Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1905-04-13
The Observer.

Inc time has not yet come when we
| can afford to dispense with the apOs-
tolic I'M junction to "believe not every
spirit, but to try the spirits" Indeed,
this counsel is peculiarly pertinent and
needful at time when we are beset
by the appeals of soCalled Christian
Science, of Dowieism, of Spiritualism,
New Astrology, Palmistry and numer.
Gus other forms of occult art, to say
nothing of numerous fads and%up-
start schools of medicine 1t is pro.
bable that no system has ever yet been
compounded ofpure error, and so we
should always have a mind open to re-
cognize the grain of truth or fact
which may possibly enter into the
most preposterous and Objectionable
tads, but our attitude towards all these
systems and schools should be one of
very strong conservatism. Provided
one has a firm standing ground of his
own and will not allow himself to be
carried off his feet by every wind ofnew
belief that blows, he may occasionally
extract some helpful element of fact or
suggestion from these side currents
and eddies of thought 1t is not al
ways easy to draw the line between
a current of thought that is merely a
oiNC p~'Ih- llO"3 a. bllllA ICIuIh lONdIuS
some abandoned belief of the past, and
one that is in line with the main cur
rent of advancing knowledge.
The Observer has recently been look
ing over book entitled THE Law of
the New Thought" by Mr.. William
Walker Atkinson, and has found much
in it that in his Judgment is true and
valuable Like the writings of Mr..
Ralph Waldo Trine, the author of "In
Tune With the Inflnite,n this book is
representative of the type of religious
temperament and thaught which Pro.
fessor William James calls ''the reli.
gion of healthy. .mindedness The
New Thought we are told, ''calls upon
Man to cease his lamenting and repin-
ing and urges him to stand erect and
assert his right to live and be happy
1t teachers him to be brave, as there is
nothing to fear. 1t teaches him to
abolish fearthought and worry, and
the other foul brood of negative
thoughts, such as Hate, Jealousy, Nal.
ice, Envy and Observation-Disclosures. that
have been keeping him in the mire of
Despair and Failure. The New
Thought stands for the Fatherhood of
God-the Oneness of All-the Brother
hood of Man-the Kingship of Self-n
1t is only fair to the author to say that
he admits that the New Thought is
not really new. Certainly it would
not be difficult to find full equiva.
lent of the foregoing in the sayings of
our Lord in the Gospels. IF there is
anything in the ideals of the New
Thought that puts our ordinary lives
to shame, it is because we have failed
to enter seriously into our proper
heritage of Christian faith.
1t may seem inViGious to pass a criti
cism upon type of thought so opti
mistic and bracing as that reflected in
this and similar books, but it seems to
the Observer that in shutting its eyes
to the whole vast field of suffering and
moral struggle it loses sight of what
gives to life its greatest depth and rich
ness. Much as there is in 1.-The Law
of the New Thought" that is true and
helpful, there is nevertheless in it a
strong flavor of something left out
From the point of view of the religion
of "healthy miudednessn such eXper-
ieHCes as those of St Pau and st.
Augustine, and even OF our Lord Him
self in His Temptation, were needless
and abnormal; but none the less il is
Just such experiences that impart a
rich content and flavor to the highest
type Of Christian life. 1t is an old, old
truth that if we would reign, we must
also suffer; and it is just for the lack of
the perception of this truth that the
-ieW Thought is defective
The Law Of the New Thought"
shows that the author has a broad
and accurate grasp of the latest results
Of psychological science. Particularly
helpful is his statement of three grades
or levels which enter into personality,
viz, the conscious, the sub,conscious
and the super conscious.