The Law of Rest in the Healing of Disease
By G. D. Ballou
By G. D. Ballou, for Many Years a Devoted Student of Physical and Mental Therapeutics (Concluded from Last Week.) WHEN the natural law of rest is invoked the natural result will follow, whether the mind rests on God as the Creator or on a heathen joss or the assurances of the family doctor or the occult formulas of Mrs. Eddy. Rest is the medicine, apart entirely from the vessel which bears it to the troubled soul. This Christian Science scheme is a case of a rival power stealing the weapons from the armory of heaven to advance a cause that was organized ages ago to oppose the work of Jehovah in this earth. But here comes another rival to Christianity from the same region of occultism. She is known by the names of Suggestion and Hypnotism.
Within a few years medical men have been putting forward suggestion and hypnotism as a new branch of medical science—suggestion for mild cases and hypnotism for the more difficult. The use of suggestion to divert the mind from its unhappy moods and channels consists in one's own case in exercising the will to a certain degree in trying to make one's self believe differently and better than what the habits of thought would naturally permit. This is all right as far as it recognizes the truth that it is "God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure," and that without Christ we can do nothing. Conformity to this truth will lead to Paul's statement, "I can do all things thru Christ which strengtheneth me." The weapons of the Christian's warfare "are not carnal, but mighty thru God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." The human will may be enabled to control all the weak spots in the mind and bring all in subjection to the will of the Creator. Suggestion with this mainspring of help ignored is a poor, broken staff. Another step in suggestion leads one to accept readily the cheerful advice and submit fully to the counsels of another, for the time giving the suggestion of the physician or some friend more weight than the weak and fearful thoughts which have been in control during a weakened condition of the mind. The effort on the part of the operator is to inspire a better line of thought, to get something more hopeful, cheerful, and happy before the vision of the mentally afflicted one. This is a most commendable procedure, provided the human agent uses only such influences as will direct the faith and hope to the great Source of life. It is the privilege of every true teacher and healer to become the agent of Jesus the Saviour of men, to help Him save them, not only from sin, but from weakness and folly. But if the human agent is satisfied with inspiring confidence in himself alone, the results of his efforts will be infinitely small as compared with the true Christian course we have just outlined. The third phase—hypnotism—allows, encourages, and incites the subject to give up his will and mind wholly to the operator. This places the subject entirely under the control of another and produces in him a condition of irresponsibility. Now, whatever the power or spirit that actuates the hypnotizer, the yielding of the will and judgment on the part of the subject—which after all is the greatest part of the transaction—is a moral wrong which no Christian can afford to tolerate. Christ is the only One who has a right to such control, and His control does not rob the creature of his own responsibility. It is dangerous to mind and morals to have the will thus surrendered. The will is weakened, the power of self-control lost, the subject becomes more and more susceptible to this subtle, occult influence, and if the work is often repeated a condition of driveling irresponsibility is established. Yielding the will to Christ and His principles brings in life and strength thru the power imparted to exercise self-control. This yielding, let me repeat, makes self-control possible and certain, and fully establishes personal responsibility. Not so with the hypnotic yielding. The person loses all semblance of self-control, and is nothing but a mere machine, to do, if called on, the most absurd and criminal things. The Christian who really knows God, has no use for hypnotism any more than for Christian Science, falsely so-called, even tho it does give relief and bring about the healing of disease. He has the original Fountain from which to draw, and needs not to drink from the broken cisterns or the fouled waters. 1. God's law of rest is the natural and spiritual remedy for ailments caused by mental conditions. The law is, "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him," "trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass." 2. Christian Science says, Rest in the formulas of Mrs. Eddy for the cure of all your maladies. 3. Medical science begins to say, Suggestion and hypnotism are sufficient remedies in connection with good hygiene for nearly all maladies caused by mental overwork. 4. Why not drink from God's pure fountain of healing? There is full and sure relief for all mankind just for the trusting, without money and without price. There is some relief in either of the others, but it is a contaminated relief. They are mere farcical exploitations of God's great rest cure and would never have become possible if those who professed to had really believed in God. Resting the mind on a heathen joss will give the same kind of relief as Mrs. Eddy's formulas or the work of hypnotism. The world is ripe for quackery and humbug. Substitutes shrouded in mystery are in demand. Is it not just as easy and more sensible to rest the mind and soul on that creative Power which keeps this world in position and guides it among the stars and sustains all the operations of life we see about us as to accept one of these modern substitutes? The glamour and mystery with which these frauds clothe themselves is but a gauze of cobweb to the great, solid realities from which they are hiding the eyes of the people. Let sensible men and women turn from the hazy darkness of these newly vamped ancient systems of philosophy of every name and kind to the clear light of God which will and does shine into every soul that draws back the shutters of unbelief. Jesus says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Put the yoke on right. If it galls in spots just put one-half as much submission, patience, and faith into it as Christian Science demands, and one-half the self-renunciation that hypnotism demands, and you will find Christ's burden both easy and light. A few years since the writer found himself under very straitened circumstances. Following the hereditary bent of his own mind he took to worrying and fretting. One night after the midnight hour it seemed to him that a hand was suddenly laid on his shoulder and instantly he was wide-awake and all attention. Then he heard these words as if audibly spoken: "What is worrying, anyway?" It seemed to him that an answer was demanded. After a moment of heroic mental effort in which it was impossible to formulate anything like a coherent answer, and a mental "I give it up," the answer came as distinctly as the question: "Simply feeling bad because you can not have your own way." It had a most subduing effect at the moment, and the reverie which followed was something like this: "Yes, you lay plans and you try to carry them out, and, failing to do this, you sit down and grieve and fret over the tangled ends. Yes, it is because I am hindered from5having my own way." I am glad to say that the mental anxieties were laid aside and rest and peace came in the simple effort to do the thing that came first to hand and be faithful in trusting Him for the future. "In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind." "Commit thy way unto the Lord."