The San Francisco call., 1895-12-01
STRANGE PHASES OF SCHLATTER HEALING,
BY w. Q. MORROW.


answered and that a bestowal OF super
| natural powers had been made. He might
even honestly believe himself to be the
Messiah The very sincerity of this be-
lief is an essential part of the faith in self
| that makes .he doing of marvellous things
| possible That is the third lesson.
! Solitude is a wonderful thing. As We
| are sociable animals, a removal OF one OF
the influences whose impinging and re-
action constitute so large a part OF our
| lives must alone produce changes without
considering the other causes at work. The
| writer of these lines knows something OF
| the mysteries, terrors and effects of soli-
tude on an organization susceptible to its
influences. Not all temperaments can be
deeply affected by it, but those which can
be and have experienced it may speak
with certain understanding and convic.
ton. If, added to the fact of prolonged
solitude, there is a determination on the
part of the solitary to accept its fullest
effects and at the same time to bend the
mind persistently to definite lines Of
thought which will forward the general
purpose of self-conquering, we have an
overpowering com bination of circum.
| stances and conditions.
These lines of definite thought are ordi-
narily two-the conquering of the evil di-
rectly and also by the elevation of the
good, and persistent Illuminating on
heaven, the Creator, the scheme of the
universe, the hidden purpose of all known
things, the condition of the soul after
death and the needs of living humanity.
The way to conquer self is learned by
] oil mil bu min 70
continued introspection. When the evil
is found and understood it may be mas
tered. And that is the fourth and last les
son.
If the struggle has been perfectly sincere
and carried so far that no possible doubt
of complete victory can remain, the one
who has undergone it emerges radically
and incredibly changed. We have been
considering the matter solely in its psy.
Geological (or, if you please, spiritually as.
pect. Suppose that in addition to the ma.
terial change that must have been worked,
we add conscientious belief, an unquali.
fed conviction, that there has been an
open revelation and likely an actual in
vestiture of superhuman powers. then it
is easy to understand that one is equipped
with faith sufficient to move mountains
and may work miracles in the world.
| Such a mans faith is so great that it in-
spires faith even in those who have not
subjected themselves to the regimen which
produced his. He may be not only
healer of ills but the founder of religion.
1t was this faith that led Joan of Arc at
the head of an army through France, and
carried Peter the Hermit and the obedient
Crusaders toward the stronghold of the in
fdel. That was the faith that Jesus had and
that is to-day inspiring his followers in Ar.
menia to die in his name. And that is the
faith by which Schlatter, the ignorant cob.
bier, heals the thousands of sick who seek
his min1strations.
Our learned friends the doctors smile
pityingly when these matters come to their
notice. They will say, with a wisdom
which is all the more dangerous because il
is partly true that cures effected by faith
of this kind represent merely q condition
of mental ecstacy; that this condition
| thrives by consuming vital energy which
might better be employed in the eradica-
tion of the disease; that the disease is in
no sense cured, but that the pain which
ordinarily accompanies it has been OBJ
scured by the mental exaltation of the suf-
.ferer, just as opium or alcohol might OBJ
scure it, and that the disease is still reg
nant and advancing, and eventually will
make itself manifest in an aggravated
form. 1t is difficult for them to believe
that this is not wholly true.
The danger of their philosophy lies not
only in its measure of truth but in its
blindness to the fact that, as in the case OF
those who have acquired faith by self-con-
quest, it is possible to work marvellous
changes in the mind. that the mind is
powerful agency in determining the health
of the body, and that the giving of medi-
cine is not the only rational method Of
cure. How many physicians are there
who realize that patients faith in their
ability to cure is oftener more potent than
the medicines which they administer
When they have learned that wonderful:
truth, itself refutation of much that they
believe, they will be ready to proceed in
those wider walks which the ignorant
cobbler of Denver and many others have
opened before them.
Big Illinois Turtle.