HEAlT AND HJIpPINESS SAMU E L PAtro W^ : 0. 0. . 1 1. 0. BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Hetirg M. Sage 1891 A:.M.iU4. .^. " ^-gZlZZ/^ 9306 Cornell University Library RZ 400.F19 1912 Health and happiness; or, Religious thera 3 1924 012 284 489 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924012284489 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS J^Z^^i^^O^ Health and Happiness OR RELIGIOUS THERAPEUTICS AND RIGHT LIVING BY SAMUEL ^LLOWS, D. D., LL. D. Authok'of "Science of Health," etc. FIFTH EDITION CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. ^ Copyright A. C. McCLURG & CO. igo8 Published October 3, 1908 Second Edition, October 31, 1908 Third Edition, January 15, 1909 Fourth Edition, May 20, 1909 Fifth Edition, February 20, 1912 Entered at Stationer's Hall, London, England A II Rights Reserved PUBLISHERS' NOTE The publishers acknowledge indebtedness to the editors of "Good Housekeeping" and of "The World To-Day" for permission to reprint certain articles in this volume. R. K. DONNF-LLEY ft SONS COMPANY CHICAGO To the sick who would be well. To the weak who would be strong. To the weary seeking rest. To the sorrowing who would find comfort. To the efficient who are asking life more abundantly Whatever your creed, or color, or nation. In the broad scope of humanity, aCn pott all— ;|Hp JrienlB / dedicate this book PREFACE THIS book, like the movement out of which it has risen, is a response to a call of duty. When the echoes of the Emmanuel Move- ment reached Chicago, and suflferers appealed to the Church for such aid as had been given in Boston, I responded to the call as to one which I could not re- fuse. I have served up to the measure of my powers, not holding back by reason of my increasing years and many interests, but doing the immediate duty as a servant of Christ and his Church. The book has grown out of the work thus performed. It has been written during the brief pauses in the crowded hours of a busy life; consequently it is not the more formal book that I first contemplated. It was written to answer the needs made insistently apparent in the sufferings of hundreds who came seeking help at St. Paul's Church. The abundant demands on my time and energies must be held accountable for the book's lack of carefully devised plan and literary finish, but I hope that it may possess the special vii PREFACE value of suggestion and help which immediate ex- perience provides. It is a book for the present, de- signed to meet the needs of those, whether well or ill, who desire to follow the way to greater health and efficiency. It omits, therefore, all detailed descrip- tion of disease, and all technical treatment of methods of relief. Thanks are due to those who have given gen erously of their time and energy in carrying on the good work, particularly to Dr. Sidney Kuh, whose skilful services as attending neurologist at the church have contributed largely to the success of the move- ment; to Dr. Harold N. Moyer, whose counsel has been of the greatest value; to the other neurologists and physicians of Chicago, whose kindly interest and cooperation have been most helpful; and to those friends all over the country who have given me their cordial support and sympathy. Finally, I must ex- press my deep obligation to the unfailing devotion of my daughters, without whose painstaking aid at every turn this book, brief as it is, could not have been completed. Samuel Fallows. Chicago, August i§, igo8. CONTENTS Chapter Page Introduction xiii I. The Science and Practice of Prayer i The Folly of Neglecting Prayer — The Whole Uni- verse Dependent on the Care of God — Prayer, Conscious or Unconscious, by All Created Beings — The Efficacy of Prayer — Auto-suggestion a Kind of Prayer — Christian Prayer — Thanks- giving. II. Faith a Dynamic Force .... i8 Faith a Universal Gift — Its Various Degrees — Faith Essential to Healing — Faith Necessary to Success in Material Affairs — The Testimony of Physicians. III. The Presence and Power of God . 28 False Conceptions of God — Right Views of God's Majesty, Sublimity, and Love — His Fatherhood — Christ's Teaching on Love to God and to Man. IV. The Power of Love 39 Testimonies to the Power of Love — The Progress of the Human Race Dependent on liove — Love's Therapeutic Value. V. Self-Control 46 Self-control Essential to our Control of Others — Our Duty to be Guided by Reason, and not by Outward Circumstances — The Power of Circum- stances to Call Out the Good that is in Man — Triumphs of Great Men over Circumstances — The Power to Control Ourselves Increased by Practice — Man's Power to Control Circumstances. ix CONTENTS VI. Doubt 55 Effects of Doubt on Body, Mind, and Spirit — De- grees of Doubt — Distinction between Scepti- cism and Unbelief — Doubt as a Resul t of Intellect- ual Awakening — Doubt as a Consequence of False Teaching — The Duty of Religious Teachers toward Doubters. VII. Physician and Clergyman .... 65 Development of Nervous Diseases Due to the Strenuous Life of To-day — Advances made by the Medical Profession within the Last Century — Increase of Nervous Disorders — The Power of Religion, Therapeutically Applied, in Such Cases — Need of Specific Preparation for Physi- cian and Clergyman for this Work. VIII. The Clergyman's Opportunity . . 77 Wonders of Healing Effected by Physical Means — How Clergymen Gradually Abandoned the Healing Function — Their Duty to Resume that Function — The Emmanuel Church Movement in Boston — The Clergyman's Opportunity for a True Pas- toral Relation. IX. Consciousness and Subconsciousness 90 Evidences of Duality Either of Mind or of Mental Function — Sir William Hamilton on the Dis- tinction between " the Conscious and the Uncon- scious Self " — Views of Several Writers on this Subject — Both the Healing and the Disease- producing Powers of the Mind Exercised Sub- consciously or Unconsciously — The Different Functions of the Conscious and the Subconscious Mind. X. Suggestion 96 Suggestion in its General and Specific Senses — A Case of Sickness Produced by Suggestion and Healed by Suggestion — The Patient's Need of Faith in the Person Helping Him — The Main Function of Suggestion to Disconnect Ideas that are Usually Connected in the Patient's Mind — Healing by Suggestion as Old as Human Nature — Mind-cure, Scientific and Unscientific — Hypno- tism Now Seldom Used as an Aid to Suggestion — Suggestion Useful in the Training of Children. CONTENTS XI. AUTO-SUGGESTION 127 Auto-suggestion Effective Mostly in Functional Dis- orders of the Nerves — The Danger of Permitting Ourselves to be Controlled by Circumstances — Have a Wholesome Disregard for Small Discom- forts — The Good Effects of Self-forgetfulness — — Some Examples of Successful Auto-suggestion — Advice to Those in Search of Mental Health. XII. Unused Powers 138 Powers in Nature Unused by Man — Our Reserves of Vital Energy — The Main Cause of Nervous Breakdown — How to Disarm Morbid Fears — Benefits to be Derived from Exercising all Our Faculties — Man's Need of Pleasure — Benefits to be Found in Religious Observances — The Will the Greatest of Our Unused Powers. XIII. The Mission of Pain 149 Pain not Sent for Punishment — No Lasting Pleas- ure without Previous Pain — The Good Results of Helping the Sinful and Sorrowful — Perfection of Character Unattainable without Pain — The Folly of Shrinking from Duty through Fear of Calumny — Suffering, when Endured Bravely, is Beneficial — The Pain of Uncongenial Compan- ionship to be Overcome by Love — The Uplifting Power of Bereavement. XIV. Therapeutic Training of the Emo- tions 162 The Need to Master our Emotions so as to Make Them Our Servants — Two Opposite Examples of Untrained Emotions — Baleful Effects of Exces- sive Emotion — Valuable Work Often Done by Persons having One Specially Developed Faculty — Professor James's Method of Mastering Unde- sirable Tendencies. XV. Overcoming Worry 168 A Good Motto for Those Who are Worried — Wor- ry Distinguished from Forethought — The Remedy for Worry to be Found in the Law of Substitution — Examples Showing How to Apply this Remedy — Auto-suggestion as a Help — The Persistent Worries of Domestic Life — Practical Hints. xi CONTENTS XVI. Fear and its Antidote .... 190 The Enfeebling and Disease-producing Effects of Fear — Fear to be Distinguished from Caution — Cases Showing how Auto-suggestion has Over- come Fear — How to Conquer Indecision — Fear is often a Greater Enemy than the Thing Feared — Inherited Tendencies may be Over- come. XVII. The Conquest of Anger .... 206 Effects of Anger on the Vital Functions — Our Duty to Repress it — Use Mild Language and Culti- vate a Tranquil Spirit — Causeless Anger to be Distinguished from Righteous Indignation — Fret- fulness a Sign of Weakness and Often the Result of Envy — Irritability Treated as an Ailment — Illustrative Case. XVIII. Cheerfulness a Tonic . -215 Testimonies to the Value of Cheerfulness — Its Con- tagiousness — ^We should Look Persistently on the Bright Side of Things — To Acquire Cheerful- ness, Assume that You have it — How to Rid One- self of Religious Depression — Cheerful Religious Society as a Cure for Hypochondriacs. XIX. Watchwords of Right Living . 227 Maxims from William Osier, C. W. Saleeby, Angelo Mosso, Edward Howard Griggs, Luther Gulick, Paul Dubois, William James, Ralph Waldo Emer- son, Hugo Munsterberg, Henry C. King, James Rowland Angell, Annie Payson Call, Joseph Jar- strow, Richard C. Cabot, Phillips Brooks, Josiah Royce, Stanley Hall, Carl Hilty, August Forel, Frederick Peterson, Max Miiller, John Burroughs, Herbert Spencer, Robert Browning. XX. A Litany of Health: Scripture Words — Scripture Prayers ... 241 Scripture Words on Health — Strength — Peace — Happiness — Benedictions. Scriptural Prayers for Strength — Trust — Faith — Wisdom — Self- Forgetf ulness — Counsel — Compassion — Needs — Peace — Joy — Light — Work — Godliness — Communion — Holiness — Reconciliation — Pardon — Comfort — Tolerance — Mercy — Goodness — Grace — Love. Index 275 xu INTRODUCTION DURING an extended period of active teach- ing and thinking upon mental healing and psychological subjects, the conviction was borne in upon me that physicians and clergymen might cooperate in giving relief to nervous sufferers. But pressure of work seemed to make the personal experiment difficult for me to undertake in church life. It was with a very vital interest, therefore, that I followed the efforts of the Rev. Dr. Elwood Worcester, and the Rev. Dr. Samuel McComb, rectors of Emmanuel Church, Boston, to unite the physician with his knowledge of scientific medicine, and the clerg5mian with his knowledge of the mental and spiritual states of his charges, in checking the rising tide of nervous disorders. Realizing that many of the people who came to me for advice required for the rehef of their difficul- ties the spiritual uplifting and education which this movement affords, I decided to start the work in my own church. The almost overwhelming response xiii INTRODUCTION justified the feeling that such work was greatly needed in our own community, while hundreds of letters coming from every section of the country are evidence of the need of this work in many other communities. The effort to bring directly to bear mental, psy- chical, and spiritual influences, upon persons suffer- ing from various ailments is by no means new. The scientific mental healing of to-day was crudely fore- shadowed by some of the usages of ancient Egypt. Savage, semi-civilized nations, in one form or another, have given characteristic expression to the principle behind this form of treatment. As for the healing power of religious faith, which is an important factor in what we have called, for the sake of convenience, "religious therapeutics," it was, as we well know, applied by the Apostles in the first century, in their wonderful works. Faith as a cure for disease was recognized by the centuries succeeding, and has been partially recognized by wise physicians and wise ministers from that day until this. The specific work of healing the sick has long been handed over in general to the physician by the xiv INTRODUCTION Church, and it has been tacitly assumed that the Divine command to the ministry to do this work was fulfilled when it was thus relegated. But the nine- teenth and twentieth centuries have witnessed an in- rush of what are termed "functional disorders of the nervous system," never known before in the history of the race. We are living in an age preem- inent for nervous ailments. These are partly mental and spiritual, and often only secondarily physi- cal. It is growing increasingly apparent that our national temperament is highly nervous and that our ailments are predominatingly ailments of the nerves. It is estimated that the physicians desig- nated as neurologists could not take care of one-tenth of one per cent of these cases. The fundamental principles of healing which are to be found in purely mental treatment, and in the so-called New Thought — which is but a restate- ment of the old Thought — and in Christian Sci- ence, are all contained within the Christian religion. It is the aim of this movement to apply actively once more these principles, which should never have fallen into disuse, and to eliminate the errors that have been gathered about them. XV INTRODUCTION Religious therapeutics, based on sound psycholog- ical principles, proceeds upon well-defined premises. First, we recognize, according to common experi- ence and the inspired teachings of the Bible, espec- ially of the New Testament, that man possesses a mind and a body. Second, we affirm most emphatically the value of anatomy, physiology, biology, bacteriology, his- tology, and the like in promoting the health of the race. Third, we recognize that there is a distinction be- tween functional and organic diseases, and that one may yield directly to psychic or spiritual influence, and the other indirectly through surgical or medical means. Fourth, we assert the absolute necessity for the work of the physician, and give full value to the splendid efforts of the medical profession in further- ing the health and welfare of the race. In so far as the service we are engaged in is a Church movement, it offers to the poor and needy its help in this direction, as in others, without the taint of commercialism. It does not aim to found a new religious cult. It simply aims to advance the xvi INTRODUCTION cause of health and happiness everywhere, both in the churches and out. It most strenuously teaches that there is not the slightest need to deplete or dis- rupt existing church organizations or the family in order to get everything that can be obtained in psy- chical and divine healing. It holds that the pastor of a church, a man so frequently of college and university training, one who is conversant with the deepest things of the soul, is the man best qualified to work hand in hand with the physician in applying the great principles of healing to the members of his flock. We believe in the power of faith in the historic Christ, and in personal and intercessory prayer to an ever-living and ever-loving personal God. We be- heve in using the best scientific medical knowledge and skill of the day, which we feel is as much God- given as any psychical or spiritual method of reliev- ing disease. Therefore we ask our patients to come with a diagnosis as accurate as the skill of the neu- rologist can make it. Our aim is to bring health and happiness to the afflicted, and more efficiency to those who are well; to drive out fears, various forms of depression, worry, xvii INTRODUCTION want of confidence, and the like from the mind and heart; to magnify the love and tenderness and sym- pathy of God ; to carry forward the benign work of the neurologist along the lines of reeducation and right living, according to the individual needs of each patient. The application of these principles has already progressed to the point of developing definite meth- ods of treatment. Broadly speaking, the great method, including in a general way all the others, is suggestion. Besides this, or within it, are persuasion, auto-suggestion, reeducation, and prayer, both direct and intercessory. The Health Conferences, held one evening each week during the winter, were an important factor in the work. The subjects treated in these conferences were aimed to meet the needs of the people who did not require treatment, and also to supplement the in- struction given to patients individually. The meeting itself was religious in character with a simple service and a dominant note of optimism throughout. In the social half-hour following, the same cheerful atmosphere was maintained. The lift and buoyancy coming from this collective attempt to remember xviii INTRODUCTION blessings rather than sorrows was remarkable. The promises accorded the "two or three gathered to- gether " seemed so remarkably kept that many of our attendants came regularly from great distances. A class for exercises in deep breathing, held one after- noon each week under the direction of an able teacher, was likewise very valuable. A short practical talk was given afterward, and between times the members of the class held an informal social. It is easy to see the benefit of such an occasion for nervous people, who, by the nature of their trouble, are self-centred and anti-social by inclination, and whose poverty of interests and lack of ambition are constant hin- drances to recovery. The only treatment we venture upon is simple, nothing could be more simple; yet some of the results obtained have been wonderful. I may be pardoned for citing examples. The other day a man came in who was utterly discouraged. He had suffered ma- terial reverses, felt seriously iU, and had decided that day to end his life. I took him alone with me to my study, talked with him and prayed with him, and he went away literally a new man. Was n't that a mir- acle ? The same day, too, a big, strongly built man xix INTRODUCTION came in, and with him were his wife and daughter. The man's face was haggard and his shoulders drooped. In the first few minutes' talk he told me that some years previously a physician in whom he had great confidence had examined him and told him that he had a serious case of heart disease. Other physicians had examined him since without finding traces of the malady. In fact, the diagnosis which I require before I will accept any case, and which he handed to me, said that he was perfectly well except for the trouble which had preyed on his mind. In spite of these evidences of his health, he assured me that he had felt the symptoms of heart failure developing in him through the years, that he was steadily growing weaker, and in fact had disposed of his property and practically made up his mind to die. "The last doctor I went to told me to come to you. Bishop Fallows. He told me that he had done all that he could, but that you could speak to me with authority. And so I am here as a last hope. What can you do?" With the accent and inflection of utter conviction I said: "Through God's grace I can cure you abso- XX INTRODUCTION lutely. But first you must sit up straight. You were not made to look down except at certain times, and now is the time for you to look up. " He straight- ened up for the first time since he had entered. "Now," I said, "take fifteen or twenty good, deep breaths. The air is the symbol of God's Spirit. Spirit means breath. God has breathed into us His Holy Spirit. There is no more fitting symbol of His Spirit than the free, pure air around us. Fill your lungs full of it consciously every day, for it carries health and life. Your mind and your body are wonderfully interrelated; they act and react upon each other. No idea has ever entered your subcon- sciousness except through your senses. Every sen- sation which is caught by your senses is registered automatically upon your mental and also upon your physical being." And I went on to make clear to him how suggestions of disease may creep into the mind, and once there, how insidious their action is. "And now," I said, "I have spoken to you. I have told you all that a man can teU you. I am going to stand aside now and let God speak." And I opened the Word and read to him: "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord xxi INTRODUCTION will give grace and glory; no good thing will he with- hold from them that walk uprightly." " If thou wilt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, I will put none of these diseases upon thee; for I am the Lord that healeth thee." "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving kind- ness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have com- mitted sins they shall be forgiven him." After we have read and prayed I send my visitors away with the understanding that they are to live in the air and sunshine; that when they lie down at night and when they awake in the morning, and in all that they do, they are to let their minds dwell al- ways on God and on His power to bless and heal the righteous; and, finally, that they are to come to me at stated intervals and tell me how they progress. xxii INTRODUCTION One of the most encouraging signs of the present movement on behalf of sufferers from nervous dis- eases is found in the attitude of physicians of prom- inence. Naturally conservative, they are compelled to more strict conservatism by the fear of being iden- tified with one or another of many new cults exploited by pseudo-scientists and inventors of new religious systems. Nevertheless, the need of cooperation be- tween doctors and clergymen along lines similar to those already roughly indicated has been recognized in generous terms by physicians of authority. Thus Dr. Lewellys Franklin Barker, Professor of Medi- cine in Johns Hopkins University, admits frankly that neither the medical profession nor the clergy of the orthodox churches have met the needs of those who looked to them. Medicine realizes to-day, largely as the result of the work of its own leaders, that it has everything to gain ,by welcoming the assistance of ministers of religion in this neglected field. The very fact that tens of thousands have been attracted to systems of unscientific quackery is sufficient evidence of the need of such work as that which we have undertaken in Chicago. Approaching the subject reverently and xxiii INTRODUCTION scientifically, we feel confident that with more thor- ough training in psychology, the physician of the future is bound to play a great part in a great move- ment. In a recent editorial "The Journal of the Amer- ican Medical Association" urged upon physicians the necessity of doing their part of the work. It ad- mitted that the medical schools gave altogether inad- equate training in psychology, and acknowledged that, to a certain degree, regular practitioners were responsible for the number of people who were at- tracted by new cults and isms of more than doubtful value. I may be permitted, perhaps, to quote. After referring to the Emmanuel Church Movement in Boston and our work in Chicago, as eflforts to deal with the problem in a more scientific spirit, the editor goes on to say: — "In Boston [and he might have added in Chicago also] the diagnosis and approval of a physician is re- quired in each case in order to eliminate organic dis- eases, and only so-called functional disorders are treated. "The psychical treatment is carried on by a sys- tem of education and training in auto-suggestion, jcxiv INTRODUCTION rest cure, work cure, psycho-analysis, etc. The pa- tients report at regular intervals and direct personal attention is given. There are also social gatherings in the church, where suitable music is provided, and from time to time addresses are given by eminent authorities on such questions as insomnia, nervous- ness, habit, suggestion, prayer, and the like. "The results thus far, according to Cabot,* are gratifying. Out of one hundred and twenty-three cases in which the results are known, including neurasthenia, hysteria, alcoholism, sexual neuroses and psychoses, seventy-five have shown a distinct improvement. This is encouraging when one con- siders that many were chronic, stubborn cases, often treated previously by several physicians. Bishop Fallows states that his results also are encouraging." The writer goes on to make the broad admis- sion, now so frequent in the mouths of physicians, that the appeal to psychic treatment, and especially the appeal to the religious sense, is of undoubted value. He continues: " The same psychologic prin- ciples underlie other modes of treatment — faith heal- ing, Eddyism, Dowieism, and numerous other beliefs. *Dr. Richard C. Cabot's article in The Outlook, Feb. ag, 1908. XXV INTRODUCTION But the method followed in Boston is a decided step in advance of most systems that attempt to heal, in that it requires the diagnosis of a physician. The leaders have a profound respect for medicine, believe in the use of drugs and other familiar therapeutic measures whenever indicated, and attempt to work in cooperation with, rather than against, the medical profession. They recognize the limitations of sugges- tion as a therapeutic agent, and on this account the work is to be commended. " It has at all times been a source of great en- couragement to me to mark the effect of the treat- ment from the purely religious side. If evidences were needed that this is really God's work, they might readily be found in the attitude assumed by patients toward spiritual matters before the treatment and after. To all who call for assistance it is made plain that the promises of Scripture are to be relied upon absolutely. In a short time after beginning the treatment, men and women who have admitted that they have long neglected their religious duties and privileges become earnest searchers of the Word, finding meanings in portions which once held for them no meaning at all. In no successful case of xxvi INTRODUCTION which I have knowledge has physical improvement failed to be followed by a corresponding improve- ment in the spiritual outlook. To sum up, we realize that the work is in its in- fancy, that the scientific knowledge of the subject which we possess at present is consequently limited. We know that we must make haste slowly, that in- judicious action may result in setbacks which would be disastrous. We are aware that we cannot afford to make mistakes, and that they can be avoided by patient study and continuous prayer. On the other hand, we have had proofs innumerable that this movement has aroused the attention of leaders of thought and of action in the medical profession; that it has awakened the Church to a sense of re- sponsibility, and has checked the drift toward theo- logical quackery; that it has benefited men and women spiritually as well as physically. It should be borne in mind that while careful study and still more careful procedure are necessary at all times, it does not follow that growth is to be slow. On the contrary, there is every reason to sup- pose that this movement will soon acquire marvellous momentum. It is because physicians of prominence xxvii INTRODUCTION have noted the conservative and scientific methods adopted that they have been aroused to activity and have not merely given their approval, but have begun to advocate special courses in colleges and medical schools for the purpose of rendering more eflftcient cooperation. When the preliminary diag- noses shall, in consequence, have become more definite and illuminating, we may reasonably expect that the satisfactory results will be proportionately larger. In conclusion, it may be unnecessary to reiterate that without faith we can do nothing; but it may not be amiss to add that little can be accomphshed by the clergyman who attempts to assist, if he is not gifted with insight, firmness, sympathy, and tact. It were better if such a one gave to the cause his prayers and public encouragement, and refrained from at- tempting treatment. It is a difficult work, and one to which not every clergyman has been called; the physician recognizes the need of special training to make his portion of it a success, and no minister to whom is entrusted the care of souls need be ashamed to confess a limited equipment for the undertaking. To those who feel that they have been called to xxviii INTRODUCTION this enlarged ministry I would say that while the call entails added labors, it also insures a wider spiritual experience and a more perfect joy in service. Samuel Fallows. Chicago, Auf;ust 75, igoS. XXIX HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Health and Happiness CHAPTER I THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF PRAYER The Folly of Neglecting Prayer — The Whole Universe De- pendent on the Care of God — Prayer, Conscious or Unconscious, by all Created Beings — The Efficacy of Prayer — Auto-suggestion a Kind of Prayer — Christian Prayer — Thanksgiving. NOT long ago a man, haunted by the past, troubled about the present, and appre- hensive of the future, came to me for ad- vice. His nerves were tense to the breaking point. Yet he was carrj^ng no more of a burden than is the fair share of any strong, capable worker with his place to make in the world. He asked me what to do, and I answered, " You must learn to pray." "Pray?" he asked. "What would be the use of it ? Why should I pray ? ' ' Neglect of the practice of prayer and ignorance of the regenerative power of prayer, which such a HEALTH AND HAPPINESS question indicates, are accountable for some of the nervous unrest that handicaps the present generation. Our connection with God, the source of all life, is never broken, it is true; but prayer is the live current which makes that connection efficient. Without prayer, we are isolated, as it were, at the end of a dead wire. The universe itself is, to the devout mind, founded upon prayer, that is, on the principle of dependence, which is the fundamental note of prayer. Science and psychology concur in such a view. The world we live in, great as it seems to us, is as a grain of sand to the bulk of a vast mountain when compared to the numberless orbs that revolve through the millions of miles of space. But law and order govern the whole. Part is dependent upon part. We seem to ourselves, perhaps, iso- lated and self-contained. Yet I lift my hand, I make the slightest motion, and the clearest-headed thinker in the world of science tells me that the very movement of my finger sends its vibrations to the farthest star, for hundreds of millions, or billions, or quadrillions, or sextillions of miles. Distance makes no difference. There can be no motion in SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF PRAYER one part without motion being in some way felt in another. This interdependent universe did not come into existence by itself. A number of atoms did not get together in the past and hold a council, nor did a cell form itself and say, " I will build other cells and put them together in such a way as to constitute the human organism." There was no such council. Through God, the author and source of all life and power and love, this universe came into being. How is it sustained? Does it continue of itself? Has God wound it up like a clock to go on until it needs another winding? That theory, fortunately, has almost gone out of existence. No, the world is dependent every moment upon the power and love of its Creator. Nothing goes on of itself. Every movement that takes place, great or small, from the rocking of a baby's cradle to the shock of an earth- quake, is based on this idea of the relation of the uni- verse to God. The afl&nity of the electrons, atoms, and molecules of those elements that are necessary to the formation of air, water, and other necessities for the existence of plant and animal life; the de- velopment of cells; the joining of one cell with 3 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS another and these with others to form the evolu- tionary masterpiece of creation — man; the whole on-going of nature is the on-going of prayer and the answer to prayer. So homely a thing as the desire of animals for food and the effort to satisfy it is a form of prayer. The cry of the child for attention from its mother is a prayer. Our hunger and thirst, our dependence on food and drink for life itself, keep us, while we are on this lower plane, in a constant state of prayer. In the world of inorganic nature, as well as in the world of animal nature and of human nature on its physical side, God has made ample provision for answers to prayer. With the want come the means of satisfaction. We know that the universe is the result of absolutely orderly law and arrangement. To have provided only for the lower needs of man, disregarding his mental and spiritual needs, would have been, to say the least, illogical. But God is not illogical. The appeals coming from a higher plane are heard and answered. "Prayer, based on want," Doctor Matheson says, " is the premonitory s)anptom of a larger life." The greater the want, the higher the development. In 4 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF PRAYER this sense the glorious advance of history is an answer to prayer. The formulating of the laws of evolution, the development of electricity, the discovery of radium and of other modern wonders which mark the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the great progress in intellectual and material affairs, all this is an answer to prayer — to the prayer of man marching to a higher development, asking consciously or unconsciously the knowledge to carry him farther. The prayer of the individual has the same mean- ing. It voices our need for greater breadth. It is the reaching of the finite after the infinite. Lawful unrest, the symptom of our need, which finds its expression in prayer, is the friendly monitor that will not let us keep contented on the lower levels. Prayer in a comprehensive sense is spiritual com- munion with God. It includes the quiet medita- tion so often neglected and so greatly needed under the stringent conditions of our modern life; confes- sion, when our innermost thoughts and motives must give an occasional account of themselves and report the worthiness or unworthiness of our whole spiritual structure; petition, which gathers together 5 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS all our prayers of asking; thanksgiving, the kind of prayer most often forgotten. In a well-rounded, normal Christian life, each kind of prayer has its appropriate place and use. Whatever the prayer, whether it is publicly or pri- vately expressed in words, or simply breathed, or even thought; whether it is the swift-arrow prayer sent up in the stress of a busy, trying hour, the prayer of quiet receptivity when the rhythmic sounds of Nature speak to the listening soul with God's voice, or the wrestling prayer that will not let the opportunity go until the blessing is gained — all of them, we may believe, are heard and answered. Prayer is still a mystery. It cannot be reduced to a mathematical equation. We feel the effects of it. We see the results of it. Perhaps we are like wireless stations^ each tuned to the vibrations that individualize us, with God the Almighty Centre holding the key for every human being. Perhaps in our innermost consciousness the divine within us receives the messages of the divine without. The revelation has not yet been made. As new laws are discovered, as new relations of cause and effect open up unexpected vistas, science or psychology in 6 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF PRAYER the future may find an explanation of the mystery of prayer. But this in no wise alters the fact that prayer may be used to-day by the humblest or the wisest as a factor in maintaining health and as a way of enlarging one's individual horizon. Prayer brings about results. It is a dynamic force. As a noted psychologist says, " The funda- mental religious point is that in prayer spiritual energy which otherwise would slumber does become active, and spiritual work of some kind is effected really." This means not only that prayer makes us better men and women, but that the spiritual energy which it brings may be translated into acts which give us more force as working beings, more power of achievement, more influence in the social order. Prayer as a remedy in disease has a definite value. In his "Varieties of Religious Experience," Professor James says, "As regards prayers for the sick, if any medical fact can be considered to stand firm, it is that in certain environments prayer may contribute to recovery, and should be encour- aged as a therapeutic measure." Doctor James Hyslop of the great West Riding Asylum, England, speaking before the British Medical Association, is 7 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS quoted as saying that the best sleep-producing agent which his practice had revealed to him was prayer. Speaking purely as a medical man, he said he con- sidered that the exercise of prayer in those who habitually exerted it must be regarded by doctors as the most adequate and normal of all the pacifiers of the mind and calmer s of the nerves. "Why should I pray ? " The above is an answer for my friend, unstrung as he was, and incompetent to take his share in the business of living, trying to carry the past, present, and future, bearing his own load, and God's too. His nerves were not made to bear the double strain. He crippled his' powers and impaired seriously his usefulness by assuming more than belonged to him. He needed the inde- pendence that dependence on God could give him. He needed the faith that would quiet his mind and let his jarred nervous system settle down and gradually regain its smooth, accustomed way of working. When he dropped his anxious care for the morrow and shifted his attention from the symptoms with which his poor body was trying to protest against such harmful strain, when he lost his little dis- tressed self in God's greatness and could begin 8 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF PRAYER to pray with the trust of a child, nature had a chance to start the repairing process. The means used for his recovery could do their work and carry him on toward health. "Lord, teach us to pray," is the petition that very many of this nervous generation should make. Prayer is like a compass needle pointing Godward, to keep our inner selves true to the course of quiet- ness and peace amid all the petty stress and flurry and hurry of every-day living. A letter from a woman who had been nervously ill for many months told me a short time since of her complete restoration through the use of prayer in the form of auto-suggestion. Prayer definitely and deliberately used in this way will often help to avert a nervous breakdown and to establish, as well, normal health conditions in a convalescent. If doubt tends to dominate the consciousness, or fear in one of its many forms, or distrust of one- self, or worry, or depression, or any of the many other variations from right thinking that show a disturbed condition of the nervous system, such prayer with the other means used for relief can be made of great benefit. Find a quiet place and a 9 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS quiet hour and with mind and body relaxed try to lose yourself in the thought of God's love. Then take from the Bible a verse that fits your need, or some short form of afl&rmative prayer. Repeat it and reiterate it again and again and again until your consciousness is saturated with the idea and the old dark thoughts have no place. Make new brain paths, as James puts it, which shall obliterate the old. Repeat this kind of prayer regularly each day. Act as if you had already obtained what you desire, and fortify yourself in this belief by every other means that appeals to you, — by work, by texts hung on the wall, or even by writing a letter to yourself stating what you wish to bring about. Attack the citadel of your morbid thought by every avenue possible, and when you are rid of it, practise the special method of rational living that for you tends to produce health of soul, mind, and body. This is good psychology and good theology. too. For the results of prayer we need not go beyond the limits of our personal observation. We our- selves have experienced the strengthening, uplifting, invigorating effects of prayer. We have known of persons who as a result of prayer have faced about ID SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF PRAYER on an unrighteous life and become good men and women. People in our own day, through the power of prayer, have been able to summon unexpected forces of resistance against disease which have some- times turned the scale of life and death. A woman in our own city for whom we offered prayers was so ill that it seemed impossible for her to live. But her expectant faith, joined at a certain time with ours, seemed so to marshal and gather those inner forces which we cannot altogether classify, that she began to improve from that hour. Such a result of prayer is no less wonderful be- cause modern physiology and psychology can give but partial reasons for such an experience. The miracles of one generation are often explainable in the next. Such cases as I have just mentioned are occasional, and often the prayer must be followed by educating oneself out of wrong habits. The prayer for healing is like the one for our daily bread. We must take the measures which God has indi- cated to bring about the answer. What miracle can be greater than the revelations God makes of His laws through the minds of men, laws which render it possible to accomplish at will the wonderful results II HEALTH AND HAPPINESS that at one time could be brought about only by chance ! How shall we pray? Christian prayer is earnest and believing, but it asks for blessings in accordance with the will of the Father. It means good, not harm, for our neighbors as for ourselves; it means bringing ourselves into harmony with the laws of health and right living; it means using to the utmost all the strength and energy that God has put into our hands to bring about the result that we pray for. We cannot pray for food and expect the ravens to bring it to us, like one misguided man whom I met some years ago. He excused himself from work and lived on charity or the small earnings of his wife, on the plea that the Bible commands us to take no thought for the morrow. Prayer means not the halting of effort, but its spur. We cannot ask for peace and give way at the first provocation to ill-temper and irritability. We cannot pray for unselfishness and refuse the opportunity to practise it. We cannot pray for success and expect to achieve it without work. Prayer gives us the assurance that behind our effort is infinite strength, but that effort must measure the best that 12 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF PRAYER we have of will, energy, and intelligence. We must bring the inspiration of our ideals into daily living. Even so, God does not always seem to answer our specific prayers. We leave nothing undone that human thought can devise and human hands carry out, — yet we cannot win the one supreme blessing we pray for nor avert the disaster that seems to threaten all our happiness. We pray for still waters, and find troubles surging all about us; we pray for splendid activity, and find our- selves compelled to fold our hands and wait; we pray for fewer burdens, and another is added; we pray for the life that is dearer than our own, and it flickers out and leaves us desolate. Sooner or later, somewhere in our experience we must meet these moments, these seeming contradictions when faith itself cries out, "If God answers prayers, how can these things be?" Philosophy cannot give us a ready-made logical explanation. Not even religion itself can do that. We cannot solve the mystery fully. But deep be- low our suffering is an anchor that cannot drag. "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God." 13 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS A mother came to me once in the bitterest hour of her grief over the loss of her only child. All her hope and interest had been centred in this little girl, and the very foundations of her life were shaken. "Why has God done this?" she asked, "^Vhy?" Several years later I saw her again. In the meantime she had undertaken some charity in which she was mothering many small motherless girls. Her face was beautiful with the joy of work for others, and when I questioned her she said simply, "I can see now that God was leading me even in my sorrow. I lost what I loved most, but I have learned to make my loss the door to a larger service." Not long ago a friend, a successful business man, told me that he had prayed once in his life with the greatest earnestness and fervor that he might succeed in a certain undertaking, and had then failed entirely. It had almost shipwrecked his faith for a time. " But now," he told me, " as I look back I can see that that failure was the founda- tion of my success. Without it, I never could have been where I am to-day." Sometimes we, too, can look back through the 14 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF PRAYER perspective of experience and see that the thing we prayed for was not what we needed, and that the denial of our prayer was better than its granting. These flashes of insight into God's way of dealing with us are what give us courage in the hours of our trial when we cannot see beyond the cruel present. These give us faith to believe that blessing is to come even out of the agency of grief. The ever- lasting arms are beneath us. We can rest in that beautiful truth that Christ brought to the world, "God is love." In this schoolroom of life He is teaching His children, not punishing them cause- lessly. If we will but take our lessons as they are meant, we can make them every one the step to a larger life and to greater usefulness. That is the real plea, so often unconscious, be- hind our prayers, the plea to escape our material and physical and mental and spiritual limitations, to live in freedom on higher levels. It is this need of ours for growth that God recognizes and gives us the means to satisfy. "Whatsoever things ye desire [that is, have need of], when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." 15 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS This is the constructive prayer of Christian life. If your requests seem to be denied, if your special hopes are unfulfilled, if you must meet the sorrow that you pray to be delivered from, lean on the strength that never fails you. When the shock of disappointment has passed, find your centre and seek for the wider meaning in the answer to your prayer. You will always find it. Then grasp your larger opportunity. "In everything give thanks." Sometimes this command seems the very epitome of prayer. Yet how often we forget the thanksgiving. Even if we remember sometimes to return thanks for our blessings, do we for our dark hours? A woman who had passed through a long, trying siege with a nervous trouble wished to give thanks for her illness. "You mean for your recovery from it, do you not?" I asked. "No," was her answer, "for the illness it- self. It has opened up so much that was closed be- fore that I could not spare it out of my experience." Thanks even for our misfortunes! Such prayer is triumphant. It takes the sting out of failure, it brushes away the barriers that depression sets up, i6 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF PRAYER and opeijs the doors of our whole being to let new energy in. With such prayer, which will not be daunted by pain or weakness or misfortune, by fears within or foes without, we may carry our cross before us as a symbol of victory and win a blessing from the very heart of defeat. 17 CHAPTER II FAITH A DYNAMIC FORCE Faith a Universal Gift — Its Various Degrees — Faith Essen- tial to Healing — Faith Necessary to Success in Material Affairs — The Testimony of Physicians. " "■ >AITH is the assurance of things hoped li for, the proving of things not seen." It represents a need of our inmost being. It is based upon the supreme fact that every normal and legitimate desire or demand of our lives is infinitely provided for in the divine economy and will be fully met under the proper conditions. This fact may not always be entirely grasped in its full meaning, but it is latent in every soul. Faith is universal because religion is universal. It is ever active under every varying condition. It is in the crude, raw religion of the savage as in the highest conceptions of Deity in the most advanced Christian creed. As all the religions of the world testify to a universal instinct in man for God, so they also testify to a faith in the power of God to meet man's needs and answer his prayers. i8 FAITH A DYNAMIC FORCE There are var)ang degrees of faith. These in- clude: (i) "The slightest suspicion of assent" — the most primitive form of belief; (2) expectant attention and a passive confidence; (3) a complete reliance, trust, or surrender of self; (4) a positive certainty, which nothing can shake, and a going forth of all the intellectual, moral, and spiritual energies of the man to accomplish the work to be done. Then come its greatest triumphs in abound- ing health, joy, and successful achievement. The science of the twentieth century now honor the principle of faith as evidenced in the facts of healing which have taken place in every country during all the ages of mankind. Various minor theories to account for these cures may have been held. Some of them have been ascribed to the direct power of local divinities; some to charms and relics; some to incantations, and peculiarly sacred places; some to a particular view of metaphysics; some to books containing an elaboration of favorite theories. But faith is the bottom fact in every cure, allied with the great facts of suggestion and auto-suggestion. Still, the use of any of these agencies can never 19 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS demonstrate the truth of the theory by the results obtained. They simply demonstrate that accord- ing to a man's faith it shall be done unto him, no matter what the object of the faith may be. Faith is a dynamic power within the soul itself. It springs from the innermost nature. It can be reinforced and strengthened from without, but must ever originate from within. In the healing of mind or body the energy exerted by the patient himself upon himself is of the utmost importance. It must begin with the belief that he can be helped. He may say, "I have no faith," when he seeks relief, but the very fact that he seeks it is the clear indication that he has some belief. According to the measure of his faith will be the corresponding good. Faith in its full assurance rests in the glorious fact that "in God we live and move and have our being." It draws as logically upon His omnific energy and wisdom and love for help and guidance as the body draws upon the world without for the materials which build it up. Faith asks of God as naturally for healing and spiritual illumination as it does for strength to fulfil the Saviour's command to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." It so FAITH A DYNAMIC FORCE rests upon the plain, scriptural declaration, "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him." It receives the Gospel story that "Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them." It is in perfect harmony with scientific faith to believe that Christ came as the restorer of Nature's order, uniting again a sound mind to a sound body in the wonderful works He thus performed. It was the conception of the creative mind of the Eternal that was realized in the healing of the ail- ments then prevailing. These works were not a set- ting aside of law, but simply the bringing in of a higher law, going beyond but not destroying a lower one, taking it up into itself and carrying it forward into a higher form. But not one of these laws has 21 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS ever been destroyed. It would be the most un- scientific faith thus to believe; for there is no anni- hilation in Nature. All the forces of Nature were open to Christ, and in His mighty works He was but anticipating the knowledge of "that mysterious border-land between mind and matter, the seen and the unseen, the supernatural and the natural," of which we are now beginning to know a little. Christ came to announce as it had never before been proclaimed the great truth or law of healing. It was always: "Have faith." — "Canst thou be- lieve?"— "Thy faith hath saved thee." — "Thy faith hath made thee whole." Possessing as He did complete knowledge of the human soul. He was the first not only to harmonize seeming contradic- tions in the law of cure by relating them to the grand principle of faith, but to show in the clear, white light of heaven the supreme object of faith. The mighty works of healing He was performing were of divine agency. They were the energizing forces of the only true God, wrought by " the finger of God," the Father of all mankind. He said, "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." He brought forward and made concrete 22 FAITH A DYNAMIC FORCE in His person and His miracles the declarations in the Old Testament regarding Jehovah as healer. As the perfect agent of the Divine, He affirmed with a Godlike emphasis: "AU power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." And He commanded His disciples to go into aU the world to teach, to preach, and to heal. Faith cannot rest in a beUef of what the Christ of God has done and refuse to believe what He announces could be done and would be done by His disciples. He declared that the works He did and even greater, should be wrought by them. And they were wrought. " By the hands of the Apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women; insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by m.ight overshadow some of them." "There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits; and they were healed every one." 23 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Further, we are told that " God wrought special miracles [or powers] by the hands of Paul, insomuch that unto the sick were carried away from his body handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out." It is faith in this almighty "Go ye into all the world" of the Omnipotent Master of all the hidden and revealed forces of the universe that clothes His obedient followers with authority. Science bends before the faith that laughs at impossibilities and cries, "It shall be done!" For having that faith we can cast away doubts and fears and indecisions and weaknesses and corroding cares and all the other ills in Pandora's box. The song in the heart echoed on the joyful lips is the triumphant pasan, "I can, and I will, and I do believe." In material affairs, as in spiritual, the man with faith is the man who brings about results. Faith is behind the great achievements of our modern life. Faith is the keystone of success. Without faith we do the work of life with lagging hearts. With it our powers are at their best. Chronic doubt kills effort and cripples its powers. But faith — not credu- lity, not rashness, — honest constructive faith which 24 FAITH A DYNAMIC FORCE realizes by action the "assurance of things hoped for" — such a force will carry us over mountains of difficulty and leave us fresh for the next climb. In all mental and spiritual methods of dealing with disease, faith is a powerful factor. "After all," Dr. Osier says, "faith is the great leveller of life. Without it, man can do nothing; with it, even with a fragment, as a grain of mustard seed, all things are possible to him. Faith in us, faith in our drugs and methods, is the great stock in trade of the profession It is the aurum potabile, the touchstone of success in medicine. As Galen says, 'Confidence and hope do more good than physic' He cures most in whom most are con- fident." With the many suffering ones who have come to our Church Clinic and found relief the same law has been invariably evident — according to their faith has been the result. One man who dragged himself in, leaning heavily on a cane, afflicted with a form of hysterical paralysis that rendered him helpless on the right side so that he could not lift his arm nor command his walking muscles, applied the directions given him with such a dominant faith that two days 25 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS later he walked in among us again without his cane, erect and free, a man among men. He swung above his head the arm which had been useless, and shook hands with the fingers that had been helpless. His face shone with the joy of his restoration, and as truly as in Bible da)^, we could say to him: "Thy faith hath made thee whole." With other nervous ills and with the tempera- ments where time and patience are necessary in winning the way back to health, faith is as necessary a stimulus. Depression, fear, worry, and the other symptoms that harass the nervous sufferer find faith their worst enemy. An aggressive faith that will not yield even in the teeth of seeming defeat will surely help to win the victory. The faith that says in the very midst of pain and mental discomfort, "I will glory in my infirmity," brings the energy that wiil conquer the condition. The "faith state" which puts us in the best con- dition for effort, spiritually, mentally, and physically can be cultivated. If you are distrustful and sus- picious of human nature in general and of your friends in particular, root out the feeling. Persist- ently meet the thought of suspicion with its opposite. 36 FAITH A DYNAMIC FORCE Try to act as if you had faith in your fellow-men, and the faith will come. If your natural temper of mind is to suspect and distrust, there is small danger of your overcultivating an optimistic view of your neighbors, while the joy of exchanging your critical attitude for a kindly, tolerant one you will find it hard to measure. If you are inclined to depreciate yourself, put the temptation behind you. You are God's child, made in his image. Have faith in yourself, in your work, in your own God-given powers. Again, whether you have faith or not, act as if you had, and the assurance will come in due time. Put yourself in positions where you must do what is set before you and then with God's help do it. Fill your mind with love. Live in the belief of God's goodness. Weave faith through all the fabric of your life, and you will find each day's work in the pattern of your hfe more beautiful than the last. 27 CHAPTER III THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD False Conceptions of God — Right Views of God's Majesty, Sublimity, and Love — His Fatherhood — Christ's Teach- ing on Love to God and to Man. OUR conception of God must be right before we can be whole. In any attempt to apply religion practically to every-day living, the conception of God is of supreme importance. It must be one which shall encourage and not cramp the development of the individual, for no one can rise in his ideals beyond his thought of Deity. See how the pagan people of whom St. Paul wrote in such terribly realistic words, reproduced in themselves the low attributes of Jupiter and Venus, whom they worshipped. See how nations have risen and flourished for a time, and then fallen to decay, because their ideas of their ruling deities were too low to create strong moral stamina. They were degraded people worshipping degraded gods. As a man thinks of God in his heart, so is he. If we 28 PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD would realize the best that is in us, if we would rise to our utmost spiritual stature, if we would use to their fullest capacity our talents, be they one or ten, we must begin at the beginning. We must have the right conception of God. Psychology teaches us that for every change in the mental state there is a corresponding change in the bodily state, that the slightest emotion or thought involves an expenditure of nervous energy, that wholesome thoughts react favorably on the entire man, body, soul, and spirit, and unwholesome thoughts unfavorably. It is not strange then, that among the people who have come to our Church Clinics for relief from suffering of one kind or another, many have needed above all else to change their ideas about God. A student interrupted in the midst of his preparation for his life work by nervous exhaustion was sent to us by his physician with the word that we could do more for the case than he could. Sympathetic and intelligent questioning laid the facts bare. This man during his childhood and boyhood had believed in a loving God. Then he was brought into close relation with an elder relative who denied the existence of God altogether and 29 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS ridiculed religion. The younger man, influenced by the arguments of his relative, had tried to shut out God and religion from bis own life as well. But the process was difficult. His mind was a battleground between old beliefs and new theories. Each strug- gle told on a sensitive nervous system. His thoughts grew more and more morbid, his mental state worse and worse, until neurasthenia laid hold upon him and made him unfit for work. With no God, no control- ling will to which he might turn, rudderless in the midst of his mental distress, he was indeed in a pitiful state. Only by yielding to his instinctive belief in a God over all, only by seeking reasons for his belief instead of against it, as he had been try- ing to do, could he ease the mental strain which had told so sadly on his nerves, and give God's healing forces their way with him. A young married woman who had been from doctor to doctor without finding permanent relief came to us seeking mental peace. Under the sur- face disturbance lay the real cause of her disquiet. A busy, active church member before her marriage, after it falling into a routine of pleasure, she had set aside all the religious observances to which she had 3° PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD been brought up and had lived a purely worldly life. After a succession of strains she broke down nervously. She tried various methods of cure, but dissatisfaction with herself and her course of action was stirring in her mind and retarding her improvement. That was the cause behind the seeming cause. When she had swung back into her normal grooves of loving God and serving Him, the improvement in health that she had long hoped for in vain began to show itself. Other people who have come to us have lived in constant terror of an implacable Deity. Some- times the fear has been morbid, sometimes the outcome of unfortunate teaching. But in both instances, a change in the conception of God has made the world a different place. Setting thought right at its source, in the innermost recesses where dwells the idea of God, means more harmony in all tributary thoughts and emotions and by reflex action better bodily conditions. Such cases as I have mentioned are . typical of thousands more. Men and women all around us, by limiting their con- ception of God's love and power, are cramping their own possibilities. Bound by pettiness and 31 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS selfishness and false customs they need to break their prison and live in the light. The human intellect can only partially grasp the wonder of God's majesty. He is the Universal Life, giving existence to all that live. He is the Omnipotent Worker; the Omniscient Knower; the Omnipresent Beholder. He is Power, Wisdom, Goodness, Harmony, Peace, Light, Love. He is, therefore, the Principle of all principles; the Life of all life; the Soul of all souls. Self dies. Time and space are as nothing before the thought of God's power. The soul reaches up through it to heights only dreamed of before. "Glory be to God," said Newton, "for I have encountered Him in the march of the stars." "I think Thy thoughts after Thee, O God," was the sublime utterance of Kepler, who, as the pioneer of astronomy, blazed his way through the sky as the heralds of civilization blazed their way through the primeval forests. The sublimity of God is inspiring to think of, but it should not tempt us to consider God only as an object of contemplation, and religion as a thing apart, to be set in a separate section of our minds and used only occasionally. Its influence should 32 PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD permeate every action of our lives. "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?" asks the Psalmist, "or whither shall I flee from Thy presence ? If I ascend up into heaven Thou art there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me." Against such a belief as this what trick of fortune can avail, what misfortune daunt us? In this century, when life is so ordered that it strains our powers to the utmost, we need such faith as this to give us calm- ness and poise. "We should not think of God as hid away in heartless laws. He is not imprisoned in pantheistic ice." He is an Infinite Personality. He is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He is the God of all the prophets. He is the God of Socrates and Plato and Marcus Aurelius. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the God of John and James, of Peter and Simeon, of Mary Magdalene and Jairus's daughter. He is the God of our homes, of our children, of our schools, of our workshops. He is our God and our guide. "Lo, God is here, let us adore." 33 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS God is in all and through all, and God is love. So love is all in all. As God thinketh in His heart, so is He, we may reverently say. The thought not of His intellect merely, but of His heart, is the uni- verse. It is love that is the guiding force of wisdom and power in its every on-going. Never must we forget that God's love, therefore, brought His chil- dren into being. Out of the heart of God we have come. The perfect manifestation of that love is in the reconciling life and death of His divine, human Son to win us back from our sins and sufferings and doubts and fears that we may feel and "know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." The fundamental thought of God which Chris- tianity gives to the world is that of Father. "Like as a Father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him," the Old Testament graciously declares. Jesus Christ brought the Father's love and sympathy and pity and forgiveness straight to the hearts of men. In his teachings the Father's presence and providence are seen in the minutest incidents of human life. "The very hairs of your head are all numbered." In seeking the higher things of the spirit and life, the lower ones of health 34 PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD and comfort and support will be added, "for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things." To anxious, weary, incapable human nature is there any conception more comforting than this of the Fatherhood of God as made known by Christ Jesus? However bitter and hard the facts of life may seem, however difficult the burdens, however great the sufferings, our hand is in our Father's. To hopeful, achieving human nature is any conception more inspiring than this — that behind our personal effort is the omnipotent energy of God ? We may lose our anxiety in His calm, our weariness in His strength; from His creative force working in us and through us, we may borrow all the endurance we need to do the tasks that life has set for us. Love toward God and love expressed in service toward our fellow-men were the comer stone of Christ's teaching. The spirit of Christ working in us and through us gives peace and happiness and healthfulness. To the mind filled with trust the malignant poison of worry and fear with their train of evils cannot find entrance, and trials may 35 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS be turned to blessings. With a will bent on ser- vice to others, egotism and selfishness, the pre- cursors of so much nervous trouble, cannot exist. Christ was the great Physician and we, with the better understanding of the relation between the body and the mind which psychology has given us, are beginning to understand why it is not only ethical but necessary for our best development as individuals and as members of the great human family to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves. Christ taught us to make religion a dominant vital force in each day's work. It is not theory that most of us need, but practice. We must act on our beliefs. Our habitu- al thoughts and actions determine our characters, and they are made moment by moment. The way we meet our humdrum, unimportant duties deter- mines the way we shall meet the great opportunities and occasions when they arrive. If at the centre we are stayed on God, the circumference must be right. We must try to live our daily lives as God's children. With aU our boasted knowledge we have not outgrown the need of simple practical faith like that 36 PRESENCE AND POWER OF GOD which marked the hfe of Brother Lawrence. He was only a cook for his brethren, and he died four centuries ago, but the sanity and sweetness of his spirit are as helpful to-day as ever. ' ' As Brother Lawrence," his biographer says, " had found such an advantage in walking in the presence of God, it was natural for him to recommend it earnestly to others; but his example was a stronger inducement than any arguments he could propose. His very countenance was edifying, such a sweet and calm devotion appearing in it as could not but affect the beholders. And it was observed that in the greatest hurry of business in the kitchen, he still preserved his recollection and heavenly-mindedness. He was never hasty nor loitering, but did each thing in its season, with an even, uninterrupted composure and tranquillity of spirit. 'The time of business' said he, 'does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tran- quillity as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament.' " God as love, God as a guiding Father, such an 37 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS idea of the Ruler of the universe is a sure foundation for right hving. To bring the largeness of God into the thought of each small moment, to bring the love of God into every relation with our neighbor, to have that constructive trust in God which means mastery over circumstances and peace at the centre whatever storms may rock us, this would be the millennium of the soul. Such an ideal means life and health and happiness more abundantly. 38 CHAPTER IV THE POWER OF LOVE Testimonies to the Power of Love — The Progress of the Hu- man Race Dependent on Love — Love's Therapeutic Value. FAITH and love are inseparable. Faith is quickened by love, and love is strengthened by faith. "Faith is the root, love is the blos- som." Love nourished by faith is one supreme necessity for our highest work. Ruskin truthfully dwells upon love as the source of unity in Art, and as intimately connected with vital beauty. Through it the loveliest things are wrought. The ideal form can be reached by it alone. Leo Tolstoi strikes a fundamental note when he says: "One may deal with things without love, one may cut down trees, make bricks, and hammer iron without love, but you cannot deal with men without love." It is thus one of the things absolutely needful for right living. Love centred in the omnipotence of the Divine Love radiates in endless streams of bless- edness to mankind. It recognizes all men as 39 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS brothers, with one loving God as their Father, who "maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Thomas a Kempis derived all good from love, and all evil from the opposite. He declares in his Pauline Eulogy on Love, "It gives all for all, pos- sesses all in all, because it reposes in the One Su- preme Good, from which every good -originates and flows." Love is not opposed to knowledge; it is blended with it, even as it is united with faith. Reason and love ought never to come into conflict, for it would be like a house divided against itself. Let love be guided by reason and penetrated with knowledge, then will come the reconciliation of all the contradictions of life, and the harmony of mankind. The two great commandments of love to God and love to man, as taught and exemplified by Jesus Christ, contain the elements of human prog- ress. Let us bring into a single sentence, long though it may be, the best of all that sages have dreamed, seers prophesied, or poets sung respecting the progress of the race, and then we shall see what true love really is. 40 THE POWER OF LOVE Let the individual man present the highest type of personal perfection, and every appetite, desire, or natural affection be subordinated to the moral reason — to the highest spiritual being: let our homes be sacred retreats where wives and mothers shall not play the parts of scolds, nor husbands and fathers the parts of tyrants; homes in which there shall be no scorching blasts of passion nor polar storms of coldness and hate; homes in which happy children shall ever see the beauty of love and the beauty of holiness; homes cheered by music, refined by books, and gladdened with song; homes of sympathy, homes of self-sacrifice, homes of devo- tion, homes of undying aflfections, homes which would lure the angels from the felicities and fellow- ship of the upper paradise to dwell in these bowers of earthly bliss: let every form of social evil be driven out of the world, from the maddening bowl, which "biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder," to the steps that "take hold on hell": let every personal right be given to man, — the right of property in the earth, the right of his share to the multitudinous forms of material blessings, the right of property in ideas, of property in character and 41 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS in reputation; let every duty growing out of these rights be faithfully performed; let the rights of woman be maintained, she being placed not beneath man's feet, but by his side, with every faculty of her nature called out and not repressed; let the rights of children be respected and the most tender, judicious, and complete educational influences be thrown around them; let all the antagonisms of capital and labor forever cease; let the laborer no longer be an eye servant, but receive his honest due for his honest work, and yet have time to develop by books, society, and home, his immortal mind; let there be no more "Lords of land and money, They who kill the poor like bees, To rob them of life's honey"; let no man take a doUar from another's pocket without giving him a just equivalent in return; let all soulless trusts and all conscienceless monopolies forever loose their cancerous hold upon the social organism; let not the buyer say, "It is naught — it is naught," and then go his way and boast what he hath done, nor the seller expose only the best side of his wares; let there be entire truthfulness in 42 THE POWER OF LOVE all the intercourse between man and woman, in all looks and words and acts, and all white lies, with all black lies, be no more known; let science push her discoveries to the utmost into all the realms of nature for "the relief of man's estate," no more disdaining the useful as beneath its notice; let Watts with the steam engine, and Davy with the safety lamp, and Stephenson spanning the Menai Straits, and Howe with the printing press, and Tyndall with the smoke respirator, and Morse with the telegraph, and Edison with the witcheries and wonders of electricity, be followed by other and greater benefactors of mankind; let art be no more prostituted to the basest of purposes, and the artist be no more disobedient to the heavenly visions of purity and grace; let genius consecrate its highest gifts to the weal and not to the woe of mankind and the works "That hold with sweet but cursed art Their incantations o'er the heart, Till every pulse of pure desire, Throbs with the glow of passions' fire," no more proceed from the pen; let the hand of government be lighter than eiderdown upon the head of the obedient citizen; let the crack of the 43 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS whip in the hands of the party boss no more urge on his voting slaves to the polls; let the spirit of caste be abolished, and the equality of all men be- fore the great law of human rights be recognized, as is the equality of all souls by the Saviour of all, before the great law of human redemption; let free speech and a free press, free schools and a free ballot be maintained wherever the power of the State shall extend; let- mankind's great brotherhood of souls and powers "bring down from above universal and perpetual peace and plenty," so that the golden age of the past may be realized, as portrayed by the heathen poet, — "They needed no avenger of jus- tice, for then rivers of milk were flowing, then rivers of nectar were flowing, and the yellow honey was distilling from the green oak"; let the golden age of the future, as described by the poet-prophet, be fulfilled, — "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain"; let Tennyson's vision thus become a glorious reality — "Till the war-drum throbbed no longer, And the battle-flags were furled. In the parliament of man, The federation of the world." 44 THE POWER OF LOVE But when all this, and infinitely more than this has been attained, we have only the flowering and not the ripened fruitage of those two fundamental principles of Christ's teachings, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neigh- bor as thyself." The therapeutical value of love cannot be over- estimated. Every evil thought and hateful feeling is banished by it from the mind. It tranquillizes, calms, and yet energizes the entire nature. It kindles the enthusiasm of all healthy affection and emotion. It gives a secret power that brings back and helps to maintain abounding health and unal- loyed happiness. Every nerve, every muscle, every organ, feels its life-giving influence. The God of love fills His earthly temple with His hallowed pres- ence, as we have seen He will fill the temple of humanity with His glory when love shall reign supreme. 45 CHAPTER V SELF-CONTROL Self-Control Essential to our Control of Others — Our Duty to be Guided by Reason, and not by Outward Circum- stances — The Power of Circumstances to Call Out the Good that is in Man — Triumphs of Great Men over Circumstances — The Power to Control Ourselves In- creased by Practice — Man's Power to Control Cir- cumstances. JUST SO far as we control ourselves, do we have moral influence over others — the highest of all influence. Truly has it been said: "Ruhng ourselves we are ruling all the kingdoms of nature and mind." Rule thyself well and thou rulest the world. Milton adds his testimony, "Who reigns within himself and rules passions, desires, and fears is more than king"; and a wiser than Milton has said, "He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city." There is in each one of us a self, which is the basis of our thinking, our speaking, our doing, a determining power or principle absolute. It is this which individualizes each one of us from 46 SELF-CONTROL every other person in the universe; constituting at once the essence of our personality and the ground of our responsibility. We are told by certain philosophers that we are but the creatures of organization; that all our ten- dencies earthward, heavenward, heUward, physical, social, civil, intellectual, moral, and spiritual are determined for us; that wrongful acts arise from the unbalanced impulsions of certain developments; that the impulsion is an original, organic, irresist- ible force; that therefore, wrong-doers are more the objects of pity than of blame. Such philosophers get up a puling sentimentalism in favor of sin instead of creating a healthy energy for the rooting out of evil. Matter is supreme, mind subordinate, if there can be anything called mind in such a system. Outward influences, they say, become the causative forces of changes in conduct. We are advised by them to make these outward conditions what they should be, and we shall have symmetrically de- veloped characters. Such a class of philosophers applies principles wrong end foremost. The truer statement is that mind governs the development and not development 47 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS the mind. The mind gives contour to the brain, not the brain depth and breadth to mind. If we admit their false view of organization and circumstances, — fully admit it as an intellectual and moral creed, — we can never gain true control over ourselves. We drift away from every conviction of responsibility, cut loose from every mooring of re- straint, view as an innocent and lawful action every indulgence and aberration of our nature. Under this system of thought, the judge that sits upon the bench ought to be considered a tyrant; the prisoner an unfortunate man, not a criminal. The idea of punishment is not to be thought of. Compulsion is out of the question. Most heartily do I repudiate such a fatalistic and paralyzing doctrine. Trample it under your feet if you ever wish to attain the proportions of a truly powerful character. Assert the inherent energy of your souls over all surroundings which may be given you. Use them, no matter how unfavorable they may seem, as plastic materials, yielding to the shaping-power within you. The poet Gray, in his "Elegy Written in a Coun- try Churchyard," speaks of "some mute, inglorious 48 SELF-CONTROL Milton" — and of "hands that the rod of empire might have swayed," as buried beneath its sod. It is very likely. Circumstances, though they do not make a man, may influence his career. In the time of profoundest peace you cannot have a development of martial character. Unless a congenial intellectual atmosphere be created, you cannot have the highest type of poet or philosopher. The time is as neces- sary as the man. But when the fit conjunction of circumstances comes, the man is not created, but called out. He shows "the inner stuff" of which he is made. He rises to the greatness of the occasion. He may have been shut in as was the genie in the box, in the "Arabian Nights." But throw open the lid, and he will touch the highest heavens. Put in an embryo man and it makes no difference whether the lid is open or shut. Circumstances, I say, call out, not create a man. You are not as " Weeds flung from the rock. On ocean's foam to sail, Where'er the surge may sweep, The. tempest's breath prevail." In the teeth of opposing gales you are to make the harbor of your true ambitions, going forward like 49 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS that magnificent monument of human skill, the modem steamship, "The pulses of whose iron heart Go beating through the storm." If you say, " Oh, if these circumstances were dif- ferent I should be different," you are not controlling the present as you ought. Many of the people who coriie to me broken in health, discouraged, deficient in will power, make this complaint, and the answer is: "If you are not making the most of yourself now, you will not when better opportunities come. They will never come. Man creates opportunities. Faith- ful in the few things of daily life, he becomes ruler over many things." De Quincey gives us an eloquent account of Marius in bonds, illustrating in the main the same great truth, that circumstances cannot control the man. Marius, who rose seven times to be consul at Rome, was in prison and in chains. A slave was sent to put him to death. Here they were, the van- ward and rearward men of the race. Drawing him- self up to his full height, the disgraced consul smote the slave with the lightning of his eye and blazed out : "Dost thou, fellow, presume to kill Caius Marius?" 5° SELF-CONTROL Whereat the slave, hearing the thunder of the con- sular voice, sank down to the floor and turning round, crawled out upon his hands and knees, leaving Marius standing alone as majestic and un- movable as the Capitol. To reach the full measure of our stature, we must gain the mastery over each weakness that hinders us, over the spirit of impatience, to mention one of these, the impatience eager to engage in the activi- ties of life before proper preparation is made. It is the besetting sin of the youth of our country. Says Emerson: "On the gates of Busyrane were three inscriptions. On the first was written, 'Be bold'; on the second was written, 'Be bold, be bold, and evermore be bold'; but on the third was written, 'Be not too bold.'" These are true teachings. A reverent curiosity shall be rewarded both with in- sight and knowledge, but impatience, with impetuos- ity, defeats its own ends. Again, there must be the mastery of vanity or self-conceit. This self-conceit in its intellectual form has been defined as "a dis- turbance of the relations enjoined by common sense, and a habit of looking at things not in their relation to each other, nor to universal thought, but in their 51 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS relation to the dominant wilfulness of the individual." Such conceit exalts caprice into a principle and or- ganizes crotchets into character. It is impatient of authority. It is a law unto itself. It boasts of free thinking. It talks loudly of emancipation from re- straints, of cutting loose from the apron-strings of "the old grannies" of former years. I suppose this feeling of self-assertion, of intel- lectual arrogance, must have its run among young men, at a certain period in their lives, like the measles or chicken-pox. There is no special harm in feeling a little coltish and acting coltish in the period of colthood. But an old colt, who plays tricks with his teeth and his heels, who will not come into the har- ness and do regular work in harmony with the great law of things, is not quite so pleasing. It argues no want of mettle in those splendid racers that astonish the world with their speed that they submit to bit and bridle. A wholesome regard for authority, a reference to the weU-established laws of thought, instead of to the quiddities of our own insufficient intellects, are the dictates of true self-control. After Daniel Webster had delivered his master oration at the laying of the Bunker Hill monument, 52 SELF-CONTROL his wife said to a friend, "I knew he would succeed, for I saw that he was perfectly calm." No orator can bear away his audience, control with a master hand their sympathies and powers, who has not every faculty of his own under complete control. He may rise to the loftiest heights of impassioned elo- quence, be seemingly carried away by the rushing fiery tide of thought, but he does not loosen his hold on the helm. If there is fear or confusion or doubt, it is sure to come out. There are subtile telegraph wires between the soul of speaker and hearer — there are invisible messages flashing along them. The story of inadequacy is at once told. Likewise, would we do good we must be good. Our intrinsic goodness is the measure of' our force, the extent of our control determines our goodness. We can be masters of circumstances by goodness. We may not by great brains; we can by great hearts. Oliver Wendell Holmes truly says: "To weigh a great brain against a true heart seems to be like weighing an air bubble against a solid wedge of gold." I should be untrue to my subject, were I not to urge upon you the loftiest motives that can rouse the soul to action and to supreme love for Him who 53 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS loved the truth, hved the truth, died for the truth, who gained completest mastery over his human self, and by that mastery stands forever as Head and Helper of the race. You will not have gained a perfect control over self and circumstances, until every thought shaU have been brought into harmony with this proven verity of Christ's teachings. Self- control can be gained. It means persistence in rooting out faults, faithfulness in practising virtues, watchfulness of the transitory thoughts that leave their permanent impress in character. "The problem of self-control, of all righteous- ness, and of all spiritual influences," as Dr. Henry Churchill King truly says, "is not that of a mere heavy tug of the will. Self-control depends on attention, and attention has its chief support in strong and many-sided interest. This means that the great secret of all living is the persistent staying in the presence of the best — the great facts, the great truths, the great personalities, the one great Per- son, Christ." 54 CHAPTER VI DOUBT Effects of Doubt on Body, Mind, and Spirit — Degrees of Doubt — Distinction between Scepticism and Unbelief — Doubt as a Result of Intellectual Awakening — Doubt as a Consequence of False Teaching — The Duty of Religious Teachers toward Doubters. JUST as faith is the stimulating and inspiring principle of the life of the soul, so doubt is the depressing and discouraging force. Physicians, psychologists, and clergymen are all compelled to take account of doubt, since it affects body, mind, and spirit. In its simplest form it results in physical lassitude, mental indecision, and spiritual inaction, which form one of the most unwelcome conditions of our experience. In its more serious aspects its results are mental distress and moods of despair.. Doubt has many degrees, ranging from mere in- quiry and incertitude through scepticism to settled unbelief. All are undesirable and should be com- bated ; all deserve a little further definition. A sceptic etymologically means one who is using 55 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS his eyes in the investigation of truths. He may be a doubter, but not of necessity an unbeliever, for doubt implies investigation, questioning. Unbe- lief is the conclusion arrived at by the unconvinced doubter. Or unbelief may be regarded as a per- manent state of doubt, one in which we never come to the knowledge of the truth. A state of deliberate unbelief is a state of con- firmed doubt, or finished doubt. So Malebranche, the acute philosopher, says: "There is a great dif- ference between doubting and doubting: we doubt through passion and brutality, through blindness and malice, and, finally, through fancy, and from the very wish to doubt; but we doubt also from prudence, and through distrust, from wisdom and through penetration of mind. The former doubt is a doubt of darkness which never issues to the light but always leads us farther from it; the latter is a doubt which is bom of the light, and which adds, in a certain sort, to produce light in its turn." Sir William Hamilton in treating of the question says: "Doubt as a permanent state of mind would be, in fact, little better than an intellectual death." 56 DOUBT John Stuart Mill claimed that it was of great im- portance to question acknowledged fundamental truths, even axioms, in order that our grip upon them might be the stronger. This is the heroic treatment for the mood of inquiry. Many, however, are doubting because they will not put themselves in. a position to believe. "The will to believe" is not always, in fact it is scarcely ever, a will acting directly upon the subject to be considered. It must act indirectly. It must take one to the place for a proper view-point. It must compel a calm listening to the arguments that may be addressed to gain assent. Some brought up in Christian households are doubting because to them Christianity was pre- sented in a most unattractive manner, at war with all the native instincts of the child heart. Sunday was the most joyless and spiritless day of the week. Training, rigid, hard, spirit-breaking, made the Scotch lad say: "Will my father be in heaven?" "Yes." "Then I '11 no gang there." Such a train- ing has kept multitudes out of the Christian fold. Some have doubted when the hour for indepen- 57 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS dent personal investigation has come. Such an hour comes in the history of many a youthful, thoughtful mind, when the first clear outlook of the boundless realm of truth is obtained. It is a period of intel- lectual awakening, when opinions must be changed for ideas. The faith of childhood, the absolute un- questioned credo of the past, is turned upon with fierce interrogation. Varying religious theories are seen to divide believers in the same Bible. There is a temptation to doubt that there is no " highway cast for the ransomed of the Lord"; that there is no "House Beautiful" in which the soul may find refreshment and rest; that the old family Bible is an antiquated book; that prayer is an exploded fallacy; that Christianity is a decaying system, having played out its part as one of the ethnic religions of the world. Such a period often occurs in student life, and unless there are wise and prudent teachers to whom the deeply oppressed mind can unburden itself, it may be that the feet will stray from the old paths in which rest and happiness may be found. Some are doubting because a great sorrow has fallen upon them. Their "sun has been turned into 58 DOUBT darkness and their moon into blood." There is " One shadow that throws Its black shade ahke O'er their joys and their woes, To which hf e nothing darker Or brighter can bring, For which joy hath no balm And affliction no sting." Yet to such a one by gentle persuasion and by the unfailing and comforting suggestive promises of Him who never leaves nor forsakes, can be brought "the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Some are doubting because of wrong or unhappy expositions of the doctrines of revealed truth pre- sented to them. It was said of Arthur Hugh Clough: "He thought the world and he had lost their Father. No mystic charm of poetry, though he was a true poet; no research in art or literature, though he was a bom critic, could make him feel otherwise than as an orphan sorrowing over a lost inheritance of love and light." Read the despairing lines of Shelley, written with such matchless beauty and sinewy strength, and you will find that it is a vengeful God, an implacable God, an arbitrary, 59 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS local, fickle, and partial God that he arraigns and condemns, and not the God and Father of mankind and of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is sad to think of that gifted poet going down into the deep blue waters with such thoughts of God rankling and festering in his soul. The pure and patient wife of Byron tried to extend the mantle of charity over his glaring, hideous faults, by thinking that the gloomy, forbidding, fatalistic system taught him in his youth had greatly to do with his morbid wickedness in after life. Who can tell? Three persons came to the writer for help, who believed that God hated them for the offences against themselves they had committed in their early days. Joyless, spiritless, hopeless they were walk- ing in impenetrable gloom. God to them seemed pitiless, merciless. Their doom had been decreed. There was no eye to pity, no arm to save. One of them had taken a loaded revolver and pressed it to his head, but failed in the supreme moment to pull the trigger. He had thrown himself down at some distance before a moving train, but the instinc- tive love of life had made him roll out of its way. "Why did n't I do it?" he said. 'Life is n't worth 60 DOUBT the living." But he found, with the others, that life was worth the living. He who came that we might have life and that we might have it more abun- dantly brought the assurance of peace and joy to these disordered spirits, through the truth made known to them. Doubt sometimes brings a firmer faith. A wide acquaintance with literature, the knowledge of the unfriendly attitude of some men of science toward the Christian faith, and of some Biblical scholars regarding the integrity and authority of the sacred Scriptures, have made many believers pause and question, until from their broadening knowledge they have gained a new centre of belief, and have found again their old faith in a new guise. There is another class closely allied with these, of whom Max Miiller in his Westminster Abbey lecture on Missions, thus speaks: "There are many of our best men, men of the greatest power and influence in literature, science, art, politics, aye, even in the Church itself, who are no longer Chris- tian in the old sense of the term. Some imagine they have ceased to be Christian altogether because they feel that they cannot believe as much as others 61 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS profess to believe. We cannot afford to lose these men." And again he says: "Whatever the world may say of us of little faith, let us remember that there was One who accepted the offering of the poor widow. She threw in but two mites, but that was all she had, even her living. Some of us can pray 'Lord, increase our faith.' " With every class of doubters the religious teacher must have the patience that never wearies and the charity that never faileth. He can never call down fire from heaven to consume those who disagree with him. He must ever insist on the application of the great Pauline principle, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." He must teach men that we must not mistake fancies for facts, vagaries for verities, unproved hypotheses for ascertained principles and laws, nor illogical reasoning for the end of all controversy. We must not, on the one hand, be given over to credulity, nor on the other hand, to a stubborn wilfulness in holding cherished opinions. Neither God, nor nature, nor man must be viewed in relation to one's own personality only, but to universal laws. I have had several cases of doubters who once 62 DOUBT were believers in Christian truths. I always deal tenderly with them. They often require a reeduca- tion. So from the plain facts and laws of their own being I lead them on and out to a new appreciation of Him who is the Supreme Fact, the Supreme Lawgiver, the universal Wisdom and Love, God over all and blessed forevermore. The agnostic learns to know Him as he grasps the meaning of the marvellous psychical powers en- folded in his own nature and feels their inworking and sees their outworking in his physical frame. They are a revelation to him of a cosmic personal force which he had never understood before. He sees that all these spiritual energies were focalized in the great Healer of mankind and radiated by Him to all who by a living faith would receive them. The witnessing of the Divine Spirit with his human spirit that he is a child of God is no longer a mere transcendental statement to him. In his inner con- sciousness the indubitable testimony is given. It cannot be too earnestly impressed upon every mind that the love of Truth must be paramount. As seen by the inner eye she must be followed wher- ever she leads. No fear or favor of men must deter 63 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS one in the onward and upward path. The environ- ment of the truth-seeker may be unfavorable; then he must change it, or create a new one. He must never be disloyal to his highest convictions. It may result in his martyrdom to-day, but it will end inevitably in his beatification to-morrow. And to all who are struggling to know the truth I say, "Courage, brother, in thy efforts. Rest not until faith has gained the victory. Faith gives us a cosmos, unbelief a chaos. Faith builds up, unbe- lief tears down. Faith is the inspiration of all energy for winning the highest prizes of health and happiness and fruitful service, while unbelief grovels in the ashes of despair." 64 CHAPTER VII PHYSICIAN AND CLERGYMAN Development of Nervous Diseases Due to the Strenuous Life of To-day — Advances made by the Medical Pro- fession within the Last Century — Increase of Nervous Disorders — The Power of Religion, Therapeutically Applied, in Such Cases — Need of Specific Preparation for Physician and Clergyman for this Work. WHAT has religion to do with health? Why should physician and clergyman cooperate in fighting nervous diseases? What more can they accomplish united than divided ? These are some of the questions naturally arising in connection with a movement which aims to make the treatment of nervous sufferers one of the branches of church work. The questions themselves show how far we have swung from the time when the functions of the physician and of the clergyman were blended, and the same man healed the body, educated the mind, and cared for the soul. The complexity of civilization, which long ago made a division of these duties necessary, has resulted in 65 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS a development of scientific medicine which would otherwise have been impossible. So far the separa- tion is to be commended. But it has also resulted in a conventional idea that to the doctor belongs in general the care of the body merely, to the minister the care of the soul merely. In meeting the peculiar needs of the twentieth century, this working hypothesis has not been en- tirely successful. Our strenuous age with its limited trains, its five-day steamers, its automobiles on every country road, and all its other wonderful inventions which save time but cost nerve force, has outrun our powers of adjustment. Our brains and nervous sys- tems have not yet adapted themselves to the new conditions. Physically, mentally, and especially spiritually we are in a state of unrest, and the record of it is written in a host of nervous disorders never before known. Both physicians and ministers have been some- what slow in recognizing the obligation which this development of nervous disturbances has laid upon them. The victims of these disorders have asked more from the physician than the healing of the body, more from the minister than spiritual advice. Not 66 PHYSICIAN AND CLERGYMAN receiving what they wanted, many have turned to the various cults offering with a very faulty philos- ophy ease both for mind and body, which have usurped the unclaimed ground between the two pro- fessions belonging of right to both jointly. Why should physician and clergyman bridge the space between them and fight this host of nervous ills side by side? One reason is the great increase of nervous diseases. Some eminent neurologists go so far as to say that from forty to seventy-five per cent of aU disorders especially affecting the Amer- ican people are of this type. When Dr. Harold Moyer, in a conservative estimate, makes the num- ber of psycho-neurotics in Chicago alone, twenty thousand, the total number of such nervous sufferers in the country at large becomes difficult to compute. Physicians have been making a splendid fight with great success against contagious diseases. They have been doing a work for humanity which cannot be overestimated. According to Dr. William Osier, the three great advances of the century made by the medical profession have been a knowledge of the mode of controlling epidemic diseases, the introduction of anaesthetics, and the adoption of 67 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS antiseptic methods in surgery. "Think," he says, "of the Nemesis which has overtaken pain during the past fifty years. Anaesthetics and antiseptic surgery have almost manacled the demon, and since their introduction the aggregate of pain which has been prevented far outweighs in civilized communi- ties that which has been suffered." He says again: "The sorrows and troubles of men, it is true, have not been materially diminished, but bodily pain and suffering, though not abolished, have been assuaged as never before, and the share of each in the weltschmerz has been enormously lessened." But while tuberculosis, diphtheria, yellow fever, and the whole brood of contagious and infectious diseases have been yielding to the attack of med- ical science and steadily diminishing, nervous dis- orders have been increasing at an alarming rate. They are a great factor in the weltschmerz of our day. They are intangible, elusive to deal with, not reducible to a mathematical equation. The suffering from them, as physicians well know, some- times makes almost no physical record. The lay- man without medical insight into abnormal nervous 68 PHYSICIAN AND CLERGYMAN states might consider the complaints of the patient ais nonsense. But the mental suffering caused by nerves out of order is so intense that it made one neurologist, seized by nervous exhaustion, declare that he would rather endure six months of any other illness than one day of nervous pain. More- over, the suffering of the patient is by no means confined by the circumference of the patient's per- sonal life. Family and friends must suffer as well. The irritation and discontent and perversity of spirit thrown off by one nervous patient, can inocu- late a community as effectually as the bacilli of any contagious disease. Another reason for cooperation between min- ister and physician is the character of these nervous disturbances. Partly mental, often only secondarily physical as they are, they involve a condition of mind which drugs cannot relieve. There is no anti- toxin for sick nerves. The fear, the worry, the de- pression, the exaggerated self-consciousness, the self-depreciation, and all the other unpleasant variations from nervous health that abnormal psy- chology has to show must be met in another way. In these cases', what makes for optimism, peace of 69 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS mind, and self-forgetfulness makes for health. Such patients cannot be dismissed with a simple prescription. They cannot buy relief at any chem- ist's. Shifting the attention, changing the point of view, putting new ideals in place of the old are rem- edies that will help them. Here the province of the physician and that of the minister overlap. Here the minister, properly trained, can cooperate with the physician. No method of psychical or spiritual healing can supersede the work which must be done by the physician. No matter what stress I may lay upon faith, — and I cannot lay too much emphasis upon it — that intangible something which cannot be defined, and I could give you a dozen definitions of the term and still those definitions would not cover the ground, — I say, no matter what emphasis may be placed upon faith alone, I do not know that faith can cure all diseases. No matter how I may faU back upon the primal truth that God is in His world, in its every atom, in its every electron, we never can set aside anatomy; we cannot call physiology "Baal" or "the Devil"; we cannot "throw all physic to the dogs." We must bring into harmony what hereto- 70 PHYSICIAN AND CLERGYMAN fore have seemed to be, as it were, two hemispheres of the great truth. By faith we can bring the curative agency of the Divine Being into our very natures, but we are to recognize the fact that we have bodies and that they need in certain cases specific medicines and treatment for their healing, just as they need specific food for their sustenance. In fighting this army of functional nervous dis- orders, which has stolen upon us, what more can physician and clergyman accomplish united than divided? In many cases religion therapeutically appHed, and I use the phrase reverently, gives the peace which means quieter nerves. It also supplies the strongest possible motives for the unselfish ex- ertion which is often the patient's salvation. In a recent editorial deahng with the subject of Religious Therapeutics, in "The Journal of the American Medical Association," the writer says: "There is no doubt that in diseases like those mentioned much may be done by systematic psychic treatment, and one effective way of obtaining results may be an appeal to the religious sense of the individual. Religion, of course, is here used in its broadest sense, as the foundation and motive power of all that is 71 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS worth doing, and need not necessarily be restricted to Christianity as has been done in the work above mentioned." As Dr. Hugh Patrick, speaking before the Physi- cians' Club of Chicago, pointed out not long ago, a church, in handling nervous cases, has to offer the enormous advantage of association. There is a con- tagion of health as there is a contagion of disease. Faith and wholesome beliefs are often more effect- ually applied collectively than individually. A meeting properly conducted, with a social half-hour from which all discussion of symptoms is rigidly excluded, will sometimes create and fix wholesome ideals of thought and action by indirect suggestion, when direct individual suggestion would be useless. The physician, who sees a patient in his office and in the half-hour or hour allowed by a busy day, succeeds in dislodging temporarily the morbid ideas and in giving a more optimistic trend to his patient's thoughts, only to have much of his work undone by the home influences or the social influences to which his patient is subjected. In such cases the scien- tifically conducted church clinic confirms and strengthens the impression by which the wise doctor 72 PHYSICIAN AND CLERGYMAN is trying to train the rebellious nervous system to right habits. A widespread disease requires a rem- edy as far-reaching. This the Church, taken in its broadest undenominational sense, can assist greatly in applying. It has the organization. It is a recog- nized centre in each community. It has as its leader a man frequently of college and university training, skilled in reading the minds and souls of men, well qualified to work hand in hand with the physician in applying the great principles of healing to the members of his flock. From the prevalence of these nervous disorders partly of the soul and partly of the body, and the need of helping the victims of them, it follows like a corollary that in a very important sense clergymen must be soul physicians; that their field of useful- ness will be greatly enlarged if they understand psychology and enough of the nature and structure of the physical organism and nervous system to work intelligently with the physician. Physicians are beginning to understand that they, too, must know something of the mind, and of the soul, and not simply of the material realm — their supposed province. So the clergyman must come from his 73 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS spiritual realm into the physician's realm, and the physician into the clergyman's realm, not in antago- nism but in complete harmony. For such work special training is necessary. The- ological seminaries throughout the country should follow the example of some Eastern institutions and provide courses conducted by physicians and psy- chologists. Medical colleges, also, should offer the training in psychology and in therapeutic subjects in which now they are deplorably lacking. The editorial in " The Journal of the American Medical Association," previously quoted, states the situation clearly: "It is a well-known fact that in no depart- ment of medicine is the average medical man so poorly trained as in psychopathology. In medical schools even to-day no adequate training is given in psychology. Little wonder is it, therefore, that the treatment of functional diseases is unsatisfactory. But physicians should see the reason, and to a degree feel that they are not wholly without respon- sibility, that patients of this class fall victims to all kinds of quackeries and cults." In this connection it is gratifying to learn from a recent announcement that Johns Hopkins Univer- 74 PHYSICIAN AND CLERGYMAN sity is establishing a thoroughly well-equipped department of psycho-therapeutics, which will com- pare favorably with those of noted medical institu- tions abroad. In these nervous disorders the same method may be employed that is bringing tuberculosis and the other infectious diseases so well under control. In nervous diseases it is not germs that are causing the trouble, but unwholesome ways of living and think- ing. An intelligent appreciation of this is the first step toward checking this new menace to human comfort. The public need education in the better use of their nerves. Professor James, who is also a graduate physician, in considering the whole question of American over-tension and the nervous disturbances to which it leads, says forcefully: "Though it is no small thing to inoculate seventy millions of people with new standards, yet, if there is to be any relief, that will have to be done. We must change ourselves from a race that admires jerk and snap for their own sakes, and looks down upon low voices and quiet ways as dull, to one that, on the contrary, has calm for its ideal, and for their own sakes loves harmony, dignity, and ease." 75 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Dr. Osier never spoke more truly than when he said: " 'T is no idle challenge which we physicians throw out to the world, when we claim that our mission is of the highest and of the noblest kind, not alone in curing disease but in educating the people in the laws of health." To teach the better poise that will enable people to resist the encroachment of nervous disorders; to show those who are already in the throes the way out; to reeducate those whose faulty way of living has led to disease, so that for the future they shall be safe, — this is a mission indeed which may well bring together once more the clergyman and the physician into intimate and friendly relations. 76 CHAPTER VIII THE CLERGYMAN'S OPPORTUNITY Wonders of Healing Effected by Physical Means — How Clergymen Gradually Abandoned the Healing Function — Their Duty to Resume that Function — The Em- manuel Church Movement in Boston — The Clergyman's Opportunity for a True Pastoral Relation THE great inrush of nervous ailments peculiar to this age has set wide open the door of op- portunity to the clergyman of the twentieth century to follow in the footsteps of the great Healer of mankind. As Hugh McMillan has said: " Just as He bestows His own healing power on some unconscious herb or mineral, so He bestows upon ourselves, in the conscious use of them, His own healing powers in enabling us to heal others. The gifts of healing which the early Christians en- joyed are perpetuated not in a miraculous but in a natural way; not in 'faith cures' practised by igno- rant and credulous pietists, but in the more real and satisfactory cures of science; in wonders of healing effected in our hospitals, which a quarter of a cen- 77 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS tury ago would have been deemed impossible; in the more accurate knowledge acquired by better methods of study, and in the tender ministries of the more favored classes to the poor, helpless victims of disease. And, just as Christ Himself did not win His triumphs over disease and death by the mere exercise of a mere nominal faith, costing Him noth- ing, so we cannot triumph over our modern disease by spells of faith, expecting to win by a mere presumptuous effort costing us nothing, what can only be gained by earnest thought and hard labor and deep sympathy. If we take advantage of the resources which science has placed in our power, we have a far greater assurance that by the use of such means our faith will effect a cure, than if we presumptuously depended on our faith alone." The truth here expressed is one of the basal ele- ments of the movement to apply religious thera- peutics in an effort to ameliorate and prevent some of the most trying ailments that afflict mankind. But, granting all that Hugh McMillan has said, the question is still insistently asked, "What is the rela- tion between minister and physician in this remedial function?" Has the ministry of healing by direct 78 THE CLERGYMAN'S OPPORTUNITY faith in the power of Christ ended ? Christian phy- sicians ask the question ; Christian ministers ask it. Christ went about healing all manner of sickness and all diseases among the people. As many as touched the hem of His garment were made whole. He dis- tinctly and emphatically commanded His followers to do the like. The curing of disease was one of the grand evidences of the Christian religion. The proofs of his mission were sound bodies, — the deaf hearing, the dumb speaking, the blind seeing, and the paralytic walking and leaping. The Apostles also in the name of Christ performed the wonders which Christ Himself wrought. The poor heathen woman touched but the hem of His garment and was made whole. The handkerchiefs which St. Paul touched conveyed healing power to those who received them. One can explain this in part at least by suggestion, and especially by auto-suggestion. But the great fact remains that the Apostles were the transmitters of divine power. Now, we clergymen are required to answer the question: "Where is the lineal succession to this power of healing, in the name of Him who has all power in heaven and earth?" It was faith, not 79 . HEALTH AND HAPPINESS "blind, presumptuous faith," then, which raised the cripple at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. Is it presumptuous faith now to say, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk"? "Do you leaders of religious thought and practice," it is asked again, "admit that the age of wonderful works, or miracles, if you so choose to term them, in the order of nature, is past ? If so, who told you so? If the age of these wonderful works, in the order of nature, is gone, then is not Christianity gone?" It is not gone. A physician of the Old World,* renowned for his skill and learning, makes a ringing call to the ministry to go back to Christ. He afl&rms, in sub- stance, that the age of mathematics would be past if no one cultivated mathematics, and that the age of the spiritual power of that early Christianity is gone just so far as the clergy have failed to use the means to show it forth. Let them, this physician enjoins, make the great attempt to gain it. Let all their weak excuses for its absence be exchanged for a godly re- solve to bring it back again. If they fail, it will be because they are not Christian or else because Chris- * Dr. James John Garth Wilkinson. 80 THE CLERGYMAN'S OPPORTUNITY tianity is not true to its own proofs. If they succeed, mankind will sit in a right mind under them and bless their privilege and their Master's name. "The vis medicatrix Christi will be the physical demonstra- tion of the life of a Christian Church." This physi- cian does not decry the importance of the medical fraternity nor the use of remedial agencies. But he recognizes the fundamental Christian truth which he clearly sets forth, that there is a spiritual realm whose remedial forces are not fully comprehended, but which are available to the Church of God by the direct effort of faith and prayer. On account of the absorbing duties devolving upon the clergyman in the progress of the years and the growth of medicine as distinct from theology, he ceased to be, as formerly, a clerical physician min- istering to every bodily ill. Although there has been in the Christian Church an unbroken line of be- lievers that faith and prayer could accomplish the wonderful works of the Apostolic age, yet, as I have before stated, the vast majority of both clergymen and communicants left the duty of healing the sick to the physicians. Marvellous results of faith during the centuries have been seen, but they have been regarded HEALTH AND HAPPINESS in modern times almost as something out of date. Very often they have been considered as abnormal manifestations of the emotional nature. And the terms "fanatic" and "fanaticism" have been fre- quently applied in connection with them. The edu- cated clergyman has constantly striven to steer clear of everything of that character, and to go along in what he deemed to be a natural or rational path of procedure. But a new era has dawned upon the Church, bringing a great psychological movement which has swept along the uneducated as well as the educated classes in its progress, and compelled the thoughtful Christian teacher and preacher to strive to ascertain the facts and laws pertaining to it. Almost' coexist- ent with it has come a rising tide of maladies that formerly presented themselves only as sporadic cases, which are very largely psychical, or moral and spiritual, as was mentioned before. These ailments are the outgrowth of the strenuous age in which we live. Many of them may have a physical origin, but most of them seem to be largely mental. They have been termed "functional diseases of the nervous sys- tem." The rush and hurry of our modem methods 82 THE CLERGYMAN'S OPPORTUNITY of living, of doing things at break-neck speed in our educational, social, business, and political life, have registered themselves in our disordered nerves. They are revealed in our prematurely lined and hag- gard faces. They have resulted in a want of coor- dination in our entire organism. Combined with the making haste to be rich is the demand for stim- ulants and narcotics. Our multiplied drug stores and saloons bear witness to the prevalence of these evils. The present generation of children too often show enfeebled natures. And along with many other causes, too numerous to mention, is the deep religious unrest regarding the Bible, the Church, and the future life. The challenge presented in these conditions is one which the Church must meet. The movement to unite religion and medical sci- ence in an attempt to alleviate nervous suffering has thus a peculiar significance. To Dr. Worcester and Dr. McComb belong the credit of starting the move- ment on these lines, in Emmanuel Church, Boston. Since the work was begun in Boston it has been started in other churches in New England and the East and in one or two of the Middle Western States, with specific individual differences of method, 83 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS but with the insistence always on medical cooper- ation and careful diagnosis of all patients, which are among the distinguishing features of this move- ment. Our work in Chicago has been organized with the advice of leading neurologists and with the help of Dr. Sidney Kuh, attending neurologist at the Church Clinics who has been of the greatest service, both in examining patients and in working out a system of records of the cases, without which there can be no scientific accuracy. Hundreds of people have availed themselves of what could be given in the Church Clinics, and Health Conferences, and the application of religious therapeutics has met with marked success. The clergyman now has an opportunity to re- cover what may be termed the "lost art" of his im- portant work, a true pastoral relation to his flock. It may be said safely that very few ministers know anything about real pastoral visitation. In the cit- ies and larger towns such visitation is often largely of a conventional social character. The sermons on Sunday, which must be of regulation length, deal with topics of a general character and cannot meet the individual needs of the hearers. The minister 84 THE CLERGYMAN'S OPPORTUNITY can know but little of the trials, temptations, sorrows, discouragements, and mental and spiritual difl&culties which are shaping the physical and spiritual condi- tions of his parishioners. They do not come to him as their confidant. What should be told him as the representative of Him who bore the sicknesses and sorrows of the people is either left unsaid or is men- tioned, in part only, to the physician. Thus the one who could justly claim to speak with a divine author- ity the words of hope and cheer and comfort, who could give the positive assurance of complete forgive- ness of sins through Him who came to take away the sins of the world, and cause the doubting one to rejoice in hope of the glory of God, has allowed himself to sink to the level of an ordinary ethical in- structor. The cry from anxious, burdened souls in every parish is: "Show me how to have faith, hope, love. Help me to drive out fear, worry, hate, anger. Give me peace. Give me the personal consciousness of a God who is a present help in time of trouble. Give me a Christ who can break the iron fetters of evil habits which are riveted around me from head to foot. Tell me how to realize the maximum of joy in my life and to have the dread of death taken from 85 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS me. Tell me of the absolute certainty of a life to come." "The clergy," as Dr. Frank K. Hallock said re- cently in an address on the subject of the Church and psycho- therapeutics, "are sure to realize that one of the most important and powerful means of influence open to them can only be developed by their getting closer to their flock. No one can prac- tise psycho-therapy successfully unless he establishes in some degree the heart-to-heart relation. The criticism is too often justly made that religious teachers and preachers talk at their hearers and not to them. No scholarly expounding of the Scriptures, however brilliant, can ever take the place of the direct personal message." It is, as he says, an intimate, face-to-face inter- view that is required. Where the two are gathered together in His name, Christ is in the midst, Christ for the body and the soul. Because of the want of this personal relationship of the ministry have come the defections from the Christian Church. Multi- tudes have strayed away into various cults, some of which deny the most fundamental facts of reason and of experience. By bringing a boundless opti- 86 THE CLERGYMAN'S OPPORTUNITY mism to their adherents and claiming a certain kind of a God of which they are a part, as never having to do with sin, sickness, or death, they have created a so-called church. Marvellous cures are reported. All these cures are referred to the philosophy of ne- gation as their cause. These wandering ones have simply been applying the universal law of suggestion and auto-suggestion for their recovery from mental and bodily ills. That this is the fact is as clear as a sunbeam. They have allied their suggestions with a divine or deific principle. They have thus rooted them in a species of deep religiousness. Of course, cures are effected in many cases. In many other cases there has been no recovery because of the latent conviction in the minds of those oper- ated upon that the philosophy taught was contrary to fact and reason and science. Now, I repeat again, the opportunity of the clergy- man has come. He can bring a divinely human Bible as the ground of his faith and appeal. He can bring the Lord the Healer, not a dumb and deaf and blind principle, but a loving Father, to the help of His needy children. He can bring the real Christ of the New Testament — Emmanuel — God with us — 87 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS to speak again the words, and give again the touch, and extend again the hand, to those possessed with the demons of unrest, disquiet, and bodily ills. All about us people are hungering for the vital things of the spirit which it is the blessed duty of clergymen to give them. Dr. Worcester, in speak- ing of the Emmanuel work, says, in "Religion and Medicine": "Instead of sustaining merely con- ventional relations with people, our relations have been sacred and delightful. For we have been called upon to help and permitted to help in the real and serious business of life. We have passed through the deep waters with hundreds upon hun- dreds of men and women. We have stood between them and temptation, between them and despair, between them and death. We have had the supreme satisfaction of using constantly our highest faculties and of exerting our utmost power in behalf of our people in their hour of need." This movement for health and happiness and right living has been begun especially as a new department of church work. But it is, as I have shown, but a resumption of the church work begun in Apostolic days and carried on in varying ways 88 THE CLERGYMAN'S OPPORTUNITY and degrees throughout the centuries. Prosecuted now in closest alliance with the trained physician, it is the union of science with faith, of religion with medicine. It marks the coming of a new era. 89 CHAPTER IX CONSCIOUSNESS AND SUBCONSCIOUSNESS Evidences of Duality Either of Mind or of Mental Function — Sir William Hamilton on the Distinction between ' ' the Conscious and the Unconscious Self " — Views of Several Writers on this Subject — Both the Healing and the Disease-producing Powers of the Mind Exercised Sub- consciously or Unconsciously — The Different Functions of the Conscious and the Subconscious Mind. PROBLEMS suggested by investigation of what is generally known as the action of man's subconsciousness, but what might perhaps be defined more accurately as the sublim- inal self or mind, have recently attracted the atten- tion of some of the foremost thinkers not only of America, but of the world. That the subject is one of peculiar fascination is shown by the testimony of such an authority as Professor William James, who says: "In one shape or another, the sublim- inal has come to stay with us, and the only possible course to take henceforth is radically and thoroughly to explore its significance." 90 CONSCIOUSNESS — SUBCONSCIOUSNESS One of the earliest philosophers to define the problem accurately was Sir William Hamilton. In his famous "Lectures on Metaphysics" he discussed with great force and clearness of reasoning the dis- tinction between the conscious and, asjie termed it, the unconscious self. To be conscious, he pointed out, we must be conscious of some particular perception or remembrance or imagination or feeling. We have no general consciousness. The sphere of our conscious mental operations is only a small circle in the centre of a far wider sphere of action and passion, of which we are conscious only through its effects. So, he taught, there are extensive systems of knowledge which lie latent in the mind beyond the sphere of consciousness and will. There are latent ideas which are continually emerging into consciousness. These ideas are like the silent partners in a firm, who supply the means for carrying on the business but are themselves not known in the business transactions. More recently another great authority. Dr. W. B. Carpenter, in his "Mental Physiology," has ex- plained many of the phenomena of this latent consciousness, under the name of "unconscious 91 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS cerebration." But he did not fully grasp the mean- ing of the facts involved in this latent self. Indeed, it has not been fully grasped as yet by any philos- opher. Many keen minds are at work upon it. Frederic Myers, one of the leading investigators of the English Society for Psychical Research, made it the subject of his life study. Mr. Myers distin- guished the two forms of consciousness as "the supraliminal and the subliminal" self or mind, and added much to our knowledge of these obscure fields of study. We may note in passing that Thomson Jay Hudson has assumed as a working hypothesis that man possesses two minds, the subjective mind being, according to his view, the soul. But mind is one. All the phenomena connected with various so-called personalities in the same individual have been ulti- mately resolved into the one indivisible, normal self. Wundt, the founder of experimental psychology and the leader of the "new psychology," has an- nounced his conviction of the indivisible unity and inner oneness of the mental life in all its phases.* The unity of the mind, Dr. Alfred T. Scho- ♦Philosophic Studies, IV, 121. 92 CONSCIOUSNESS — SUBCONSCIOUSNESS field maintains, is a truth as needful to lay hold of as the unity of the body. Professor William James agrees with him when he says: "As the action of the mental factor in disease is unconscious, it cannot be recognized as mental by those who limit mind to consciousness. The word mind must therefore be extended to include all psychic action. Almost all the action of the mind upon the body as a factor in disease or in therapeutics is ex- ercised subconsciously, automatically, and — per- haps often of necessity — unconsciously." It is natural, then, as Dr. Schofield states, that most of the action of the physician's mind and personality upon his patient is unconscious. As the subcon- scious mind controls nearly aU the functions of the body; as all the reflex processes of the body — digestion, respiration, etc. — are under the control of this power and express its force, it is natural enough that much of the most important influence of personality on personality should be exercised through this channel. The subconscious mind stores up the ideas which have come to it through the conscious mind. When and how they have thus come may be en- 93 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS tirely unknown. The subconscious mind is as it were a great seed plot in which thoughts have been dropped or planted to come up again into con- sciousness with the fruitage of their growth. The phenomena of dreams, somnambulism, hypnotism, prodigious feats of memory, and the like are in the subconscious realm. The reasoning powers are in exercise in the conscious state. In the subconscious condition if there is any reasoning at all it is of a deductive character. The conscious mind is moved by persuasion, the subconscious mind by suggestion. The subconscious mind will accept, when the con- scious mind is not actively engaged, any premise, however untrue or absurd. But as the subliminal self receives its impressions from the conscious or reasoning self, it is of supreme importance that every channel by which impressions may be received should be kept with care, that all proper guards be placed over ear-gate and eye-gate and mouth-gate. This is true for the profound reason of the Psalmist that as a man thinks in his heart so is he. Impres- sions are the raw material of thought and the things one chooses to think — hidden away down in the deep recesses of that subconscious nature — are there 94 CONSCIOUSNESS — SUBCONSCIOUSNESS shaping his life. As Dr. Amory H. Bradford forci- bly states: "If we will think about truth and duty, about the beauty and glory of goodness, about hero- ism, courage, chivalry, about patriotism and the joys of being brotherly and helpful, about health and love and God, our whole being wiU move toward the higher levels." This movement in practical religion has already been of great service to the science of psychology in urging it toward a more intimate acquaintance with the subconscious mind. We are learning to map it out, to find its boundaries, to trace its channels of communication, and may be able soon so to control and use it as to bring all its vast potentialities to the aid of the conscious self — to heal, to strengthen, to aid, to extend the power and usefulness of every-day, wide-awake mind. This every-day, wide-awake mind, we must remember, is but a fragment of the total mind just as the visible part of the iceberg is but a fragment — a fraction — of the whole iceberg. If we can I bring to bear upon our problems the whole mind, the subconscious as well as conscious, the conquest of our ills and ailments will be more rapid and more sure. 95 CHAPTER X SUGGESTION Suggestion in its General and Specific Senses — A Case of Sickness Produced by Suggestion and Healed by Sugges- tion — The Patient's Need of Faith in the Person Helping Him — The Main Function of Suggestion to Disconnect Ideas that are Usually Connected in the Patient's Mind — Healing by Suggestion as Old as Human Nature — Mind-cure, Scientific and Unscientific — Hypnotism now Seldom Used as an Aid to Suggestion — Suggestion Useful in the Training of Children. SUGGESTION, taken in its broadest sense, is a law to which every one is subject. It rep- resents the innumerable influences which bear directly and indirectly upon a man from the cradle to the grave. The home in which he is bom, its material furnishings, its atmosphere, the looks and works and acts of the members of the domestic circle are full of suggestions. The books read, the companions associated with, outward scenery, all features of his environment embracing play, schooling, the workshop, business, social and professional life mould and develop him by their suggestive power. 96 SUGGESTION In a narrower sense, we use the term suggestion to cover the various methods by which we introduce ideas indirectly to the minds of other people. Sug- gestion presents argument and advice as sugar- coated pills and the recipient acts on them without antagonism. In the daily drama of life wherever people meet together, suggestion plays a large part in keeping the social wheels oiled and running smoothly. From its medical use, however, suggestion has acquired a meaning somewhat different from either of those I have given. Ideas are introduced by the physician into the mind of the patient, but whether they are presented directly or indirectly the object is remedial, to correct certain disordered conditions, to set free certain powers latent in the patient, to dislodge false ideas, to stimulate will power, and to arouse hope, faith, and a desire for better living. Suggestion is thus both a mental medicine and an agent for moral training. This is the kind of sugges- tion of which I wish particularly to speak, showing how we have used it in our own work, and indicat- ing some of the ways in which this force may be employed for self help. 97 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS A young man who was one of the first to find his way to the Church Chnic furnishes a good illustra- tion of the effect of direct suggestion. He arrived late on a very busy afternoon, and when his turn came, the hour for closing had struck. But he would not be denied. "I know I'm going to be helped," was his plea, "and I can't afford to wait." The diagnosis showed him to be one of the cases which we could accept, and I took him into my study to see what could be done for him. He was troubled with sleeplessness; he tossed and worried, and worried and tossed much of the night. He was suffering greatly also from indigestion. He had cut off one article of food after another, never- theless whatever he ate distressed him. He was very apprehensive about himself and feared he might have to give up his work. As he had a num- ber of people dependent on him this would have been a great misfortune, and the fear of it was with him constantly. I gave him some strong simple sugges- tions to help the sleeping and the digestive powers. Then we went deeper into the cause of his trouble. He had really worried himself sick. His uneasy mind had reacted on his body, and his body on his 98 SUGGESTION mind, until a "vicious circle" had been formed which he could not break. We concluded that if he were really living out the religion in which he firmly believed, worry could not take such hold upon him. Then I, as a person, stepped aside and let the beau- tiful, comforting promises of the Bible, which are God's divine suggestions to us, sink down deep into his consciousness. I sent him away reassured and encouraged, determined to hve better as well as to be better. I heard nothing from him for two or three weeks, as he lived at a distance and was busy evenings. Then one Sunday morning after the service, a man came to shake hands with me. His face was so full of joy and hope, that I had to look twice to be sure that it was the same man who had come to me before, so downcast and depressed. He told me that now he went home after his work at night and slept like a child, that he ate what he liked and had no discomfort from it. "My friends hardly know me for the same man," he said, "I am so free from ieax." He had gained physical com- fort, but what was still more important, he had corrected the spiritual disorder which was the cause 99 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS of the physical. A number of months afterward he reported that he was in excellent condition, and that besides the work which formerly had seemed beyond his strength, he had undertaken as much again, and was carrying the double burden easily. All he needed, he said, if Le found himself down- hearted or afraid, was to read some of the Bible verses which I had indicated to him. Then his courage came back again and he attacked his work with new vigor. This case is typical of a large number. Almost any doctor has patients who have been cured simply by changing their mental attitude. Very often the process is longer. Cases are not infrequent in our experience where the necessary change in thought is the result of infinite patience, of line upon line and precept upon precept. But I have chosen this stra,ightforward case because it shows without any confusing complexity the working of this law of suggestion. Faith is the first requisite, faith on the part of the recipient and of the one making the sug- gestion. My friend came believing that he would get help. Assured by the diagnosis of his trouble I could teD him with absolute confidence that he could lOO SUGGESTION be well. Faith can be encouraged and stimulated and developed, as I have shown in another chapter. Faith the size of a mustard seed makes a starting point. But when suggestion is blocked by doubts it must win its way a little more slowly. No one using suggestion can accomplish much without hav- ing the full confidence of the one seeking help. He must speak with authority which the patient recog- nizes and obeys. This accounts for the fact that suggestions given to a person by friends whose med- ical judgment is not trusted will be resented, when exactly the same suggestions proceeding from a physician will be taken as Gospel truth and carried out to the last letter. In one case the mind is on guard against the suggestion; in the other it is re- ceptive to it. The effectiveness of the suggestion therefore depends on its gliding past any doubt that may be doing sentry duty, into the very centre of consciousness. Then it can do its work and bring about results in a surprisingly effective manner. Suggestion is based on the psychological principle of the dissociation of ideas; that is, of disconnecting ideas that are usually connected. In the case above mentioned, for instance, my patient had fallen into lOI HEALTH AND HAPPINESS the habit of associating certain uncomfortable sen- sations with eating. The suggestions I gave him were strong enough to break up these old associa- tions and to substitute new ones. His mind ex- cluded the sensations of discomfort and concentrated itself on those of comfort. It excluded fear and was filled instead with trust. When suggestion is effective, it reaches the deeper strata of conscious- ness, the subconsciousness where processes are carried on without our being aware of them, so that the result comes as a surprise. Forel speaks of suggestion as a "psychic [i. e. mental], or more properly, psycho-physical, reaction, in which an idea usually connected with a perception becomes so intense and narrow, the mind becomes so filled with 'one idea,' that this idea loses its ordinary as- sociations with its corrective counter-ideas, breaks violently through common restrictions, and releases cerebral activities that are usually independent of it and generally, if not always, subconscious." A soldier in battle, possessed by excitement and the desire for victory, does not feel wounds that at another time would make him faint with pain. Not many months ago, in Chicago, when a locomotive I02 SUGGESTION lurched from the track and broke in the side of the house of an invahd who had been bedridden for many years, she was so possessed by the idea of get- ting away from the horrible unknown danger that her desire broke down all her fears for herself, tran- scended her supposed inability, drove her from her bed and out of the house, and made her a well woman. In ordinary life we often prove the truth of this definition when interest in some pleasure carries us far beyond that point of fatigue, where, ordinarily, if we were working instead of playing, we should lay down our tools worn out. Instances might be mul- tiplied indefinitely, for suggestion is as many-sided as life itself. " Is suggestion in treating disease a new method ? " This question is so often asked in connection with the work we are doing that I wish to make very plain the fact that it is not. It is as old as human nature. In the hazy dawn of history we find the Egyptians and their contemporaries making use of suggestion, and we learn from excavations that five hundred years before our era, the miraculous cures at Epidaurus were probably effected by suggestion. From the inscriptions it seems certain that the cult 103 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS of ^sculapius at Epidaurus was based upon the mir- acle working of the demigods, involving suggestion, and not upon the medical art. The patients first cleansed themselves with water from a holy well, brought sacrifices, and after certain ceremonial rites had been performed by the priest, were caused to fall asleep. During this sleep, probably as a re- sult of suggestion, the son of ApoUo was supposed to appear in a dream to the sufferer, attending to his ailments and imposing specific sacrificial acts which, carried out, would restore him to health. The god also asked large sums of money for these cures, sometimes specifying the amount in a dream. All through the centuries suggestion has cropped up in one form or another, — in the use of amulets to ward off danger, in the' old custom of touching the king's garments to cure certain diseases, in the prac- tices of the "Medicine Man" among savage tribes and among our North American Indians, in the methods of Mesmer, and in hundreds of other ways too numerous to mention. Modem instances of the use of religious suggestion are to be found in our own day at Lourdes, France, where hundreds of sufferers gather hoping for relief, at St. Anne de 104 SUGGESTION Beaupre, the little Canadian village near Quebec, to which a great number of sick pilgrims make their way every year, and in other places. Crutches and surgical appliances of all kinds lining the walls of the church at St. Anne, and piled here and there in heaps, testify to the belief of many people in their cures. A number undoubtedly have been made well. But many others, afflicted with diseases which spirit- ual methods alone could not reach, have been mis- taken in their belief and have thrown away their means of physical salvation. Sometimes it is a sor- rowful matter to trace the history of a mistaken cure, to know, as I did, of a patient's return to the physi- cian whose work had been undone and who was powerless at that stage to repair the mischief. But these are the accidents likely to happen when cases are treated without an understanding of their nature and with a disregard of the truth that God's healing power works through physical means, as well as through mental and spiritual. This also is one of the limitations of some of the cults in evidence to- day, which under one name or another are making cures through this law of suggestion. The historical instances of the use of suggestion 105 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS which I have mentioned were the product of credu- lity rather than of reason. But suggestion of late years has become a subject of scientific study. Physicians have always made use of suggestion in healing their patients, though for the most part unconsciously. But since the time of Mesmer, when our own Benjamin Franklin was one of those appointed by the French Government to investigate his remarkable claims, the mental element in the treatment of disease has from time to time engaged the attention of scientific men. A number of years ago Dr. Hack Tuke, ahead of his generation, pub- lished a book showing the relation between the mind and the body, which made many of his own brethren look askance at him. The progress of the years be- tween can be measured by the fact that to-day the interrelation of mind and body and the influence of suggestion are granted as psychological facts, while psycho-therapeutics is coming to be considered one of the essential parts of medical practice, and covers the various methods by which physicians try to relieve the diseased through mental means. Our work is on one side anchored in sound religion, on the other in scientific fact; and we use the phrase 1 06 SUGGESTION "psycho- therapeutics" because it makes a desirable, if not indeed a necessary, distinction between scien- tific and unscientific mind-cure. A few of the eminent men who have been work- ing to put the whole subject of psycho-therapeutics on a rational basis are Liebault, Bernheim, Janet, Forel, Dubois, Moll, Braid, Bramwell, Prof. Oppen- heim of Berhn University; and in our own country, William James, Morton Prince, Lewellys F. Barker, Isidor H. Coriat, James J. Putnam, Frederick Peter- son, and Boris Sidis. The researches of some of these men, especially their explorations into the subconsciousness of patients suffering with various nervous disorders, are as interesting as a fairy tale, and give the reader a new idea of the possibilities of the human mind. More and more among pro- gressive physicians mental treatment is gaining in favor. Among the methods of conveying suggestion to overcome certain abnormal conditions is hypnotism, a graduated sleep in which the dissociation of ideas is general, and suggestibility is increased. The pa- tient while in this state of sleep receives suggestions, and acts upon them unconsciously. Physicians, 107 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS however, with whom this method once found favor, have in many instances discontinued it. While there is no occult power in hypnotism, no mysterious transfer of force from operator to patient, as many credulous people believe, and while the records make it seem impossible that any one can be hypnotized for the first time against his will, or that he can be made to obey suggestions contrary to his moral ideas, stiU the more natural ways of influencing a patient are greatly to be preferred. In the opinion of many eminent physicians hypnotism is coming to have a smaller and smaller field of usefulness. For a restricted class of cases in the hands of expert men these physicians consider it beneficial. But med- ical opinion seems to be swinging over to the view that in many cases results which were once supposed to be possible only through hypnotism can be ob- tained quite as well by making suggestions with the cooperation of the patient, without risking any of the possible dangers attending hypnotism. Dr. Dubois, in his book on the "Psychic Treatment of Nervous Disorders," makes a valuable contribution to mental therapeutics in showing the efficacy of waking suggestion, or as he calls it, persuasion of io8 SUGGESTION moral influence. One of the cases he mentions, that of a woman of forty who had been ill for nine years, is particularly interesting. She was helpless in bed when he first saw her, unable to read or write, or to endure daylight in the room, or even to bear the brightness of a mirror. Dr. Dubois with much tact explained to her that her trouble was purely psychic and that she did not need material treatment. "You believe, then," his patient said, "that I could read, write, and stand the daylight if I had the inner conviction that I could do all that?" The doctor assured her that such was his positive belief. Two days afterward when he went to see her he had the pleasure of finding her sitting up in bed, reading a letter which she had written to her mother. Three days afterward she was on her feet. "AU the old helplessness of nine years' standing," Dr. Dubois says, "had disappeared under the in- fluence of an idea." She soon returned to a normal mode of life, well and happy. In the work we have been carrying on, with the class of cases we have treated, we have used waking suggestion only, in its various forms of encourage- ment, explanation, persuasion, education, and reedu- 109 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS cation. Before I enter into any explanation of these, I should like to say a word about psycho-analysis, which is one of the newer psychological methods of discovering the mental conditions causing nervous disorders. This method is a kind of detective which turns the subconsciousness inside out like a glove and brings to light hidden causes of nervous trouble, a shock perhaps, emotional or physical, a grief, a fancied injury, which the patient sometimes has forgotten entirely, but which, hidden in the depths of consciousness, has been working like a poison. Akin to this is the intimate talk we have with those who come as patients, which reveals a life's experience and gives the understanding of tem- perament necessary for an intelligent handling of the case. In these conversations disclosures are made of suffering in the inner life of thought and feeling that has never been confessed to the nearest and dear- est of friends and relatives. Some disappointment, some unsuspected grief, some fear, some trying thing in the daily routine, has been caught up by an oversensitive mind, dwelt upon and magnified in lonely hours and at night when sleep would not come, no SUGGESTION until outraged nerves have rebelled under the strain and set the whole organism wrong. When a wife is smarting under the sense of her husband's in- justice, cherishing some slight, exaggerating it into a crime, it is small use to prescribe a tonic for her nerves or a powder for her sleeplessness. First the pressure must be taken from her mind. Her morbid ideas must be brought to the wholesome light of day and dealt with. Very often, when the cause is in- sufl&cient, these can soon be dissipated. Her over- sensitiveness is the cause of her suffering, and she can be taught to correct it. But even when the cause is a real one, and the heart goes out in pity for her condition, if she cannot change it, the part of true sympathy is to strengthen her to endure her cir- cumstances, to show her that even things difficult to bear can be robbed of much of their power to harm if she will think and feel about them differently. Each case is a law unto itself, and the cause that often underlies the apparent cause must be dis- covered and overcome before a wholesome condition of mind can be established. Neurasthenia or nervous prostration, nervous exhaustion, some forms of hysteria and of constipa- III HEALTH AND HAPPINESS tion, nervous depression, sleeplessness, sexual aber- rations, dominant fears or phobias, anger, worry, sensitiveness, lack of self-confidence, and other mor- bid states of mind, all cause untold suffering to their victims. Training through suggestion aflfords great relief. Begun in time, it will prevent in a great measure these wretched nervous conditions. Those who have to do with children should bear this truth constantly in mind. Much so-called naughtiness should be met not by punishment but by relieving the nervous tension. Judge Lindsey of Denver has shown most convincingly how boys, apparently as bad and vicious as possible, can be made normal and trustworthy by giving them new hopes and ambitions and a friend who believes in them and never lets them forget it. Children are so susceptible to sugges- tions of one kind and another that parents and teachers should be extremely careful that they are subjected to the influences that will develop them best. Tendencies can be corrected easily in child- hood that would lead to great discomfort in later years. Dr. James J. Putman of Harvard, one of the leading neurologists of the country, in a recent lecture on "Nervous Breakdown" gladdened the hearts of 112 SUGGESTION anxious mothers and also increased their responsi- bility, by saying that "the nervous child can be changed through adequate training, the pursuit of suitable ideals, and the discipline of living, into a useful, tranquil, and self-controlled adult." Igno- rance and neglect of mental hygiene in early days sometimes makes a kindergarten course in this sub- ject necessary for a woman of sixty. Education and reeducation are among the most important methods of applying suggestion, since they aim not merely to relieve temporary symptoms but to change wrong habits of thought and action, to train the wiU and the emotions, and to establish right ways of living, which are the best safeguard against future nervous disturbances. This seems simple and reas- onable, a proposition to which in theory we readily assent. Yet illness is considered by so many as a visitation of Providence over which they have no control and for which they are in no wise respon- sible, that the idea of making a nervous breakdown a means of development is new to them. One woman after a strenuous period of mental work had had a severe attack of nervous prostration. Rest, change, and medical treatment brought her after many "3 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS months to a point where she felt that she might work again. With the same intensity as before she plunged into what she had to do. At the end of a few years she again broke down utterly. Fortu- nately she fell into the hands of a wise physician with unusual insight, who had had long experience in applying mental-therapeutic methods. She was completely prostrated physically. Her body seemed to her the rallying ground of all the functional dis- turbances possible, and her mind, as she expressed it, felt like an unguided automobile running sixty miles an hour. Sunk in the depression that is one of the most distressing symptoms of these nervous disorders, helpless, feeling herself the blameless vic- tim of an unkind fate, she received a visit from her doctor. When he had made his examination and- learned her history, he leaned back and looked at her. "What," he asked "did you learn from your former attack of nervous prostration ? " She looked at him in astonishment. For all she understood of his question it might have been in Hebrew. From that moment her education began. No measure that would help her physical condition was omitted, such as out-of-door life, graduated exer- 114 SUGGESTION cises, good food, and treatment of various kinds; but along with these measures was carried on the mental training. She had always done things in a tense, vehement way, with a great waste of nervous energy, a fault which daily exercises in relaxation and breath- ing helped her to correct. She had worked, too, unsystematically, never realizing how much time and strength a routine will save. A programme giving her something to do for each hour of the day provided the drill that in time made regular habits of work seem natural. Her extreme sensitiveness this doctor taught her to control so that it became strength instead of weakness. He helped her to overcome the morbid egotism of nervous exhaustion by introducing wider interests, and in more ways than I can stop to tell, he trained her to look differ- ently at life. As soon as it was possible he set her to doing wholesome, pleasant work, which is one of the best ways of bringing a rebellious nervous system to order. When this young woman was well again and free to take up her chosen line of work, she found that, thanks to this medical schoolmaster, she could manage her physical and mental machinery to better advantage than ever before. She knew the "5 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS value of work, of play, and of rest. She had gained a different outlook, more tolerant, more altruistic. Rebellion had yielded to trust. In every way she felt that life was better worth while than ever be- fore. She has been able since to do her work and to meet the large responsibilities that have devolved upon her, with an intelligent understand- ing of her limitations and her possibilities, and with a steadiness of poise that makes even nervous prostration, she declares, worth while as a means to such an end. The educational feature enters into all our work, and while we have not facilities to handle cases as extreme as the one I have described, some of those who have presented themselves, before they could find true health, have needed to change their views of life as radically as did this young woman. I have in mind one interesting case of a woman, who has been ill for nearly fifteen years. Invalidism has be- come a very hard habit for her to break. She has various nervous aches and pains which vex and dis- tress her, but she has greatly exaggerated them by the amount of attention she has allowed them. She is morbidly sensitive and full of fears, but anxious ii6 SUGGESTION to get well, and very intelligent. Her family hinder her rather than help her, and she has much else to contend against, so that her decided progress is much to her credit. In the mental gymnastics that we have helped her to carry out, we have enlisted her imagination, and her will. We have made use of her knowledge of a foreign language to arouse her dormant interest; we have made use of her affection for her family and of her obligations to God and her neighbor, to give her motives for the effort she must put forth to conquer her condition. Already she is doing things she has not attempted to do for fifteen years, and before she has finished this psychical edu- cation she will be a well woman, useful in her com- munity, and a comfort to herself. Sometimes in mild cases, merely the instructions given at the Health Conferences will so change a per- son's ideas, so establish better methods of living, that nothing further is necessary. All people are not equally open to suggestion; but the more I see of human nature, the more it seems likely that at some point in even the hardest-headed specimen of his kind, there is a crack where mental and spiritual influences may find entrance. One can but agree 117 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS with Dr. Dubois that the suggestible condition is normal and that everybody is suggestible. The instinct that reaches out for a power beyond ourselves is deeper than logic, deeper than reason, as deep as the principle of life itself. Denied its natural outflow toward a loving God, it still finds an expression in some way. The fact that many busi- ness men, some of them carrying on affairs of im- mense importance, are so influenced by astrological charts which they secretly consult, or by the conclu- sions of a palmist — that they place such unreliable guides before their own good judgment — is a com- mentary on the need of the most self-sufl&cient for some power outside himself. To substitute such things for trust and faith in a kind, overruling Providence shows more than ever the need of a prac- tical religion, to be used seven days in the week. This brings me to the question that is very often asked: "Why should religion concern itself with health? What is its place in the treatment of dis- ease?" Elsewhere I have spoken of the new em- phasis that the researches of modern psychology cause us to put on the old truth that as a man think- eth in his heart so is he. No slightest action of our ii8 SUGGESTION mind escapes physical registration. Our attitude of mind, then, is a large factor in determining our happiness and well-being. Professor James tells us that one of the busiest and saintliest persons that he knows is a woman suffering from cancer. A neu- rologist in speaking of the power of the mind told of one of his patients who had been thrown into a se- rious nervous condition by some discomforts and misfortunes that had overtaken her. Finally she became very much interested in some objective Christian work. When she paid her last visit to the neurologist, the hard conditions of her life that had overcome her formerly had not changed, and she also had an organic disease added temporarily to her troubles. Yet instead of being depressed and self-centred and idle as at first, she was cheery and interested and so busy with congenial work that she had no room in her wholesome thoughts for exag- gerated concern about herself. Another of my medical friends made the state- ment that recovering from consumption is largely a matter of character. Faithfulness in carrying out directions, and determination to banish worry and give the sick body a chance to get weU, play a great 119 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS part, he says, in the fight against this disease. In operations, too, the mental factor must be considered. A well-known surgeon always has his patients pre- pared mentally for an operation by an assistant who is particularly clever at mental therapy. For while such preparation may make no difference in the actual healing of the wound, it relieves the nervous strain so greatly that the patient makes a much bet- ter recovery. Dr. Clouston, the eminent Scotch physician, says in his enlightening book on the "Hygiene of the Mind " : "Certain diseases of impaired nutrition, from warts up to internal tumors, from scurvy to dropsy, have unquestionably been cured by mental influences. This is perfectly explicable from what we know of the relation of the brain to the blood supply of the body. Through the vaso-motor brain function it can shut off, or give an extra supply of, blood to almost any part of the body if the proper stimulus is applied, and thus cure diseases which are due to excess or too scanty a supply of blood to any particular part. Imagination, expectation, faith, joy, hope, fear, sug- gestion, may all cure certain diseases." I might go on indefinitely citing examples which 1 20 SUGGESTION show the importance of our mental attitude toward everything that comes to us — how it can make us sorrowful without cause, or glad under difficult circumstances. "There's nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so," the old proverb runs, and we are beginning to see how much this thinking has to do with health. The disease itself must be dealt with by the physicians and counter- acted by appropriate treatment and remedies, but our attitude toward it, the way we feel about it, diminishes or exaggerates our discomfort. Behind our attitude toward this or toward whatever happens to us is our religion. It is at the very heart of our being, the hidden, sometimes the unrecognized, source of our actions. It is like a reservoir, filling every channel through which our individuality finds expression; as our religion is, so are we. A courageous, hopeful attitude of the mind, even though indirectly, helps in the fight against most diseases. But in functional nervous disorders, which have an origin largely mental, thoughts and ideas can be made direct remedies. As John Hunter, a noted surgeon and a most scientific and practical-minded man, once said, "As one state of 121 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS mind is capable of producing a disease, another state of mind effects the cure." In these functional disorders, the subjective world is often turned topsy-turvy. Body, mind, and spirit are involved in a misery that can scarcely be described. To those afflicted with these disorders a therapeutic interpretation of religion brings untold relief. "Rest, change, amusement, and treatment of va- rious kinds — whatever shifts the attention and gives new interests — will often restore nervous patients to health. What more can religion do ? " I was asked not long ago. It seemed to me like saying to a gar- dener, "Here is a plant choked with weeds. It is drooping; it has withered blossoms; it needs water. I can see why you should snip oflE the faded blossoms and the dead leaves and give it water; but why should you pull up the weeds?" In the same way you might say, "I see why you should relieve indiges- tion or headache or palpitation of the heart or some other distressing symptom; but why should you try to root out the worry, the egotism, the fretfulness, and the irritability that are choking the mind ? " Love for God and our neighbor, kindliness toward our enemies, the balance which means mod- 122 SUGGESTION eration in everything, all the precepts that Christ taught us, make the best conditions for healthy nerves. Anger, hatred, malice, uncharitableness, fretfulness, worry, sap nervous strength and hinder growth. The thorough cure must reach back into character, it must correct defects in temperament and training to make the patient safe for the future. The man whose case I described at the beginning of the chapter illustrates what I mean. Other meas- ures might have relieved his sleeplessness and indi- gestion; but when the worry which caused these S)Tnptoms was dealt with, when faith in the goodness of God was anchored in the inner depths of his con- sciousness, he was so poised that circumstances could not shake his mind out of its calm and bring about another nervous disaster. In the same way the young woman who learned out of her second attack of nervous prostration the trustful relaxation that a true faith gives, had a strong defence against breakdowns, to which her temperament and nervous system made her liable. In dealing with nervous cases one must never orget that religion has very many ways of expressing itself. Nothing needs more delicate, tactful hand- 123 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS ling than these morbid mental states, and religious suggestions like all others must be given with great discrimination. The patient's temperament, ex- perience, character, condition, and environment must all be taken into consideration. An appeal which wiU help one patient will do another no good, and may even do harm. Insight into motives, knowledge of human nature, and an understanding of abnormal conditions of mind are essential in any attempt to apply religion remedially. Let me illustrate how wide in its scope the method must be. A man came to me in despair one after- noon possessed by the idea that there was no hope for him, no mercy anywhere, that God had aban- doned him, and that the Divine face was flashing out wrath against him. From the neurologist's diag- nosis which he brought, I learned that unless this idea could be dislodged it would lead very soon to insanity. We had a long session together. By iteration and reiteration, by suggestion, human and divine, and by prayer, the idea of God's love was so forced upon him that his morbid fear gave way, and the conviction that God forgave him and loved him found its way into the depths of his subcon- 124 SUGGESTION sciousness. He went away radiant, and has not faltered since. In his home town he is working to give others the same joy that he feels, and he has already gathered six persons into his own church. He writes me from time to time telling me of his constant improvement, and each letter is like a psalm of thanksgiving. Where the emphasis on one kind of religious ex- pression has been too intense the balance must be gained. With women, who are naturally emotional, the religious life, too, sometimes becomes over- wrought. Then feeling must be curbed and action substituted. It was a revelation to one friend who came to me in dire distress about her spiritual condition to be told that she must drop all thought of it for the present, that she must work in her gar- den and do the humdrum things of daily life as well as she could, and trust for the rest. When she came again better and calmer, I could show her how quietly God works in this beautiful old earth, how gradually the flowers come, with no haste and no strain; and I could show her how God works thus with human souls, how she must wait and be quiet and listen and act. I told her that her emotions 125 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS filled up all her attention, so that God had no place, and that she must put them aside if she was to live a truly Christian life. She is learning, and as she learns her nervous condition grows better. Keyed to the pitch of this strenuous age, it is good for us all sometimes to ask forgiveness for our feverish ways, to live a while with stately trees, quiet grasses, strong mountains, and the rhythmic sea, and to learn from the gracious calm of Nature some of the ideals that Nature's God has set for His children. Whatever will strengthen the weak places in character and give the balance which is necessary to true Christianity and to true health, this it should be the attempt of therapeutic religious training to encourage. Sometimes no definitely religious word must be spoken at first. Brain and nerves cannot respond to any stimulus. We must meet people on the plane on which we find them, the plane not only of morals but of health, and lead them up as they can bear it to better ways of living. Besides using the measures which the scientific skiU of the physician commends, we must bring out what is strong and sound in personality and character, make right the relation with God and man, and trust for the results. 126 CHAPTER XI AUTO-SUGGESTION Auto-suggestion Effective Mostly in Functional Disorders of the Nerves — The Danger of Permitting Ourselves to be Controlled by Circumstances — Have a Wholesome Disregard for Small Discomforts — The Good Effects of Self-forgetfulness — Some Examples of Successful Auto- suggestion — Advice to Those in Search of Mental Health. THE value of auto-suggestion in the field of mental therapeutics is greatest in its appli- cation to nervous disorders of the functional variety and to various states of mind which hinder the efficiency and development of the individual. True understanding of the conditions which have preceded and induced an attack of nervous exhaus- tion is, in many cases, a step in the direction of permanent cure; this understanding can be effected by the patient himself, either alone or in conjunction with the efforts of a skilled physician. The next and more important advance is made when, with the other means of rehabilitation necessary, the power of auto-suggestion is appreciated and applied. 127 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Many people are in bondage to their feelings, to their prejudices, to their physical and mental habits, to their own narrow notions of themselves or of the world. For all those people life is more circum- scribed than it needs to be. They are in a prison of their own making. In winning the freedom that means larger views, wider interests, better health, and more abundant experience, auto-suggestion can be made of great service. In suggestion, an idea is presented to the mind by some outside person or thing. In auto-suggestion, or suggestion to oneself, the process is all from within. We repeat the idea and reiterate it and emphasize it until it penetrates the subconscious region and tends to form a new habit. One of the conditions of happiness is ease in ad- justing ourselves to circumstances. We all prefer certain ways of doing things and certain ways of having things done, and a routine is desirable. It ensures regularity and saves time; but when a man or woman gets so wedded to a routine that it cannot be broken through or set aside without discomfort, slavery has begun and it is time to make a dash for freedom. Small irregularities, for instance, are un- 128 AUTO-SUGGESTION duly vexing to an orderly person, and the vexation usually brings discomfort to all around. If there is any tendency to be controlled by circumstances it is well to discourage the tendency quickly, for in that way compulsive ideas begin, which dominate the mind and lead to very uncomfortable conditions. A woman who did not realize the importance of disregarding trifles came to us for treatment. She had with her a little package, from which she was never parted, containing a bandage, an antiseptic solution, and cotton. My assistant asked her why she carried it. "Oh, I might be scratched with a pin," was her shuddering reply. Several years before, alarmed because she had scratched herself, she had consulted a doctor. Not understanding her condition of mind, he washed the scratch and bound up her hand. This occurred two or three times. The fear of pins grew upon her. By a process of auto-suggestion she increased it more and more, until when she came to us, she would not have a stick pin in the house; her whole horizon was filled with a fear of pins, and she could not stir without her little package. That is now a thing of the past, and she is fast learning to relegate pins 129 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS to their normal place of usefulness in a woman's consciousness. Have a wholesome disregard for small discom- forts; do not be afraid of being jostled; welcome the interruptions that you would like to resent; cultivate flexibility; and you will not only find your- self a happier person, but you will discover that your relations with other people are delightful instead of burdensome as formerly. If you are inclined to be afraid or worried or troubled by ordinary happen- ings, assist yourself with a course in auto-suggestion. Talk to yourself as if you were some one else and make yourself see how absurd it is that you, a person of infinite possibilities, should resent the opportunity of showing yourself superior to mere circumstances. As our temperaments are different, so are our needs different. We are not all made after one pat- tern. But we can each bring his own pattern to its best perfection. For each of us there is a divine purpose. To discover that purpose and to work with it is the problem of the individual. If we are naturally sensitive, we can turn our sensitiveness to good account by letting it bring us keener enjoy- 130 AUTO-SUGGESTION ment and deeper appreciation of beautiful things and a more discriminating sympathy. But to be hurt by every innocent word, to consider ourselves as sen- sitive plants that no one may touch, means misery for ourselves and our associates. It is a curable misery. I have seen determination, common sense, and auto-suggestion work wonders. One young girl of my acquaintance was so morbidly sensitive that she could not get into a street car without embarrass- ment, nor enter a store without feeling that every one was noticing her. Social occasions made her dis- tinctly unhappy, because she was sure that any con- versation she could not hear, was about herself. She was fast approaching the unfortunate condition when fixed ideas and false notions dominate the mind ; but recognizing the danger, she took herself in hand, practised auto-suggestion, busied herself with altru- istic work, cultivated self-forgetfulness in every way she could, and in a short time she had conquered her sensitiveness. Whatever defect of temperament is hindering us can be dealt with in the same way. We need not call our prejudices convictions and accept them as inevitable; we need not yield to our faults and explain them as inheritance; we need not sur- 131 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS render to the limitations that are so often the result of wrong training : we can overcome them and develop latent energies. In our normal every-day living, auto-suggestion intelligently used as a means of mental training will smooth over many rough places and remove many causes of unhappiness; for this unhappiness is not due to the circumstances but to our attitude toward them. This training, however, is by no means in- tended to encourage undue self study and examina- tion. I should like to say here that as in a true state of physical health physical processes are performed without our being conscious of them, so in a true state of mental health the mental processes are carried on with more or less unconsciousness. After a long illness, for example, we are conscious for a while of every step we take, till the unused muscles are strong again and the process becomes automatic. When we have forgotten, or perhaps have never learned, to be tolerant and loving and kind and hopeful and trustful, we must be conscious for a while of each effort to gain the new attitude, but with time and persistence the attitude becomes a habit of which we need take no cognizance. This wholesome un- 132 AUTO-SUGGESTION consciousness of self should be the ultimate aim of any system of mental training. Among the cases which have come under my notice where auto-suggestion has proved particu- larly useful, I will mention a few which will illustrate some of the various effects of this force. A school teacher, subject to spells of depression which made her utterly miserable, many years ago heard one of Professor William James's illuminating lectures. It gave her a new idea of her own possibilities, and she determined to rid herself of her depression. She fought the fight so well and won her victory so com- pletely that she has met the severest tests with equa- nimity. She has had domestic difficulties, pecuniary difficulties, and difficulties enough of other kinds to make the strongest-hearted quail, but she has not flinched; and if you were to ask her friends to-day who was the most helpful, courageous, balanced, cheerful person they knew, they would probably with one accord all point to her. Another interesting case was of a woman afflicted with acute nervous de- pression brought on by worry and fear. The cure was wrought by the casual reading of an article, "followed," to use her own words, "by a close and 133 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS attentive reading of certain Scripture passages and the adoption of an auto-suggestion contained in one of the familiar Psalms. My recovery seems to be complete, and was as readily recognized by me at the time as the coming of day after a night of darkness." After a long, stubborn case of nervous exhaustion, a young woman whose occupation was writing had apparently almost recovered her health and strength. But the spring of her artistic imagination seemed entirely dry. She had none of her former power of expressing herself and found even writing a short note very laborious. Sometimes she felt the impulse to write, but attempting it, she seemed to meet a bar- rier over which her mind could not climb. Finally she became very much interested in a certain sub- ject, and on an impulse promised an editor to write an article about it. As the editor sailed unexpect- edly for Europe a day or two afterward, she could not withdraw her promise. She knew that he was depending upon her; and yet when she attempted to write, the old feeling of powerlessness oppressed her. She began to practise auto-suggestion system- atically each day. She noticed the improvement at once. Her fear gave way to confidence, the flow 134 AUTO-SUGGESTION of thought was established, and before she had reached the end of the article, she was writing with her normal freedom and vigor. Formerly such an adjustment of the mental machinery as made this young woman's life happy and useful once more could not have been accomplished without some shock or surprise which might have been indefinitely deferred. Not the least of our debts to psychology and medicine is the rational development of the law of suggestion, which is making it possible to produce intentionally results which in less fortunate ages were produced accidentally or not at all. Two of the suggestions that Forel gives for mental hygiene are admirable for a patient passing through any stage of nervous disorder, and for any one, as well, desiring merely to keep a good nervous poise. He says, "Then let the steady compass of our unswerving optimism be: Ever forward to a large- hearted ideal; never look back!" His second sug- gestion is "to pay as little attention as possible to functional nervous troubles and disturbances, so as not to cultivate them by habit." * A further suggestion for us to drill ourselves in ♦Nervous and Mental Hygiene. 135 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS until it becomes an essential conviction, is the bless- edness of work, of doing something outside ourselves of benefit to other people. It is not by some great act of sacrifice that our regeneration of mind begins, but by changing our attitude toward the common- place things that we must do every day. When Naaman went to Elisha to be cured of his leprosy, the prophet sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." Naaman had expected some great exhibition of power, and these directions were so simple and unimpressive that he was ready to go back to Syria without giving them even a trial. Then, you remember, his servant camenear.and said: "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, 'Wash, and be clean'?" We, too, sometimes forget the blessedness and the magic lying in little things. Freedom from ourselves, from our faulfs and our failures and our limitations, begins by living each moment as well as we can, by making our religion practical, by choosing the good and the true and the beautiful in the sug- 136 AUTO-SUGGESTION gestions that come to us, making them by uncon- scious auto-suggestions our customary thoughts and ideals. One of the most beautiful forms of auto- suggestion, as I have elsewhere said, is prayer. Not that auto-suggestion is the whole of prayer. It is rather our preparation for the effects of prayer. Through its use we push away for a time from our- selves the engrossing preoccupation that shuts out higher interests, we open as it were a hidden door in our consciousness through which come new life and power and energy from God. " Pray without ceasing," is a precept that, obeyed, makes us at one with the Father, dependent and yet independent — a precept that gives us the prayerful attitude whether the expression of it is in formal words, in religious observance, or in the effort to do well whatever our hands find to do in all the activities of life, its work and its pleasure. 137 CHAPTER XII UNUSED POWERS Powers in Nature Unused by Man — Our Reserves of Vital Energy — The Main Cause of Nervous Breakdown — How to Disarm Morbid Fears — Benefits to be Derived from Exercising all Our Faculties — Man's Need of Pleasure — Benefits to be Found in Religious Observ- ances — The Will the Greatest of Our Unused Powers. EMINENT scientific men are calling our at- tention to the immense energies in nature, now neglected, which might be harnessed for man's service. These energies are running wild and useless in the vast spaces about us. We really have no adequate conception of the Titan forces which simply need to be discovered and set in motion by the action of the mind to become man's most obedient servants. The forces which we do employ and which vre pride ourselves upon using are shamefully wasted and dissipated. The perfect steam engine and boiler should get out of every pound of fuel five and a half horse-power for one hour. Those in use 138 UNUSED POWERS actually get only about one-seventh of this amount. More than eighty per cent of the coal escapes in the ashes, the cinders, the half-burned fuel, the hot air in the chimney, and in smoke. It is just as true in the realm of mind as in that of nature that we ordinarily "put not forth half our strength." Professor William James has stated that "As a rule, men habitually use only a small part of the powers which they actually possess and which they might use under appropriate conditions. " Nature has stored up a reserve energy in the human organism which may be drawn upon as occasion requires. In military language, we can "rally on the reserves." A mother sees her child in imminent danger, and the strength of a Hercules comes to her slender frame to rescue it. Sickness may overtake her loved one, and long, sleepless nights with unwearied care and attention to the sufferer be required, but in general, she meets the emergency bravely, and when all danger . is past, gradually recuperates her strength. When a student in the university I learned a good lesson, one which I never have forgotten, from my Professor of Logic, who was a fatherly man of 139 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS wide experience. A task had been allotted to me, to which, feeling somewhat inadequate, I was mak- ing objection. Putting his hand on my shoulder, he said to me in a kind but emphatic manner, "A young man never knows what he can do until he tries to do it." I made the attempt and succeeded. We are sure to recognize the stores of vital energy to be drawn upon at pleasure, if we but will to do so. We can will to bring them forth. Our will may have been weakened. No matter. We can educate it to new activities. The main point is to make the start. We must take the opportunities that lie at our hand. Even the feeblest efforts in the right direction are keys to unlock new stores of energy. After the first attempt, the succeeding ones will be easier, until we can bring about re- sults that we had not supposed possible. It is the will that puts the gray matter into these results; it is the will that builds up the brain; it is the will that enables the brain to send its word of command through all the higher centres and to all the lower centres, restraining, regulating, and directing them through the complex nervous system to all their multitudinous ends. 140 UNUSED POWERS Some of you in the throes of a nervous break- down are saying, "But, I have been using my will too much, and here I am." Now, what is the trouble? Business men who come into my vestry, some of them in the very prime of life, who ought to be now in the thickest of the business fray, are broken down. They have not been lazy. They have been leading strenuous lives. They have been representatives of the typical American who is bound to win whether he himself breaks in the process or not. Now, what is the trouble? It is this, — that one set of powers, or faculties, has been used and used continually, and a whole realm of powers that ought to have been exercised in due propor- tion have been neglected. There has not been balance. There has not been harmony. I knew years ago a man who as a student, at first gave no intimation of the reserve abilities that were lying locked up within him. But he kept astonishing his friends by the manner in which he continued drawing from that reservoir of power. He made of himself a good mathematician, a thorough classical linguist, a fine German scholar, a superior meta- physician, a versatile editor, an attractive and suc- 141 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS cessful preacher, and an eloquent platform speaker. He did not wear out nor break, because he knew how to make the adjustment between rest and effort, how to comply with the laws that for him meant health. "Do not have too many irons in the fire" is a proverb that is only half the truth. Dr. Adam Clark used to say, "Have all the irons in the fire, — shovel, tongs, and poker. Put them all in." It is good advice for many of those in our intense generation, who are unconsciously letting their interests narrow to the width of a knife-blade. It was the prescription needed by one man who came to us in a most uncomfortable condition. He had a natural tendency to be concerned about himself, which he should have offset by having a number of varied interests. Instead of that he had confined his attention to his business, making no attempt to gain a wider outlook on life. The illness of a relation impressed him with the fear that he might have the same disease. When this fear was dis- sipated, another took its place, until he was in a state of continual acute apprehension about his health. He realized the foolishness of his fear and tried with all his will to resist it. But he applied 142 UNUSED POWERS his will in a wrong direction, for one of the curious things about these morbid fears is their stubborn- ness in resisting a direct attack. The victim must disarm them by a flank movement as it were. He must dislodge them by putting something whole- some in their place. What this man needed was new interests, new thoughts, new activities. He needed to keep his mind so busy with other things that the fears could not creep in between. He tried to do this deliberately. He came to the various Health Con- ferences and found scope for some of his unused powers in the work that was being done. We were able to suggest other lines of activity particularly suited to his special needs, and we had the pleasure of seeing him grow better and better and of knowing that he was facing the world and what it might bring him, without fear or apprehension. Before we can use our energies to their maxi- mum, we must learn to manipulate intelligently the powers that God has put into our hands. We may learn from our mistakes. To avoid in the future what has caused downfall in the past paves the way for success. Without having such direct results as a nervous 143 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS disturbance to point us the better way, many of us are not living as comfortable or as useful lives as we might, because we have bent our physical and mental forces too intently in one direction. In our ignorance of the law of balance, we have been deep- ening day by day, so to speak, one set of brain paths, leaving unused many faculties that would contribute to far larger power and usefulness. Our sin has not been the sin of wilful depravity but of ignorance. The men I have spoken of have been concentrating too much in one direction and have left the balance of their nature undrawn upon. They have become "lop- sided." God intended that men should be straight and harmonious beings, and in concentrating in this way and devoting themselves to one set of interests they have deprived themselves of the joy of life. They must draw upon all their powers in due propor- tion. The well-developed man must use his aesthetic faculty, his pleasure-loving faculty, his social and domestic faculties; he must so exercise his physical and spiritual powers that all these may counter- balance the purely business interests which tend to monopolize his attention. Let me cite an illustra- tion : A business man of Chicago who was connected 144 UNUSED POWERS with the largest wholesale house of its kind in the city, and probably at that time in the country if not in the world, became so thoroughly interested in the busi- ness, that he was drawn to his ofl&ce, as by a magnet, when there was not the slightest necessity for his going. Sundays as well as week days found him at his desk. One set of brain cells was continually drawn upon and drawn upon with no respite, until it rebelled and a premature end came to him — as it naturally would. Some business men are so immersed in the acquisition of money that they neglect the higher interests of life. To them home means only a house to live in. Some of them are not acquainted with their children in any true sense of the word. The story is told that one of our business men when pass- ing a little boy on the street asked him his name, and discovered that the child was his own son. The father regularly left the house early in the morning before the boy was up, and when he came back the boy was in bed. This practice had been continued until father and son had become to each other as strangers. The pleasure-loving faculty must not be neg- lected. Dr. Bushnell once said with much force 145 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS (and we know what a clear-headed, logical, warm- hearted New England figure Dr. Bushnell was): "If God did not intend men to laugh He never would have made the monkeys." God made man to laugh. He made him capable of taking pleasure. He did not intend that he should work six days in the week and do nothing but work; he intended that a man should rest, laugh, and have proper recreation. We can, of course, go to the extreme of pleasure as of work. I remember one particular case, that of a bright young woman who came for advice, fear- ing that she must give up her work. I found upon questioning her that she was a bundle of nerves. She was working hard all day down-town and had a long trip to make to her home; yet nearly every night she attended a dance, or the theatre, went home at midnight and got up at six to be at her place of work in time. I told her that such pleas- ures would have to be eliminated entirely until she had gotten her balance again. When this was gained, I gave her explicit directions for necessary recreation, out-of-door exercise, and rest, which made it possible for her to do her work easily. Nor can man hope to gain an all around devel- 146 UNUSED POWERS opment without the use of his spiritual faculty. He must come back to religion. I often think how many people would be rested, thoroughly rested, if they would avail themselves of religious observ- ances; if they would only recognize the truth that God has appointed one day of the week on which they should rest. Now, the Church of Jesus Christ with its beautiful services, its impressive worship, has been divinely appointed that men may come to the house of God where there are sermons to in- spire and influences to uplift. The idea that a man must forsake the sanctuary because he wants to rest is a great mistake; no matter if the sermon is not quite up to standard, or the singing not what it might be. In general the Church presents what God and the Lord Jesus Christ design it should pre- sent — a place where men can come and get rested and inspired for the duties of the week. Many of us have been brought into a state of exhaustion through having either neglected powers that were within us or used them too much. Use, not abuse, should be our watchword; use of all parts of the wonderful organism God has entrusted to us, but not over-use of any one part. 147 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Let us then waste no time, but work as we may with the tools at our command. If they seem im- perfect still let us work on. Let us surmount the hill of difficulty and develop our hitherto unused powers. The Great Physician and Teacher has said "If any man will to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine." It is Christ's will that every power God has given to man shall find its full employ. It is His will that we shall have life and that we shall have it more abundantly. It is the Spirit of Power within, energizing with our spirit — the human will in its highest action. The mystery of that union of the divine will with the human will none can ever explain. But the mystery is no greater than that of the human will energizing from the centre to the circumference of our entire being. Striving to harmonize your will with the will of God, you will learn to make the best use of this greatest and grandest of your unused powers. 148 CHAPTER XIII THE MISSION OF PAIN Pain Not Sent for Punishment — No Lasting Pleasure with- out Previous Pain — The Good Results of Helping the Sinful and Sorrowful — Perfection of Character Un- attainable without Pain — The Folly of Shrinking from Duty through Fear of Calumny — Suffering, when Endured Bravely, is Beneficial — The Pain of Uncon- genial Companionship to be Overcome by Love — The Uplifting Power of Bereavement. ON no subject connected with the strengthen- ing of the spiritual in man has so much been spoken and written with the best of inten- tions and the most depressing of results as on the mission of pain. But fortunately, the day is past when, in the face of a Frances Ridley Havergal's life of "endless praise," it was possible to preach that the mission was one of punishment of the transgres- sor. The mystery of pain, so-called, we now know to have been created by an entirely erroneous con- ception and definition of pain. It has been regarded as a condition not only apart from, but opposed to, 149 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS that of pleasure. Instead, it is frequently pleasure itself, easily recognizable and readily welcomed by those who see courageously, and therefore clearly. Certainly, it is only through pain that pleasure be- comes lasting and grows into happiness. In running the race set before us, we cannot fmd a better illustration of the mission of pain than by considering the experience of the athlete whose prize is merely a medal of silver or bronze. In his case, the first pleasurable excitement of the start is soon followed by what are undoubtedly pains, a stitch in the side, and other apparently insuperable difficul- ties. But the runner would not escape these symp- toms if he could; he welcomes them as promise of that second and perfect "wind" with which the prize will be won. Mountain climbers testify that when the ordinary peaks have been surmounted, but the unconquered heights still tower above, there inter- venes a period of faintness almost terrifying to the beginner, but positively delightful to the expert, who knows that as he will conquer this feeling, so he may hope to reach his goal. How much of mingled pleasure and pain is to be found in intercollegiate boat-racing is known only to the old oarsman; yet ISO THE MISSION OF PAIN the man is still to be discovered who would rob his son of those moments of painful bliss when the heart threatens to burst, and muscles to refuse their ofl&ces. What is true of physical pain is equally true of mental pain. Often, by endeavoring to escape from what we imagine will be tortures, we deliberately throw aside the keenest of pleasures. We avoid mental fatigue, convincing ourselves that the end is unworthy, whereas the end is in itself nothing, but the means of reaching it is everything, if pain is to be exchanged for pleasure. James Hinton has stated this aspect of the subject simply and perfectly. He says: "Whether it may seem paradoxical or not, it is a fact in our nature that, without endurance, life ceases to be enjoyable; without pains accepted, pleasure will not be permanent. For the most part, among intelligent persons, this fact is so fully accepted and acted upon, that they are hardly con- scious how universally it is true. They take their inconveniences, accept their little pains — let us say, for example, the rising at a reasonable hour in spite of sloth, or the free use of cold water in spite of the shock — and reap their reward accordingly 151 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS in a healthful, pleasurable life. But the law be- comes evident immediately in its breach; it asserts itself inevitably against the attempt to avoid it. A life from which everything that has in it the element of pain is banished becomes a life not worth having; or worse, of intolerable tedium and disgust." * In a word, it is impossible to escape from those things in life which are painful, but it is quite possible so to live that one may cry, "O Pain, where is thy victory? " To accept this philosophy and to apply its teach- ings, is to realize more fully the scheme of salvation, even to comprehend the possibility of assisting in God's plan for the redemption of the world through sacrifice and suffering. The reward has been prom- ised: "That they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." If it is impossible to assume, as Christ assumed, the sins and consequent sorrows of the whole world, there remains opportunity to follow in His steps, to live in all its fulness that imitation which false notions of the efficacy of asceticism would restrict. The mainspring of such efforts wiU not be hatred * The Mystery of Pain, pp. 46, 47. THE MISSION OF PAIN of the world in which we live, but love. " For God so loved the world" that He sent His Son to lead men into ways of pleasantness and paths of peace, the ways of pleasantness which often are reached only by what is generally regarded as the path of pain. If one accepts p9.in, not as a punishment, but as a gift of God, and through it comes to recognize that, being a son of God, it doth not yet appear what he shall or may be, the pain must of necessity be transformed into permanent pleasure. It is not easy to change the whole current of in- herited thoughts and feelings concerning the mission of pain. And yet, if men have been found who, see- ing through a glass darkly, deliberately chose pain as their pleasure, how much easier should it be for those who realize in some degree the purpose of God's gift, to await it and receive it as a joy. The experi- ence of the ages has shown that sorrow and pain may not be avoided. To quote once more from Hinton: "Man has learned many things, but he has not learned how to avoid sorrow. Among his achieve- ments the safeguard against wretchedness is want- ing. Perhaps, indeed, he could scarcely be charged with exaggeration who shall hold that the aggregate 153 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS of man's unhappiness has increased with his in- creasing culture, and that the acuter sensibility and multiplied sources of distress more than out- weigh the larger area from which his pleasures are drawn, and the more numerous means of alleviation at his command. At least, it appears certain that the heaping up of enjoyments, if ever it was de- signed as a means of producing happiness, has proved a signal failure. When we regard the general tone of feeling of our age, whether as expressed in its lit- erature, in its social intercourse, or even more, per- haps, in its amusements, do we not find ourselves in presence of a society from which real gladness has well-nigh died out, in which hope is almost ex- tinct?"* Mental pain is given or permitted for the best of ends in the divine economy. Human discipline and perfection of character cannot be attained with- out it. " Where Sorrow 's held intrusive and turned out, There Wisdom will not enter, nor true power. Nor aught that dignifies humanity." ♦The Mystery of Pain, pp. 7, 8. THE MISSION OF PAIN One of our wise thinkers, Bishop F. D. Hunting- ton, has said : " Suffering or pain is a kind of test of all philosophies and of all theories of life. It is useless to leave it out of the calculation. For through the disorders of a mortal body, through dull discour- agements, through the disorders of the spirit, through a sensitive brain or heart, through the affections that weave families together, through some of these inlets, it forces its way back into every lot and will not be forgotten." Pain comes to the inner nature from the misap- prehension of our views and motives and actions. But it must be borne cheerfully, and becomes a stim- ulus to make ourselves more clearly understood. It is felt more deeply when we are maligned and cal- umniated, although we may have a mind conscious of right in what we speak or do. But the determina- tion not to shrink from duty must be proportionately strengthened by the intensity of the pain endured. We know that men possessed of great gifts of skill and wisdom will not enter upon public life because of the positive knowledge that they will have to suffer this pain or slander as a consequence. "Back- 15s HEALTH AND HAPPINESS wounding calumny the whitest virtue strikes," but it is unmanly for such a reason to refuse to serve the State. Others are kept back from identifying them- selves with needed reforms for the same reason. But such a fear of pain is the virtue of weakness. The triumph over it is one of the grandest achieve- ments of the human will. A college president once addressed a body of stu- dents at a time when a former president of the United States was being bitterly and most unjustly assailed. This teacher of youth said to them: "Young gentle- men, if you have any regard for your peace of mind, if you would be spared the deepest pain of your being, never go into public service, never have anything to do with politics. See what the highest ofi&cial of the nation is suffering to-day." Such advice was coun- tenancing high treason to the State. These young men owed it to their country to give it the best they had of faculty, knowledge, and energy. "Better the fieriest fate of the martyr Than to live like a coward and die like a slave." It has been the lot of all earth's greatest heroes in the struggle for the right thus to suffer. " The 156 THE MISSION OF PAIN kingliest kings are crowned with thorns." But they would not have missed their coronation though the whole earth's weight were pressing that thorn crown down. The inner purpose was simply deepened by the outward pressure. A more glorious immortality was their reward. The pain attendant upon the loss of fortune or position is often great. A middle-aged business man, who had met great reverses, came to see me. He was thoroughly discouraged. The fact that he could not do what he had formerly done in a benevolent way had depressed him. He had suffered, of course, through the change from the conditions of life to which he had been accustomed, but the pain from the other cause was greater. It seemed hard for him to believe that such suffering could be beneficial. But the appeal was made to him on the divine authority that "all things work together for good to them that love God." He, himself, was infinitely greater than all that he could own. Honor was left. The future, to which he must go on step by step, was before him. If he could not give money as before, he could give sympathy, the kind word, the grasp of the hand, his personality. He could thus transmute the pain into IS7 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS a benediction. With renewed courage he went on. Brighter prospects opened before him. In a few weeks came the glad announcement from him, "Business is improving wonderfully." The pain from uncongenial marriages is often of the sorest character. "Shall my home be broken up," says a wife with anguished heart, "because of the coldness and indifference of my husband, or shall I go on enduring the martyrdom I am daily experi- encing? , It is crushing out my spirit and life." " But you have children? " "Yes, three of the love- liest children that a mother could possibly have." "Then for their sake bear the pain; do all you can to win the full love of your husband. I cannot say now in what form the pain shall subserve your highest good, but I do know that as you are striving to do your best to make your home the abode of happiness an unlooked for blessing will come to you. You must be loyal to your own individual life. No one has the right to mar it. This pain you are bearing will make you more self-reliant and God-centred. You will grow stronger in your will and purpose to be yourself and possess yourself. The love of your children will fill and irradiate your being. Your iS8 THE MISSION OF PAIN patience and fidelity toward your husband I feel sure will be rewarded." Another comes and tells a somewhat similar story. She and her husband have no tastes in com- mon. He is hard and exacting. She asks me, "Shall I yield continually to his commands, for his requests are in the nature of commands?" But as I get at the very heart of the matter, I find that for several years she has been practically an invalid. The husband has been patient and kind. He has anticipated her every want. The matters of differ- ence between them are of a minor character. In her invalid condition these differences have become Him- alayas. The baleful idea — for it is really nothing else than baleful — has taken possession of her sub- conscious nature that he is a petty t)rrant. This idea must be uprooted out of that inner self. Consciously she must go back to the beginning of her married life and retrace the steps which have brought her to the present time. She must dwell upon all the acts of goodness he has done. She must count them one by one. It may be well in her private moments to write them down. She must recall her peevish words and acts, and see how much she has been to blame. 159 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Thus, summoning her will to aid her memory in bringing back all his helpful, loving services in the past and her own shortcomings, she will find the old love for him returning, and see every evidence of his reciprocation of that love. Through the ministry of pain we enter into the heart of One who was the "Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, smitten of God and afilicted, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our ini- quities, made perfect through suffering." We then see that all pain by the merciful, remedial, vicarious laws of Heaven may work, and do work, together for good to them that fear God. Calvary brought the world nearest to the Father. Pain's fiery touch has written that most precious truth we have in our keeping that God is Love. The pierced hands of the suffering Christ have lifted up the flood-gates of humanity. God's love has poured in "as a tide, with mighty streams of joy and power," and set our whole nature beating with it as the shores give answer to the ocean roll and roar. And with the love for God comes renewedly the love for God's children. Just as the pain of Christ was transformed into tne " joy that was set before Him " of helping the suffer 1 60 THE MISSION OF PAIN ing ones of earth, so has the pain of disease increased human sympathy and helpfulness by a right concep- tion of the mission of pain. Professor James, in his article on " The Powers of Men," says: "The most genuinely saintly person I have ever known is a friend of mine, now suffering from cancer of the breast. I hope that she may pardon my citing her here as an example of what ideas can do. Her ideas have kept her a practically well woman for months after she should have given up and gone to bed. They have annulled all pain and weakness and given her a cheerful, active life, unusually beneficent to others to whom she has afforded help." The pain of bereavement can be made an uplift- ing power. "The sorrow for the dead," says Wash- ington Irving, "is the only sorrow from which we refuse to be divorced." But the pain is a tender one, like the pain of a separation from a loved one, who has gone for a short period from the home fold. It is but a "Good-bye, till we meet in the morning" that we have said. God's best angel has opened the door into another mansion of the Father's House, and death is but a transition to its beauties and glories. i6i CHAPTER XIV THERAPEUTIC TRAINING OF THE EMOTIONS The Need to Master Our Emotions so as to Make Them Our Servants — Two Opposite Examples of Untrained Emotions — Baleful Effects of Excessive Emotion — Valuable Work Often Done by Persons having One Specially Developed Faculty — Professor James's Method of Mastering Undesirable Tendencies. EMOTIONS are inseparably connected with the experiences of most of us, and the wise man, realizing this fact, will make of these emotions friendly servants rather than tyrants. A normal amount of feeling expressed in emotion is as necessary to the well-balanced person as are thought and action, but if any one of these elements be carried to excess, the ideal equilibrium is dis- turbed. It should be borne in mind that emotion in itself is of no advantage to the working power of the individual; it is useful only as it is applied. Moreover, there are cases in which the work of the machine may be hindered by the raising of its tem- perature through injudicious application of the 162 THERAPEUTIC TRAINING emotional. These truths were fully realized by George Washington. Temperamentally a creature swayed almost entirely by emotion, he early set him- self to control and direct his emotions, formulating rules for his guidance in all affairs over which they might exert an influence. It is doubtful if he reached the perfection at which he aimed, but the most casual reader of history may learn how far he advanced on the road. A young girl delicately organized and very sus- ceptible to the appeal of music, who lived largely in her feelings and emotions, went one day to a mu- sical entertainment. It happened that the music was peculiarly exquisite and stirring. This music-lover gave herself up without restraint to enjoyment of it, working herself up with each number to a greater and greater pitch of ecstasy until she passed the danger line and actually collapsed. The strain of this intemperate emotional indulgence put her ner- vous system out of gear, and caused discomforts and disturbances which, even with the treatment and therapeutic suggestion of a skilful physician, could not be overcome for several months. A New Eng- land woman, on the other hand, whose whole life 163 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS had been one long effort to repress her natural feel- ings, could find no relief in expression when a great grief came to her, which shook her soul to its very foundations. She was like a volcano with no out- let; her grief worked in her mind until it found ex- pression in a serious attack of nervous prostration. Both of these cases show the bad effects of ill- regulated, untrained emotions. Somewhere between these two extremes of undue expression and undue repression, emotional reactions find their true place. In trying to make our emotions servants instead of masters, we must first take into consideration what manner of persons we are, whether we habitually feel too much or too little. Having decided on our general tendency, we can then make up our minds whether we ought not to reverse our usual habit and become miserly instead of spendthrift, or vice versa, in the expression of feeling. In a perfectly balanced individual, emotion might find a natural outlet without undue concern. But, organized as most of us are, we need to give attention to our prevailing disposition lest it become over-emphasized. This does not necessitate brooding introspection, nor a morbid attention to our emo- 164 THERAPEUTIC TRAINING tional processes, but enough conscious care to dis- courage the emotions that hinder our well-being and usefulness to others, and enough persistence and dili- gence to make our helpful emotions habitual. The emotions act on the physical organism through the nervous system. Probably this is done, as the latest physiological researches seem to show, by continuity of substance. If this be so, a strong emotion setting into strong vibration the fibrils of a nerve cannot fail for the time being and for a later period to affect the functions of the vital organs. A sudden and great mental shock, like a great phys- ical shock, may paralyze for a while all the bodily and mental functions, or even cause instant death. Unduly emotional people are as variable as the thermometer or the barometer. They are to-day on the mountain top, and to-morrow in the valley. They are one day in the Slough of Despond, and the next day on the Delectable Mountains. They go almost at a bound from songs to sighs or from sighs to songs. Little things are magnified a thousand- fold. Insignificant occurrences, which by a stolid person would not be noticed or else would be passed over lightly, become terrible events. Unimportant 165 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS work becomes the burden of Atlas, who shouldered the world. A zephyr of opposition or criticism is made a hurricane or tornado. SuUenness, morose- ness, extreme self-depreciation, or revengefulness may accompany these excessive emotions. The pose of a mart5rr is often assumed by the too emo- tional person; he laments that he is not under- stood. In many emotional natures a single mental fac- ulty may have attained a degree of development far beyond the average, and the proportion of the dif- ferent mental faculties may be abnormal. The men- tal balance may be overthrown. Yet some of the most important work of the world has been done by such persons. The arts, politics, the civilization of countries, have been greatly influenced by them. But these high-strung natures are very difficult to get along with, either in the home, in the church, in society, or in the state. Constant drafts are made upon the bank of allowance for their faults and foibles. The phrase which has passed into a cur- rent proverb, " Genius is a law unto itself," has to be accepted as an apology for their actions. It is possible to control and train the emotions. 1 66 THERAPEUTIC TRAINING "But how," you may ask, "is this to be done?" At first perhaps by a sheer act of the will. Resolve to smile and do smile, whether it be easy or difl&cult. If you can sing, sing, whether you feel like it or not. If you cannot sing, whistle. Remember what Wil- liam James says in his classic chapter on "Emotion" : "Every one knows how panic is increased by flight, and how the giving way to the symptoms of grief or anger increases those passions themselves. Each fit of sobbing makes the sorrow more acute, and calls forth another fit stronger still, until at last repose only ensues with lassitude and with the apparent exhaustion of the machinery. There is no more valuable precept in moral education than this, as all who have experience know: if we wish to conquer undesirable emotional tendencies in our- selves, we must assiduously, and in the first instance cold-bloodedly, go through the outward movements of those contrary dispositions which we prefer to culti- vate. The reward of persistency will infallibly come, in the fading out of the suUenness or depression, and the advent of real cheerfulness and kindliness in their stead." 167 CHAPTER XV OVERCOMING WORRY A Good Motto for Those Who are Worried — Worry Distin- guished from Forethought — The Remedy for Worry to be Found in the Law of Substitution — Examples Showing How to Apply this Remedy — Auto-suggestion as a Help — The Persistent Worries of Domestic Life — Practical Hints. DURING a general financial panic, a man influential in business circles was so worried and harassed by the troubles threatening him that he felt as if he could no longer keep his hand on the helm or prevent the work of years from going to utter destruction. His concern was not for him- self alone but also for the many who must suffer with him. His mind was enveloped in such a fog of worry that he was fast losing his perspective and his capacity for decisive action, just when he needed them most. In the darkest hour of his discourage- ment, he happened to make his way into a large pub- lishing house to telephone. As he stood waiting, his eye was caught by this quotation, which was hung 168 OVERCOMING WORRY beside the telephone desk: "When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, until it seems you cannot hold on one minute longer, never give up. That is just the place 'and time that the tide will turn." He read the words a second time, and as the meaning of them forced its way into his pre- occupied consciousness, his depression vanished as if a spell had been broken. "I believe that 's so," he exclaimed, "I believe that 's so." He squared his drooping shoulders, threw back his head, and marched out with such an access of courage and de- termination, that he won his way against circum- stances, found the only possible method of saving his business, and weathered the panic successfully. What had happened in that moment of enlight- enment? Not one external circumstance had changed. As far as outside factors went, the problem was as insoluble as ever, the outlook as hopeless. The man merely stopped worrying. But the change in his mental attitude meant success instead of failure. Worry is one of the most futile possible ways of spending nerve force; it yields us nothing in return for our expenditure except weakness and impaired efficiency. A clever magazine writer puts it well in 169 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS the words, "Worry is discounting possible future sorrows so that the individual may have present misery. Worry is the father of insomnia. Worry is the traitor in our camp that dampens our powder, weakens our aim. Under the guise of helping us to bear the present and to be ready for the future, worry multiplies enemies within our own mind to sap our strength." Worry is not to be confounded with forethought, which is the general of our mental forces. Fore- thought borrows wisdom from past failures and successes, with which to lay plans for the future. True, it considers obstacles and difficulties, as a good general should, but only as hindrances which may be overcome. Forethought progresses; worry, like a squirrel in a revolving wheel, is always at the same point. Not one of us whoUy escapes the temptation to worry, but just so far as we succumb do we hin- der our best interests. Sometimes we yield to worry because we do not recognize it and labor under the mistaken impression that our mental process is fruit- ful thought when it is only worry. The test is simple. Efficient thinking, whether it deals with events past, present, or to come, moves on from point to point, 170 OVERCOMING WORRY reaches conclusions, makes plans, accomplishes some- thing. Worry, on the other hand, might be defined as thought plus apprehension, moving always in a circle. Worry has no defenders. On the physical side it impairs appetite, disturbs sleep, spoils digestion, predisposes to disease; on the mental side it causes irritation, warps character, weakens the will, and poisons all pleasure. " The one absolute negation of happiness," Dr. Saleeby says, "is worry or discon- tent." But admitting all the charges against worry, how is it to be met and overcome? The remedy depends on the cause, but it usually consists in some application of the great law of substitution. The state of worrying, like other emotional states, is not directly dependent upon the will; that is, you cannot expect to stop worrying merely by saying, " I will not worry," any more than you can expect a magic lan- tern not to throw a certain picture on the screen as long as that picture is in the holder. Something must be substituted for the worry. The worried man in the panic overcame his anxiety by putting in its place the advice given in the apt quotation. But worry may be met consciously in the same way. 171 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS The theory is so simple that it would seem needless to dwell upon it, if I had not found so many people, even those highly educated, quite unable to apply this method to their own cases. For those who experience difl&culty in starting themselves on the right road, some detailed instruc- tions for applying the method will be of service. Worry had brought one young man to such a pitch of nervousness that it seemed probable he would have to give up his work. At this point he came to us for help. The neurological diagnosis showed that he was a typical case for mental and spiritual treat- ment. He was physically sound, but pale and thin, and showing in his face the anxious lines that result from being constantly haunted by fear. We found that his worry expressed itself particularly in two ways, — in concern about sleeplessness, and in concern about his spiritual condition. Sympathetic questioning brought out the facts of the case. His work kept him in a basement all day. He spent his noon hour studying the Bible. He rode home in a crowded street car, ate his dinner, began to study his Bible immediately afterward, studied it until bed-time, went to bed, and instead of falling to sleep, 172 OVERCOMING WORRY spent several hours in wondering whether he had been zealous enough in his religious observances and whether his wakefulness would unfit him for work the next day. The first requisite was to change the channel of his religious activity; to show him that living a well-balanced, useful life was as much a part of his religion as reading his Bible, and that what God asked of him was to do each thing he had to do as well as he could without concern for the result. With the instruction that the laws of physical hygiene are as much God's laws as any others, he was told to spend his noon hour out-of-doors, to walk home at night, to study his Bible half an hour, to spend the rest of his evening in wholesome recrea- tion, to take a short walk before retiring, and then after a short prayer, to trust himself to sleep as a child might to its mother's arms. These directions he carried out faithfully. Week by week, we watched him grow better. He soon slept naturally, his color returned, his eyes grew bright and steady, he gained in weight, the anxious lines disappeared. By the end of the winter he was sturdy and strong, learning more in his half-hour of Bible study than he had learned in several hours 173 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS formerly, and showing more of the real Christian spirit in aU his activities than he had shown in his whole life before. Auto-suggestion is an excellent way of bringing this principle of substitution into play. It is easy for the mind to form the woriying habit, to develop grooves of worry, into which thought slips uncon- sciously. In forming new paths of thought auto- suggestion is definitely useful. "Auto-suggestion must be," Dr. McComb says in "Religion and Medicine," "persistent and systematic." This it is well to re- member in any formal attempt to use such a method of self-help. Although auto-suggestion can be used at any time, the best time is when body and mind are relaxed, as Dr. McComb points out. Auto-suggestion made just before retiring, or on waking in the morn- ing, when the conscious part of our mind is inactive and the way to the subconscious part is clearer, or at some hour during the day when a few minutes' rest can be taken in an easy chair or on the bed, seems to be particularly effective. It is often not the great worries that trouble us most, but the little nagging, persistent worries of every-day life. To this sort women are particularly 174 OVERCOMING WORRY subject. As it is in the attitude toward these that a stand for happier hving must be taken, I will illus- trate one way of meeting them, by quoting in sub- stance the advice given to a wife and mother who had to face the typical homely problems that try many other wives and mothers. She was nervous and tired; the bad temper of the maid troubled her; her husband's business was dull, and she felt that they must deny the children some of the privileges they wanted them to have. She realized the folly of wor- rying, but did not know how to stop it. She hesi- tated to ask for help because she felt that her troubles were so trivial, not realizing that life itself is a suc- cession of trivialities. This was the advice given her : "The old Quaker said, you know, 'Two things thee must not worry about — the things thee can help and the things thee cannot help.' It is a very safe rule to follow. Remember that worry comes from an old word meaning 'to strangle.' Every time you yield to worry, you strangle your efficiency. A cross servant and a family at sixes and sevens cannot be ignored. But when you hold your mind quiet and unworried, see how much more quickly you can bring order out of chaos. Wait, if you possibly can, 175 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS until the maid is over her temper before you correct her, but don't spend the intervening time in dreading the interview. Although she seems such a bugbear, you will find her very much of a barometer, and if you are calm yourself, the chances are ten to one that you can make her see your point without friction. "As to your husband's business troubles, and the outlook for the future, I know how difficult these seem to you, but the reasons for not worrying are all the greater. If harder times do come, and you have to deny the children what you want to give them, remember this for your comfort — the lessons you can teach them from just these hardships will mean more than anything money could buy. Show them by your example how to meet cheerfully and trustfully whatever comes. 'Our times are in His hand.' We need all the difiiculties of our past ex- perience to win the blessing of to-day. If you teach your children now to be masters of circumstances, they can grasp the great opportunity when it comes. "Your husband's happiness, too, depends on your not worrying. Mental depression is bad for busi- ness. If he sees you cheerful and untroubled, he will catch your spirit by reflection, and have clearer 176 OVERCOMING WORRY judgment for his work and a surer instinct in guid- ing his business through this critical time. "A few practical hints wiU help you, as they have helped many others, to drop a worry when it gets insistent. First, face the cause of your worry fairly and squarely. Decide what you can do about it, do that, and then forget the trouble. Whether you can do anything or not, read the first verse of the twenty- seventh Psalm, then say to yourself: 'I am equal to the occasion. My judgment will be better if I do not worry. I do not need to worry. I will not wor- ry. I will be calm and quiet and still in my thoughts, whatever happens. ' Then go out-of-doors for a few minutes, or open the window and take several deep breaths, or read a few sentences in a good book, or do something else that will break the current of your thoughts. Whenever that worry crops up in your mind during the day, put it down instantly, and think of the pleasantest thing that ever happened to you. Repeat your formula as an auto-suggestion and end with the verse from the Psalms. Try this little exercise with any worry that comes up. If it seems to you childish, remember that it is based on a profound psychological law. We have trained our 177 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS brains into worrying habits through long months and years, and it often takes just such patient, sys- tematic practice to bring them back to the normal optimistic way of looking at things." An able-bodied man who had enlarged his busi- ness and was entirely competent to carry it on, but who had acquired a habit of worrying, which was beginning to affect his health, found this advice helpful : "Just before you go to sleep, and just as you wake, repeat again and again the words: 'What I am doing is honest and upright and just. I cannot fail. I am doing less than I can do. I have great reserve strength that I have never touched. I am working well within my limits. Whatever comes up I can meet with a clear mind. ' Several times a day rest your brain by consciously thinking of noth- ing. It will ease the strain on your mind, as stretching your hand after protracted writing re- lieves the muscles. Do not limit your powers by thinking you are carrying a great load. Compare yourself with a man who is doing twice as much as you are, not with the man who is doing half. After these brain-relaxing intervals, which are like rests in 178 OVERCOMING WORRY music, you will find you can do more with less effort. However busy you may be, keep calm at the centre. No matter how many things may press upon you, keep unflurried, and you will find tangles straight- ening out as if by magic. Do your best, then take what comes without flinching. Every experience can be turned to good account." Worry assails us in so many forms that it is almost impossible to enumerate them. But a good method with any particular worry, especially one arising from a nervous condition, is to consider the cause of the worry as well as the worry itself, and to meet that, too, in the most sensible way. Often disprdered nerves cause disturbances in the religious life and at such times the patient unjustly accuses himself of coldness and lack of zeal. One woman who had been a faithful church worker had a slight nervous breakdown. Her greatest cause of distress was her feeling of aloofness from God. Church work, which had always been a great pleasure, seemed burdensome, and when she waked at night she had a sense of isolation as if God had forgotten her. AU her old trust seemed to be gone. Such a condition, it is needless to say, required entirely dif- 179 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS ferent treatment from the religious apathy of a nor- mal person, which needs the spur of activity for its cure. The advice which helped this friend of mine back to her naturally happy religious life was this: "Think as little as possible about your difficulty. Remember simply Whittier's beautiful words — 'I know not where His islands lift their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift beyond His love and care.' You will feel your old-time love and trust very soon. It will help you to remember that this feeling of iso- lation that seems so real to you is just a trick your nerves are playing you. Interest yourself, for a time, as completely and engrossingly as you can, in some- thing new, something that you have never done before. That will give the brain cells that are too sensitive now a chance to rest. Afterward you can come back to your church work, which you say is so difficult for you at present, and do it with more force than ever before. This prayer, which has helped many other people, will be soothing to you if you say it before you go to sleep, and when you wake in the night: i8o OVERCOMING WORRY Prayer " ' Dear Father, thou who dost grant all thy creatures rest after their labors, give me now, I pray thee, the sweet forgetfulness of sleep. Ease thou the cares of the day. Still the noisy thoughts of my brain that, during the quiet darkness, the healing power of thy eternal peace may enfold me. If through any of the night watches I lie sleepless, make me calm and unafraid, passive and at rest in the arms of thy love. Thou knowest what the mor- row must bring. Whether I sleep or whether I wake, thou wilt give me strength to meet it. Thou thyself hast said, Joy cometh with the morning. Dear Father, I believe thy promise; keep me through this night, for thy dear Name's sake. Amen.' " Sometimes the search for the cause of worry leads us to change outward conditions that en- courage worry, and inner ideas about customs and traditions, obedience to which is sometimes a real menace to health. The feeling of loyalty to our beloved ones who are gone, which makes us shut ourselves up with our grief and our memories, i8i HEALTH AND HAPPINESS must often be given a new method of expression. People who are engrossed in their sorrow must learn that the best loyalty is that degree of forget- fulness which makes work possible and which restores helpful relations with people about them. This proved to be the trouble with a very intel- ligent man in a position of authority, who thought his difficulty was mere sleeplessness. The pro- tracted illness of a very dear member of the family who could not be saved in the end had started his habit of wakefulness. This habit had grown on him until the fear of those sleepless hours caught him forty times a day. The real trouble was that neither he nor his family had been able to rally from their grief. The house was gloomy and they had all given themselves up to sorrow. The wife and daughter were both far from well, but they were so sad that they could not rouse themselves even to go for a visit where they would have the out-of-door life they so greatly needed. What this man required was advice along the following lines: " The first requisite is a change of scene and thought. Send . your wife and daughter on their visit and encourage them to have all the wholesome 182 OVERCOMING WORRY good times possible; let them consider amusement their duty for a while. In the meantime take a trip yourself. Do whatever appeals to you most. If you like fishing, go with a camping party into the woods, if you can. If you enjoy the sights and sounds of a city, take a holiday and with some good friend spend a few days playing. Crowd all you can into them, and fill up your mind with new impressions. " Before any of you return to the house that has such sad associations for you, get a few pieces of new furniture, or change the arrangement of what you have. Repaper a room or two. Do something that will make the house seem different. Then you must not let your minds sink back into the old ruts of sadness. You have been through deep sorrow, through the anxious hours that try men's souls. But now you must all face the future. Long brooding brings nerve exhaustion in its wake, and you will need to help your wife, when she returns, to find some interest outside of the home that will lead her out of her depression. You must win the blessing that comes from grief like yours, by living more efficient lives. That is the best tribute we can 183 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS pay to the memory of any dear one who has left us. " Now, about the sleeping. Being a reasonable man, you will see that the fear of not sleeping is as exhausting as the wakefulness itself. The cause which has kept you awake has long since passed away, but you have set up, as it were, a habit of wake- fulness. A change of scene will very probably set you to sleeping normally again. But whenever you are threatened with sleeplessness, check the fear of it, which you say catches you ' forty times a day,' by a strong counter-suggestion. Say to yourself, ' Of course I shall sleep to-night.' Try not to do things in the evening that tax your brain unduly. Before you retire read something dull, or play an unexciting game. As you remove your clothing, prepare your mind also for bed, laying away all care and all pain- ful thoughts, making yourself as nearly as you can the careless boy you once were. When you have settled yourself comfortably on your pillow, do not begin to watch for sleep as you would try to see a ship through a telescope. Like digestion and res- piration and the other automatic processes, sleep resents any undue attention paid to it. Indiffer- 184 OVERCOMING WORRY ence is the most successful method of- bringing it. To keep your mind away from the thought of sleep or the fear of not sleeping, fix your attention on some mechanical action. A good exercise, which has helped many people to sleep, is to breathe in slowly while you count three, and out while you count three, counting one before beginning the next inhalation. This establishes the regular rhythmic breathing of sleep which in itself encourages sleep. " Sleep if you can, but be cheerful even if you can- not. Remember, even when you do not sleep the body is resting. Relax your muscles and lie quietly. When you find them contracting, relax them again. When you ease the physical tension in this way, you will find yourself in the morning much more re- freshed with the same amount of sleep than if you had spent your period of wakefulness with your body taut in every muscle, and your mind cramped with worry over your sleeplessness. Sleep is very much of a coquette, and this cheerful indifference is one of the best methods of securing it." Worry is often the guide-post indicating that our characters must take a new road if we would ever get to happiness. A mother was greatly worried 185 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS about her two nervous boys. She herself was irri- table and lost her patience easily. She deplored the fact, but did not quite realize how her own condition of mind reacted on her children. She was directed to self-help along the following lines: " Must you not learn to control your own nerves before you can teach your children how to get the upper hand of theirs? You can do it by practice, and the thought of being a better mother to your boys will, I am sure, make you very persistent in that prac- tice. Your first lesson will need to be patience. Perhaps you will have to go about it as patiently as you used to practise scales when you were a little girl. It seems strange that we grown people should be just at the kindergarten stage in the control of our emotions; but you can teach your boys differently. " Take this for your little patience drill: ' I am a grown woman. I need not give way to irritation. I will not. ' Say this when anything comes up that would naturally try you. Instead of letting your mus- cles stiffen, relax them, and if you cannot at first smile with your lips, smile in your mind. All this takes only a second or two, but it will cool the heat of your emotion and give you a chance to make a reasonable i86 OVERCOMING WORRY answer. Anger and irritation waste strength as an imperfect faucet wastes water. You need all your strength for your children. You cannot afford to deplete your reservoir. If you will faithfully work for patience by this method, you will soon find your whole mental hfe growing calmer." Another mother, typical of many who do not see themselves as others see them, was greatly worried about her eighteen-year-old daughter. The girl had no physical trouble, but was peevish and irritable. Her mother had always done everything for her, — chosen her clothes, her books, her amusements, her friends, guarded her, as she put it, "like a flower." She did not understand that such minute care was choking the girl. The daughter had begun to re- sent it. She did not wish even to be asked how she felt. With an instinctive craving for the liberty she needed, she was very anxious- to go away to school, but her mother felt that she could not bear to let her go. Our conversation, condensed, brought out these ideas: " Sometimes it is very difficult for us who are par- ents to get a perspective on our children. We forget that they must have independence to develop their 187 • HEALTH AND HAPPINESS own individualities, just as we ourselves had. Our love shields them sometimes when they should have exactly the experiences we are keeping from them, to develop the sinews that strong men and women need. Your love for your daughter is so great that it will not be difl&cult for you to give her the chance for independent action. Send her away to school, by all means, and however hard it may seem to you, let her work out her own salvation. Then when she returns, give her something that she is responsible for. Be her companion rather than her mentor. Let her come to you for advice, but do not coerce her. You have been training her for grown-up life; now that she has reached it, do not hamper her. It takes an unselfish mother to meet this transition from lit- tle girlhood, which must be taught to obey, to big girlhood, which may only be advised. But your affection wiU make you unselfish, and your reward will be a well, happy, companionable daughter." As these various instances show, the conquest of worry is by no means simple. It involves dealing with the different phases of an individual's life, and bringing them into working harmony. Although worry, like the other emotions, is not subject to the i88 OVERCOMING WORRY direct control of the will, the will used indirectly in replacing the worry with new thoughts, in choosing new paths of association, in breaking up old habits and educating the mind to new ones, is a most power- ful weapon against this enemy. The cure of worry is to be found in a new attitude of mind, and that, as we have seen before, is rooted in religion. The sure antidote for worry, whatever its cause, what- ever its expression, is trust. With trust there can be no worry; only the competent, wise, balanced method of living that brings success even out of failure and blesses its possessor with an ever deep- ening content. In the words of that great psychologist and teach- er, William James: " Of course, the sovereign cure for worry is religious faith. The turbulent billows of the fretful surface leave the deep parts of the ocean undisturbed, and to him who has a hold on vaster and more permanent realities the hourly vicissitudes of his personal destiny seem relatively insignificant things. The really religious person is accordingly unshakable and full of equanimity, and calmly ready for any duty that the day may bring forth." 189 CHAPTER XVI FEAR AND ITS ANTIDOTE The Enfeebling and Disease-producing Effects of Fear — Fear to be Distinguished from Caution — Cases Showing how Auto-suggestion has Overcome Fear — How to Conquer Indecision — Fear is Often a Greater Enemy than the Thing Feared — Inherited Tendencies may be Overcome. THE emotion of fear when not controlled has a most powerful effect on the organism. Prominent authorities have estimated that the great scourges and epidemics that have killed multitudes reaped half their sad harvest of human lives by reason of fear. Fear has such a powerful effect on the muscular and nervous systems that when the emotion has fuU play, either the s)miptoms are perfectly simulated by the organs, or the organism is so weakened by reason of the fear that the disease is easily acquired. In either case the expected fatal results may ensue. All authorities agree upon the power and possi- bilities for evil in this emotion. Angelo Mosso, in 190 FEAR AND ITS ANTIDOTE his work on "Fear," cites a number of occurrences which prove beyond a doubt the tremendous in- fluence the feeling may have. Medical men like Sennert have believed that fear is capable of pro- voking erysipelas. Hoffman made fear a predispos- ing cause of contagious diseases. In order to avoid the effects of fear Desgenettes concealed the name and the nature of the plague, and the Turks who were exposed to it and did not know the name died less rapidly than the Christians who did. Cullen also believed that fear favored contagious diseases. Fear plays an important part in the development of tuberculosis, according to Laennee, who placed it among the griefs and annoyances which are contribu- tory causes of the frequency of that disease in large cities. Fear, according to Professor Ball, has caused sudden loss of speech and hearing. Mr. Fletcher records a case of loss of voice in a man, brought on mainly by fear accompanied by profound grief and remorse. His aphonia, as it is termed, had lasted five weeks. He was treated sanely by Mr. Fletcher, who had a long, cheering, and soothing conversation with him. The fear was lifted from his mind. A few simple hygienic rules were given him, and in a 191 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS day or two his voice fully returned. Dr. Hack Tuke states that fear will paralyze the muscles or induce rapid muscular action in the form of flight. When strong, it will express itself in cries, in efforts to escape, in palpitations and tremblings; and these are just the manifestations that go along with actual suffering of the evil feared. The devitalizing effects of fear tend to become causes and to intensify the original cause. They sap the life and energy. They are the basic causes of worry and depression, and consequently of hosts of other physical and mental weaknesses and ills. Harmful as the distinctly bodily effects may be, even more so are the effects on the mind. "Stage fright" is a very obvious example. One whose fear over- comes him cannot bring himself to success. Fear holds him back — kills his initiative. He is afraid that he cannot do such and such a thing. Difficulties loom up in his mind, and he draws back, beaten by a senseless fear. Fear is often the unconscious habit of caution developed far beyond its function. The habit of caution is a most valuable characteristic : without it we should be killed or injured a dozen times a day. 192 FEAR AND ITS ANTIDOTE It was in the beginning the result of an effort of will, when experience had taught that a certain action repeated would be followed by a certain injury. In the process of evolution and development the duty of keeping out of harm's way became the automatic action of the subconscious mind relegated by the conscious mind to the domain of habit. The draw- ing back of the hand from a heated surface, the closing of the eyelids to a dusty gust of wind, are the legitimate reactions to the fear of injury to the organs. Bravery, courage, and the like are positive virtues, but fearlessness is as much a drawback and danger as is the fear we are talking about. Fear- lessness is the absence of caution; fear is overde- veloped caution. We can cure ourselves of fear just as we can stop any other pernicious habit, by the acquiring of another habit to neutralize it. We can acquire the habit of not fearing. The God-given power lies within us. As fast as we learn right principles we can by conscious effort reeducate our subconscious selves. History tells us that Peter the Great in his early years was so fearful of water that he could not bear even to cross a bridge over a stream unless in 193 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS a carriage with drawn curtains. He recognized the disastrous results to which such a fear would lead and determined to conquer it. That he did master this weakness we well know. He crossed the ocean, worked as a common carpenter and sailor in the Eng- lish ship-yards, and so gave to Russia her first navy, the foundation of her imperial greatness. Henry of Navarre was constitutionally timid. In the first battle in which he was engaged, he ingloriously fled from the field. In the second en- gagement the same feeling came over him and he half turned to flee again, but crying out at the top of his voice, "Down, traitorous flesh," he spurred his horse into the thickest of the fight; and ever after the white plume of Henry of Navarre was found where the battle was the hottest. The little fears that harass some of us constant- ly in every-day business and professional Hfe, the misgivings that interfere with the inception of plans or their carrying out, are like sharp bits of glass on an otherwise smooth road, to a carelessly driven automobile: we have either to stop and repair the punctures, or travel on with a flat tire to the sure detriment of tire, rim, wheels, and finally the whole 194 FEAR AND ITS ANTIDOTE machine. The car can be steered more carefully and the bad places avoided; thus delays may be prevented, and safe arrival at the destination will be insured. In all respects let us use common sense and apply the principles which cannot fail. When a fear of one kind or another comes upon us, let us stop and argue it out with ourselves: "I know there is no basis of reason for the fear; I can put it down; it is a bad habit, and I know will harm me if I indulge it. It is causing my imagination to make moun- tains out of molehills. The doubts and misgivings are much exaggerated, I know. I will think of suc- cess, which is sure to come to me. I will be happy, I will be cheerful. God's world is a beautiful place. I am glad I am alive and have the ever-present help of His promises and presence. I cannot fail." In dealing with sufferers from morbid feelings, I point out the injurious effects upon their physical systems, and endeavor to rouse the will to proper action. I dwell tenderly yet firmly upon the sel- fishness connected with the cherishing of such feel- ings. I say to the fretful, unhappy one, in order to increase the weight of my own personality, " Listen to what Professor James has said : ' The attitude of 195 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS unhappiness is not only painful, it is mean and ugly. AVhat can be more base and unworthy than the pining, puling, mumpy mood, no matter by what outward iUs it may have been engendered? What is more injurious to others? We ought to scout it in ourselves and others, and never show it toler- ance.' " A six-foot man, hale, hearty, and strong, who came to me, confessed to such a fear of people that he thought he would have to give up his business. He was a travelling salesman and had always been suc- cessful in handling people, but on account of his baseless fear he was losing all his old prestige. This advice gave him the clue to fighting it and conquer- ing it: " Your fear is one of the symptoms that very often come with a nervous condition a little out of gear. It need not worry you at all. Get more sleep, if possible, for a while, than you usually do. Take regular exercise every day, even if you must walk from the train to the place of your appointment to get it. Your fear of meeting people is groundless. When that dread is carried to your brain, laugh at it and remember that you are getting a wrong message, 196 FEAR AND ITS ANTIDOTE just as if the wires of a telephone were crossed and did not report truly. Since your trouble is purely nervous, you can rid yourself of this symptom in a very short time. When you have the thought, ' Oh, how I dread this interview!' say instead: 'That 's a mistake. I don't know it, but I 'm really looking forward to it with pleasure.' Saturate yourself with that thought. Hold your head up as if you were a king. Breathe deeply. Go ahead with confidence, and you will win out." A college student who had neglected physical exercise but was in fair condition, became possessed by the fear that he could not pass his examinations. He had always been a good student and there was no ground for failure except in his mind. He was counselled as follows: " Your fear has no foundation. Arrange your time, if at all possible, so as to take up whatever form of athletics you are most interested in. While you are exercising, throw your whole soul into it, and relish it as you might if you were a savage, who had only brain enough to enjoy the use of his muscles. If you cannot go into athletics, take a vigorous daily walk of an hour at least. Then do this exercise in 197 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS auto-suggestion, which has cured another man, also a college student, of his fears about his work, so that he has come through his course triumphantly. Just be- fore you retire sit down in a comfortable chair and fix your eyes on some bright object, relaxing completely. Then say to yourself: ' I shall learn my lessons easily and well. I shall remember what I learn, and when I recite my mind will be clear and logical. I can do whatever work I have to do, and I can do it without worry. The fear that I cannot is foolish. It is go- ing. It is gone. I am equal to my work. I am more than equal to my work. I shall enjoy doing it.' " Say this for five minutes. Repeat this exercise in the morning and again at noon. Do this every day. After a few days you will feel the good effects, but keep it up until every vestige of your fear is gone. This iteration of the formula affects your subcon- scious or unconscious mind, which seems to be the seat of such a fear as yours, and after a time, controls the expression of the fear in your conscious mind. This auto-suggestion helps not only your courage but your will power. It is good also for concentration." Appeals are constantly being made to us by vic- tims of the depression of which fear is so large an 198 FEAR AND ITS ANTIDOTE element. The help we can afford is largely in the form of encouragement and imparting a new spirit of steadiness, fortitude, and hope. With one such patient the following ideas were emphasized : " The depression that comes with disordered nerves seems to the victim of it like the worst kind of torment that ever was devised. No one who has escaped this particular form of suffering entirely can quite realize the misery of it. But do not let the dark days daunt you. Working out of a nervous disorder along these lines of mental self-control is like taking a master's degree in the school of experi- ence. When you have finished you have something to show for your work that you could not have gained in any other way. This is not said merely for your consolation. It is the testimony of many and many a sufferer from nervous breakdown, who has gained poise of body and mind by the methods recom- mended to you. " An eminent nerve specialist was himself caught in the quicksand of nervous exhaustion. The fear that he never could practise again amounted to utter despair. With the help of a comprehending friend, he put himself on the solid ground of health once 199 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS more. Now his practice is larger than ever. Only the other day he said: ' I am thankful for that ex- perience. I can tell now just how my patients feel. With that knowledge I can put my finger on the men- tal difficulty and relieve it, as I never could before.' " We are not all nerve specialists, able to utilize a personal experience of nervous exhaustion in our own profession. But the lessons to be learned from it are the keys to deeper sympathy and richer experi- ence. The outlook on life is broader because of the valley of depression; our understanding of our fel- lows is more kindly because of our own stumbling. We ourselves are more capable of filling our place in the world because we have fought the fight and won the battle. That is why those of us who have made the harbor of peace and health can look back on the nerve storms and tempests passed through and be glad of them. " This seems to you, perhaps, in the midst of your sadness, like a mocking mirage. But keep the thought of yourself as a happy, well, strong person in your mental vision. Do not yield to your emotions; fight them little by little and day by day. When the morbid thoughts you speak of come trooping into 200 FEAR AND ITS ANTIDOTE your mind, chase them away to the ' margin of your consciousness,' as Dr. Barker expresses it, and focus your attention instantly on some concrete, whole- some picture like that of a happy little girl making mud pies, or an orchard of apple trees in full blossom. " When you can realize how your efforts toward self-control' are making mental muscle, you can face the hard symptoms and the dark days with much more fortitude. You can even say: 'Why, bless you, bad times and nervous pains! You are my opportunity. I will welcome you. It is just through you that I am learning to be the master of this ma- chine. Do your very worst and I will still rejoice.' If you can cultivate this attitude, even to a small de- gree, you will see how much less your nervous ills take hold of you. A cheerful relaxation is their worst foe. They leave you more quickly and return less often. Keep on trying, and you will surely win. In the meantime, spend all the time you can in God's out-of-doors, and take long deep breaths whenever you can remember to do so." Indecision is to be met and conquered often by a new infusion of humor and a fresh sense of propor- 20I HEALTH AND HAPPINESS tion. Such a case is recorded here. The victim, convalescent after a severe attack of nervous pros- tration, was sent by her physician to be helped and strengthened mentally. It was very hard for her to decide matters, even the smallest matters. As she expressed it, "When I have done something one way I always wish I had done it another." The counsel given was in part as follows: "Do not be troubled by your seeming lack of will power. That symptom very often accompanies nervous exhaustion. You have as much will as ever, but you must learn over again to use it, and that comes by practice. An eminent nerve specialist helped very much a patient with your particular trouble by saying, ' When you must choose between two things, let the toss of a coin decide it. Then never regret your decision.'' Every bit of anxious retrospection over something you did n't do steals the nerve force you are trying to accumulate. Don't forget that each exercise of your will takes you a step toward recovery." Let those who are troubled by fears remember the words of the great mystic, St. Francis de Sales: "Your fear is a greater pain than pain itself. Oh, 202 FEAR AND ITS ANTIDOTE thou of little faith, what dost thou fear ? Let the world be turned upside down, let it be in utter dark- ness, in smoke, in tumult, so long as God is with us." Fear is no person, place, or thing. It has no actual existence. It must not have any power over us. We can dismiss it as absolute nothingness. We can make it go as the mists before the morning sun. Matthew Arnold says forcefully: "Depression and low spirits when yielded to become a species of death." There is more than a grain of truth in the Oriental proverb, "The plague killed f^ve thousand people; jijty thousand died of fear." Many people are full of fear because of their heredity. One comes fearing that he has inherited consumption; an- other, a tendency to insanity; another, a tendency to the drink habit, and the like. Some of them quote the passage from the Decalogue where God is said to be "visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." "Yes," I reply, "it is true that many of us inherit enfeebled brains from our ancestors, but the guilt is not visited upon us. Each life is a new beginning from God. We can put our- selves at the head of the line of the better coming 203 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS race by faith and obedience to His eternal laws, so that He can fulfil His promise of restorative grace through us, by showing 'mercy unto thousands [of generations] of them that love me and keep my commandments.' " I show that Ezekiel states the truth of our divine heredity when he says, "As I live, saith the Lord God, .... behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine." Many cases have come under my observation where there has been deep, confirmed depression through fear of God's abandonment, because of offences committed years before. Such people must be convinced that errors of the past in one or more particulars do not unfit them for the performance of present duties devolving upon them. Individual words or actions do not constitute the whole of human life, and are not its representative features. The past is gone. It is irrevocable. No mourning will bring it back. Some of the leaves of the book of life have been soiled and torn, but there remain countless leaves fair and white, which are to be turned over every hour. On them can be written pure thoughts, deeds of nobleness and blessedness. 204 FEAR AND ITS ANTIDOTE Then the divine persuasion and suggestion are brought to bear upon these troubled ones. True re- pentance evidenced by their godly sorrow brings the unfailing assurance of God's forgiveness. Their Elder Brother and Saviour, tempted in all points as they were, yet without sin, is present by His spirit to give them rest and peace and joy and strength. I have rejoiced with them, as their souls have been un- burdened of their load. With the new light in their faces and with the elastic step that speaks of hope and confidence and energy, they have gone to meet the present duty and face the future which God has in store for them. And their fear, which was once their master, now lies — as the Israelites saw their enemy and taskmaster, the Egyptian, lying — dead on the shore. 205 CHAPTER XVII THE CONQUEST OF ANGER Effects of Anger on the Vital Functions — Our Duty to Re- press it — Use Mild Language and Cultivate a Tranquil Spirit — Causeless Anger to be Distinguished from Righteous Indignation — Fretfulness a Sign of Weakness and Often the Result of Envy — Irritability Treated as an Ailment — Illustrative Case. IT may seem strange to find a chapter devoted to so commonplace, and as some may incline to think, vulgar an emotion as anger. We have aU heard the old story of the Roman emperor, Valentinian I, who died during a fit of anger, and found it very remote from our affairs and of little interest to us. Yet anger is continually at work, in the very circle of our friends, destroying health, weakening wills, breaking down nervous systems. Who has not seen ungoverned children roused to anger, with a countenance almost scarlet, roll upon the floor and, without rhyme or reason, strike at surrounding objects, regardless of injurious conse- quences. ' Anger carried to excess in the adult 206 THE CONQUEST OF ANGER approaches acute mania, and its physical and men- tal expressions are very similar to those of the en- raged child. Other manifestations are grinding the teeth and clenching the hands. The whole system of voluntary motion is thrown into a state of intense excitement. There is a consequent want of coordin- ation between the higher and lower faculties, and between the various parts of the physical organism. The immediate effect of anger upon the vital func- tions is often very disastrous. If the heart is organ- ically deranged the consequences may be fatal. The functions of the stomach are often greatly affected, the appetite may be destroyed and the digestion impaired. We are all subject to anger and must accept the control of it as one of our duties. At the first ap- proach of anger we must at once assemble all the forces of good in our nature to meet it. The angry thought must not find expression. It must be thrust back "not violently, but mildly and seriously," as St. Augustine says. But if the angry word has been spoken or the angry deed done, then at once repair the fault by a word or act of mildness or gen- tleness or reconciliation. "Let not the sun go 207 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS down upon your wrath." Cultivate continually loving thoughts, not only toward friends but to- ward those who may cherish dislike for you or even try to injure you. Love that is deep down in the heart will not be easily provoked. Cultivate a low, even tone of utterance. It is marvellous how anger is repressed when the voice is not raised to a high pitch. The very act of repression reacts most fa- vorably on the whole organism. In training the emotions, first be very careful in the use of language to express them. We think in words. No process of mental reasoning can be carried on without language. Words react both upon thought and feeling. If in a trivial thing you are tempted to employ strong language such as "It is a terrible day," when the rain is falling lightly or the wind is blowing slightly, check the words. If there is a prick of a pin or a needle, or a little cut of the finger, do not say "It is awful! " Secondly, do not start at an insignificant oc- currence as though it were a momentous event. Do not jump and start if the door should shut a little heavily, or if the maid should let fall a dish or crack a plate. Cultivate a tranquil habit. Let tirifles go. 208 THE CONQUEST OF ANGER Make what do not seem trifles mere trivial affairs. Copy the example of the host at a large party (to repeat a well-known story) who, when the waiter bringing in a large tongue let it faU on the floor, said, "There 's a lapsus lingua," and so passed the affair off with a laugh. It is causeless anger that is unmanly- and unwo- manly. It is the anger that is a thoughtless animal impulse or the outburst of unchecked passion that comes under condemnation; for that is always a sign of weakness. Yet we should not forget that we are commanded on the highest authority to be angry and sin not. There is a noble indignation which gives expression to heightened feeling by strong words and stirring deeds against wrong. That is one of the highest attributes of a vigorous manhood. It is perfectly at one with the charity that never faileth. Without it a man would be a limp, flaccid thing, unworthy of respect. Against such righteous indignation no Christian will protest. Many have come to us troubled with fretfulness, which can be resolved into irritability, peevishness, and petulance; and these aU find expression in fault-finding without sufficient cause. Fretfulness 209 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS means an undisciplined temper, a complaining im- patience, a chafing under a frequent repetition of smaU troubles and vexations. It is a sign of weak- ness, both of body and mind. It is the east wind in the home, the school, the church. It is a perpet- ual breeder of snarls and ill humors. The inner soul forces must be fully roused to meet and master this subtle, selfish foe in a civilization which is constantly bringing nerves to the surface. Destructive discontent must be changed into con- structive content, with every peevish element of the former taken out of it. Sometimes it crops out that envy is playing its hateful part. But envy cannot coexist with a noble nature, for it means jealousy, pain, grief, vexation at the good fortune or happiness of others. It is nearly always accom- panied with the desire to rob them of their enjoy- ment and have it for our own. The envious man is a miserable being. He is a mentally and spiritually diseased man, for "envy is the rottenness of the bones. " Cultivate the desire to emulate the good in others; that you can do to your heart's content. That is consistent with the highest virtue and scriptural 2IO THE CONQUEST OF ANGER teaching. Covet earnestly the best gifts which you may see in the lives of good people. But do not harbor envy in your heart any more than you would a rattlesnake in your home. Victims of the habit of weak and weakening anger in its various forms are constantly appealing to us for aid. An interesting case typical of many is that of a talented young woman, one of a family of four. "We love each other dearly," to use her own words, " but every one of us is very highly strung and nervously organized. We are all doing work, artistic or intellectual, that uses our emotions as well as our brains. My own work takes a good deal out of me (I think perhaps I do it too intensely), and I often find myself cross and irritable with the family, and impatient over little things." This, extended over several interviews, was the substance of the advice given her. " First, be away from your family for some definite time every day. If you have the kind of friend that a dynamite explo- sion would not disturb, see her as often as you can, and try to gain some of her calm by reflection. You say that you four all love each other dearly. If that is so it will probably be very easy for you to 211 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS make the other members of the family see how well it is for each of you to have a vacation from all the others every day. This is no reflection on any one. It is simply a common-sense way of meet- ing the particular needs of your household. The artistic temperament requires room for expansion. Its possessor is so much alive to sights and sounds, to variations of feeling and emotion, that the wear and tear on the nerves is, of course, much greater than the same set of stimuli would prove to a practical, evenly balanced person. When you have four high- ly strung people together you are likely to get an at- mosphere charged with feeling and emotion, and unless you have learned poise and self-control, your nerves snap like electric sparks, and you fly out with biting words that you do not mean at all. " The first preventive measure, then, is to leave your family for a time, and see somebody or some- thing different each day. This definite change is like opening the windows of your mind, and draw- ing in thoughts of quiet and strength and serenity that wiU help you to keep calm whatever the emo- tional turmoil about you. "To gain such poise should be your real aim, and 212 THE CONQUEST OF ANGER on the mental side you have some work to do. But it will repay you so richly, in happiness and in greater efficiency, that you will find it extremely well worth while. As you are so fond of your family, it will not be hard for you to realize that whatever the surface fusses may be, underneath, the chief interest of each of you is in the others' welfare. These sur- face fusses are injurious. They are the little foxes that eat your nerve force. They throw you out of balance. They unfit you for your work, and act like slow poison on your vitality. You cannot afford them, and you do not need to have them. Self- control must be your ideal. Self-control means an easier, saner, happier way of daily living. In work- ing for this try the suggestion given to a patient by a very wise doctor who understood the needs of both the body and the mind : ' Every time you are tempted to flare up and be cross, turn down your irritation like a stove cover.' " Go through this motion mentally whenever you come into collision with one of your family. As you suggest, you probably are working much too in- tensely, and you should practise relaxation exercises, both physical and mental, which will help you to do 213 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS •what you are doing just as well as now, and with less strain." What we must bear in mind, in general, is, that we can learn to control our feehngs. "A large pro- portion of nervous patients," Dr. Lewellys F. Barker of Johns Hopkins University said, in one of his addresses, "are victims of unhealthy emotional states. Instead of being invigorated by healthy feel- ings, they are exhausted by depression, irritability, worry, and fear." They may "learn how to school their emotions," is his hopeful verdict. "How to cast anger and worry out of their lives: one of the best means of doing this is by encouraging the culti- vation in a positive way of the elevating and strength- ening emotions and sentiments, — appreciation, faith, hope, love, and joy. All sham emotions, ac- companied by tension and strain, should be banished, and the patient should be taught not to cherish emotion for its own sake, but always to endeavor to give expression to it by the performance of an act with which it accords." 214 CHAPTER XVIII CHEERFULNESS A TONIC Testimonies to the Value of Cheerfulness — Its Contagious- ness — We should Look Persistently on the Bright Side of Things — To Acquire Cheerfulness, Assume that You have It — How to Rid Oneself of Religious Depression — Cheerful Religious Society as a Cure for Hypochon- driacs. " A LAUGH," says Lamb, "is worth a hun- /~\ dred groans in any market. " A hopeful, cheerful spirit in meeting every circum- stance gives moral brace and tone. It acts as a power- ful and constant stimulant, with none but the most beneficial and strengthening results. The func- tions of the body are also invigorated in a marked manner. Cheerfulness promotes the circulation, warms the hands and feet, and reheves congested lungs and livers. Laughter is its natural lan- guage. "Ten hearty laughs," says a popular writer, "real shouts, will do more to enhance the general health and vitality than an hour spent in the best gymnastic attitudes and motions, if done in a 215 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS sober, solemn spirit." "Laugh and grow fat," is an old-time maxim, full of sound sense. And Solomon was cognizant of its truth when he wrote: "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones." And again, "He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast." This tonic of cheerfulness is the easiest thing in the world to take and remarkably prompt in its bene- ficial action. It has its effect primarily on the in- dividual, then upon those with whom he comes in contact. I once saw a earful of tired people on their way home from down-town in the early evening, worn out with the day's work, hungry and gloomy. There entered a middle-aged Irishman and his wife, both with jolly, smiling faces. Their cheery looks, quaint remarks, and general air of happiness had cleared out the pall of sombreness and depression in five minutes, and in ten minutes that car was in almost an uproar of mirth and joyousness. Cheer- fulness always wins friends. Try it when you go down to business. Start in witH a cheery "Good- morning!" Keep it up through the day. Think about happy things. Have a funny story ready for 216 CHEERFULNESS A TONIC the man with whom you have an appointment. It is not necessary to give all the details of how to be cheerful. Make a beginning, and the details will work themselves out with scarcely an effort. You will find that you can do your own work much more easily and satisfactorily to those above you, and that those under you, or in your employ, will increase their efl&ciency in a way to astonish you. Cheerfulness is not a difficult habit to acquire, and is as great an asset to its possessor as its oppo- site, depression, is a detriment. No matter what may threaten, instead of letting the darkness envelop us, let us hunt for the bright spot. Sometimes it may seem to be exceedingly small, but the mere beginning of the search for it makes it grow in size. Soon we feel that the situation could be much worse, and before we fairly realize it, that aU-surrounding blackness has entirely disappeared. The prophet Habakkuk grasped the great truth of joy and cheer- fulness when he triumphantly wrote: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, nei- ther shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock 217 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. "The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places." Faith alone, in the divine teaching in those old days of the prophets, made up for a great part of what we are gradually learning to know is sound scientific fact. Dr. King, in speaking of the important contribu- tion which emotion makes to our deepest life, says: "This is peculiarly true of joy, if it is taken in no shallow surface way. It literally makes us live more and so gives a deeper sense of the reality of all other life. For this very reason it helps direct- ly to convictions which make volition easy. As Keats put it, 'Axioms are not axioms until they have been felt upon our pulses.' We are made for joy, — body and mind; our very constitution pro- claims it Joy directly increases our vitality, greater vitality gives greater sense of reality. This means stronger convictions. Of convictions purposes are born. And conviction and purpose 218 CHEERFULNESS A TONIC make influence certain. The spiritual life may not safely ignore these plain facts. Joy has its very dis- tinct mission and place in spiritual life." * Then let us spread the contagion of cheerful- ness; let us plant and foster its germs to force out or neutralize the poisonous action of sorrow, worry, and depression, those insidious enemies of health and efficiency. When I say to the despondent one, "Sit up cheerfully, look around cheerfully, act and speak as if cheerfulness had already come to you; when with a cheerful story or anecdote, I try to elevate the habitually drooping corners of his mouth ; when I ask him to tell me all the cheerful things he can recall in the brief time we are together, which have come to him in his life, it is deeply interesting to see what a change takes place, what the will can indirectly accomplish through this action in bringing about the feeling desired. I have seen many cases of the sort, one of the most interesting being that of a young man who came to me with brooding melancholic feelings. He was bitterly inimical to a certain person who had wronged him by unjust remarks, which, by reason of his pecul- * Rational Living, King. 2ig HEALTH AND HAPPINESS iarly sensitive temperament, had wounded him to the quick. Since the only way to remove the feeling was to get him deliberately to look at the best side of the one who had done him the injury, we began by analyzing the motives of the man who had affronted him. In the end we found there could be no real reason for his words. They were spoken hastily and evidently without a realization of their fuU import. We found something humorous connected with the incident. I brought it out in clear relief, inducing my patient to smile deliberately. Then I succeeded in awakening a somewhat s)Tnpathetic interest in the calumniator, and at last the spell was broken. The man went away with the mentally bilious look greatly lessened. In a week he returned. The trouble seemed to be gone. He was himself again, cheerful and bright. Following the more specific directions given him, he has been able to sustain his whole- some, well-poised attitude of mind ever since. Especially in cases of religious melancholia or depression must one urge upon the patient the im- portance of paying no attention to his feelings. His plain duty is simply to attend to the ordinary business of daily life. It is to serve God to the best 220 CHEERFULNESS A TONIC of his ability. It is, in other words, to do what- ever is before him just as though he were perfectly happy in so doing. "They that wait upon the Lord [in obedience to him] shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." The words of the author of "The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life" chime in with the inspired declaration, "Let your emotions come, or let them go, just as God pleases, and make no account of them either way. It is your purpose God looks at, not your feelings about that purpose. They really have nothing to do with the matter. Act faithfully, and you really have faith, no matter how cold and even how dubious you feel. " Cardinal Newman reinforces the lesson: "You must act in some way. You cannot do what is really good without His grace, yet do what seems to you like truth and goodness." So I iterate and reiterate the sug- gestion: "Act! Act now! Don't wait a second for the feeling. Through God's blessing calm and com- fort find their way to the mind. Out of perplexity sufferers come through action into the clear day." All sick people are anti-social, Dubois says in 221 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS substance. Plato excluded the hypochondriacs from his RepubUc. They exclude themselves from their kind. The sick are unable to do their work properly, and they prevent others from doing theirs. Neurotic people are stragglers from the army. They do not fall into line and take the word of command. We must correct this anti-social state of mind. By suggestion and persuasion we must get the hypo- chondriacs to mingle with their fellows, to have a community of sympathies and interests. We must bring them into joyful company, give them inspiring and uplifting music, and thus directly and indirectly drive away all social estrangement. Nothing is more powerful than a cheerful, joyous, religious assemblage, with its many spiritual aids, to accomplish the desired result. Underlying the superficial indications of cheer- fulness must be the poise of spirit which lends them permanence. Such poise the individual may win out of his conquered weaknesses. For while the nat- ural cheerfulness that bubbles up spontaneously in certain dispositions is a gift to be thankful for, the acquired cheerfulness following as a result of effort is no less a blessing to its possessor, Helen Keller, 222 CHEERFULNESS A TONIC bound by physical limitations that seemed at first utterly hopeless, shut in to a world where no light nor sound ever penetrates, has yet made such a magnifi- cent triumph of her life that her words about joy, whose handmaid is cheerfulness, carry peculiar con- viction. "Join the great company," she says, "of those who make the barren places of life fruitful with kindness. Carry a vision of heaven in your souls, and you shall make your home, your college, the world, correspond to that vision. Your success and happiness lie in you. External conditions are the accidents of life, its outer trappings. The great enduring realities are love and service. Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelli- gence aglow. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against diffi- culty." The man of "cheerful yesterdays and confident to-morrows " is at peace within. This inner health, of which cheerfulness is the sign and symbol, is a prize to be striven for. In the spiritual realm, as in the physical, "health," to use Wendell Phillips's words, "lies in labor, and there is no royal road to it but through toil." The contented cheerfulness which 223 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS comes from honest exertion, mental or physical or spiritual, is possible for every one. The first requi- site is the right attitude toward the exertion. It must be self-forgetful. Self-consideration is a ball and chain. It hampers the attention which should be given wholly to the task in hand, and retards every effort. The value of enjoyment on the physical side gained by self -forgetful work is well brought out by Forel, in his " Hygiene of Nerves and Mind." He says: "Moreover, we must banish pleasure-seeking (but not pleasure itself) from our lives. Every pleas- ure cultivated for its own sake leads to ennui and disgust and injures the nervous health. Every healthy enjoyment must be earned by an harmonious mode of life. It is a pleasure to sleep, even on a hard bench, if you ^re tired; or to eat crude dishes, if you are hungry. To drink pure water is a healthy enjoyment, if you have a natural thirst, and it does not injure one like the satisfaction of the artificial thirst for alcohol that results from poisoning. Men- tal work is a healthy pleasure, if the need for muscular exercise and activity beside it is also satisfied. Mus- cular work is a pleasure when alternated with activity of thought and feeling, but not when carried on 224 CHEERFULNESS A TONIC purely mechanically and automatically without any active attention; for then it does not replace either abstract thought or emotional excitement, which can both be present to lead us astray in spite of such work." A wholesome indifference to results is a great aid to cheerfulness. Lincoln's robust words are well worth remembering. "I do the very best I know how," he says, "the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no dif- ference." On the mental and spiritual side the subordina- tion of selfishness is quite as necessary to true cheer- fulness as on the physical. How many of our disappointments and sorrows and heartaches are brought upon us by an undue egotism. We see the universe in terms of ourselves. Our individual com- fort and happiness are all that count. Our preju- dices, our rigid likes and dislikes, stand as sentinels to keep out love and peace and harmony. Centred in self, we miss all that is best in life, all that gives it 225 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS dignity and power and value, all that connects things temporal with things eternal. To have true joy, true cheerfulness, we must have the Christ-spirit within us. Consideration for our neighbor, not ourselves, is the best armor against depression. Service to others is a ladder out of misery and unhappiness. These fundamental truths in Christ's teaching, love and service, work out in many different ways. Using them as watchwords, the outward conduct of life is perhaps in nowise changed, but the difference in mo- tive works a transformation in the inner life. Har- mony is secured after chaos, peace after struggle, cheerfulness after misery, — not the fortuitous cheer- fulness that leaves us at the mercy of any chance event or circumstance, but the deep unshakable cheerfulness of one who works to do the Father's will and knows that it is good. 226 CHAPTER XIX WATCHWORDS OF RIGHT LIVING Maxims from William Osier, C. W. Saleeby, Angelo Mosso, Edward Howard Griggs, Luther Gulick, Paul Dubois, William James, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Hugo Miinster- berg, Henry C. King, James Rowland Angell, Annie Payson Call, Joseph Jastxow, Richard C. Cabot, Phillips Brooks, Josiah Royce, Stanley Hall, Carl Hilty, August Forel, Frederick Peterson, Max Miiller, John Burroughs, Herbert Spencer, Robert Browning. you may learn to consume your own smoke. The atmosphere is darkened by the mur- murings and whimperings of men and women over the non-essentials, the trifles that are inevitably incident to the hurly-burly of the day's routine. Things cannot always go your way. Learn to ac- cept in silence the minor aggravations, cultivate the gift of taciturnity, and consume your own smoke with an extra draught of hard work, so that those about you may not be annoyed with the dust and soot of your complaints. William Osler. 227 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS The wisest thinkers of all times have seen that worry, apprehension, and fear condemn the many to futility, to real or imaginary disease, to premature death, to everything that is the negation of abundant life. C. W. Saleeby. Let us remember that fear is a disease to be cured. Angelo Mosso. Worry is always one of two things: it is idiocy or insanity. You may take your choice, there is no third. Worry depresses the physical vitality, de- stroys courage, dims the vision of the ideal, weakens the will, stands in the way of realizing anything worth while; and the human being who hopes to ac- complish something will get worry under his feet at the earliest possible moment. Work, on the other hand, good, honest, hard work, when in right re- lation, builds vitality and gives increased power. Edward Howard Griggs. See that all the hours of the day are so full of in- teresting and healthful occupations that there is no chance for worry to stick its nose in. Luther Gulick. 228 WATCHWORDS OF RIGHT LIVING The true religion, and the truths perceived by present and past rehgion, are cures of worry and preventives of its consequences. C. W. Saleeby. Do not go about repeating the statement that nothing affects the temper like disease of the stomach; it would be better to say that nothing troubles the functions of the stomach like moody tempers. Paul Dubois. If we only check a cowardly impulse in time, or if we only don't strike the blow or rip out with the complaining or insulting word that we shall regret as long as we live, our feelings will presently be the calmer and better, with no particular guidance from us on their own account. William James. Half the thirst for alcohol that exists in the world exists simply because alcohol acts as a temporary anaesthetic and effacer to all these morbid feelings that never ought to be in a human being at all. In the healthy-minded, on the contrary, there are no fears or shames to discover; and the sensations that 229 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS pour in from the organism only help to swell the general vital sense of security and readiness for an)^hing that may turn up. William James. The best part of health is fine disposition. It is more essential than talent, even in the works of talent. Nothing wiU supply the want of sunshine to peaches, and, to make knowledge valuable, you must have the cheerfulness of wisdom. Ralph Waldo Emerson. If you never wholly give yourself up to the chair you sit in, but always keep your leg and body mus- cles half contracted for a rise; if you breathe eighteen or nineteen instead of sixteen times a minute, and never quite breathe out at that — what mental mood can you be in but one of inner panting and expec- tancy, and how can the future and its worries pos- sibly forsake your mind ? On the other hand, how can they gain admission to your mind if your brow be unrufiled, your respiration calm and complete, and your muscles aU relaxed? William James. 230 WATCHWORDS OF RIGHT LIVING Reason is the sieve which stops unhealthy sug- gestions and allows only those to pass which lead us in the way of truth. Paul Dubois. Only a conscience which is penetrated by morality stands safe in all storms, and such a conscience is not brought out by technical prescriptions, nor by punishments and jails; no, only by the obligatory power of wiU upon will, by the inspiring life of sub- jects we acknowledge, by the example of the heroes of duty, that speaks directly from will to will, and for which we cannot substitute psychological train- ing and police officers. Hugo Munsterberg. Character lies preeminently in the sphere of the will; he who would achieve much in the moral life must be capable of mighty endeavors. The place of wiU in influence is hardly less obvious. Only he who can set his goal and steadily and firmly pursue it can hope to count greatly with others. Henry Churchill King. The whole mind active, — this is the will. James Rowland Angell. 231 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS A quiet, intelligent use of the will is at the root of all character; and an unselfish, well-balanced character, with the insight which it develops, will lead us to well-balanced nerves. Annie Payson Call. "Try?" I reply to him. "That is no good. The word 'try' implies an idea of doubt in the re- sult, and doubt always diminishes our fervor. Say: 'I will do it.' " Paul Dubois. A man who is in the dumps can say to himself: "Come, now, brace up! Be cheerful!" But that will not make him so. What he can do, and do suc- cessfully, is to make himself act the way a cheerful man would act: to walk and talk the way a cheer- ful man would walk and talk, and to eat what a cheerful man would eat — and after a time the emo- tion slips into line with his assumed attitude. He ac- tually becomes what he was pretending to be. Luther Gulick. We forget that every good that is worth possess- ing must be paid for in strokes of daily effort. We 232 WATCHWORDS OF RIGHT LIVING postpone and postpone, until those smiling pos- sibilities are dead. Whereas ten minutes a day of poetry, of spiritual reading or meditation, and an hour or two a week at music, pictures, or philosophy, provided we began now and suffered no remission, would infallibly give us in due time the fulness of all we desire. William James. Students of human progress recognize in the conscious elaboration of means and measures an increasingly distinctive factor in the civilizing move- ment of the ages. Joseph Jastrow. Education is indeed the most potent of all our weapons in the attack upon nervous disorders; but it is not academic nor intellectual acumen that we wish to produce in this type of sufferer, but rather that moral and spiritual awakening which gives him a greater and better reason, a purer and intenser motive, for all that he does. Because I believe, then, that all explanation, all encouragement, all educa- tion, which ignores religion is for that reason slip- shod and slovenly, I believe that patients whose physical ills can be mitigated through explanation, 233 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS encouragement, and education need the help of some one to whom religion is a working reality. Richard C. Cabot, Self-control depends on attention, and atten- tion has its chief support in strong and many-sided interest. This means that the great secret of all living is the persistent staying in the presence of the best — the great facts, the great truths, the great per- sonalities, the one great Person, Christ. We come into the absorbing, passionate, and deepening inter- est in all things of value only so, and it is this persis- tent, passionate interest in the best that determines, ultimately, our significance and efficiency in life. Henry Churchill King. A man's place is made ready for him in the mind of God; the man's life is set here as a positive, clear fact; and what comes next ? There is no doubt what ought to come. That life must tell. It must go out beyond itself. It must have influence. It must testify and supplement the mere fact of its existence by making other existences be something which they would not be without it. Phillips Brooks. 234 WATCHWORDS OF RIGHT LIVING Our physical deformities are often definite, but our mentality is always malleable. It is our duty to transform our inner temperament into an ac- quired character. This task devolves upon all of us, whether we are sick or well. Paul Dubois. Become the imitable thing, and you may then discharge your minds of all responsibility for the imitation. William James. You teach a man to control or restrain himself as soon as you teach him what to do in a positive sense. JOSLAH ROYCE. Conduct is the mouthpiece of character. What a man is declares itself through what he does. Phillips Brooks. To live is now to act: acts lay down the primitive strata in the soul, which determine even the deepest belief. Stanley Hall. The whole nature of man is created for activity, and Nature revenges herself bitterly on him who would rashly defy this law. Carl Hilty. 235 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Do your work from a sense of duty, or for love of what you are doing, or for love of certain definite persons; attach yourself to some great interest of human life. Carl Hilty. Do honor to your bodies. Reverence your physical natures, not simply for themselves. Only as ends they are not worthy of it, but because in health and strength lies the true basis of noble thought and glorious devotion. A man thinks well and loves well and prays well, because of the rich running of his blood. Phillips Brooks. If any one wants as happy an old age as possible, he must first of all never betray his optimism; second, never brood over the past and the dead; third, work away to the last breath, to keep as much of his cere- bral elasticity as possible. August Forel. If you have been guilty of a fault or stupidity, rectify it as soon as possible, make everything good that can be made good, avoid the repetition in the future, and, for the rest, lay the matter forever ad acta. August Forel. 236 WATCHWORDS OF RIGHT LIVING Physical labor is one of the best means of mental distraction. Frederick Peterson. Try in your moments of leisure to formulate a new philosophy of life and build up a new conscience, a new sense of duty, — duty to your family, duty to the brotherhood of humanity, duty to your race, and try to attain the golden mean between selfish- ness and altruism, either of which in excess is destructive. Frederick Peterson. When once a decision is reached and execution is the order of the day, dismiss absolutely all respon- sibility and care about the outcome. Unclamp, in a word, your intellectual and practical machinery, and let it run free; and the service it will do you will be twice as good. William James. There are tnen and women all around us who have got to meet the same temptations that we are meeting. Will it help them, or not, to know that we have met them and conquered them? Will it help us, or not, to know that if we conquer the 237 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS temptation we conquer not for ourselves only, but for them? Phillips Brooks. If a man have not found his home in God, his manners, his forms of speech, the turn of his sen- tences, the build (shall I say?) of all his opinions, will involuntarily confess it, let him brave it how he wiU. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Whatever happens to us is always the best for us, even if we do not at once understand and perceive it. Max MiJXLER. Quiet has come in place of the noise; repose in- stead of action Some day the headlong cur- rent of your life was stopped. The river ceased to flow. The waves stood still, and then the ocean which the flowing of the river had kept out poured up and in, and there were sacreder emotions in the old channels, and deeper hopes and fears were beat- ing upon the well-worn banks. The day when your great bereavement came, .... the day when joy, with that subtle possibility of deep pain which is always in her eyes, came to your door and 238 WATCHWORDS OF RIGHT LIVING knocked, .... the day when, being weak and ill, you did not go to your business, .... those were the days when God was feeding you No life is complete which does not sometimes sit trustfully waiting to be fed of God. Phillips Brooks. Our success in building up a strong, rich char- acter depends much more on how we do our work than upon what work we do. There is no calling so humble that it may not afford scope for the expres- sion and development of all the great human inter- ests, if we really put ourselves with it, and not our mere labor. James Rowland Angell. To root out a bad impulse one must set some con- trary impulse to work. Moreover, in a character built up in this way the control of the morally more dangerous desires becomes a source of increased richness and power in life. Tennyson expressed this truth when he said : "That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things." 239 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Only one who has really suffered can truly sym- pathize with grief. Only one who has been really tempted and tried can be morally altogether re- liable. James Rowland Angell. I stay my haste, I make delays, For what avails this eager pace? I stand amid the eternal ways, And what is mine shall know my face. John Burroughs. Life is not for work, but work is for life; whilst life itself is for happiness — the higher the better, but whether high or low, happiness. Herbert Spencer. God 's in his heaven: All 's right with the world! Robert Browning. 240 CHAPTER XX A LITANY OF HEALTH: SCRIPTURE WORDS — SCRIP- TURE PRAYERS Scripture Words on Health — Strength — Peace — Happiness — Benedictions. Scriptural Prayers for Strength — Trust — Faith — Wisdom — Self-Forgetfulness — Counsel — Compassion — Needs — Peace — Joy — Light — Work — Godliness — Communion — Holiness — Reconciliation — Pardon — Comfort — Tolerance — Mercy — Good- ness — Grace — Love. HEALTH Ps. 147 13. He healeth the broken in heart, and bind- eth up their wounds. Ps. 67:1-2. God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Jer. 30:17. For I wiU restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord. 241 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Prov. 4:20-23. My son, attend to my words; in- cline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Ps. 42 :i I . Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Acts 10:38. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were op- pressed of the devil; for God was with him. Jas. 5:13-15. Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry ? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord : 242 A LITANY OF HEALTH And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Ill John I -.2. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. Jer. 33:6. Behold, I will bring it [the city] health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. Isa. 58 7-9. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ? Then shall thy light break forth as the morn- ing, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall an- swer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say. Here I am. 243 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS STRENGTH Ps. 27:1. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Ps. 27:14. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Ps. 46:1-3. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be car- ried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be trou- bled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Ps. 28:7. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped : there- fore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. Ps. 29:11. The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace. 244 A LITANY OF HEALTH Ps. 37:39- But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble. Ps. 41 :2-3. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing. Ps. 18:1-2. I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salva- tion, and my high tower. Ps. 20:1-2. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion. Isa. 40:28-31. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, 245 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS neither is weary ? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isa. 26:4. Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Job 17:9. The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. Ps. 93:1. The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Ps. 96:6. Honor and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 246 A LITANY OF HEALTH Ps. 118:14. The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. Dan. 10:18-19. Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me. And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said. Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me. Phil. 4:13. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Ps. 138:3. In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. II Sam. 22 :32-34. For who is God, save the Lord ? and who is a rock, save our God ? God is my strength and power; and he mak- eth my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds' feet; and setteth me upon my high places. 247 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Ps. 84:5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Ps. 84:7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. Isa. 26:4 Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. PEACE Isa. 26:3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee : because he trust- eth in thee. Isa. 32:17. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever. Ps. 29:11. The Lord will give strength unto his people ; the Lord will bless his people with peace . Isa. 57:18-19. I have seen his ways, and wiU heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. 248 A LITANY OF HEALTH I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him. Ps. 34:14- Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. Ps. 37:11. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Ps. 37:37- Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. Col. 3:15. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Ps. 147:14. He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat. Lev. 26:6. And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. 249 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Rom. 14:17-19. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. John 16:33. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. Ps. 119:165. Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. Phil. 4:7. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. HAPPINESS Ps. 146:5. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. 250 A LITANY OF HEALTH Ps. 128:2. For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Ps. 1:1-2. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Ps. 2:12. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Ps. 32:1-2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord im- puteth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Ps. 84:4-5. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. 251 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Ps. 106:3. Blessed are they that keep judgment and he that doeth righteousness at all times. Ps. 119:1-2. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. John 13:17. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. Prov. 16:20. He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. Prov. 8:32-35. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watch- ing daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. 252 A LITANY OF HEALTH Prov. 15:13. A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. Prov. 15:15. He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Prov. 3:13. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. Prov. 17:22. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. Ps. 144:15. Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord. Matt. 5:3-9. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 253 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Blessed are the merciful: for they shall ob- tain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Jas. 5:11. Behold, we count them happy which en- dure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. Prov. 29:18. He that keepeth the law, happy is he. Rev. 22:14. Blessed are they that do his command- ments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. BENEDICTIONS I Pet. 5:10. But the God of aU grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 254 ■ , A LITANY OF HEALTH Num. 6:26. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. II Cor. 13 :ii. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. II John 1 13. Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. Phil. I -.2. Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. John 14:27. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Num. 6 :24-26. The Lord bless thee, and keep thee : The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. 25s HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Phil. 4:7. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. SCRIPTURAL PRAYERS FOR STRENGTH O God, who art from everlasting to everlasting, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. O thou that hearest prayer, send us help from the sanctuary and strengthen us out of Zion. May we have clean hands and pure hearts and grow stronger and stronger. We know that we have not yet attained nor are we already perfect, but we pray that, forget- ting the things which are behind and reaching forth to those that are before, we may press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. We pray thee that we may increase with the in- crease of God, and grow in grace and in the knowl- edge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And thus may we be strengthened with all might, accord- ing to thy glorious power, unto all patience and long- suffering with joyfulness. Amen. 256 A LITANY OF HEALTH FOR TRUST We thank thee, O God, that the invisible things of thine from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even thy eternal power and Godhead. Thou, O God, art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee; they trusted and thou didst deliver them. Give us, we pray thee, to trust in the Lord and do good, then we shall dwell in the land and verily shall be fed. We believe that God will be with us and will keep us in the way that we go, and will give us bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that we may come to our heavenly Father's house in peace. For thou, O Lord, wilt give grace and glory, and no good thing wilt thou withhold from them that walk up- rightly. May our souls then be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, that our mouths may praise thee with joyful lips. Because thou hast been our help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will we re- joice. Amen. FOR FAITH We pray thee, O Lord, that we may be kept by thy power through faith unto salvation. May the 257 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS trial of our faith, being much more precious than of gold, that perisheth though it be tried with fire, be found unto praise and honor and glory at the ap- pearing of Jesus Christ, whom not having seen, we love, in whom, though now we see Him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls. May we continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. May He dwell in our hearts by faith. May we not set our affections on things beneath, but on the things which are above, where Christ liveth at the right hand of God. May He reconcile us in the body of His flesh through faith to present us holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight. Amen. FOR WISDOM Thou hast said, if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and up- braideth not, and it shall be given him. We pray thee for the wisdom which cometh from above, that is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, fuU of mercy and good fruits, without par- 258 A LITANY OF HEALTH tiality and without hypocrisy. May this heavenly wisdom make our face to shine and may it be better to us than weapons of war. May we have grace and strength to order all our affairs with discretion and to behave ourselves wisely with a perfect heart. May we always have our conversation in this world in simphcity and godly sincerity. May we be filled with the knowledge of thy will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Amen. FOR SELF-FORGETFULNESS We pray thee that we may count everything but loss for Christ, that we may win Him and be found in Him. May we renounce our own righteousness and have only the righteousness which is through faith in Christ. May we be made perfect in every good work. Leaving the things which are behind may we press forward to that which is before, ever looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And thy name shall have all the glory, world without end. Amen. FOR COUNSEL We bless thee, O Lord, who hath given us coun- sel; may we ever set thee before us. We praise thee 259 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS that because thou art on our right hand we shall not be moved. Therefore our hearts are glad. Thou wilt show us the path of life. In thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. We pray thee, O Lord, that we may set our affec- tions on things above, not on things on the earth. Give us, we pray thee, a wise and understanding heart, that we may discern between good and bad. May our love abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that we may approve the things that are excellent, that we may be sincere and with- out offence till the day of Christ. May we be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Christ Jesus unto the glory and praise of God. May we thus walk worthy of God unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and in- creasing in the knowledge of God, to whom be all glory ascribed, now and forever. Amen. FOR COMPASSION O God, thou art a God of pardon, merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness. Thou dost not always chide; thou, O Lord, art ready to forgive, and rich in 260 A LITANY OF HEALTH mercy to all them that call upon thee. Thou art a God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth. Thou, even thou, art he that blottest out our transgressions and wilt not remember our sins. Pardon, we beseech thee, our iniquities according to the greatness of thy mercy. We pray thee to have compassion upon us, and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. We come unto thee through Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, be freely justified by thy grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus. And though our sins be as scarlet let them be as white as snow, and though they be red like crimson let them be as wool. Thus, O Lord, fulfil in us all the good pleasure of thy goodness and the work of faith with power. And to the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory and domin- ion, both now and ever. Amen. FOR OUR NEEDS We thank thee for all thy goodness and thy wonderful works to the children of men. Thou cov- erest the heaven with clouds and preparest rain for the earth and makest grass to grow upon the moun- tains. Thou givest to the beast his food and to the 261 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS young ravens which cry. Thou dost give us fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Thy covenant of the day and the night is not broken, but still thou givest the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night. Thou art faithful to that covenant of providence that while the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. May we not have anx- ious thought, saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed. For not a sparrow shall fall to the ground without our Father's notice, and the very hairs of our head are numbered. We thank thee. Heavenly Father, that thou knowest we have need of these things, and that thou wilt supply all our needs, according to the riches of glory in Christ Jesus our Lord. To Him be praise and dominion forever. Amen. FOR PEACE Wilt thou, O Lord, give strength unto thy people and bless them with peace. We pray that we may ever be found in Him, not having our own righteousness, but that which is 262 A LITANY OF HEALTH through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God through faith; for, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. May the work of righteousness in our souls be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. Make us peace-makers, that we may be called the children of God. And may the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. FOR JOY O Lord, thou art a shield for us. Thou art our glory and the lifter-up of our heads. Give us grace to serve thee with joyfulness and gladness of heart in the abundance of all things, and to sing in the ways of the Lord, because great is thy glory. May we rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks. For thou, O Lord, wilt give grace and glory, and no good thing wilt thou withhold from them that walk uprightly. May we ever have that cheerfulness of heart which doeth good like a medicine. May we thus be delivered from that heaviness which maketh the heart stoop. • 263 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS Make us to bear joy and gladness as we come to do Thy will, O God. Let every thought be brought into obedience to thee, and let the law of thy king- dom be magnified and honorable. AU which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. FOR LIGHT O thou who art the father of lights, who com- mandeth the morning, and causeth the day-spring to know his place, we praise thee for all thy wonder- ful works to the children of men. Thou hast stretched out the heavens like a curtain. In them thou hast set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race. Thou causeth thy sun to shine on the evil and on the good and sendest rain on the just and on the unjust. Give us, we pray thee, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. May we, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, be changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord. May we be living epistles of Christ, known and read of all men; may the fruit of the spirit richly abound in us, love, joy, 264 . A LITANY OF HEALTH long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. We know that thou art light and in thee is no darkness at all. May we be the light of the world, like a city set on an hill which cannot be hid. May our light not be put under a bushel, but on a candle- stick, that it may give light to all that are in the house. May our light so shine before men, that they may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven. Amen. FOR WORK May we wait upon thee and renew our strength. May we mount up with wings as eagles; may we run and not be weary; may we walk and not faint. We pray thee to quicken us to work the works of Him that leads us, while it is day, for the night cometh wherein no man can work. Whatever our hands find to do, may we do it with our might. Make us, O Lord, to be zealously affected in every good work, and whatever we do may we do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. May we not be slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Amen. 265 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS FOR GODLINESS We thank thee that thou hast given unto us ex- ceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be partakers of the Divine nature. May we give all diligence to add to our faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance ; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godli- ness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. May all these things be in us and abound, so that we shall neither be bar- ren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And at the last may an entrance be ad- ministered unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to whom be glory world without end. Amen. FOR COMMUNION Thou art the God that hath fed us all our life long unto this day. Thou hast redeemed us from all evil. We pray thee to continue to feed us with food convenient for us. May we eat our meat with gladness and singleness of heart. May we ever trust in the Lord and do good, that we may dwell in the land, and then verily we shall be fed. 266 A LITANY OF HEALTH Feed our souls, we pray thee, with the true bread from heaven, the bread of God. May we thus feed upon Christ, the Hving bread, who came down from heaven and gave life unto the world. May we come unto Him that we may never hunger, and believe on Him that we may never thirst. Thus we may have bread, which is the commun- ion of the body of Christ, and wine, which is the communion of the blood of Christ. And at the last, may we drink of this fruit of the vine ever with Him in the Father's kingdom. Amen. FOR HOLINESS O Lord, we pray thee that our hearts may not be far from thee as we draw near unto thee with our mouths and honor thee with our lips. We would worship thee who art a spirit, in spirit and in truth and in the beauty of holiness. We adore thee that we can, with humble boldness, as kings and priests unto God, enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He hath consecrated for us through the vail. We praise thee that we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. We thank 267 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS thee for the intercession of our faithful and merciful High Priest, who was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, that He might succor them that are tempted. We bless thee that we are made heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and that we have an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us. And to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, our Saviour, be all glory ascribed, world without end. Amen. FOR RECONCILIATION We bless thee, O God, who at sundry times and in divers manners didst speak in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, that thou hast spoken unto us by thy Son, whom thou hast appointed heir of all things. We praise thee, that we, who were afar off, have been made nigh by the blood of Christ. We praise thee that we, who were sometime alienated and enemies in our mind, have been recon- ciled through Jesus Christ: that He is our peace, who, having broken down the middle wall of partition be- 268 A LITANY OF HEALTH tween us, that He might reconcile us to God by His cross, hath slain the enemy thereby. We are, therefore, no more strangers and for- eigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God, to whom be all praise ascribed now and forever. Amen. FOR PARDON O God, who is a God like unto thee that par- doneth iniquity? To thee, O Lord our God, belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against thee. Because thou dost delight in mercy, we pray thee to have compassion upon us, to subdue our iniquities and cast our sins into the depths of the sea. If the wicked will forsake his way and the unright- eous man his thoughts, and if he will return unto the Lord, thou wilt abundantly pardon. Whosoever shall turn from all his sins which he hath committed and keep thy statutes, he shall live, and his trans- gressions shall not be mentioned unto him. May we, therefore, rejoice that there is no con- demnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. We 269 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS thank thee that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free. May we all have the blessedness of those whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sin is covered. Grant, we pray thee, that our sins, which are many, being forgiven us, we may go in peace. May we be transformed by the renew- ing of our mind, that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Hear us, O Lord, for the great Redeemer's sake. Amen. FOR COMFORT May we, O Lord, be numbered with those who are the poor in spirit, who are longing for the riches of God's spiritual kingdom, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. As we mourn for our sins or for any sorrows or afflictions that have come to us may we be comforted. We thank thee that He was touched with the feel- ing of our infirmities, that He was tempted in all points like as we are, and yet without sin, that he might succor them that are tempted. We come to thee as thy children and call thee our Father. For like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. 270 A LITANY OF HEALTH When our hearts and our flesh fail, be thou the strength of our heart and our portion forever, and we will give thee all praise and honor and glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. FOR TOLERANCE Let our cry come before thee, O Lord. Give us understanding according to thy word. Deal with thy servants according to thy mercy, and teach us thy statutes. May we put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man which is renewed in knowl- edge after the image of Him who created him. May we put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another; even as Christ has forgiven us, so may we do. And above all things may we put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And may the peace of God rule our hearts. May the word of Christ dwell richly in us in all wisdom, and whatsoever we do in word or deed, may we do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. 371 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS FOR MERCY O God, thou hast not dealt with us according to our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is higher than the earth so great is thy mercy toward them that fear thee. Unto thee, O Lord, do we hft up our soul. Lead us in thy truth and teach us, for thou art the God of our salvation; on thee do we wait all the day. Show us thy ways, O Lord, and teach us thy paths. Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies; for they have been ever of old. All thy paths, O Lord, are mercy and truth unto such as keep thy covenant and testimonies. As far as the east is from the west so far dost thou remove our transgressions from us. Continue, we pray thee, to help us, O God of our salvation, to de- liver us and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake. According to thy mercy continue to remember us, for thy goodness' sake, O Lord. Remember us accord- ing to the riches of thy grace, wherein thou hast abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, that being in Christ Jesus there may be no condem- nation to us. And to thee shall praise be ascribed forever. Amen. 272 A LITANY OF HEALTH FOR GOODNESS O Lord, we pray that thy goodness may ever pass before us and thy loving kindness be always before our eyes. Keep us as in the hollow of thine hand. Preserve us from all evil and danger. Uphold us in our integrity and set us before thy face forever. Let integrity and uprightness always preserve us, for we wait upon thee. Continually strengthen us by thy spirit in the inner man. And to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, our Saviour, be all glory ascribed, world without end. Amen. FOR GRACE Hear our prayer, O Lord, give ear unto our sup- plications, and benigh unto us in all that for which we call upon thee. And as we know not what to pray for as we ought, let thy spirit help our infirmities and make inter- cession for us. Oh, pour upon us the spirit of grace and supplication. Give us the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father. May thy spirit bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. May we prove all things and hold fast to that which is good. Amen. 273 HEALTH AND HAPPINESS FOR LOVE We pray thee, O Lord, to make us holy and with- out blame before thee in love. Shed abroad thy love in our hearts, that we may love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. May we love one another with pure hearts fervently. May we bear one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ. May we be faithful until death, that so an entrance may be administered unto us abun- dantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Speaking the truth in love, may we grow up in Him in aU things, which is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Amen. THE END INDEX INDEX "American Medical Association, Journal of," editorial, xxiv, 71, 74 Anaesthetics, 67, 68 Angell, James Rowland, quoted, 231. 239. 240 Anger, conquest of, 206-214 Antiquity of remedial use of sug- gestion, xiv, 19, 79, 103, 104 Anti-social, the sick are, xix, 221, 222 Aphonia caused by fear, 191 Arnold, Matthew, quoted, 203 Astrological charts, consultation of, 118 Athletics advised as cure for student's fear of failure, 197, 198 Authority, regard for, 52; one who would cure by suggestion must speak with, loi Auto-suggestion, treatment by, xxiv; prayer in form of, 9, 10; its part in cures, 19, 79, 87, 127, et seq.; a cure for worry, 174, 177, 178; for sleeplessness, 184; for fear, 198 Balance, want of, in use of facul- ties, 141, 144 Ball, Professor, quoted, 191 Barker, Lewellys, F., xxiii, 107, 201, 214 Believe, will to, 57 Benedictions, scriptural, 254-256 Bereavement, pain of, 161 Bernheim, 107 Bible quotations, 241-256 Blood supply, relation to brain. Bondage to the feelings, 1 28 Boston, Emmanuel Church move- ment in, vii, xxiv, xxvi, 83 Bradford, Dr. Amory H., quoted, 95 Braid, 107 Brain, relation to blood supply, 120 Bramwell, 107 Brooks, Phillips, quoted, 234- 236, 238, 239 Browning, Robert, quoted, 240 Burroughs, John, quoted, 240 Bushnell, Dr., quoted, 145, 146 Busyrane, inscriptions on gates of, SI Byron, Lord, 60 Cabot, Richard C, quoted, xxv, 234 Call, Annie Payson, quoted, 232 Carpenter, Dr. W. B., quoted, 91 Causeless anger distinguished from justifiable indignation, 209 Caution overdeveloped into fear, 192, 193 Change, corresponding, in mental and bodily states, 29-31, 36 Cheerfulness, 215-226 Children, susceptible to sugges- tion, 112; need independence, 187, 188 Christ the Healer, 21-24, 36, 63, 77-80, 87, 148 Christian Science, xv Christianity, harsh interpretation of, 57 "Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, The," 221 277 INDEX Church, responsibility of, xxvii; an organized centre, 72, 73; remedial forces in, 81-89; pre- sents God's design, 147 Church Clinics, 25, 29, 72, 84 Circumstances, influence upon ca- reers, 49, so; goodness makes men masters of, 53; adjust- ment to, 128-130, 132 Clark, Dr. Adam, quoted, 142 Clergymen and physicians, rela- tions of, in treatment of dis- ease, xiii-xvii, xxiii-xxviii, 65- 67, 69-89, 97, r2i Clough, Arthur Hugh^, quoted, 59 Clouston, Dr., quoted, 120 Coltishness, 52 Comfort, prayer for, 270 Communion, prayer for, 266 Compassion, prayer for, 260 Consumption, recovery from, largely a matter of character, 119. See Tuberculosis, fear's share in causing Contagion of health, 72 Contagious diseases, fight against, 67, 68; fear predisposing cause of, 191 Coriat, Isidor H., 107 Counsel, prayer for, 259 CuUem, quoted, 191 Cults, xxiii-xxv, 67, 86, 87, 105 Cures effected by faith, 19, 20, 77, 78; reported by cults, 87; due to suggestion, 97 et seq.; due to auto-suggestion, 131, 133, 134 Depreciation of self, 27, 69 Depression, from nervous dis- orders, 26, 69, 114, 133, 199; from fear, 192, 198, 203, 204; best armor against, 226 De Quincey, quoted, 50 Desgenettes and the plague, 191 Discontent, 210 Disease, prayer as a remedy in, 7,11; faith as a cure for, 70, 7 1 ; place of religion in cure of, 105, 118; cured by mental influences, 120-126. See Nervous disor- ders and diseases. Disregard for small discomforts, 130 Dissociation of ideas, psychologi- cal principle of, loi Doubt, 24, 53-63, loi Dowieism, xxv Dreams, 94 Dubois, Paul, 107-109, 118, 221, 229, 231, 232, 23s Eddyism, xxv Education as means of applying suggestion, 113 et seq. Egyptians practised suggestion to effect cures, xiv, 103, 104 "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," quoted, 48 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, quoted, 51, 230, 238 Emmanuel Church (Boston) move- ment, vii, xxiv, 83, 88 Emotions, therapeutic training of the, 162-167; control of, 200, 208, 214 Energies, natural, waste of, 138, 139 Envy, 210, 211 Epidaurus, cures at, 103, 104 Erysipelas, fear capable of pro- voking, 191 Faith, xiv, xxviii, 18-27, 33> 3^, 39, 40, SS, S8, 61-64, 70. 71. 78- 81, 85, 89, 100, roi, 123, 189, 2r8; prayer for, 257 Faith cures and healing, xxv, 19, 20, 77, 78 "Faith state" can be cultivated, 26 "Fanaticism," charge of, 82 Fear, 26, 69, 102, 142, 143, t9o-205 "Fear," Angelo Mosso, 191 Fearlessness, 193 Feelings, bondage to, r28 Fletcher, Mr., t9i 278 INDEX Forel, August, quoted, 102, 107, 13s. 224, 236 Forethought not to be confounded with worry, 170 Fortune, loss of, pain attendant upon, 157 Franklin, Benjamin, 106 Fretfulness, 209, 210 Functional diseases of the nervous system, xv, xvi, xxiv, 82, 121, 122, 127 Galen, quoted, 25 God, Creator of Universe, 3; not illogical, 4; importance of right conception of, 28-31, 59, 60; attributes of, 32-34, 37, 63; as a Father, 22, 34, 35; of love, 34, 4S, 160; made man to laugh, 146; design for the Church, 147; pain a gift of, 153. 160 Godliness, prayer for, 266 Goodness, intrinsic, 53; prayer for, 273 Grace, prayer for, 273 Gray, Thomas, quoted, 48 Griggs, Edward Howard, quoted, 228 Gulick, Luther, quoted, 228, 232 Hall, Stanley, quoted, 235 Hallock, Dr. Frank K., quoted, 86 Hamilton, Sir William, quoted, 56,91 Happiness, scriptural passages relating to, 250-254 Havergal, Frances Ridley, 149 Healing power,, of Christ and Apostles, xiv, 21-24, 77-81, 89; of Elisha, 136 Health, what religion can do for, 65-67, 69-89, 118, 1 21-126 Health Coniferences, xviii, 84, 117 Henry of Navarre, his conquest of fear, 194 Hilty, Carl, quoted, 235, 236 Hinton, James, quoted, 151-154 Hoffman, quoted, 191 Holiness, prayer for, 267 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, quoted, 53 Hopkins (Johns) University, de- partment of psycho-therapeutics, 74 Hudson, Thomson Jay, 92 Hunter, John, quoted, 121 Huntington, Bishop F. D., quoted, "Hygiene of Nerves and Mind," Forel, 224 "Hygiene of the Mind," Clouston, 120 Hypnotism, 94, 107, 108 Hypochondriacs, 222 Hyslop, Dr. James, 7 Hysterical paralysis, cure of case of, 25, 26 Illness considered a visitation of Providence, 113 Impaired nutrition, cases of, 120 Impatience, 51 Implacable Diety, fear of an, 3r Indecision, 201, 202 Independence, children's need of, 187, 188 Indignation distinguished from causeless anger, 209 Individual expression of prayer, 4 Initiative killed by fear, 192 "Irons in the fire," — "too many" or "all," 142 Irving, Washington, quoted, 161 James, Prof. William, 7, 10, 75, 90, 93, 107, 119, 133, 139, 161, 167, 189, 19s, 229, 230, 233, 235. 237 Janet, 107 Jastrow, Joseph, quoted, 233 Joy, 218, 219, 223; prayer for, 263 Keats, John, quoted, 218 Keller, Helen, quoted, 222, 223 279 INDEX Kempis, Thomas k, quoted, 40 Kepler, quoted, 32 King, Dr. Henry Churchill, quoted, 54, 218, 219, 231, 234 Kuh, Dr. Sidney, viii, 84 Laennee, quoted, 191 Lamb, Charles, quoted, 215 Language concerned in control of emotions, 208 Laughter, 146, 215 Law and order govern universe, 2, 4 Lawrence, Brother, faith of, 37 Liebault, 107 Light, prayer for, 264 Lindsay, Judge, of Denver, 112 Little things, blessedness and magic lying in, 136 Lourdes, France, cures effected at,' 104 Love, 34, 35, 39-45; prayer for, 274 Love of truth must be paramount, 63 Malebranche, quoted, 56 Marius, story of, as told by De Quincey, 50, 51 Marriages, uncongenial, pain from, 158 "Master's degree in school of ex- perience," 199 Materialist philosophers, 47, 48 Matheson, Dr., quoted, 4 McComb, Dr. Samuel, xiii, 83, 174 McMillan, Hugh, quoted, 77, 78 Medical schools weak in psy- chologic training, xxiv, 74 "Medicine men" employed sug- gestion, 104 Memory, feats of, 94 Mental and muscular work, bal- ance of, 224 Mental fatigue, avoidance of, 151 Mental pain, 154 "Mental Physiology," Carpenter, 91 Mercy, prayer for, 272 Mesmer, suggestion practised by, 104, 106 " Metaphysics, Lectures on,'' Hamilton, 91 Mill, John Stuart, quoted, 56 Milton, quoted, 46 Mind cure, scientific and un- scientific, 107 Mind, definition of word, 93 Minds, Hudson's theory of two, 92 Miracles, 11, 21-24, 77-8o; see also Healing power of Christ and Apostles. Mistakes, need to learn from, 143 Moll, 107 Mosso, Angelo, quoted, 190, 228 Motion, universality of, 2, 3 Moyer, Dr. Harold, viii, 67 MuUer, Max, quoted, 61, 238 Milnsterberg, Hugo, quoted, 231 Muscular and mental work, bal- ance of, 224 Myers, Frederic, 92 "Mystery of Pain, The," Hinton, 152. IS4 Mystery of prayer, 6; of pain, 149 Naaman's cure, miracle of, 136 Nature's reserve energy, 138^140 Needs, prayer for our, 261 "Nervous and Mental Hygiene," Forel, 13s "Nervous Breakdown," lecture by Dr. J. J. Putman, 112 Nervous breakdown, prayer as a means to prevent, 9 Nervous disorders and diseases, causes and how treated, xiii, XV, xix, XXV, 26, 65-78, 82, 83; how effected by suggestion, 97 et seq. New Thought, xv Newman, Cardinal, quoted, 221 Newton, quoted, 32 Operations, effect of mental ther- apy upon, 120 280 INDEX Oppenheim, Dr., 107 Opportunities created by man, 50 Orator's need of self-control, 53 Osier, Dr., quoted, 25, 67, 68, 76, 227 "Outlook, The," quoted, xxv Pagan worship, 28 Pain, mission of, 149-161 Palmists, consultation of, 118 Pardon, prayer for, 269 Pastoral visitation, 84, 85 Patience, drill in, 186 Patience with religious doubt, 62 Patrick, Dr. Hugh, quoted, 72 Peace, scriptural passages relat- ing to, 248-250; prayer for, 262 Peter the Great, his fear of water, i93i 194 Peterson, Frederick, 107, 237 Phillips, Wendell, quoted, 223 "Philosophic Studies," Wundt, 92 Physicians and clergymen, rela- tions of, in treatment of dis- ease. See under Clergymen Physicians' unconscious influence on patients, 93, 106; their disuse of hypnotism, 107, 108 Plato, 222 Pleasure and pain, 150 Pleasure, its place in mental health, 224 Pleasure-loving faculty, 145, 146 Poise of spirit underlying cheer- fulness, 222 "Powers of Men, The," James, 161 Prayer, neglect and use of, i, 2, 8, 9; forms of answer to, 4, 5; individual, 5, 6; mystery of, 6; a dynamic force, 7 ; as a remedy in disease, 7, 21; a sleep-pro- ducing agent, 8 ; in form of auto- suggestion, 9, 137; results of, 10, 11; form it should take, 12; when answered, 13-15; plea for growth recognized by God, 28 15; giving thanks, 16, 17; doubt of, 58; against worry and sleeplessness, 180, 181; scriptural prayers, 256-274 Prince, Morton, 107 "Psychic Treatment of Nervous - Disorders," Dubois, 108 Psychical Research, English So- ciety for, 92 Psycho-analysis, no Psychology, teachings of, 36; need of clergymen to under- stand, 73, 82; founder of, 92; service of practical religion to, 95; as means of mental ad- justment, 135 Psycho-neurotics, number of, 67 Psycho-therapeutics and the Church, 86; in medical prac- tice, 106, 107 Public life, pain as cost of, 155, 156 Putman, James J., 107, 112 "Rational Living," King, 218, 219 Reason ought not to conflict with love, 40 Reconciliation, prayer for, 268 "Religion and Medicine," Wor- cester and McComb, 88, 174 Religion, therapeutically applied, xiv, xvi, 71, 78, 84, 122, 124, 126; attitude of cases treated toward, xxvi; universal, 18; not a thing apart from practical life, 32, 36, 118; its relation to health, 65, 79, 118, 136; unrest in, 83; movement in practical, 95; source of our actions, 121; different ways of expressing, 1 23 ; too intense expression of, 125; all around development must include, 147 ; useful life as well as Bible-reading a part of, 173; a cure for worry, 189 Religious melancholia or depres- sion, treatment in cases of, 220 Religious service, attendance upon, 147 INDEX Right living, right conception of God the foundation of, 38; love needful for, 39; viratch words of, 227-240 Royce, Josiah, quoted, 235 Ruskin, quoted, 39 St. Anne de Beaupre, cures effected at, 104, 105 St. Augustine, quoted, 207 St. Francis de Sales, quoted, 202 Saleeby, Dr., quoted, 171, 228, 229 Sceptic, definition of, 55, 56 Schofield, Dr. Alfred T., 92, 93 Self-conceit, 51, 52 Self-consideration, 224 Self-control, 46-54, 201, 213, 214 Self-forgetfulness, prayer for, 259 Sennert, quoted, 191 Sensitiveness, extreme, 115, 130, 131 Separation of theology and medi- cine, 65, 66 Sermons, Sunday, 84 Service to others, 226 Shelley, 59 Shock, as means of mental ad- justment, 135; paralysis from, 165 Sidis, Boris, 107 Sleeplessness, remedy for, 182-185 Sleep-producing agent, prayer as a, 8 Somnambulism, 94 Spencer, Herbert, quoted, 240 Spiritual faculty, development of, 147 Spur to effort, prayer a, 12 Stage fright, 192 Strength, scriptural passages bear- ing upon, 244-248; prayer for, 256 Subconsciousness, investigations in the, 90 ei seq. Subliminal self or mind, 90 et seq. Substitution of something else for worry, 171, 174 282 Suffering caused by nervous dis- eases, 68, 69, 112, 122, 199 Suggestion, its part in cures, xviii, xxvi, 19, 79, 87, 163; direct and indirect, 72; defined in its var- ious senses, 96 et seq.; how different from auto-suggestion, 128; results gained by, 135 Surgery, antiseptic, 68 Suspicion and distrust, 27 Temperaments, different, 130; de- fects in, to be overcome, 131 Tennyson, quoted, 44, 239 Thanks, prayer of, 16 Therapeutic training of the emo- tions, 162-167 Therapeutic value of love, 45 Therapeutically applied religion, xiv, xvi, 71, 78, 84, 122, 126 Tolerance, prayer for, 271 Tolstoi, Leo, quoted, 39 Travelling man cured of fear, 196, 197 Trust, prayer for, 257 Truth, love of, 63 Tuberculosis, fear's share in caus- ing, 191 Tuke, Dr. Hack, 106, 192 Unbelief, 56 "Unconscious cerebration," 91 Unconscious physical and mental health, 132 Universe, origin of, 3 Unused powers, 138-148 Valentinian I, anger of, 206 Variability of unduly emotional people, 165, 166 "Varieties of Religious Exper- ience," James, 7 Voice, low, its effect on anger, 208 Washington, George, his control of emotion, 163 Waste of natural energies, 138, 139 INDEX Webster, Daniel, incident con- cerning, 52, S3 Well-developed individual must use all faculties, 144 Weltschmerz, share of nervous dis- eases in, 68 Whittier, John Greenleat, quoted, 180 Wilkinson, Dr. James John Garth, quoted, 80 Will to believe, 57 Will, use ot the, 140, 141, 148 Wireless stations, individuals as, 6 Wisdom, prayer for, 258 Women, emotional nature of, 125; subject to worries, 174, 175 Worcester, Dr. Elwood, xiii, 83, 88 Work, blessedness of, 136; prayer for, 265 Worry, 26, 69, 168-189, 192 Wundt, founder of experimental psychology, 92 283