ver hope to
grasp it in all its amplitude. But there are certain broad principles
which we must all grasp, however we may specialise our studies in
detail, and these I have sought to indicate, with what degree of success
the reader must form his own opinion. Let him, however, lay firm hold of
this one fundamental truth, and the evolution of further truth from it
is only a question of time--that there is only One Spirit, however many
the modes of its manifestations, and that "the Unity of the Spirit is
the Bond of Peace."

II

THE PERVERSION OF TRUTH

There is a very general recognition, which is growing day by day more
and more widespread, that there is a sort of hidden power somewhere
which it is within our ability, somehow or other, to use. The ideas on
this subject are exceedingly vague with the generality of people, but
still they are assuming a more and more definite form, and that which
they appear to be taking with the generality of the public is the
recognition of the power of suggestion. I suppose none of us doubts that
there is such a thing as the power of suggestion and that it can produce
very great results indeed, and that it is _par excellence_ a hidden
power; it works behind the scenes, it works through what we know as the
subconscious mind, and consequently its activity is not immediately
recognisable, or the source from which it comes. Now there is in some
aspects, its usefulness, its benefit, but in other aspects there is a
source of danger, because a power of this kind is obviously one which
can be used either well or ill; in itself it is perfectly neutral, it
all depends on the purpose for which it is used, and the character of
the agent who employs it.

This recognition of the power of suggestion is in many instances taking
a most undesirable form, and I commend to your notice, in support of
this observation, numerous advertisements in certain classes of
magazines--many of you must have seen many specimens of that
kind--offering for a certain sum of money to put you in the way of
getting personal influence, mental power, power of suggestion, as the
advertisements very unblushingly put it, for any purpose that you may
desire. Some of them even go into further particulars, telling you the
particular sort of purposes for which you can employ this, all of them
certainly being such uses as no one should ever attempt to make of it.

Therefore, this recognition of the power of suggestion, say