MIND-HEALING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22955, 10 August 1936, Page 11

MIND-HEALING

REV. L. D. WEATHERHEAD’S PLAN DR NORWOOD’S SUCCESSOR (Fkom Ouu Own Coiskesfoxdent) (15y Air Mail) LONDON, July 15. Much interest attaches to the appointment of the Rev. Leslie D. Weatherhead, of Brunswick Methodist Church, Leeds, as successor to Dr Norwood at the City Temple, Holborn viaduct. HP coming to London in October is referred to as a notable event in the Free Church. Mr Weatherhead, who is 42, is a preacher with a conversational style. He makes a direct and immediate appeal. His books, which are widely sold, are chiefly concerned with the psychological aspects of religion. He is often referred to as “ the mind-healing pastor.” Last Sunday, preaching in London on “ Youth and Freedom,” Mr Weatherhead said that a man who was looking for absolute freedom was seeking an illusion. Where youth most desired freedom was in moral activity, to say “ To hell with convention and Victorian taboos.” Some people talked of convention as though to label it “ convention ” was to smash it, but convention in the main was the rule of the game of life, written down after many experiments and failures, and one should be as suspicious of a man who broke it as of a Rugby player who played only for himself. Convention was the think the herd had discovered, and was determined that they should keep to. Was it not better to get to the station in a horse and trap than into the ditch in a Rolls Royce? Absolute freedom was an absolute illusion; freedom could only be bondage to the best the world had ever known. HEALING CENTRE PLAN “ The work of the doctor, the psychologist, and the preacher should go hand in ha: d,” he said. “ That is why I want to form a centre in London where all the necessary factors for mind healing shall work together. As a rule, when a person afflicted with doubts or fears goes to a doctor he is told to take a holiday and bromide. The preacher will tell him to trust in God and go home. “ Both forms of advice are good in their way, but often these methods are not fundamental enough. It is important for the priest to realise that fears, or -other

mental troubles, often have their origin in an injury to ihe mind in early years, and cannot be so easily dealt with. There must, in short, be some kind of psychological treatment.” FIGHTING SIN “ Let me put it this way,” he said ( to an Evening News representative. “A man’s spirit is as much a part of him, so we believe, as his eyes and his lungs. You can’t imagine eyes without light or lungs without air. What light is to the eyes and air to the lungs, God is to the spirit. Now, perhaps, you can see what I mean when I claim that all three —the priest, the doctor, and the psychologist—have their parts to play in fighting sin. As a beginning, I think it is essential to establish some sort of centre, where the three classes of us can work together.” FAMOUS NONCONFORMIST CHURCH The City Temple is not only the best known, but also one of the oldest Congregational churches in London. The Daily Telegraph recalls that it can be traced to the “ Independent meeting ” founded in a hayloft in Love lane by two Puritan divines ejected from their churches under the Test Act of 1662. Their congregation grew, and presently two chapels were built, one on Fish Street Hill (which developed into the King’s Weigh House Church) and the other in Poultry. The latter was replaced 60 years ago by the City Temple, in which for many years Dr Joseph Parker drew great congregations. The building cost £60,000, and the City Corporation showed its interest by presenting the handsome mafblo pulpit.