THE MODEEN SKEPTIC 105 



anathemas, tend to fulfill themselves when the 

 imagination is impressed by them. Think what 

 power for mischief must have resided in the curses 

 of the church when men's minds were under the 

 theological spell ; excommunication made man an 

 outcast in the universe. The things we fear, no 

 matter how imaginary, stamp our lives. Of the 

 things we love the same is true. Plutarch tells of 

 a certain bird which the ancients used to look upon 

 to cure jaundice — this was an early form of faith 

 cure. The opposite effect, or faith kill, is related 

 with regard to a bird in Ceylon, called the devil 

 bird. This bird makes a doleful wailing by night, 

 and as it is seldom seen, a dread superstition has gath- 

 ered about it. The natives have a fised belief that 

 whoever sees the bird will surely die shortly after, 

 and, as a matter of fact, this usually proves true. 

 The native is so frightened and so overpowered by 

 his faith in the evil omen that he refuses food, goes 

 into a decline, and soon dies. Thus faith kills and 

 faith cures. Faith in your physician is often worth 

 more to you than his medicines ; a soldier's faith 

 in his general doubles or trebles his force. 



The skeptic sees the benefits of a strong, active 

 faith, irrespective of the object toward which it is 

 directed. Faith in one's self and in the justice of 

 one's cause is always half the battle. It is not for 

 nothing that we have had so long thundered into 

 our ears the benefits of belief and the dangers of 

 skepticism and doubt. And it is not because the 

 things we have been asked to believe are in them- 



