometh every good and perfect
gift," is
equal to the cure of all sickness, sin and disease. seek it earnestly, us, then, seek this knowledge in prayer, in faith, in singleness of heart. Christ said,
Let
"
If
thine
eye
be single,
full
of light/'
We
thy whole body shall be must neither seek nor work doubt-
ingly, but seek with unclouded vision and an eye single to the discovery of truth as it is, and seeking we shall
find,
and
like the
poor
it is
woman mentioned
sometimes of benefit
in Scripture,
we
shall
be made whole.
to lay hands that it concen-
We
admit that
upon a patient's head, for the reason trates the mind of both healer and patient.
nize no benefit from the
this
We
recog-
mere contact
of the hand, for
would be an admission that there was a curative
property in matter.
What magnetism
fluid,
is,
we know
not.
of mind. Certain
and by others an essence not mind itself. Neither do we pretend to know what mind is, and it may be we never shall know. There appears to be a reason why we should not have it in our power to define mind.
it is
By some
termed a
it is
that
it is
Nothing possesses the power of

tree, a
self-analyzation.
drop of water, a grain of sand, cannot comprehend nor analyze themselves. These are all forms of
SPIRITUALISM.
matter, and matter cannot investigate nor
itself.
Ill
comprehend
investigates matter because it is outside and independent of it. But mind cannot investigate
its
Mind
own essence
its
all it
can do
is
to analyze,
point out
and name
powers and
effects.
Again, many Spiritualists claim to have communications from doctors in the spirit world, in which they recommend the use of drugs for effecting cures. Now,
as
we
would
it
entirely ignore the use of drugs, of what use be to us to call upon these spiritual doctors ?
sufficient
We
haye quite a
number of M.
D.'s of that
call
stripe in this
sphere of existence without seeking to

left their
those back
who have
nostrums on earth.

The mind
method,"
"
cure
is
frequently spoken of as that
the new-fangled theory," craze," as if it was an invention of these latter days. The truth is, that the mind-cure is as old as the race.
new and "the modern
"
Read
of
all
the history of any nation, peruse the narratives travelers, and you will find that in some form or
in
other a belief
the
power of mind over matter, and a
practice of mental healing, have always obtained. are aware that its antiquity does not prove its truthfulness, but
it
We
of the charge that it is a modern At various times, and amongst invention or discovery.
relieves
it
all
nations,
it
has appeared under different names.
One
;
has claimed to be a prophet sent by the Lord another, that he was sent by the angels, or was himself
man
an angel in disguise while a third would assert that he possessed a key that would unlock all the mysteries
;
of nature.
larger number asserted, that while they could perform cures without study or the use of drugs, they knew not whence they derived their power.
still
Now,
it
the very simplicity of the method that brings into disfavor with many persons, especially with those
it is
114
who have pored over books, passed* through colleges, and spent much time and money in placing them just where they stand. " How can ignorant people effect cures, when they with all their medical skill and knowledge
fail ?
The
thing
is
absurd, impossible
?
!"
they cry.
But have not these medical practitioners a diseased nothey not place an exaggerated estimate upon the value of their learning and facts ? Do they not mistake a little information and
tion of their
own importance
Do
knowledge
fession
?
for true education in the line of their pro-
Watch one
of these
young
students, fresh
from
If
his medical
college, after obtaining a diploma.
he should have something of the pedant in him, which not unfrequently happens, he will take every opportunity to use his medical terms in the description of Thus he will stand at the bedside of a sick disease. the question of the anxious parent regarding the nature of the disease, he will learnedly stroke his incipient beard and solemnly exclaim,
child,
and
in
answer
to
observe a few maculce about the face and arms, but the epidermis seems to be exclusively involved. There
I
"
is
some
febrile
movement, and we may
rationally exis
pect a roseola within a few hours.
This case
liable
to develop into rubeola, with lachry mat ion, ozena, angina, and all the other symptoms characteristic of the
disease."
And
English name
pray, most learned doctor, give us an '* for that terrific disease. Oh, ah, yes
;

well,
it is
;
115
the measles
"
!
Thank
you, for the
you can keep the terms of antiquity There is much in the present school of medicine that is a huge collection of antiquity, hewed and plastered into some kind of shape, so as to make it pass under the name of " the modern school of Read the modern works on medicine, and medicine." you find them a conglomeration of terms, of divers and diverse opinions, and we are struck with a feeling of awe concerning the things which we do not understand.
future occasion.
name some
modern for use on
How
applicable here
is
the verse
" The wise men of Egypt were secret as dummies, And even when they most condescended to teach,
They packed up their meaning as they did their mummies, In so many wrappers 'twas out of one's reach."
There
simplicity.
is,
at least,
And
about the mind-cure, the merit of this, we conceive, should be the merit
of
That which comes to us so mystified, systems. so wrapped around by high-flown words and phrases, should always challenge our investigation if not our
all
doubt.
erred in
Considering what he has done, the world has assigning so high a rank to the mere medical
a gigantic phantom, and let the hand of truth and simplicity tear the mask from
practitioner.
is
The system
its
have invented rules and plans have published volumes on the philosophy of life and death and their works are replete with quotations and
face.
;
;
Men
116
and dressed in grandiloquent words and but just here open your Saxon bible and see phrases the purity of diction and the plainness of the language
adorned
;
of a Paul, a John and a James. simplicity in dealing with disease.
We
want
this
same
or
is
Let us not ask

about
it,
whether a thing has the

altogether of
it
air of antiquity
modern
effective
origin.
?
Let the inquiry

all,
be, Is
true,
is
it
That, after
must be the
touchstone. learning
Of
itself,
around
errors.
;
we have nothing to say against but we object to its use when wrapped "The majesty of nature is the curtain
course
of deity
and the
There
is
light of deity is grace and truth." a great deal of stuff and nonsense that for
Men need to ages have done duty as philosophy. more and more to their intuitions. It to trust be taught
is
by
these,
more than by learning and philosophy,

"A few
More
plain instincts and a few plain rules, the herdsmen of the Alps have wrought
that
the world has been carried forward.
Among
Than
for
mankind,
all the
at this unhappy day, pride of intellect and thought."
Observation and experience have taught us to believe that a few plain rules and a few plain instincts
relating to the mind-cure, will do more for than the learned rules of drug-administering
practitioners.
mankind
medical
In
modern times considerable
attention has
been
117
Its progiven to the mind-cure in the United States. gress here of late years received its greatest impulse from Dr. P. P. Quimby, a native of Belfast, Maine.
Dr. Dresser, of Massachusetts, "He practiced his system for the cure of the says sick for many years in Maine, and was located in PortDr. Quimby was a man land from 1859 to 1865.
this
:
Of
remarkable
man
somewhat
peculiar in his make-up.
With
mind of
large comprehension, he had a wonderful power of concentration of thought, and he was so extremely practical and mathematical in his mode of reasoning, that it was with difficulty that he could entertain an opinion, or any proposition that was not fully demonstrated by truth. Such a mind, being of an inquiring nature, would certainly find out the truth of things if it were possible, before entertaining a mere belief. I witnessed
many
sis,
of Dr. Quimby's cures, of such cases as paralycancers, tumors, consumption, rheumatism, nerv-
ous disorders and other minor complaints. Upon opening a closet door in the doctor's rooms, at one time, I saw an armful of crutches and canes that had been left
there by people
who had come
to the doctor in various
crippled conditions, and had gone away without the need of these supports. It was viewed as a most
speaking sight." A Boston journal gives an account of the position and advancement of the science in that city
:
118
"In Boston there are four schools of

all
this system, and of these hold as their fundamental idea that disease
does not come from God, and that He has nothing to do with its perpetuation, but that it is one of the errors
of
man which can be cured by

faith,
truth
the application of
this truth is not
standing.
later
The
but by an intelligent underby schools, however, disagree in regard to
developments, some claiming to be farther advanced than the others. Of the few heads of these
schools,
one
bury
is
Dr. Evans, now residing in East Salisa venerable gentleman of 60 odd years of age,
who was
formerly a clergyman for twenty-five years before he visited Dr. Quimby as a patient twenty-one
years ago, and following which he left preaching and practiced healing the sick, employing rubbing and manipulating as a part of his system. Another leader and head of a school is Mrs. Eddy, who resides on Colum-
bus avenue,
and who was a patient with Quimby Her assumed title is Christian twenty-two years ago. A Scientist, and her followers bear the same name. third is Dr. E. J. Arens, residing at Union Park, who practices and teaches under the name of metaphysiA. Dresser, residing on Columbus avenue, a pupil of Dr. Quimby, who follows out his teacher's system, pure and simple.
cian.
The
fourth leader
is
Dr.
J.
Besides these four practitioners, there are about a dozen others who practice the mind-cure as a profes-
119
sion, and who teach to classes of young and old the methods of curing. Generally, free instruction is given
once a week to
all
who
will
come.
Among
those
who
have attended these lectures are many Bostonians, who, though decidedly averse to having the fact pubare imbued with licly known, for fear of ridicule, yet
faith
some with a
little,
some with a great deal
in the
truth of the system, and who often practice at their homes on the husband, father or son who happens to believe that he is afflicted with a headache, toothache,
And they claim success in curing." or sore finger. Of Dr. Ouimby, we remember when quite young, of
his
going round the country effecting cures that were There was looked upon by many as being miracles. an anecdote told of him, that we think has not before
found
its
way
to print
When
near Portland, Maine,
which he was a stranger. He found a middle-aged man seated on the verandah, and asked if he could obtain a drink of water. The man replied that he could, but as his people were away, and he was lame from rheumatism, that he would have to help himself. Quimby replied, that he did not think he was lame, and believed he could walk.
he called
at a house, to the inhabitants of
The man
"
saicl,
It is
a long time since
have been able
to walk, or even to
move
crutches."
walk
give
Quimby me your
about, except by the aid of " I realize that you can replied,
hand."
He
took the
man by
the
120
hand, and caused him to walk back and forth on the
verandah
for his crutches,
and before he left the lame man had no use and could walk as well as he ever could.
returned, greatly to their
astonish-
When
his people
ment, they found him walking in the garden. He asked Quimby for his name, but this he refused to give, for
the reason that he hated
good by stealth, and stamp was this modern apostle of the mind-cure. There can be no doubt that those cases that have
would do notoriety. blush to find it fame." Of such
He
"
come down
from old times, wherein it is claimed that the Lord sent down his servants from Heaven to make cures, have been made through the influence of
to us
mind acting upon^mind.

Syria,
India, China, Japan, Egypt,

rich
even our old Scandinavian mythology, are
with accounts of cases that have yielded to this unseen influence, when all other means have
Fortunately,
side.
silent,
failed.
on our
antiquity and modern times But what has been done is only to be taken as an earnest of what we can do.
"
I
we have both
And
doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs, the thoughts of men are widening with the process of the suns."
EFFICACY OF PRAYER.
What
is
prayer
"It
is
the heart's In view of
sincere desire,
that
uttered or unexpressed."
all
we have
previously
advanced,
how much can we

?
hope from the employment of prayer

ject
On
reasonably this subclasses,
mankind can be
readily divided into
two
namely, those who expect too much from praying, and The monks of old those who flatly deny its utility.
sang, Laborare est orare
is
''To labor
is
to pray."
This
trust
worthy
to
be remembered by those
who would
There are good prayers, and there are vain, foolish, and even malicious prayers. The time has come when it behooves our churches to look a little more closely than they have hitherto done If there is any one at the uses and power of prayer. time more than another that it is wrong to take God's
everything to prayer.
name
in
vain,
it is
when men pray
to
Him
simply to
have their own

receive
selfish
ends answered, or that they
may
benefit or blessing which they are too indolent to labor for. Many, very many, prayers are
some
Two simply utterances of conventional blasphemy. monarchs go to war, both believing in the same God,
122
EFFICACY OF PRAYER.
to
and they cause prayers
of their respective churches for the success of their respective arms.

in all
in a true
be said
Are these people
sense praying to
God
at all
Are they
against
;
not selfishly and savagely ejaculating one Two adjoining farmers pray to the other ?
selfish
God one wants

wants his
other's welfare.
dry weather and the other rain. Each ends answered without regard to the Are not all such prayers better left
unsaid ? What Nay, are they not wicked prayers ? these people really need is a truer knowledge of their own relations and duties and higher, nobler and
The Master grander conceptions of Almighty God. told us to pray to the Father in these words "Thy
:
will
be done on earth as
it is
in
heaven."
Right here, those who do not believe in praye'r will " But will not God do His will without our praysay him to ?." We answer that God and the Universe ing
:
will
do that which
is
right
and proper
for us
when we
supplicate aright. Prayer alone is a useless thing, but prayer with work in the right direction is a combination of
power
earth
that nothing can resist.
There
is
not a
other,
man on
who does
is
not,
at
;
some time or
and there never yet pray. aspiration was a man who aspired to, and prayed for, a good and needed thing, that was not drawn nearer to that goodLet ness, and its attainment thereby made more easy. the inebriate pray fervently and earnestly to become a
a prayer
An
EFFICACY OF PRAYER.
123
sober man, and he will soon find his efforts and work in Let a false, useless, worththe direction of his prayer.
less
man
truly
pray to become manly, and

will act like
true,
and
good, and his prayer

energies to
arm and
to battle.
So
a trumpet calling his that in these direc-
But we do not tions prayer is of incalculable benefit. a true prayer not limit its uses to this one power. May
be an appeal to a law, or to the invoking of a law ? We know not. We find that our own intense desires
even without We know not by what process our uttering a word. And there this is done, but we know it to be a fact.
are often
to other minds,
communicated
are millions of well attested facts in existence showing that prayers have brought forth fruit. Just how far the
power of prayer extends, and the

thing different, begins,
that there are
effort,
tell.
which
we cannot
forces,
;
is someBut we know-
two
distinct
though we cannot
draw the
line
of demarcation
just as
we know
that
there are distinct things in hill and valley, though we cannot draw the line between them. Let no man scoff
at prayer;
he
may sometimes
and
I
say,
"I do not
know
enough
cule."
to believe,
do not know enough
to ridi-
prayer has influence in the mind-cure, it may, for aught we know, serve to concentrate and direct the needed curative force. But we cannot hope for sucfar as
So
cess until
how
acquire a knowledge of God's laws and to apply them. Let us never forget that all good
we
124
EFFICACY OF PRAYER.
work is a good prayer. There are cases where mere words are but a mockery, and in these cases good deeds
are the only effective prayers.
prayer offered to a
hungry, famishing man, would not supply his wants. What he would need would be the prayer of the Good
Samaritan.
" Give him a
lift,
don't kneel in prayer,

;
Nor moralize with his despair The man is down, and his great need
Is
ready help, not prayer or creed.
'Tis time
when the wounds are washed and healed That the inward motive be revealed;
But now, whate'er the spirit be, Mere words are but a mockery.
One
grain of aid just

if
now
is
more
;
To him
Pray,
than tomes of saintly lore you must, within your heart,

lift,
But give him a
give
him
a start.
The world is full of good advice, Of prayers, and praise and preaching nice; But the generous souls who aid mankind,
Are scarce as gold and hard
to find.
Give like a Christian, speak in deeds, A noble life's the best of creeds,
And he
shall
Who gives
wear a royal crown them a lift when they
are
down."
Love, prayer, action, are the three graces that must go hand in hand on the road of humanity. Each left When each is alone, will effect little or nothing.
These congenuine, it will link itself to the others. stitute the hope, the happiness, and the progress of the
human
race.
When we
science,
we
began to investigate the claims of this did so with the determination of making
had previously investiour researches thorough. a isms of number of the the day, but we could gated
no resting place, and were mentally starving for something to believe in and feed upon. The more we studied and thought, the more brightly the light dawned upon us, and we soon found that the mind-cure was
find
We
capable of doing all that claimed for it. About the
its
most ardent advocates

practical truth
first
that
we
had of
efficacy was when we were cured of a case of diphtheria in about twenty minutes by a lady who had had some experience in the science. We then comits
called
menced studying the system. upon a lady who was
Some
time after this
we
suffering from neuralgia,
and had been suffering from the same excruciating pain

at intervals for three
suffering
would
afflict
or four years' past. Periods of her sometimes for seven or eight
days together. When we called upon her she had been suffering for about three days, and during all- that time
had been deprived of
sleep.
On
her chest and sides
126
were numerous mustard plasters, which had afforded her no relief. We told her that if she would follow directions, and would remove her plasters, we would
saying that she would do anything to get rid of her pain. then a her for treatment about fifteen at the minutes, gave end of which time she felt almost free from pain, and
did,
treat her for her complaint.
This she
We
That evening expressed astonishment at the result. she retired to sleep early, and slept till 9 o'clock the next morning, and rose refreshed and perfectly free
from pain.
tions
W hen
7
we
called
great surprise at the cure.
how
to treat herself.
upon her she expressed We then gave her instrucThe pain was entirely re-
moved, and she has repeatedly said to friends that she would not part with her knowledge for a million of dollars. This was about the first cure we effected, and
gave us more confidence in the mind-cure than all the This reasoning in the world could have done. case, we may say, was our starting point as a practithis act
tioner.
From
that
time
to this
we have met
with
almost unvarying success. Another extraordinary case that we will mention, is that of a lady who had been suffering for about three years from a complication of
diseases peculiar to the female system. She had the advice and experience of several eminent physicians of San Francisco, had also placed herself under the charge of magnetic healers, but in every case without receiving
any permanent
ever getting
in bed, in a
127
benefit.
well.
She had given up all hope of On paying her a visit, we found her
ment and
up to our These treatments were continued every day
By treatment, arguwe induced her to get up and walk entreaty, where we her further treatment. rooms, gave
for a
desponding mood.
week.
During this week she admitted more than she had done for years
that she
past.
had walked
the time
From
we gave her
the
first
treatment she never had occasion,
In about three through sickness, to return to her bed. weeks after this, she had perfectly recovered.
We
taught her the science, and

treating and teaching others. useful woman.
she at once
commenced
a
She
is
now
happy and
Another case was that of a lady of about fifty years who had been salivated when young, from the effects of which she had never recovered. Physicians to whom she had applied, had informed her that her internal organs had become so much impaired, that that there were no hopes of her recovery, and that all she could do would be to make herself as comfortable as possible. After two weeks' treatment we restored her to health and happiness. A daughter of this lady came to us to be treated for curvature of spine and some nervous trouble. This was another case that physicians had abandoned. After about fourteen treatments she was completely
of age,
128
restored to health. This young lady learned the science, and is now practicing the same. She forwarded to us a few words concerning her own case, with full liberty
to publish the same.
The
following
is
the
communi-
cation
No. 8 BOND STREET,
San Francisco, June

I
ist,
1884.
been suffering from spinal disease, caused when a child. Also from torpid liver, indiI had been gestion and general nervous debility. treated by different physicians, who would patch me up
from a
fall
had
for a short time, but then
would get back

J.
in
my
old
plan
again,
when
heard of Mrs.
A. Root,
who
I practiced by metaphysical science the art of healing. was treated by her, and gradually all my pains and disI pronounce myself cured, agreeable feelings left me. and have learned the science.
Miss M. E. SHEPHARD.
Another case was that of a lady, who called upon us with her husband. She had been suffering for several years with pains in her stomach. She had applied to several physicians, who had given her no relief. She had also tried various remedies prescribed for her
by sympathizing friends, but without avail. On the morning of her visit to us, 'she had been suffering excruciating pains, and was hardly able to move about.
129
On
questioning her, we learned that about six years ago she had eaten something that contained poison. After a few minutes of treatment she acknowledged
to feeling better. culate freely.
The
We gave
blood in her veins began to cirher in all five treatments, and
is
she was completely restored to health. a copy of a letter received from her
The
:
following
QUINCY, PLUMAS Co., CAL.,
May n,
MRS.
J.
1884.
ANDERSON ROOT
I have suffered from troubles of the and stomach head, also nervous trouble, for several until you gave me the first treatment, which imyears, I have taken five treatments, and proved me greatly. feel well and strong. If this will be of any benefit to you or others, you
Dear Friend :
may
use
it.
Gratefully yours,
MRS. W.
J.
EDWARDS.
The
following
is
another testimonial
:
received from
one of our patients
622 ELLIS STREET,
San Francisco, March 26, 1884. After suffering a number of years from neuralgia, and thinking my case hopeless, my attention was at last drawn to the new metaphysical science as practiced by Mrs. J. Anderson Root, of San Francisco, and now
130
I
to say to
in
am happy
the public that
was
entirely
cured by that lady
one treatment.
MINNA FRANCES.
add that since treating Mrs. Frances we were called upon to pay a visit to her house, and found her son, a youth of fifteen years of age, suffering We at once severely from an attack of pneumonia. gave him a treatment, which threw him into a profuse He went to bed and slept soundly, and perspiration. after awakening, he was restored to health. This is another fact, which is worth a whole volume of reasonwill further
We
ing.
We
cure
:
add a further testimonial of the
efficacy of
mind-
No. 707 POST STREET,
MRS.
J.
San Francisco, April ANDERSON ROOT:
26th, 1884.
I desire to say, for the benefit of the public and the advancement of the mind-cure, that I was suffering from what was supposed to be an incurable malady. I was treated by several popular physicians, and also by mag-
netic healers, but
with
little
benefit.
after a
In a fortunate
moment you came

;
to me,
and
few treatments
was restored to health. My cure seemed to me miracI had ulous given up all hopes of recovery. Since that time I have learned the science, and am
practicing successfully, and God helping labor faithfully in the field of love and truth.
131
now
me
shall
MRS. E.
S.
HILL.
have given the above testimonials, not for the purpose of parading our own skill, but as so many facts, proving beyond a doubt that the mind-cure proved effective where the skill of the best medical men, aided
We
by the power of
has
failed.
all
the drugs in their pharmacopoeia,
INSANITY.
No man
has as yet been enabled to draw the line of One learned
a
as
demarcation between sanity and insanity.

writer asserts that "all
sanity."
It
is
men are common

that
is
at times tinged with in-
remark,
upon
speakthat
ing
"it
of
is
something
as
plain
beyond
dispute,
your nose on your face."

is
But
enough on the face, yet it is not possible to draw the line where the nose joins the face. We do not, however, argue from our inability to do this that they are not two distinct So, from our inability to draw the line between things. sanity and insanity, we must not contend that there are not two distinct conditions of mind. The use of one
though
the
nose
plain
term to express a condition, necessarily implies the opOtherwise, we are all either sane or we are all posite.
insane.
Certain
it
is
that there
is
always much
in
the
is termed insanity that is only a high and advanced form of sanity. Arkwright, the inventor, was believed by his neighbors, and by his own wife, to be an insane man, simply because he contended that he could invent a machine that would do the work of many men.
world that
134
INSANITY.
Our own Fulton, who ran the first steam vessel, was believed by very many intelligent persons to be insane and for no other reason than that he had notions
that were contrary to
and
in
advance of their own. All
up and down history we find that nearly every man who had ideas, whether in poetry, art, science, mechanics, or religion, that were in advance of the ideas of those around him, was adjudged by the community as How, then, can advocates of th& mindbeing insane. cure be surprised if now and then they are dubbed "crazy people ?" That which is the insanity of one age often becomes the admired sanity of another. After as we to what make is, and all, approximations only what constitutes insanity. Some persons are deemed insane on one point, and some on another, while others are insane at one period of time and at other moments Medical are deemed perfectly rational and intelligent. men can give us no rules for guidance that are accepted as final in any court of justice, as to what constitutes
insanity.
It is
purely a matter of opinion.
Insanity has many causes. One man becomes insane through the loss of money the loss of friends, of chil;
dren
the use of opiates and narcotics fright, starvahave and conditions and other tion, things many reduced thousands upon thousands to that con;
dition
it
which
in
is
we all agree to call some cases inherited, is
insane.
That
placed beyond
INSANITY.
a
135
1,375 lunatics 337 unquestionable cases of hereditary transmission. Guislain and others regard that at least one out of
doubt.
Esquirol
found
among
Dr. every four insane persons inherit the disease. Morel gives an account of a family in which he attended
Their grandfather had died insane, brothers. while their father had no powers of concentration, but
four
would be constantly changing

to another.
Of
his mind from one thing these four children one was a maniac
; ;
was afflicted with melancholy madness the third had suicidal intentions the fourth was extremely timorous and suspicious. Now, there must be something rotten about our boasted civilization, or else about our physical and
another
;
mental doctors, when

civilized nations.
this
scourge
is
a thousand times
more distinguishable among
civilized than
among
un-
And
more
rotten about the
there must be something still system which permits the hud-
dling together in localities of hundreds and thousands of these unfortunates, and then learnedly calling it
treatment of the insane.

tions
for
Our asylums
are but institu-
preservation written over the entrance to Dante's
the
of insanity.
The words
"Leave
Inferno,
here," should be inscribed hope behind, over the gates of every asylum in the land. How few of these unfortunates are restored to health and their
all
ye who enter
friends.
Asylums are medical
institutions for the in-
136
INSANITY.
oculation of insanity. have as yet had no opporof to a case of insanity, but cure tunity fairly trying
We
when
conditions can be
made
favorable,
we
shall cer-
tainly try the experiment without fear of the result. hope to see the time when the mind-cure will be
We
treating the insane, as is now given to a system of close confinement and drugs. That the soul itself can become insane, is, from our
given as
fair
trial for
that it can have its standpoint, an utter impossibility and the origin in matter, is to us simply an absurdity
;
of the lance and the probe have never yet pretended that they have discovered its cause in the dis-
men
arrangement of the physical structure.

tion, then, shall
In what direc-
for it ? answer, in the or in the disarrangement of that condition of vitality and sensation that is brought about by the influence of mind upon matter.
we look
We
unconscious mind,
All through the pages of this book we have sought make the widest possible distinction between mind
to
have also aimed to show that the invisible is the only real and permanent thing in the UniAll the mighty changes that are forever and verse. forever going on around us are simply the results of invisible mind, which in one direction or another is
and matter.
We
Hold in stamping itself upon dead, dull, inert matter. hand a and with its watch, your springs, levers, wheels, brightly polished, finely adorned metals, it is a thing of beauty a thing of life. What has produced it ? Mind That mechanism was once dull, shapeless, inactive As a watch, it owes its existence to mind. So matter.
!
it
is
with
our houses,
machines, temples, and
all
name
of civilization.
monuments, palaces, us to the that entitle things man that we call a sculptor,
ships,
comes along with the unseen image of the beautiful imprinted on his unseen mind he finds a senseless, ill-shapen block of marble, and upon this he carves the
image of
it?
his mind.
Mind!
Turn
in
Behold the statue hat made what direction you please put
!
138
in
your question
will still
come
to
any form you you it is mind
desire,
!
and the answer

!
mind
that produces
What is it that animates, moves these mighty results. and controls these muscles of the body that makes the
eye to see, the ear to hear, and the tongue to speak ? Watch the silent stars It is mind, mind, everywhere. hear the rushing of the cataract; the boomat night
;
ing of the ocean see the mighty forests, the gladsome flowers, and the countless forms of life that everywhere
;
and ask what produces it is the mind comes again

prevail,
!
all
these
The answer
"
It
warms
Glows
in the stars,
in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, and blossoms in the trees;
Lives through all life, extends through all extent, Spreads undivided operates unspent."
Now, although we thus

and give
let
it
attribute everything to mind,
a creative, a remedial and curative power, not be supposed that we entirely ignore the necesto
it
complying with conditions in order to obtain and To preserve our bodies and minds in a healthy state. take such a stand as that would very justly expose us
sity of
to the
there are conditions which

state,
Undoubtedly charge of fanaticism or insanity. we now, in our imperfect

comply with, that by-and-by we shall As knowledge increases, and as mind ignore.
to
have
entirely
is
brought into play, we can dispense with conditions which we are now compelled to comply with. We had at one time to comply with the conditions, sails, winds
139
and currents, in order to cross the ocean. To-day we have rendered these conditions unnecessary. At one time we had to comply with conditions, ink and paper, but unseen mind calls to send a message to a friend our old condito our aid an invisible agent, and lo
; !
tions are put aside.
And Utopian
that the
as
many, we
believe
age
will
it may seem to come when even
the telegraph will be superseded as a condition of forwill dare to limit the power warding messages.
Who
of
mind
We
;
shall
passed away There was a time when men could not exist at the bottom of the ocean, but now, with a simple diving apparatus,
one day exclaim, " Old things are behold all things are become new."
they can spend hours under water without the Thus, one by one man slightest injury to themselves.
is
overcoming conditions, and putting them aside as
useless or harmless.
These views will apply to man and his conditions of health. There are things and conditions relating to man and his organism that it is now absolutely necessary for us to comply with, which by-and-by, when we come to know more and more of mind and its powers,
that
it
we can completely
ignore.
folly for
Until that time arrives
would be worse than
us not to inculcate the
necessity
of observing conditions,
and of complying
with their requirements. Suppose by the power of this science
we should win
140
a
man from
do
his inordinate craving for strong drink, we not contend that if he return again to his cups that
we do not even the drink will have no effect upon him say that he will never thereafter feel a return of his appetite for liquor.
But we do
say,
and there are many
cases to prove the truth of our saying, that we can remove that appetite and give him the knowledge which,
if
he
will apply,
tite,
and he
shall
he can become the master of his appenever again become its slave. He
can by the power of his
own mind prevent

and
this
himself from
is
falling into his slavish condition,
a grander
and more
weapon to put into his hands than the strongest chemical argument that can be adduced. The habits of the inebriate and some kindred cases
effective
are peculiar for this reason, that these persons know better than they act they sin against knowledge. These cases, for this very reason, require a different
'
kind
There are cases, as everybody knows, of sickness and disease that are the results of sheer ignorance, and the patient's mind has only to be directed to the case, and the requisite treatment
of treatment.
supplied by the healer, for relief or cure to be speedily do not advise persons to rush into brought about. miasmatic and malarious districts in order to prove that
We
the mind-cure can prove effective in the treatment of fever and ague. have not yet learned that the
We
allopath
recommends
this course, in
order to prove the
141
power of arsenic or quinine. We know that the sanitary condition of our cities and houses everywhere requires to be improved.
ments, especially, is Food is eaten that never ought to be taken into the stomach. The results are disease, suffering and premature death. Against these things we wage an un-
Ventilation in sleeping apartin the worst possible condition.
compromising war. Our weapons are not drugs, for this would be but putting one devil into the system to
drive another out.
These are conditions

also, for
that
we
protest against.
We
is
the sake of our
the habits of
that
their
common nature, protest against some medical men in telling their patients
are
serious,
cases
that such an
organ
diseased, that the functions of another are disturbed,
and another almost gone.

ous,
if
not more
so,
than
as dangerthe administration of drugs.

is
This practice
our knowledge, many persons' lives have been shortened by the remarks of these medical men. They
thus create a condition worse than that in which they find the sufferer. Experience will bear us out when we
To
say that the most successful of medical practitioners have been those who have had the most cheerful dispositions,
This
sure
is
and have administered the fewest drugs. only another way of saying, the less poison and
patient receives, the
the more mind-treatment the

is
more
his recovery.
So
far
from our ignoring conditions, we teach persons
142
to get out of
bad conditions as speedily as possible to expose themselves to those conditions as little as posbut when through exposure, neglect or ignosible is contracted, let them not add disease to disease rance,
;
disease by the use of poisonous drugs. At the moment of writing this, the cholera, supposed to be of the Asiatic type, has made its appearance in
and several other cities and towns in France. Whatever may be the immediate cause of this disease, it is certain that the most skillful
Marseilles, Toulon, Aries,
physicians
to
however, than the disease
cannot agree upon the point. It seems, be conceded that fright kills more persons
itself.
Many have become

have committed
effect of the
insane
suicide.
through fear, This is another proof of the

body.
ject,
while
others
A
:
public journal, in
"There is little says a man with strong mind being affected with the epiIt is fear that causes some persons to contract demic.
the disease, and
in
it
mind upon the commenting on this subif any danger of a healthy
is
fear that kills others."
So
that,
concluding
this
chapter on conditions, we remark
that
by far the greatest of all conditions in warding off disease of any kind, and in curing the same, is the conThis is both a bulwark and dition of the mind itself.
a weapon.
Let
firm
all
persons seek to use

will
it.
An
even
the
mind and a
drugs
and resolute
all
are worth
all
in the universe for the
prevention and cure of
disease of any and
descriptions.

It is
tion,
hoped and believed that the following informaput into the form of questions and answers, will
be of considerable use to the students of metaphysical science, and impress upon their minds certain facts and truths which it is important for them to know.
WHAT
God
is
IS
GOD?
the divine intelligence that creates, upholds
He is self-existent had no and governs all things. He is the great beginning and can have no ending. Fountain of Mind from which all other minds derive He is not separated from the power and intelligence. work of His hands, but "lives through all life and extends through all extent." Neither is he separated from man, but will at all times hearken to the cry of
those
this
who seek Him

to
aright.
The
idea that
God made
sits
world as a mechanic makes a machine and
apart
its operations, is a crude idea and of barbarous is in His works. God worthy only ages. He is never idle, but is ever breathing the breath of
watch
life
into
and through
all
animate things.
As
a single
144

will light a
tapers without being in the least diminished, so countless billions of souls emanate
lamp
million
from
God
without diminishing His power.
WHAT
In one aspect truth
of language.
IS
is,
TRUTH
as
?
affair
Locke remarks, an
;
Two persons
witness an event
one uses
language and
relates the event just as it occurred, but another uses words that convey things that are not like
the occurrence.
The
one,
the other speaks falsely. erroneously for the word truth.
we say, speaks The word fact is

It
is
the Truth,
often used
insist
time to
fact
is
upon the proper use of these words. done, and a thing that exists or has
is
a thing
existed.
Thus
;
it
a fact that such a

is
man
;
as
Washington existed
;
it is
fact that grass
killed at the battle of
green Waterloo
it is
a fact that thousands were
but
erly call
these facts truths.
In brief,
we cannot propwe may say that

;
facts are things as they exist,

is
and occurrences
truth
occur.
the exact relating of these things as they exist and But a truth may also be a principle, an inherent
quality, a
tendency
place or been acted out.

;
a something that has never taken Friar Bacon is said to have
invented gunpowder let us rather say that he was not an inventor, but a discoverer of qualities or principles

inherent in
that
if nitre,
145
certain
chemical
substances.
He
found
charcoal and sulphur were mixed in certain proportions, that the mixture would form a certain compound called gunpowder. Now, if Friar Bacon had not
discovered the making of gunpowder, would it not have been true that these mixtures would still have
formed that compound ? If their relations had not been discovered for 500 years hence, would it not still have been true that they would have made gunpowder ? The same things can be said of dynamite, or any other
chemical compound. Principles are truths, whether are carried out into fact or not. This is also true they
of moral and mental principles.
They
are
all
equally
The Bible truths, whether man applies them or not. says, that "a soft answer turneth away wrath ;" but if all men up to this date had given harsh answers to wrath,
would not that saying
still
have been true
Beatitudes in the Fifth Chap.
nally true, whether man acts truth does not depend upon the point of .their being
? Read the Matthew they are eterupon them or not. Their
exhibited in an
act.
Here, then,
a
fact.
we
see that truth
is
a different thing from
before the fact, and is independent of an emanation from God, and whether man discovers these truths or not, or whether he acts upon
It exists
is
it.
Truth
the truth
when
eternal truth,
discovered, or declines to do so, it is still It is safe to say that principles, or the
146
rays of truth, are streaming in every direction around us, and in proportion as we discover them and act upon,
so do
we become
truthful
and Godlike.
WHAT
It is
IS
CREATION
the outward and visible manifestation of an in-
ward creating intelligent power. It is the precipitation It is the unfolding and blossomof the divine mind. So far as the creation of ing of the thoughts of God.
concerned, it had a beginning but so far as the boundless universe is concerned, it had no beginCreation is a river that has flowed eternally ning.
this earth
is
;
it is
The work
flowing now, and will forever continue so to do. of Creation is never finished, for God
creates for ever
to creation, but rather to

it.
of
it
life
Evolution is not opposed adds strength and wonderment Assume, if you choose, that many of the forms which we see were evolved from a single germ,
for ever.
and
This only adds grandeur to the eternal Creator for having so marvelous a power as to endow a small thing with such
wonderful unfolding powers and
possibilities.
still
only increases our wonderment that a possess so many amazing potentialities.
germ should
Astronomy proves
to us that worlds are
in pro-
cess of formation, and are being fitted for
life
and the
147
abode of man. Nature is more than it seems to us more than this world, which is but a small bubble If any person floating on a shoreless sea of space.
thinks that this earth
that
is fitted
is
the only place in the universe
abode of intelligent beings, then up that person accuses Nature and God of having created As soon as men .countless worlds and suns in vain. learn that this earth is but one, and by no means the largest body moving round the sun, and that worlds
for the
and suns are
number, then their ideas of Creation will expand, and they will have more exalted notions of God, the Creator.
infinite
in
WHAT
Mind
is
IS
MIND?
It
the
exact opposite of matter.
has a
dynamic power over matter. As clay is in the hands It of the potter, so is matter in the control of mind.
is
not matter that fashions and controls mind, but

that shapes
it is
mind
and governs matter.
Undoubtedly
there are laws governing mind, but as yet see and feel its power nothing of them.
We
of
all
its
many and
it
that
varied operations but can do, nor yet what it cannot do.
;
we know we know we do not know

It is
im-
mortal
in
It is that
its essence. It is an emanation from God. which receives and retains impressions both
148
consciously and unconsciously, so that we may be said to have a conscious and unconscious mind. When
harmonious impressions are made upon the mind the results are health and happiness when those impressions are discordant they produce pain and disease. How careful then we should be in subjecting ourselves
;
to impressions.
WHAT
It is
IS
MATTER?
that which possesses neither feeling, intelligence, force, nor power of motion. See, side by side, the
living,
warm, active man, and the motionless corpse. The one lifts an arm, it gestures, it speaks, it feels, its numerous senses are keenly alive to external things. But the other Speak to it, move it, dissect it, but it hears not, it feels not, it manifests no thought. Why not ? There are all the organs it has a brain, nerves, muscles, the same as the other, but it is only matter. That which alone can feel, think and act, is not there.
!
What
when
language can make it plainer that matter, even organized, has in itself no feeling, motion or inAll that
as
by certain form, size, color, weight and so forth. So far as the eye is concerned we have only a surface knowledge of it. Take a cube of wood into
telligence.
is
we know
of matter
properties, such

the hands, and you see
its
149
various sides.
Cut
it
in two,
and
in
each piece you
still
see only the surface of the

it,
parts.
And however
and
surface,
often you may divide surface only that you behold.
it
is still
However
large or small the piece may be, this fact still holds true of it. Now, though matter is considered by some to be the only substantial and lasting thing in the universe, yet, in truth,
stantial.
It is
it
is
restless,
fleeting,
and unsub-
for
ever and forever undergoing change.
globules of water in ocean, lake and river; the particles of the impalpable ether; the atoms of the
granite mountain, are never at rest, but are silently changing imperceptibly to the eye it may be, but still
The
they are never at one-millionth part of a second the
same as they are at the immediately preceding part. That which we call decay is only chemical change, and
this
decay overtakes
all
things.
Everything of which
is
we have knowlenge
or can conceive,
eternally grow-
The eye sees the chains of ing, decaying, changing. firm the rock that for thousands of years mountains, hath withstood the lashings of mighty waves, but these
are ever changing.
" Like the baseless fabric of a
vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea,
all
which
it
inherits shall dissolve,
And, like an unsubstantial pageant fade, Leave not,a rack behind."
150
the clay is in the hands of the potter, so is visible And while this matter in the power of invisible mind.
As
What matter passes away, mind endureth for ever. has been said respecting matter has not been to deny
its
existence
to
do
this,
as an author remarks,
would
be an act of lunacy.
that the
common
are only desirous of showing notion about matter is an erroneous
We
one.
WHAT
Evil
it is
IS
EVIL?
an opposing force to that which is good, but Some persons not an equal force with goodness.
is
call evil
is evil,
If so, undeveloped good undeveloped good. and often for the hour or the day it has more But evil is not than the force of that which is good. and But truth it passeth away. goodness poslasting sess an inherent force and immortality of their own. this can only be done by Evil cannot destroy evil Darkness cannot banish darkness this can truth. Man done the be by light. power of possesses only overcoming evil by using the weapon of Truth, which God has placed in his mind and soul. Evil is unharmony. The word harmony is thought by many to be " There restricted to sound. Sir Thomas Browne says is a music in beauty, and the silent note which Cupid
; ; ; :

strikes is far sweeter than the
151
sound of an instrument."
the music breathing from Byron When we speak of the music of the spheres, the face." we mean the harmony of form and motion. Physical
speaks of
"
the mind,
harmony
in the
human body means

all
its
a just and harmoforces.
nious relation
between
parts and
Take
the two extremes of heat and cold.
Either of these in
excess will destroy the body, but when they are in a harmonious relation, the body is in health. The same
may be
said of labor
and
rest.
When we
act in accordance with
law we are
in har-
are one with it. The patrimony with it. arch Jacob was said to be " one with God" that he acted in harmony with the laws of God, and is,
so are
We
we "one
with
God" when we
act in
harmony
with His physical and moral laws. When we do not act in harmony with these, then so far our acts are
evil.
The aim
of the mind-cure
producing harmony, and to the laws of God.

"
to destroy evil by to bring every sinful man back

is
" evil Further, the would-be definition that
is
unde-
veloped good apt to lead people astray. have defined evil as being " nothing in itself
is
Others
a mere
negation of positive good, the same as cold is in itself nothing but a mere absence of heat." This analogical reasoning is often false, and should always be intelligently used.
If
by saying that cold
is
only the absence
152
of heat
it

is
not a positive In itself it force, then the assertion is plainly false. a a mere but be or it is such a negation, nothing, may
to
meant
imply that
it is
negation, when in a state with something else, as to If cold have all the force of that which is a positive.
is
nothing, cold
air,
cold water, cold
earth are
posi-
air, things. sweeping over a lake, will cover its surface with ice. Cold air will, if intense
tive
Cold
enough, destroy
the sun,
life.
The
air
sweeping over the Again the air becomes cold, and again the
r
warmed by the rays of lake, w ill melt that ice.

ice is
formed.
Are not both agents positive in producing positive results ? So with good and evil. Call evil, if you will, a mere negation, or only the absence of good, but when
that evil
is
combined with force
it
has
all
the power for
the time being of positive good. The arm, when outstretched by the force of goodness, will minister peace
and comfort
arm,
to the suffering
and needy
but the same
when
fering,
uplifted by the and even death.
force of evil, will bring suf-
WHAT
Perhaps there the word "time."
it
IS
TIME?
in
means.
more constant use than How few who ask themselves what Mention the word time and the eyes are inis
no word
stantly turned to the clock.
But
if
all
the clocks and

watches were put out of existence, if glasses and sun-dials were destroyed,
all
if
153
the hour-
the
earth
should be consumed by fire, the sun cease to shine, and every particle of matter resolved into impalpable ether,
time would
a force
operate.
still
exist
would
still
follow on
as
it
ever
not
has done and must ever continue to do.

it is
Time
is
It
only a condition in which forces exist and is a common saying that "time teaches him
not time that teaches us, the experiences and troubles
it is
who
has no teacher"; but
but the events, the facts, that occur in time that make an impression upon us and teach us. Time, as we have before said, is not a force
and can produce nothing and can exert no influence. Schopenhauer very finely says: "Time flies Causes over things, but leaves no trace upon them."
in itself,
operate in time, and produce the changes which are erroneously attributed to time, as if the latter was a force
have become deserts, luxurious soils and dwelling-houses and temples have been buried Where now the icy deeply beneath burning sands.
in itself.
Cities
regions hold fast in their embrace eternal solitude and silence, geology proves to us that the most gorgeous
plants once thrived and blossomed in thermal regions of light, life and beauty. See the aged man whose
head
in his
is
silvered with straggling hairs;

;
mark the furrows

;
cheek
Roman monuments
look upon the crumbling Parthenon the the massive and falling to dust
;
154
lofty
Pyramids
silently but surely shrinking

is
away, and
ask
the operator. No, it is the sun, the rain, the wind, the laws of nature, which are never Time is the eleidle, that are working these changes.
if it is
time that
ment, the condition in which these forces operate but not a force at all. time has no force of its own it is
;
We
pretend to measure time by clocks and watches, but these things after all are but mechanical instruments made to perform certain revolutions and by
;
agreement one with another we regulate our own movements one with another
their
are
enabled to
;
but
these
instruments
are
not
time
itself,
nor the true
Let a man suffer intense pain, let measure of time. his mind be held in suspense in anticipation of something, and what we call five minutes is to him an hour. So far as time is related to us, and so far as we can measure its duration, we can only do this
by the soul
in us.
"
by the intensity of the unseen
life
with-
We live
in deeds not years in thoughts not breaths In feelings, not in figures on a dial. Count time by heart-throbs; he lives most who feels most,
Thinks the noblest, acts the best."

it can do nothneither a force nor a thing Time is a condition in which the soul ing of itself.
Time
is
acts.
155
WHAT
Many
IS
RELIGION?
this question.
is
answers have been given to

to Quatrefages, religion
a "belief in beings According superior to man, and capable of exercising good or evil influences upon his destiny and the conviction that the
;
existence of
not limited to the present life, but that there remains for him a future beyond the grave."
is
man
Whatever definition we may try to give it will be found The metaphysical healer, in more or less incomplete.
dealing with the Bible, gives to it a spiritual significance, while many look at it entirely from a material-
what is Christ went about if and do the we know that the we same sick, healing we are thus far on the road of religion. We have unbounded faith in God, and that while we implicitly
istic
It matters not so standpoint. religion, as what are religious acts.
much
to us
trust in
Him we
can never go religiously wrong.
WHAT
Space
limit,
is
IS
SPACE?
It is
boundless and eternal.
a sea without
In it all things swim and float. without shores. Without space no real existence is possible, and it is only as things occupy different positions of space that we can distinguish one from another. Space is, and
156

be, infinite.
must of necessity
is
We
may
cast our
minds
thousands of miles and
billions
of leagues away, but
imagination compelled to stop, tired with its flight. Let it again take flight billions of billions of leagues, and we find some impediment to its flight. What is
that
impediment
Is
it
a solid substance
? ?
How
What
far
does that stretch onward

is
itself
beyond that ? and asserts
Does it end The mind is wearied

left
then
it
returns to
to space,
in
that there can be
no boundary
;
above, below, to the right, to the
in
any and
every direction
it
stretches on for ever and for ever.
Comprehend Wherever we
space and The one
illimitable
its
is
this
we
cannot,
believe
it
we must.
go, whether in body or mind, eternal twin brother time are our companions. the illimitable ocean, the other is the
atmosphere, that are below, above, and everyus.
where surrounding
WHAT
It is
IS
SCIENCE?
common
thing for people to use the word
Science without having any definite knowledge of what In brief it is only another word for knowlit means.
edge.
to
When
Thus
this
knowledge
then
the
is
classified
and directed
science a
of
some
particular end,
we give
science
that
name.
we have
of
Botany,
157
Astronomy, of Conchology, and so forth. John Stuart " Mill says The language of science is, this is so, and is this not so. Science observes phenomena, and Professor Huxley endeavors to discover their law." " True science and true religion are twin sisters, says and the separation of either from the other is sure to
:
:
prove the death of both.
Science prospers exactly in
proportion as it is religious, and religion flourishes in exact proportion to the scientific depth and firmness of
great deeds of philosophers have been less the fruit of their intellect than of the direction of
its basis.
The
that intellect
religious state of mind. Truth has yielded herself rather to their patience, their love, their single heartedness, and their self-denial, than
to their logical
by an eminently
acumen."
In corroboration of this view
we
a religion, or, to speak

religion.
instance the science of metaphysical healing as also more definitely, it is a branch of
When some
methods
its
mental treatment,
scientific
persons hear of cures by the " But do you use any they ask
:
?"
We
answer
"
:
This
is
a science,
and though
ertheless
classified as in the case of
phenomena some other

less a science
are not so well
known and
it is
sciences,
nev-
none the
it
on that account.
As
a science,
has effected cures where other

failed."
scientific
methods have
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UC-NRLF

HEALING POWER OF MIND.

A TREATISE OX MIND-CURE, WITH ORIGINAL VIEWS ON

THE SUBJECT, AND COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS FOR

JULIA ANDERSON ROOT.

the greatest fact in

CO-OPEBATTVE PRINTING OFFICE, 424 MONTGOMERY STREET. 1884.

experience, that the

upon the human system, the

sickness and suffering

brought to bear we shall have

expect the aid and co-operation of our churches,

intelligent people everyIt

where, in our efforts to lessen the

human misery and woe.

see the lives of so the

God's children embittered by own hands. Each and all can do

JULIA ANDERSON ROOT.

GOD AND CREATION.

Searches in the wrong direction

invisible solves the

Creation eternal and

Milton's argument a failure

Pope's argument not satisfactory The Evil a necessity of creatransgress

Christ's saying doing a necessity

MIND AND MATTER.

THINGS SEEN AND UNSEEN.

Vision alone not to be trusted

MAN'S RELATION TO GOD AND CREATION.

Man's arrogance What Christ meant by

THE MISSION AND DUTY OF MAN.

POWER OF MIND OVER BODY.

properties peculiar to itself

English physician's opinion

DISEASE AND ITS REMEDIES.

Matter ignored as a curative agent

All things resolved Technical terms

San Francisco Bulletin

mysteriously connected with his fellows

HEREDITY AND LONGEVITY.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR HEALING.

Patients should be taught the science Reveille-Parise on Moral Therapeutics

The book of The sarcasm

Brighter day for humanity

and increase of abortion

for disposition of children

are all spirits

doctors in the other world

ANTIQUITY OF MIND CURE.

Good and bad

cause for despair

Asylums do not cure insanity

Try the mind-cure

the great preventive

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

" " "

the world over.

that will beard the lion in his jungles, and march

face the tiger in the

tremble at the breath