The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1908-04-30
: THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. LEWIS 7. REED
Theme: Suggestive Therapeutics.

of Suggestive Therapeutics. The
text was from Matthew S:13; And
Jesus said to the centurion, Go thy
way; and as thou hast believed, so be
IL done unto thee. And his servant
was healed in the selfsame hour"
Mr.. Reed said:
In this theme of "The Theory and
Practice OF Suggestive Therapeutics.
IL is not my purpose to expound nov
elites or to satisfy curiosity, but to
assist all Of you who worship here TO
lay hold of some of the great princi-
pies within this movement by which
1t will be possible for you TO live con-
fidently and joyfully. I should be
glad TO make all OF you practitioners
OF the art of suggestive therapeutics.
There are few great principles
which it. is essential YOU should honor
and obey. First--the power Of sug-
gestion. We have been wont to be
optimistic about everything that takes
place In our lives, provided nothing
evil appears at once on the surface.
We have proceeded on the faith that
the psychlcal system could take up
and dispose successfully of every sug-
gestion made to it. Evil thoughts,
envy. anger. greed. concupiscence,
gluttony--all the vices abhorred by
ST. Paul might present their vile pic
lures to the mind. and as long as we
did not act on their suggestion, we
still preserved our character. We de-
luded ourselves with a hope that we
were what we appeared to be. And
now we have had to learn afresh the
truth of that Scripture: LAS a man
thinketh in his heart, so is he"
b 81 In n %
calculated to give him serious
thought than this function of the
subconsciousness of storing up the
suggestions that the outer life brings.
Day by day as we touch the world,
and get our own reactions of courage
or cowardice, of self-control or self
defeat, of purity or selfishness, Of
love or hate. we are continually drop
ping, dropping these suggestions into
the reservoir Of this subconscious self,
to come forth some day to bless or
curse. Abraham Lincoln lives day by
day the sacriicial life of the burden.
bearer of this people. Day by day,
hour by hour, he gives himself the
suggestion of devotion, sacrifice and
faith and then. when the hour for
utterance has come, takes up his pen
and writes on a few scattered sheets
the supreme English masterpiece of
half a century Benedict Arnold was
always passionate and revengeful
Day after day, year after year, the re.
action of life on him resulted in sug.
gesting to his deeper self hate. envy
pride, and self-will. When his hour
for expression came, he took up his
pen to sign his name to the betrayal
of his trust. There is nothing in the
process of the soul that needs tc
cause us more of joy and more OF
fear than this amenability of the soul
to suggestion.
Secondly, you must come to a new
realization of the supreme place of
the will. Heredity must have some
place in the formation of character,
although that place is not yet very
clearly determined-but the most
weighty discovery of the present day
seems to me this rediscovery of the
regal power of the will to do right;
These psychologists, and hypnotists.
in their Investigations into the unex.
plored tracts of personality have come
across not only q God-like aspiration
after virtue in every soul. but also
an unlimited power for the attain.
ment of that aspiration. Just as the
Master of Life stopped over the Grip
pie, saying, Arise and walk" and
knew that within that stricken form
there was the ability TO rise and
walk; so modern psychology stoops
over every sinful soul and repeats the
Scripture command, BE We there
fore perfect, for ye are in the image
of your Father in Heaven, VINO ig
perfect. This is a tremendous doc
trine of individual responsibility. 1t
is an old Scriptural doctrine, but it
gains a new force when, by the mod
ern hypnotists' appeal TO the soul OF
goodness in man, you see the drunk
ard go forth a new man, the spend
thrift reformed and the invalid made
well. II there are in US those pos.
sibilities of virtue, there is no escape
for us from the responsibility of at
tanning that for which We were Gre
ated. There has come to us the con-
viction that inspired jeremiah: I'm
those days they shall say no more.
The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on
edge. But every one shall die for his
own iniquity; every man that eateth
the sour grapes his teeth shall be SET
on edge" There is no more proper
incentive to earnest living than the
realization of the fact that God has
Intended life to be perfect for every
creaturei and that if il is otherwise
the fault is in ourselves.
Dark is the world to thee: thyseli
art the reason why" Whoever would
possess the reality of the Christian
life must achieve the victory over his
moods, and the most heartening mes.
sage OF this or any age is that by our
God-given endowment OF the will It Is
possible for us to give 10 the deeper
life of the soul the suggestions OF
courage and faith and patience aud
strength, which altogether means
eternal life.
In the third place, you will have Il
form for yourself very likely a new
and very stern, doctrine OF sin and
virtue. The old doctrine OF forensic
justification before God was an ad.
mirable thing to look at, but it did
not work very well either for the
justified or for his family. Those who
deemed themselves saved" very
often failed to possess the homely vir
tues OF cheerfulness, kindness, cour
age and forgiveness; while many who
were obviously good" were not con
scious of salvation. The religion Of
to-day gives the genuinely good
man his due, and placards in theii
proper place these hateful sins OF un
kindness, intolerance, moodiness
worry and hardness OF heart. . II is {
great service that any sect bestowi
when that body of people stands forth