t HE HEALING POWER OF SUGGESTION CHARLES R.BROWN I UO^ARYJ UNIVcK.iiir OF CALIFORNIA ! SAN DIEGO . C^e Dealing ^otoet: of BOOKS BY CHARLES R. BROWN THE YOUNG MAN'S AFFAIRS "An excellent book for any young man, for it is written in a sympathetic spirit and with common sense." The Living Church. "The author discourses of the young man's purpose, intimates, books, money, recreation, wife, and church, all in such a manner as must be most helpful to his readers." Chicago Record' Herald. $1.00 net; by mail, $1.10 FAITH AND HEALTH " Written with fairness, vivacity, and ' horse sense.' Dr. Brown's shafts are pointed, and his sense of the humor of fraud and humbug is keen and irresistible." Book News Monthly. " We wish that every member of our Church and congregation could read this most sane and helpful volume on the relation of faith to health." The Temple Reminder. $1.00 net; by mail, $1.10 Thomas Y. Crowell Company THE HEALING POWER OF SUGGESTION By CHARLES R. BROWN AUTHOR OP "FAITH AND HEALTH," "THE YOUNG MAN'S AFFAIRS," ETC. NEW YORK THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1910 BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY Ije ^ealfng j&otoet of HERE is a vast amount of sound psychology in the scrip- tures where they offer us in- struction along moral and spiritual lines. If you would form the right sort of character go about it in a rational way, the Bible says. " Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are lovable, whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things." Pasture your mind and heart on them just as you send your Jersey cow into the clover when you want her to give good milk. Let these modes of thought fur- nish the delicate nutriment which is taken up into the very structure of your inner life. "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind," by the introduction of higher and and finer forms of material to be wrought upon by the energies of your soul. "Let the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart be acceptable in the sight of the Lord," let your speech and your thought, which are both under your control, be right and you will be made right throughout. It is in this same vein that the author of the now familiar proverb offers his word of wis- dom. As a man thinketh in his heart so is he ! The writer does not mean that a single thought will transform a man either physically or mor- ally. He means that states of mind, prevailing habits of thought, tend constantly to register themselves in bodily as well as in moral condi- tions. Morbid conditions of mind mean by and by morbid conditions of body. Weakness of will and irresolution, fear and worry, prepare a soil favorable for the seeds of disease and aid in its development. Healthy states of mind, minds free from all grudge, bitterness and envy, minds free from anxiety, fret and distrust, minds filled with faith and hope and love, make for health as surely as do sunshine, [6] Dealing potter of fresh air and pure water. As a man thinketh in his heart steadily and insistently, be it up or down, so he tends to become. "The body is the general expression of past thinking," as that thinking has wrought itself out in terms of physical life. Thoughts then are things, powerful things! If any one should tell a man suddenly that some one he loves dearly had met with a fatal accident, he would instantly turn pale, the blood leaves his face. A thought does that not a drug nor a blow nor any physical agent whatsoever. Tell a man of honor that he is a liar and his face is aflame with indignation as the blood flows into it. It is a thought regis- tering itself in certain physical changes. A thought will cause the blood to flow this way or that way; a thought will work a radical change in the various currents of life. Now if you will utilize this force, which we all know, by intelligent, persistent, systematic habits of thinking, you can see at once how powerful it may become for good. "A great deal of alleged physical suffering [7] and is primarily mental. A great many people have 'fixed ideas' of disease, pain, debility, fatigue, dread, inefficiency and inexpressible woes. Much oftener than we realize these can be transplanted without surgery or medi- cation. I do not mean that they are not real suffering; they are as real as the grave. But they are not grounded in physical infirmities and they are not to be cured by physic. The mind becomes possessed of a conviction that a certain part of the body is infirm and imputes pain to that part in spite of all the medicine in the world. Hundreds of people refuse to get well after the physician has cured them. It is not his fault and it is not their fault; they have simply had disease suggested to them until they cannot think at all except upon that assumption. And for such conditions the stim- ulus of new faith and the re-education of the whole mental outlook are needed." l Suggestion, then, as I use the term in this chapter, means the influence exercised upon the body by the subtle power of ideas. The 1 Max Eastman, Atlantic Monthly, May, 1900. [8] Dealing $otoet of value of it in dealing with certain functional troubles, especially those of a nervous or men- tal origin, is coming to be recognized by all intelligent physicians and by people generally. You can see the philosophy of it. The most vital functions we know, digestion, assimila- tion, circulation, elimination, are all of them constantly and profoundly influenced by the state of mind. "A merry heart doeth good like medicine," the Bible says ; a cheerful dis- position affects all these vital processes. The old proverb, " Laugh and grow fat," has physi- ology on its side, for the food we take when we are cheerful and happy does us ten times more good than the food eaten when we are angry or worried or depressed. The processes which have to do with the elimination of waste, of fatigue and other poisons from the system, are constantly affected by the state of mind. "Mind cure is simply the acquiring of con- trol over impulses, emotiohs and the habits that demoralize. It substitutes other habits if necessary. The person gains mental poise [9] anti and leans toward optimism. The mind liber- ates the nervous mechanism and the vital fluids of the body, so that all the functions, both physical and mental, are performed normally." Professor Anderson of Yale University un- dertook a few years ago to demonstrate the power of thought in a most scientific way. He had a young man suspended in his laboratory on a perfectly balanced disk. He told the man, who was a mathematician, to think of some difficult problem in mathematics and to try to solve it mentally. As the man began to think hard the nicely balanced disk tipped on the side where the man's head was, the blood flowed to the brain in increased amount and that tipped the scale. He told the man to think of running, for the young fellow had been a football player and interested in track events. And as the man began to think of making a hundred-yard dash or of running down the field with the pigskin under his arm, the disk tipped to the side where his feet and legs were. The blood was now flowing more freely into these organs. By asking the man to repeat [10] Dealing potter of the multiplication table of nines the displace- ment was greater than when he was repeating the table of fives, which is an easier table. The professor found that the center of gravity in the man's body was shifted as much as four inches by merely changing his thought, with- out the moving of a muscle. Thoughts are things, and their power for good or ill can be accurately weighed and measured. Here then is a force to be used ! If the blood can be made to flow more freely here or there by a change of thought, if all the pro- cesses of digestion, assimilation, circulation and elimination can be influenced for good or ill by mental conditions, if all those functions which are in constant communication with the nervous system can be aided or can be hin- dered in their operation by the thoughts we think, then you can see how much is suggested in those words, As a man thinketh in his heart so he becomes ! You will find this agency discussed under the somewhat elaborate title of "The Thera- peutic Value of Suggestion," by such scien- [11] f afty anD tific men as Bernheim and Moll, Tuke and Liebeault, Schofield and Dubois. You will find it taken up by psychologists and by edu- cators. We deal with children almost entirely by suggestion. The child about to cry over some trifle has his attention directed to some- thing else by a new suggestion and the occa- sion for his wail is thus forgotten. The child who has had a tumble is told that he is n't hurt much; "Mamma will kiss it and that will make it well! Now it is all well"; the suggestion is accepted and becomes effective. Suggestion may be utilized in curing bad habits and in changing unpleasant dispositions in children. We may carry the same principle on up to the years of maturity and utilize it in dealing with more serious matters. We may educate the mind by suggestion to move in better channels and teach the heart to cherish more wholesome states of feeling, and in that way accomplish splendid results in securing health and in developing character. It is needless to say to any intelligent reader [12] Dealing Cotter of that the power of mind over matter, the power of suggestion over bodily conditions, has its limits. All power has its limits unless it be the omnipotent power of Almighty God, and even He declares Himself conditioned in the accomplishment of His purposes by the giving or the withholding of our obedient co- operation. All power has its limits; I could pick up the pulpit in my church and carry it across the street, but I could not pick up the church and carry it away. Yet the fact that my muscular power has its limits does not indicate that it is of little worth. I can by right thinking, right feeling and right resolving affect profoundly certain physical conditions, but I cannot entirely change the structure of the body in cases of serious organic disease by merely thinking pleasant thoughts. The power of suggestion does not accomplish every- thing; no more does surgery or medicine or any other agent you can name. Suggestion is merely one of the therapeutic agencies which may be employed in the interests of health. Let me put it more concretely. Here is a [13] f aft^ and woman who is suffering from nervous dys- pepsia. Her food does not agree with her; she is losing flesh and losing strength; she is afraid of a total collapse. It may be that there is no organic disease present; this question should be determined by some one trained in diagnosis. If there is no organic disease, then what she needs is not Hood's Sarsaparilla or some long prescription written out in ponder- ous Latin, so much as a new state of mind. She talks too loud and too much. When she talks to any one over the telephone in that nervous, fretting way it almost seems as if she would break the instrument. The other people in the room where her message is being re- ceived can hear the squeaking, rasping noise which is made when the person at the other end of the line is talking unnecessarily loud. It is simply a nervous habit which some people thoughtlessly acquire. This woman who suffers from nervous dys- pepsia is intense, jerky, fidgety in all her life. Her two patron saints are St. Martha, troubled and fretted about many things, and St. Vitus, Dealing ^crtoer of moving with jerks and twitches rather than in serene strength. She cannot sit down without drumming on the table or fussing with some ornament on her dress. She will sit in the rocking chair, nervously rocking to and fro. You know the Europeans, who are not addicted to rockers, say that the Americans are so rest- less that even when they sit down they cannot be still, they must rock to and fro as if they were going somewhere. This woman eats in feverish haste or with such depression of mind that her food is robbed of its value. She sleeps uncertainly and fitfully, and she is losing power every day in the week. Here is a case where suggestion is "indi- cated," as the physicians say. If there is no organic disease, suggestion will do her ten times more good than drugs. If she will only say to herself slowly, thoughtfully, expectantly, every night after she gets into bed and every morning before she gets up, three times a day before meals and three times a day after meals, and at intervals of an hour or two during the day, if she will only say to herself these eight [15] and words which so many people have found use- ful, it will do her a world of good. The re- sults may not appear in ten minutes or in a day, but in a surprisingly short time they will work a beneficent change in her whole nervous sys- tem. Here are the eight words : " QUIETLY, EASILY, RESTFULLY, TRUSTFULLY, PATIENTLY, SERENELY, PEACEFULLY, JOYOUSLY." This would be good for her; it would be good for any one who has the least suspicion that he is headed in that direction. If you find yourself talking too loud, moving with jerks, losing your self-control, liable to petu- lant speech, breaking out in spurts of anger; or if you find yourself constantly out of breath, all unstrung, feeling as if you might fly to pieces, stop right there ! Sit down and do your exercises ! Say to yourself, either audibly or mentally, "Quietly, easily, restfully, trust- fully, patiently, serenely, peacefully, joyously." You can thus control your own mental states if you set about it in the right way. We are not responsible for the random thoughts which come and go; we are responsible for [16] Dealing J&otoer of those which come and settle down to summer and winter with us. As the old proverb had it, "You cannot keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from build- ing their nests in your hair." You are respon- sible for those states of mind which you retain and cherish. And where you are convinced that in your own case there is a tendency to be morbid and unwholesome you can, by systematic and persistent suggestion, change all that and make it right. When once you get the process started, then by giving it a little attention from time to time it seems to almost take care of itself. This is accomplished through what Professor James of Harvard and many other psycholo- gists call, "the sub-conscious mind." These men believe that the sub-conscious mind is especially susceptible to suggestion, and that suggestions once lodged there may continue to accomplish great good when the conscious attention has been directed to other matters. I am aware that some psychologists scout the idea of a "sub-conscious mind," but we need [17] f att^ and not quarrel about terms. There is surely something in each one of us which is indi- cated by that phrase. When you are walking down street, every time you lift your foot and put it down, every time you turn aside to avoid running into some one going in the opposite direction, it involves an act of perception and of will, but you are scarcely conscious of it ; you may be thinking of something else or talking steadily to some friend who walks with you. The sub-con- scious mind attends to the minor details of your walk and to many of the details in every- day life. The skilled performer on a pipe organ learns to do many things, as we say, automatically. His mind is intent upon the sheet of music before him while his fingers and his feet are unconsciously placing themselves aright upon the keys. He opens and closes stops, manipulating the various appliances of the organ to secure the desired result, scarcely conscious of the details, for his entire conscious attention is given to the general effect of his playing. [18] Dealing ^otoer of I learned something about this sub-con- scious mind in my own case in this way: I am a stenographer; I earned my way through Theological Seminary with my shorthand. I was a court reporter for a time, and I also worked a year and a half in the home office of a large fire insurance company. I took dicta- tion from the secretary of the company and I became very familiar with all the insurance lingo and with his own phrases and methods of correspondence. I reached the point where I could take his dictation with perfect accu- racy without thinking about it, without even hearing consciously what he was saying. I was thinking about the play I had seen the night before at the theater or the book I had been reading or the young lady I was going to call on that evening. The sub-conscious mind was meanwhile attending to its duties as the secretary dictated his letters. I discovered this in a peculiar way. He was a great joker and used to joke with his agents "jollying them up," as he called it in his business letters. I would take his dictation, [19] ana recording the jokes, some of them very good ones, for he was an exceedingly bright man, without ever hearing them. Then when I came to write out my shorthand notes on the typewriter I would come to the jokes and they would be entirely new to me and I would laugh over them for the first time. Whatever name we may apply to it, I am con- fident that there is a mental realm which lies below the level of ordinary consciousness, and in that realm the power of suggestion may be made to work mightily in the interests of health. You will find all this worked out in elabo- rate fashion by many writers. Henry Wood, in his "Ideal Suggestion through Mental Photography," has prepared a series of mental pictures which he undertakes to photograph upon the mind by having each one printed in large capitals on a single page. This is to be held before the eyes until it registers itself indelibly upon the mind. He believes it will produce deep down that state of feeling and of expectation which will persist after the con- scious attention has been turned of necessity [20] ^otaer of to something else. His suggestions are all wholesome and his little book has been useful to many nervous and troubled people. I have a system which I arranged myself and which I have used for my own health and have given to many other people, with excel- lent results. It is made up entirely of phrases from the scriptures. It is as harmless as pure water or fresh air. If it does not help you, it cannot hurt you. It is unlike the intellectual shuffling and the fierce denials of reality with which certain Christian Science healers often ply their patients as different as is spring water from brandy. Let me give you an illustration of this method, if you wish to be treated by sugges- tion or if you wish to learn how to treat your- self or to treat others for those ills which can be relieved in this way. Make yourself as easy and as comfortable as you can. Let your hands lie easily in your lap or at your side. You are not using them now you are only using your eyes, your ears and your mind; let your hands rest. Let your lower limbs relax you [21] and are not using them either ; you are not walking and that easy chair will hold you up without any effort of your own. Now in that relaxed state of restfulness follow me through these suggestions. There are eight sets of them, one for each day in the week and two for Sun- day if you choose to use them as a daily ex- ercise in right thinking. They are arranged in two series of four each, one of the series cul- minating in healing and the other culminating in sleep. While you are at your ease, repeat to yourself these: AIDS TO SUGGESTION /. To banish fear Fear not only believe. Fear not it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the mastery. Perfect love casteth out fear. I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. II. To bestow confidence In quietness and confidence shall be my strength. [22] Dealing potter of Be still and know that He is God. The Lord of Hosts is with me. The God of Jacob is my refuge. Be strong and of a good courage. The Lord my God He it is that goeth with me. He will not fail me nor forsake me. I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him. 777. To increase faith Have faith in God. All things are possible to him that believeth. Great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt. Thy faith has made thee whole. IV. To promote healing The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. The Sun of Righteousness is risen with heal- ing in His wings, The prayer of faith shall heal the sick. [23] ana He forgiveth all my iniquities. He healeth all my diseases. V. To gain peace Great peace have they who love Thy law and nothing shall offend them. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled ; neither let it be afraid. The peace of God which passeth all under- standing shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. VI. To develop strength They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. The Lord shall give strength to his people they shall go from strength to strength. The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid. I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. [24] potter of VII. To secure happiness A merry heart doeth good like medicine. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. VIII. To induce sleep Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God. I will lay me down in peace and sleep, for Thou makest me to dwell in safety. He giveth His loved ones sleep. Fix your mind upon each one in turn ! Give yourself to it until it fills and possesses your entire consciousness. Seek to absorb its full significance as you dwell upon the bearing it [25] anb has upon your inner life. Fear not, only be- lieve, for faith conquers all dread. " God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Fear not, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the mastery the entire control of your moods, your habits of thought, and the func- tions that have to do with sound health. Per- fect love casteth out fear, the heart possessed by love for God and love for its fellows has nothing to fear for it cannot suffer permanent harm. I will fear no evil for Thou art with me in the presence of the Great Companion the heart is freed from its anxiety. Your thoughts sent out into every part of your body with a holy and helpful purpose will not return unto you void they will go far toward the accomplishment of that whereto they are sent. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. Be still and know that He is God some forms of knowledge come by the active use of the intellectual faculties and other forms come by quiet communion. Be still and know ! The Lord of Hosts is with [20] Dealing potter of you; the God of Jacob is your refuge. Be strong and of a good courage the Lord thy God He it is that goeth with you, He will not fail you nor forsake you. Know whom you have believed, even though you remain uncer- tain as to what you may believe at every point in the creed to know whom one has believed is a long step toward vital faith ; and know too that He is able to keep that which you have committed unto Him. Have faith in God ! All things are possible to him that believeth faith opens a wide door into a large field of possibilities. " Great is thy faith," the Master said to the woman whose affectionate and believing entreaty on behalf of her child seemed to overleap all obstacles, "be it unto thee even as thou wilt." And to one who seemed to lack so much, His word was, " Thy faith hath made thee whole." The leaves of the tree not the fruit but the incidental by-products of the wide-branched, far-reaching system of divine helpfulness are for the healing of the nations. The Sun of Righteousness is risen, filling the whole world [27] anti of human need with life-giving rays, even as the ordinary sun fills the earth with light and warmth, quickening every living thing the Sun of Righteousness is risen with healing in His wings. The prayer of faith shall heal the sick it takes its place among the other thera- peutic agencies upon which wise and devout men rely. And in this whole attitude we are dealing with Him who is able to for- give all our iniquities and to heal all our diseases. Great peace have they which love Thy law the divine law, the divine way, the divine method and nothing shall cause them to stumble. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee though storm and tempest, struggle and temptation, rage without, there is, deep within the soul, a place untroubled, unshaken, untouched in its abid- ing peace. Peace I leave with you ; My peace I give unto you and it was a transcendent peace which the Master possessed. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And the peace of God which passeth all under- [28] Dealing Cotter of standing, which goes deeper than the ordinary reach of our intellectual perceptions, shall keep the word used was a military term and it meant "garrison" as if deep within the life there was an impregnable citadel made strong beyond the power of any assault the peace of God shall garrison your heart and mind through Jesus Christ. The searching inward reconstruction which will gradually take place under the power of intelligent suggestion and religious faith will work marvelous changes in the general health " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength," through the reinforcement of His imparted grace. "The Lord shall give strength to His people they shall go from strength to strength," from one form of strength to another and a higher form, from one meas- ure of strength to another and a fuller measure. The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom, or of what, shall I be afraid ! " I can do all things" this sounds like boasting "through Christ" (but here is modesty and humility, for the strength is His and it becomes [29] ana ours by the personal appropriation of faith) "who strengtheneth me." And all this must issue in increased happi- ness, which in turn will react upon health, for a merry heart doeth good like medicine. If ye know these things, do them, translate the vision into deed, the insight into practice, the promise made to your higher, finer self into a performance, and happy you will be. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help his personal relation to the Eternal becomes in him a deep well of happiness springing up with everlasting life. These things have I spoken unto you it was almost the last word uttered on earth by Him whom God anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, making His joy a transcendent and a surpassing joy these things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you and that your joy might be filled full. And then to crown and close the day of deep, rich experience, seek the rest and quiet of profound sleep. "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden" all ye [30] potter of weary, burdened and depleted lives " and I will give you rest." "There remaineth there- fore" not away in some remote hereafter beyond the clouds, but here and now in the midst of these exacting duties "a rest for the people of God"; it is a rest which comes not by unloading one's obligations or by flee- ing from one's duties, but by that re-enforce- ment of strength which finds ease and joy in the performance of duty. " I will lay me down in peace and sleep" and to any life which loses all care in the sweet forgetfulness and the precious renewal of sleep there is given an innocent, rewarding and ever recurring source of profound comfort " for Thou makest me to dwell in safety." He giveth His loved ones sleep ! If you are suffering from nervous headaches or nervous indigestion as a result of living under too great a strain; if you have a ten- dency to hysteria, of which there is a great deal more than many people suppose; if cer- tain functions are not performing their duties as they ought, I know by experience, my own [31] anD and that of others, that if you will take these suggestions and use them quietly, trustfully, persistently, you can bring about a change in your whole interior life which will register its good results all through your body. Send your thoughts aloft into this upper, purer air when- ever they are freed for a few moments from the ordinary concerns which occupy them, and they will not return unto you void. If you are troubled with insomnia, as so many burdened men and women are in these days, when we are living at too sharp a pace, you can find help here. I have great sympa- thy for those who find it difficult to sleep; several years ago I knew what it meant to lie awake the long night through, hearing the clock strike the hours and the half hours, long- ing for sleep and longing in vain. But it is possible for us to teach ourselves better habits of sleep. I have learned how, at the close of some long, hard, exacting day, to so use these scriptural formulas that oftentimes in less than five minutes after my head touches the pillow I am sound asleep, awaking next morning re- [32] Dealing ^otoer of freshed and ready for another busy day. It is unspeakably good to be able to lay oneself down in peace and sleep, resting upon the infinite arm of Him who maketh us dwell in safety. You will understand that I do not offer these suggestions to you as a panacea for Bright's disease or cancer or bubonic plague; in the presence of such diseases the power of sug- gestion is as helpless as is Mrs. Eddy herself. The Christian Scientists are simply plungers and speculators in this market where whole- some suggestion has value and is quoted regu- larly in all the reliable medical journals. The men who are using it intelligently as one of the many therapeutic agents are, on the other hand, trying in sober, sensible fashion to ascer- tain its exact value and to employ it where ex- perience has "indicated" it as being useful. And it is true beyond a peradventure that in many nervous, mental and functional disor- ders you can thus invest thought and desire in the confident assurance of receiving good dividends. [33] f atty and And indeed in cases of organic disease and in warding off the attack of germ diseases you will find it of great value to cultivate that state of mind and heart which is favorable to health. We know that pneumonia is developed from a microbe and that there is a bacillus of tuber- culosis and a bacillus of diphtheria and that there are other enemies of our peace. Some people seem to think that if a man happens to meet one of these microbes it is all up with him. But the doctors and nurses in the wards of the hospitals where such patients are treated probably have the bacilli of those very diseases in their mouths and noses and throats every day in the week, and it is a rare thing for any of them to contract the disease. If you will keep yourself in good health, physically, men- tally, morally, you also may walk unhurt in the midst of a multitude of microbes. The seed of disease may come your way, but it does not find in you good soil, or when it falls upon you the birds of the air devour it up, the winged energies of your inner, positive, healthful life destroy it before it has time to [34] Dealing $otoer of take root, and you pass on unhurt. If organic disease does actually fasten upon you and you need medical treatment, this same practice of wholesome suggestion which quiets the mind, steadies the nerves, fortifies the will, serves to line up the recuperative energies and to put them in condition to mightily aid the physician and the nurse in making you well. In a serious surgical operation even, the chances of recovery are greatly improved if the patient goes to it with a free mind, in a happy mood and with a feeling of confidence in the outcome rather than in a state of fear and anxiety. Get it out of your mind, if you can, that you are a helpless victim; the chances are ten to one, that you are not. It probably lies within your power to come off more than conqueror through Him who loves you. Make up your mind that you will lay hold upon all the forces seen and unseen which make for health! Then, not by some sudden dramatic change, but by sowing good seed in good soil expect as a result in due course of tune a harvest of good health. [35] f ait^ and You can, if you will, overcome your self- distrust, your fear of failure, your sense of in- adequacy to your tasks by the persistent use of suggestion. You can overcome your dis- trust of others, your suspicion as to their motives, your feeling that there must be some evil lurking there in the dark, your cynical unbelief of which you are often ashamed. You can overcome your morbid dread of the future; most of the things that people worry themselves into their graves about never happen. You can do all this by the systematic, persistent use of the power of suggestion in inducing more wholesome lines of thought and more healthful states of feeling. Learn to depend less upon the without and more upon the within. In my judgment we are just brushing the surface of the stores of helpfulness which lie hidden there. We are doing just that in many quarters. Electricity has been here in the world ever since the lightning flashed across the sky the day that Noah entered the ark when he saw the storm coming, but we of this [36] Dealing potper of generation are the first to really make use of it. We are just beginning to know the power of right thinking and right feeling as they bear upon health, sanity and character. When you set yourself toward the high and hard task of being made whole, all the way up, all the way down and all the way in, you have behind you and within you the propelling force of the divine mind and the divine love intent upon the same great end. He too is seeking to banish fear, to bestow confidence, to increase faith, to promote healing. He too is desirous that you should gain peace, develop strength, secure happiness and enter into the rest which remains for the people of God. While you are working out your own salvation by systematic and persistent effort, God is working with you and for you to accomplish His good pleasure. [37] UCSOunenN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 000 758 721 5