A History of the New Thought Movement and FL Rawson.

Among others recently to do a large work in the British Isles, is Mr. F. L. Rawson of London, whose teaching is almost identical with Christian Science without the claims ordinarily made in behalf of Mrs. Eddy. Formerly a consulting engineer, Mr. Rawson was retained by the Daily Express to make a professional examination into mental healing. The result was the discovery that such healing was practised all over the world, and Mr. Rawson became an ardent therapeutist. During the war he turned to the care of soldiers, and in a pamphlet entitled How to Protect our Soldiers, he gives what he calls the "secret of divine protection."
In this pamphlet Mr. Rawson says,

"Today there are many millions of mental workers, containing some fifty or sixty schools. Only four or five of these work on the basis that Jesus did, namely, by turning in thought to God. The remainder work in the same way as the sorcerers and witches of the past and the black magic workers and hypnotists today, namely, with the human mind. This means that they use one or other of the five different forms of hypnotism, all of which are more or less harmful, not only to the patient, but to the practitioner.
"The real value of my investigation for the Daily Express and of Life Understood, which contains the results of my work, does not lie in proving that all disease is mental. . . . Nor to prove that matter is mental phenomena. The real value lies in proving the difference between the right and wrong method of mental working. . . . The right method of healing [is] by the realization of the divine mind . . . the scientific method of right thinking which was taught and demonstrated by Jesus the Christ, the most perfect and the most scientific man that ever lived.
"There is a hard and fast line drawn between the two methods of mental working, and between the right and the wrong method of prayer. Jesus pointed out the difference more than once. If, when you are mentally working, you are thinking of reality, that is, of God, of heaven, the real world, of the Christ, or of the spiritual man, you are helping your patient, yourself, and the world. If, on tile contrary, you are thinking of the material man or the mental world, whatever you are thinking about them, unless you are denying their reality, you are harming your patient, harming yourself, and doing no good to the world. Even by strong, determined thinking, or will-power, trying to bring about what you think is good, you can neither destroy the evil thoughts nor purify the so-called human mind. Truth and Love, that is, God, alone heals. The healing, then, is perfect and permanent, whether of disease, sin, or any of the many troubles that make this world a veritable hell to so many. . . . Jesus relied on his knowledge of God, not on strong thinking and will-power. There is no limit to this apparent effect of thought. If you are certain enough that you are dead, you are dead instantly. . . . If, on the contrary, you turn to heaven and think clearly enough of God, then the action of God takes place, and good for all must ensue. . . . You have to think of absolute good, the world of reality. You have to think of an ideal world, the highest good that you can possibly imagine. You have to think of God and heaven; heaven being a perfect state of consciousness, a mental world, in which all is perfect, because all is governed by a perfect God, by the Principle of absolute good.
"When I found that every thought a man thinks has an effect, I came to the conclusion that the highest thought I could think ought to give me the best result. The highest thought I could think was to turn in thought to heaven and realize the absolute love of God, getting away from all recognition of the material world . . . God became a living fact to me. . . . Rest on God. It is God's business to look after you. . . . The realization 'There is nothing but God,' I have found the most effective against accidents. 'It is a lie; all is spiritual,' is perhaps easier for some to realize. . . . When you see someone in pain, instead of thinking of him as in pain and so increasing it, turn in thought to heaven and realize that there is no such thing as pain there, and then think of the absolute joy, bliss, and happiness in that perfect world."

A History of the New Thought Movement
by Horatio W. Dresser
First published by Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York, 1919