Henry Harrison Brown – New Thought Primer, A Lesson In Soul Culture

 

Always the inaudible, invisible Thought,

Artificer and subject, lord and slave.

~ Tennyson

These are thoughts of all men in all ages and all lands they are not original with me;

If they are not yours as much as mine, they are nothing.

~ Walt Whitman

The philosophy of six thousand years has not searched the chambers and magazines of the Soul.

In its experiments, there has always remained in the last analysis a residuum it could not reveal.

~ Emerson

 

Introduction

I purpose but an outline of the origin, development, principles and purpose of the widespread and ever widening movement comprehended under the term, “New Thought.” The term has no definite meaning. It covers a movement at present heterogeneous and embracing many minor fields. Its limits cannot be mapped. Each person is to draw his own lines. In this Primer, I have intended to make the definition as broad as justice and the Principle of Evolution would let me. I have tried to be as impartial as truth, and to look upon every side of the question only as a reporter. The charge of partiality may be brought in my attention to my own position, but here I feel I have the right to be personal and positive.

TRUTH alone is our aim. I have consecrated myself to Truth and my life is now in her service. I can af­ford to be true only to her, and in love, just to my fellows. The reader will find in this that which will help him to an understanding of this mighty movement and will also find hints that will direct his future study.

Truth is so lovely that the Truth-seeker soon becomes the Truth-lover. I am glad of the privilege of lift­ing for a moment her veil, knowing that all who see will follow her. In Love and Truth,

Truly your friend,

HENRY HARRISON BROWN

Origin, History and Principles of New Thought

HEREDITY

Under the law of Heredity science traces evolution from parent to child and thus finds tendencies, facul­ties and conditions, that appear in parent, are transmitted to offspring. There is no human condition that is not the child of a preceding one. Variations occur and under the Law of Variation, Nature unfolds.

This law of evolution, of continuity, of method, and purpose is a constant one. Ideas also have their he­redity. All movements in human thought obey these laws of Heredity and Variation. I purpose to trace in outline the Heredity of the New Thought movement. I will give information sufficient to enable the cu­rious reader to easily fill in additional details. Desiring to deal justly with each form of the movement, I will correct any reported injustice in subsequent editions.

PAST EVOLUTION

Human progress is the gradual unfoldment of that which is eternally in man. Life in man is germinal; time is the unfolder. Each condition is but a slight change upon some earlier one. Effects are the result of some cause which is but the effect of some anterior cause, which is also the effect of a still more remote cause, so that when one seeks a beginning of any movement he is compelled to answer: “The beginning is in Ultimate Cause.” Therefore to trace the beginnings of New Thought we should have to trace the beginnings of history. From earliest historic periods we can trace many of the ideas of this movement. Thought is a wave that flows like those of the ocean from shore to shore. Every age and people is a manifestation of this movement. A wave once started in ocean never stops till it reaches the limit of the ocean, so a thought once started will never stop, for there is no limit to the medium in which it is a wave. That medium is variously called: Energy, Spirit, Soul, God. Truth is one with Ultimate Cause. Truth is ever unfolding. Well says Lowell:

God sends his teachers unto every age.
To every clime, and every race of men,
With revelations fitted to their growth
And shape of mind, nor gives the realm of Truth
Unto the selfish rule of one sole race.

Individual perceptions and expressions differ and often some old thought, which is the common posses­sion of the race, is given forth by some earnest soul as a supposed new revelation. The student of com­parative religions, finds that all these varying systems are based upon the same conceptions. Max Muller tells us that three ideas form the foundations of all religions, viz:

1st Sense of some over-ruling Power;

2d His demands on us, out of which grow systems of worship;

3d The recognition of human duties, out of which grow regulations of the conduct of man to man.

Jesus announced the same in his condensation of Hebrew Law and Prophets:

1st Love the Lord, thy God.

2d With all thy soul, heart and mind.

3d And love thy neighbor as thyself.

No matter what the religion or philosophical belief, it is based upon these. From the conception of primi­tive man to the present time, there has been but an evolution of human thought concerning the Power that is. New Thought is but a later conception of this One Power. It is an evolution of that conception into a conscious reality. Soul Culture has made this primitive thought of Power an actuality in daily life by methods of spiritual unfoldment.

ANCIENT IDEAS

The nations of antiquity, as evidenced by their relics, and notably their clay tablets, held many of our present conceptions. Have not these conceptions come down to us with the life they transmitted? The Hindu Scriptures contain many conceptions of God, Man and Duty that are familiar to us. Did they not come down to us with the stock of Aryan words?

From Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament we have derived much of present conceptions of Truth. Why have all these conceptions survived? By reason of Nature’s law: The Survival of the Fittest. That which nearest expresses absolute Truth, that which most completely satisfies the Soul, is not allowed to pass into oblivion. “Old ideas revised and improved,” could be written above every theological, scien­tific, economic, social and artistic creed and above every invention. “Improvements” we call them. They are only enlarged conceptions of the truth that our fathers held. Truth is one. The most any age or race can do is to develop somewhat some phase of Truth by making some distinctive change in the method of expression. Through this Unity of Truth and Unity of Unfoldment, we are connected with all the past and with all mankind. It is thus that the thinker in every age becomes one of the “choir invisible.”

THE CHRISTIAN ERA

Present civilization has been most effected by Greek Ideas as they came to us through the New Testa­ment. It is to Paul that we are indebted for this. He was steeped in the Logos Philosophy of the Greek which he Hebraized, and through the impetus of the early church they have been sent down to us. Jesus marks one of the great eras of unfoldment in the conception of Omnipotence. He placed the emphasis upon Fatherhood and that Fatherhood made Deity, Human. The Love Principle had been but dimly per­ceived before him. He said “Our Father.” Prior to this it had been “Heaven-Father.” Max Muller tells us that “Heaven-Father” is the term for Omnipotence in every religion. “Heaven-Father” embodies concep­tions of Power and Creation; “Our Father,” those of Love and Providence.

Jesus also developed the idea of duty into that of brotherhood, and this lifted the worship of Omnipo­tence from mere external ceremony and manifestations of fear to worship through Love. He applied the Love principle also to human conduct in the “New Commandment” “That ye love one another.” Thus may Jesus rightly be termed the founder of New Thought, as it appears during nineteen centuries of hu­man evolution.

MEDIEVAL THOUGHT

During the Middle Ages many thinkers arose whose teachings gave birth to what is known as “mysti­cism,” systems that have much in common with the idea of Omnipresence, and the conception of Reali­zation as held by New Thought teachers. Mysticism is a recognition of unity between the Soul and its Divine origin. It is the practical side of the saying of Jesus: “My father and I are one.” This phase of thought came into existence at the close of the third century. It developed later into the form one may find in Thomas a’ Kempis and Madame Guyon. It is a condition of most ardent piety, and so warm was it at times that Jesus and the church were thought of as one thinks of wife or mistress.

GERMAN PHILOSOPHERS

The Mysticism of the Middle Ages developed in Germany into a philosophy which changed at that time the current of thought, and molded the opinions of the present. One who desires to become familiar with these authors are recommended to read Kant, Hegle, Shelling, Fichte, Schopenhauer, and especially Goethe and the poet Schiller. In these can be found many of the ideas of New Thought teachers.

IDEALISM

But in the English philosopher Berkeley do we find the greatest resemblance. Christian Science is an imperfect reflection of the Idealism of Berkeley. Berkeley, Locke, Descartes, Spinosa and Liebnitz re­vived the Idealism of Plato. Zeno, before Plato, fundamentally taught the same. Idealism holds that Ideas are All. The external universe exists only as it is reflected in the mind. Matter is part of that which is not the Ego. According to Fichte this non-Ego is but a creation, or an idea of the mind of the Ego. Hegle finds the only reality in the relation that exists between the Ego and the non-Ego. The speculative truth that lies underneath this philosophy is realized Truth in New Thought. What they intellectual perceived is now a constant reality in the lives of thousands. All interested in tracing Idealism farther can find in any encyclopedia enough to make clear our indebtedness to these philosophers. Rev. F. W. Evans, in his works upon Mental Science, shows, by his quotations, how great was his indebtedness to them, and I here most gladly acknowledge my own philosophic debt to this most lucid, strong, and able of our New Thought teachers.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

I will trace only the last century history of Thought evolution. I have briefly shown how that century was the culmination of all the thought of the past. This new century is the child of the old. New Thought came legitimately from the loins of the Thought with which the nineteenth century and the new nation opened. The new American nation was to a great extent the child of French liberalism. Liberal ideas at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century were permeating every channel of the national life. The na­tional birth but twenty-four years previous had stimulated thought in all directions. In politics, religion, and social life, there was a decided American atmosphere. The discontent with the old had culminated in Thomas Paine’s “Age of Reason,” a most thought provoking and stimulating book. All who are today emancipated from the rigid theology of that period owe a great debt to him. Political liberty, won in the eighteenth century, opened the way for the intellectual liberty which the nineteenth century won. Now comes the last, and the perfect liberty knocking at the door of the 20th century. This liberty is Spiritual Liberty, a liberty that belongs to each, as a child of the universe, as a son of the one power; or as John has it, “The liberty of the sons of God.” It is for this liberty that New Thought stands.

ABOLITIONISM

Out of the awakened conscience and intellectual perceptions of Truth that were prevalent at the begin­ning of the nineteenth century came later the abolition of physical slavery, and with it the emancipation of the masses from the stern and unyielding theology which our fathers left us. Whenever the prophet is needed he comes. He has come. He has had many names. Only a few of these names can I mention. To give them all would be to trace the mental unfoldment and progress of the century. I can only follow our special thought. The history of a nation is the history of its few thinkers.

CHANNING

William Ellery Channing gave in Baltimore in 1818 his great address, which later caused a split in the Calvinistic churches, dividing them into the Unitarian and Trinitarian.

This movement lifted the theological thought from that of Justice, which Calvinism emphasized, to that of Love, which Channing emphasizes. “God is Love,” was his shiboleth. It made as great a change in the popular thought as that which the affirmation, “All is good,” makes today.

ELIAS HICKS

Quakerism had been an important factor during the 18th century and did noble work in preparing the colonies for their liberty. In the 19th century Elias Hicks came, and with his new vision helped on eman­cipation, and gave opportunity for still other visions that have culminated in the present awakening.

UNIVERSALISM

John Murray, through his doctrine of Universal Salvation, started another progressive movement in the theological field which, though of importance, was limited, because he held to Revelation, and as Dr. Livermore of Meadville Theological School taught us, “Murray’s was not a change in principle from Calvinism. Calvin taught that all were born to be damned, while Murray taught that all are born to be saved.” To an age that believed in “Eternal Damnation” Murray was an important reaction, and no stu­dent of the history of New Thought can afford to omit his life.

EMERSON

In 1838 Emerson gave his address before the divinity students of Harvard College. That address marks an era in the intellectual life of America. It did not seem important then, but from the vantage ground of today it is seen as the turning of the wheel that set the ship of progress on a new tack. Emerson was at the center of intellectual culture of the United States, and there started a discussion that is responsible, more than any other factor, for present liberal conditions. He lifted mankind onto the plane with Jesus by declaring that which Jesus was, all men are. This removed the barrier to human aspiration and opened divine expression as a possibility for all men. He did in this the greatest work of any one person in the whole century. In this declaration he made all subsequent growth possible. For this reason I attribute to Emerson, more than to any other source, the credit of the New Thought movement. Two years before this he had written ” Nature,” in which the Idealism of Berkeley, the mysticism of the middle ages, the obtuse and speculative doctrines of the ancients, were all winnowed, and the pure wheat stored for pre­sent sowing. From that time until his death he taught along the lines he therein laid down. His writings are a source to which can be traced all phases of New Thought. Christian Science is an exaggerated and contorted exposition of the clear and pure thought of Emerson. Would my reader drink at the original fount, I advise him to read Emerson. It matters little where he begins; but if he starts with the essays upon “Self-Reliance” and “Compensation,” and “Over Soul,” he will drink so deeply that all other au­thors will seem tame commentaries upon him.

PARKER

Following Emerson came Theodore Parker. His contribution was the placing of all phenomena under law. As Emerson humanized Jesus, Parker rationalized the miracles. He did for theology what Humboldt did for Philosophy. Said Humboldt: “The Universe is governed by Law.” Parker forced the theologians to accept this and placed the so called Bible Miracles under Natural Law. His sermon upon the “Perma­nent and the Transient in Christianity” had an effect second only to Emerson’s Divinity School address.

LAW OF CONSERVATION AND CORRELATION OF FORCE

During the last century, Science and Philosophy made great strides. The most important contribution during the first half was the acceptance of the Law of the Conservation of Force. The Law is: All Force (or Energy) is one; is fixed in quantity, cannot be destroyed; but it can be, and is, changed from one mode of manifestation to another . Following this, came the Principle of Evolution, for which in its pre­sent clear understanding we must thank Spencer and Darwin, though at about the same time (1845) An­drew Jackson Davis independently gave, in Principle, the same in “Nature’s Divine Revelations,” though he used the term ”Progression.” Upon this, the Principle of Evolution and the Law of Conservation of Force, rests all future thought progress. In harmony with these, we are beginning a Science of Man as Mind, and developing an art of Mental Healing.

INVENTIONS

There was never a century within the historic period so prolific in invention as the last. Each improved tool, each new machine, each change for the better in ways of living, creates a new environment, and thus, by Suggestion, causes new thoughts and thoughts create the man. The son who uses an improved plow cannot think the same thoughts nor live the same life his father did. Inventions and discoveries cre­ated conditions for the present New Thought.

INFLUENCE OF GERMAN THOUGHT

A great impetus was given to American thought at the beginning of the latter part of the last century by the introduction of German Philosophy. The initiative was taken by Rev. Frederick W. Hedges, who in­troduced Kant and other German Philosophers. Margaret Fuller brought Goethe to notice of American thinkers, and Emerson caused Carlyle’s “Sartor Resartus” to be republished here. Out of the interest these awakened, arose the “Transcendental Movement” which movement was, in reality, the birth of the present various movements in the liberal thought world, and in Transcendentalism we may properly lo­cate the birth of New Thought.

TRANSCENDENTALISM

“In the second quarter of the Nineteenth Century, there was a very general feeling of unrest in religious circles. This was particularly observable in the Eastern States. Groups of individuals here and there broke away from former beliefs and associations, in the confidence and purpose of a living faith that rested on a better foundation. It seems hardly possible for the American mind to hold mere opinions without carrying them into practice with all sincerity. These uprisings often took place around the places of learning, but oftener at places remote from centers and among the unlettered, who knew only the Bi­ble and the avocation which they followed.” This gave rise to many peculiar religious sects. The only one of which now active is that of the Second Advents. “It was among the cultured men and women, many of whom had been educated at Harvard, that a movement began which represented this unrest and gave it somewhat of form and consistency. Unitarianism had opened the avenues for freedom of thought, and now naturally arose the Transcendentalists with an ideal philosophy which they were to promote as the inspiration and prevailing principle of every day life. Bright stars were those in the intel­lectual sky who started the movement. They lighted the way to profounder thought, more conscientious activity, and more general usefulness. The names of Emerson, Alcott, The Channings, Ripley, Margaret

Fuller, Frothingham, Thoreau, and their associates, gave to the American public a higher conception of life, its nature and aims. They placed a leaven therein that was destined to continue its work till it trans­formed the whole mass of American Society. Before this Transcendental movement, America had no literature that was more than local and a copy of foreign models. From this, America derived a literature that was a new creation, indigenous to our soil.” Here are some names rightly credited to that movement, as their thought is the transcendental thought: Lowell, Alcott, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, C. P. Cranch, William Henry Channing, Charles A. Dana, George William Curtis, Theodore Parker, David A. Wasson, John Weiss, T. W. Higginson, Julia Ward Howe, Jones Very, Edna D. Cheney, Frank B. Sanborn, and Horace Greeley. The Transcendental period was the formative period in American thought-life. To it we may trace New Thought.

BROOK FARM

Out of Transcendentalism arose the attempt at community life, known as Brook Farm. Here met great thinkers, and what if the experiment failed for want of financial support? It was, in its scattering, a rip­ened boll. Its harvest of success has come in the lives of those who today have found in another manner an application of the Truth they held. The reader is referred to the “History of the Brook Farm,” by John Thomas Codman, and to C. B. Frothingham’s “History of Transcendentalism,” for further particulars upon one of the most interesting attempts to actualize the Principal of Brotherhood.

COMMUNITIES

Whoever would understand thoroughly the sources of present thought, and would trace the evolution of ideas, needs to become more or less familiar with community life in the United States. It is without the province of this essay to detail that history. It covers the Shakers and the Oneida Communists, two of the successful. Many others started and many, judged by the world’s business standards, were successful; and all are steps toward more perfect realization of the Principle of Brotherhood. This Principle is now finding expression in Trades Unions, Co-operative Associations, Colonies, Profit Sharing, Fraternal So­cieties, and Fraternal Insurance Companies. Perceptions of this Principle is also stirring the world under the many phases of New Thought.

UNITARIANISM

Unitarianism, because of its organization, its persistence, its great men, its liberality, and its truth, is the great intellectual fountain from whence has flowed into every day life the latest thought along all lines of investigation. It is the cultured source that has kept sweet and clean the progress of theological thought. Despite its too coldly intellectual attitude, it has held the religious life of the people poised and harmonious, and kept the church in touch with science and philosophy. It has been the balance wheel in the mental workshop, conserving all that was good and true in all movements, and protecting the na­tional life in the excitement of fads and speculations which arise on the one hand and the advance of skepticism and materialism that threatens on the other.

In Unitarianism, we find the nearest approach on the intellectual side to the present New Thought. The fundamental principle of Unitarianism is the right of private judgment. It has no creed. Each person is expected to teach that which to him is truth. It proclaims the fundamental propositions of Mental Sci­ence and Soul Culture in its affirmations of “The Indwelling God” and “Divine Nature of Man.” “Man is not a fallen but a rising creature,” is one of its favorite maxims. ”Upon every thing write, for the service of man,” says James Freeman Clark. This denomination is not sectarian. From Channing’s time to the present, it has stood for all that is free, beautiful, and serviceable in life.

Western Unitarianism proclaims itself for “Freedom, Fellowship, and Character, in religion.” There is in Truth no break between the teachers of Mental Science and Unitarianism. Every Unitarian Society intel­lectually is New Thought. The two movements differ only in the application of Truth to life. Unitarians follow the old method: preach and educate. New Thought teaches: Demonstrate by Living. I preached in the Unitarian pulpit, taught on the Spiritualist platform, the same perceptions of Truth I now preach un­der “Soul Culture,” but there is as much difference between my then and my now, as there is between a student who reads his books on astronomy, and never looks at the stars; one who reads chemistry, and never goes to the laboratory; or one who studies mathematics, and never calculates the price of material at so much per pound. It is the difference between knowing one is a Son of God, and being a Son of God.

I preached the “Indwelling God,” and grew sick and broken down in body. I preached, “The kingdom of heaven is within you,” and created within myself the kingdom of disease, pain, worry, anxiety, fear, and heart-hunger. Honest and believing, and I then thought I was faithful. But amid my pain, and on the verge of the grave, suddenly there came in my mind this question: “If God “dwells in you, why are you sick and in pain?” As soon as I could straighten out my affairs, or better, as soon as, through suffering, the Indwelling God straightened them out, I put myself into His hands, and to the only Living God, I said: “Now, God, you dwell in me and I expect you to take care of me. I will take no more thought for my body than I did when I was a babe. You cared for it then; you will care for it now. I thought I knew what my body wanted. I find I do not know how to take care of it. I surrender it to you. I let you have perfect control of my life, because I have perfect faith in you.”

It took me some time to outgrow old habits of thought. Old doubt and old conditions would come back. But I persevered and gradually my body assumed the conditions of health. “God knows his business,” I would say to myself when things seemed to go wrong. In time, I left all things to Him. I have never fal­tered in this surrender. He became “My Silent Partner!” We are one in all Life’s manifestations. He at­tends to the subconscious; I to the conscious. He attends to the subjective; I to the objective life. All is thus ever well with me. Yet, I have not changed the idea which I had of God while in pulpit or on plat­form. I have not changed my ideas of man as Spirit. I have simply learned to make practical what I then intellectually held. God is in me “an ever present help.” Where once I felt trouble, or pain, or fear, I now know only peace: “For Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.” I trust, as the child the parent, the One “in whom I live and have my being.” I know that “The Lord is my shepherd, “and I do not want. I cannot want with Him as provider. This position is one which the faithful ones in every religious belief have taken in all ages.

We have different thoughts, but we live the same life. New Thought is the “Old Faith” intellectually ap­plied to daily thought and activity.

NEW THOUGHT

New Thought is logically carrying into daily life the faith of the church. It is consciously applying Truth which man has unconsciously applied during all his past. Unitarianism has the most nearly approached an understanding of Truth. New Thought is a method of living in the conscious thought of Divinity with the same spirit of faith which consecrated the martyrs of old. All is good. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” “I will fear no evil.” These axioms are to us as clearly self-evident truth and as easily ap­plied to daily life as are those of mathematics or chemistry. When the history of the Emancipation of the Soul from fetters of fear, authority, and reason, and its initiation into the pure air of spirit is written, many names on the roll of Unitarian teachers will be among those whom posterity will delight to honor as intellectual and noble pioneers, who by thought and life ushered in the day of our Redemption, for that day came through demonstration by living the truth, which they proclaimed.

FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS

Between 1865 and 1870 a Free Religious Society was formed in Boston with which many progressive thinkers and scholars of the nation were associated. Emerson was a member. Among the most active members were O. B. Frothingham, Francis Ellingwood Abbott, Edna D. Cheney, Lucretia Mott, Wm. H. and Celia Burleigh, and others whose names were then power in the intellectual world.

Its organ was The Index, which has, in power and ability, found no superior among liberal papers. As a seed sower, as a movement that made conditions for the present New Thought awakening, this was very important. Its literature teems with thoughts which are now the common property of all progressive men and women. Its limitations lay where the Unitarian, Universalist, Liberal League, and Free Thinkers all are limited; not in thought, but in demonstration. The Mental and Christian Scientists and all other phases of New Thought have added little to the intellectual perceptions which were already the stock of the race and which emanated from multitudes of reformers and reform movements prior to them, but these latter movements have put a soul into the intellectual mummy, and we live what they thought. The twentieth century uses the force previous centuries discovered. We now use Truth as Power, just as the nineteenth century used steam. The Free Religious movement was a spring far up the mountain; its many streams of thought have found the sea of daily life, and are now an important part of the mightiest movement the race has ever experienced. A movement that means the abolition of pain, poverty, disease and death.

RELIGIOUS AWAKENINGS

The nineteenth century saw many religious awakenings. Many prophets sprang up declaring these were “the last days.” Millerism was the most important of these. Out of that has come the Second Advent sect. Then came Mormonism. Revivals were frequent, all led by many powerful teachers.

Those who proclaimed the “end of the world” felt the oncoming power, that silent growth of Soul which would ultimately break the limitations of sense. They interpreted this feeling according to their intellec­tual and theological training. Psychometry solves these riddles of feeling. Coming events are realities of Spirit. The sensitive feels them, and must interpret them according to his intelligence, just as Sweden­borg interpreted his visions. Emerson says that Swedenborg “was hampered by theological limitations.” Andrew Jackson Davis was free from limitations of education and theology, he had never read a book when he gave the world “Nature, and her Divine Revelations.” This freedom preserved Modern Spiritu­alism from having a “founder.”

According to education and predilection of each prophet, have been interpreted the millions of commu­nications from the discarnate and from the sub-conscious. In like manner came visions, inspirations and interpretations of theologians and sectarians during the last century. From the vantage ground of the pre­sent we readily see that these awakenings were but a throe in the old order, giving birth to the New.

“The Second Coming of Christ,” and “The End of the World,” are now realities through this application, under the common sense and scientific habits of a developed race, of ancient thought of God in man. Questions that for centuries have disturbed the minds of men concerning their Soul and the future, are now settled scientifically, as have been those concerning the world, man, and his origin. Every religious

awakening takes its place as a factor, preparing for this present movement. Each new sect, each new teacher, each new interpretation of the Bible, each new convert in a revival, has helped it on.

SALVATION ARMY

This denomination was of great help during the last years of the closing century in developing the Spirit of Equality and Brotherhood. Its freedom from the virus of respectability, its spirit of helpfulness, are a protest against the exclusiveness and heartlessness of wealth and culture. It has done much to bring light to the slums of society. The spirit of New Thought is one with theirs.

HIGHER CRITICISM

While many teachers, authors and editors in various lines of New Thought are woefully ignorant of the results of Higher Criticism, and evince this by their use of, and by new interpretations of, the Bible, the public mind has been prepared for rational use and interpretation, by the emancipation that has come to it through the labor of scholars in unearthing its history. Today more is known of the origin of the books of the Old Testament, and we are better posted on ancient Jewish history than were the Rabbis at the time of Jesus; while in the history of contemporaneous, and still more ancient nations, we are intelligent where they were totally ignorant. Suffice it to say that did the hundreds who are today basing their teachings upon Biblical interpretations, know the real place and origin of the Bible, they would turn their attention to more profitable discussions. The Bible is valuable as literature; valuable as a record of the religious development of a peculiar people; valuable for the inspiration of in its beautiful passages, and as a vehicle through which the aspiring soul may find expression. The Psalms, the Prophets, the Gospels, will live as long as the human heart is human, not because they are special revelations, but because they are common revelation. They are the daily expressions of millions, and will ultimately be the expression of every soul. As Homer, and Shakespeare, as Burns and Whittier, will live wherever they voice a com­mon human need, so lives the winnowed literature of the past. The Bible so lives.

The higher criticism will have conferred its greatest benefit, when those who, under the impetus of an unfolding soul, have thrown off limitations of authority and use the Bible, and all literature as means of expressing the faith of a common humanity, and of one God in that humanity.

POLITICAL LIBERTY / ABOLITION MOVEMENT

The growth of Personal Liberty, as manifested in the weakening of sectarian fetters, is also manifest in the breaking of party fetters. When I was a lad Whigs and Democrats were born. For a boy to vote a dif­ferent ticket from his father and grandfather was to brand him a “turncoat,” and often caused him to be disinherited. The Abolition Movement was the first great disintegrating political factor. It virtually broke up the Whig party through the Free Soil movement. Ultimately, out of many fragments of old parties, the Republican Party was organized. This liberty of political action was necessary before we could be free today to advocate our principle of Emancipation from all authority and the right to follow the indi­vidual conscience. Luther proclaimed freedom of conscience as a principle, but stopped at his limit. Gar­rison proclaimed it and stopped at his limit. Mrs. Eddy proclaimed it, but limits it to her revelation. But the Soul goes marching on, and now its cry is “Truth for Authority, but no authority for Truth.” Its shib­boleth: I AM TRUTH. Every civil, theological, sectarian, social, political fetter that has been broken and was a step on the way to this New Thought affirmation. The various phases of New Thought are other steps toward unified, scientific and practical study and culture of the Soul. Soul Culture comes as the fruit on the tree of intellectual development. Man knows he IS, not has, a Soul. As body, intellect, and aesthetic ability have been systematically trained, so this century will see spiritual faculties cultivated.

Man, as Soul, will pass beyond disease, poverty, property and death; will learn to live the immortal life here and now. Will never think of any other condition than that which he can enjoy while living in a body as sensible as that he now has. No matter of what vibrations composed, he will not die to possess that body.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM

Early in the last century there was an increased interest in the discoveries of Mesmer who, during the last quarter pi the preceding century, had found that certain persons could be effected by what he, at first, thought were forces from the magnet, but which later he thought were magnetic forces of the op­erator. Later investigation has proven the power he and his contemporaries called “Animal Magnetism “to be but the power of Suggestion. All that was included in past investigation under the terms “Mesmer­ism,” “Animal Magnetism,” “Magnetic Healing,” “Electro Biology,” Statuvolence,(?)” and “Psychol­ogy,” is now included under the term “Suggestion.”

THE LAW OF SUGGESTION

Man has made no more important discovery than this law. It opens an era in human progress that pres­ages the realization of that New Civilization which prophets have foreseen and sages foretold. This Law is the one Principle, present in every New Thought movement. The Law is stated thus I AM THAT WHICH I THINK I AM. Every person is controlled by his thoughts. The mental attitude determines conditions of body and environment. The secret of all inspiration, instruction and healing, lies in know­ing how to cause friend, patient or pupil to think that which will in him produce desired conditions.

When one has caused a change in the mental attitude of another he has done all he can do for him. That other will manifest in conduct that which he has mentally accepted. Suggestion gives the key to the reli­gious, political, social, medical and industrial phenomena of life. Literature is plenteous upon this sub­ject; to it I refer the reader. I especially recommend my books as containing an up-to-date explanation of the Law and its operation. From the study of Suggestion under other names has sprung every phase of New Thought. Though it is just to say that few teachers are aware of the fundamental Principle or know the secret of their success.

PROGRESSIVE FRIENDS

These were of set of “come-outers” from the Quakers who held yearly meetings in West Chester, Pa. They comprised a body of freethinking, progressive people, who were a great leaven in American thought and a factor of power in that evolution which ultimated in New Thought.

THE CIVIL WAR

Next to Emerson, Unitarianism, and Spiritualism, the Civil War was the most potent power in breaking down partition walls between the sects and giving a free field to thought. This war was the culmination of a long struggle, closing with the emancipation of the black slave; it also freed the masses from the prejudices of sect and section. Suffering in a common love of country made each person more tolerant of others’ opinions and made more real that Ideal of Brotherhood lying in the Declaration and the first three words of the Constitution: WE, THE PEOPLE. Like a fire over a wood lot, the war burned rubbish and left a soil ready for the sprouting of new seeds. The returning soldier brought home that tolerance which comes only from comradeship in danger.

VASTNESS OF OUR COUNTRY AND ITS NEW SETTLEMENTS

Nowhere, save in the United States, could the movements which preceded New Thought have been pos­sible. The breaking of old associations by removal as pioneers, produced a mental condition ripe to im­pulses that arise in the subconscious; consequent we find every new settlement fertile in new ideas.

Constant movement westward kept public sentiment pliable. New problems were ever arising for social and political solution. This gave an intellectual impetus to the new nation, and such men as Lincoln and Douglass, and hundreds of others, were developed as were the orators and artists of Greece, for these can flourish only under spontaneous action of the Soul such as Greece had when she was emerging from barbarism to civilization. Conformity kills spontaneity and inspiration. In the new settlements, this spon­taneity was active. Now that the tide of emigration has been stopped by the Pacific, Soul still marches on, and backward goes the tide; the new century sees the breaking of new soil for Liberty. A new exodus is necessary and it comes. Liberty of Spirit comes in the twentieth century as liberty of thought came in the nineteenth. To every pioneer from Plymouth Rock to Golden Gate, we, as spiritual pioneers, owe a debt of gratitude for that condition of race thought and public opinion that makes our New Thought ac­ceptable. All is Mind, and All is Good.

THEOSOPHY

This phase of thought cannot rightly be termed a part of the New Thought movement. It is more of a side track for those who, under the impetus of the age, have reacted from the stress of modern scientific investigation and, from desire to rest upon something, are seeking that old staff: Authority. It is an at­tempt to graft upon the thought and life of this era the childish speculations of an early people, in regard to the origin and destiny of man.

While the theosophists have much in common with all forms of liberal thought their peculiar dogmas of Reincarnation and Karma distinctly isolate them from every other phase and make of them a distinctive class, which may well be called a sect. Their teachers make too great a claim for the movement, by mak­ing it cover the work of early liberals and especially that done by the Unitarians. Their doctrine of Rein­carnation is a speculation based upon unproved premises. It is the easiest way to account for much of the phenomena of existence, but they who first taught it, also accounted in the same easy way for the movement of the heavenly bodies and for the origin of earth and man. As these phases of speculation have been outgrown this should be. Karma is also a childish way of righting the seeming injustice of life. Its error lies in the claim that justice is not done here and now. Simultaneously with every thought comes its effect. The Law of Causation, which lies at the root of all scientific investigation, is not the law of Karma, for that delays effect to a future reincarnation.

To modern thought, Cause and Effect are, in the words of Emerson, “Two sides of one fact.” He also calls them “Chancellors of God.” They cannot be separated in time the one millionth part of a second. The difference between Theosophy and New Thought is that the latter deals in Demonstrated Truth, while former is based on Speculative Philosophy. New Thought deals with the now; Theosophy with unthinkable duration, both past and future. New Thought is practical and teaches one to live now, to make heaven now, and inspires man to be now all that it is possible for him to be by teaching him that he is a tree agent in shaping his life.

Despite the fact that there is much in common between these two, and that many of New Thought teach­ers accept these speculations, it is safe to say that Reincarnation and Karma will never be the accepted solution of the problems of life by scientific minds nor become part of the future Science of Mind. Every known fact and every principle of the evolution philosophy disproves them. Theosophy cannot rightly be credited with giving any great impetus to liberal thought in America. It has proven itself a ratchet upon the mental machinery of the nation, by compelling that which might have been a too rapid progress in the realm of ideas to modify its speed, thus giving time for reconsideration and correction. It has fur­nished a resting place for the leaner upon Authority for the conservative and the timid. Beyond this, it is more of a fad than a faith. It can never become the faith of the warm hearted and religious, nor meet the demand of modern mind for clearness and practicability.

I am aware of the claims made for its numbers and power which, if true, does not count; for one with truth is more than millions repeating ancient error. Remove from it these two dogmas and its peculiar nomenclature for common mental states and common phenomena and we find but the commonplace thought of all liberal teachers.

PHRENOLOGY

This phase of thought has an important place in the development of the present movement. It cannot yet rightly pose as a science, but it has important data for the Builder of the future. It is a fine study of Mind, based upon, as yet, non-established theories. Behind all its claims however rests the fact that size and texture of brain accompany certain human tendencies. Its principal error lies in giving too much power to matter. When asked if I do not believe in phrenology I answer: “Yes, in so far as it recognizes that I build my head and can control it. In so far as it tells me that I am controlled by my head, I deny it. I build my head, and it, like every other organ of my body, is subject to my will and desire. I, the Ego, made, and I, the Ego, may control the head, even to changing, first, the texture of brain, and next, the shape of the skull in which I carry my brain.” Phrenology is a great advance upon earlier theories. It has been and will continue to be a great help to Mental Science. To Spurzheim and Gall the world owes a great debt, and it is also deeply indebted to the travelling phrenologist who has been preparing the field for New Thought, by giving the common mind a nomenclature through which the present teacher can make his thought intelligible.

MODERN SPIRITUALISM

Next to Emerson I am inclined to give to Modern Spiritualism credit of being the greatest factor in the evolution of New Thought. Unitarianism gave it intellectual power, but the spiritual, the Soul recogni­tion, came from Spiritualism. This widespread movement prepared the way among the masses for a practical work, based upon the recognition of man as Spirit. This work is now done by both Christian Science and New Thought. The phenomena at Hydesville awakened an interest unequalled by any other phenomena in modern times. It set in operation all the present methods of psychic investigation, and it may be said that all the theories of Man, held during the first half of last century, have been modified as the result of the Hydesville raps. Teachers of Spiritualism have gone into almost every school district; its literature has whitened the world like a winter’s snow the landscape, while mediums with their words of comfort have been in every home. It would have been the mightiest of miracles if it had not met antago­nism in conservative circles did not disturb many old institutions and awaken many prejudices into ac­tive opposition. Seeing that it came to a common humanity, it would have also been a mighty miracle if it had not also operated, like all other phases of truth, upon the weaknesses of that common humanity and attracted to it much that has proven to be error, and some that is not in accord with good morals.

But this is also necessarily true of every awakening. Truth must use the men and women it finds, and through expression unfold them to a higher plane. The theologian, the sectarian, and the moralist, have never been the friends of progress. “Nothing so good as the old,” is their cry. But despite all that a calm judgment, after its fifty-eight, years progress, can find to condemn, the fact remains that it has proven itself to be the greatest movement for good of all the nineteenth century, and has given birth to two oth­ers destined to be still more powerful than itself. Rev. R. Heber Newton says that for many centuries the only ideas that have modified human conceptions of the Hereafter have come from Swedenborg and Modern Spiritualism. It has compelled a change in the popular opinion of death, angels, heaven, hell, and the resurrection, and forced a rational philosophy into the pulpits. In the sensational spirit which the Hydesville raps awakened the grander and more beautiful, and the most practical side of this movement, has been overlooked, save by a few teachers, societies, journals, until the movement under the name Spiritualism is almost wholly given over to phenomenalism.

By taking advantage of the credulity and ignorance of the masses many charlatans have stolen its livery, to serve the selfish propensities of man, using here, just as they have in all ages and times, the semblance of truth for selfish ends. For this reason the philosophical and practical side of the movement has sepa­rated itself from the merely phenomenal and become the inspiration of NEW THOUGHT.

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS

All New Thought ideas, save those that make man conscious that he IS spirit here and NOW, were born before the Hydesville raps, as noted before of Unitarianism. They have been repeated by Spiritualists during all the years of its existence. In 1845, three years before the Hydesville raps, in the person and Revelations of Andrew Jackson Davis, (Alibris) was Modern Spiritualism really born. And to him we may honestly date New Thought birth, though present “founders” of systems of “Healing” and teaching, and many teachers of various phases of New Thought, are not aware of the source from whence, by evo­lution, their ideas sprang. Davis was at that time a lad of fourteen years. While in mesmeric trance he gave those lectures which were later published under title of “Nature and her Divine Revelations.” This book was followed up by twenty-nine others, which make a library that no student of the “Progress of Ideas” can ignore. In them can be traced the heredity of every New Thought proposition. Davis called his system “The HarmonialPhilosophy.” The difference between this and New Thought lies principally in the emphasis which is now placed upon the individual soul in its independence from all external con­trol, its unity with the One, and its power to build its body into health and keep its environments to its desire through right thinking. But Davis, in teaching the Divinity of Man and Nature, virtually taught all this. Later teachers have brought into clearer light the truth he proclaimed. Methods of application are many, but Truth is One.

Davis started Philosophical Spiritualism and this is so near New Thought that I am not able to “Draw a line between the two where God has not.” The Affirmation of Phenomenal Spiritualism is: I live as Spirit after the death of my body. The Affirmation of New Thought is: Man is Spirit, here and now. The Affirmation of Soul Culture is: I live the Spiritual life, here and now. Davis writes and speaks in what he terms the “Superior condition” which is the condition of all inspired persons. Tennyson tells us that he reached this condition by repeating his own name till he passed into a state he termed “the perfection of individuality.” New Thought people arrive at it by concentration under some Affirmation. It is termed, “Going into the Silence.” A better term is, “Listening to the Silence.” When present prejudices and sec­tarian feelings are lost in a love of Truth, the meed will be awarded to Ralph Waldo Emerson and An­drew Jackson Davis as the greatest prophets of the New Civilization which is a Brotherhood, or, as Davis termed it: An Arabula.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

A very important Thought-movement, found at the beginning of this century, is named “Christian Sci­ence.” To Mary Baker Eddy rightly belongs the credit of originating both the name and the interpretation of Scripture adopted by this sect. Long prior to her advent, others had used the same Principles for heal­ing purposes. Emerson had, long before, taught the same truth and mesmerists of all names and grades, magnetic healers and faith curers, had all applied it. She instituted a method based upon a peculiar inter­pretation of the Bible. The Principle of Suggestion is the foundation. Most of her philosophy is the common stock of all liberal people, and, prior to her advent, had been much more clearly taught as spiri­tualism. Christian Scientists are restricted to a reading, and a study of the Bible, and Mrs. Eddy’s inter­pretation of it in her book, “Science and Health,” and to the official publications of the “Mother Church” in Boston. No latitude is allowed for individual opinion. Mrs. Eddy, in the Preface to the 48th edition of “Science and Health,” printed in 1890, says: “The first edition of ‘Science and Health’ was published in 1875.” In the first chapter of this edition, she says: “In the year 1866, I discovered metaphysical healing and named it, ‘Christian Science.'” All who wish to know her system and her interpretation of Scripture, are referred to the publications of this sect. Most of the writings of these people are repellant from their dogmatism and authoritative manner of presentation. They are persistent proselytes. All lectures and books are made to accord with the teachings of “Science and Health.” That, in an age of freedom, so large a following can be obtained to so sectarian a movement, is a strange psychological fact which can be accounted for only upon the propensity men have to lean on authority, and by recognizing that the spirit which led men to follow a “Thus said the Lord,” in time of Moses, still controls the masses. Wise men do not submit to limitations. “Unchain Truth,” is the cry of Col. Sabin who has come out from that sect to a broader field of thought. Christian Science is a necessary step in the evolution of the race. Through it many will pass from the tyranny of ecclesiastic dogma to that of “Science and Health,” and finding this too narrow will pass, as thousands already have, into the freedom of New Thought.

Mrs. Eddy’s basic proposition is pure Idealism. Mind is All. In Chapter X of her book she gives the “Platform of Christian Science.” It consists of twenty planks none of which are original. Was there al­lowed a free interpretation they would not be obnoxious. But Mrs. Eddy is the Supreme Court and gives her own interpretation, thus imprisoning the intellect of her followers. This is the distinction between Christian Science and New Thought, for Christian Science is not New Thought, and is not to be classed among New Thought movements. Because the popular conception so places it, I devote this space to it.

Christian Science is fifteenth century in its methods. It follows the theologic tendency in its dominion over the human will. It limits, as did Moses, inspiration. The God of Mrs. Eddy is Mohammedan in its exclusiveness. The author of “Science and Health” claims to speak from the authority of “the Spirit,” and her word is final. What she says must not even be discussed. The liberty of private judgment is the gift of the Reformation. Here it is denied with all the power of a Tetzel or a Diet of Worms. The Truth in Christian Science is the common inheritance of Humanity. Inspiration is still common. Well says Sam­uel Longfellow:

Lord, thy Word abideth ever,
Inspiration is not sealed;
Answering unto man’s endeavor,
Truth and Right are still revealed.
That which came to ancient sages,
Greek, Barbarian, Roman, Jew,
Written in the heart’s deep pages,
Shines today forever new.

The power of Authority over the Soul is broken. Mrs. Eddy’s proclamation looks like .another attempt to corner Truth, for she says, on page 12 of “Science and Health”: “No human tongue or pen has suggested the contents of “Science and Health,” or can tongue or pen overthrow it.”

Christian Scientists heal thousands. They cure a much larger proportion of their patients than do doctors of all schools. Their only mistake lies in denying the same power to others and in limiting the One Uni­versal Life to one method and to one person’s conception of Supreme Power. They have Truth but not all of truth. They have a method, but not all possible methods. They heal, but in no greater proportion than other Thought Healers. All healing is one, for the origin of Life is One. Neither Life nor Healing de­pends upon our conceptions of Truth anymore than our being hit with lightning depends upon our knowledge of electricity. All who are in the lightning’s path are hit, be they wise or ignorant in electric lore. So all who obey conditions of health have it, and heal, no matter what are their opinions of the power. Mind is one in all men. Thought is Power, Suggestion in the Law. Whenever in sincerity one thinks Health, he is healed. These two streams, New Thought and Christian Science, will both continue. As long as man is weak and seeks for assistance outside himself Christian Science will endure in some form and under some name. As long as man is intellectually free New Thought will be his Philosophy and control his life. Freedom and authority are represented by the two systems and are now, as never before, brought face to face in a practical work in a scientific and inventive age and in a free land. Give them both a fair field. Between the two the Soul goes marching on and never long submits to limitations. Truth finds a way of expression or makes one. New Thought will make ten thousand channels and will reach the sea. The other, like all organized power, must ultimately die. New Thought will never organ­ize. Its genus is Freedom. There will come a unity of action. Under it all will come to a Realization of Truth, and societies of expression will naturally crystallize, not to think alike, but to work together for the good of all. Both movements are now disintegrating old institutions. The one whose watchword is “without limitations” will redeem the world.

MENTAL SCIENCE

Mrs. Helen Wilmans of Sea Breeze, Florida, is rightly the founder of this branch of New Thought. She terms it Mental Science. It is based upon the principles of Idealism. She differs from many, and from myself, through the ignoring of psychic phenomena, rejecting all conception of spirit and claiming all phenomena to be mental. She recognizes no communication except between minds incarnate, and seems to limit the individual entirely to his own mentality. Man is Mind, is her Affirmation, and she consis­tently follows the Affirmation in all her writings, but seems to limit mind entirely to the thinking func­tion. Her paper, Freedom, her books and lessons have been a most important factor in New Thought.

She has laid a foundation broad and deep for future builders. She is a most successful healer by absent treatment and cures 90 per cent of her patients. Her two books of power are “Conquest of Poverty” and “Conquests of Death.” She is a strenuous advocate of earthly immorality. These books will carry her name down to posterity. She has suffered, and at this writing is still suffering, civil persecution through antagonisms aroused by her absent treatments. All reformers have had similar persecutions, and Truth the more abounds because of it. Freedom, Mrs. Wilmans’ paper, is a weekly, published at Sea Breeze at $2.00 a year. At present writing, owing to governmental interference, it is suspended, I trust but tempo­rarily.

DIVINE SCIENCE

This phase of New Thought was instituted by Mrs. M. E. Cramer, of San Francisco. It is midway be­tween Christian Science and New Thought. It has New Thought freedom with Christian Science reliance upon Bible. Yet Mrs. Cramer claims no authoritative interpretation. She has a rational, commonsense philosophy of life. This is her statement of Truth:

There can be but one All. This All in All is God, and God manifest.

One is the number of Unity. Unity is forever the state or nature of one. God being Infinite, there can be no finite. He is all of Being, Creative action and Creation. “I and my Father are one!”

God is Spirit; all of Life, Love, Truth, Substance, Soul, and Intelligence; all of Knowledge, all of Power, all of Presence. Like expresses like; hence Man is Spirit, Life, Love, Truth, Substance,

Soul, Knowledge, Power, and Presence, the exact image and likeness of Him, co-eternal and co­equal with Him.

Nothing can be manifest that is not before it is manifest. As God alone is, it is God who mani­fests in an ever-present creation.

That which is begotten of Spirit is Spirit. I am before I am manifest. Man is potential in God, and is expresser, co-worker, and capable of doing God’s will demonstrating the Nature of Spirit.

Man is Being and Existence, created in the image of God’s eternity and wholeness. There is one Spirit and one Body. Individually, we are inseparable. Evil, so-called, is simply falling short, or missing the mark of, this Truth.

The organ of this movement is Harmony, now in its 17th year, published in San Francisco at $1 a year. Mrs. Cramer also publishes several books and holds meetings and classes at her College of Divine Sci­ence in this city.

TRUTH STUDENTS

A class of sincere, intelligent and progressive people take this name. They establish “Homes of Truth” where teaching and healing is done and freewill offerings received. Their thought does not differ from that of Mental and Divine Scientists. Their methods are, however, more in harmony with Divine Sci­ence. They use the Bible, giving it a spiritual interpretation. They are in every way successful and form an important branch of the New Thought movement. Unity, $1 a year, of Kansas City, Mo., is their prin­cipal journal. It is ever fair and honorable in its treatment of all other phases of thought, and has at its head two of the clearest of teachers, Charles and Myrtle Filmore. Unity Company also publishes the only child’s paper in New Thought, Wee Wisdom. It is a beautiful little sheet, filled with just the thought that will make the child who reads it self-reliant, honorable and happy. It is 50c a year, and should be in every home as the child’s companion.

SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS

One of the most important phases of New Thought is known as Suggestive Therapeutics or Healing by Suggestion. It is based upon the Law of Suggestion, a Law which underlies all the methods of the vari­ous schools of Mental Healing. While other schools use silent methods alone, in this school every known method of conveying a Suggestion is used. Since the Law is: I am that which I think I am, it fol­lows that all that any system can do is to bring the patient into a right mental attitude, then the Soul (or Mind) works the cure.* “Magnetic Healing,” and other forms of healing, are facts, but Suggestion is an ever-present factor in them all. That the Human body possesses something akin to radio-activity that will heal, is a well attested fact. That there are mental and psychic forces that can heal, is also a fact; but without Suggestion they can be neither conveyed nor received. A Suggestion, by word, gesture or thought, is necessary. It is constantly becoming more widely recognized that Suggestion plays a more important part in healing, even when medicine is used, than most have been willing to allow. The under­lying Principles of all schools of New Thought are: Mind controls all the manifestations of Human life, and disease is the result of mental conditions. Whatever, therefore, conduces to proper and healthful mental states, tends to cure. The success of practitioners in Suggestion in curing all manner of human ills, is making extensive demands upon its teachers, and schools, institutions and teachers of all grades of excellence, are plentiful.

The leading journal in this line is Suggestion, published in Chicago, $1 a year. The literature upon this subject is large. Any good author upon Hypnotism will do to start with. Hudson’s “Law of Psychic Phe­nomena” is good, providing one will not be misled by his special plea for a dual mind and his prejudice against Spiritualism. A. E. Carpenter’s little book, “Plain instructions in Hypnotism,” and my two books, “How to Control Fate through Suggestion’’ and “Not Hypnotism but Suggestion,” are especially recom­mended to be read before others are taken up. They will open the way to a more accurate judgment than can be formed from advertisements. A most essential knowledge in New Thought is that of Suggestion. Without it, one will fall into fads and impose limitations upon Truth. Suggestion, when used upon one’s self, is termed Self-Suggestion Auto-Suggestion or better still, Affirmation. Through the use of Affirma­tion, one can cure all ills, including failure and poverty.

The popular name for this method of healing is Hypnotism, but this term conveys a wrong impression. It was coined from a misconception of the source of the power, and is now repudiated by all advanced thinkers in this field of thought. The power is that of the patient’s own mind, directed by the wise Sug­gestion of the Healer. Suggestion here, as everywhere in life, is the potent factor.

PSYCHIC RESEARCH SOCIETY

For twenty years or more a number of scientific gentlemen, under the name of “The Psychic Research Society,” have been investigating psychic phenomena with a view of ascertaining first, “the truthfulness of the common tales;” next, to discover the origin of the phenomena. Among its more active members are included eminent psychologists, physicists and authoritative thinkers in many fields of activity. Among them are Sir William Crooks, Oliver Lodge, Balfour Stewart, W. F. Barrett, Arthur Balflour, E. W. H. Myers, Andrew Lang, Lord Rayleigh, and many others of prominence in England, with Phillips Brooks, William James, J. H. Hyslop, R. Heber-Newton, Minot J. Savage, and others of equal power in the United States. Gladstone remarked to Professor Myers that the work of the Society “was the most important being done in the world by far the most important.” This society has published the results of its researches and many have been convinced, by the phenomena so carefully reported and studied, that Man lives after death and can, under right conditions, communicate with those still in the material form. Prof. Myers, the secretary, has given the world the results of these years of investigation in a work enti­tled, “Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death,” which is one of the most important works since Darwin’s promulgation of “The Origin of the Species.”

What may be the opinion of other members of the committee, Prof. Myers in these words announces the results of the study upon himself:

It seems to me that a growing conception of the unity and the solidarity of the Human race is preparing the way for a world religion which expresses and rests upon that solidarity. * * * The new conception is neither of benefactors dead and done for, inspiring us from their dates in the almanac, nor of shadowy saints imagined to intercede for us at the tribunals more shadowy still; but rather of a human unity, close linked beneath an unknown sway, wherein every man who has been or now is, makes a living element, inalienable, incorporate, and imperishable co-operant, and joint inheritor of one Infinite hope.

From the evidence presented he draws this conclusion:

Every element of individual wisdom, virtue and love, develops in infinite evolution towards an ever-nearing hope: towards “Him who is at once thine innermost Self and thine ever unattain­able Desire.”

In this outburst of faith he gives as the promise for the Twentieth century’s zenith the realization of Im­mortality: have often felt as though the present age were ever unduly favored, as though no future revela­tion and calm could equal the joy of this great struggle from doubt into certainty; from material­ism or agnosticism which accompanies the first advance of Science, into the deeper scientific conviction, that there is a deathless soul in man. I can imagine no other crises of such deep de­light. End* less are the varieties of lofty joy. In the age of Thales, Greece knew the delight of the first dim notion of cosmic unity and law. In the age of Christ, Europe felt the authentic messages from a world beyond our own. In our own age, we reach the perception that such messages may become continuous and progressive; that between seen and unseen, there is a channel andfair way which future generations may learn to widen and clarify. Nay, in the Infinite Universe, man may now feel for the first time at home. The worst fear is over; the true security is won. The worst fear was the fear of spiritual extinction or spiritual solitude; the true security is in the tele­pathic law.

OSTEOPATHY

While this school of medicine is a great advance upon the old schools, it cannot be properly classed with New Thought. It recognizes body, and adopts methods of bodily treatments and hygienic precautions while New Thought relies entirely upon Mental treatments. However, this school recognizes, to an ever- widening extent, the effect of mental conditions and adopts mental methods of healing. Its progressive practitioners are rapidly growing into Suggestive Therapeutics. This ally is heartily welcomed. They have secured legal recognition in many states, and are an important factor in securing Medical Liberty for all. This extract from the Health Magazine by Dr. W. P. Burk, of the College and Sanitarium in this city, reveals something of the position of Osteopathy:

I have found that where the organs of the body are thrown down by reason of the mental part be­ing out of adjustment, that in spite of all physical methods the mal-adjustment continues and will, until the psychic part is adjusted. Condemn no organ of the body, but agree with it and the vic­tory is complete and lasting. Ignorance of the Laws of Life on the plane of man’s existence is re­sponsible for the great horde of physicians and nurses, drug stores, and drug-giving, the exis­tence of sanitariums and all the different systems of cure in use at the present time.

LITERATURE OF NEW THOUGHT

Students of New Thought will find an extensive literature from which to choose. Poems, essays, lessons, treatises, lectures, tracts, compends and journals are numerous. I can mention only the most widely known of these. Among authors I notice first Rev. William Felt Evans. He began to publish early in the sixties. His books are among the very best. “Mental Cure,” “Mental Medicine,” “Divine Law of Cure,” “Primitive Mind Cure,” “Soul and Body,” and “Esoteric Christianity,” comprise a valuable library. Pren­tice Mulford was also one of the prolific and powerful early authors.

P. P. Quimby of Portland, Maine, was probably the first to apply in its present form the principle of Mental Healing. The reader is referred to a book by Mrs. A. G. Dresser, entitled “Philosophy of P. P. Quimby,” and “The True History of Mental Science,” by J. A. Dresser(?), for an extended report of Dr. Quimby. Mrs. Eddy was a patient and pupil of Dr. Quimby, and later applied the Principle he discovered and the philosophy she obtained from her acquaintance with Spiritualism, to her system of Biblical in­terpretation and method of cure. Dr. Quimby was first a practitioner in “Animal Magnetism,” and by ex­perimentation came to the conclusion that disease was a belief. For several years he taught and treated from this Thought, which is now the foundation Principle of all mental healing.

Dr. J. H. Dewey of New York City has taught for many years a rational, but spiritual interpretation of the Bible, and his many works are a valuable contribution to New Thought.

Especially recommended are the works of Ralph Waldo Trine, H. S. Dresser(?), Chas. Newcomb, Henry Wood, Paul Tyner, Horace Fletcher, Eugene Del Mar, R. Heber Newton, Anna McGowan, Lillian Whit­ing, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, F. B. Dowd, W. J. Colville, Lizzie Doten, Franz Hartman, Minot J. Savage, Charles Brodie Patterson, Thomas J. Hudson, Henry Frank, Eleanor Kirk, Emilie Cady, Ursula Gester- field, James Allen, Hannah Moore Kohaus, Helen Van Anderson, Emma Curtis Hopkins, Fannie B. James, Thomas J. Shelton, Anna Rix Militz, Edmund Whipple, A. P. Call, Stanton Kirkham Davis,

Helen Wilmans, Theodore F. Seward, Nancy McKay Gordan, Lida Churchill, Alfred Russell Wallace, Dr. J. R. Buchannan, Sir William Crookes, Margaret B. Peak, Hudson Tuttle, Ernest Loomis, Andrew Jackson Davis, C. W. Close, S. A. Weltmer, Robert G. Ingersoll, Charles Dawbarn, F. N. Doud, Joseph Stewart, O. Kashnu Hara, and HENRY HARRISON BROWN. These authors cover all the many phases of New Thought. Each has his or her work in the great evolution of Thought, which the twentieth cen­tury is to manifest.

NEW THOUGHT JOURNALS

No field of journalistic labor shows greater intellectual power than New Thought. In addition to this fact is this more important one: they show a moral power that is a saving grace to the nation. The spirit of the old martyrs is upon the editors of New Thought journals, but having up-to-date wisdom they do not in­vite martyrdom, or believe in it. In strong and convincing words they speak, and behind the word is that spirit of love, which recognizes mankind as one, and they all trust that common Father who moves upon the hearts and brains of His children. It is an honor to be a co-worker with such men and women. Here is a brief glance at the Journals:

Mind, New York City, $2.00 per year, monthly, edited by Charles Brodie Patterson, is the only maga­zine of its class devoted to New Thought. It is the heavy artillery of the movement.

Metaphysical Magazine, N. Y., is a quarterly edited by Leander Whipple at $1.

Realization, Washington, D. C., $1.50, edited by Joseph Stewart; bi-monthly.

Christian, Denver, Colo., monthly, $1. Edited by Thomas J. Shelton. This is one of the oldest and most widely circulated of New Thought Journals. Mr. Shelton calls himself “Christian Science,” but has noth­ing in common with Mrs. Eddy, being in all ways an individualist.

Freedom, Sea Breeze, Fla., weekly (see p. 43) Nautilus, Holyoke, Mass., monthly, 50c. Elizabeth Towne, editor. This is to be classed with the successful and outspoken of New Thought journals. Its phi­losophy is individualistic and free from all theological tendencies.

Eleanor Kirk’s Monthly, Brooklyn, N. Y., $1. A progressive, clear-headed woman edits this and it is felt wherever read.

Dominion, Brooklyn, N. Y., bi-monthly, $1. Edited by Francis Edgar Mason, who for years has been pastor of the “Dominion Church.” A journal with clear statements of the Principles of Life.

Radiant Centre, Washington, D. C., monthly $1. Kate Atkinson Boehme, editor. Fills an important place as it recognizes what many do not, the reality of psychic phenomena.

Washington News Letter, Washington, D. C., monthly, $1. Col. Oliver C. Sabin, editor. This is the or­gan of “The Reformed Christian Church,” of which Col. Sabin is Bishop. Aside from its close adhesion to Biblical terms and interpretations it has nothing that differentiates it from other phases of New Thought.

Unity and Wee Wisdom, of Kansas City, $1 and 50c, have been noticed. Both are doing noble service. They are welcome at “NOW” Home for the spiritual atmosphere they bring.

Life, Kansas City, Mo., monthly, $1. A journal of Applied Metaphysics. A. P. and C. J. Barton,editors. One of the oldest and staunchest of independent metaphysical journals. Every word Mr. Barton pens for Life is fraught with a deep sense of the responsibility of his position as teacher.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s articles in the Hearst Syndicate are valuable contributions to New Thought.

The Higher Thought, Kalamazoo, Mich., monthly, 50c. Evelyn Arthur and Chester See, editors. A jour­nal full of strong spiritual vibrations.

Worlds Advanced Thought, Portland, Ore., 50c monthly. Lucy A. Mallpry, editor. Mrs. Mallory has published this for many years. I am of the impression that it is the oldest New Thought journal. She is a very clear thinker and careful writer, her principles of the highest and her ideal the noblest. She is a great sower of seed thoughts, which are -widely quoted.

Fred Burfs Journal, monthly, Toronto, Can., $1. This is the only Canadian journal advocating New Thought. The editor publishes only his own articles and has no need to call assistance. He puts out a most helpful journal, free from the limitations of any authority but his own sense of right.

It, San Antonio, Tex. Editor, G. Ralph Weston, M. D., $1. This is a comparatively new venture and evi­dently has come to stay for it claims quite a circulation. It is a fearless, outspoken journal along Mental Science lines.

Mental Advocate, Chicago, 111. Organ of the Prentice Mulford Society. $1 a year.

Common Sense Advocate, Denver, Colo. Eugene Del Mar, editor. $1.00. Is a meaty journal by a clear and forcible reasoner and Mental Science teacher.

New Thought Searchlight, Allegheny, Pa., $1.00. Edited by Virginia F. Sheppard. A clean little journal advocating Suggestion in healing and recognizing that psychic phenomena which demonstrates Man to be spirit now and eternally.

Now, A Journal of Affirmation, monthly, San Francisco, Cal. Henry Harrison Brown, editor. $1 a year. Its Fundamental Principle is: Man is Spirit here, and lives the spiritual life now. Its method of instruction is by Affirmation. It is in its 4th volume. Each number contains “A Lesson in Soul Culture;” a series of Affirmations; an editorial upon some phases of Life and its manifestation, besides report of Phenomena, selections from leading New Thought journals, book notices, and poem by the editor, and dialect poems by Sam Exton Foulds. It is a leading New Thought journal, carefully edited, outspoken and fearless, yet

ever kindly. Its spirit is that of Emerson’s admonition: “Don’t bark against the bad, but chant the beauties of the GOOD.”

THE UNITARIAN JOURNALS ARE:

Christian Register, Boston, Mass., $2. There is not in the U. S. a more carefully edited journal. It has contributions from the brightest writers and ministers, and while conservative, is free in expression. It has powerful influence in literary and theological fields.

Unity, Chicago, $1. Is the organ of Western Unitarianism, edited by one of the most soulful of ministers, Jenkins Lloyd Jones. It is in the front rank of journals for its humanitarian and progressive ideas.

Pacific Coast Unitarianism is represented by the Pacific Unitarian, published at San Francisco, Cal., at $1. This is a fine little paper much less known than it deserves.

Our Best Words, Shelbyville, 111., at 50c., is a little journal in its 21st volume, edited by Jasper L. Douthit, Unitarian minister at that place.

SPIRITUALISM

Among journals devoted to Spiritualism I recommend The Banner of Light, Boston, Mass., weekly, $2 a year Light of Truth, Columbus, Ohio, weekly, $1 Philosophical Journal, San Francisco, Cal., $1 Sunflower, Lilly Dale, N. Y., $1

MISCELLANEOUS

Among journals devoted in part to New Thought is noted:

Magazine of Mysteries, N. Y., monthly, $1 Medical Talk, Columbus, Oh. Monthly, 50c a year.

Ariel, monthly, 50c., West wood, Mass., $1.

Riches, Ruskin, Tenn. 25c.

Moments, New Denver, B. C., $1.

SelfCulture, Omaha, Neb., $1. P. Braun, editor.

Reasoner, $1 a year, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Jacob Tulley, editor. A very progressive journal; two pages devoted to New Thought.

New Life, Orfino, Ida., 75c a year.

Occult Tiuth Seeker, Lawrence, Kan., $1.

Naturopath, N. Y. City, devoted more especially to the Father Kneipp nature cure. $1 TEACHERS AND SOCIETIES

Are numerous in every city. It would require quite a book to contain their names. Many have cards in the various journals. The reader is referred to them. Anyone desiring lessons is recommended to take advice in regard to teachers from those well posted in New Thought. All sorts of fads and personal idio­syncrasies are being palmed off upon the public as phases of New Thought. Astrology, Palmistry, Physi­cal Culture, Vegetarianism, Fasting, Dieting, Graphology, Chromophathy, etc., are no more a part of New Thought than are Geology, Chemistry and Physiology. These may be truth, but they are not New Thought. They rest upon a recognition of the body. New Thought recognizes Mind alone, and cures alone through mental agencies. Hygiene, Dieting, etc., take cognizance of body are the application of methods that recognize physical instrumentalities. It is not the author’s business to decide what truth there may be in any system. It is his business to classify. Only those who teach and rely upon purely

Mental Methods does he class as New Thought. Mind is all. Mind controls its manifestation, called body. Body is the creation of mind. All physical conditions are the reflection of mental conditions. Un­pleasant conditions are to be removed by mental means. Thought is the instrumentality, and the only one, used by New Thought teachers. The axiom of the movement is: MAN HAS POWER THROUGH RIGHT THINKING TO CONTROL HIS ENVIRONMENT.

SOCIETIES

Many societies along each of the lines enumerated in preceding sections, have been formed all over the United States. It is estimated that those who accept some phase of New Thought already number mil­lions. This list of societies in Chicago sent out with the circulars for a New Thought Convention may be taken as a criterion for other cities: College of Freedom; Chicago Truth Center; Exodus Soceity; Eso­teric Extension; Mental Science Institute; Prentice Mulford Club; Sara Wilder Pratt Rooms; Universal Truth Club; and Truth Students.

FOREIGN JOURNALS, AND PROGRESS

The only foreign New Thought journals that come to NOW office are: The Light of Reason, edited by James Allen, London; the English Magazine of Mysteries, edited by O Hashnu Hara, the well known English writer upon Occult themes; The Century, published at Adelaide, New South Wales, Australia; and one from Madras, India, printed in native tongue, entitled The Viveka Chintamani” That this Thought has penetrated every land is evidenced by the fact that NOW has subscribers, and “NOW” Folk correspondents, in every land where English is spoken.

Soul Culture and “NOW” Philosophy, Explained and Defined.

Soul Culture is an attempt to systematically cultivate the spiritual faculties. Conscious of physical pow­ers, man has learned to cultivate them; conscious of intellectual powers, he has learned to discipline them; conscious of esthetic powers, he has learned to develop them. He is now becoming conscious of himself as Spirit, and in this consciousness is recognizing within himself spiritual faculties. Call them “psychic” if it please you, or name them with Paul, “Spiritual gifts.” In this recognition, he is learning to develop them. I AM AN UNFOLDING SOUL, is the Affirmation of progressive persons. All New Thought schools are more or less imbued with this perception. But in the inception of so great a move­ment, there is necessarily much chaff with the wheat. No method, no Philosophy, should be too critically examined, but each should be studied for the Truth there is in it, and not as an expected perfect expres­sion of Truth. As the best that can be formulated under present knowledge, I put forth Soul Culture, which is an extended application of the present scientific method of investigation and practice, by carry­ing rational thought into spiritual fields.

I AM SPIRIT

Soul Culture is based upon the Affirmation: I AM SPIRIT! which is the individual application of the larger Affirmation: ALL is SPIRIT! Let it be understood that no attempt is made to tell what this Uni­versal Spirit is. It stands for that “power behind phenomena” which men in all ages have recognized and named by various names, among which are “God,” “Brahma,” “Allah,” “Mind,” “Force,” “Intelligence,” “Eternal Wisdom,” “Omnipotence,” “Energy.” I prefer the term, Spirit.

AFFIRMATION

“NOW Philosophy is based upon the Principle of Affirmation. This is the individual side of the Law of Suggestion: I AM THAT WHICH I THINK I AM. It is also termed Auto-Suggestion and Self­Hypnotism. This is stating in the terms of today the thought of old as expressed in the words, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,” which is to be interpreted thus: A person is controlled by his convictions of Truth. Upon this Law, all the work of Soul Culture rests. Teach a person WHAT TO THINK, and How TO THINK, and you have done for him all you can. The Law of Suggestion is the Universal and Ever-present Law of Human life. Through a knowledge and application of it, one may control his fate.

UNITY

This also is a fundamental Principle in “NOW” Philosophy. It is now fundamental to all philosophic and scientific reasoning! But in this system it is carried to its full logical extent. Everywhere and in every­thing, nothing is seen but the manifestation of ONE SOMETHING, and that something is GOOD. This One, which I call indifferently Spirit or God, manifests in millions of ways, but no matter what the manifestation, that form of manifestation is known only as “A mode of Motion.” The only way this One is known to us is through these modes of Motion. IT will not do to affirm that this One is Motion, but it is true, that all we can ever know of IT, is through Motion. This motion may be etheric, atomic, molecu­lar, electric, or the action of ions, but in whatever form, it is manifest to the senses as Vibration, and consciously recognized as Sensation.

These Modes of Motion differ in the speed of Vibration. Both Vibration and the resulting Sensation are named alike. For instance: Heat is the name for waves of motion of a certain length and speed, and also for the sensation produced by them. So it is with light, sound, etc.

THE IDEA OF DUALITY

The primitive man’s, the child man’s, idea of the Universe was that of two antagonistic forces ever at war. One was good and one was evil. This primitive idea still maintains its place among the masses, but has passed away from all who adopt New Thought. Science having demonstrated that there is but one Energy under various Modes of Motion, it follows that Philosophy and Ethics must also give up the idea of duality. The One Power cannot be both Good and Evil. To New Thought all is Good. Good and evil are not conditions of the One, but are the mental attitude the individual takes toward manifestations of the One. Evil is not in the circumstance; it is the way in which the circumstance is viewed. Evil is not in the manifestations of God, in the manifestations of Eternal Energy, but is the opinion one holds of that manifestation. The circumstances of life are non-ethical. Electricity, wind, rain, fire, flood, sun, night, etc., are in themselves without ethical significance. These, in lands where man is not, are neither food nor bad. When man comes among them he soon divides them into those he enjoys and those he fears. This distinction he makes from their effects upon himself. Thus, sun is good to the person who wishes it to ripen his grain; it is evil to him who falls under its stroke. But the ultimate of every human experience is knowledge and unfoldment. New Thought looks beyond present appearance, to the wisdom and good­ness of the ONE and affirms: ALL IS GOOD.

This is one of the principal Affirmations of Soul Culture. To affirm it and actualize it by living it is to make every circumstance good, easily endured, because it is a lesson. The recognition of the All Good makes the manifestations of life joyous.

TELEPATHY

Soul Culture is in harmony with the deductions of science, and through the phenomena of Telepathy, which is the transference of a thought or an emotion from one person to another without material means of contact. It is now a demonstrated fact that Thought and Emotion are also forms of Force, “Modes of Motion,” manifestations of Universal energy, and subject to investigation and intelligent control as are the ordinary forms of Energy. This fact is the connecting link between Physical and Spiritual science. It unites physics and metaphysics, making of the two one Science of Mind.

SPIRITUAL FACULTIES

Heretofore man has limited his perceptions of Modes of Motion (Vibrations) to those recognized by his five senses. The fact that Thought and Emotion are also Modes of Motion led to the discovery that man has means of recognizing these finer Vibrations, and to the five senses is added those spiritual means of recognition which we term: Intuition, Inspiration, Telepathy, Clairvoyance, and Psychometry. These are the conscious responses to the higher, as the five senses are to the lower, Vibrations.

CONTROL OF LIFE THROUGH KNOWLEDGE OF FINER FORCES

Understanding Thought as Force, man has it in his power, through the control of Thought, to control his life expression, and make of himself whatever he chooses. All possibilities lie latent within the Soul. Since Man is that which he is convinced he is, it is possible by the persistent holding of an Ideal to be­come in manifestation that Ideal. Only thus has any person accomplished anything in life. Soul culture teaches how to do this intelligently, and how to develop any faculty at will. Through choice, Man will in future avoid sickness, failure, pain, sorrow, and all unhappiness, since he can think what he chooses, and Thought, because it is Force, moulds his Ideal into material shape.

UNFOLDMENT OF SPIRITUAL FACULTIES

Through application of the knowledge of sound as Vibration, man has trained the ear so that where the uneducated will not notice discord, the trained ear will detect a false tone on any one of fifty instru­ments. The trained eye detects shades in colors the ordinary does not see. The tea taster has trained his tongue to detect slightest flavors, and the fingers of the blind are sensitive to slightest inequalities in sur­faces. This sensitiveness is an extension of the recognition of Sensations. Thought and Love produce Sensations, not upon special organs, but upon the whole nervous system. For instance, we FEEL uncom­fortable in the presence of certain persons or in certain rooms; we sense coming events; at times we feel depressed or elated without being able to find cause in the ordinary channels. A study of these sensations in the present recognition of Thought and Love as Power, has given rise to the many schools of New Thought, and the methods of healing noted in preceding pages. Soul Culture is the result of thirty-five years investigation on my part of all psychic phenomena under the Law of Suggestion.

EACH PERSON IS AN EGO

Each person is an Ego, an individual Soul, a part of the Indivisible ONE, and possesses in the Real Self, also called the Sub-conscious, all possibilities of Infinity. These possibilities lie in it, awaiting unfold- ment into consciousness. All power and all wisdom are there. Life, Thought, and Love, are there in lim­itless quantity. Therefore, when one knows how to awaken into expression this sub-conscious self, he can call upon it for supply of Life, and thus ever manifest normally in that condition we call health; can call upon it for Intelligence, for Love, for Supply in any direction. Supply is Infinite, for the Soul is One

with Infinity, and has the ALL for its reservoir. With right thought and emotion, body and environment can be made as desired. The secret of health, success and happiness lies in knowing what and how to think and then THINKING.

THE PURPOSE OF SOUL CULTURE

Is to teach men and women so to think as to open to conscious manifestation this Infinite Supply; to help men and women to consciously control their destiny through right thinking; to help them, through con­scious choice, to build life to desire. As a child of Infinite Energy, as “A son of God,” as “The heir of all the ages,” man is to become conscious that he possesses “dominion over all things.” Mankind has looked forward to a “Millennium,” to the “Second Coming of Christ,” to a “Day of Redemption,” when all shall be blessed. All may consciously, by the Affirmation, ALL IS GOOD, make conditions to fulfill all these prophecies, longings and hopes of mankind. That time has come to thousands who have ac­cepted New Thought. All should recognize it as being here now, for it comes to every one as soon as he recognizes that the Soul is one with Infinity arid he consciously lives in the Affirmations: I AM SPIRIT HERE AND NOW! I LIVE THE ETERNAL LIFE HERE AND NOW!

YOU Who Read this Book . . .

Believing that you are interested in, and desirous of a greater understanding of Mind and Spiritual Law, we take the liberty of briefly stating the treat we have in store for you.

Drop in Line

Ella Wheeler Wilcox says: “If this is not a Spiritual Age, it certainly is an age of Spiritual Hunger.” Prof. Edgar L. Larkin, of Mt. Lowe Observatory, in the Hearst papers, says: “The most wonderful things are being discovered. There is time here to mention one only, that amazing thing, Suggestion. (Hundreds of swindling fakirs have appeared, and fanatical sects, who have abused this majestic faculty of mind.) There is a real base to it; it is a complex and comprehensive science.”

No Short Cuts

You should ever remember that there are no short cuts to knowledge.

Get the Best to Start With

The author of this book, Henry Harrison Brown, who is author of several other instructive books along mental and spiritual lines, is also editor of NOW, Teacher, Lecturer and Psychometrist. There is no doubt but that Mr. Brown is one of the great teachers along mental and spiritual lines. His books re­ceived praise from many of our most prominent writers.

Reading Books

After reading Mr. Brown’s books and subscribing for his monthly journal (see announcement opposite title page, he recommends the student next to take his correspondence lessons. These Correspondence Lessons include: the Art of Suggestion, the Art of Living, and Psychometry, 62 lessons in all, each bound separately. These Lessons form an Ideal way of studying the entire field of a line of thought in­tensely interesting. It is worth more to you than Rockefeller’s millions. Two lessons monthly are enough to master, thus giving time for growth. These are the best correspondence courses ever put out. With each lesson belongs a letter (no extra charge) from the author, explaining all points not understood.

These can be paid for one at a time. WRITE TODAY!

Address,

“NOW” FOLK.
Correspondence Department,
1437 Market Street,
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.

 

The End