|
speaker and receiving corresponding emotions with him. So in mes-merizing,
some powerful impression must be produced to draw the attention of the
subject and exclude other external influences and then the mind is prepared
for further action.
All these simple experiments can be more easily performed if the subject
is told what result you desire to effect; yet they can be per-formed, and
I have repeatedly given them, without any knowledge of my desire having
been communicated to the subject.
In the town of Skowhegan on the banks of the Kennebec, I met with a
young man deaf and dumb, but was a very sensitive subject and easily operated
upon in his waking moments. I requested [5:3:117] him to sit down and place
his hand upon the table and count by raising his hand up and down. I then
asked some one to direct me to stop him when he had made a certain number
of counts naming to me the number. When he had made the particular counts
I willed him to stop and he did so. I then impressed his mind with the
desire to walk back and forth upon the floor, and he arose and commenced
walking. A gentleman asked me to stop him when he arrived at a certain
point and I exercised my power upon his mind and he stopped instantly at
the very point. I then desired him to speak to me and he made a noise.
I made a stronger impression upon his mind to speak louder and he made
a stronger effort to talk, graduating his effort, and raising his voice
or noise with my thoughts impressing him to speak louder or softer. Some
one then asked him in writing if he heard me speak, and he answered “that
his mind heard.” And so it is. The mind hears, sees, feels, and causes
every action of the body. And impressions are conveyed directly upon the
mind when the attention is given to the operator in such a manner as to
shut out all other influences. And to produce these impressions and sensations
when the mind of the subject is thus prepared, the operator must produce
in himself the same sensation which he would communicate to the subject.
The experiments last mentioned upon the deaf and dumb young man were performed
without the subject knowing, by any of his outward senses, what I could
design. I was behind the subject and out of his sight during the most of
the ex-periments. I took every precaution in this case, as I have done
repeatedly, to place the experiments upon such a basis that no one could
attribute them to the [5:4:118] imagination.
A young lady, who was passing some time at my house during the past
season, was sitting in the keeping room and I was in one of my chambers
with my little daughter. I requested my daughter to go down into the keeping
room and tell the young lady I wished her to give her attention to me for
a few minutes, that I wished to per-form some experiments upon her.. I
also requested my daughter to remain with her and see what they were. I
then commenced the oper-ation of my mind to paralyze one of her limbs.
In a few minutes, her foot moved out and become entirely paralyzed. I then
willed her to rise and walk and she immediately obeyed, saying to my daughter,
“Your father desires me to walk and it is impossible for me to resist.”
I willed her to come to the chamber door, that I had some-thing to say
to her. She then asked my daughter “if her father did not speak.” Upon
her replying that he did not, she said “he did and wishes to tell me something.”
She came to my door and asked me if I did not speak to her. I replied that
I did in my mind, but not with my voice. She could not believe that she
did not hear my voice. These experiments were done in the evening and my
wife being ab-sent I told her that I should will her to ask my wife a question
when she returned, but would not tell her what it should be. Wishing to
see how far I could carry out this principle of operating upon her mind
directly, I willed her to ask my wife if she had turned the cat out doors.
In two hours from that time my wife came in and as she came up stairs,
she enquired “if she had turned the cat out doors.”
[5:5:119]
Such experiments as I have named above and others of the same character,
I have performed upon subjects in their waking state. I find, however,
but few persons who are very susceptible of such im-pressions; yet I have
given them before so many persons that, they, [“at l(e)ast” seemingly crossed
out.—Ed.] by those who witnessed them, cannot be disputed. During my public
exhibitions, I have practiced my subject, after the evening’s exhibition
is nearly closed, in similar experiments. I have left him and passed into
another room and requested some one to tell me which of his arms to paralyze.
Having directed me, he would return to my subject and request him to give
his attention to me, that I was about to perform an experi-ment upon one
of his limbs, arms or legs not allowing him to know which. Soon the arm,
which I was requested to affect, would become
paralyzed. Such experiments I have given to the public on many oc-casions.
It is more difficult to influence the mind in the waking state than when
mesmerized. Yet these experiments were done when he was awake.
My reader may enquire, whether such experiments are not all the influence
of the imagination. We reply, that they are not imaginary, but real. The
impressions received by the subject are real and not imaginary and the
results are also real and not imaginary. The arm or foot does become paralyzed,
and there is no imagination about it. If it were the result of an excited
imagination the sequences could not be real. In the case of my subject,
how could he know which arm I intended to operate upon? If he imagined,
he could not produce the paralysis, and therefore no one can attribute
it to imagination.
We have given our views more at length upon [5:6:120] what we consider
the power of imagination in another part of this work and shall not now
go into a discussion of the subject so particularly. The distinction, however,
is very clear between real and imaginary ex-periments or states of mind.
If I act from an impression upon my mind which I believe to be true, there
is no imagination about the transaction. If I create an impression in my
own mind, which I know to be from a false cause or if I receive an impression
and know it to be the result of my imagination, it could not further affect
me. Suppose I imagined that my arm was paralyzed. Would that state of the
mind bring about the real condition which I imagined? And if to me who
imagined it, it should appear real, which circumstance would only be after
the continuance of the imagination, would this imaginary condition of mind
appear real to an individual who might be standing by? If it were the result
of my imagination, it would not appear real to a disinterested bystander.
And if it should appear and really be paralyzed, and hundreds of individuals
should witness the fact, I presume that these individuals would not be
willing to ascribe it to the powers of imagination. Indeed, a man might
imagine a thousand things, none of which would turn out to be true because
there is no truth in imagination. Men often act from false causes, not
however false in appearance to them. The impressions they receive, of course
are real and we cannot ascribe results from such real impressions as flowing
from an excited imagination. These ex-periments then, are real, flowing
from real impressions which are
produced by causes which appear real and are so to the subject although
the operator may have produced the cause without [5:7:121] a real existent
object. It is then imaginary to the operator but reality to the subject.
BOOKLET V (CONT.)
CLAIRVOYANCE
Clairvoyance is also an excited state of the mind, which enables the
subject to see objects with an independent power of sight, without the
use of the bodily eyes. It also implies the capacity to see every object
to which the mind’s attention is called whether present or distant. We
have alluded to this state or capacity of mind in many of our experiments,
but have not spoken of this power disconnected with other experiments.
We recur to the subject again, to assert our belief in such a power founded
on facts, which have come under our own [?] observation, and which we have
been enabled to give to the public. Thought reading itself is more astounding
perhaps than see-ing independent of the organ of sight. Yet in the present
state of the world, men who have witnessed these phenomena, all agree,
that subjects in the mesmeric state will read the thoughts of those who
are in communication with them. And by some it is asserted, that this is
all, which constitutes Clairvoyance. We however, rely upon facts which
have not been controverted and cannot be explained on other principles,
than, that the mind does possess the independent power of sight. We shall
give a few examples illustrating this part of our subject and then proceed
to show why so much reliance can-not be placed in the subject as is desirable
while exercising this faculty. [5:8:122]
On a certain occasion, I took my subject to Brunswick, entered the
College Grounds, passed into the Anatomical Cabinet and re-quested him
to pass round the room and describe to me everything he saw, which arrested
his attention. He commenced on the left as you pass into the room, and
described many things which I knew to be there. But there was one curiosity,
which he named, with the rest of which I had no recollection and I was
quite confident he had
made a mistake. I had occasion to visit Brunswick in a few days and
to satisfy my curiosity, called at the Anatomical Cabinet and found everything
in precisely the same order as he had described them. The curiosity, of
which I knew nothing, was there and he must have ac-tually seen it or he
could not have described it. It was not embraced in my thoughts and the
subject was perfectly ignorant of the exis-tence of an Anatomical Cabinet
connected with Bowdoin College and had never been within thirty miles of
the town.
On another occasion a friend of mine was in communication with a subject
who had been excited or mesmerized and directed him to go to such a house,
being occupied by a friend of his and describe to him, every particular
about its external appearance. He did so and in this minute description
was particular to speak of a peculiarity about that portion which was not
in view of the street. After the ex-periment was over, my friend stated
that he had given a [5:9:123] correct description of the house except the
peculiarity of which we have spoken, and remarked that “he was mistaken
in that.” About a month after this, I met this same friend and he related
to me, that my subject was correct in his description of the house even
to the peculiarity. He had visited the house and upon examination every
thing was found to agree with the minute description given by my subject.
During the winter of 1843 I visited Wiscasset with my subject and lectured
before an audience and gave experiments illustrating my theory of Mesmerism.
After putting my subject into the clairvoyant state a gentleman by the
name of Clark, was placed in communi-cation with him. Mr. Clark directed
him to find the Bark [sic] on board of which was his son. He immediately
saw the Bark, described the vessel minutely, gave a general description
of the Captain, Mate and his son—asked the Capt. what time he would arrive
in New York and received the answer, which he communicated to Mr. Clark
in the presence of the whole audience. I left Wiscasset on the fol-lowing
day and visited Bath. In a few days I returned to Wiscasset and gave further
experiments. Mr. Clark was again placed in com-munication with him and
directed him to find the same vessel. He did so and said she was hauling
in to the wharf on dock in New York City at that [5:10:124] moment and
that she arrived on such a day.
Upon making a calculation about the arrival of the mail it was found
that the news of her arrival would reach Wiscasset on the follow-ing day.
When the mail came, many persons, who had witnessed the experiment were
at the post office, anxiously waiting the news and to test the truth of
Clairvoyance. The news was received of the Bark’s arrival corresponding
with the information communicated on the evening before by my subject.
This circumstance was related in the Newspaper printed at Wiscasset at
the time. On another oc-casion I placed my subject in communication with
a gentleman who was an entire stranger to me and he took him to a certain
bridge. My subject saw the bridge and described it very particularly. The
gentleman gave up the subject and declared to the audience that the description
was incorrect and he could not do anything with my sub-ject at clairvoyance.
On the following day, I met the same gentle-man and he assured me that
my subject was correct, according to what he had learned since last evening.
That the bridge had been rebuilt since he had seen it and many material
alterations made, such as my subject described. We would remark here that,
many ex-periments of a similar character have been set down at the time
as a partial failure, but that it was ascertained afterwards that the communicants
were in the error and that the subject was correct.
[5:11: 125]
My subject was placed in communication with a lady who directed him
to her father’s house, which he described with particularity, even noticing
the closets and doors. And often giving a description of each member of
the family, said there was an old lady sitting in the corner, with a pair
of spectacles over her eyes and that she was knitting. The lady immediately
wrote home and ascertained that at the time named by my subject, there
was such an individual present in the room, answering to the description
of my subject and that she was also knitting. While in Bangor a lady was
put in communica-tion with my subject and requested him to go with her.
He complied and described a certain house and the flower-garden about it—even
the shape of the flower beds. While he was going on with the descrip-tion,
he exclaimed at the top of his lungs, “Get out, get out.” She enquired
what he saw, and he replied that there was a great dog dig-ging up one
of the beds and destroying the flowers. Also asked the lady if she did
not see him—that he should think she might as the
dog had made so large a hole. This house and garden was situated in
Gardiner. The lady immediately wrote to G. and received an an-swer, that
my subject was correct—that there was a dog which did actually dig into
one of the beds and destroy the flowers. Some time after this I met one
of the ladies of the house at Gardiner, who related to me the same facts.
[5:12:126]
During a session of the District Court in this village in 1842[?] some
curiosity was exhibited among many distinguished gentlemen present to witness
some of my experiments. I called on Judge Al-len and found Gov. Anderson,
Judge Briggles, the Rev. Mr. Hodg-sdon and others present. Several experiments
were performed. The Rev. Mr. Hodgsdon being placed in communication with
my sub-ject, took him to Dexter where his family were then residing. He
described the house and family and said there was a small child sick, lying
in the cradle. That Mrs. Hodgsdon said the child was getting better etc.
Mr. Hodgsdon corrected Lucius and told him that he was mistaken about the
cradle, that there was no cradle in the hours. Lu-cius replied that there
was and that the child was lying in it; and he would not yield to Mr. Hodgsdon’s
correction. The following day he returned to his family and found that
Lucius was correct—that a cradle had been borrowed of one of his neighbors
and that the child was lying in it—was getting better etc.—just as had
been related by my subject.
While in the city of Boston Dr. W______ performed an experi-ment with
my subject—took him to his father’s house and he described many things
and said they were roasting beef in the kitchen. This was in the evening
and seemed rather singular that “beef-roasting” should be going on at that
time. The Dr. visited his father’s the following day, being Thanksgiving
and learned that what my subject had said, was true. A gentleman in this
village, who was given a little to skepticism towards Clairvoyance although
he was confident of the power of thought reading, requested me to call
at his office with my subject at such an hour. In the meantime he had been
to his house and requested his wife to arrange something in a certain room,
different from what it was then and not let him know what the change was
to be. The gentleman returned to his office and the room was put in order.
My subject was taken to the room and described all the particulars, which
the gentleman found
to be correct upon his return. I took him to the room myself and he
asked me if I heard, what the lady said? I enquired what it was and he
replied, “she says I wish he would come, if he is coming. I wonder if he
is here now.” This was found to be the conversation of the lady while in
the room at the time my subject was there, directed to her mother who was
also present. A lady who had been frequently thrown into the Mesmeric State
by me, desired to be directed to Boston and ascertain when her son, who
was residing there would be home. [5:14:127] I mesmerized her and directed
her to Boston. She visited her son and asked him when he would be in Belfast.
He answered her on such a day which proved to be correct. I also on another
occasion took her to Boston to see her son. She said he had left in the
scho[oner] Comet. I then directed her to find the Comet. She did and said
it was just at that time coming out of a certain harbor, giving the name,
and that she would arrive in Bel-fast on such a night, and that he would
be home on the following morning after her arrival. He came according to
her prediction.
These experiments are introduced to prove true clairvoyance, that the
subject does actually see objects, which do not exist in the mind of the
operator and of which the operator could have no knowledge—that there is
something in all these facts seen indepen-dent of any other power than
independent sight. Every experiment develops something, which is found
to be true, and cannot be ex-plained upon the principle of thought reading.
We say then that the mind is capable, of such excitement or of attaining
to a state in which it may see without bodily eyes and also be present
with all things at the same instant. In other words, that to the mind,
indepen-dent of the body, there is no such impediment as time, space, dis-tance
and materiality, but that it only requires direction—and all its inherent
faculties are in operation, giving its attention to the object to which
it has been directed. The eye, ear, nose, sense of touch or the tongue
is nothing except as they convey in our natural state cer-tain sensations
to the mind, from which a [5:15:128] peculiar state of emotions arise.
The faculty of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch exists in the mind
independent of the organs by which objects are communicated to these faculties.
And cut off these organs or ap-pendages, and then, mind acts direct or
receives its impressions directly from external and internal objects. If
then, you institute a
peculiar state of the mind, called mesmeric and close up the bodily
eyes, the faculty of the mind does not cease to act. It is rather, in part,
freeing the soul from its narrow confinement in the sphere of acquiring
knowledge through the limited means of the eye, and giv-ing it a range
of sight limited only by the laws of mind and not the laws of matter. It
returns more like itself, when it shall have been entirely divested of
man’s materiality and left free, not to roam throughout the ranges of thought,
but to be existent, with all its original faculties in full display, with
all the creations of the Great First Cause.
We have given experiments to show the position we have taken— experiments
which we challenge the world to gainsay, and which we cannot explain by
any other principles than these we have laid down as governing the mind
at all times under similar circumstances. We say, conclusive proofs are
given in these facts of the mind’s capac-ity to see through all space or
to be present with all things in the universe and behold them, independent
of the bodily eye and in-dependent of the knowledge of the operator. [5:16:129]
The question, then, arises: Will the subject at all times act and see
independent of the operator and state the true condition of the ob-ject
to which their attention is called? I answer, they will not, and that experiments
of this character often fail. But this does not arise from the inability
of the subject to see and relate the facts; but from the controlling influence
of the operator over the mind of the sub-ject, which induces the subject
to describe the thoughts and ideas of the individual in communication with
him rather than to look to the object or scene itself and describe from
actual view. It appears to be an easier task for a subject under the control
of an individual to read the thoughts of his controller, about certain
things, than to describe such things from actual sight.
I will relate an experiment here which I tried when I first began to
magnetize. I had been out during the evening, giving some pri-vate experiments
and on returning home lost my pocket handker-chief. I heard nothing from
it for more than a week. I then magnetized my subject and requested him
to find it. He told me where I could find it, described the individual
who picked it up in the street and told where it was found. The next morning
I saw an individual, answering to the description and enquired of him if
he
had found a handkerchief and he replied that he had, told me when are
where, which was precisely as my subject had told me. [5:17:130] Flushed
with my success in this experiment, I adopted the rule that my subject
would, under all circumstances in the mesmeric state, find anything which
might be lost. My faith was unbounded with my new discovery and I began
to dream of hidden treasures and mountain views, and diamonds in the desert,
when lo! the very next experiment I made was a total failure! This drove
me back again into the real world and I was obliged to feel along slowly
and cautiously to discover the cause of my disaster. It was in part owing
to the in-fluence I exercised over my subject, compelling him to read my
thoughts rather than to give me the real state of things; and partly, from
the condition of the subject, not having passed into the high clairvoyant
state. We will give a few experiments in thought read-ing and show when
we are sometimes deceived, in our experiments.
I mesmerized my subject in private and resolved to try experiments
in thought reading and satisfy myself as to the power of a subject to describe
the thoughts of another. I commenced by bringing be-fore my mind a house,
which he immediately saw and described ac-cording to my thought. I then
would imagine a cat and a dog, and my subject would answer instantly as
the image was formed in my mind. I then brought before me a whole caravan,
of animals of var-ious classes and sizes, commencing [5:18:1311 with a
platoon of elephants, then lions, tigers, rhinoce[ros], camels, monkeys,
ba-boons, etc. My subject would without hesitation describe them as they
arose in thought in my mind. I would think of an army of officers and soldiers
passing in review and he would relate all my thoughts. I would imagine
a person coming, who was well known to my subject, and he would call him
by name. And a host of such experiments were performed, which would fill
a volume, all going to show with what accuracy and rapidity he would read
my thoughts. In my public exhibitions I have given experiments of the same
character. On one occasion, a lady requested me to place her in communication
with my subject. I gave her a seat on the stage and requested my subject
to go to Michigan, (where the lady said her husband was) and find the lady’s
husband. He did so and gave a very minute description of the gentleman,
stated how long he had been there, named his occupation and that he had
written a letter
to his wife, and told the contents of the letter. This was done in the
presence of a large audience, many of whom, were acquainted with the facts
and did testify to the truth of his disclosure. The lady, I will state,
did not speak while my subject was going on with his description and she
and her husband were entire strangers to me and my subject. During a session
of the Supreme Court in Belfast, Judge [5:19:132] Tenney presiding, there
was some little excitement upon the subject of Mesmerism. Judge Tenney
was anxious to witness a few experiments. I called at his room one evening,
I placed my sub-ject, after I had mesmerized him, under his control. The
Judge wrote on a piece of paper, folded it up and held it in his hand.
He then requested my subject to go with him to a certain house and asked
him, whom he saw. He exclaimed it was a little deformed man and described
him, giving his height and appearance. The Judge then handed me the paper
and upon it was written, that he had a brother who was deformed etc, giving
a description very similar to that of my subject. R. B. Allyn, Esq., of
this village, was desirous of satis-fying himself as to my subject’s power
of thought reading. He named the experiment he was going to try to no one,
but carefully wrote a description of a large house he was going to imagine
and filed the description in his drawer, not allowing any one to know its
contents. He described a sign over the door with the word “aban-doned”
written upon it. He also located the house on his own premises below the
village upon which there is no building. After I had placed him in communication
with my subject, he put this question to him. “Will you go with me,” not
stating where. He an-swered, “yes.” “Now Lucius, can you tell me what I
am looking at.” He replied “a large house.” “Be particular and describe
the house and the grounds around it.” Lucius immediately proceeded to give
a description of [5:20:133] the house, observed the sign over the door
and read off the word “abandoned,” described its loca-tion and the appearance
of the lands about it. Mr. Allyn, then took from his drawer the paper containing
the description of the house, corresponding precisely with that given by
Lucius and even to the word “abandoned” written upon the sign.
While in the city of Boston, some young gentlemen of my ac-quaintance
called on me and desired to see some private experi-ments. I complied and
placed my subject, after mesmerising him,
in communication with several of them. One of them, however, did not
succeed well in what he designed to bring before my subject. In-deed, a
total failure attended every effort he made in this experi-ment. I took
the young gentleman [to] one side, and requested him to relate to me what
experiment he wished Lucius to perform. He complied and said he was trying
to bring a gentleman by the name of Lowel of Ellsworth before his mind—that
Lucius might describe him. It so happened that I was acquainted with Lowel
and my sub-ject had also seen him. I returned to my subject and imagined
the gentleman coming towards me in his peculiar manner of walking. Lucius,
soon described him and said it was Esq. Lowel of Ellsworth. This was true
thought reading, only describing my own ideas. In-dividuals have presented
a box containing various articles and re-quested my subject to describe
them. This he would do with accuracy—either from reading the thoughts of
those who presented it, they knowing what it contained or from actually
seeing the arti-cles themselves by an independent power of sight. [5:21:134]
So in almost all the experiments we have related in thought read-ing,
the subject may be said to either describe the thoughts of those around
him or to actually see and describe the persons and objects themselves.
Where an explanation may be given in thought reading or clairvoyance, it
is difficult and perhaps impossible to tell from which the subject acts.
And perhaps he may be governed in part by one power and in part by the
other. We think this fact will explain much of the difficulty, which attends
experiments in true clairvoy-ance. Another cause of failure and which is
in close connection with this part of our subject, is that a subject will
often be influenced in his description and conduct by an association of
ideas, which leads him astray and to talk often upon some subject entirely
foreign to that which was first presented. I will give one example illustrating
my ideas upon this subject, and it will correspond precisely with what
I have before remarked in this work, when speaking upon the principles
of association. Two individuals, come into my room and see a large book
upon my table. Both observe it and thoughts arise or impressions are received
which give rise to trains of thought. But each has his peculiar train,
different from the other, although the same book gave rise to each train.
One will be reminded of a simi-lar book, which he saw in a certain place
at such a time and what
transpired in connection with it. The other would perhaps be reminded
of something very unlike the book itself—perhaps a per-son, a country,
a city, an army or almost any idea of thought [5:22:135] different from
the other. So that you enquire of each about what train of thought arose
upon seeing the book and they would name something entirely different.
The application of this principle to mesmerized subjects is this. Subjects
sometimes are in such a condition, that, upon receiving a first impression
their mind is immediately led off upon such objects or transactions as
are as-sociated with this first impression; and if you request them to
describe the object which caused this first impression, the rapidity of
thought is such, that they would be quite as likely to describe some portion
of the train of thought which follows, as the object itself. On this principle,
a subject might not describe either the ob-ject itself, nor read the thoughts
of those around him, but describe minutely an idea of their own creation
or association which follows in the train of thought first set in motion
by the object to which one had called the attention of the subject. As
though I beheld a book, and a train of thought commences which leads me
to think of some friend, almost at the same instant, which I beheld the
book. Some-one, who had called my attention to the book, would ask me to
describe it, and if I should then proceed to describe my friend, about
whom I was thinking by the time the question should be put instead of the
book, this would be a parallel case to a mesmerized mind governed by the
same principle. We have heard of men, (indeed, wit-nessed ourselves, the
act), who in their natural state, reply to ques-tions without giving the
correct answer, but speak of something brought to the mind, by the question,
although one observing could not discover any relation between the answer
given and the question put. [5:23:136]
On a certain occasion I magnetized my subject and directed him to go
to such a well and measure accurately the depth of the water. He did so
and told to one fourth of an inch the depth of the water. This was Independent
Sight, because I did not know anything in re-lation to the well. Now if
I had known how deep the water was and thought it, and the subject had
described my thoughts and given the true depth, this would be Thought Reading.
If, however, I had taken him to the well and he upon seeing the water or
upon being reminded
of it, should associate with it the depth of another well he had ac-tually
measured in his waking state and instead of giving the true depth, given
that of the well, he measured before he was mesmer-ized, this would be
an answer on the principle of association. This is another action of the
mind under different circumstances.
[5:24:136]
We have, therefore, given examples, proving to a demonstration that
there are such states of mind as Clairvoyant, Thought Read-ing and that
arising from association. That the mind sometimes acts in one of these
capacities and sometimes in another and is also governed at other times
by the principle of association. Now the difficulty in a clairvoyant subject
is this. The mesmerized mind is liable to be under the partial control
of all these conditions at the same time and would describe an object,
partly from actual indepen-dent sight, partly from thought reading and
partly from association; and the result always is a total failure in all.
We are not able, in this early stage of our science, to give definite rules
by which we can tell how far the subject may be led astray from independent
sight by these two other principles. Indeed we have no barometer by which
to ascertain how much weight our own thoughts, or the associations of the
subject, may have over the mesmerized mind. In the progress of future advancement,
this mystery may be solved; and subjects, under proper regulations, may
discover to the operator, the true ac-tion of his mind, whether it be Seeing,
Thought-reading, or Associ-ation. When mesmerism has attained this height,
in the march of its discoveries, a new and brighter era in the history
of the world will have dawned upon humanity—the ignorance of the past will
be en-tombed in the light of the future, and truth, disrobed of supersti-tion
will govern paramount; the universe of immortal [?] thought.
[5:25:137]
Our remarks have thus far been confined to what we are pleased to call
the development of the metaphysical mysteries of our sub-ject (Mesmerism).
We have sought to select that system which ap-pears to be most consistent
with the facts we have offered—that system only by which we can explain
satisfactorily the wonderful phenomena of mind. We have thought our course
thus far justifi-able upon the ground, that a complete knowledge of the
develop-ment of Mesmerism is necessary to a good understanding of the
practical part of our science. We protest against a mere knowledge of
results without cause. We should know rather the cause and we may then
produce or prevent results. Our course has been to in-troduce such explanation
as appears consistent with all the experi-ments given and as far as we
had the power, to enlighten the understanding rather than to mystify what
has already been too mys-terious. How far we have succeeded, an intelligent
community will act as our tribunal and we shall rest satisfied with their
candid de-cision. We now come to the useful and practical part of our sub-ject.
It is to this part of our work we would solicit the attention of our reader.
The study of the philosophy of science is entertaining and instructive;
but the utility of science, is after all the great point to be attained
in its advances. We shall proceed to show what con-nection mesmerism, as
we understand it has with the relief of suffer-ing humanity and consequently
its necessary connection with medical science. [5:26:138]
The world is full of theories and humbugs. No two men can agree precisely
in any science about which there is much controversy as to the laws by
which it is made up. The difficulties arising in medi-cal science, are
from the uncertainties of its practice. It is not like many of the physical
sciences, about which there may be uniform and constant results. Even in
this enlightened age, there seem to be no settled rules of practice. Every
physician of course defines his own position or rather works out the position
of his brother; and then declares his system entirely opposite. The whole
practice of the schools and the faculty seems to have been a continual
introduction of Theories contradicting each other—each order as they rise
and fall opposing all others. While diseases are the same now as in the
days of Hippocrates and Galen, the remedies have been as numer-ous as sands
upon the sea shore. Every physician has his own remedy for the old diseases.
So far back as history runs, we trace the rise, progress and fall of theory
after theory. The course of progress is often this manner. Upon the introduction
of a new theory and its full adoption into practice, all preceding theories
retire to the shades for a season; the novelty soon ceases to astonish
and then all sects of physicians are equally successful in some cases.
Soon another star appears and dazzles with his awful splendor all who have
preceded him; but he too passes the meridian of glory and goes to the shades
of night. Then arises another more brilliant than the last, and af-ter
the harvest moon of his glory, passes like his predecessors into decay.
BOOKLET VI
Thus it has been from the days of Esculapius to Harrison [?] and Thompson,
and perhaps I should not slight Graham and Alcot, who, I must say, give
a very economical system of medical practice which would not be very likely
to induce the gout or dyspepsia. The different Theories of practice, however,
no doubt grew out of the uncertainty of medicine. And the uncertainty of
medicine was the necessary result of a want of a knowledge of those laws
by which the animal economy of man is sustained. It all proceeds from the
mistaken notion that medicine operates upon the organs which con-stitute
the body without any reference to the impressions which it conveys to the
mind. Medicine, upon the organs of the body, if it were to act upon them
alone, would always produce the same results upon the same organizations.
It would be a matter of certainty with the physician, that if Lobelia or
Ipecac be taken into the stomach in measured quantities, proportionate
effects will follow. And so of all medicines. If, on a certain occasion
under certain symptoms, a certain medicine restored health, why will it
not do so in all cases, when the symptoms and disease are the same? We
have selected from Dr. Abercrombie such remarks as convey our ideas upon
the uncertainty of medicine as practiced by physicians.
Quote from Dr. Abercrombie Part IV page 293. (copy the whole chapter).
[6:2:89] [Quote missing.—Ed.]
We have, in this quotation, the whole truth so far as the uncer-tainty
of medicines is concerned. But even Dr. Abercrombie, we think, has not
touched the real cause of all this uncertainty except where he partly attributes
it to the “mental emotions.” We hazard the assertion that all these difficulties
arise from mental emotions, that whatever results follow the application
of medicine are produced by the impressions which the taking and action
which this medicine has, upon the organs of the body. And the same medicines
do not affect different individuals in the same manner; because they, upon
being taken, convey to these minds different impressions, and
the mind exercises a control over the body and answers to the im-pressions
by a result upon the functions of the body, either good or bad. Every intelligent
physician with whom I have conversed has al-ways acknowledged that mind
has much to do with the taking of medicine, if good results follow—that
no physician could probably do his patient much good, unless he should
possess the confidence of such patient. Intelligent physicians, although
they have full faith in medical remedies and believe that these, with the
mental emotions of the patient are the only restoratives of health, yet
do not after all consider that remedies possess such astonishing powers
as is sup-posed by the quacks. I believe that there is a virtue in medicine,
which, when taken by the patient, conveys impressions to the mind and that
these impressions often result in the entire restoration of health. The
mind of man is generally taken up with surrounding ob-jects and seldom
is attracted to contemplate the body to which it is attached. [6:3:90]
If however by any attraction it should be turned upon the body, a war
seems to arise between the body and mind, and the mind ap-pears to be unwilling
to abide its confinement. Disease then begins to prey upon the body and
continues to increase until the soul departs and leaves matter to return
to its original dust. We think we have abundant proof of the power of the
mind to control the health of the body. Patients are advised to travel
in pleasant countries and visit watering places, to bathe in sea water
and mineral water, to spend the cold seasons in milder climates, engage
more in pleasan-tries of society or even do anything by which the mind
may be led off from its old habits of warring with the body. But why should
we enumerate particular methods of restoring the health of a patient without
a dose of medicine? All these methods are medicines for the mind; they
leave lasting impressions and they restore the health. So is every remedy
taken into the stomach or externally applied to the body a medicine for
the mind. And it is only so far effectual to the end designed as it impresses
the mind. We do not then discard the use of medicines, but rather recommend
them; but we protest against such use, unless he who prescribes knows the
laws by which his remedy is governed.
The true design of all medicine is to lead the mind to certain results
and then it, the mind, will restore the body. No matter what
this medicine is, if it accomplishes all the physician designs, it will
effect a cure if it produces a healthy state of mind. Thus it is that very
small doses, under the direction of the Homeopathic practice, effect such
astonishing cures. Thus it is that so many drops of pure water, taken under
the direction of a skillful physician, will restore [6:4:91] health. Thus
it is that a change of scenery gives new and pleasant impressions to the
mind of a patient and results in a per-fect restoration of the bodily health.
We must here indulge in a pleasant anecdote, related to me by a friend
of mine, the truth of which I would not dare question. He was in bad health
of being troubled with the “cramp in his stomach” and the remedy was al-ways
one or two of Brandwith’s pills. On one occasion he was taken very suddenly
and after taking [?] the pills as usual served up in a tumbler of cold
water, he drank and the next morning found him-self restored to perfect
health, as usual in former attacks. He ac-cidentally looked into his tumbler
and saw both of the pills, which he had supposed were drunk, in the bottom
of his tumbler. He found it must have been the cold water that cured him.
He was however so much pleased with the idea of his cure that the cramp
never returned. A young physician of my acquaintance, who was rising rapidly
in his profession, was called to attend a patient who had been for a long
time under the care of an old practitioner, but was fast failing [fading?].
The old physician had given up all hopes of his patient’s recovery and
finally told him, he could do him no good. At this unfavorable moment,
my young friend was called. He examined the patient, ascertained what remedies
had been ad-ministered etc. and found that they were just such as he should
apply in such a case. Somewhat puzzled for a moment what to order, he became
very grave and thoughtful. He found that the mind of the patient was such
as to reject the medicine and he determined to try the venture of a new
medicine. [6:5:92] He then returned to his office, filled an ounce vial
of good pure water and again visited the patient, ordered ten drops to
be administered at a time and repeated once in two hours. This was effectual
and the patient was soon re-stored. Another physician, who is highly distinguished
in his profes-sion, related the following story. Being called to visit
a patient that had been under the care of several physicians but was continually
growing worse, he ascertained that they had been treating the pa-
tient in just such a manner as he should have done under the same circumstances.
The patient, however, had no confidence in their treatment and as a matter
of course continued to grow worse. He examined the patient and finally
placing his hand upon his side remarked that if he could produce a warm
sensation there in five minutes, he could cure him. A warm sensation was
felt by the pa-tient and the physician pronounced his case not dangerous,
remark-ing that he had medicines which would certainly cure him. He then
turned round and poured out the same kind of medicine as had been given
to the patient by the other physicians and it was taken in full confidence
of a restoration to health. The result was that the patient immediately
recovered. We might mention a hundred such instances and then call our
own experience to confirm the truth of them. But we have given these, proving
that it is really the mind upon which an impression is to be made and that
after all, the medicine has noth-ing to do in the matter only so far as
it induces a state of feeling an-tecedent to a restoration. While the physicians
have always admitted that the mind of the patient has much to do in the
[6:6:93] opera-tion of medicine and the restoration of health, yet nothing
is ever mentioned of the fact that “mind acts upon mind,” that the mind
of the physician has something to do in bringing about such results as
restore health. Here then, we trace a great portion of the difficulty in
the uncertainty of medicine. The physician has not been aware of this fact
and therefore proceeds upon wrong principles in administering his medicine.
In this respect the quack may effect more than the intelligent physician
because he has more confidence in the remedies he applies. He, however,
believes the great remedy is really in the medicine and has full confidence
in administering it to the patient, and impresses his mind with the restorative
powers of his balsam. Perhaps the quack might not understand the com-position
of his medicine, yet he knows the results and is so firm in his belief
that he would almost bring about the result if the medi-cine had by mistake
been omitted. The intelligent physician, know-ing the properties of his
medicine and having seen much practice, does not attribute an almighty
charm to his antidote and therefore manifests less confidence in his skill.
His mind influences directly that of his patient and he too will place
but little confidence in the medicine. The result is that the patient becomes
worse. Now had the
physician understood or rather had he brought into his practice the
great law that “mind acts upon mind,” he might have remedied the whole
evil. He would then have commanded all the influence which his powerful
mind could exert over the mind of his patient and thus with the powerful
or gentle action of the medicine [6:7:94] directed a healthful result.
In some instances, a powerful medicine taken un-der the impression of a
good influence may do much and indeed in some instances entirely restore
the patient. But it acts far more healthfully upon the patient when the
mind is rightly directed.
This principle of making deep impressions upon patients by a medicinal
or other process seems to have been well understood by Hippocrates, the
great father of cures. When the plague broke out at Athens during the second
year of the Peloponesian war, it ravaged the whole army and bid defiance
to the remedies of the most skill-ful physicians in that ancient city.
At this critical period, the great Hippocrates entered the city and applied
his remedies which soon began to check its ravages. His name only could
save his country-men. He caused fires to be lighted up in the streets and
lanes of Athens to purify and clarify the atmosphere, introduced the warm
bath to expel the infection by the surface of the skin, and to sup-port
their weakness, caused them to drink the rich wines of Naxos. Thus employing
external agents to impress deeply the mind with the idea of an effectual
remedy. We might enumerate other instances where the great cause of success
in a particular treatment of disease was similar in principle to the above;
but history is full of such ex-amples and the daily observation of every
student of human nature confirms its records. Every action, which results
to the benefit or injury of the patient, is directed upon the mind which
immediately answers the impression upon the disease of the body. Matter,
in it-self, is capable of no action, except by chemical process, unless
con-nected with a mind or spirituality. The health and vigor of the body
depends solely upon the condition and action of the mind because the immaterial
part of [6:8:951 man governs the material—matter or body connected with
mind is under the immediate control of this spirituality. If, then the
mind by external or internal influences has received impressions to destroy
the health and vigor of the body and those impressions cannot be removed,
then the body follows that state of mind and readily submits. If the mind
of a patient does not feel some confidence in the restorative powers of
a medicine taken,
there is a probable chance that it will do the patient no good. His
mind counteracts the impression, usually conveyed to the minds of most
patients, by a strong impression that it could do no good.
There are other reasons why medicines prove so uncertain in the practice
of physicians. And perhaps the greatest evil of all we could enumerate
is the course which each physician has in his own judg-ment selected to
pursue [?] towards his brother competitors. It is a fact worth mentioning
to those who have not witnessed it that no two physicians, who reside in
our towns and villages where a direct competition is kept up, can agree
to the same treatment of the same disease. If one is successful in his
treatment, the other would not adopt the same course but must have his
peculiar method and denounce the other. It is this constant warring with
each other, this constant opposition, this unhallowed wish to rise on the
ruins of a brother, this ambitious longing to put down every man of the
same profession and assume the confidence, the practice and the distin-guished
honor which a suffering community can bestow [that shows the scientific
weakness of the profession.—Ed.]. I protest against this vile slander of
your neighbor’s medicine [6:9:96] or practice, not so much for the folly
exhibited in the individual physician as the enormous evil entailed upon
the suffering community. While phy-sicians labor to destroy what confidence
the community have been disposed to place in them, how can they individually
expect to reap the advantage of a position which they have been constantly
laboring to destroy? It is an old saying that “two gamesters can never
agree,” but we find this principle carried out to the very letter in medical
practice. The success of my neighbor is not to be endured, while I do not
receive the direct emolument. Let the world perish if I alone can’t save
it is the common expression of every physician. I do not intend to embrace
the whole class without some reserve. There are some honorable exceptions,
men in medical science whose position is above the filth and slime of enmity;
it is the proud position of a great mind desirous of progress, availing
himself with all the as-sistance which may flow from the smaller sources
that surround him. It is a remark in sacred history that the foolish things
of this world sometimes confound the wise; and the great mind is ever watchful
of the fulfillment of this declaration. It embraces whatever is use-ful
and true and rejects whatever is injurious and false.
We are of the opinion that this entire want of confidence in each
other and the medicines administered, manifest among common physicians,
goes far to counteract what practical service any remedy may usually, under
a proper condition of things, effect. It must be true that physicians [6:10:97]
are not aware of the influence which mind exerts upon mind, results upon
the body or they would desist from such violence.
We return to an expression we have before uttered, that we have full
confidence in the power of certain medicines to produce health-ful results,
but further assert, that the mind of the patient or phy-sician may so control
this power as to produce disastrous results. We protest against this pretended
ignorance of the physician upon the causes of the uncertainty of medicine.
He should, or ought to, know what they result from or the great governing
principle by which a failure follows. We exclaim against the daring and
lawless courage of a physician who marches up, blindfold to the battle
ground of disease struggling with nature, and often failing in his ef-forts
to effect a reconciliation, raises a war club and strikes at ran-dom. If
he luckily hits disease, the patient is restored and if not, the patient
dies.
Our remarks thus far go to show that the mind has much to do with the
practice of medicine and that results are from impressions conveyed to
it by some process. We now proceed to illustrate by ex-periments what mesmerism
has to do with diseases, and shall at the same time show the influence
of mind acting upon mind.
By the action of my mind upon my patient in his waking state, I can
produce the same results which flow from the taking of medi-cine. I can
produce an emetic or cathartic, a dizziness or pain in the head, relieve
pain in any part of the system and restore patients by acting directly
upon their minds. If we succeed in giving such experi-ments and confirm
the above declaration, will any one doubt the fact [6:11:98] that it is
the mind which is operated upon and conveys the result to the body? We
will not argue this point further, but pro-ceed to give some further remarks
and the experiments.
We lay it down as a principle that all medical remedies affect the
body only through the mind.
The truth of this principle is tested in an experiment which I had
upon a lady of intelligence, who was placed under my care. Her health was
generally bad and caused a depression of spirits. I could
magnetize her easily but preferred to perform my experiments in her
waking moments. If she complained of pain in the head, I could relieve
it. If her feet and hands were cold, I could induce a warm sensation. If
her head became hot and feverish, I could induce a cool state and drive
off the fever. Indeed almost any state I desired to produce, corresponding
with the effect of medicine taken into the stomach, would follow. This
is not a solitary case. I might enumer-ate hundreds of experiments equally
wonderful and interesting, all tending directly to show that mind governs
the body and, to affect the body, it must be done through the mind.
An individual who was an entire stranger to me called and said he was
not a believer in Mesmerism, but would become so if I could relieve the
pain under which he was then suffering from a contusion of the foot. I
requested him to sit down and I would try, that I would first induce a
strange feeling upon his foot and he might tell me the sensation which
would follow. In about [6:12:99] five minutes he remarked that he felt
a prickling sensation, as though his “foot was going to sleep.” This was
what I designed to do. I then proceeded to relieve the pain and he described
a cool sensation at first, which was soon followed by entire relief. He
acknowledged the result and remarked ‘‘humbug or no humbug the pain is
gone.”
While I was traveling with my subject in 1843, a gentleman, who had
long been troubled with lameness proceeding from rheumatic influence, hobbled
up stairs and entered my room. He requested me to operate upon him and
do him all the good I could. I made some enquiries into his case and proceeded
to relieve the pain and restore him to health. In less than one hour he
was enabled to walk with greater ease (his own declaration) than for the
preceding two years. He left me in good spirits and the following morning
rode to a neigh-boring town and unfortunately upset his sleigh. All the
violence of the old rheumatic complaint returned. Two days after I heard
of his misfortune and called on him. His physician was present and writ-ing
a prescription for medicines. I enquired of the Doct. after his patient
who gave me no favorable account. I directed him to apply his mesmeric
power and relieve the pain without prescription. He smiled and said he
had made the attempt, could throw him into a sleeping state but could not
relieve the pain. He gave me permission to try my power. I sat down by
him and soon relieved the pain and
before we left he was enabled to walk about the room. The physi-cian
tore up his prescription and remarked that he saw no [6:13:100] occasion
for his services and we both left in company. A friend of mine took me
to see an Irish gentleman who was in the last stages of consumption. Upon
entering his house we could distinctly hear him breathe. My friend introduced
me and related the occasion of our call. The man with much difficulty replied
that nothing could help him etc. I commenced acting upon his mind. In a
short time the difficulty of breathing was removed, and the man raising
him-self up in bed exclaimed to my friend, “Why sir, what does this mean?
My sir, I feel, I feel very much relieved!” After spending an hour with
him we left. I called again the next morning and found him up and dressed
and doing well. I left town that day and have not since heard of him. Dr.
H.[?] took me to see one of his patients who was very low in the last stages
of consumption. We found her very weak and oppressed with a difficulty
of breathing. I com-menced operating upon her and removed the difficulty
of breath-ing and induced a strong and healthful feeling. We left her very
comfortable and she declared she was much better. Whether she recovered
from her illness I have not heard. Another patient in the last stages of
consumption, who was entirely given over by all the physicians, sent for
me a few days since. I soon relieved much of his pain, enabled him to swallow
with less difficulty and entirely threw off his fever, which had returned
regularly every day previ-ous for some time. He appears now much better
than when I first saw him. But it is too [6: 14:101] much to suppose that
he can be re-stored from his very debilitated state to health.
I will now introduce another class of experiments. A gentleman residing
out of town was seized with an affection of the head, producing severe
pain. This continued for the space of two or three months but increasing
in severity until he entirely lost the power of seeing and was blind. He
sent for me to visit him. I did so and found him in the state I have described,
suffering intensely from the pain in his head and not able to see any object
around him. I commenced exercising my powers to throw him into the mesmeric
state and was soon successful. I then relieved the pain of his head and
proceeded to enable him to see objects around him. I placed my fingers
in front of his eyes and he soon remarked that he saw them and felt an
in-
fluence proceeding from them which was cooling. I was trying to allay
the fever in that portion of the brain connected with his eyes, which was
probably the influence he felt. He could tell when I was near to him or
at a distance. I then roused him from his sleeping con-dition and commenced
operating upon his eyes to induce the power of sight. He described the
sensations produced like flakes of clouds passing before his eyes, being
sometimes so dark that he could dis-tinguish no light and then followed
with light. I continued my oper-ations until he was enabled to see an object
I held up [6:15:103] before him, described what it was and read the figures
which were printed upon it. His health was so far gone that it would have
been almost a miracle to have restored him. I left him however in this
con-dition and soon after heard of his death.
A young man came to me not long since who was very pale and emaciated
and asked if I could help him. He was much troubled to breathe and felt
a bad pain in his side. I commenced experiment-ing upon him in his waking
state and in a few moments relieved his difficulty of breathing and took
away the pain in his side. He is now an active and healthy young man, enabled
to attend to his business. I called on a young man residing upon the Kennebec,
whom I found in this condition. He had not spoken or even whispered or
walked for the previous eight or nine months and could not get about only
as he managed himself along in his chair. I commenced operating upon him
in his waking state and in the course of one half hour I requested him
to answer me. He immediately answered me and eas-ily talked. I then enabled
him to walk across the floor and his neigh-bors came in and he was able
to converse with them and to walk while in their presence. I left him in
this condition and called the fol-lowing day. He was walking his room and
when I spoke to him he answered me by a nod of his head. I told him I did
not understand him. He then answered me readily and was able to talk very
well. This was the condition in which I left him and have [6:16:104] no
doubt but that he would have fully recovered had not other coun-teracting
influences been brought to act upon him.
These influences were produced upon him by his ignorant phy-sician,
who probably feeling that some glory might be detracted from his great
professional distinction if the patient who had been so long under his
immediate and mighty curatives, should recover
by so simple a process which his dull genius had not discovered. Soon
after I left, I was informed that this benevolent gentleman was so kind
as to inform him that I was an impostor and had only been playing upon
his imagination, that he would in a few days be worse etc. Thus by every
act of which this little man was capable of exer-cising, he produced an
opposite impression upon his mind, destroy-ing all the good I had accomplished.
So much for the kindness, benevolence and philanthropy, or if you please,
the ignorance and bigotry of his physician. We have found but few such
in the world and we desire, so far as our friends and ourselves are concerned,
that they may be less frequent than angel’s visits. Had he possessed the
common feelings of humanity, even though he could not, at that time place
much confidence in so simple an operation of a stranger, yet for his friend’s
sake would it not have been the part of wisdom to have suspended the counteracting
influences and rather assisted the mind of his patient and friend to overcome
the difficulty. We leave the matter to the patient and his neighbors to
[6:17:105] say how much benefit such a physician is to mankind.
I was not long since called upon to visit an old lady who was af-flicted
with the “acute rheumatism,” sometimes called. I found her in the most
extreme pain. I commenced operating upon her in the waking state and soon
eased the acute pains. Before I left her, she said she did not feel any
pain in her limbs and she could use them without difficulty. I saw her
husband the following day and he in-formed me that she slept well during
the night and was fast recover-ing. I was called upon to visit an old lady
whom I found in ill health and very low and gloomy in her feelings. She
had given up all hope of recovering and even distributed her goods and
chattels among her kinsmen. I observed that her temperament was such as
to be easily wrought upon and told her I could restore her to perfect health.
I operated upon her mind in the waking state and relieved all her suffering
pains; but there was one difficulty, she remarked, about her, which, if
it was not removed, would be the death of her. It was this. She said her
liver was completely caked over and that she could feel it on her side.
I examined her side and allowed her to think so, but told her I could remove
that feeling and would do so. I then made an effort to regulate her feelings
in this particular. She said she felt better and I left her promising to
call the next day. I did so
and found her pretty well, but the cake upon her liver had not en-tirely
dissipated. I however corrected the disease and the woman is entirely restored.
[6:18:1061
The cases we have just enumerated may appear, at first view, to be
nothing but imaginary diseases. This was not the fact. They were all real
and all the impressions which were given by myself were real. I do not
suppose that the last case was precisely what the old lady supposed, yet
there was some disease or some cause which she at-tributed to a strong
covering to her liver. We have endeavored to keep up a distinction between
imaginary and real cases [causes?]. And we will simply state here that
all the patients were really as we have described them and none of them
were troubled with imagi-nary evils—that what is real cannot be imaginary,
that the moment the reality commences, imagination ceases. I will give
one illustra-tion. If I imagine a sharp pain in my finger and continue
to keep up the imagination, the pain is not there, it exists only in my
imagi-nation or rather does not exist at all. Now suppose I commence im-agining
a pain in my finger and while doing it, a pain should be actually felt
just when I was imagining. Would the pain really felt be real? We think
it would and when this sensation exists there, im-agination ceases to act.
In the cases above the remedies resorted to are real to the subjects
because they restored them. At least they are as real as the diseases and
the diseases were as real as any disease with which mankind are afflicted.
If then one answers that all these cases are imaginary, we reply, then
everything is imaginary and nothing is real. [6:19:106]
We proceed to give other cases of a different class and which will
more fully prove the distinction between the real and the imaginary.
There’s a lady residing in this country who had been lame and un-able
to walk for two years. She had been under the care of physi-cians who had
resorted to every medicine consistent with the case within the range of
their profession. She had been three months un-der the care of the celebrated
Dr. Hewit of Boston, but received no benefit but continued about the same.
This was the condition in which I found her, unable to bear any weight
upon her foot. We now ask, was this case real or imaginary, upon the facts
as we have stated? Whatever the answer is, she and her friends, who were
ena-bled to feel and see her condition, believed it real. I was lecturing
in town and was sent for to visit her. I complied and commenced operating
upon her in her waking state. In less than one half hour she rose from
her chair and walked across the room and out of her keeping room into the
other, astonishing all who beheld her. She continued to walk and grow better
and has now nearly recovered. This walking could not have arisen from any
excitement under which she labored at the time because she continued better
and her ankle and foot are nearly or quite well. Is the recovery of the
lady imagi-nary? If you think it unreal we will give another! It is this.
A good old farmer, residing in town, who took a trip to one of the islands
in our bay, was [6:20:107] severely bitten by a dog through the wrist.
His hand and arm began to perish and had already become much smaller than
the other. When I saw him, which was about three months after his misfortune,
a sore on the back of his hand had broken out several times or at stated
intervals. I found him in a law-yer’s office stating his case to his attorney,
who had commenced a suit against the owner of the dog and afterwards recovered
seven hundred dollars damages. I examined his arm at that time and found
it in the condition I have described. In the conversation he remarked,
that, if I would restore it, he would not spare the greatest expense of
which his condition in life would admit. Before I commenced operating upon
him, I asked him to use it and lift up a very small pamphlet which lay
on the table. This he was unable to do and he stated that he had no use
of it. I then took him into an adjoining room and operated upon him in
his waking state. I soon enabled him to use his hand and arm. He took up
the largest volume of the law library, held it in his hand and carried
it into the other room. He then took hold of the bottom of a chair, lifted
it up and carried it round. He returned to his farm and began to labor
using his hand and arm. In about three months his arm had assumed its natural
size and appeared perfectly well. He complained only of a slight weak-ness,
in twisting his wrist. I soon removed that difficulty and he is now fully
restored.
Another case was a man in the country [6:21:108], who had in-jured
his wrist by blasting a rock and had not been able to use it for nine months,
called on me. His hand and arm had withered very much and was carried in
a sling. It was also cold although in mid-summer, and he was obliged to
keep it wrapped up from the air. I
commenced operating upon him and before I left him he was ena-bled to
lift a pail of water and other things which were near us. Be-fore he left
town, which was on [?] the same day, he could lift with his lame hand and
arm, a weight of fifty pounds. I have not seen or heard of him since and
do not know whether he recovered en-tirely. [6:22:108]
We suppose, after giving our last examples that no one will at-tribute
their restoration to the imagination. We need not argue the case furthermore
as to the reality of the condition of the patients we have named or the
facts of their recovery. If any part of the whole transactions were real,
then all were real. If any part were im-aginary, then all were imaginary.
And if these cases were imaginary then we say that all diseases, all conditions
of mind and matter, any thing about us and around us is imaginary and nothing
has any reality.
We might state a great number of cases, similar to the above, all showing
the same results and proving the same facts, all being real and not imaginary.
We have read of cases when persons have been thrown into the mesmeric
state and had some of the most dangerous and, in the wak-ing state, painful
surgical operation performed without manifest-ing the least pain. We do
not doubt their authority. We have had only one case when an actual operation
was performed of the above class. A lady residing about ten miles from
Belfast came to our vil-lage to have a polypus extracted from her nose
by one of our sur-geons. She called on Dr. N. [?] at his office and requested
him to send for me to throw her into the mesmeric state. He was no believer
in mesmerism and at first refused; but the lady would not [6:23:109] consent
to the operation until I was sent for. I found her in the Dr.’s office
and in ten minutes threw her into the mesmeric state and re-quested the
Dr. to commence. He performed the operation and she did not even move a
single muscle during the whole time and gave no appearance of pain. While
the operation was being performed, the blood was observed by some one standing
by to run into her mouth and I was requested to induce her to spit. I did
so and she answered by spitting out the blood. This experiment took place
in the presence of some four or five individuals and it was at that time
noticed in the public prints.
When she awoke, she was not conscious of having suffered any pain.
INSANITY
We now proceed to another state of mind, called by philosophers, Insanity.
The power of reason, that is the faculty by which we com-pare facts with
each other and mental expressions with external things, is said to be lost
in Insanity. In this state of mind, the sub-ject appears to be under the
complete control of some strong and irresistible impression or train of
successive impressions, real to him and which he cannot repulse with a
comparison with external ob-jects. Like a subject in the dreaming or mesmeric
state, he is not able to discover what impressions flow from false causes
and distinguish them [6:24:110] from those which flow from real causes.
The sub-ject himself acts precisely as every man would under the same real
impressions. Then mind is governed and controlled by the same laws in this
state as in the natural or dreaming state. It acts from real im-pressions
under a full belief of the real causes of such impressions. This state
is no doubt induced by some powerful impression upon the mind which cannot
be removed by slight impressions produced upon the mind from common and
every day objects. If this state is removed at all, it must be done by
inducing some counteracting im-pression, which will lead the mind into
a different channel of thought. This state of mind often exhibits in the
individual more acuteness and intelligence in almost every subject than
when in its natural condition. He will reason correctly although from unsound
data and return answers justifying his conduct, which would display a thoughtful
and premeditating mind. We have read numerous in-stances of individuals
whose conduct has been most unreasonable, yet could justify their acts
by giving inducements to such conduct, based upon reasonable grounds. Dr.
Abercrombie relates the case of a clergyman in Scotland, who having displayed
many ex-travagances of conduct, was brought before a jury to be declared
incapable of managing his own affairs and placed under the care of trustees.
Among the extravagant exhibitions of conduct was that he [6:25:111] had
burnt his library. When the jury requested him to give an account of this
part of his conduct, he replied in the following terms. “In the early part
of my life, I had imbibed a liking for a most unprofitable study, namely
controversial divinity. On reviewing my
library, I found a great part of it to consist of books of this distinc-tion.
I was so anxious that my family should not be led to follow the same pursuit
that I determined to burn the whole.” He gave an-swers to other charges
brought against him justifying his conduct and the jury did not find sufficient
grounds for guarding him with trustees; but in the course of two weeks,
he [was] in a state of decided mania! Individuals while in this excited
state, when some leading impression has control, have really believed themselves
to be some great actor in the world, an emperor or a king and supposed
all the fair [far?] fields about them and all the inhabitants who live
within their state or nation are subject to their control. Others have
descended in the scale of their existence and supposed themselves beasts
of burden, or mere things. These are all real to the subject. He feels
himself just as he believes. This is sometimes called a de-ranged state
of mind. It is, however, a disease, as much so as any condition of man.
For we contend that disease is nothing only as it conveys impressions to
the mind. That if one should cut his finger and no sensation should be
conveyed through the sense of touch to the mind, it would not give pain
to the subject. This position we know by experiments [6:26:112] upon individuals
both in their wak-ing and mesmeric state.
Insanity, Monomania, Hallucination are all diseases, and reme-dies
may be administered to counteract them. The treatment of the subject, while
insane, has much to do with his recovery. For the benefit of this class
of individuals, hospitals are erected at the public expense, where the
best remedies can be administered. This disease among physiciansis not
usually attributed to flow from the same sources as what they term those
of the body and therefore they do not resort to the same remedies. Physicians
generally call Insanity a disease of the mind while fever and other similar
states are diseases of the body. I maintain that all diseases are only
known to exist as they affect the mind of the patient, that is, there would
be no dis-ease which could affect an individual provided it could not make
a sensation upon his mind. If he did not feel sick, he would not prob-ably
be sick. In cases of scrofula and what is sometimes termed King’s evil,
diseases said to be incurable, the power of the Seventh Son to cure them
is an effect upon the mind, being conclusive evi-dence that some strong
impression induced the disease. And the be-lief of the patient and that
also of the seventh son, acting in concert
to produce a counteracting impression, would destroy the old first cause
which brought about this diseased state and nature then re-stores herself.
We do not believe that the seventh son has any more virtue to heal patients
than any individual; nor do we think the fact of his [6:27:113] passing
his hand over the diseased portion of the body could affect anything towards
counteracting the first impres-sion, only so far as an external motion
may assist to more strongly impress the mind. It is simply the process
of mind acting upon and in correspondence with mind. I will introduce an
experiment here which goes to show something in proof of what we are explaining.
An individual fell from his horse and dislocated his elbow. The sur-geon
set it and his arm was, when I first saw it, badly swollen and very painful.
I commenced operating upon it and in a short time reduced the swelling
so that the bandages were very loose and all the pain subsided. He was
then enabled to lift up a chair without any pain, but before could not
lift a pound nor even use his fingers. Some one may enquire whether the
dislocation of the elbow was a disease of the mind? We answer, it was,
that is, all the pain which was the result of the falling from the horse
was in the mind, being the only part of man susceptible of sensation, that
the mere blow or contusion would not produce any pain unless there was
a mind which could feel the blow, because matter is not supposed to have
the power of sensation. We might bring many facts, as we trust we have
in the former part of this work, to show where the disease is to be remedied
and where of course it must flow from to affect the person or when an impression
is produced from which follows all the phenomena of disease both of body
and mind. But we allude to the subject here to illustrate our ideas upon
Insanity. And by the results we have effected upon diseases by operating
upon mind, we think the argument is conclusive that all diseases, including
insanity, flow from the impressions upon the mind as their first cause.
BOOKLET VII
[7:1:82] The treatment of insane persons therefore should cor-respond
with the great principle of mind acting upon mind and of impressions counteracting
impressions.
We give the following experiments illustrating the power of mind over
mind in cases of Insanity.
I was called upon about two years since to visit an insane man who had
been chained to prevent him from extravagant conduct but who had by some
means gotten loose and was raving about his premises, to the danger of
his own family and his neighbors. I found him in the wildest state of insanity.
I approached him in company with another individual. When he saw us coming,
he advanced towards us with a ten foot pole. My friend could not proceed
and I was left alone to meet him. I advanced keeping my eye steadily fixed
upon him. He held his pole and advanced until we came within ten feet of
each other. He then suddenly stopped and told me not to advance another
step. I continued however to walk towards him and as I came up he threw
down his pole and looking me in the eye asked what I wanted. I requested
him to go into the house. He followed me in and became obedient to my commands
as a child. I performed several experiments upon him showing how easily
I could control him. When any of his family came near, he would commence
rav-ing but upon my requesting him to be quiet, he readily complied. I
ordered him to dress himself [7:2:83] and upon clothing being handed to
him, he complied. He would [come] up to me and look at my form and enquire
how much I weighed. I asked him to guess. He thought two hundred and fifty
pounds. I allowed him to think so, although my real weight was about one-hundred
and forty. I was enabled to control him while I was present without touching
him at all. Another case of a man who had become ravingly insane and was
imprisoned in the County Jail. He would allow nothing in his cell and allow
no one to enter. He kept up a constant hollering so as to be heard all
over the village. The keeper of the prison decided that something must
be done. My situation was such that I had occasion to see him. I took another
man with me and going to the door of the cell requested him to remain out
side and not allow him to know that he was near. I opened the cell door,
holding in my hand a green hide and a rope. He ordered me not to approach
him, holding in his hand a stone which he had dug out of some part of his
cell. I stood and looked at him about five minutes. He began to step back
and I entered. I then ordered him to come to me and get down on his knees.
He obeyed instantly and I then thought I would try an experiment. I told
him I would not whip or tie him then, but if he ever made any more noise
or destroyed his bedding or anything which might be handed him, I would
certainly [7:3:841 kill him, at
the same time showing my intention in my countenance. He seemed to be
very much agitated and frightened. I produced so strong an impression upon
his mind that he was perfectly quiet and became more rational. In the course
of three weeks, he left the prison and returned home perfectly sane. He
has been sane ever since. Thus the power of impressions over the mind to
produce or counteract dis-ease must be acknowledged. And the action of
mind upon mind must be conceded. It is, in Insanity as in other diseases,
necessary to make an impression more powerful than that which preceded
this diseased state and thus lead or drive the mind into a new channel
of thought. So in diseases of every class an impression counteract-ing
that which induced the disease must be made and nature will restore herself.
This impression may be made by administering powerful medicine or it may
be done upon some patients by the mind of an operator acting upon the mind
of the patient.
It might be a question in regard to all the experiments we have presented
in this volume whether it is really the strong intellectual power of a
mind which may gain the ascendancy over another, and hold it in complete
submission as in the case of our two last experi-ments. We answer that
we do not think it is great intellectual power, but the capacity or power
of arresting the attention and producing a strong impression. And this
faculty may [7:4:85] be cultivated and enlarge its power to produce impressions
and arrest the attention of mind to the exclusion of surrounding influences.
We have mentioned the fact in another page that the idea of magnetizing
or mesmeriz-ing only those persons who are dull and enjoy poor health and
weak minds is exploded. The more intelligent the mind, if the attention
can be fixed and drawn away from surrounding influences, the more certain
you are of producing the excited or mesmeric state in the highest degree.
A bright, intelligent and thoughtful person enjoy-ing good health always
makes the best subject.
We do not therefore claim a more powerful intellect by which we can
produce such results upon mind, but attribute it to a natural and cultivated
power in this capacity which I am enabled to exercise and produce such
experiments as are called mesmeric, magnetic, etc. The fact that the community
have always laid it down as a general prin-ciple that only a more powerful
mind can operate upon and control a weaker has retarded the progress of
this branch of intellectual
philosophy. The idea, no doubt, arose from some self-conceited per-sonage,
or perhaps a numerous class of those who were public mag-netizers, desirous
of claiming all the intellect which is really worth having. It is a fact
we are compelled to acknowledge that some of my predecessors in this branch
of science seem to have possessed no other intellectual faculty than that
of mesmerizing; and the conse-quence was that they would be desirous [7:5:86]
of instructing the world to believe that the power they exercise is indeed
that of a great mind and to be surpassed by no other power. All we have
to remark upon this class of philosophers is that whatever discoveries
and ad-vances they have made in the progress of human knowledge should
be thankfully received. And the follies and egotisms which have been interwoven
with their progress should be rejected, as the consoling food for the vanity
and self esteem of its projectors. No man would be justified in rejecting
the whole Copernican System because some wandering genius, desirous of
making himself greater than the rest, should have advanced the idea and
proceeded to prove it, that the earth is spherical and turns on its axis
every twenty four hours and is kept in motion on the principle of a great
wheel in a treadmill by the constant tramping of an enormous Mammoth upon
the equa-tor. “Retain the good and reject the evil.” Then will science
ad-vance. [7:6:87]
We now enter upon another branch of our subject by which a so-lution
of the mysteries of past ages is given. We refer to the mys-tery and responses
of the Ancient Apollo, the Egyptian Magi, the Black Art, Witchcraft, trances,
catalepsy etc.
Apolonius of Tyana, Emanuel Swedenborg, Mahomet and others had the
power of inducing this state of the mind upon themselves. This is a further
and conclusive proof against a fluid theory.
We copy the following from Dr. Collyer’s pamphlet upon Psychography.
The Domain of P. P. Quimby
Emma Ware
[Among the earlier patients and students of Quimby in Portland were
the Misses Ware (Emma and Sarah), daughters of Judge Ashur Ware of the
U.S. Court. It was they who suggested to him that he write out his ideas
so that people could study them. The Misses Ware and George Quimby copied,
corrected and recopied the writings. This fragment from Emma’s hand is
from the Family Collection. I have given it a title. It shows Emma’s keen
understanding of Quimby’s thought and practice.—Ed.I
Dr. Quimby’s writings abound in statements made in direct con-tradiction
to facts which we all know to be true.
If not placed in the right light by some one who sees and partially
understands the truth he teaches, they will so shock the reader by their
gross absurdity that he will cast them by as wanting in veracity and reason.
The doctor writes upon disease, its cause and its cure. He stands upon
ground never before occupied by any man who has ever treated on this subject,
hence he is alone and has the world against him, but in all he says, he
always retains the ground and this ought [to be] frequently before the
reader for otherwise he will be confused and read the statements as though
they were made by a man standing with the world and accordingly they will
sound un-reasonable and absurd.
Dr. Quimby says that man is a being of intelligence made in the image
of God and progressing in wisdom. This is what all admit in one sense,
but here is where he differs from all men who ac-knowledge this belief.
He carries it out in his treatment of the sick. With him the body is not
sick, it is the man who is in trouble, and the man is an intellectual creature,
capable of providing for his own health and happiness.
His arguments and his reasoning are all addressed to this man and the
principle of his treatment is, to show him the error by which he
has been defrauded of the knowledge and the power of providing for his
health and happiness. In doing this he comes in mortal con-flict with another
man whom the world has made, one who believes he is the result of organized
matter and that he is born to disease and death. He is well known in society,
popular, educated and re-ligious. With him the doctor is in open conflict
on every question relating to his health and happiness, and the cure of
the patient comes from the contest with this man whom society has made,
in which the doctor is victorious. If he is conquered, then he loses the
case. This accounts for the discussions he frequently holds with his patients
when he takes a ground the sick have never heard argued and which seem
full of fanciful whims and absurd inconsistencies:
It also accounts for the feeling of opposition amounting to repug-nance
which many of his patients experience when he touches their personal feelings
on religion or in the matter of disease. A few words of explanation of
this feeling, other[wise] the construction put upon his words would make
him an unwise man. As I said, he comes to the man of error, not to appease
and conciliate, but to conquer and destroy him and reinstate the man of
intelligence in his professions. Therefore he stands to the sick as the
Union Army stands to the South, determined to kill secession and restore
the Union, and he fights on the same principle to destroy the disease and
save the man. The battle must be a hard one and the conflict hot.
Leaving the facts of disease and standing on the ground that man is
an intelligence and the body is only the shadow, he travels through a domain
that has been given up to mystery and brings health and deliverance to
the sick. The relation of the substance to the shadow and the connection
between the mind and body have never been de-termined by the wisest. In
the matter of disease he contends that he has solved this problem. He affirms
that what he says is true and that he can prove it to the sick. He never
doctors the body. There are many of course, who can see nothing but blasphemy
and false-hood in his mode of procedure and such would naturally have a
feel-ing of repulsion towards one whom they believed to be deceiving them.
Others however who are fond of reasoning can see that what he says is no
mere humbug and that he is striving to develop a truth which will emancipate
the world from disease.
Another statement he makes . . . [Article ends here.—Ed.]
Preface to the Teachings of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby
Erroll S. Collie
Although Dr. Quimby did not believe in the teachings of ortho-dox Christianity,
he interpreted the metaphysical teachings of Je-sus in such a way as to
substantiate and explain his own theory, a theory which he successfully
put into practice by healing thousands of people of all manner of sickness
and disease, a fact attested to by hundreds of testimonials from his patients
and innumerable articles which appeared in the newspapers during his lifetime.
The spiritual world had never been investigated before as a science
until Dr. Quimby did so. He reduced the Christian religion to a science
which he called “The Science of Christianity,” “The Science of Christ,”
“The Science of Correcting an Error,” “The Science of Health and Happiness,”
etc.
Dr. Quimby said that Jesus healed by this science which he called “Christ”
but his disciples as well as the people confused the man Jesus with the
science which he taught and called him “Jesus Christ.” Just as we might
associate the man Franklin with his dis-covery and call him “Franklin Electricity.”
Dr. Quimby also believed that he healed by this same science which
Jesus taught and practiced and to him he gives all the credit for introducing
it to the world. He believed this, perhaps because of certain similarities
in both his and Jesus’ methods of healing, similarities such as these:
They were both clairvoyant.
They both could take the feelings of others.
They both attacked and disagreed with the beliefs and opinions of the
priests and doctors.
They both healed by word of mouth and touch.
Finally, he seemed to have followed an injunction of Jesus who .said:
“I am not come to destroy but to fulfill” and this I think is
156 / PREFACE TO THE TEACHINGS
exactly what Dr. Quimby did. He fulfilled the teachings of Jesus without
destroying the structure of his own philosophy, a philosophy which he hoped
some day would be understood and acknowledged by the scientific world as
a science, which would explain the cause and cure of disease and bring
health and happiness to the human race. How he did this can only be learned
by reading and studying all of his writings.
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby
THE COMPLETE WRITINGS
Volume 1
Language I
[original untitled]
In introducing my ideas to the world I labor under the disadvan-tage
as anyone does who seeks to bring into language what has never been embodied
in thought or words. In early ages, a celebrated Ro-man presented his philosophy
in a poem and finding great difficulty in making himself understood he
thus apologized for his language:
I know ‘tis hard to explain in Latin verse
The dark mystic notions of the Greeks,
(For I have things to say, require new words
Because the tongue is poor, the subject new)
But your virtue and the pleasure I expect
From tender friendship, makes me bear the toil.
And spend the silent night with watchful eyes
Studious of words and numbers I shall use
To open to your mind such scenes of light
Which show the hidden qualities of things unknown.
If he, who commenced with man in matter, reasoned him body and soul
out of matter, dissolved him into space and finally lost him, found language
inadequate to his subject, some sympathy can be had for one who has struggled
day and night to rid himself of the earthly matter and rise triumphant
into the world of Science whence matter is seen moving as though it contained
life. Wisdom is a solid truth and truth cannot be increased or diminished.
Therefore, wis-dom fills all space. Let us try to identify man in this
wisdom that has no matter. A man’s wisdom contains his memory of events
and his identity of himself as a man. He knows he has a body and this is
not matter but wisdom. To make a man lose his knowledge that he has legs
is to deprive him of his wisdom as far as his legs are con-cerned. And
if his wisdom is his belief, that can be dissolved so that he cannot have
any identity at all; then where is he? An answer in
part may be found in Job 4th Ch. where a spirit passed before the Temanite,
showing the difference between the spiritual and natural man.
For a further illustration, take two rose bushes, one bearing a white
rose and the other a red. Let these represent two children of different
complexions. Call the rose the brain or intellect. From each child flows
wisdom, as fragrance comes from the rose, and at first it is confined to
the brain. The idea of an intelligence outside of the brain is a mystery.
But like odors, their intellects mingle, forming a new combination in the
mind and this process goes on till the in-tellect sees that it contains
all the elements of the brain as the odor contains the substance of the
rose. Finally, the children get to that state where they see and reason
that matter dissolved contains the elements of man and here they stop.
For in their reason they never count themselves but speak as though matter
is the only thing that contains life. Now touch the one who reasons and
ask him who it is that talks, the brain or the intelligence. If the odor
or intelligence speaks, then it has language, but if there is an intelligence
in the odor that speaks, then it speaks in and through the odor and makes
it-self felt by the rose or brain. I will explain this by what passes while
sitting by a sick person.
Every belief contains matter or ideas which throw off an odor like
a rose. The white and red roses throw off their peculiar odors. The white
is white to itself and the red is red to itself. In like manner, man throws
off two odors: one matter and the other wisdom. As wisdom is in the odor
of man, it is disturbed by the matter or mind which also has an odor that
is like a polished mirror and the fear is the image of the belief. Wisdom
sees the image in the mirror, held there by its fear. My wisdom disturbs
the opinion. This affects the belief; this deadens the mirror till the
image or disease is gone; then this is health.
I find that I am not generally understood when I say mind is mat-ter.
Words are not matter but they are the names of something either matter
or solid. The word solid cannot be applied to anything that can be changed.
Therefore, it must be applied to wisdom because that fills all space and
cannot be made larger or denser; it is in and through all matter, which
is called solid. I apply the word only to wisdom. Opinions I call matter,
for they can be changed. The word does not change but the substance does.
All names, as I have said,
are to represent something. As this wisdom which fills all space is
in all matter, matter seems to have life of itself. But life is in the
knowledge of this change, not in the thing that changes. So when I say
all disease is in the mind, I do not mean in the word, but in the substance.
For instance, all the elements of the rose are in the odor; and if the
word matter is applied to the rose or living bush, the odor would represent
its mind or wisdom, but the wisdom that spoke the rose into existence is
not a part of either; yet it holds it in all its different combinations.
The word wisdom embraces science, for that is the name of wis-dom reduced
to practice. There is no science or wisdom in opinions or belief so they
are embraced in the word mind, for mind embraces all that can be seen of
man. I do not believe that because man has invented words to destroy himself,
he is destroyed; but that being ignorant of himself he supposes he is something
apart from wisdom; and that when he knows himself he will see that the
very wisdom that speaks, speaks through the very mind or matter. To illustrate
that the eternal principle of wisdom, which is in matter, is not a part
of it, but outside of it, as much as a man’s sight is outside his spec-tacles,
I once put a lady into a mesmeric state, that the doctor might extract
a needle from her arm. I was seated by her. She had every sense and faculty
as perfect as in her waking state, but she contained no matter except as
an idea. Therefore pain was an idea and she had sympathy according to her
wisdom. And being in sympathy with me, she took her arm for mine. According
to her belief, to cut my arm must pain me, so she said, Does it not hurt
you? I said, No, and she replied, I should think it would.
Here were two persons: one coming within my senses, as a being of mind,
the other I was not aware of. This unknown person still lived with all
the faculties and wisdom of herself, while the earthly body was as lifeless
and unfeeling as marble. This unseen person is the real person and to deceive
her is to make her grieve, not for her-self but for the man of matter.
Every sensation is a disturbance of this mind and every idea is made of
this matter. And matter is cons-tantly throwing off particles each of which
contains the elements of the idea. Ideas are as separate as living seeds.
An apple will not bring forth a pear, neither will the seed or idea of
consumption produce liver complaint. But a pear may be engrafted into an
apple tree and so can spinal disease be engrafted into consumption. Each
disease
throws from itself particles which contain the elements of the origi-nal
idea. This atmosphere or odor is like a mirror and the idea is in it. This
is seen by the other life or identity which I call wisdom, which becomes
disturbed from sympathy with the person in this odor or belief. To make
my meaning plain, I must represent two men, one sick and the other in health;
one, a man of opinions and the other a man of wisdom. Wisdom is not science
but truth, which reduced to practice is called science. To know that you
exist is a truth; to prove that you always will exist is a science, because
man has not the wisdom to understand himself. It is a truth that we have
a body called matter and it is a truth that we believe it will die, but
it is not a truth that it will live again, for this is merely an opinion
and must admit a doubt. Wisdom does not admit a doubt, and whether we are
of wisdom or of matter is the problem to solve. Here is where man had arrived
at the time that Jesus came before the world. Philosophy had reasoned and
proved that all which consti-tute man must change and therefore must be
matter. But the reli-gious community believed that this matter was reunited
at the end of the world and took its identity.
November 1862
On Spiritual Medium of Communication
from the Spirit World
B Infidel
S Spiritualist
A Quimby or teacher
Is there a proof of any communication from the spirit world? This question
involves two ideas: first, what is spiritual knowledge, and
VOLUME 1 / 163
second, is all knowledge, which cannot be accounted for on natural principles,
[spiritual]? To the last question I will answer, “Yes.”
Question: Do you mean to say there are two spiritual states.
A
B
A
B
A
B
A
B
Yes.
Do you believe in a spiritual state?
Yes, I believe there are two spiritual states.
Do I understand you to say there are two spiritual states?
Yes.
Can man pass into both while the body is living?
No.
Do not these communications purporting to come from the spirit world,
come from it?
A Yes.
B Is there any other spiritual world that does not communicate with
this?
A No.
B Where is the difference between the two?
A Between the dead and the living.
B I do not understand you.
A The spirits of the dead pass through the spiritual world that is
occupied by the living, and thence into the higher state, which
is a link to connect the two together, like the animal and spiritual
kingdoms .
B I do not understand your answer.
A To make you understand me it will be necessary to give you some illustration
.
B Explain the difference between the two spiritual states so that I
can understand where the difference lies.
A Do you admit there is such a state as is called a spiritual state
after death?
B After death?
A Yes.
B Well I do not know that we have any proof of such a state.
A Well what will you admit?
B I will admit [that] one mind can act upon another mind.
A Very well, what is mind?
B It is our thoughts.
A Can they be seen by our natural eyes?
B No.
A Are not our thoughts spiritual?
B Well, I suppose they may be called spiritual.
A Do you admit them to be spiritual?
B Yes.
A Well then we agree on one thing, that is that our minds are spiritual
.
B I said nothing about mind, I said thought.
A Are not our thoughts called mind?
B Well I will admit that our thoughts and our mind are the same.
A Well is it spiritual?
B In one sense it is, because they cannot be seen by the natural eye.
A Therefore that which cannot be seen by the natural eye and yet is,
must be spiritual.
B Yes.
A Then we agree in regard to one spiritual state.
B Yes, so long as we have living bodies, but destroy the body, and
where is the mind or spirit?
A This is not the question in dispute, as I understand it, the ques-tion
is not whether the spiritual state ceases at death or continues after the
body ceases to exist, but whether there is a spiritual state or not, this
is the question. What is your answer to this question? Do you admit a first
state?
B Yes I admit a spirit state.
A Well as you have admitted a spiritual state I will try to answer
your question in regard to the two spiritual states . Shall I explain the
first spiritual state?
B If you please.
A As there may be some difference of opinion in regard to what constitutes
this state, it will be necessary to ask some questions, therefore I will
ask if you believe thoughts have forms?
B I do not know as I understand your question.
A Well I will try to put it in such a form as there can be no mistake
about it. Can there be an impression without something to im-press upon?
B No.
A If you think of a person, do you not form him in your mind?
B I think of the person and that is all.
A Is thinking an act of nothing?
B No.
A Will you please define what it is, if anything?
B I will give it up and hear your ideas of it.
A Well as you wish to have me explain my ideas, I will try to give
an explanation. The trouble lies in ourselves. We admit what we do not
believe, and then deny that which we profess to believe, therefore showing
that we have no belief at all.
B Explain your meaning.
A The infidel admits that mind is the result of an organized brain,
they also admit that thought is the reflection of the mind, now they deny
that reflection is anything.
A We will let the infidel alone, and try the spiritualist, and see
if his belief is founded on anything that can stand the test. I will assume
the character of the spiritualist.
B You believe that our minds can pass into the spirit world and get
knowledge of what the natural man has no knowledge of?
S Yes.
B Do you believe there is more than one spiritual state?
S No.
B What do you include in the state you call spiritual. Are the dead
and living all together or are they separated?
S I believe that man while alive cannot pass into the state of the
dead, but the spirits of the dead can come from the spirit world and enter
our mortal bodies and communicate to the living about the dead.
B Have you any proof of this, and if so please give it.
S Yes we have positive proof of it.
B What is it?
S Communications through mediums. Do you deny that they are spiritual?
B No I do not deny that they are spiritual, but I deny that they come
from the dead.
S Where do they come from, if not from the dead?
B They don’t come at all.
S What is it that communicates to us through these mediums, if it is
not spirits?
B When we speak of man we speak of something independent of the soul.
S What is man?
B Man is a chemical compound of the four kingdoms, and contains in
his body all the elements of the same. These elements are un-der the control
of the soul, that power called God, therefore the result of reason is a
chemical action, like the action of steam to machinery.
A Is man nothing but a machine?
B In one sense he is, for he is as dependent on another power to direct
his act as a steam engine is to direct it[s] . Each is governed by a power
independent of itself.
S Can this power be seen by man?
B No, from the fact that it does not contain any of the elements of
man, and therefore is that that is, and is not, and yet is.
S What is that that cannot be seen and yet is? Please give some il-lustration
so that I can understand you.
B You see yourself in the glass, can you not?
S Yes.
B Do you see that that sees you?
S No.
B Then there is something that sees, and is not seen, and yet is. Again
you move your hand, is the power seen that moves it, and yet there is a
power admitted, is it not so?
S Yes, but that does not prove to me that this power is indepen-dent
of matter.
B Is there not a power that can move your body?
S Yes.
B Is not your body matter?
S Yes.
B Is that that is moved the same as the power that moves it?
S No.
B Then you admit a power that is, that cannot be seen, and yet is.
S Well what does this power embrace that you call soul?
B It embraces that power that directs the movement of the mind and
body; it also embraces the power that directs all things.
S What has it to do with minds and thought[s]?
B A great deal, it is the power that develops all actions.
S What is the use of a power that makes man unhappy?
B If properly understood it makes man happy.
S I thought you said that man was nothing but a machine.
B In one sense he is, but in another he is more than a machine; he,
that is his body, embraces what is called mind and spirit. His mind and
spirit is the result of an action by another power called soul, which is
independent of the body and uses the body to com-municate knowledge, like
a lever to communicate power to move weight .
S Why is man so much troubled with disease, if he is nothing but a
machine?
B I see you do not understand what man is.
S Well do you understand?
B I think so.
S Please explain man so that I can understand what he is.
B In explaining man, I wish you to distinctly understand me that I
make no allusion to his bodily form, but his soul, will you remember that?
S I will try to.
B When I speak of man I speak of him in two persons, from the fact
that they are exactly opposite to each other.
S I do not know what you mean by two characters in one, and yet say
that they are right opposite to each other.
B I will try to make you understand what I mean. You admit such a thing
as happiness?
S Yes.
B You also admit such a thing as misery?
S Yes.
B Well these are the two characters I am again to speak of.
S Well, all people admit such a thing as good and bad, and hap-piness
and misery.
B I do not admit such a thing as bad of itself.
S You admit such a thing as good?
B Yes, but I do not admit bad of itself.
S Well what is it that is bad?
B Bad is the result of ignorance, of itself there is neither good nor
bad.
S Explain it so I can understand.
B Is there anything in fire of itself either good or bad?
S Yes.
B What is it?
S Why, you can use it to make yourself comfortable.
B I admit all that. Is it conscious of being good or bad?
S No.
B Then good or bad must be the result of a power prior to it.
S Yes.
B Well you see then you admit these two powers existing in one per-son
good or bad.
S Yes, and will you explain where they differ?
B They are both matter and are the result of an association. To make
it clear I will elaborate on the two characters. Suppose you should see
an object, and you should take it for something very very beautiful, this
would be good, would it not?
S Yes.
B Suppose you should be convinced it was bad, would not your mind change
from good to bad?
S Yes.
B Suppose you walked up to the object and saw it was nothing but a
statue made of wood, would not the good and bad be changed or modified?
S Yes, but what does this prove?
B It proves that there is a chemical action on the body and that is
governed by impressions made on the soul.
S I thought you said the soul contained all knowledge.
B So I did.
S You said there was an impression made on the soul, now if the soul
knows all things, why is it disturbed?
B Error is not knowledge, neither is impression knowledge, there-fore
when an impression is made on the soul, it is made through the body, this
disturbs the fluids of the body and these fluids con-tain all the elements
that make up reason etc.
S Do you say the fluids of the body contain intelligence?
B A sort of animal intelligence, which is necesssary to keep up a chemical
action to develop the laws of the soul or God.
S I do not know as I understand your reasoning: why the soul should
be disturbed, if it has information of all knowledge?
B The soul is not disturbed of itself, but the body is disturbed by
impressions, and this produces a sort of chemical action. This ac-tion
decomposes the nervous system and brings a portion of it into a fluid state,
which is under the control of this inferior in-tellect; this creates objects
and all sorts of beings that fancy can imagine.
S Will you illustrate this idea, so that I can understand it more clearly?
B I will try to. Suppose a person living in the country, happy and
at ease and to all appearances well. Now his nervous system would be quiet,
and everything goes on well and he is happy; this would be called good,
would it not?
S Yes.
B Well, suppose a person should come from town and call on this person,
and ask him how he is enjoying himself and he would first say, “I am perfectly
happy” and the man should look very knowingly at him and reply, “Men sometimes
feel the best when they are in the greatest danger.” Would this not be
likely to give the man a sort of shock?
S Yes.
B Well then the disturbed man received the first shock to his sys-tem
and it shows itself in his mind just in that degree that the sys-tem is
disturbed. The disturber then goes on to relate all the evil stories his
mind can invent. The disturbed man keeps up this chemical action under
these impressions till he is able to create anything that his fancy can
imagine. His system changes; his identity also changes, and he becomes
a most wretched being. Now this would be called bad, would it not?
S Yes.
A Well are these impressions a part of the man’s feelings or are they
something which was independent of the man?
Copperheads Caught in Their Own Trap
The trap set by the Copperheads [was tol . defeat the administra-tion,
and for that purpose they invented all sorts of plans to em-barass the
administration. They opposed the war as unjust and cruel and used all their
efforts to embarass the government in raising troops, saying it was a Nigger
war and let them fight it out, and by trying to prevent men from enlisting.
Yet some of the Democrats would not heed the warning, so when the people
appeared to cry aloud to those that would enlist, they used all their efforts
to stop their men from going.
At last when the cities and towns voted to pay the soldiers for go-ing
they opposed that and said it was not legal and they would not pay their
taxes. So they threw every obstacle in the way they could to prevent the
government from getting men.
They would not take any interest in the welfare of the poor sick soldiers,
would not subscribe anything, nor go themselves. In all this there was
no law to compel them and they expected to have their property protected
and get rid of all the burdens that they could. So when the government
saw the drift of these copperheads, they saw that the burden was on the
administration. So to remove this burden or make it fair and equal, they
passed the conscription act.
Now this act worked like all traps and caught them in their own trap
for this brought them up all standing. At first they bounded and surged
and tried to get clear, but the more they tried the tighter the bands held.
Seeing that the draft must come, the next thing was to prevent the men
from going, so a plan was set on foot to let the towns vote to pay them
three hundred dollars for a substitute. This is all the government wanted,
for they could get men everywhere for that; thus they have been caught
in their own trap. So now if the towns have to pay, they will have to be
taxed, so they have but one more loophole; that is this: there is no law
to collect this tax if the people refuse to pay, and in this case there
must be a law passed. So they expect the Republican Party will take the
loans and they
would say to their Copperhead brothers, This money was raised by the
Black Republicans and if you will vote for me I will oppose ev-ery law
that will make you liable and they will repudiate this debt. So one ounce
of prevention is worth a pound of cure. All vote for the money to be raised
but let the capitalist assure the money to the bank.
The Mode of Curing Disease
Every person that pretends to cure disease has some peculiar mode or
remedy to cure for [they have] the idea that disease is something that
needs some sort of treatment. Now as disease is believed in as a thing
the question is how to get rid of it. So persons come to me not knowing
how I cure and have no idea of my manner. And although they know that I
give no medicines, yet they are at a loss to understand how they can be
cured; so this leads to all sorts of questions by my patients.
For the benefit of those who do not know, I will relate some of the
conversation I have with some of my patients.
A gentleman from Boston wrote me a letter asking me if I could cure
him, giving me his symptoms as near as he could and saying [that] if I
thought I could cure him he would give me one hundred and fifty dollars,
if I would come to Boston and cure him for he could not leave his business.
I wrote [him] that I never warranted a cure but if he would come to Portland,
if I did not tell him all about his symptoms without his letting me know
who he was, I would not ask any fee and if I cured him, my charge was two
dollars.
In the course of three or four weeks a person came into my office and
said he wished to be examined to see if anything ailed him. So
I sat down. At the time I sat down with him he had not given me his
name nor residence. I supposed he lived in the City. After tell-ing him
all his feelings—he said I was right and then told me his name. I then
went on to explain the cause of his feelings and showed him the absurdity
of his own belief and explained how he had been humbugged by his doctors
in Boston and made it so plain that he understood it. After I got through
he said, If what you have said is true what need is there of my staying
here any longer. I said, If you have understood what I have said and see
where you have been deceived, you will be alright. He laughed and said,
I feel well now; then said I, You may return in the car; he went down to
dinner, paid me, thanked me and returned to Boston the same afternoon,
and was alright.
Now this is one case out of a hundred I could bring to prove that disease
is a belief and to correct it—all is right.
I will state one more, for it was so easily cured. A lady patient came
to see me from out of town some hundred miles, with a lame knee. The knee
was swollen quite hard and when she went to walk she complained of it hurting
her under the knee in the cord or muscles. I sat down and mentally asked
her to walk and I saw men-tally where the trouble was. Instead of the knee,
it was the ankle; this she could not believe for she had hurt her knee
at the time she walked but soon after it became lame. The doctor blistered
and cupped it and tried all the remedies in his power to make a white swelling.
So I got up and showed her how she walked and showed her that it was impossible
for her to walk as she did without limp-ing and hurting her. She looked
and saw how she walked, then I told her how to correct her step and made
her understand and then said, Now you try. So she tried and walked right
off without hurting her. Now said I, Walk as you used to. So when she walked
as she did, it had the sore feeling, but when she corrected her error she
walked right. So she returned to Salem. Now every person . . .
1863
[This article ends abruptly here. In the Library of Congress collec-tion
it is in Quimby’s own hand. The copy in the Boston University collection
is by a copyist with some word changes.—Ed.]
On the Rebellion
[orig. untitled]
Now as the rebellion is drawing to a close, the people are settling
down to a quiet state of rest, thinking their troubles are all over. They
will be in danger by putting themselves to sleep before the ser-pent is
dead. The idea that man is changed when he is overpowered is a false idea.
Man convinced against his will is of the same opin-ion still or a man overpowered
may admit his wrong for the sake of his liberty. So it is not to be expected
that these rebels and sym-pathizers have been convinced that the principle
of slavery is wrong, only that they were not quite strong enough to conquer
and will for the present wait till they get the power; if not in the form
of Afri-can slavery, they will get it in some other way or try to.
Now the leaders of this cursed rebellion have within themselves the
element of oppression. It is their nature . . . With them it is rule or
ruin and if they cannot succeed in one way they will try another.
Now religion is a line that is often used by their leaders; when I
say leaders, I do not confine myself to the leaders of the Southern rebellion,
but to that class of minds who always mingle with the lower classes and
set themselves against all progression. It is the finite element in men
against the infinite element.
Slavery is finite, liberty and freedom is infinite and will never cease
till it has accomplished its work of progression. So every party in religion
or politics that goes against this principle of progression goes against
God and must come down; but it is not known that every new discovery or
revelation that takes place must be developed through blood. But until
man can strike at the cause, every agita-tion will end in the shedding
of blood.
Now we suppose that there is no element of political power heat-ing
up to set fire to the element of progress to destroy it, but to all such
persons I say, Beware, for there is an element, a political ele-ment, under
the name of religion, that has a greater hold on the masses than African
slavery and that is catholicism; for it is noth-ing but a political body
under a cloak of religion.
Now religion has been considered by every person to be one of
the greatest blessings to men and all claim to love it. So the Catholic
religion is claimed and yet look at those that believe in it; look at their
lives and compare them with any set of beliefs and no person will give
them the preference; then what is it that holds them together, although
sometimes broken up? This unity, like the Democratic party, holds together
and yet there seems to be noth-ing to hold them; yet you can’t change their
belief any more than you can a democrat’s belief. Now when I say democrat
I do not mean one party or another but a certain principle in man to be
over-bearing; this is slave democracy. This principle is the principle
of all political demagogues who use the heresy of heaven to serve the devil
with; it is those that know that every person is more or less su-perstitious
and instead of trying to improve the human species, tries to enslave it.
Now they use all their powers to keep the masses in ignorance. The
priests of old knew that they had a power over the masses, just as John
Smith knew that he had a power over his converts. Now I don’t say that
they knew what it was, but they knew the fact that they could control the
masses. Moses knew it and when he wished to affect any person with any
punishment, he used it, but I don’t say but his motive might be good. It
is the motive of those who use their power to make it good or evil.
Now to suppose that the Catholics do not have a sort of power over
the masses is incorrect. The Protestant priests have no such power; they
only affect the masses by warning them against some imaginary evil that
they believe in. But the Catholics produce miracles and the priests often
produce great cures and all their cures are turned to their advantage.
And as the people believe in the cures they show them to the priests, like
the believers in spiritualism do too. The mediums believe that they have
some power from the spirit world, but the spiritualists don’t go into a
political party as yet; neither does any religious sect; but the Catholics,
Mormons [and] all political par-ties that hold the masses by miracles are
dangerous, because the peo-ple see results, so you cannot drive them from
their belief. But if you can produce the same effect on the people and
explain it so that you enlighten the masses, then you disprove their power
as a party.
Now disease is an error, and the person that has got it is con-sidered
a sinner by the priests, and to be cured is to forgive his sins. The priests
are believed to have this power so that they will exercise
an influence on their followers that no argument can break. But let
some person perform the cures in some other way and show how the priest
does it and show how it is used to deceive them, then you destroy their
political power and until this is done, man is not safe from this class
of political leaders.
I know that they get confessions from the masses that no other persons
can get and the persons are not aware of the fact that they do it but feel
it is the power of God that acts upon the priest. And this to the sick
or sinner is proof that the priest has this power and this gains such a
hold on them that they can’t be moved by this world’s opinion.
Now to break this power is to explain to the masses how it is done—and
correct an error that is working out destruction to the happiness of mankind.
Just get the hive that St. Peter has then you can unlock the seventh seal
and explain the mystery. Then man will see where to start from. Now we
start from a false basis that has been admitted as a truth.
All Protestantism is only a sort of come-outer from the Catholic priesthood,
so all superstition is the effect of their doctrine, and all religion admits
their foundation the same as allopathy is the foun-dation of the medical
profession and all modes of curing admit the allopathic error of disease.
Right and Wrong
PART 1
Do the words right and wrong convey to man any true standard of justice?
Are not those words arbitrary and do they not convey to the world the idea
that man is to take some person’s opinions in regard to the meaning? The
words were never intended to apply to the leaders of any party or sect.
It must be admitted that they are right and what they say of right and
wrong does not apply to them but to the masses.
Now let us see if it is not so. Take the Bible as a test. We are told
that this book defines the words right and wrong. Now the Bible does not
define anything, but certain men set themselves up as the standard of right
and wrong to judge others, but they do not come within that sphere. In
political parties, each party leader explains what is right and what is
wrong for the masses to believe. So with the medical faculty. The leaders
are never reckoned into the progres-sion, only the masses. Now the idea
is so absurd, although the masses do not know why it is so, it causes controversy,
and up spring parties and every party or sect has its leaders, and every
leader has less right and wrong for his followers.
This false way of reasoning can never cure the evil . Enlighten the
masses and let them see, that the answers [to] right and wrong are not
to apply to the leaders but to themselves. Then they will see that one
man has no more right to set up a standard of right and com-pel others
to bow down to it than another man has to set up a stan-dard for him. Now
I set up no standard, neither will I bow to any person’s standard of right,
for the man that made the word made it to judge others and not to be applied
to himself.
Here is where I stand. All men will admit that animals protect themselves
by their strength or with some weapons that are given them and they use
it and are all selfish. Now man at first came very near the character of
the animal, and he has got a great deal of the animal about him at this
day. Ask a man if he believes slavery is right and he will say, Yes, and
another will say, No. Now I will sup-pose that both are honest and both
appeal to the Bible. Now I say one is just as right as the other according
to the definition of the words right and wrong. Now is there some way to
get rid of the evil that separates them, for if you can make them both
agree as touch-ing one point the thing is settled. So let the word right
go, and ask them if they would be willing to submit to the slaves to rule
them if they should get the power; let them put it to their own selves
and if they say they would, then they are honest but not intelligent. For
every person knows that whoever is not willing to do another as he would
be done by, is not honest.
Now if to be honest is right and dishonest is wrong, then reason out
what is honest, and what is right. Now every man has his own identity which
God gave him and to enslave him because you have the power is doing what
you would find fault with if applied to you.
But if man is enslaved for the good of the community to protect the
masses, as you would chain a wild beast, that would be honest and good.
But to admit that you are not afraid of them and then enslave them for
your own good, is not honest, and is bad. So to enslave man’s opinion in
regard to creeds or diseases is as bad as approv-ing slavery.
A New Theory on the Cure of Diseases
A gentleman of Belfast by the name of P. P. Quimby has for the last
sixteen years been engaged in the investigation of the science of mesmerism,
so far as it relates to the cure of disease to see if it could be reduced
to a science. After careful investigation he has come to this result: that
the cure of disease is as much a science as correct-ing the error of any
other science. His ground is that all the knowledge of disease is in the
mind. He calls our feeling the disease; the mind changes the fluids, therefore
to correct the mind, you cor-rect the fluids. He believes mind is spiritual
matter and by chang-ing the combination of this matter it is shown in the
form of disease. He shows the difference between his theory and all others.
He ex-plains all other theories on one platform, differing only in the
medi-cines. He says all theories admit of disease independent of the mind.
They also admit disease as a thing which can be acted upon by some drug
or medicine. He places all theology [and] knowledge from a spirit world
in the same category and says that all the above theories have their peculiar
medium through which they act upon the mind of the patient. Each and all
acting upon the mind of the patient without his having the slightest knowledge
of where the trouble lies . They sometimes make a difference between nervous
disease[s]. He describes the medium through which they act. The Allopathic
phy-sician approaches the patient through this medium; he admits the error
his patient has embraced. I will here take one case to illustrate
all the rest, disease of the lungs. This they all admit from the al-lopath
to the spiritualist; this I set down as an error, admitted as a disease
by them all. They differ in regard to the means of medicine to be used
to get rid of a disease or something that has come upon a person without
any knowledge on his part. I said that they all have their mediums. [The]
Allopathic physician thinks his medicines con-tain some healing qualities
that can change the fluids of the system and bring about a better state.
His first object is to gain the confi-dence of his patient. This is done
in various ways; some by hold-ing out the idea of his superior knowledge
over his brother physician; others by running down the old practice by
holding out the idea that their medicine is poison. The Spiritualist holds
out the idea that he receives his medicine from a spirit world. He admits
the same dis-eases as all the rest though he only differs in the remedies.
Now the patient is left to choose one or the other of the above remedies.
His friends sit in and give their opinions. They differ as much as the
doctors, each wishing to have his own way until at last a physician is
sent for and the experiment commences. One thing after another is tried,
until out of patience the physician is discharged and another is sent for.
Throughout all of these experiments not one word is hinted at that the
trouble is in the mind. When all fails and the patient is left to die,
he then sends for Quimby to sit down and tell him how he feels, and at
the same time telling him that the trouble is in his mind. This requires
proof for it strikes at the root of all the others’ theories. He then shows
that a proper understand-ing of themselves will change the mind and bring
about the very thing desired. He believes that every word or idea spoken
contains something and this something changes the mind of the patient.
He sees the spiritual form of the patient whom he converses with and wins
it back to itself. This he repeats till the patient is restored to health.
His idea of disease is error that changes the mind, truth re-stores the
mind and changes the fluids.
The Quimby System
[orig. untitled]
The Quimby system is applying a new mode of reasoning to an old mode
of reasoning, by which the former corrects the errors of the latter and
shows how the old philosophy has brought about the evils that man suffers,
called disease. His philosophy shows that matter., of which the body is
formed, is created by the wisdom that controls it, and this wisdom is governed
by two principles, right and wrong or light and darkness. The light is
Christ and the darkness Jesus, or human and divine. All error is human
and is governed by human laws. All wisdom is divine or science is wisdom
and not hu-man. He shows how humans create their troubles or disturbances
and how the human is governed by human laws or beliefs, which is one and
the same. So he says, to know one’s self is to know that man, like Jesus,
has two natures: one human and the other divine. Then he is subject to
the one that lives, that is his body, for the body is the medium of both.
So to know how to correct an error is to know how to make it.
There has never been a philosophy reduced to a science to cure disease.
Men have philosophized about diseases but never has their philosophy been
put to the test intelligently. Now he [Quimby] professes to show how man
makes his disease, as it is called. Man has never got to the point of progression
to admit he is a creative being and until he is educated up to this point
he cannot see that he is [?] his own creator. He thinks he is made and
fashioned by some power independent of his existence, but this is an error.
Man makes himself and is responsible to himself and no one else. Therefore,
anything he may do can’t change the divine; so the human may cre-ate and
destroy but the divine is not changed. Now to make the hu-man subject to
the divine is to make man know himself.
Breathing
How often are we misled by a false direction, resulting in great evils,
misery and disease. The false idea of instructing man how to breathe is
of all errors the worst, for it changes his mind in mak-ing him believe
an error, thereby leading his soul astray and giving false direction to
the matter or mind. For instance, we are taught to believe that the air
goes into the lungs. This is acknowledged, without any questioning, and
therefore must be a fact.
Now if any person of ordinary intelligence capable of understand-ing
any kind of mechanical principles will stop one moment and look at the
construction of man’s internal organs, he must see that it is impossible
for the air to go into the lungs. Giving the disciples of this belief the
advantage of all they claim, it will be seen that if God intended that
the air should go into the lungs to purify the blood, he put man to a great
deal of trouble to get it there according to their own explanation. For
we are told that the air goes in at the mouth or nose, passes down the
windpipe, and enters the lungs, purifying the blood and is then thrown
off. According to this route, the air that goes into his nose must first
come into the mouth to meet the air in the mouth; after meeting, they find
their way down the windpipe.
Everyone knows that there is a valve or clapper on the upper end of
the windpipe to prevent anything from going down. This valve is closed
all the time to prevent anything from going down when we eat or drink.
Now to suppose that a person is breathing air into the mouth which passes
down the lungs, one must either be ignorant of the effect of the circulation
of the atmosphere or have never thought of the absurdity of such a belief.
Just let common sense look and see how absurd the idea is. Everyone knows
that cold air rushes where the air is warmer, for the warm air is more
rarified, and this forms a partial vacuum; and the cold air, according
to a natural law of heat and cold, would rush to fill the vacuum.
Now as the heat in the brain is warmer than in any other part of
the system, the cold air would rush to that place according to a natural
principle . The nose is constructed like a steam chamber with small holes
or apertures for the air to pass through and pass into a larger chamber;
this forms a bulkhead at these apertures, so that the hot air must pass
down into the mouth. Now the amount of cold air that can pass down into
the lungs is so small that it is not worth a thought.
Suppose you take a pipe and warm the stem, and pour cold air into the
bowl, will it come out of the stem cold? No, then leave the bowl open and
see how absurd it is to believe that it will come out cold. It is just
as absurd to suppose that the cold air or any air goes into the lungs;
for if it does not go in cold, it cannot go in hot, be-cause the heat is
forcing itself into the mouth, when the mouth is shut, to escape from the
lungs.
The process of breathing is a law of science without the least par-ticle
of knowledge; it requires no knowledge.
The child knows as much about it when it is first set in motion as
it ever does. If the machine gets out of order, then the will tries to
remove the obstruction made by man’s wisdom, for the wisdom of man has
made obstructions by false reasoning. We have the power of contracting
the muscles of the throat so that we can hold anything in the mouth, liquid
or smoke. A person can hold tobacco smoke in the mouth or force it out
of the nose, showing that the pas-sage from the mouth is under the control
of the will. So if the will can close the passage in the nose, you see
how necessary it is not to give man a false idea about the circulation
of the air. For if you make him believe that the air goes into the lungs,
it does not make it go there, but you deceive him and in the act of using
his will to induce the air to go into the lungs, he uses a great power
of will which heats up the blood and this heat closes the apertures in
the nose and prevents the natural circulation that would take place if
no such information had ever been taught.
The blood wants good pure air, for in it there is something that sustains
life and God knew what he was about when he made man. He know that man
never would know enough to breath of himself, so he made circulation according
to the laws of heat, leaving man nothing to do but to let nature do its
work, and then all will go right .
Nature will let cold air go into the nose and then come in contact
with the blood or something else that will take out of the atmosphere
what the blood wants, then it will escape to let in more cold air. The
blood is fed in this way and carries its food to all parts of the sys-tem;
returning with the impurities of the system, it deposits them in the lungs
whence they are thrown off. So the lungs act for the blood, as the intestines
do for the stomach, and the mouth receives the food for the stomach and
the nose receives the air or food for the blood. God, when he set man in
motion, did not put food in his mouth but breath in his nostrils, and man
became a living soul.
May 1860
Mind and Matter
I often use the word mind as applied to matter and say mind is matter.
This is true but then I also use the word mind and apply it to the senses
or knowledge. There seems to be a contradiction. So it is, if not explained.
I will try to explain it so that you can under-stand my meaning. Words
are used to explain certain ideas that are admitted to exist and when some
new idea comes up one must use the same words to explain it. So it is very
hard for me to find words to explain my ideas, for they are new to the
world. Now as the word mind is used to mean our senses, I have to make
another word or I can’t explain my ideas of matter. If I use the word soul,
I don’t give the true idea of soul to the people, as it is understood.
So I have to take such words as are used and explain my ideas to my patients
as best I can. In this way I can succeed in making my patients un-derstand
what I intend to convey to them.
So when I say mind is matter, I mean just what I say but when I use
the word mind as applied to the senses, I use it in another sense than
when applied to matter; for in the former sense it contains no matter but
is the power that controls matter or mind. Therefore when I say my mind
understands, I don’t wish to be understood to say that matter understands,
but the power that governs it. And
when I say my mind is diseased, I do not mean my senses are dis-eased,
but the matter or mind that the senses act upon. Here you see I use the
word mind in two senses. This appears as though I did not understand the
meaning of the word mind. I do understand its meaning, but I can’t find
any other word to explain my meaning. When the world is enlightened in
regard to what mind and matter are, then they will see that mind is matter
and can be used like any other matter or moulded into any shape or form
by another power that is in man but not admitted, although known and associated
with matter and takes the name of mind. Now then this power is sepa-rated
it is call soul, but when it is in the body, it is call mind and as no
one ever saw it, no one knows how it gets into matter nor how it gets out.
It is supposed at death to make a jump and assumes the word soul, but
this is an opinion. So if the body is sick and the mind ever so much disturbed,
the soul is ready to jump out when the mind or body is dead. The word is
applied to the body because we often hear that another has lost his mind;
when asked what his mind is, they say life, senses or knowledge. So you
see the common belief destroys life, soul, mind, and body at death. If
the meaning of words shows anything, it shows that the inventor of the
same had not the least idea of any existence after death and if there is
anything after death, it is not defined by any words giving that meaning.
This may seem strange but it is true. Take the word life; it is defined,
vitality, exis-tence. You hear this expression that such a person is using
up all his vitality or life and at last he dies; so that life is death
and there is not a word in use to give the slightest idea of anything after
what is called death. Now adopt my theory and you will see that it must
take a different word to express my ideas. My ideas are that all the senses
are life, not death, and their existence does not depend on a body for
their identity, that we cannot teach anyone to see, taste, smell or know,
but all their faculties are independent of matter and matter is the medium
for their faculties to act upon.
This was Jesus’ theory: that although they crucified the man, Jesus,
the faculties still lived, and could take a body that could be seen. You
may ask for proof of all this, I will give it. All subjects, when in a
mesmeric state, retain their faculties and senses and are in all respects
just as they are in their waking state, not as is gener-ally supposed,
under the control of the mesmerizer. Their mind is
influenced by the mesmerizer, just the same as if he should use his
power in the waking state. Each retains his own faculties, but one may
lose control of himself, just as a person may become drugged or intoxicated.
But it is a mistake to suppose [that] the subject is at the mercy of the
mesmerizer and has no will of himself. That is not the case, any more than
a person in company with a very bad man is under his control. All persons
have an influence over each other but some have more than others and this
is as it should be. But a tree is known by its fruits: If a person is known
to be bad, no one is safe in his company, if the company are ignorant of
his charac-ter. So it is with the mesmerizer. His character is to be the
standard of his power, for zeal is more powerful than imperfect knowledge.
If a man is vicious, he can, if he likes, have great control over his subjects
or patients and if he is good he has the same influence. Pub-lic opinion
has the same influence.
Therefore, all men are to themselves just what they think they are,
but this to the world is no proof that they are what they should be. Now
mesmerism proves this: that man as we see him is all that there is of him
but the Scientific man that has examined into the senses finds that there
is in the natural man a higher power or law called senses that can act
independent[ly] .
May 1860
Senses
I have spoken of the senses as something that can exist indepen-dent
of our natural body. This is new to the world or it has never been admitted,
for all the senses are attached to and [are] a part of the body, and the
idea of their being separated is something which has not dawned upon the
intelligence of the world. It may be a be-lief among some persons but it
is not admitted among the scientific. To have a knowledge of this science
is to know when an impression
is produced on the senses. The senses contain no knowledge of them-selves.
When a sensation is produced on them, if the soul or iden-tity is aware
of it and knows its true meaning, it does not produce the same sensation
as though the soul was ignorant of the true mean-ing. It is very hard for
me to define what I want to communicate to you, for there are so many meanings
to the same words and they all mean the same thing and contradict each
other, that I do not know how to explain what I mean by the senses. I will
try to clas-sify them.
In the first place, I believe matter to be nothing but an idea be-longing
to the senses, but the natural man does not recognize this idea. I believe
mind is matter used by that power that controls the senses for a medium,
and used to form any idea that is desired to bring about a truth or specific
fact. The senses do not embrace of themselves any idea of good or bad,
but are simply the act of see-ing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling.
All these are indepen-dent of knowledge, for the beast and child contain
them. Mesmerism proves the life of all of them [is] independent of the
body, so I set them down as senses, not matter, or mind, but life or the
medium of the soul. The soul or wisdom of the senses is what has never
been acknowledged to have an identity but is embraced in the word senses.
Here you see I have identified two powers or something in-dependent of
matter and independent of each other.
Now the senses are life and are sensitive to impressions, not through
flesh and blood but through the medium called senses. This fills all space
and contains all sight, smell, etc., all these are light and light contains
all the elements of the senses. The senses may be compared to particles
of light. Now suppose God to be the foun-tain of senses or light; this
light contains particles and each parti-cle contains an identity, and the
particles are made up of these senses governed by a higher power. Now the
strength of the light or senses is the expansion of its light or senses
and the diminishing of its senses is the contracting of its light till
it can be embraced in a bushel.
Jesus says a wise man will put his light on a bushel instead of un-der
it. Now as each person is a particle of this great light or senses, and
the knowledge of it the soul, it knows that its life is not in the contracting
of its senses but in the expansion of its life or senses. Therefore the
life of the body or ideas is the knowledge of its senses,
and the senses are called the eye of truth. So if the eye or truth be
single, the whole body is full of light or truth, but if the senses are
darkened or contracted or evil, the whole body is full of darkness. Now
as the senses like light expand, the error or darkness is anni-hilated.
And the knowledge of the senses is not confined to the idea of matter,
like itself in the bushel, but sees itself outside of the idea or bushel
and sees into this darkness or world of superstition. So that life or light
is in darkness but the darkness comprehendeth it not, and as man is evil
or ignorant, he chooses darkness rather than light. For the light would
condemn him and destroy his life or ig-norance. This truth composes all
the life that will exist as a science but the wisdom of darkness reasons
in its own element. Its light is its ignorance; its knowledge is matter;
its soul is its knowledge and its knowledge is its life and its life is
in itself and itself is matter and matter or life is like water so condensed
to take the form of solid or ice.
Science dissolves the solid or ice and decomposes it. Each glob-ule
takes its own identity and looks at the solid, as the senses look at the
body as an idea of mind so that there is no science or truth or soul; then
the whole body or identity is full of darkness. Now take the natural body
and compare it to ice and its warmth or cold, its knowledge. You see just
how far its eyes or senses can go. It sees its body but it is not acquainted
with its destroyer, the sun or science. But as the sun throws its rays
on its cold, icy form, a chemical change takes place and decomposition
commences. The particles or identity of which it was bound by error is
dissolved. It rises and each globule assumes an identity, not that it is
ice but that it has broken away from the prison and is now free to assume
any form it pleases . This is an illustration of the science man. Man is
made up of ideas like globules of water, the cold or ignorant state of
the world like north winds has condensed his ideas into a form or body
contain-ing all the ideas of disease and all other bad effects.
In this state, like the ice, he sees no light of the science and like
the particles of water, reasons as though he was the very identity and
wisdom of the world and when this body shall be dissolved, it ends its
identity. The ice reasons just so, if it reasons at all, but science reasons
in this way. Although you dissolve this ice or body you only set the particles
free from the error that binds them together and they
have a house or identity, not made by the hand of error but eter-nal,
in the science.
May 1860
[In LC what appears to be the hand of George Quimby or Horatio Dresser
has written the following—Ed.]:
1 2 3 4
wisdom medium to be acted upon condensed
SOUL SENSES MIND MATTER
What Is Disease? I
The theory of the doctors and other leaders of the people (if there
is any theory to it) is it is a certain something (I would not attempt
to describe their views) that comes in various shapes and on vari-ous accounts
or causes and attacks people in various parts of the body and with various
results. Indefiniteness and uncertainty charac-terizes all their ideas
about it and their ideas go no further than a belief. They believe it to
be a somthing, they can’t tell what. When a doctor speaks of the case of
a sick person he gives his opinions. It may be founded upon what is to
him very much evidence, includ-ing much experience. Still, in all cases
it is after all an opinion which he gives, and this cannot be infallible
and sure, (since [ ] not truth and sure and therefore good for nothing)
because two opin-ions (there is an old saying that when doctors disagree
or have differ-ent opinions) about the same thing cannot both be right.
The same uncertainty about disease is allowed and winked at in the practice.
But what is disease? If it is true that it is a thing of itself, did any-one
ever see it? In all the post mortem examinations and dissections of bodies
. . . has the thing disease ever been found in the body?
A tumor or any disarrangement of the system is an effect, called by
Dr. Quimby a phenomenon, or result of some cause. The ques-tion is, What
is the cause? (This determines the disease). To each of these questions
you answer, No. Then I say, You know yourself that if it is not a material
thing of itself it must be a property de-pending upon another thing.
It must be either a live thing like a fox (and twice as cunning) in
order to come of itself and attack us. And furthermore, it must have intelligence
or else it is a dependent characteristic of some other thing and if the
latter, what is that? We hear the name animal life given to something in
the body. We are told also that the body is under the control of the mind
and we see daily illustrations of the fact. What then is the use of the
second power called animal life? Did any-body ever see that? Is that a
thing of itself or does it like . . . [?] be-long to something else? Oh,
one cannot tell. That is something that no one can fathom is the answer
invariably to this. How did they find that out? But this “life” is of the
body I suppose. Now if the body is matter, has matter life? Again, did
you ever see the body of any kind of an animal move without displaying
intelligence? You know there is intelligence with every man and every animal
and that intelligence guides each man and animal in all his movements.
This intelligence needs no proof, but that animal “life” spoken of can
neither be proved nor defined.
On the other hand, take away from a man or animal all knowledge, intelligence,
or instinct and conceive if you can of any movement that he would make.
What could there be a movement for? Nothing! There could be no object;
the thought shows an in-consistency. Watch the very lowest brutes or the
very smallest in-sect and you will see intelligence displayed in their
movements . And again watch yourself and you will see no act or movement
that is contrary to your will, but every stir or slightest motion is the
result of your direct volition. What then can be the use of the animal
life? If the mind has the control of the body as I would have the control
of a hammer in my hand which would be no more a tool than the body is to
the mind, of what use would be that second indefinable indescribable opinion
of a thing or power called animal life. And if it is a thing of itself,
why is it never seen nor found, and how can it go out of existence? But
if it is not a separate thing of itself but
a property of another thing how can it, being a live or active qual-ity,
be a property of a dead or inanimate thing, such as we see matter to be?
You may say that is its life. How can it die then? If life dies, then it
is not life. Again if disease is not a thing of itself, it must be a property
of some other thing that has life and animation and in-telligence of itself
else it would produce no action or bad result. What then does it belong
to? If to the body it could manifestly con-tinue its operations after the
spirit left the body. But we have not and cannot prove that the body has
any life or animation or intel-ligence of its own, or independent of the
mind; the evidence is all the other way. Then we have only the mind left
to which to ascribe the disease as a property or how may it exist in the
mind? I answer in the form of a belief, and the body being under the control
of the mind, a subject of its influences is moulded and affected just in
proportion to the state of mind in its belief.
A person is to himself just what he thinks he is and he is in his belief,
sick. If this were not so, if it was not true that all disease is in the
mind, not one of the hundreds of cures that have been made by Dr. Quimby,
and are constantly being made, could have been ac-complished by him, and
the old time administers [sic] of pills., calomel, and error would still
have undisputed possession of the field of sick and wounded. Again, take
it another way. You complain of a pain in your side, is it you that complains
or your side? You perhaps answer that it is your side complaining through
your mind. But I ask, Has your side knowledge? And can it notify your mind
that it may speak for it? Is not the knowledge in your mind and is. it
not your mind that complains? How much pain would you have if you did not
know it? How much pain is there in a dead body? Why doesn’t pain continue
after the soul or mind leaves the body? It is known by all persons that
the state of mind or belief influences a person’s health. Why is it? How
far does it go?
You see that there can be no action or motion without an intelli-gence
behind it and you know that your body has. no intelligence. I will quote
a few lines from Dr. Q’s writings” . . . “There is noth-ing animate in
the body, so when the body is injured by what we call disease, it is by
an error of the mind, the body being subject to the mind, so when the mind
is corrected of its error, the truth is estab-lished which is its health.
Errors of False Reasoning
All error arises from false reasoning. If man knew when a sen-sation
was produced on the senses, his senses or knowledge would be prepared to
receive it without fear; but being ignorant of it, he receives it sometimes
as a sweet morsel that he rolls under his ton-gue till at last he finds
to his sorrow that he is hugging a viper that will sting him to death.
Now if mankind knew these enemies and how they came and got into their
house or mind they would be on the look-out and their knowledge would be
a protector. But the wis-dom of the world has set up a standard superior
to the wisdom of God and supposes its opinions must be taken for truth
without any doubts or questioning. This standard is based on the old supersti-tion
that went hand in hand with all other superstitions. Science has been ridding
the world of its errors, but the science of life is in the hands of the
most ignorant class of persons the world can produce, who undertake to
be the teachers of a science that they know nothing of. How long would
the world suffer a chemist to blow up every per-son venturing to stand
by to see him produce a phenomenon, by which the world would be put in
possession of some scientific truth and then hear him explain that it is
a scientific experiment governed by the laws of chemistry, the effect being
just what he knew before it took place? It strikes me that he would be
put in prison for mal-practice, but you stand by and see a physician do
the same thing and think it all right.
For instance a physician, from his theory which is based on the lowest
grade of ignorance and superstition, produces a chemical change in your
friend and blows him up or kills him from his science, and your friend
gives him the credit of being a scientific man. Now to kill a person by
the theory or science of the faculty is one of the easiest things in the
world. It is as easy as to take a ves-sel lying at a wharf in Portland
and going on board of her in the dark, undertake to pilot her out of the
harbor where you have never been yourself but have seen someone go in fair
weather, and as you
have the name of a pilot, to pilot man’s soul to the other world. The
Captain invites you to pilot his vessel, so you get the vessel under-way
and in a short time are right among the ledges. If it lightens up and you
see there is no change for escape, you show your science by letting the
vessel have her own way; if the current and tides carry her clear, you
deserve a medal for your knowledge. And if she is lost, you get the credit
of showing great skill in not getting lost be-fore or in avoiding a worse
place.
So it is with the doctor. He is called to see a patient who is a lit-tle
nervous, is in the dark or rather afraid of going out. So this blind guide,
called doctor or pilot, undertakes to pilot him through the valley of death
and land him safely on the shores of health . The Cap-tain or patient gives
up the helm to this blind pilot, who shows his chart and points out the
dangers of the coast. The Captain is now in a very nervous state, for he
thinks he is deceived. He thought there was not much trouble but he finds
by the pilot that he has been blown away by the breath of superstition
and ignorance into the gulf of death where he is a stranger. So he and
all his friends or crew give up to this blind guide because he shows his
chart of the coast. Now the Captain is nervous and wants to know all the
dangers, so the pi-lot sits down and commences giving a scientific account
of all the rocks and quicksands and shoals—not forgetting to tell how many
had been lost on the coast. He shows how the wind and tides vary sometimes.
You think that you are clear and in the next minute a flash of heat strikes
you on the cheek. This is called hectic and it is always an indication
of a shoal called consumption. Then comes a crackling sound called cough.
This shows that the tide of life is nearly on the turn. Now comes the science—if
the tide is rising, the wind is fair and nothing happens, you will go clear.
But if the tide is ebbing and the wind is rising, it is not certain how
it will come out. As it is, it is not worth while to rack the hulk any
more by pump-ing her life out. So make the helm fast and wait for Nature
to do her work. So all acts are suspended, waiting for the tide of life
to carry her clear. And if by chance you come into the river of life, you
are lucky.
Then this false guide, who has been the means of all this trouble,
comes forward on deck and speaks in the language of his science. “I have
piloted a great many persons before but you have had the narrowest escape
I ever saw. And if I had not been on the look-out,
you and all hands must have been lost.” But one old tar who has been
posted up in this kind of knowledge, based on superstition, sees into the
imposition and shows that the pilot has not shown one sign of scientific
knowledge. Now he gets the credit of a great deal of science and receives
all their thanks . This is a fair illustration of the medical practice.
It is based on ignorance and not one single fact is explained by their
theory. Phenomena are produced. So they are by the spiritualists. Both
theories produce phenomena, but the world is none the wiser, for they establish
an error for a truth and mankind has to suffer for their explanation. Their
theory makes disease and mine cures it, so we are just in opposition to
each other. I know how they get the world into trouble and they don’t.
By means of their belief, they kill more by trying to get them out of their
trouble than by getting them into it, for they don’t save any. But if they
let them alone, the sick sometimes get well of themselves.
Now put man in possession of a science that will teach him that thought
is matter, governed by another power, and also that his own belief is the
cause of his trouble, and to correct his belief is his cure. Then he will
see that he cannot become the dupe of such persons as he is now. It would
teach him that there are two ways of doing everything in regard to disease.
There is a way of making disease and also a way of unmaking it. The science
of this world is to make dis-ease and the science of truth is to destroy
it. One is the science of an opinion and superstition and the other is
the SCIENCE OF
TRUTH.
May 1860
On Consumption
As I have spoken of breathing, it is necessary that I should give my
ideas concerning it. The fact is, if man had not set up his wis-dom above
God, or error had not undertaken to set up its standard as truth, there
would not have been any need of making war against
it. The error of breathing has become the common opinion of the world
and mankind is affected by it. And it is time for some one to step forward
and define the truth or science. If there had been no opinion taught to
man, there would have been no need of an answer. So I do not come to establish
a truth but to destroy an error, for the destruction of the error is bringing
back the truth.
Now let us see what is the foundation for the common belief in regard
to breathing. It certainly does not lengthen life, for those who know the
least about it live the longest. And those who try the most experiments
are the worst off; for all that class of persons who know nothing about
the lungs and never heard of such an organ are not much affected till they
become acquainted with this world of science. And it strikes me that any
theory that tends to make us worse is not founded in truth. I will take
a child that is perfectly well and show how to bring about consumption.
I must be well posted up in medical science (not knowledge, but the
science) which is not to know anything about myself but to adopt the established
opinions of other people. This I must learn by heart so that I can use
all the phrases as readily as a sailor on board a ship. My chart is the
medical science and my knowledge is to put it in practice and the evidence
of the senses is the proof of my skill, for every tree or science must
be known by its fruits. To show each science is to know how to put it in
practice. And as I have the knowledge of the true science, it requires
also the knowledge of the false science. Like a man playing a game of checkers,
he must know his opponent’s game better than his opponent does so that
he can take advantage of his error. This is so in my way of doctoring.
Health is the game to be played; truth and error are the comba-tants.
Error plays to destroy health and truth to save it. So that truth must
know error’s weak points so as to show him up and like a law-yer prove
the absurdity of his move or opinion. And as life is in our senses, the
game is to be decided by them. If I succeed in showing the absurdity of
my opponent’s theory, life gives me the game. So I will commence my plea
as a regular physician and show how to make consumption. As public opinion
is my knowledge, the more I have of it the more certain I am of success.
I will assume the character of some learned physician, educated in Europe,
who has a chest full of medals marked “M.D.” This is my theory and the
knowledge is to put it into practice. I commence my public career by
giving a course of lectures before the people of ______ in which I set
forth all evils that flesh is heir to. I call their attention partic-ularly
to the lungs, describing minutely their delicate structure and important
office and lamenting the imminent danger which hangs over the young in
this climate. After getting the people excited on the subject, all ready
to be affected, I close my remarks by saying that a remedy has been discovered
for this worst of all diseases, con-sumption which is inhalation, and that
I shall be happy to attend to any person who would like to try it. This
ends my advertisement and I wait for a customer. Presently I receive a
call.
The patient is a young lady accompanied by her mother, who is more
nervous than her daughter. She can hardly wait for me to speak before she
tells me they attended my lecture and were so much interested by my remarks
that she could hardly wait until morning to bring her daughter to see me.
She says she thinks [her daughter] must have taken cold, for she seemed
to have a nervous cough. “No doubt,” I reply. “I did not know,” she continues,
“but that she might have inhaled some of the impurities. You know there
is a great deal of dust in such places.” “Yes.” “I should like to have
you ex-amine her lungs and see if there is any trouble. “What is your fee?”
“Ten dollars for an examination.” Ten dollars! Is not that high?” “Yes,
but you are aware that to prepare one’s self for the respon-sible duties
of a physician, where so much depends on their knowledge in regard to the
construction of the human system, must require a great deal of time and
money.” “Yes. Well I wish you to give her a thorough examination.” So looking
very wise, I com-mence tapping the chest and then place my ear down to
listen. The mother sits in a nervous state of mind and the child is as
pale as death. Seeing all this, I very modestly say, “I find the left side
of the lung slightly diseased, but I think that it can be entirely cured.”
“Oh! How happy I am. Well, doctor, what shall we do for her?” “You remember
that I spoke of my medicated inhalation treat-ment.” “Yes.” “I think if
she tried this it would entirely cure the disease.” “What do you charge
for the preparation and fixtures?” “Fifteen dollars.” “Nothing less?” “That
is my fee. I am not a quack but a regular and I will explain its effects
to you and how it acts. You will inhale this preparation into the lungs,
where it
produces a chemical change and you will have to clear the lungs by coughing
off the deposit that is made there. If it should remain in the lungs they
would become inflamed and tubercles will form and this last condition is
entirely incurable.” “You think there is no doubt you can cure her?” “I
cannot say now but in a week or two I can tell. Be sure not to have her
take the least cold and have her breathe the purest air. She must be particular
about diet living on meat and ale with a little light food as graham bread.”
“Can she drink coffee?” “By no means, cold water is the best. Obey all
my orders till I see her again.” The lady and daughter leave and the daughter
becomes more nervous, the mother more anxious.
In a week they call again and the doctor examines her lungs again,
looking more doubtful. This kind of a practice is kept up till com-mon
report begins to do its work and then all their friends can see that the
Doctor is right in regard to the lungs. The breathing be-comes short, hectic
sets in and all hope of recovery is given up . Some person has the courage
or impudence to hint that if she had never seen a doctor she would have
been well, but this is blasphemy and that person is silenced. Finally the
young lady dies. By the request of her physician a post mortem examination
is made. The brethren are called and the science tested. They find the
lungs diseased and a great deal more trouble besides but finally they decide
that she came to her death by consumption. Here you see the science proved
and tested, by a committee of scientific men. Thus ends the life of one
and thus is established the medical skill. This is one theory.
I propose now to introduce the other side, but as I have no chance
with that patient, I will take her sister going in the same way, the doctors
having become alarmed and decided that her case is like the other. The
parents are induced to try some other doctor, so I am called. I find the
patient with a cough, pains in her side, soreness about the chest and through
the shoulders, heaviness about the eyes, hectic and all the symptoms of
a consumptive. Now what course do I take? In the first place I take all
her feelings on myself. Then I commence taking up the doctor’s opinions,
her mother being present and show that they are false and without the slightest
foundation, that not one particle of fresh air goes into the lungs. By
my expla-nations and experiments I show the absurdity of his theory. In
the first place it is impossible for anything we inhale into the mouth
to pass into the windpipe or stomach till we swallow, and in the act of
swallowing the vapor would pass out of the nose. In smoking the smoke
does not go into the lungs, but if a person is in a room with smokers,
all the smoke that goes into the nose is carried into the lungs and stops
up all the air cells so that he cannot breathe.
This inconsistency is believed. Why does not the smoke of a pipe go
into the lungs? Because it does not, yet persons are told to smoke to make
them raise, while at the same time it stuffs another up. One takes w[h]iskey
or brandy for the lungs, another can take neither. Now all these absurdities
everyone knows and the people have never questioned the doctors’ authority
but have taken it for granted, liv-ing and dying in their errors. The idea
of any inhaling vapor into the lungs is simply an absurdity. It goes to
the brain, there stimulat-ing and exciting the blood like liquor. If you
take liquor into your mouth you must smell it, showing that it goes to
the head and this is what excites. A person would become as drunk by smelling
rum as by drinking it, but not so soon, but in neither case does anything
go to the lungs. The expansion of the chest is an act of the will in-dependent
of the circulation of the air or breathing. The nose is as much under the
control of the will as the mouth; everyone knows that we have the power
to close the mouth, and we have the same power to control the nose.
All medicines ever given to affect the blood go to the brain in the
form of vapor and affect the brain as the air does through the senses.
If you are sick you know it and this knowledge affects the brain first,
for the brain is the seat of power. The brain sets the body in mo-tion
and if that is disturbed by any chemical action produced by any effect
on the soul, then the body is acted upon like a steam engine without an
engineer. Both must be subject to a power superior to the machines or they
will fly to pieces. I speak of the chemical ac-tion as though it contained
no intelligence. But this is not the case, for mind is matter and any action
on this mind or matter must be the act of a power superior to the mind
and the effect shows which power acts upon it. For instance, almost any
person can set a steam engine in operation and the effect produced by the
engine shows the science of the operator; so when a sensation is produced
the mind is obstructed or disturbed, resulting in a chemical change governed
by truth or error. It is not chance, but the natural body or ignor-ance
cannot understand it, for if it does it is not ignorance. All ac-tions
on the body are governed by an intelligence above the matter
acted upon and the fruits or effect shows the intelligence of the power,
whether it be of God or truth, or error.
Now to make a disease is to produce a change on the mind or body according
to its author. When I believed all my mesmeric ex-periments were governed
by the laws of electricity, I brought about changes in the system to accord
with my ideas, showing that I governed the mind of my subject according
to my knowledge, but then my knowledge was of this world, not of the truth.
It was true that I produced the change and it is true that in the practice
of medi-cine, the doctors may be honest in their profession, but that does
not help the person who has to suffer from their ignorance. It is true
that good results often follow from their ignorance. It is true that good
results often follow from their remedies, as it did in the case of selling
Joseph to the Ishmaelites. But if good comes from their practice, it does
not prove that they have any science, but that science comes in spite of
them. Now put man intelligently in pos-session of the idea that scientific
knowledge can produce a change in the system scientifically, so that it
increases man’s happiness, then you establish the kingdom of heaven or
happiness in this world of ignorance. This is the science to be taught.
This teaches man that matter, as it is called, is nothing but an idea,
subject to two powers: one, truth and the other, error. And as er-ror is
the father of false impressions or directions, all its effects are subject
to its master and do not contain truth. Now all that man can do is to separate
them, the one from the other. This can only be done by proving it by works,
just as error proves that its science is to der-ange matter, giving it
a false direction and showing the author in its effects. Truth does the
same; it takes matter in a deranged state, giving a true direction and
the effect is harmony, happiness and peace. The effect of error is discord,
disease and death. This is the position of both. I will try to illustrate
the separation. Suppose that a person should tell you that the air you
breathe is poisoned and go on to tell you the effect it has on the system:
how it passes through the windpipe into the lungs, making you cough, and
gives all the par-ticulars of this disease called consumption, and you
finally get the idea into your mind or knowledge. Now you live with all
this knowledge. The matter is in operation, condensing itself into a dis-ease
according to your knowledge. And sooner or later you produce
a body precisely according to the pattern you have received. This is
the wisdom of this world.
Now before you finish it, you in your trouble (for you are in trouble)
call on me to help you out. I know your feeling and see the disease you
are trying to make, also the effect it has on your hap-piness and I know
that you have been deceived by error. You were well enough before you received
this knowledge, but your ambition to subject your mind or matter to your
will carried you in a false direction. This was getting your life in trouble.
Now I have to show you your error and how you got into trouble. And in
showing you I dissolve the matter like clay and explain to you where your
false direction is. This I do, not by experimenting, but by a science which
gives to man a knowledge of himself. And this knowledge consists in destroying
his opinions which he thinks are true and establishing in their place a
science which will enable him to correct any opin-ion made on his mind
without knowledge.
It is very hard to give a person a clear idea of a science which they
have no previous idea of. To them it is a mystery and humbug, so I don’t
know exactly how to express myself; for to say that mind is matter is to
you a mystery and so it is to every one that does not understand. If man
had not been misled, the idea would not have been so much in the dark,
but words are used so it has confounded the ideas of man and it is hard
to explain what you mean. For in-stance, the word mind embraces everything
that is called knowledge without another word. It embraces the soul, life,
knowledge and in fact all there is of us. Yet we speak of losing the mind
and saving the soul, and losing the soul or life. So you see there is no
definite idea of life, mind or soul. Now as disease is in the mind, according
to my theory, it is necessary to show what I mean by mind and mat-ter,
so that I can explain how I can change the mind or matter to cure disease.
For instance, in the case of the young lady I spoke of. Before she
embraced the idea of consumption, the composition of the mind or matter
was disturbed like mortar. Mortar is clay disturbed; so is mind, matter
disturbed; not under the direction of truth or error, but merely disturbed
and the result of this disturbance is ideas thrown off without any direction,
like a galvanic battery. This state of mind or matter is sometimes called
insanity, just according to the
effect. But it is the working of matter, that is the decomposing of
the body, ready to be used by any intelligence, superior to itself. There
is such a power or science called God and also a power or science called
the power of the devil or ignorance. One is confined to matter and a part
of it. Its life is in its acts or directions so it sees no power superior
to itself and its reason is confined to the length of its days. Now to
save its life it invents all kinds of diseases, which are its own destruction.
You see the effect of this in all error. It reasons wrong in every-thing.
It produces phenomena, for it is in its own opinion or knowledge. It creates
disease as in the case of the young girl and it has become so popular that
it has set up its standard as a real reli-gious standard. It looks upon
all science as mystery or humbug and warns its followers to beware. This
enemy of man is the father and mother of all error and the true science
is to correct it. Now to cor-rect the error of the young girl is the cure.
Therefore, I stand in the place of a counsel to plead her case. The indictment
embraces all her symptoms and if she has them about her person, she is
guilty of an offense against the laws of health. Now laws are for the pro-tection
of each man’s rights and in the natural world as well as in the spiritual
world, every one is subject to its laws. The ignorant of this world are
only a shadow of those ignorant in the other or spirit world. For truth
and error has its spiritual as well as its natural world and those who
are bound in the spirit world are also bound in the natural world. Jesus
gave Peter the keys or knowledge of the two states, so that he could loose
those bound in the spirit world and also relieve those in this world.
I will explain the binding in the spirit world. The young lady, when
she was well, was not bound at all, but when she became ner-vous error
began to bind her. This was in the spirit world, and as her mind became
troubled, it showed itself in the natural world or body. This the doctor
called disease. This contains their knowledge and their science. To bring
about this state of mind or disease re-quires no knowledge of the scientific
world, for that to them is all mystery or chance. Now to cure the lady
would be to break the fet-ters and bands and set the prisoner free. As
error is subject to science, it cannot hold the soul in bondage, only so
long as the er-ror exists. Like a problem the soul is imprisoned, till
the true answer
comes and then it is set at liberty. This is the way with disease. Er-ror
has its laws which are subject to the laws of truth, as the laws of the
State are subject to those of the United States and when a per-son is accused
of a crime, arrested and imprisoned by the authority of the State, if he
is ignorant of the laws, he submits to his penal-ties. But if he is informed
in regard to the laws of the United States and sees that he has not committed
himself in the [State] law he, like Paul, will appeal to a higher tribunal.
This is the way with disease. God makes no laws to bind mankind. His laws
are not like error’s laws, nor his ways like error’s ways. His ways are
pleasant and all His paths are peace. There are certain principles of truth
or knowledge that are God that are not acknowledged by error to be knowledge,
but principles making God of no effect but chance. Er-ror does not admit
intelligence in science. It admits the phenomena but sees no intelligence
in it, thinking that the intelligence which produces them is a gift or
power derived from some higher science which it knows nothing of.
This keeps up a warfare between truth and error. Error sets up a standard
and laws to protect its followers. As error is in a land of mystery, truth,
like the prodigal son, leaves his father’s house and tries its luck in
this dark and uncertain experiment. As it passes, it is liable to get into
trouble at every act. It finds the road rough and ragged, robbers and murderers
on all sides and it finds persons ready to stretch forth their hand to
help you. You will be decoyed into every place where you will be liable
to break the laws of the land. If you ask for information you can get all
you want and the more you get the worse you are off. For their laws are
all for their own benefit and their penalties are your misery. You will
find that you cannot step out of doors without being liable to be decoyed.
Their laws are so completely adjusted to their penalties that it is impos-sible
to deceive them. For instance, take the young lady. She enters this land
to investigate its law and penalties. The first caution she receives is
this: not to expose herself to the night air. This to her is an error,
for God never made any such law and she will not obey the order, so she
steps out nervously to see the effect. Her fear makes her cough and this
frightens her and she tries to suppress it which increases the tendency
to cough, and the first thing is, she is accused of disobeying the law.
Now she is arrested and bound by error. Her
offense is proved and she is cast into prison, there to be tormented
till the debt is paid (called death). If she has any means, she has enough
to pretend to plead her case till they are all expended, and she is left
sick and without friends or means, like the prodigal son.
Now all this is known to science, and science is acknowledged by this
error and it dare not hold a person in bondage if the freedom from error
is proved. This was the case with the young man, when he came to the truth.
That is, he saw that he had been deceived by error and he then returned
to his father or truth. Now this young lady, from an ambition or desire
to get knowledge, entered the world of error and here she becomes deceived
and was decoyed into bad company or ideas. This disturbed her mind or matter
and in this state she was misled and made to believe a lie that she might
be ac-cused by the mother or public opinion, condemned by the doctor and
sold into bondage to live a life of suffering and torment till truth should
set her free. Now .as I find from her friends or truth that she has strayed
away and not returned, I leave the health [y], like the ninety and nine
sheep, and go and search diligently till I find the lost one. Then I claim
her as a child of God and not of error. So a trial is held and all the
witnesses are summoned to prove that she was al-ways a child of disease.
This takes some time, for there are many witnesses to be examined and I
can’t tell whether I can prove her innocent.
If she was born a slave I have no claim on her, but if she has been
deceived into bondage, it is for me to prove her identity. So I will now
state to the court that the prisoner at the bar was not born sick or diseased,
.and is therefore not a slave by birth, but was once well and happy and
left her home to seek riches or truth and was led by error into disease
or bad company. She is accused of disobeying laws that have no power over
her and as she is not of your nation and having no knowledge of your laws
and having no person to advise her, she has been frightened into an acknowledgement
that she is guilty and submits to her punishment. I have authority from
the truth to take her .and .return her to her father’s house, from whence
she has wandered away, if no proof can be brought that she is a slave or
always was diseased. So if there is anyone to accuse her, let them come
forward and condemn her.
Here you see a fair statement of error’s effect on the truth or hap-piness
of man. This was the state of society when Jesus appeared.
He pleaded the cause of a guilty world and corrected the errors of his
day, gave a different turn to society and brought light in regard to the
errors. This light or truth opened the eyes of the blind or ig-norant and
broke open the prison doors, liberated the prisoners and set the captives
free. Now as society is only a figure or emblem of our spiritual indentity,
we are all liable to be caught by error and condemned to eternal banishment
from happiness if we do not find some one to assist us in our trouble,
just as it is in the natural world.
I will now show the course I have to take to free the young lady from
her enemies. It is necessary for me to answer all the questions as perfectly
as though I was pleading a case of life and death. This I do with as much
feeling and sympathy for the sick as though they stood accused of a crime,
the punishment of which would be im-prisonment for life. It seems as though
I was actually standing as her counsel, with the judges, the patient’s
accusers, for it seems that there is no jury, but public opinion on one
side and truth on the other. I have to take up all the symptoms that are
embraced in the indictment and show that they are false and if I succeed
in my en-deavor she is set free by common consent and her accusers are
seized and imprisoned for life. The prisoner is. acquitted with joy and
a change is felt by all the friends even in the natural world. I will now
commence my defense for the young lady. She stands accused of all the symptoms
of consumption. These symptoms. are the property or ideas of error and
if a person is found with them he is arrested and imprisoned. It seems
as if disease is something that error is afraid of. If a person is accused
of it, the whole community are up in arms about it and would kill the person
to stop the disease. Ig-norance is a coward and dare not face error. See
the effect of the smallpox. The people are half frightened to death about
it and if it was not for some one who has more truth or nerve than the
masses, the victims would be killed for the benefit of the living. So it
is with error in everything.
Error is very strict, ready to condemn everything,, thinking that it
is doing God’s service. Look at all sectarianism; look at witchcraft, spiritualism
and all the mysterious phenomena which have ever been. Error makes war
and would fire or burn or imprison all who would uphold it . Ignorance
dare not take any part . Truth investigates it and runs the risk of its
reputation for the benefit of man’s happiness. So error stands ready to
torment anyone that is caught with anything
confirmative to their laws. And as their laws are the cause of the very
thing that they complain of, it is very hard to get rid of them. The means
used to destroy the evil creates it, as it was in the days of the Salem
witchcraft. The course taken to put down the evil was the very way to make
it. And unless both parties had been punished, it never would have been
stopped. So it is at this time. I have no doubt if there was a law that
if a doctor told a patient who coughed that her lungs were diseased and
by killing the patient the investigation should prove it a lie, then to
execute the doctor, and do it in every case, you would not see so much
coughing and complaining as you do now. It would have the same effect as
it did in the days of witch-craft. The evil was made by the very authorities
who were trying to put it down, and that was by the very wisest men of
the age. But when the accuser and the accused both had to suffer the same
punishment, it stopped the evil or changed it from witchcraft to dis-ease,
but which is just as absurd as it was under the other name. Now the witches
are in the people in the form of disease. Then they were outside and that
is all the difference. Change public opinion scientifically and you get
rid of this curse of all evils, disease. This is my opening of the case
of the young lady. I will introduce her as accused of consumption. Here
she stands before her tormentors like the innocent girl of Salem, accused
of being bewitched. She stands pale, with quivering lips and glassy eyes,
a hard cough and flushed cheeks, nervously suppressing the little nervous
cough for fear she would expose herself to these worst of all devils or
barbarians, who stand ready to tear or choke her to death with their chains
and bands or to bind her and cast her into prison for the safety of society.
Here they stand before me and the judge of truth. I present the young lady
to the judge, who listens, not as a partial judge, but as the judge of
the dead and living, who has no respect for persons, but listens and decides
just according to the evidence.
I will state her position and my defense. I assume that the young lady
at the bar was born healthy and is not liable to any disease that her parents
had or had not and that the symptoms are the effect of fear produced by
her accusers. Now I will call the mother as wit-ness and see what she knows.
She tells her story which goes to con-demn her daughter. She testifies
that she has been looking around and watching her daughter for some time,
had often heard her cough and caught her weeping and when she accused her
she would deny
the whole thing, saying, “If you would only let me alone I should be
well enough.” When cross questioned by myself, “When did you first perceive
that your daughter was in trouble?” She answers, “Some time ago.” “Did
you think it was consumption?” “Yes, I knew it was.” “How did you get your
information?” “From the doctor.” “Had the doctor ever seen your daughter
at that time?” “No, but he attended her sister who died of the same complaint.”
“How do you know it was the same?” “Because she appears just like her sister.”
“Then because she appears just like her sister, she must have consumption.
Is that all the proof that she has it?” “No, I know that she has it.” “How
do you know?” “Because she has, that’s all.”
Now the young lady cannot be condemned on this testimony and the witness,
as she knows nothing, is dismissed from the stand. She goes off muttering,
as though her opinion was law and she knew all about it. I will now call
the doctor who appears ready to testify al-ways on one side, for they never
testify except as party concerned. “Will you state what you know of this
young lady?” “I was called
‘,
to see her about two months ago and found her very nervous.
“What is that, what do you mean?” “Why nervous, an excitement of the
nervous system.” “Well, what is it?” “Must I be disturbed in this way?”
“You can answer the question.” “I have.” “How?” “Why her mind was disturbed.”
“Is not your mind disturbed by me?” “Yes.” “Have you consumption?” “No.”
“Then it does not follow that every one who has his mind disturbed or nervous
has consumption?” “No.” “Well then what more have you to say in regard
to the patient.” “I have not said that she had consumption.” “No, I know
that you have not, and do you say that she has it?” “The symptoms go to
prove it.” “How?” “Because she has all the symptoms of consumption.” “Will
you state what you know? If so go on.’’ ‘‘I was called to see her and found
her nervous.” ‘‘That is, her mind was disturbed, I suppose.” “Yes, and
I examined her lungs.” “How did you do that?” “By sounding on the chest
and listening to the sound we detect the state of the lungs.” “Do you not
get deceived sometimes?” “Yes.” “Will you say on your oath before your
God, you are sure that the young lady’s lungs are af-fected?” “I think
that they are.” “That does not answer the ques-tion.” “Well, just taking
the lungs alone does not prove that the disease has affected the lungs,
but you must take in all the other
symptoms.” “Have you ever seen the lungs?” “No.” “Then will you say
on oath that you know what you never saw? and state it as a fact without
qualifications?” “No, I won’t say positively, but it
. . ,, ‘‘
is my opinion. Then it is your opinion?” “Yes.” “Your opin-ion is not
law, so if you have no other proof than your opinion you can leave the
stand.”
Now I will show how this comes about and leave the judge to de-cide
the case. I wish to take the stand. I say I feel all this young lady’s
feelings. Is this true? The young lady says, “Yes.” Now here we both agree.
I have no consumption and I know it, for I had not the feelings before
I sat down [with her]; so is it not fair to suppose that she could have
the feelings from some other cause, as it is that I should have consumption?
Everyone would answer, Yes. I will ask the doctor a few questions. “Can’t
a person be nervous without hav-ing the lungs diseased?” “Yes.” “Can’t
a person cough without having the lungs diseased?” “Yes.” “Can’t they have
every sym-ptom this young lady has without having consumption?” “Taking
them separately, Yes.” “Then when combined it is consumption. Can’t a person
be so frightened, that they will turn pale?” “Yes.” “Can’t they cough from
fright? Can’t they have what you call hectic from fright?” “Yes.” Well,
if this young lady is to be condemned on this testimony, the reader may
decide.
June 1860
Another World I
It has generally been supposed that the authors of the old and new testaments
were inspired to write an account of another world off and apart from this
globe. Under this belief strange ideas arose in the minds of men. In the
old scriptures is given an account of the formation of a literal earth
and the creation of man. Then it goes on to tell how man became so wicked
that God caused it to rain forty
days and flood the earth, destroying all the inhabitants except Noah
and his family, who after the floods dried up came forth and com-menced
to till the ground. All this story is believed to have a literal meaning
and all who question this belief are called infidels or deists. Now after
Noah and his family began populating the earth, you see an account of the
generations of Noah. Then the world became wicked again, but God promised
not to destroy it by water a second time but by fire. Here follows a description
of the final destruction of this earth and its inhabitants by fire and
a promise from God of a new heaven and earth where there shall be no more
death nor weeping, where all shall worship God day and night, where the
wicked shall be destroyed and God shall reign eternally. Now this is explained
literally. It is believed that all this was communicated to Moses on the
Mount and that God came down and talked to Moses, giving him a code of
laws or belief that man must accept in order to gain a place in this new
heaven. This theory God caused Moses to write down and it was called the
commandments of God, given to Moses for the happiness of the children of
Israel, to be taught to them while he was leading them through the land
of Egypt into the land of Canaan.
This belief was to counteract some false idea that the people had,
for they were very ignorant and full of all sorts of superstition. There
were no principles regulating their conduct towards each other but might
was right. The strong oppressed the weak and there was noth-ing to prevent
their perpetrating any abuses. It was Moses’ aim to stop these abuses and
free his people from their bondage and degra-dation. So he instituted a
more just and liberal code of laws attach-ing penalties to abuses that
he could not prevent and putting restrictions on men to bring about a better
state of society. He did not try to instruct the people but only sought
to bring them under his standard by which their oppression would be lessened
and their condition improved. Neither did he attempt to establish any kind
of worship or belief about God, but his regulations appealed to the interests
of men and were as good as the people could carry out. They made man more
cunning and crafty and overbearing, but they did not analyze motives, leaving
them as arising from the natural world. This state of things continued
for a long time. Religious doc-trines never entered into men’s heart, but
the wise men were engaged in developing the mind of man. All evils that
were suffered were
from their acts and their acts were the offspring of their belief and
their belief was made by the leading spirits of the age.
If the person who gave direction gave it intelligently so that it could
not be bettered, then the world was wiser or better for their opinions.
But if directed by ignorance and superstition, then the peo-pile had to
suffer for their belief; for our happiness or misery is in our belief.
Now as the belief of the people did not embrace any kind of a religious
opinion in regard to another world, they could not get sick on that subject.
The evils that troubled them were of this world and confined to the laws
of Moses. These made them nervous but did not create disease. Now as truth
progresses, it has to contend with error. And as Moses put restrictions
on the people they mur-inured and complained. So in order to keep the people
in subjec-tion, the leaders had to invent all sorts of beliefs. Therefore,
prophets were introduced and the priests and prophets led the peo-pile,
but truth or science is not under the control of either. It moves along
like the rising of the tide. It is the only enemy that priests and doctors
have to contend with, for it is death to both, and life and happiness to
all who get it. Happiness is what follows our belief and the life of the
priest and doctor is in their belief and their interest is in the misery
of their belief. For if the people have no belief, they would have no disease,
as disease is their belief. So it is the intent of the above classes to
keep the people posted up on all their beliefs to insure them a good living.
One of the old honest prophets knew this trick and said that the prophets
prophesied falsely and the priests ruled by their means and the people
love to have it so and what would they do in the end thereof. (Jer. 5:31.)
As science progressed, the priests had to give way, for there never was
one particle of knowledge or progression in either of the above theories.
Science only leads the world in true philosophy, never making man sick
or diseased. Disease is not the offspring of science but of error, and
as priests and doctors have taken that part of philosopihy into their hands,
all other sciences in regard to all other facts have let the science of
life alone, suppos-ing it to be in the hands of scientific men. All knowledge
of the scien-tific world has had this error to contend with and the priests
and doctors have been driven from their ground and have taken their stand
just where public opinion places them. They do not lead
science, but science leads them. There was a time when they led but
as their craft became so apparent to scientific minds they had to yield.
If any one will just follow along the progress of the develop-ment of the
human mind since the laws of Moses, they will see a steady progress of
science and an annihilation of priestcraft. Error has assumed more forms
than the colors of the rainbow and to ev-ery form the misery is shown in
its believers. It has shown itself in all kinds of superstition but it
has had to yield to more liberal belief.
All error in the Bible has been modified by the wars of its own party.
Its opposers were of that class of minds that could tear down if it could
not build up, but in the tearing, science made some progress. For when
rogues fall out honest men get their due.
All new theories in the Old Testament were illustrated by some phenomena
that the people were acquainted with . So the science ad-vanced and showed
itself in some leading spirit of its age, as in Noah: his theory was represented
by a flood, for it swept away all the old world or superstition of his
age. Then Moses’ theory was leading the children of Israel out of Egyptian
darkness into the land of truth or science. But as Moses never entered
the land of science, he saw for others what he never was permitted to enjoy.
So science crept along in the hands of some of the prophets and other theories
are represented by altars and the science of truth was the sacrifice. There
was Balaam; his theory had false prophets who knew just as much as some
physicians in our day. His ass spoke and so do such now. When Joshua showed
the absurdities of the people’s theory, they left it and followed him,
so the magicians and sorcerers and all such deceivers had to fall back
for the true science.
In the case of Nebuchadnezzar, the magicians and sorcerers had complete
power over the masses and as the king was in advance of them, he saw that
all their pretended knowledge was false. When he was sick and sent for
his magicians and sorcerers to interpret his dream, they said, as the quacks
of these days, Tell us how you feel, or your dream, and we will tell you
what the matter is or give the interpretation. But he said, No, tell me
my dream or how I feel, first. This they could not do and complained at
such an unreasonable re-quest. And when Daniel told him his dream or how
he felt, these magicians put him into a fiery furnace, which means they
put him through a course of questions which he answered, showing
knowledge superior to theirs. This made them angry and they tried, as
the doctors do now, to put it down with contempt. They did not stop the
investigations for when Darius came into power, they tried to smother this
truth and persuaded the king to pass a law that no person such as Daniel
should practice. But Daniel took no notice of it and he was cast into the
lion’s den or company and when the meat was thrown in to test the science,
these lions’ mouths were shut and Daniel come off conqueror.
Thus truth has had to fight error step by step and the truth has been
revealed to the wise and opposed by fools and the ignorant; so wisdom crept
along till the time of John, the Baptist. Here was a new development of
truth, far above anything reached yet. It held out a new motive to man,
placing him above the superstition of the world or error. At the time of
John, the world had been embrac-ing false doctrines, not in regard to another
world but to this world. They had a vague idea of a world after death and
the priests, to strengthen their authority and hold on the people, invented
all sorts of ideas, pretending to be empowered with authority to pardon
their sins. They held out to the people that the dead should rise at the
end of this natural world. All this was not taught by Moses but crept into
the church, which itself is only a sort of popular religious opinion and
carries sway in men’ s minds even to this day. The church con-tained the
belief of the people and as science was developed, the priests lost power
over the people. And at the time Jesus appeared, they acted as doctors
and cured the diseases of the people. When John appeared his teaching struck
at the root of all this error and he said, The axe of science is laid at
the root of the trees or theories and every tree or theory that cannot
sustain ideas must be hewn down or destroyed. The fire of truth would burn
them up. Their be-liefs made people sick, just according to the penalty
attached to the crime or belief. For instance, the Jews believed that eating
pork would produce scrofula; therefore they would not eat it and those
who did eat could not help being disturbed by this belief. Where this error
started I cannot say. Only, it was to satisfy the ignorant, so they would
be better off not to eat the meat. This was for the poor at first and the
aristocracy took advantage of it, just as the priests lay restrictions
on the people but do as they like themselves. So you
see scrofula was the result of their belief and the remedy was total
abstinence from pork; but as priesthood went down and their the-ory was
exploded, the idea that pork produced scrofula was absurd. This last belief
was worse than the first, for it made this disease a thing independent
of pork and therefore the people were afraid of it. Here you see one disease
let loose in society. Now to get rid of this disease, mankind must get
nervous and wrought up to a very high state of excitement, ready to embrace
any idea that the priests could invent. And as the priests lost their hold
on the people, med-ical men were introduced. And at the time of Jesus,
it was the com-plaint that the poor paid all they had to the priests and
doctors and got no relief.
As the doctors got control of the popular mind, they invented dis-eases
to humbug the people as the priests had done. At last they made a sort
of compromise, the priests taking the souls of men into their charge and
the doctors their bodies and between them both they almost destroyed body
and soul. This was the state of society at the time of Jesus’ appearance.
John saw all this humbug and warned the people against this pretense and
foretold that someone would come who would put an end to all this priestcraft
and doctoring. He did not know that disease was all in the mind, but thought
that the mind had a great influence upon it. Jesus hearing of John and
know-ing that he taught a new theory went to hear him explain his ideas.
This was called baptism. So John baptized or explained to Jesus his ideas
of priestcraft and its effect on the mind, but its remedy had never occurred
to him. When Jesus heard John’s thought or was’ baptised, as he came from
the water or understood his ideas, the heavens or truth was opened unto
him and its voice descending from God or Science, said, This truth is the
Son of God or Science.
Then he was led up into the mountains of his belief to be tempted by
the errors of the world for the people were all ready to embrace him as
king and the temptation he had to go through was against his interest as
a man, for preaching this truth and opposing all the errors of his age
was not a very pleasant thing. But he overcame them all and took his stand
in opposition to all the world, denounc-ing the priests and doctors as
a set of quacks who opposed the peo-ple, bound burdens on them and robbed
widows and orphans. This
made them sick and nervous and the doctors came in for their share.
Thus they suffered by these blind guides. Here is the difference be-tween
Jesus’ ideas and the rest of the world. The belief of the world was confined
to matter. They had never been taught that the senses were a separate identity
from the body’s identity but they believed that man as you see him is all
there is of him and when the body ceased to act it was dead and this ended
man till the resurrection at the end of the world. Some had a different
belief but they were all confined to this world.
To keep man in subjection to the laws, certain penalties were at-tached
to every act, thus putting restrictions on the people for the benefit of
society. These restrictions were called burdens and the people complained.
They had no idea of right and wrong as we have now, but their only interest
was in keeping clear of the laws or lash. If a person wanted anything belonging
to his neighbor, he did not reason as we should, but like the beast, sought
how he could get it without being caught. They reasoned like any person
running a risk where dollars and cents are concerned. Not that their happiness
or misery was involved in the act, but how to get what they wanted. How
shall I get it was the question, not is it right or wrong, but shall I
get caught and if so, how much shall I have to pay. So it was a speculation.
The happiness was in stealing and evading the punish-ment and the misery
was in paying the fine. This was the whole story and all their study was
to take advantage of each other. Their religion was their laws which were
all confined to their lives. So when they died they were free from the
law and death ended their religious opinions and everything else. Therefore
the living mourned for the dead and often hired others to help them mourn.
Not that the dead knew anything, but that the living lost something. Neither
was this mourning because they loved them, for they would kill any one
to make a little money. In the case of selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites,
they cared nothing about his life. Money was their God. So it was with
Judas. He cared nothing for Jesus’ life; money was his object, for he had
not yet the Christ or truth that Jesus taught.
Now where does Jesus differ from all other teachings? In every particular.
His belief is founded on truth and is not of man, but of God or Science.
Therefore, his priesthood was not of this world and
contained none of the church forms or ideas but taught that mis-ery
would follow our acts. His theory was that the senses were not a part of
our body and that they were affected by our belief, their . happiness or
misery being in our belief, which belief was matter and could be changed
by a power independent of itself. The science was to put people in mind
of this fact, so it was necessary to produce cures on the people independent
of anything but his word, for his words were the destruction of matter
or disease. This showed man that his belief made his trouble, so he warned
them against the bread or the doctrines of the Scribes and Pharisees, for
they made them sick.
This was his mission—to show that if they robbed or otherwise injured
their neighbor, rendering an equivalent would never cure the evil, but
that their neighbor like themselves had eternal life. And just as they
measured out it should be measured to them again, for ac-tion and reaction
are equal and the knowledge of the result is in the thought or idea. For
instance, if you want to put your hand in the fire, the knowledge of the
result is in the thought. So it is in every act or desire or our lives.
If we desire to get something from our neighbor without returning an equivalent,
the answer is in the desire and the misery is in the answer. It will be
as certain to follow, as a weight thrown in the air is sure to return with
as much force as it received. Jesus tried to teach this and that was all,
for his other world was this truth—that although they destroyed his identity
of a body of flesh and blood, this Christ or science would exist and could
take a form again. This truth is what he strove to teach his disciples
and when he was about to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies, he
sat down and performed his last act by talking over this new theory.
When he broke the truth and gave it to his disciples, he said, Eat
this bread or theory for this is my Christ or truth. And then he said,
Take this cup, or the result of our belief, which is the life of this truth
or Christ and as long as you are interested and think about it, you do
it in remembrance of me or Christ, till the Science is estab-lished on
earth as it is in heaven. This was his last conversation with his disciples.
Now how long did his disciples continue in this belief and how much did
they understand of what he said? How much of
a reform did he effect through them according to his desire? Time has
shown. The very moment he was arrested they left him and de-nied their
action with him.
Judas had an idea of what he taught but it did not penetrate to the
destruction of his old belief. His senses were in the two beliefs and when
Christ or Jesus’ belief was in him, his old belief of dol-lars and cents
was present, prompting him to make a little money. So he betrayed Jesus
into the hands of his enemies. Jesus saw and knew this at the time he was
talking over his belief in the form of a supper. He saw that Judas was
honest but ignorant of Christ when he said, He that dippeth his finger
in the cup shall betray me. Judas tried to understand more than all the
rest and thought he did. Je-sus knew that he did not understand and knew
that when the time came for him to stand up and defend the truth he would
shrink. This was to him perfectly plain and so it was in regard to them
all. The fact was that Jesus taught a new doctrine so hard to understand
that it was impossible to teach it to the people. The disciples thought
they understood it, but when asked to prove it they were unable to ex-plain,
and so denied him. But the females who always have more sagacity than the
men, though of more delicate physical structure and of silent influence,
understood him. They were the ark wherein were deposited the tablets of
stone or Moses’ laws and all of the rules of the world in regard to spiritual
knowledge that the wisdom of men do not contain. They had more to do with
the crucifixion of Jesus. The women bore the ark in Moses’ day. They have
always been a sort of reservoir to hold the new ideas that the world has
brought forth in their ignorance. They are the first to catch any new ideas
and the last to let them go till every particle of truth is drawn out,
as the humming bee finds honey in the flower where the wasp sees none.
Now at the time when Jesus was put to death, he had been teaching this
truth, that the senses of men were not confined to this body, but could
act apart from it, and what a person believed, he, that is the power that
governs the senses, could put his senses into and then the senses would
be affected just according to his belief. So that our happiness or misery
is in our belief. This is what he tried to prove and did, but the disciples
did not understand it till he put this part of it into practice. Then their
minds were changed. They
saw him dead; to them this was all there was, the end of all men, as
they were taught . Now to see him rise again was the introduction of the
new heaven or belief. This was a very exciting thing. If he did not rise,
then their talk was all in vain and all Jesus said went for nothing. The
people could eat and drink as they had done and there was no proof that
the senses were not really confined to flesh and blood.
This of course excited mankind and this was the great problem to be
solved, but how it was to take place was a mystery. So vari-ous opinions
came up as to how the dead should rise. Now in all this excitement there
were some enthusiastic persons, who never get any-thing right except what
they cannot help. These often try to help a matter on, as the Spiritualists
help on the communications from the dead when they are produced with difficulty.
It was so with this problem. There were those who did not understand that
Jesus never alluded to his flesh and blood but to his senses (which was
all that ever had any life), that they should take form and be seen by
his dis-ciples to prove that all men had the same senses as Jesus had.
This they could not understand, so they did what all crazy-headed en-thusiasts
would have done. They stole the body of Jesus away, for fear that the body
of Jesus should not rise and then all this new the-ory would be exploded.
So when the Christ or Science took form and showed itself to the people
they were afraid and trembled. This was natural, but when assured it was
the Christ taking the form of the man Jesus, they believed. This would
lead some to suppose that the crucifixion was all a humbug and that Jesus
was not dead. So they went to the sepulchre to see if the body was there.
Now if Je-sus’ body had been there, as it ought to have been, then the
problem would have been solved, but lo! and behold! the body was gone!
This left the people in the dark and gave them a chance to call up doubts
whether he was really dead or not and these doubts which exist to this
day commenced the controversy on that subject.
Paul speaks of it and it has never been explained if these en-thusiasts
had left the body of Jesus in the tomb, this was proof enough to establish
the truth of Jesus’ doctrine: that the senses could exist independent of
this idea or body. Now if the senses exist in-dependent of the body, then
the body is nothing but an idea that
the senses are attached to. So when the senses are attached to any-thing,
they are a part of the same. When we attach the senses to any-thing that
has life, its life or identity has around it an odor or heat that is the
prison that the senses are confined in. And to liberate the senses is to
destroy the prison or atmosphere, that they may act freely. As all our
unhappiness arises from our belief, it is necessary that we should understand
what influence is controlling us. We are told that God brought to man all
living creatures to see what Adam would call them and he gave names to
all of them so that to every sensation made on the mind, the senses had
to give a right expla-nation in order that man should not be led away by
false explana-tions. The science is to separate the error from the truth
or the law from the gospel.
The laws of Moses have passed through many modifications and some have
been repealed, others modified and amended to suit so-ciety, up to this
day. The laws of Jesus are the same today as they were when they fell from
his lips and in all his teaching no word ever escaped him that put any
restrictions on man. If Jesus ever gave an opinion, he gave it as such
not as a truth but as an opinion of the man Jesus, but when he spoke of
Christ, he spoke no restrictions or commands. I will give a few of the
teachings of Christ, showing the difference between his opinions of mankind
and the religious opinions of the world. These last never imposed any moral
restraint:
an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Self was the ruling pas-sion
and all laws were made with the idea of restraining the people to keep
them under so that the rich could ride over the poor. This made them jealous
and crafty. The priests never instructed the peo-ple in the idea of taking
care of themselves, but bound burdens on them in the form of beliefs. These
beliefs embraced all kinds of evil spirits. This made them nervous and
according to my belief would make them create in their minds all kinds
of evil spirits, thus mak-ing them more nervous. Thi.s was worse than the
old Mosaic law, for that put the misery in the penalty and their penalties
only made the misery.
The priests found that their laws were not sufficient to lead the people,
so they invented evil spirits or ghosts to frighten them so that they could
control them. I will show you how to form an evil spirit and how it will
get hold of you. Take a child whose mind is all right.
You have something that the child wants and the law says if I take it
I must pay four times its value. Now the child wants it and con-trives
every way to get it. This makes it nervous and it grows more and more nervous
to have its desire gratified. It knows no princi-ple of right or wrong
and thinks it has a right to whatever it sees. It is under no restriction
except the law and this law is of no force to the child. So some evil or
ghost is invented to frighten the child into submission. Now the introduction
of this last evil has given rise to more evils than all the laws of Moses,
for then if a person wanted to steal anything, the punishment was in the
detection or fine. If the child stole a thing of no value the law could
not take cognizance of that, so they were obliged to get up some other
humbug to keep the young in subjection. This brought out all the talent
of the wise who invented all kinds of evil spirits or introduced the old
Egyptian er-rors into the world again and now you will see relics of Egyptian
su-perstition .
Moses tried to free his people from it, but as his laws never rea-soned
at all, the people obeyed them through fear. So the world has been humbugged
even to this day by blind guides leading the blind. Ignorance and superstition
have invented all sorts of beliefs and as the senses are something independent
of our belief we put them into our belief and all the misery that we suffer
is the heat or odor that arises from our belief. This heat or odor is matter
and our senses are in it like a person in prison. And when I come into
this prison or atmosphere it affects me just as it does the person who
is in it. This atmosphere is the prison or place of torment and this is
heated up by their belief. So when I change their belief the fire of ignor-ance
or the heat subsides and their senses are relieved from a bur-den that
binds them down.
As disease is a belief, it has never entered into their minds or senses
that their belief is the cause of their trouble. Let this be made plain
to the people and then they will not say one to another, Know you this
truth! but it will be so plain that any person of ordinary ability can
see it. These beliefs will give way to Science and super-stition and bigotry
will be driven out of the minds of men and the Bible will stand on the
rock of Science. Then when a person under-takes to say to you, Believe
this or that, the people will say to such, Show me your belief by your
works to the sick, as Jesus showed his
belief in his day. Then all hypocrisy and deception will be driven from
the land. The minds of men will take a more elevated stand and men will
be just what their works show them to be. Then when a doctor comes to you
and you have to tell him all your feelings and your health is in his belief,
you will see that his belief is not one whit better than the priests, who
tell you a story about what they have not the slightest evidence of in
truth. Then the people will take their beliefs into their own hands and
will purge their minds from all these false superstitions that lay burdens
on them and bind them on their shoulders in the form of rheumatism, neuralgia
and a thousand other diseases for the benefit of the profession.
The people will see that God never bound anyone, only by love for one
another and this love knows no ill-will towards its neighbor. It calls
no one master but one and that is God or Science and Science never made
man or child unhappy to know it. It sometimes makes them unhappy in getting
it. This is where all the trouble is. Men who are lazy would rather give
an opinion on a scientific subject than to investigate it . All religious
opinions are embraced without the slight-est investigation, for if they
try to investigate, it makes them ner-vous. This makes them create in their
mind the identity of their belief. They attach their senses to their ideas
and their misery is in their belief. So it has always been; men would always
rather give an opinion than investigate a principle. Phenomena have always
taken place which the wisdom of the world has undertaken to explain. So
when such take place, they are handed over to the wise men to ex-plain
as though God’s laws depended on man’s wisdom or intelli-gence for an explanation.
All new theories are opposed by the wise who never admit them, till
the truth of them is so apparent that their opinions are not wanted for
their success. Then they come in and steal the thunder, claim the discovery,
cheating the inventor out of his birth right by pressing him till he, like
Esau, will sell all for a mess of pottage. This is human nature. It was
just so in Jesus’ days. The priests and doc-tors tried to buy him out but
Jesus told them that to put his ideas or truths in theirs would be like
putting new wine into old bottles, their bottles being of leather would
burst and the wine would run out. To the priests he said that their theory
was like an old worn gar-ment and to put his truth into theirs would be
like mending an old
garment with new cloth. It would tear out and make the rend wider. So
when they saw that they could not do anything with him and that he was
going to make his theory or doctrine popular, they were afraid and said,
Our craft is in danger. So they got the people en-raged by telling lies
and representing him as their enemy while he was their best friend. They
cried, Crucify him, for our craft is in danger!
The silversmiths would lose their chance of selling their gods, for
his ideas struck at all idolatry. So they crucified the man Jesus, thinking
that they were destroying the Christ, but when this same Christ appeared
again, they were afraid. Jesus’ belief was very sim-ple but the people’s
superstition has put a false construction on it and it was a stumbling
block to the Jews and to the Greeks, fool-ishness. But truth proves itself.
If was then and is now believed that Jesus was trying to prove another
world apart from this. Now there is not the slightest evi-dence that he
ever hinted at a world independent of man’s senses. On the contrary, all
his acts went to show that he never harbored such an idea. I will now state
what I believe Jesus’ belief was and the people may take it for what it
is worth. Jesus never believed in any world at all as the people do now.
The old world was the old beliefs of the old testament and no one believes
that the writers of that refer to anything but their beliefs, for their
own safety; for at death all was ended. Jesus believed that our senses
were not a part of this natural body; that death was an unbelief and that
the senses lived. So if the people could understand that their senses lived,
then death was swallowed up in victory and that belief vanished.
This was all taught as doctrine. This if believed would put away all
superstition and upset all forms and priestcraft, so they said, Cru-cify
him! It would not do to have such a fellow among us. And af-ter the deed
was done, the priests and doctors gave a turn to public opinion and explained
Jesus’ ideas on their own ground and the peo-ple could not see the cheat
but embraced it. So what is religion now? It is about as near Jesus’ ideas
as democracy is near the old-fashioned republicanism of Jefferson’s day.
And if the disciples were here now, hearing the ideas advanced, it would
be as new to them as their ideas would be to the people in our days. Religion
like po-litics is undergoing a change all the time and has just about as
much
to do with enlightening the minds of the men as political parties. It
is like a sort of irritation to keep up investigation, like any error.
The church is good in its place and like laws will act upon the sim-pile
and ignorant till they are ready to embrace Christ’s truth of do-ing to
another as you would that another should do to you. As this is understood,
the religion of man goes out of fashion. But it will be a long time, for
they have decked it up like a fashionable saloon equal to Solomon’s temple.
If Jesus was here now he would not be permitted to talk in the churches.
And if he had the privilege he would not find that class of people that
he associated with when on earth, for they can’t at-tend meetings; it is
too expensive. It takes quite a sum to hire seats for a whole family so
only one or two can afford to be religious; the rest have to stay at home
or go to a cheaper kind. Like saloons, there are all kinds of religions
to suit customers and like doctors, they want to make something by their
profession. So you see it is the same as it was in Christ’s day. They have
turned the houses of the Lord into houses of merchandise and fancy goods
and preach for doctrines the commands of men. They thus show that there
is not one particle of truth in all they say, for if it was true it would
not change and religion like all other fashions changes every year, show-ing
it does not contain one single true idea or one atom of science. Now let
Christ or truth be preached: that man’s senses will always exist; that
he is just what he makes himself and that his happiness is in his belief
and his belief contains his character. It must be taught that man’s act
are governed by his belief, his happiness or misery being the fruits of
his belief. His belief is the two worlds. To be in ignorance or error is
in one world, misery and pain being the fruits. Science and truth is the
other and happiness and peace is the reward. So man has these two worlds
in him and he is the subject of the one he obeys and God rewards everyone
according to his acts. I find no allusion to any world independent of man’s
senses, only in the brain of a superstitious world.
Parables
All the parables that Jesus made were to establish the kingdom of heaven
or God’s science in this world of man’s mind. This science was to put man
in possession of a knowledge superior to the natural man, so to the natural
man it was a mystery. They could not under-stand how there could be any
power which could see the workings in the natural man’s thoughts. So to
establish this was not an easy task. This cannot be told literally to the
natural man because it is not of matter. The only way it can be taught
is by illustration.
It has generally been supposed by all the wisdom of this world that
Jesus wanted to teach a resurrection from his body and that man should
go to a place independent of this globe. This being his be-lief he had
to illustrate it by parables. Now as absurd as this idea is, it is the
belief of nine-tenths of the people of this world. Now let us look at it
one moment.
If there is another world independent of this natural world, then I
have no doubt that the parables were intended to refer to it; but there
seems to be in the minds of all those who believe in this old theory another
idea warring against the old one. It is like this: that the other world
is only a state of mind and that Jesus never intended to teach the resurrection
of the body and that heaven is not a place but a state of mind that will
follow us after death. So you see that even with this idea all believe
in death. This places man in the same state that Paul was after he was
converted to the truth of science. He would often find himself talking
or thinking upon these truths and his old superstitious ideas would come
and nearly upset him. So that at the time he would exclaim! When I would
do good or think right, my old ideas are present with me and that truth
that I would like to understand I cannot, for my old ideas or evil thoughts
are present with me. So it is no more I, the man Paul, but the old theory,
Saul, that is present with me.
So you see that most of the writers of the old and new testaments
are explaining the difference between good and bad or error and wis-dom.
Error and misery make up one character of man, ignorance another. Wisdom
is science and has a character of its own unlike all others. It contains
no sensation; it is wisdom and nothing else; that is God. Man is in the
other two characters and is made up of matter, with this wisdom in it;
so this wisdom is in the matter or mind and the mind or matter knows it
not. This wisdom is like the chicken in embryo. It grows and breaks the
shell and then assumes a character in another element. So science is in
ignorance and it grows till it bursts through the shell of superstition
and then assumes a character. These two characters are not known in the
natural world. The scientific world of wisdom knows the two, but the natural
man knows it not. These two characters are in every person and are the
cause of all the trouble in the world. The standard of science is not admitted
in the natural world and never will be as long as knowledge is looked upon
as a gift or power. So long as this state of mind exists, it keeps up a
warfare of opinions. I will give an il-lustration to show where the trouble
is. Wisdom is not puffed up; error is. Wisdom is not vain of itself, error
is. Wisdom is not de-pendent on matter for an existence; error is. Wisdom
cannot be de-stroyed; error can. Wisdom is God; error is matter. And as
man is matter, God put Wisdom into matter to control matter for its own
happiness. God contains neither happiness nor misery of himself. Happiness
and misery are in the act of matter, not of wisdom.
August 1860
Spiritual Truth or Wisdom
[orig. PARABLES II]
How shall I illustrate this spiritual truth or wisdom? I will call it
a king, who made a great feast or science for man his son. So he sends
wisdom into the minds to call or reason about this great feast or science.
They, that is their errors, prevented them from under-
standing, so he sent other ideas or arguments to convince the error
so that it could understand. But the error made light of the truth and
went their way and would not reason so that it could not get any foothold
as yet. So the error ridiculed any idea that would rise in the minds that
this truth ever could be reduced to a science. They discarded from their
minds all idea of a science but admitted it as a gift or power. So when
the king had failed to reduce this truth to a science because of the errors
of the age, it was wroth and it sent forth its power and destroyed these
errors that were murdering its science, and by its truth burnt up their
old theory or society. Then said he, the wedding or science is ready to
be understood by man (or the son).
August 1860
Jesus’ Parables of Another World
[orig. ANOTHER WORLD]
The question is often asked why Jesus spoke in parables to con-vince
the people of another world. Why not tell the simple story and not mystify
everything, so that even his own disciples could not un-derstand him. I
will admit that there is something in that question that looks dark, but
when one understands what Jesus was trying to establish or teach, it will
give you a very different slant on his ideas. The first question should
be: what was Jesus trying to establish—not take it for granted it was another
world. It is gener-ally believed that it was to establish a belief in a
future state or world beyond this material world and it was necessary for
him to come from heaven to earth in order for him to teach this great truth
and to show the people that he really did come from heaven; and to make
them believe, he must show a sign or do something a little above the rest
of mankind. How natural it is to mystify everything so that the ignorant
cannot understand! Men do not want to think;
so if they can only get rid of investigating a phenomenon and at-tributing
it to an invisible power so that they stand just as well as their neighbors,
that is all they want. There is another class called the wise men, who
have been set up as oracles of wisdom. To them everything that starts up
must take its rise from their fountain, or they will open their flood gates
and overflow the little streams that are trickling over the rocks and pebbles
of their superstition.
It is too much labor to be a hewer of wood; so if you take a per-son
of eminence and make him a laborer, he will say like the sloth-ful servant
that truth is a hard master . So such persons will hide their talent because
they will not put themselves on a level with the thinkers of their age,
but rather lie still and cry, Crucify him, for our craft is in danger!
The people take the cue and fall upon him with staff and stone or ridicule
till they have put him down. Then those wise men rise in their majesty
and praise the people for their good sense in putting down the very person
who is their friend. This was the case with Jesus; the opposition came
from the wisest men or class of men who led the people [supposedly] for
their own good. This course taken by the wisdom of this world has always
opposed all science ever since the commencement of the world. For when
science is established the wisdom of this world has to yield, but a hard
battle must be fought before the science is established.
So when Jesus commenced his reform he was despised of all men, misrepresented
by fools and construed by knaves and hated by priests and doctors. They
thought as they do now: our craft is in danger, so they called him infidel
and imposter. When they cruci-fied Jesus they put such a construction on
his acts as they pleased and instead of giving his ideas, they gave just
such an opinion as anyone would expect from those who wanted to keep the
people in subjection and ignorance. Thus they have explained Jesus’ mean-ing
just according to their ideas. Now the Bible is in the hands of the people
and they can all read and judge for themselves and every one has a right
in this land of liberty to give his own opinion in regard to the Bible.
I will avail myself of the same liberty as others. All I ask of you is
to lay aside all prejudices and listen to my expla-nation of Jesus’ mission
in the world. I will state what I intend to prove, and afterwards, I will
prove it by his works and my own and leave it to the people to judge which
is the most natural
construction—the priests or mine. I will now give my opinion. I take
this ground, that Jesus never intended to teach any kind of religion, acknowledged
by any religious class of people, but opposed all kinds of religion of
his days and ours. Secondly, I say he never meddled with any institution
or laws made by the people. Thirdly, he never put any restrictions on man
but left him a free agent to do just as he pleased, but subject to the
laws of men, for God never made a law. All laws are the inventions of men,
not of God and Jesus’ king-dom or truth was not of this world but of science.
His religion was a science and science was never known to have any connection
with ignorance .
There are two standards: one is ignorance of science. It belongs to
that class of intellect or wisdom that is of this world and can be detected
as easily as you can detect any other error. The difference between the
two is this: the wisdom of this world tells what others know. It takes
memory of events and the history of the learned for science. But science
talks what it knows and stands ready to prove it by works.
Here is the difference in men. A great man is one who can remem-ber
anything he ever heard and repeat every person’s opinion but has no idea
of his own. He stands ready to prove all he says by his standard, so if
he is doubted, he shows you his authority. Thus he is a sort of court or
town record that is ready to receive any opin-ion that is supposed to be
true, having the court or town stamps— this makes a learned man. A truly
scientific man is a book of na-ture, understood, so that he can prove all
he says. He is made not of opinions but of wisdom, and never refers to
old authors but proves all things by his science. His memory of events
or names or places, he has no shelf to put on, for to him they are only
as an amendment. He listens to persons having that knowledge as a par-ent
listens to a child to hear him give an account of some play or story that
amuses him for the time. In his leisure hours, he seeks such men as a person
goes to a play for the sake of amusement, not ex-pecting to realize any
true wisdom. This sort of amusement is of this world and is well expressed
by Shakespeare when he says, “All the world’s a stage and all men are players,”
etc. This is the case and as science is a stranger to this world it comes
into this world and pays tribute money, to be instructed in all things
pertaining to the world.
It pays the clergy for their opinions of truth or science of this world
for its own amusement. It asks questions of the wise men about it-self
as science, as Jesus did, to hear what kind of answers they gave to this
spiritual world.
This world is very strict . It worships science as a power not known
and is very strict in regard to its followers. It erects standards to this
unknown God or science, for it is a God not known to this world, but the
world of science is in it. Now as Jesus came from this world of science,
he was a stranger in this land and liable to its laws. So that his mission,
like all science, being to destroy error, he must come into the world of
error to lead the science that is imprisoned in this world of error to
the truth or health. Jesus knew that God or science was not in their worship,
that all it did was to keep science down and retard it. So he must, like
Sampson, throw firebrands into their minds so as to get up a dis-union
in order to dissolve the bands or burdens that kept them down. He knew
that the people knew not what they did or believed. They never had any
science about their belief and had not the slightest idea of what it was
or how it could be altered. They never dreamed that to be good was a science,
so that all their goodness was based on fear, either of being punished
by the laws or being destroyed by the science that they called God. Thus,
all their prayers were to this science, not to destroy them. For as the
truth came, their life or error was destroyed. So Jesus said in the name
of Christ or Science, “He, that is error, that loseth his life or opinion
for my sake or science shall find it.” So to under-stand Christ or Truth
was to forsake opinions and embrace truth, and not to receive an opinion
from anyone who knew nothing about what he affirms.
He told them how to know the difference. If any man say I am Christ
and have not the evidence, only resting on an opinion, be-lieve him not,
for there shall be many theories and beliefs founded on opinions. So try
them and see whether they are based on science or error. (Mark 13:2 1).
If they are based on science they can stand the test of investigation.
But if based on error, you will hear a voice like the mighty winds and
the earth shall be shaken to its founda-tion and every idea shall arise
and they will make as much ado as the devils did when Jesus told them to
depart. Men have to be ques-tioned in regard to their belief, for it won’t
stand the fire of science.
So they rail and foam, and if that will not do, they escape into the
wilderness or run headlong into the sea of public opinion where the common
opinion holds them. To attack public opinion is a risk; this Jesus had
to run. Now Jesus’ world, that God or Science was in, was science. And
when he came from science he came to this world of ignorance and superstition.
It may be necessary to give some idea of Jesus’ knowledge of this other
world and where he differed from the leaders of his time. Jesus’ two worlds
were science and ignor-ance. Therefore, science can come from its world
and go to error and release that science that is bound by error. These
are the two worlds and Jesus never intended to teach any other. Now what
is the difference between these two worlds. I will try to show.
This world is made up of all kinds of deception, superstition and ignorance,
all based on heathen superstition governed by leaders of theories which
are based on opinions and do not have the slightest foundation in truth.
These two worlds are in and around every one. The natural world is in man,
looking out and prophesying about the other world. The scientific world
is outside of man and sees all the natural man’s ideas of science, as the
musician sees the errors of the natural man in regard to music. All science
is inspiration and from a spirit world far above the natural man. The natural
man has found it out and submits to it as a science. Now in all science
God is not known by the natural man. His God is in his ignorance of himself.
So when he prays he never prays to any science or wisdom; there-fore he
thinks all the phenomena he sees are the natural result of the development
of man. But being ignorant of science he is not a fit judge of the phenomena
that he may chance to see or hear. And being ignorant of himself, he applies
the same rules to others. It may be a good rule but there are exceptions
to all the rules, so I will make an exception to this: for error is not
accountable for its acts as truth is. If a scientific man does wrong he
knows it, but if he is wrong from ignorance there is no right in it, so
there is no sin to him. Science tells you that fire will burn your hand
and you cannot put your hand into the fire ignorant, when you know it.
So you cannot commit that wrong without suffering punishment, for your
punish-ment is in your knowledge and not in the fire.
Now suppose you are a child and do not know fire. You see it and as
all children do, you want it, or a piece of the red hot coal. Your
ignorant desire for the coal excites you and you put your hand into
the fire. The sensation frightens you just as much as though you had put
your hand into a dog’s mouth and been bitten. The sensation produces fright;
then comes reason. You reason about the fire as though it contained life
and would hurt you, so the fire and the dog are to you just the same. As
you stand weeping, some one comes up and tries to soothe you by telling
you to keep away from the dog or fire and not get hurt, but makes no distinction
between them. So the child sees the dog can move around and thinks the
fire is the same as the dog. He shuns them both alike, but puts intelligence
in the fire. Now the child grows up with all the ignorance of his youth
till he becomes a man. Then he takes his place with other men and knows
nothing of science. So it sees a sort of intelligence in every-thing it
does not know and reasons how to keep clear of every phenomenon it happens
to see. At last in its ignorance it prays to this enemy; so it worships
all things that it cannot comprehend. It puts God into everything; therefore,
in its ignorance it gets up a sort of creed or belief to offer up a prayer
to this invisible power, to which it has given the name of God and it lives
and dies in the fear of it. It worships and pretends to adore it. So when
it goes into the water, it prays that the water will not drown it. It sees
God in all danger and prays to it to have mercy on it till it can get clear
of the enemy it worships. This is the religious man.
Now where stands Jesus as a man? Not Christ. Jesus knew that all this
was hypocrisy, fear and ignorance. He made a difference be-tween his God
and their God. He knew that their God was a devil, so he said to them,
You worship ye know not what; I know what I worship. Again, he says: You
are the children of the devil; he was a liar and abode not in the truth.
The people in their ignorance want leaders and they will hire them. These
leaders know that the peo-ple put trust in them and they know that they
are not worthy of tak-ing the high responsibility of leading or instructing
them. So their first prayer is correct when they say that they are not
worthy to take the Lord’s or Science’s name upon their lips. This is true
for God is true and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and
in truth. So when a person is all the time crying Lord, or Truth, never
showing any fruits, beware of such, for they are wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Jesus told them that all this was hypocrisy and this
made them crucify him. The priests never taught the people anything
except for the benefit of their craft. The leaders must have a living and
a pretty good one. This deception could not be kept up but must go down
before the progress of science in the people’s minds. All science was confined
to the leaders and was of this world. It made them crafty and inventive
of all sorts of humbug to keep the peo-pile in subjection. This kept the
people superstitious and led to sor-cery and witchcraft. So deception became
the order of the day, so much so that they got frightened at their own
beliefs and passed laws to keep it down, just as though the development
of science must be under the ignorance of this world.
Jesus saw all this and as the people were groaning under the yokes
or beliefs that bound them down, he said, Come unto me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden and I will give you rest to your soul by explaining
to you the cause of your trouble. When he commenced explaining to the people,
the explanation was to save them from the misery of this world of belief
and to introduce a science or kingdom, where there would be no offering
up of prayer or forgiving of sins but a consciousness or science that would
put them in possession of a knowledge of themselves, which the natural
man knew nothing of. When Jesus says, Take my yoke upon you, he means my
wisdom or science. That is easy, for it contains no restrictions. This,
to the people was something new, so they reasoned together like people
who want to get some information. This setting the people to reason-ing
was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, for they
had no idea that the people could govern themselves. So he took up the
laws of Moses and gave them common ideas of them. Then he showed them a
more perfect law of love that bound them together by sympathy, not of this
world but of science. The people had never known that a good act must proceed
from a goodness that they felt. The priests had never taught such a thing.
So goodness was a sort of low wisdom and only applied to the poor. To try
to be good without having any reward in view was of no use and the person
who put any religion into it was as ignorant as the swine or dogs.
Now here was where Jesus struck at the root of error. He says, Every
plant or science that is not planted by wisdom shall be rooted up and goes
on to tell the people what his kingdom of heaven was. It was peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost or Truth. He explained to
them by illustrating the difference in the motives that govern the peo-pile.
Therefore he said, Except ye become as little children you can-not enter
into the kingdom of God or Science. Now every one knows that a little child
has no idea of what man calls right or wrong, but might is right. So to
become as a child means that you must not be under any restriction that
prevents you from doing just as you please.
Suppose you were in this state and Jesus and one of the priests called
on you to teach you the wisdom of this world, and you should put this question
to the priest. I want my neighbor’s ox for my family to eat, can I not
take it? The priest says, No. Why not? Be-cause it would be stealing and
that is not right. Why? I want it and see no reason why I cannot have it.
I am stronger than he is and am not afraid of him. We know that and the
wisdom of this world has seen fit to make a law that if you steal an ox
you shall pay five oxen back. Well suppose I kill the owner, then there
will be no one to tell, what can they do? The Great Spirit will catch you.
How? Why he has a place where he puts all who do not repent of their sins.
What sins? Stealing from each other. How must I repent? By asking this
Great power to forgive you. Will he do it? Yes, if you are sincere. What
is that? Say you won’t do it again. Is that all? Yes. Well if that is all
that is easy enough. Oh, you must confess it to the priest and he will
lay your case before the Great Spirit and get your sins for-given. Why
cannot I do it? Because God has appointed certain men to attend to that
for his special purposes. Then if I steal, as you call it, I must pay the
man four times as much. Yes. Suppose I steal and he never finds it out,
will the Great Spirit know it? Yes, he knows all things. What will he do?
Just what I told you, if you do not con-fess to the priest and tell him
all you have done. What does the priest get for his trouble? Does the Great
Spirit pay him? No. Who does? The person who steals. So if I steal and
you are a priest, I must pay you for getting the Great Spirit to let me
off? Yes. Then won’t he hurt or punish me? No. Does he not have anything
to do with the laws of man? No. Then if the laws of man do not catch me,
you can clear me from God’s punishment. Yes. Well I understand.
So religion is made up of rewards and punishments, not of good works,
lest any man should boast. Goodness is a sort of clever fel-low, always
in the way of the religious man. An honest man at heart
is the greatest eyesore that a Christian can have. He is as bad as a
man who never drank or smoked or chewed tobacco is to the tem-perance party.
He must be of them or he is the worst enemy the party has to contend with.
So it is with all hypocrites. True good-ness, not hypocrisy, is the worst
enemy that religion has to contend with. For an honest and upright man
is the noblest work of God or Science, but the religious man is of his
father, the devil and his works, he will do. Now I do not intend to apply
these ideas to any particular man or class of men but to all. We all have
religion or er-ror and we all have some science or wisdom of God. Religion
is our superstition and belongs to the natural man. Science is spiritual
and belongs to the spiritual man. Paul had these two characters; there-fore,
when he would do good, his old religion was present and that which he would
do, his old ideas prevented him [from doing]; so it was not science that
did wrong but his old religion that was in him. Jesus had the same enemy
to contend with. If he had listened to the voice of religion of his day
he might have been king of the Jews but enemy to all science. Honesty or
doing unto another as you would have another do to you was not just the
thing, for it struck at the root of all their religion. It made man a responsible
being to him-self and put into his mind a truth that would show him to
act from a higher motive than religion. It teaches us that God is in science
and not in ignorance, that might is right for the religious world; but
for the scientific world, action and reaction are equal. And just as we
measure out to another, just so it shall be measured back to us, and no
priest or prayer of this world can stay the hand of this law.
So Christ dies for all and Jesus abandoned all his heathen religion
and worshipped God or Science, laid down his life or science for the world
so that all can enjoy it if they will only forsake their father or their
old creeds and embrace Christ or Science. This will wash away all superstition.
This was the religion of Jesus. To be a disci-ple of Jesus you must forsake
all these forms and ceremonies, for in sacrifices and prayers he has no
sympathy. But to worship this Christ as Jesus did is to worship it in spirit
and in truth . This religion was blasphemy. So they crucified him, and
parted his garment or Science, and drew lots for it. The doctors took that
part which ap-plied to healing and the priests that which applied to preaching.
So the people are just about as wise as they were before. Christ or
Science is in the world, not in the church or medical faculty but in
the hearts of the people, working itself along.
July 1860
Right and Wrong
PART 2
What is right and wrong? The question involves more thought than a person
at first would suppose. We often hear persons using this expression: this
or that is right or wrong. When asked to define the word wrong, they use
some comparison admitted by some old superstitious opinion, all without
any authority. All persons claiming to be Christians always appeal to the
Bible for the proof of all good-ness, believing that the Bible is the foundation
of all truth. I am will-ing to abide by the decision of this great book,
believing it is the best authority to decide all questions in dispute,
but I am not willing to take any person’s opinion on a subject where he
cannot show any wisdom above his followers, only that he has read and studied
more than his neighbors. The Bible is in the hands of the people just as
much as the science of mathematics is in the hands of the people and all
will admit that this wisdom is known by its works. So it is with the Bible.
The Bible is in the hands of the people and they will give their verdict
just according to the evidence that is placed before them.
Now what idea does the Bible give us in regard to right and wrong?
All will admit that God has no use for such a word as right, for he never
made anything wrong. So he is not the author of right and wrong; for when
he had made all things and finished them, he pronounced them good so that
there was no wrong at any time. But there was not a man to till the ground,
so that right and wrong com-menced after the formation of man and good
and evil was of man, not of God. To create evil was to deviate from good,
so that right and wrong were the invention of man; for one man cannot make
right and wrong—there must be two to be in opposition to each other.
The natural man knows no right and wrong, for he is but little above the
brute creation. The brutes cannot do wrong according to their organization
for might is right with them. The natural man is on the same platform with
the brute, neither is responsible for their acts, but both are governed
by two powers superior to themselves. These powers are might and science.
Might is law, science is sym-pathy or charity or a knowledge of both. Science
is not expected from the brute, so that they being ignorant of science,
it holds them in subjection. Man, who is a little above the brutes, shows
his wis-dom or power in the same way that the brutes do, by enslaving his
fellow man. All of this is the natural man and belongs to this world. It
does not come under any law except the law of might. It has never heard
of science in its acts.
Man is made up of these two characters: might and science, so that
all laws to the natural man are arbitrary and overbearing, but as might
or law is right man must submit. Although he may see the error, he cannot
correct the evil. Now what is right and wrong and how came such a standard
in the world and is it needed for the hap-piness of man? This was the question
in the days of Jesus. He called these two powers the law and the gospel.
The law was might and the gospel was Christ or Science, so that what the
law failed to do was left for science to accomplish. Science or Christ
in Jesus entered into the world of might and introduced a higher law that
put an end to the law of might.
I will now show how naturally the idea of right and wrong came into
the world. As man and beast were in the world together, the beast having
more physical strength than man would overpower him unless the strength
of the beast were counteracted by some shrewd-ness of man for his protection.
So in the course of human progres-sion it became necessary for man to establish
some sort of agreement that would bind them together for the protection
of their lives. This agreement, if made in good faith, with the full knowledge
of the good that would follow, and admitted by all, was the introduction
of the wisdom of God into the hearts of all those who acknowledged it good.
Now to them this was binding, for it produced a chemical change that made
man different from the beast. Thus they in-troduced the wisdom of God into
man and called it right and to vary from this agreement was wrong. This
was the origin of right and
wrong. This agreement contained no law, for it was of God. It con-tained
no punishment, for it knew no fear.
As wisdom in man is science, it is progression, so that the develop-ment
of this wisdom is progression. As man progressed, it would not be strange
for him to violate this agreement, which violation was not a violation
of law but a breach of honor. They were a law to themselves. But other
men were not bound to their agreement; so as people multiplied, it became
necessary, so they thought, to in-troduce laws. As laws have penalties
they are burdens to all who are under the law. So as the law entered, the
love of God or Science grew cold. At last the wisdom of man took the place
of science and science was not known in the hearts of men. Then man set
up a standard of right and wrong according to his wisdom and attached a
penalty to each act according to his best judgment. To disobey the laws
that man set up, they had to suffer the penalties.
Now as the world became populated, the laws took cognizance of the
people’s acts, and as they knew no law, to them these laws were arbitrary
and overbearing and they murmured for they had no voice in the making of
the laws . Thus man invented the words, right and wrong. This wisdom has
been kept up and has been placed in the hands of the priests and doctors
. They bind on the people their opinions and call them laws of God and
to disobey them is a sin. These laws have placed man in bondage and kept
him ignorant of himself. God never made a law. Might is right with the
beast and when man wants to govern his fellow men he has just as much right
to do it as any other beast. Both are under no law but [that of] man and
if they are sincere, they have no more feeling than any other brute and
it becomes the duty of Science to make some law for its own safety until
a higher law can be introduced within their hearts that will teach them
that action and reaction are equal and to injure another, we injure ourselves;
to teach them that man and beast are born equal and that the natural man
has no preeminence over the brute, but all were of the dust and must return
to the dust again.
So man when he was first introduced into the world was on a level with
the brute and as a tree is known by its fruits, so is man known by his
acts. Now as science has proved to all persons understand-ing it, that
the true wisdom of Science is progression, to oppose progression is to
oppose science. As disease is an enemy to truth or science it is a hard
master and the sick person is a slave, and while
I pity the sick person or slave, I detest the law which holds them in
bondage. I would not destroy the evil by killing the master, but per-suade
the sick not to believe in him, as Jesus did when he told the people to
do all that the law compelled them to do but not to be-lieve in the doctrines.
For their doctrines are of this world’s opin-ions and are not binding on
strangers. And to admit them as truth is to acknowledge their punishments
just. There are two kinds of punishments. Every one is either punished
by the laws of agreement or the condemnation of their own free will.
I will now try to separate these two agreements or laws, for all laws
are made by man and in all I say I do not allude to God at all for God
is not known in the natural man, while the scientific man is a part of
God and to talk about God is to talk about something you do not know, while
to talk science, is God. Now science talks or applies itself to the errors
of the world. Error talks about itself and talks about God or science as
a stranger or a being to whom they pay tribute. So they think it is necessary
for the happiness of mankind to keep up a sort of form or ceremony to promote
his king-dom. Therefore, certain laws are established, accompanied with
penalties for the good of the community. These laws were for those who
were strangers, while those who agreed to the contract and un-derstood
it were free. I will give you one illustration of the truth of this contract
called law and show where the injustice is . Suppose that the state of
Maine should vote that murder was wrong and pray that the legislature should
abolish the law for murder. The legislature comes together and takes up
the petition giving it a thorough inves-tigation. It comes to the conclusion
to send it to the petitioners to see if they in their wisdom are prepared
to adopt it as their rule of action.
Here is the contract. “We, the science of God or the representa-tives
of Him and you, after a full and deliberate investigation of the wisdom
of this world, have come to the conclusion that the time has arrived when
man shall throw off this old law of this world and sub-stitute a higher
and better law that shall be set up in everyone’s heart, to do unto others
as you would that they should do unto you. There-fore, we, as well as you,
do hereby agree and bind ourselves, not strangers but ourselves, the people
of Maine, that we will respect each other as far as your petition goes
and call science to witness that if we violate this contract we shall be
judged guilty of one of
the most disgraceful acts ever done by man. This law shall be placed
in the forehead of all those who come into this contract, and the punishment
for murder, according to this act, shall not be binding on anyone who signs
or comes into this agreement. So that every one who commits murder according
to this act is judged of himself and the world as a murderer, having forfeited
all claims to honor and is looked upon as a murderer and outcast by the
world and by the signers of this contract. The old law shall be kept in
force for strangers or persons coming among us, but we shall not be punished
by the old law of this world. All persons who see fit to murder one of
the signers of this contract shall be punished as a murderer and shall
be delivered up to the authority of the old laws to be dealt with according
to their laws. But if a murder is committed by one of the signers of this
contract, he shall not be punished by the old law. But if he escapes from
the state or is protected by strangers, his name shall be published to
all the world as a murderer and outcast from the state of Maine and of
course is liable to the laws of any other state and his membership shall
not be introduced as proof of good character.”
Belfast, September 1860
Taking a Disease
I will try to define what I mean by taking a disease. Mind is matter
and is under the direction of a power called the senses. The senses embrace
no knowledge of themselves, no more the mind, but the soul or intelligence
is some way connected with the senses, like the power with the direction.
This same combination runs through all mechanical science; the direction
is the wisdom that directs the senses. The senses cannot act at all of
themselves—only as they are acted upon by this power called wisdom. This
wisdom can act upon
the body or independently of the identity. This is all there is of man.
The senses are under the direction of wisdom, either right or wrong, that
controls them either by science or error, or for good or evil. As matter
is an idea, I shall class it all together but attach the senses to it in
some cases and detach them in others.
I will illustrate. Suppose I think of Niagara Falls; my senses are
no part of the falls, nor are they attached to them. Now suppose a person
should undertake to throw me, that is, my bodily senses, over the falls;
my senses are attached to my body and both are matter, but one is under
the senses and the other is independent of my senses. The trouble lies
in my knowledge of the result of being thrown into the falls: that is drowning,
which is losing my identity, senses, matter and all there is of me. Now
put me in possession of the fact that my senses will not be lost, if the
identity of my body is, then death is swallowed up in truth. As our knowledge
is progres-sive and a higher power than ourselves, we know God only as
we know ourselves, so that eternal life is in the dark. Our knowledge is
in our belief and we are taught that our body contains the senses; we have
no proof that they can act independently of the body’s identity.
So when I am afraid that my life is in danger I am afraid just as much
as my knowledge sees any danger of losing my life. So I stand nervous and
trembling for fear that I shall be thrown into the falls. The fear is not
in the falls, nor in my knowledge, but in the ignor-ance or idea that I
shall be lost if I fall into the water. Now suppose I escape. The idea
is now a part of my bodily identity, not the falls, but the danger. This
is my disease. By the doctor this is called ner-vous, but is all the disease
there can be. This is being bound in heaven or the mind. Now till all this
is cleared up, the mind, as in a dream, is groaning over the trouble, fearing
to be destroyed. This trouble, being a part of the matter, throws off a
heat or atmosphere and the soul or senses are in the scene. Every person
who comes within this atmosphere affects me because I am afraid. This knowledge
or fear, for it is fear, is not known to another as knowledge but as fear
or a peculiar state of mind which they con-strue falsely, giving a false
interpretation to my acts because they know not my trouble. Now if the
fear changes my bodily identity, producing a deranged state of matter which
can be seen through the
bodily senses, this effect is called by the profession, disease and
treated as such. So their explanation is like Aaron’s priesthood, where
sacrifices are offered up every year but which could never take away sin
or error. Therefore to cure man of disease or error, it must be done by
a new priesthood, not after the order of Aaron that can never explain it
away but after a higher and more excellent priest-hood that can take upon
himself our infirmities, can bear our bur-dens and lay down his life to
save the sick.
Now return with me to the falls and behold a young person stand-ing
trembling, with flushed cheek and quivering lips, with cold and clammy
perspiration starting, urged on by her friends to make the last leap, never
to return. Urged I say, for error is always urging us on to destruction.
Now in the midst of all this confusion, a voice is heard out of the clouds
of error saying, “Be not afraid, there is no danger.” They all stop and
lo! I appear before her enemies, for it happens to be a young female, sentenced
to be cast into this lake never to return. There stand all her earthly
friends, weeping and forcing her along. Just as she approaches the precipice,
I seize her by the hand and command her enemies to desist. A sort of parley
takes place and I propose to run the risk of my own life to save the lady.
This being agreed, I then say a few words to the friends. I tell them there
is no danger of her being lost and will run the risk of my reputation to
convince them of their errors in regard to her disease. This act washes
away her sins or error and establishes the doctrine of eternal life, which
is to them a mystery. So I step forward to the brink and in I go—now lost
to sight and gone forever. In an instant I am seen on the surface perfectly
calm, with not a ripple to be seen. This, to bystanders, is a miracle;
so I repeat it till the fears of that danger are passed. Then I return
the young lady to her father’s house where all will rejoice, as all fears
of the danger are gone. Health is returned and again she is ready to embrace
some other errors of the priests and doctors.
The errors of these two classes of mankind give rise to all the evils
that flesh is heir to. They are separate and apart from all science and
do not embrace one single truth but are the stumbling blocks for the truth
to overcome in arriving at science. It is true that they were once necessary
evils, but it is time now that man should look about and see if there cannot
be a higher mode of worshipping God or science from a higher principle
than fear. For say what you will, the whole
foundation of the creeds is based on fear. This fear causes all the
misery in the world and I will show how it is grafted into the mind.
All mankind have a kind of reverence for something they call God. No
matter what name you give it, most admit it and their fears of it depend
on the idea they have of this power. For at the same time that they call
it God, they call it a power—supposing that God is in the power, whether
it is good or bad. Man in his wisdom has undertaken to give an explanation
of God’s wisdom and define what is good and what is bad or what is right
and what is wrong and has tried to make the people believe that they are
the true oracles of God. So they get up certain laws and forms of obedience
to God, just as though the father of wisdom had condensed his wisdom into
a little shell about as large as a coconut and required of man certain
acts for his own gratification. If the child will obey these laws, he holds
out to him all sorts of happiness, like a toy shop, where they can get
just as many playthings as they desire. This is in one hand. In the other
he holds out a direful rod, with all the horrors that a crazy brain could
invent. These, like the pillar of fire and cloud of smoke that went before
Moses while he was leading the people of his age, go before the people
in our days. And the people now as then mur-mur and complain at the food
that they receive from these spiritual guides .
July 1860
Difference between Knowledge
and Wisdom
[orig. untitled]
How often we hear this remark: I never believe anything till I un-derstand
it. There is more truth than poetry in this remark, for a belief is not
wisdom. It may be knowledge, but if it is, it is of this world and not
of science. True science does not admit a belief as that
admits a doubt. Now where does the author of this remark stand in regard
to wisdom or science? Does the remark show any wisdom superior to that
of the community? Jesus answered this question himself as a man and showed
the people the difference between a belief, or the wisdom of this world
and wisdom of God or Science. When asked a question [he] said, I, that
is Christ, judge no man, for science or wisdom is the standard, but again
he said, If I, the man Jesus, judge, my judgment is not good, for it is
of this world. If it is true or of the scientific world, it is not judgment
but wisdom. Therefore, all judgment is submitted to science, where everyone’s
opinion receives its reward, whether it be of good or evil. Therefore,
call no one master but one and that is science, and by this must all things
be proved. The wisdom of this world is made up of opinions and decided
by evidence, not by truth. If truth decided, there would be no need of
a judge, for the judge is in the science or truth.
Odor
[orig. ODOURS]
You know I have spoken of odor. It is like the odor of any flower or
vegetable and is what arises from an idea. Thought is a chemi-cal change
in the fluid, caused by a sensation produced on the mind. The mind is under
the direction of a power independent of itself and when the mind or thought
is formed into an idea, the idea throws off an odor that contains the cause
and effect. For instance, a per-son is affected; the effect is called nervousness;
this contains no knowledge to science, only an effect. Error or the natural
man thinks knowledge is contained in it and tries to convince the patient
of the truth of this [factor] science, which to the true science is false.
The patient is more disturbed by this theory and by the direction of this
blind guide; an idea is formed which is held up to the patient’s mind to
receive a name. The mind or error of the doctor gives it the name
of consumption. This disturbs the mind of the patient which like a galvanic
battery throws off sparks or ideas. And these ideas being under a false
direction are formed into any disease that ignorance and superstition can
invent. Now the idea is formed and as it grows it has a sort of intelligence
which is not recognized by error but ad-mitted and called instinct. This
odor or instinct contains the cause of the trouble and the answer. But
to error this is a mystery. So it calls it a power or instinct and never
looks upon it as anything that can be reduced to a science.
This odor is the trouble called disease, but the doctors know noth-ing
about that odor and think that what can be seen by their eyes is the disease
or trouble. This odor is what I come in contact with. It is the spiritual
life of the idea and by the doctors it is called mind. This embraces all
they can comprehend and this they make indepen-dent of the disease and
never treat it as having anything to do with disease. In this way they
keep the soul in bondage, for fear of death. This odor is the soul’s trouble,
imprisoned in error. As the soul tries to escape, it becomes subject to
error and as long as error holds it in bondage, it is in death. Truth sets
it free by destroying the error. All we see of this is in the prison, and
that is not visible to the natural eye. Not one-hundredth part of the misery
of the human species is in what is called disease. Ninety-nine hundredths
of human misery is in prisons not seen by the natural eyes. This misery
is confined to the popular opinions of the day. The common opinion is the
pri-son of the soul. Its destruction is the liberation of the soul from
its earthly prison or error. From these prisons the smoke of their tor-menting
belief ascends and when I come in contact with their grief or odor, I know
the cause of the trouble. The trouble is a sort of intelligence and belongs
to this world. It is a sort of instinct to the natural man and has nothing
to do with science.
A Case: A Divorced Lady
[part of orig. ABOUT PATIENTS]
I will tell you how a patient whom I was sitting with affected me. It
was a lady who had been divorced from her husband because she said he was
so ugly she could not live with him. At the time I first saw her I told
her of the fact and tried to convince her it was a dis-ease, that her husband
really loved her and his fears for her health made her nervous. This she
could not believe for she said he ill-treated her and she knew he was bad.
Now this was the fact. They both loved each other at the time they were
married; this she ac-knowledged and they continued to love and respect
each other till the lady was confined when, as she said, she took cold
and was very sick. Then her husband turned against her, tried to kill her
and reported all sorts of stories about her till she could bear it no longer.
At last she lost all patience, lost confidence in her husband, forsook
his bed and would not have anything to do with him. This story she believed
to be true and so it was. But the cause she knew not. Her husband, getting
out of all patience, forsook her and tried to get divorced; this was mutual.
Now all the above was real, but it was brought about from love and
fear. Her sickness caused her husband’s fear for her life. His fear excited
her love making her nervous; she put a false construc-tion on his fears
thinking he did not love her, for his love when she was well did not excite
her fears and her trouble wanted someone to relieve her. His fears for
her health made her worse. So that the more he would try to please her,
the more he tormented her, till each one’s love turned to hatred. At last
they were divorced; then she was happy she said. But as she got rid of
her husband, the disease or the insane idea attached itself to her own
identity in the form of disease of the eye. So that at the time I speak
of, she gave me to understand that she was then perfectly happy with the
exception of her eye. But I saw the same idea of insanity that kept her
nervous and always will in some way or other. It was so plain to me that
the idea took form
and displayed itself to me in so simple a way that no one would ever
detect it by her conversation. But it was so plain to me that I sat down
and reduced the whole to writing, so that it should not depart from me,
for it gave me wisdom that may be of value to mankind. It is to me and
I will relate it.
Her love, she always considered as pure towards her husband. His love
to her was impure and although it was not pure, yet she always would admit
that he loved her a little, although she never wished him to but wanted
to get clear and never could. So her insane idea was in this discord and
it showed itself in some way, so that persons see-ing and talking with
her could not detect it in anything she would say; but she would always
produce some sort of an impression that would excite those who talked with
her. They never could know what it was, but their feelings would affect
her and keep her ner-vous, so that she carried the idea of insanity all
the time. At the time I am now speaking of, it showed itself in two large
roses: one white and the other red, both on one side of her bonnet, the
white above the red, showing her own love as pure white and the husband’s
as red or bloody. This I could see and the impression made on me almost
frightened me for an instant, for I could see what was in-sanity and how
it might be avoided.
Insanity consists in some little discord that might be corrected if
the person knew it; it is brought on by the disturbance of the world’s
opinion. I will tell you how it comes. I have told you how this lady’s
came and I will tell you how to correct it. But before I correct it, I
must, make it or show what it is made of. This puts me in mind of two patients
I had, both with symptoms alike as far as they knew. Both belonged to the
same church; both complained of the same feelings; one was a farmer and
the other was a doctor. Each admit-ted to a heaven and hell independent
of themselves. The farmer’s ambition led him only to leading a life so
that he should get into heaven and his trouble was in steering his life
and acts so that he should not burn up in hell. And as his ambition was
for this world’s goods, it acted like a current that he had to stem, so
it made him nervous and kept him all the time uneasy. This nervousness
showed itself in his body and was called by the doctors a trouble about
the heart and congestion of the lungs. His wisdom was directed to
heaven with hell on the starboard bow. This engrossed all his wis-dom
and talent to land safe in heaven when the storm of life was over.
The doctor was another character. He had more acquisitiveness [inquisitiveness?]
and sagacity and his wisdom was not directed so much to heaven or hell
as the farmer’s, but he kept both in sight as though he would give his
attention to that at a more convenient time. He wanted to examine into
all things of this world, so as he was a doctor, he wanted to see how disease
was made, what it was made of and how it was put together. He was looking
at the errors of the world as real things. But the farmer had no curiosity
to know how anything was made. He wanted to get into heaven, so he was
more likely to get off the globe first, for he did not stop to examine
any-thing as the doctor did. The doctor after examining all things here
would steer for foreign parts and as heaven is his last place of des-tination,
he will not be satisfied till he goes all through hell to see how that
is constructed. And if he is able to see out after he gets in, I have no
doubt of his reaching heaven. Now here are two charac-ters: one ignorance
and the other error. Ignorance embraces the largest class of mankind. Error
is more active but shows the wisdom of this world and is called by the
farmer or ignorance, very strong-minded men of great power.
Now there is another class not known by ignorance, called the in-ventive
class. This is not so numerous as the other two classes but has more sagacity
than both. This class creates and destroys. They can create a thing and
present it to the two above classes, who will think it as real as their
own existence. They use their powers of in-vention for their own benefit
and make their money out of the other two classes. There is still another
class, just like the last, with this exception: they show the error and
ignorance how they are deceived, show them how to tear down all their ideas
and bring all things on a level. This is the class that can create and
destroy and teach others to do the same. This last class cannot be insane,
for insanity is the invention of the natural man and can be destroyed by
the scientific man.
Shadow and Substance
[orig. untitled]
I will make one illustration to you to let you know how I get you into
heaven in the presence of God or Science. You know I told you, you were
in a vacuum. I will now explain. When I speak to you I do not speak to
this shadow but to the substance or your senses. Your senses make the shadow.
You see this shadow on the wall— this is a shadow of a substance. But you
take the shadow for the sub-stance and attach your senses to it, not knowing
that it is a shadow but believing it to be a living moving substance. So
it is with every substance or idea that has been acknowledged to have a
material form. Man by general consent has made matter, but God, not be-ing
man, has no matter, only as an idea. So matter to God or Science is a medium
of communication to the natural man in his own lan-guage or semblance.
Now all admit that they cannot imagine a thing so divided, that it
may not be divided again. They cannot see it so small, that it can-not
be divided. So it is with wisdom; what comes in contact with your sight
or touch is wisdom of this world. Everything that you cannot see and feel
is belief, although it may be so near and the veil so thin that you would
risk your life that it is true, yet there is a mist. In this mist lie all
the mixtures of error and ignorance. Ignorance sees no mist, but is blind.
Error sees a light, but it is a false one. So science sees error’s light
and knows it is a false one. Now error be-ing superstitious always sees
through this mist and foretells future events. It created all kinds of
bugbears on earth as it does in heaven. The earth is its mother. Its ignorance
is belief, so ignorance takes error for its guide. As error is superstitious
it makes to itself a be-lief and to it attaches its senses. As it is very
fond of instructing the ignorant in all things pertaining to this world
of mystery, (for its opinions are of no force; it has to prove them by
science) it gets up a false standard and if it can succeed in deceiving
itself into a be-lief that it sees through this fog of its own make, then
it has a ba-sis for its belief.
246 / THE WRITINGS OF PHINEAS PARKHURST QUIMBY
So it has at last succeeded in making itself and the ignorant be-lieve
that in this fog or darkness is a land of pure delight like Pike’s Peak
. And if man will leave all things here below and take this chart or belief,
they, like the children of Israel, will reach that land where there is
no sorrow, where gold is as thick as gravel stones and where they can lie
down on beds of down and walk the golden streets, never to get into any
more trouble. These are the arguments of the specu-lators of endless error.
Their lives, like the speculators of the natural world, are constantly
displaying their tracts or cards, holding out great inducements to the
people to leave their homes of health and go to that land where no trouble
ever returns, to bring back even an olive leaf. This is the land for which
the prodigal son set out. And when he had spent his substance, he would
have given his whole life as a servant to return once more to his father’s
house or health. But none of the speculators would even give him a husk
to keep him from starving.
These speculators excite the people for their own benefit, till they
are insane enough to leave house and home and all things dear to them,
and like lost sheep, wander away from happiness and friends among strangers,
where no friend comes ever to give them a cup of cold water to quench their
thirst. Then they come to their senses and say like the rich man, Go tell
my friends at home that I have been deceived; as there is so great a distance
between you and me, I can-not go if I would and I do not want you to come
to me into this place of torment. The speculator says all of this is false.
If he had been steady at work he would have done well. So he refers them
to Moses and some others who made money and says, if he had listened to
them he would have succeeded, but as he did not listen to such, he failed.
Character
I will give you the true position of your character. There are two characters.
Perhaps it will be necessary to state what I mean by a character. I mean
the position that one person stands in relation to another or to society.
Society is the standard by which to judge all acts or characters. If society
is bad to one set of persons, they set up their standard of character and
judge the others. The good set up their standard to judge the bad and each
tries to gain the ascen-dency. This keeps the world in a quarrel between
the two elements of matter and under the control of error and ignorance.
Ignorance sees no reason for law and thinks all persons are the same. Error
sees the faults of ignorance and takes the advantage and sets up stan-dards
of right and wrong to judge the world by. All this is the wis-dom of this
world. Now there is another character not known by the natural world and
which is opposed by both these controlling elements. This character is
the child of science. It has no sympathy with the other two and does not
contain the elements of either. Its father is wisdom, its mother is science
and its character is in its acts. In the natural world it is not known
to have an identity. This charac-ter seeks not its own happiness independent
of others, but its hap-piness is in its acts and it lives on its knowledge.
Now when this character is known to a person so that it can be identified
in them, then the wisdom of man is looked upon as nothing in comparison
to it. All man’s wisdom is dross, compared to this wisdom.
How shall a person know when he is guided by this wisdom? I will give
you a sign so that you cannot be deceived. Man of himself is a servant
acted upon and governed by two powers superior to him-self. These two powers
you may call God and the devil, good and bad, or science and error. Now
as the bodies of men are a machine to be acted upon by one of these two
powers, through the servant, these bodies are like a vineyard under the
guidance of the steward or master, who is responsible to his lord. So when
the lord of the vineyard calls the steward to an account, if his acts do
not harmonize
with the agreement made with his lord and master, then the steward is
turned out and another takes his place. I will now state the agree-ment
between the steward and his lord. Whatever a person agrees to is binding
on the steward and if you as a steward of your own vineyard or body agree
that the laws are right and just, then if you do anything contained in
the law according to your agreement, you must be punished by this same
law, if not by the law of the land. For one is sanctioned by God and the
other by man. And wisdom does not change but rewards everyone according
to his agreement.
Now man had better look over his contract and see where he stands in
regard to himself, as he is answerable to himself, for his happiness or
misery is in obeying or disobeying his contract. Now suppose we name over
some of the articles contained in the agree-ment and see if we are guilty.
I will call them over and you may say under the knowledge of your agreement
whether or not you agreed to them as real existing things, which were bad
or ought to be dealt with according to law. I will begin with the first
article in the agree-ment. Have you not agreed that it is right for you
to respect your parents as you would have them respect you? You answer,
Yes. Then this is one of the agreements entered into by you and your master.
Now this is binding on you, for it was your own free will, so just what
punishment the law has attached to breaking that con-tract is your punishment.
This is in the agreement and there is no escape, for everyone must give
an account to his lord of his steward-ship. So that whatever you have acknowledged
as wrong or have given your sanction to as just and right, you are subject
to.
You have acknowledged that to steal is wrong and to punish a per-son
for stealing is right. This is the law of man and you have given it your
sanction as right, so you have helped bind burdens on the people that you
cannot remove. The wisdom of man is not able to remove this burden, so
men are under these laws and the obeying of them makes one character and
the disobeying of them the other. So the world is in a quarrel to see which
party shall rule. Ignorance finds fault, though it does not wish to correct
anything, but is willing [that] everything should remain just as God made
it. The other character wants to change everything and establish its own
standard. In this way the science of wisdom finds no foothold in either
of these two characters. Jesus called them Scribes and Pharisees. Each
of these two characters often produce a phenomenon through a third
person, as for instance, when Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites. According
to wisdom it was necessary that such a mind as Joseph’s should go into
Egyptian darkness to lead the people to a higher knowledge of a truth.
Ignorance never would have carried such an act into execution, neither
would error. For error is never guided by wisdom; therefore it must come
from a higher power than either ig-norance or error. It was wisdom acting
through error and error not knowing it. As the light was in the darkness
and the darkness com-prehended it not. So wisdom acting through error brought
about a scientific benefit to mankind, but the world knew it not scientifically
and attributed it to some unknown law or wisdom of God and they gave the
power to an unknown God as they always do.
Paul said to the Athenians when he saw a monument or error with this
inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, Whom you ignorantly worship, him declare
I unto you. This God was science or wisdom for the word science was not
used then, so that any truth that was governed by wisdom or science was
a miracle, for it could not be understood by the two characters, ignorance
and error. These two with the third character made up the trinity. Ignorance
is the weight or matter, error is the velocity or mind and wisdom is the
direction or intelligence. Each one is necessary for an effect and neither
can act alone. Wisdom must act on mind and mind on matter. As weight and
velocity make mechanical power, so mind and matter make spiritual power
governed by a wisdom superior to both . This last ele-ment, wisdom, is
not known in the natural world except as a mys-tery or unknown God.
Error has always been looking for this power as it is called but when
it comes it is not known. For everything that is known scien-tifically
is not taken into account. So that the very God that ignor-ance ignorantly
worships is near them even in their mouths and they know it not. As Jesus
said to the Scribes and Pharisees, You draw near unto me, that is, this
truth, with your mouth, but your hearts or knowledge are far from me or
the truth, and you worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men. the wisdom that acted upon Jesus was the Christ and when Jesus
spoke of it he called it God. This was where all the mystery lay. The people
thought that Jesus had a power, for science was not known so science was
the god they ignorantly worshipped. When they asked him where he got this
power or how he cured diseases, he said if they would tell him
where John got his power of baptism, he would tell them how he cured
disease; this they could not do, so they stopped his explana-tion. So I
say to all who wish to know how I cure disease, if they ask, tempting me
as they did Jesus, I answer, Tell me how Jesus cured and I will tell you
how I cure, for I answer everyone accord-ing to his sincerity as Jesus
did.
November 1860
About Patients I
[part of orig. ABOUT PATIENTS]
I will give you the symptoms of a patient whom I just examined. He was
a man about fifty years old and his symptoms affected me in this way. I
felt a trembling sensation that went down to my head and a tightness across
my chest with a tendency to sigh. This made me melancholy; then my thoughts
left my body and I seemed to be in space creating places and attaching
my senses to the ideas I created, while my happiness and misery was in
the scenes of my own creation. I could see a sort of another world like
the city of New York and it seemed so plain that I really felt the difference
in the society of the city. This amazed me for it was a disease and although
the man’s thoughts had different localities, they affected me like a disease
located in the body. Here I could see how we are affected by our opinions.
His mind or belief was in matter of this world and was as plain to be seen
by me as my thoughts are to a mesmerized subject. To him they were spiritual
and although they were the im-itation of some other’s ideas, they were
real truth to him. He at-tached his senses to the things or places he had
made and in them was his happiness and misery. All the above was matter
except the happiness and misery—this is always what follows a belief. All
the rest I say was matter and belonged to the wisdom of this world.
By the spiritualist it would be called spiritualism; so it is, but it
is of this world and confined to matter. That wisdom from above is not
in this but can see through it and is not seen by the wisdom of this world
at all. Now as I was out of his wisdom or this world and in the essence
that flows from the higher wisdom, I was in a clairvoyant state, with my
senses attached to an identity in this es-sence. This essence is light
and is capable of penetrating this mat-ter or mind, so that to it matter
is annihilated. If a person’s senses are in this light he sees all ideas
as matter in the dark to those who are in them. One state is thought-reading
or the wisdom of matter or spiritualism and the other is clairvoyance or
the wisdom held in solution in this ocean of essence. The wisdom of this
world is spiritual like an odor that arises from the earthly man. In this
odor, all sorts of forms are made of a spiritual nature, governed by the
same laws as their father. Thus the spiritual world is the son of its father.
Jesus called it the devil, and its believers the children of their father,
and as he was of matter he must be destroyed. Now the king-dom of God was
not of matter but wisdom, so God called it father; as God is the son of
wisdom wisdom made man out of this essence or life. So that when he formed
man out of the dust of this earth and breathed into him this breath of
life, he then became a living progressive wisdom or man.
This life is the light or clairvoyant state that sees no matter in-dependent
of itself or mind and all matter is subject to this essence. Disease is
the offspring of error or the devil, and wisdom in this es-sence acting
through man can break the bars of death or error and set life free. For
death is the name of something that error wants to destroy and this something
is life. So the warfare is between life and death. Life cannot be destroyed
but death can. The senses are attached to the identity of our belief and
we are affected according to the fear that we associate with our senses.
Death and disease are matter and when the senses or essence are attached
to this body, it becomes subject to the laws of matter, and as mind is
matter, it makes laws for strangers; as life is a stranger, it looks upon
it as an enemy to death. All the happiness which death has is trying to
de-stroy life, so for this effect it invents all sorts of diseases. This
death is the king of terrors and is the worst enemy life has to contend
with.
Now man is the battlefield of these two powers: life and death.
If life is imprisoned in death’s prison it is hard work to get clear.
The only way is to destroy death or error and set life free. Our senses
are the enemy of death and when they are attached to disease, dis-ease
holds them in its jaws and nothing but a direct revelation of wisdom can
break the jaws of death. This truth is destruction to death and freedom
from error and superstition. Then life rises to that state of light which
is the essence called God—there to be free from matter, except as a medium
to communicate through. Now all persons who can take another’s feelings
are in this state, but their senses may not all be attached to the same
idea. For instance, a per-son may feel another’s pain; this comes with
the sense of feeling, but this feeling contains no wisdom. This is the
case of mesmerism. One subject feels the aches and pains of another; this
is called thought-reading. Another sees the deranged state of the body;
this is called sight, but sight is not knowledge. All this is called the
wis-dom of the dead. So it is, but it is not the living, for it is confined
to the wisdom of error or this world. The senses may be in this light,
so far as to see and describe all that is asked, but that is [not] from
the father or God. His wisdom sees the effect, feels the aches and pains,
sees the cause and sees the senses imprisoned in matter, steps forward
and runs the risk of being imprisoned for the sake of his friends. He sees
all the causes, stands and pleads their cases, gets the verdict and sets
the captive free. This is the difference in the two. One is a power without
knowledge. The other is knowledge applied to an idea that it can break
up and scatter to the four winds of heaven.
I will try and show the two theories. I will say to you as Jesus said,
Except you become as a little child you cannot understand and apply these
sayings to the curing of disease. The Christian idea of the above parable,
I have no sympathy with, for it contains no wisdom. Everyone knows that
a little child is of all things the most ignorant and helpless. It has
no wisdom at all. It will creep into the fire or water or anything else
because it knows no fear. Now it is of all liv-ing creatures the very foundation
on which to erect wisdom or error . Its senses are attached to its ideas,
so as it creeps to the fire, the wis-dom of its mother takes it from the
fire. If the mother whips the child it shows fright, not wisdom. If the
mother’s wisdom is of this world, she reasons in this way. If you go near
the fire I will whip you. This at first is Greek to the child, for it does
not understand.
So the child tries it again and the mother repeats the same sound, accompanied
with her hand on the child’s ear. The child puts wis-dom in his senses,
which he applies to his ears and keeps away from the fire, not because
the fire will box his ears or harm him. His fear is in his idea of what
will follow his mother’s hand. But he is not at rest. His curiosity is
excited and the more the mother whips the child the more earnest he is
to know why he must not go near the fire . So at last when alone it creeps
towards the fire and its little hand feels the heat . This frightens it
and it holds on to whatever it touches till some one takes it away. The
child remembers this and looks at its enemy with grief, as it does when
its mother whips it. The mother is alarmed and changes her tone. She now
tries to soothe the child by caressing him and showing some sympathy, and
reasons with the child that the fire does not mean to burn it, that it
was hot and that if it went up to the fire, it must be burned. This is
the wisdom of God.
Man would say it is a naughty fire and if it burns you again, I will
whip it. As soon as the mother gets over her fright, she sets the child
down on the floor with a bounce, accompanied with a threat like this: Now
don’t go near the fire again; if you do I will take your skin off. So the
child sits trembling, once in a while drawing a long sigh and a tear drops
from its eyes. In all this the child has sinned not. It has been punished
for the sins or errors of its mother. Now the wisdom from above, acting
through Jesus, called Christ, reasons to the child in this way. It makes
the child acquainted with the effects of the fire. It has forbearance with
the little ideas the child has formed and tries to breathe into this little
earth the seed of wisdom so that it grows like the grain of mustard seed.
It would see and learn that fire was not its enemy or its friend but a
servant, ready to be used at the will of the master. These two modes of
reasoning em-brace man and beast; neither embraces true wisdom. One is
God’s reasoning and the other is man’s. But there is something beyond all
this that man is destined to reach, which is creation and formation, destruction
and eternal life. True wisdom is eternal and its knowledge is the destruction
of all the above. Even the son of God was to be subject to this wisdom.
Now just as a person understands this wisdom he can put it into practice.
It is not confined to any par-ticular branch but applies to all science
for the healing of the na-tions from error and superstition.
It is not everyone who says he understands that does, but he who can
teach the same understandingly to others. Every one knows that in the natural
world, some persons are good mechanics, but it is not absolutely necessary
that every artist should be a chemist, nor every chemist an artist. But
if a man should undertake to teach chemis-try with no knowledge except
what he obtained from books, his wis-dom is like sounding brass and tinkling
cymbals; it was already known. Look at the professors of chemistry; they
never have the sick or anything else in their philosophy. The object of
chemistry when first discovered was not to apply any theory, but it oas
the discov-ery of a new process. It was intended to analyze all sorts of
sub-stances and separate one element from another and not to apply them
to any particular theory or science. The person who discovered the art
of making whiskey from corn never thought of it to cure con-sumption or
any other disease. There was a phenomenon produced and to apply it to something
was another matter. Franklin discov-ered electricity, but he never found
out that it had any curative qual-ities. That was left to those who knew
just as much about it as they did before Franklin made this discovery.
The fact is that all kinds of drugs were discovered by chemists, not
with any idea that they contain any curative qualities. Iodine is used
now to cure half the diseases there are and its good qualities set forth
by physicians. All these second hand ideas are applied by the medical faculty
and not one out of a hundred knows how to make the medicines he uses. Yet
they talk of the medical science! Here is the great mistake. To produce
a phenomenon is one thing and to know how you produce it is another and
to destroy it is still another. To cure an error intelligently is to know
how to produce it. It will show that the doctors are not only ignorant
of what they do when they make a cure, but by the very means they use to
make it, they bring about the phenomenon they are trying to cure. To show
how this is brought about I must illustrate it in some way, showing how
the mind is affected through the ignorance of the physician.
Suppose you have a fine piano which you place a great value upon and
you feel annoyed because everyone who comes in thumps on the keys. Finally
you get so nervous that you cannot rest when any-one is near it. At last
you grow sick and send for a physician. He
comes in, as ignorant of music as the rest, goes to the piano and be-gins
to look at it, you meanwhile growing nervous as he fusses over the piano.
Then he turns toward you and says, “You look sick and your blood is low;
you need some little tonic. Your head is a little affected; I think your
music is hurting you. I will leave you some powders.” As he leaves he strikes
the piano again and you remain just where you were when he came, only a
little worse. In a day or two he calls again and inquires, How are you.
You say, “No bet-ter.” The sight of the doctor reminds you of the instrument
and you grow nervous. So he alters the medicine and gives some different
directions and leaves without touching the piano. You are left alone and
no one comes in to disturb you and in a short time you are out of doors.
The doctor meets you and inquires how you are getting along. You reply,
“Very well.” “Continue the medicine as I directed. You are doing very well.”
So driven off you return home, and the neighbors begin to come in. The
idea of the piano comes up again, making your heart beat and you feel faint
as the piano is thumped .
At last you are left alone and you feel very weak, so you take some
whiskey. This excites the brain and a flush comes over you and you sneeze.
Now comes up the idea of a cold; you grow nervous and the doctor is sent
for. He comes in, takes off his hat and overcoat and very deliberately
sits down by the piano. This makes you nervous so he feels your pulse and
looks at your tongue, then “hems” and says, You have taken a slight cold.
He reminds you of what he said the other day, and he makes another alteration
in the medicine. This process is kept up till the doctor is dismissed for
another of the same kind. And so on, till they have run through the medical
faculty and wind up with spiritualism and if the patient lives it is only
by acci-dent. In all this you get the whole of the medical knowledge and
not one particle of wisdom. You can see by this illustration, when I ap-ply
the piano to your body, that the doctors make nine-tenths of all the diseases
through ignorance and when a cure is effected it is through the same medium.
Take the piano as your body and your-self as No. 2 and then you will understand
the illustration. Your body is the property of No. 2; No. 2 sets a great
value on it and tries to keep it in order. Just return to the piano again.
You will admit there is no wisdom or music in the piano of itself, nor
in those you
are afraid of. For if they knew how to execute music, it would be a
pleasure to listen, but to have experiments tried on your instru-ment annoys
you.
Your doctor may be a very clever fellow in his way, but having no ear
for music, his honesty towards you does not compensate for your fears about
your instrument. On the whole you are no better off for his wisdom. You
see then no wisdom in the doctor and all the noise he made evinced an entire
ignorance for the science of music. You turn him away and send for another
physician. This one has more sagacity and less science, if you call making
a disease science. And having more natural ear for music, he sits down
to the piano and does not touch the music, so he shows more sagacity than
the other. He commences running over the keys and strikes some very musical
chords. As you listen you grow more calm. He says nothing about music or
disease but leaves you some little homeopathic pills. Mother comes in and
asks what the doctor thinks. You say, “He thinks I shall do very well.”
“What does he recommend?” “Nothing but pure air and says that since I have
been confined to this room so long, [and] so associated with my disease,
I had better travel.” “How would you like that?” “Very much.” “Did he say
where you had better go, North or South, or in foreign parts, or to some
springs?” “No, but I will ask him the next time he comes.” “Well, what
do you think of your new doctor.” “I think that he is a very intelligent
physician.” “But you know he is not an educated man.” “Yes, but I like
him and he has some ear for music, for when he sat down by the piano, he
did not make me so nervous as the other doctor did.” “But he is no musician.”
“Well, I do not know as he is, but he does not make me so nervous.” “Well,
if he can cure you I do not care if he is a quack for this learned science
I am tired of. But what will doctor A say?” “I do not know or care. I want
to get well and if Dr. B is a quack, I don’t care.” “We had better send
for Dr. A and see what he thinks of it. You know it will not be polite
to dismiss an old doctor and employ a quack.” “I don’t believe he is a
quack.” “Why, you know that all those who have not received diplomas are
quacks.” “Yes, and some who have.” “We will send for Dr. A.”
The doctor arrives a little nervous, removes his coat and seats him-
self by the piano. This disturbs the patient a little, which the doc-tor
observes. Like all the rest of his wisdom he shows his ignorance in this;
he looks very wise as though he had just discovered a gold mine, says,
You seem a little disturbed. I understand the cause. You have had that
young quack here and feel a little guilty I suppose, but you need not be
alarmed. Persons as sick and weak as you are are very easily thrown off
their guard, so cheer up and saying, What did the fellow say?, commences
rapping the keys of the piano . Mary, sick from the fear of the instrument
being injured, is silent. The doc-tor stops rapping and turning around
to Mary says, “Do not be afraid; tell [me] what he said.” As soon as the
doctor leaves the in-strument, Mary becomes more calm and says that he
did not say much of anything. The doctor sneeringly smiles and says, That
is where he shows his wisdom. Did you know Mary that this fellow is a quack
and one of the worst impudent imposters that ever lived?
(Mary) Did you ever meet him?
(Dr.) Meet him? Do you suppose that I would so degrade my honorable
profession as to consult with a quack? Why Mary you must be insane and
your mother too. If this kind of humbug is kept up, the medical science
will pass into the hands of these quacks and any educated physi-cian will
be ashamed to be seen among such fellows. You have no idea of employing
this fellow, have you?
(Mary) Mother seems to be inclined to let him try. I do not have anything
to say. I want to get well.
(Dr.) Won’t you ask your mother to step in? I want to see her alone
a few minutes.
(Exit Mary and enter Mrs. H.)
(Mrs. H.) Why Mary thinks she is not getting along as fast as she would
like and seeing her running down, I thought I would do anything to please
her.
(Dr.) Oh, then it is Mary’s plan.
(Mrs. H.)Yes.
(Dr.) I thought you were a woman of more sense. I always con--
sidered you a woman of superior mind and when Mary
told me that it was your move, I must say I was a little
surprised, but it is all right now. The world is getting into a dangerous
way, even our clergy are attacked. These spiritualists make war with the
church and even pretend to cure disease. It is blasphemy to suppose that
Christ cured as these fanatics do. It is astonishing that sensible men
and women will run after such things. I should think the church ought to
call a meeting and excommunicate any who countenanced such imposters in
religion or in doctoring. For if things go on in this way, my practice
will be ruined and then Parson W. will lose one of his best parishioners
.
I suppose you do not know what I pay him every year, besides his doctor’s
bill, which is always large as he has had two or three sick in his family
ever since I have been in this town. You know I came here about the time
when the first parson first settled. I was the first member ad-mitted into
his church after he came and was very friendly to his family which at that
time consisted of three young ladies from fifteen to nineteen years old.
They were pretty and in good health and would probably have been alive
and well if they had followed my advice. I took the ut-most pains to give
them the best of Christian advice. You remember when they first came to
town, they attended that great ball given by Mrs. D. and that the church
did not approve of their attending it. If it had not been for me, those
three young ladies who I now trust are in heaven, would doubtless have
continued going to such places now if they had lived.
At this time Mary came in and said, Perhaps if they had continued going
to balls and parties and had done as they wanted to, they would be alive
now.
(Mrs. H.) Hush Mary, you do not know what you are talking about. . (Dr.)
Mary, you are young and I was just relating the sad case
of our parson’s family.
I had the care of these three young ladies and they place entire confidence
in my medical skill as well as in my
Christian character. These qualities they appreciated and I still continue
to practice in the family. I have seen six out of their eight children
borne from this world of trouble to the world of spirits. All went just
as I foretold and their mother will tell you if you ask her of the good
advice I gave the eldest, when to all appearance she was as well as any
one. Yet I saw where the destroyer worked and warned her of her danger,
but she could not or would not see it till it was too late. Then I had
the comfort of reconciling them to Christ and soothing them till the Redeemer
came and took them. So I have cared for six of their children till the
Lord took them home. Mary, I am your friend and if you know when you are
well off, take my advice, do not risk your life in the hands of a quack,
for it is of more value than gold.
(Mary) I want to get well. You have been attending me for a year
and when you began, I could go about and attend balls
and enjoy myself; now I can scarcely sit up two hours a
day .
(Dr.) Yes. I have seen all that and have been trying to counter-act
the disease which has been preying upon your system. I will be frank with
you Mary. You have the seeds of con-sumption in your frame which I detected
long ago. I no-ticed it when I first came and used to play your piano;
I could see the real hectic come into your face.
(Mary) Did you call that hectic?
(Dr.) Certainly.
(Mary) Well, then you made it, for you used to make me so ner-vous
that it seemed as though I should fly.
(Exit the doctor)
(Mary) (Alone)
Now I begin to understand myself, I can see that neither of the two
knows anything about me, not half as much as I do myself. This physician
has convinced me that he knows nothing, for he saw the hectic on my cheek
while he was drumming on the piano, which was merely my ner-vous hatred
of him. And if that is hectic I know what produced it. All this I can trace
to the piano, for when I
was left alone I was better and went out. But on my return some friends
came in and I became very nervous for fear they would injure my piano—this
acted upon me like a cold. When the new doctor came he could play and this
made me calmer, for I was not afraid of his injuring the instrument. So
between them both I have come to this conclusion: if my old physician was
honest in his practice, he is ignorant of its effect and the world is no
wiser for his knowledge. As for the young man he showed more good sense,
if not knowledge, than the other, for his qual-ities of mind are more agreeable
to me. I know this one thing; it requires no science to make a disease,
nor cure it, if the patient can find where he has been deceived. I know
how my disease came, so all I have to do is to give up all opinions and
try to understand, so as not to be de-ceived by any person’s opinion, when
no proof is offered.
Now let us sum up the evidence in this case and see how much is science
and how much science and wisdom and how much disease have been envinced.
All will admit that the piano contained no in-telligence and the doctor
showed no knowledge. The lady was the victim of the doctor’s opinion. Now
as a judge, judging from the evidence, it is a case of pure malpractice.
And as the law stands, it is right to murder if you have a diploma from
a medical school. But we, as a judge and reporter of cases, have a right
to suggest a more perfect law by which the people can correct their own
evils without employing either of the two professions, as we believe them
both in error. We will show what needs to be done for the benefit of mankind.
You see the world is no wiser for the theories of either priest or doctor,
if it is not a disgrace to science to call the practice of medicine a theory.
Where can science stand to have a foothold on this humbug? It is between
the cure and the disease. To stand there you must know what is to be done.
Now I am going to show what is not generally understood, if at all. Everyone
knows that we can all agree on everything made by hand. For instance, if
you go into a machine shop, you have no controversy about what the ar-ticles
there are called: a sleigh for instance, or anything else. So if
there is any controversy, it is in regard to where there is an opinion
and the trouble lies in the understanding, not in the thing known. So it
is with disease. The idea that matter and mind make the man prevents man
from understanding himself.
I will give my ideas of man. When we see man we look at him as a whole,
not seeing anything separate and apart. So when he is dead as it is called,
this ends his life. Whatever opinions we may have of what follows, we have
no positive proof that anything remains. If there is any proof that man
is anything after what is called death, the natural man has never been
able to give that proof to the world. Now is there any proof of a wisdom
higher than the natural man? All Christians will admit that there is, but
when asked for proof, they quote the Bible as such. If you will not take
this, then they can give no proof. So if the Bible is proof, then man’s
opinion is of no use, for to the Bible, he can add no force. Let us go
to the Bible. It lies on my table. It does not speak if I open it. It gives
me no proof. I find that there is an account of the creation of the world
and a great deal of other matter. So not getting there an answer to my
inquiry, I turn to Mr. A. He tells me that it contains certain great truths
and finally explains it according to his creed. I call on Mr. B and he
gives his creed and so on to Mr. W. All are very sure it con-tains an account
of another world and each one is sure that his own creed is right.
I sit down and look at the whole and come to this conclusion: that
if the Bible contains anything, the explanations must be false, for they
are at war with each other. They are like the man and his wife, never at
peace, except when someone comes in to separate them. So it is with the
churches; they will fight with each other like animals, but let someone
step in and call religion a humbug and they will all be down on that person
as though he was the greatest infidel in the world. So you cannot get any
proof in that way.
I will give you my investigations for belief I have none, but I will
tell you what I do not believe. This is what Jesus did; he told not what
he believed but what he knew was false. When I sit by a pa-tient, I do
not try to electioneer for any creed. If I made war with a Baptist, it
is not to make him a Universalist, nor anything else. And if I made war
with a Methodist, or any other religious sect, or
an infidel, as I often do, it is not to convert them to my creed or
be-lief for I have none.
You may ask what is my religious belief. I answer none. I know I am
sitting here now and I know I was here yesterday and I expect to be here
tomorrow. This last is my belief, founded on the knowledge that I am here
now and was here yesterday. My senses can act upon a person at a distance
without that person knowing it. This I know. I also know that the Bible
never spoke of itself. I know that God never made anything that is attributed
to man’s wisdom. I know that all language is the invention of man. I know
that God never made happiness or misery. I know that man makes both. I
know that with God, might is not right, that God never spoke to one being
more than to another. I know that no priest ever went into another world
and never came from one. I know that all their talk is but the invention
of man. I believe in no priest’s opinion. I know that all their doctrines
are all the invention of men and the cause of nine-tenths of the misery
in the world. I know that the profession of doctor, like that of priest,
is all the invention of this world and causes nine-tenths of the diseases.
Both together make more mis-ery than all other evils. I will tell you why
I am opposed to all the above. It is because I know that all disease is
what follows our be-lief and happiness is the result of getting rid of
our belief. Every man is a part of God, just so far as he is Wisdom. So
I will tell you what I know, not what I believe. I said I knew I was here.
I worship no God except my own and I will tell you what He teaches me.
In the first place He puts no restrictions on me, in fact He is in me and
just as I know myself I know Him; so that I and God are one, just as my
children and I are one. To please myself I please God and to in-jure myself
is to injure my God. So all I have to do is to please my-self. As God and
I are one so you and I are one and to please myself is to please you and
to injure myself is to injure you, so just as I measure out to you I measure
out to myself. As you and I are one, you and your neighbor are one and
to love your neighbor as your-self is more than all the prayers made by
all the priests in the world. I know that if I do by another as I would
be done by in like circum-stances I feel right, so I judge no man. I do
not judge of myself, for my knowledge of this Wisdom is as plain to me
as my senses.
To the world it is a belief but to me it is wisdom that the religious
world knows not of. If they did they would never crucify me as they
do in their ignorance. So my religion is my wisdom which is not of this
world, but of that Wisdom that will break in pieces the wisdom of men.
Man’s wisdom is the superstition of heathen idolatry; all Science is at
variance with it. I stand alone, not believing in anything independent
of Science; so you can put me down as having no sym-pathy with any belief
of religion concerning another world or in any-thing after the Christian
death. Neither have I any belief in the resurrection of the body. My death
is this—ignorance; life is Wis-dom, death is darkness or matter. All men
have wandered from light and believed in darkness. To destroy matter you
introduce light or life .
I will illustrate. Suppose you are sitting in the dark, call that this
world. Now as the light springs up where is the darkness? All will say,
the darkness is gone. The light is the resurrection of this body or darkness.
But what becomes of it when the light rises? So it is with man. Man is
an idea of matter or darkness, and as his mind becomes lit up or clairvoyant
the darkness of the idea of matter is gone and he is in light that the
wisdom of this world or darkness has not. So light into darkness and darkness
comprehends it not. When I sit down by a patient, I come out of this matter
or darkness and stand by the patient’s senses which are attached to some
idea of the wis-dom of this world which troubles them. I retain my former
man or matter and its senses. I also have another identity independent
of matter and I (knowing what is the cause of his misery) stand by the
matter or belief of my patient and destroy his belief of the effect it
has on his senses. Then as the darkness or belief is lit up by the wis-dom
of Science, his darkness or belief is lit up by the wisdom of Science,
his darkness disappears and he rejoices in the light. The light leads him
back to his house or belief from which he had been decoyed away by the
blind guide spoken of in scripture. Here you have what I believe and what
I disbelieve—the tools are my law and gospel. By the law no one can be
saved but by the gospel of Truth; Science will have all men saved not from
the Christian world but from this world of superstition and ignorance,
saved for the greater truth that was prepared from the beginning of the
world for all those who search and try to find it.
You cannot go into the clouds to call it down nor into the sea to
call it up but it is in you, in your very thoughts. It is not of this
world but of a higher state that can penetrate this earthly matter as light
through darkness. As the senses are of the body they travel through the
light as a man with a lamp travels in the dark. So it is not every-one
who has a lamp with oil nor is everyone wise who says he is so. But he
is wise who can come up to the one in the dark and lead him along through
his dark wilderness of disease into the light of rea-son and health, like
the good man who had the hundred sheep and one wandered away in the dark
. He left the ninety and nine that were in the light and found the lost
one and restored him to the fold. Now let those, who pretend to be shepherds
of the sheep or of sick per-sons starving to death, like the prodigal son
for spiritual food, eating the husks of science not the priest’s food,
go and guide them along to the father’s [house] of health where they can
eat and be glad and have music and dancing. This was Christ’s truth; he
was the Good Shepherd; the people were his sheep and all who looked to
him and listened to the true wisdom were saved from the errors of the priests
and doctors . So Moses lifted up the serpents in the old Egyptian the-ology
or creed and explained them and all who looked on his expla-nation were
healed of their errors that made diseases. So Christ was lifted up and
all who understood were healed from the doctrines of the Scribes and Pharisees.
So in our day [November 1860—Ed.] I hold up the serpent of creeds and
doctor’s theories and show the absurdity of their belief and all who understand
are healed of their diseases.
What Is God?
What is God? God is the name of that essence that flows from wisdom
. It fills all space and contains all the identities of this natural world.
Man is created in this essence and formed out of the dust or error of the
earthly ideas. Happiness and misery are the invention
of the natural or earthly man or ignorance. I will try to illustrate
how happiness and misery come into the identity of man. God is not the
author of misery, for misery is what follows our belief. To make it plain
to our understanding you must suppose yourself ignorant of what I shall
illustrate.
I will show the absurdity of this world’s wisdom. We all say and believe
that God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Now no one
supposes that God in these six days was try-ing experiments, but worked
or acted scientifically and after all was accomplished according to his
wisdom, he or his wisdom sat down to rest. This rest was called the seventh
day and in it he neither worked nor did any thing else. So that man was
to do the same. Now let us look at it in a Christian manner and see if
we do towards God as we would like that he or any one else should do to
us. I labor all the week for the benefit of man’s happiness to explain
to them the science of health. Now on the Sabbath I want to rest and I
want the privilege of choosing my own amusement. I do not want people coming
and laying before me their troubles on that day. The Lord sat down to rest
after six days of labor. Man labors all the week for his own selfish ends,
for the world’s goods and when he cannot make any more money he is uneasy
and unwilling to sit still; he fixes up some place to go to get rid of
the day, that annoys him. All those who have been laboring in the vineyard
of God or science want that day to rest from their labors. But the wisdom
of this world knows nothing of God but, like the foolsh virgins, spend
all that day knock-ing at the door of the Lord praying him to listen to
their hypocriti-cal story, expecting to learn something on that day so
they can have all the rest of the week to serve the Devil in. Now if God
is what their ignorance would make Him, where does he get any rest? For
they call the seventh day the Lord’s and if there is any day in the whole
seven when he could not get any rest it is the seventh day. On that day
they call on him, laying before him all the fraud and deception, asking
him to forgive their sins, without doing anything themselves except to
humbly and hypocritically get down on their knees and say over some words
which amount to nothing. So you see the wisdom of man is all the time tormenting
God according to their creeds.
Now, how do I worship God? In all that I do scientifically, and when
I have labored scientifically all the week, I want to rest. So I let God
or science rest. So the God I worship is not known in the
religious world. If their God sits on the seventh day and listens to
their stories, he would become as hard-hearted as a New York judge who
sits on Monday and hears the story of the miserable creatures brought from
the Tombs to be tried. The Christian’s God is placed in just such a place
and he is just about as good, for his verdict is governed by public opinion
and where he gets the most support. So that money makes the good Christian
and ignorance makes the con-vert. The rich are saved with money and the
ignorant are saved by grace, not by money for they have none. So the rich
set up the religion to guide the poor and pay the priest for teaching it;
there-fore God is not in their week’s work, but on Sundays. So if the priests
take care of the masses Sunday, the rich will look out for them the rest
of the week.
As there are so many kinds of Gods it is necessary for a person to
know what kind of a God he worships. There is the God of war and the God
of peace, the God of love and the God of hatred. All of these added to
the heathen Gods make quite an army of Gods. Now all of these require obedience
to their laws; therefore we pray to the God of battle to sustain us while
we are fighting battles for his glory., and if ever a hypocrite was sincere,
it is the prayer of the murderer who prays to his God to sustain him in
his bloody act, then after the act is done returns thanks to his God as
though God has sanctioned his bloody deeds. Oh shame! Vain man! This is
the wis-dom of this world. I have no fault to find, for the God that I
wor-ship is not responsible for this world’s God. My God is one God the
living and true God who is the same today and forever. This God is not
the Christian’s God. The Christian’s God is the God of perse-cution, envy
and malice; he asks tithes and observances, has certain rules and ceremonies,
requires long prayers and is very strict. He is very scrutinizing and not
one hair of your head can fall to the ground without he sees it. He knows
every one of your acts, stands outside them and sees all that you do, rewarding
every one according to their acts. This is the Christian’s God, but this
is not my God. My God is wisdom and has more intelligence. He acts in this
way; when I ask my God if it is right to injure another, He asks me what
I think about it and says do you think it is right? and lets me an-swer
my own question, my happiness or misery being in the answer. If I should
say, is it right to do wrong? He answers, What do you
think? Do you not have any power over me? No. Why not? Can you not judge
what is right? No. Then you must learn. Suppose I wish to steal. Well,
suppose you do. Would that make you any happier? Yes, if I knew you would
not punish me. Did I ever punish you? No, not that I know of. Did you ever
do anything you knew was wrong? Yes. Did not you feel guilty? Yes. Was
not that feeling punishment? Yes. Where did that come from? You, I suppose.
No, I never pun-ish any one. Then who does? The one that does wrong. Then
I pun-ish myself. Yes, if you are punished at all. Well if all that punishes
me is myself, that shall not punish me any more. If you do not pun-ish
me why should I punish myself? Because you agree to. How? Do you want me
to punish you if you do wrong? No. Then why do you want to do wrong if
I do not wish to punish you?
November 1860
Intelligence
[orig. untitled]
You ask me to explain what I mean by that intelligence that is in-dependent
of a person’s identity as a natural man. I will try to give you the true
answer. The natural man is made of the substance called dust of the ground,
that is of living matter. This matter is always changing and as it is life
it receives into it the essence of wisdom and this essence or identity
receives its birth from the wisdom or First Cause. As wisdom is all knowledge
it fills all space, so that the natural life or matter is its servant .
So as this wisdom spoke the iden-tity called man into existence, essence
is in that identity. So that when a child is born, the matter contains
this essence. Now I speak of the natural man; he is made of mind and matter;
the matter is that part that compares to death; the mind is that which
is called wisdom of matter. Now wisdom is the First Cause. The essence
is the result or effect of wisdom.
Every living being is made of this essence or idea of matter. This essence
is wisdom or progression and as it is attached to matter, it has its father
or mother that protects it till it is able to protect it-self. But the
wisdom of matter has its identity, just as much as the wisdom of God has
its identity, so that man has two identities: one of error and the other
of science; so as one is destroyed, the other is set free. Each wisdom
has no form only as it is attached to an idea. Our wisdom may or may not
be attached to things seen by the natural man. Yet it has an identity and
is the very substance that makes the shadow we call man. But the natural
man is so gross that he cannot see wisdom or light, so that things must
be shrouded in darkness. When I speak to you, that which speaks is not
the thing that speaks but the shadow of the substance.
I think I hear you say I do not understand. That voice comes from the
world of error. But I hear a different voice that speaks from the inner
scientific man, saying I understand.
The Explanation
[QUESTIONS IN HEALING]
(Doctor) You may seat yourself in this chair.
(Patient) Do you wish me to tell you how I feel?
(Dr.) No, I will tell you.
(P.) Oh, that is all the better, for doctors all want their patients
to tell them how they feel.
(Dr.) Yes, I know that, and here is where I differ from them. I tell
you your feelings and you tell the doctors. Do you understand that?
(P.) Yes, I think I do.
(Dr.) Well, which do you like better?
(P.) Your way of course, for if you tell me how I feel I shall think
that you know more about it than I do, for I always supposed that you had
to tell the doctors how you felt.
(Dr.) So it is, and then the doctor gives his opinion based on your
feelings, and you know just about as much of your case as he does. So you
see it is the blind leading the blind, and if the blind lead the blind,
they both fall into the ditch.
(P.) Yes, so says the good book that never lies.
(Dr.) Now I do not do any such way. I sit down by the patient and take
hold of his hand and sit till I feel a sensation in the mind.
(P.) How do you do that?
(Dr.) That is the mystery.
(P.) Well, it must be a mystery, for I cannot understand how you can
take my feelings.
(Dr.) Do you know how Jesus took the feelings of the sick?
(P.) No, but I suppose that it must be by the power of God.
(Dr.) Do you believe the Bible?
(P.) Oh, yes.
(Dr.) Then you believe that Jesus Christ was God?
(P.) Yes, the Bible says so, and of course it must be true.
(Dr.) Then God took upon himself the feelings of the sick.
(P.) Yes.
(Dr.) Is man equal to God?
(P.) No.
(Dr.) Then if I take upon myself the feelings of the sick, what is
it that does it?
(P.) It must be a power.
(Dr.) What do you mean by a power? (P.) I cannot tell; it is a mys-tery
to me. (Dr.) So I supposed but now I will tell you how you feel. (P.) Well
I would like to get well, and I do not care to know how it is done. (Dr.)
Well, if you will give me your attention I will try to describe your feelings.
Please to look at me in the eye. You have a strange feeling in your head.
(P.) Yes, I will tell you. (Dr.) I do not wish you to tell me anything.
Only say Yes or No to my ques-tions. (P.) I believe I understand you. (Dr.)
This feeling in the head affects you over the eyes and at the bridge of
the nose between the eyes; this produces over your eyes a heavy sensation
that makes you want to close them. (P.) I don’t know what it is but that
is just the way I feel. (Dr.) Then I am right so far? (P.) Perfectly, but
I can-not see how you take my feelings. (Dr.) I will explain that by and
by. This heavy feeling in your head causes you to sit with your head
inclined forward and that tires your neck and causes a pain in the back
of your head. (P.) That is just so. (Dr.) And you try to hold up your head
and that strains the muscles in your neck, and heats up those that surround
the chest. This heat contracts them and makes you feel a weight pressing
on your chest. (P.) That is just as I have felt a thousand times. (Dr.)
This numbs the whole of your chest and head, so your head would incline
forward and you feel as it you had twenty pounds hanging from your neck.
This, of course, bows you down, and the effort of the will to sit up is
more than you can make, so you want to lie down.
.(P.) I don’t see how you tell my feelings so easily. I could not tell
them as near myself. (Dr.) This heavy feeling causes you to give way at
the pit of the stomach and that causes a pain in the left side and at times
a suffocating feeling. (P.) How near that is. It is just so. (Dr.) And
then it causes a bloated feeling in the pit of your stomach and you have
to loosen your dress. (P.) Yes. (Dr.) This causes a full feeling, first
below the stomach and across the bowels to feel like a weight pressing
down and pulling from the pit of the stomach, as though something was giving
way at the side. (P.) Yes. (Dr.) Now all this seems to come across the
hips when you walk, so when you attempt to, it makes you feel weak in the
back and weak all over. (P.) Yes, you are right, but can you help me? (Dr.)
I must first find out all your troubles before I can explain to you the
cause of them, for they are all in the mind. (P.) 0 dear, I know that it
is not my mind that makes me feel all these feelings. (Dr.) Then what is
it? (P.) Why, it is my back and stomach and head and side that feels, and
ever so many more that you have not spoken of. (Dr.) Are all these feelings
independent of your self? (P.) No, but I never thought anything about them
till they came. (Dr.) Then you are sure that they came of themselves? (P.)
Of course I am. (Dr.) Can you tell where they came from? (P.) No. (Dr.)
Do you suppose that they came from any one? (P.) I do not know anything
about that. (Dr.) You admit I feel them. (P.) Yes. (Dr.) From where did
I get them? (P.) From me, I suppose. (Dr.) Then if my feelings came from
you, why could not yours come from someone also? (P.) I do not know. (Dr.)
This is just where the trouble lies. We take a dis-ease as something independent
of the mind and here is the trouble; it is in us and not in the mind that
the trouble lies.
The effect is in the mind and the cause is in the direction. Your feelings
as far as I have gone are like witnesses that testify against you. You
have no one to appear in your behalf and you are cast into prison [by]
these false witnesses put up by blind guides who profess to lead the people
into light but they lead them into darkness and rob them of all they have.
Like the man going down to Jericho; you have fallen among thieves and you
have been robbed of all your money or wisdom and been left alone in the
dark . . . Now here you are without friends or wisdom, ignorant of all
these enemies, cast into prison there to live a miserable life of suffering
till death releases you from these evil beings. Now I appear in your behalf
at the pri-son; for I find you there, indicted for all the above which,
if true, you cannot escape. This power, as you call it, I call Christ,
acting through the man Quimby. This wisdom is like the light or day, while
your wisdom or belief is like the night or darkness and your light is like
the moon’s light that makes shadows. Now as all shadows are the reflection
of a substance, there must be some darkness to make a shadow. Error is
matter and of course a substance. Its author is a belief.
As science is of light, it makes no shadow but like the rising of the
sun, it dissolves the darkness and destroys it, and so it burns up the
error or disease. Now in this prison all looks dark and gloomy. The sentence
of death is nearly pronounced, your trial being nearly finished. The doctors
and priests, who have got you in this trouble like hypocrites of old, come
to your prison wall to torment you, as the Jews did Jesus when they held
vinegar to his mouth. They come to you pretending to be your friends, [you]
not knowing that their friendship is tormenting you. Now I suppose you
would like to know whom I saw by you, for I talk as though I am speaking
to some one else. Well, so I am, and that one is your life, imprisoned
by the ig-norance of man. This life is the scientific life or man; its
growth is science and its life is progression, and to check its progression
is to imprison it in error. So the prison is the checking of the scientific
man. Your scientific man or life is imprisoned by the wisdom of er-ror
of this world. When I speak to you I speak to the sceintific man, and when
I speak of an opinion, I speak of the priests and doctors and sometimes
of public opinion. These opinions are like the fish spoken of by Christ
that is not engrafted into a theory or creed.
We often hear persons disputing about the origin of language.
Now there never was a man who could translate the original lan-guage
of God, for God never spoke at all. If Jesus was God, then God had to learn,
and from all accounts Jesus was not much of a scholar. So either man or
God lies. Now if God spoke to Moses, how did He speak? If He spoke, he
must have spoken in the common language of Moses’ day. So you see man must
have invented lan-guage before God could communicate with him; so God keeps
up with the times and every now and then man finds out that God was mistaken
about certain passages in the Bible. Did God or Jesus mis-represent or
were the people deceived by His language? You see there is a mystery about
the original language of God, for the Bible says that God spoke not as
man speaks, for God was before Adam. So if God ever spoke, He spoke in
the same language at the beginning as he does now, for he is unchangeable.
So we must listen to the sound of God’s voice, not in the language of any
person, for God speaks in that still small voice of sympathy that says
to the poor sick like yourself, Be of good cheer, your sins or errors will
be explained and your soul set at liberty. I will tell you how you may
know when God speaks to you and when your prayers are heard. When you came
here your prayer was to be cured. (P.) Yes, that has been my prayer night
and day for a long time. (Dr.) God hears in secret and your prayers were
in secret, were they not? (P.) Yes. (Dr.) Could your doctor hear your prayers
or feel your woes? (P.) No. (Dr.) Could the priest? (P.) No. (Dr.) Then
neither of them could answer your prayers by returning sympathy for sympathy
that they could not feel. (P.) No.
(Dr.) If Jesus was here would he not feel your troubles or prayers?
(P.) Yes. (Dr.) Did he not give his disciples the same power? (P.) Yes.
(Dr.) Well, if they cannot do what he did, have they any claims to apostleship?
(P.) No. (Dr.) The true original lan-guage of God is this. If you are in
trouble, you know it and feel it. (P.) Yes. (Dr.) This comes within your
senses. For me to under-stand your feelings or language is to feel it and
then invent some words or signs so as to give your outward man a sign that
I do feel it . This last invention is only to explain to the well as nearly
as pos-sible how the sick feel. So to know what the language of Jesus was
is to know how he was affected by the person or persons he was ad-dressing.
There is a mistaken notion about the senses. The senses
are just what a person knows and the difference between man and beast
is in their senses, for man’s senses is his wisdom.
The beast has five senses and a great many human beings have not half
so many. Because a human being is deprived of sight, hear-ing, taste, smelling,
does that make him of less value than the brute, who has all the above?
The truth is, what a man knows is his senses, not what he smells; his senses
are in everything that contains his wis-dom. Show an orange to a child;
the child’s wisdom embraces sight, not smell nor taste nor anything else.
Give the child wisdom of what the orange is and put him in full possession
of all the knowledge. Then the child is wiser than he was before. So his
senses grow with his wisdom and this makes man different from the brute,
and the difference is in his senses or wisdom. If a man is as ignorant
as the brute, he is worse than one, for he has neglected to fulfill his
obli-gations to himself and God. Now you may ask what has all this to do
with your disease. (P.) Yes, I do not see as that has anything to do with
my aches and pains. (Dr.) This is now what I am going to show you, how
your mind is the disease.
You know I told you about your head, neck. and side, etc. (P.) Certainly.
(Dr.) Well, do not forget that, for I shall refer to it when I come to
the trial. (P.) Have you not come to that yet? (Dr.) Oh, No. I have not
come to the disease yet. (P.) I thought you had been telling me my disease.
(Dr.) No, these feelings are some of your symptoms; they are the effect
and not the cause. (P.) Oh, well tell me the cause. (Dr.) Listen and I
will try to explain the cause of your trouble as far as I have gone. These
symptoms are in the first indictment, and as it will be necessary for me
to prove all I state, I must draw your attention to what you will acknowledge
to be true. You are aware that you have thought a good deal about the Scrip-tures
and another world, as you call it. (P.) Oh, No! Not half as much as I ought
to. (Dr.) Why? (P.) Oh, I think we all ought to read the Bible more than
we do. (Dr.) Why? (P.) To make us bet-ter. (Dr.) Do you think that the
Bible makes you better? (P.) Yes. (Dr.) Then you really feel as though
you got some good out of the Bible? (P.) Yes. (Dr.) Do you think you understand
it? (P.) Not as well as I wish I did. (Dr.) Do you get any more light in
regard to it when you read it? (P.) Oh, Yes. (Dr.) How long have you studied
it? (P.) I have always been taught to read the Bible.
(Dr.) Do you belong to any church? (P.) I do not know as that has anything
to do with my disease. (Dr.) It may have, and as your be-lief is the witness,
I first want to examine the witness so it is neces-sary that I should know
all the facts that have a bearing on the case. (P.) I do not know as my
belief has anything to do with the case. (Dr.) Well, we will see about
that by and by. Please answer.
(P.) I suppose I am a member of a church. (Dr.) What church? (P.) The
Calvinist Baptist. (Dr.) You say you study the Bible to find out your duty
to your neighbor and yourself, and also your duty to your God as a Christian?
(P.) Yes. (Dr.) Well, what progress have you made? (P.) I cannot say that
I have made much, for it still looks dark. (Dr.) Do you think you understand
it? (P.) Not as well as I should like to. (Dr.) Does any one understand
it? (P.) Why, I sup-pose Parson B knows more about it than I do. (Dr.)
Where did he get his information? (P.) He is a very learned divine. (Dr.)
So were the Pharisees and Levites, but Jesus shut their mouths, did he
not? (P.) Yes. (Dr.) Was Jesus a learned man? (P.) Why, Jesus was God.
(Dr.) Well, was God ever supposed to study any languages? (P.) No, for
he knows all things. (Dr.) Then God knew all things before language was
invented. (P.) Yes. (Dr.) Then language was not for God’s benefit, but
for man’s. (P.) Yes. (Dr.) Then God could communicate his will to man without
language. (P.) Yes. (Dr.) If God formerly talked to men, do you suppose
He spoke in an audible voice? (P.) I suppose He did for [the Bible] said
He spoke unto Moses. (Dr.) Did He not speak to Saul when he was go-ing
to Damascus? (P.) Yes. (Dr.) Did any one but Saul hear Him? (P.) I believe
not. (Dr.) Did He not speak to Jesus, when he saw the heavens open and
the Holy Ghost come down and heard the voice of God saying, “This is my
beloved son in whom I am well pleased?” Did any others hear it? (P.) It
did not say they did, but when the devil spoke, they all heard.
(Dr.) Do you suppose that if any one had been up in the moun-tain when
Jesus was tempted, they could have heard the devil talk-ing to Jesus? (P.)
No, that was his earthlly feelings or passions, like the rest of us when
we are tempted to do wrong. (Dr.) The Bible says the devil talked and Jesus
answered, Why do you put another construction on that passage? (P.) No
one supposes that it was a devil in human shape. (Dr.) Then why did he
tell him to get behind
him? (P.) Oh! There are many passages hard to be understood. (Dr.) Yes,
but such plain language as that ought not be mis-represented. Did not the
people once believe in the devil in human form? (P.) Yes, I suppose they
did. (Dr.) Well, if he ever had an existence, is he dead? (P.) We often
hear that he is. (Dr.) Now, if there ever was a devil, then the story in
the Bible is false, is it not? (P.) I cannot disbelieve in the Bible because
I cannot understand it. (Dr.) Was not Christ sent to save sinners? (P.)
Yes. (Dr.) What is a sinner? (P.) Why, we are all sinners. (Dr.) Why did
he say I am not sent to call the righteous but sinners to repentance? (P.)
Oh! I cannot explain that, but if Parson B was here, he could. I should
like to hear him talk with you. There he comes, shall I call him? Will
it interfere with your cure? (Dr.) Oh! Yes, I should like to hear him explain
some of these passages. (P.) I will rap on the window, but he seems to
be coming in.
(Enter Parson) (P.) Good morning, this is Dr. Quimby. He is try-ing
to see if he can cure me. (Parson B) Good morning, Doctor. I suppose you
find Sister “A” very nervous. (Dr.) Yes, somewhat so. (Parson) I have spent
a great deal of time in trying to reconcile her to the Holy Scriptures,
where she must go for happiness in this world of woe and where she must
look for happiness and where she will find Christ ready to lead her to
her Father in Heaven. (Dr.) Do you suppose she is prepared to meet her
God. (Parson) Oh, yes, she has been a bright and shining light in my church
for over three years. (Dr.) What was the state of her mind when she first
began to see the necessity of a change? (Parson) She was probably one of
the most bewitching little creatures you ever saw. (Dr.) Did she ever do
anything out of the way? (Parson) Oh, every one liked her, but she was
like all others without that hope that one must have to fit them for that
place where sinners can never enter. (Dr.) I suppose you mean heaven. (Parson)
Yes. (Dr.) Well, who has caused this change? (Parson) The Spirit of God.
(Dr.) How did she receive it? (Parson) Through my feeble voice. (Dr.) Then
you take the credit of being an instrument in the hands of God to explain
the Scriptures so that she could understand and prepare her mind to receive
the Holy Ghost or Christ? (Parson) Yes. (Dr.) Have you any proof that she
has received the Holy Ghost? (Parson) Yes. (Dr.) What is it? (Parson) Why,
she has met with a change of heart. (Dr.) What do
you mean by a change of heart? (Parson) The love of God shed abroad
in her heart, and a promise that if she continues in the true faith, delivered
to the saints, she shall be saved.
(Dr.) Can you give me any sort of a reason for the faith you or she
has in your beliefs? (Parson) Of course I can. (Dr.) Well, please tell
me what you mean by religion? (Parson) To love God with all your heart
and to love your neighbor as yourself. (Dr.) Do you live up to that? (Parson)
Yes Sir, I think I do. (Dr.) Then you profess to be a follower of Christ,
do you? (Parson) Yes. (Dr.) Could not Jesus raise this young lady if he
was on earth? (Parson) Yes, for he could do all things. (Dr.) Can you?
(Parson) The days of miracles are past, since the crucifixion of Christ.
(Dr.) Have there not been any miracles since? (Parson) I think not. (Dr.)
How did Jesus cure? (Parson) By the power of God. (Dr.) Was not Paul an
apostle of Christ? (Parson) Yes. (Dr.) Was he not converted some thirty
years after the crucifixion of Jesus? (Parson) Yes, I believe he was. (Dr.)
Did he not perform miracles? (Parson) I cannot say about that. (Dr.) Well,
you remember where it says that God wrought spe-cial miracles by the hands
of Paul, so much so that aprons from his body were brought to the sick
and the evil spirits went out of them and they were healed of their diseases.
(Parson) Yes. (Dr.) Do you call yourself a converted man? (Parson) Yes.
(Dr.) And feel as though you were born of God? (Parson) I do. (Dr.) Was
God Christ? (Parson) Yes. (Dr.) I thought you said that Christ cured by
the power of God. (Parson) I mean Jesus received his power from God. (Dr.)
So I understand you; now was that power that Jesus received the same that
Paul received, for they both claimed it was from God? (Parson) Yes.
(Dr.) Was it the power of wisdom or a gift? (Parson) I do not know
as I understand you. (Dr.) Did Jesus know how he cured or was it a gift?
(Parson) Why of course he knew how he performed the cures. (Dr.) Then it
was wisdom, not a gift. (Parson) Yes. (Dr.) Was Paul’s [power] the same.
(Parson) I suppose it must have been. (Dr.) Then the wisdom was not of
this world. (Parson) No. (Dr.) Is not wisdom a power? (Parson) Yes. (Dr.)
Is there any power in error? (Parson) Yes, for we read of the power of
the devil. (Dr.) Then there are two powers. (Parson) Yes. (Dr.) Was the
devil’s power of God? (Parson) No. (Dr.) Then where did he get
it? (Parson) I do not know, but God said it was from the beginning and
that he was a liar from the beginning. (Dr.) How are we to dis-tinguish
these two powers? You say wisdom is God’s power, and the Devil’s you say
did not come from God; so it cannot be wisdom, can it? Then it must be
of this world. (Parson) Yes. (Dr.) Then this world is matter? (Parson)
Yes. (Dr.) Then man is made of matter? (Parson) Yes. (Dr.) And wisdom in
man, if he has any, must be God, is it not so? (Parson) Yes. (Dr.) Then
man is under two powers: wisdom of God and wisdom of the devil or error.
(Par-son) Yes. (Dr.) Is wisdom matter? (Parson) No. (Dr.) Is error or the
devil matter? (Parson) I don’t know. (Dr.) What does it mean when it says
God shall reign till he has put all enemies under his feet and the last
enemy is death. So death and hell and he that hath the power of death shall
be destroyed? Is not all the above matter or something that can be destroyed?
(Parson) Yes.
(Dr.) Are you not preparing this young lady to be resigned to the devil
or death? (Parson) What do you mean? I think if you would cure your patients
and not instruct them in regard to the Bible, you would do much more good.
(Dr.) Did not Christ cure? (Parson) I hope you will not compare yourself
with Christ. (Dr.) Why not? (Parson) Because it is blasphemy. (Dr.) Did
Christ preach? (Par-son) Yes. (Dr.) Do you? (Parson) Yes. (Dr.) What kind
of religion? (Parson) The religion of Christ. (Dr.) Do you mean to compare
yourself with Christ? (Parson) Not in the sense that you do. (Dr.) How
do you compare yourself with Christ? (Parson) By preaching his Gospel.
(Dr.) Can you illustrate in what way you preach Christ, as the twelve apostles
whom he called together, giv-ing them power over all disease and to cast
out devils, and telling them how to distinguish between the false Christ
or teachers. Now if you are a true disciple of Christ, here is a case to
prove it. Save this young lady from the hands of death where ignorance
and su-perstition have placed her. (Parson) Here is no place to discuss
ques-tions of this kind. I will just say to this young lady, beware of
evil spirits. Your soul is of more value than his theory, for if that is
true, farewell to religion. We might live and enjoy ourselves as you did
before you received the promise of eternal life. (Dr.) Did you not say
that you were preparing her for the solemn scene of death? (Par-son) It
is not worth while for me to try to convince an infidel, so
I will leave you, hoping you will see the error of your ways. Good morning.
(Dr.) Now you have heard your minister talk, and would his talk explain
away your disease? (Patient) No. (Dr.) Then what is it good for? (P.) Well,
I do not know, only it makes us happy. (Dr.) Does his talk or belief make
you feel any better? (P.) I do not know as his talk would cure me, but
I think his power could. (Dr.) I thought you admitted that he knew what
he was doing? (P.) So I did. (Dr.) Well, how can a person let you know
a truth without using language and talking? (P.) I do not know as they
can. (Dr.) Now if I should cure you without explaining how I changed your
mind, then you would be as ignorant as before? (P.) Yes, but I do not see
that the mind has anything to do with the cure. For you say you have to
change the mind to make the cure, and you say that you can cure me without
my knowing how it is done. (Dr.) Yes, that is so, and I will try and explain,
and if you do not believe, ask for proof.
Mind is matter but mind is not wisdom; so if your mind is dis-turbed
and your wisdom imprisoned in the disturbance, I can by dis-turbing your
mind set your wisdom at liberty and you be none the wiser. But if I use
language to communicate to your error and con-vince it of its fault, then
your error becomes wisdom. And then your wisdom increases just as you lose
error; so that unto him that hath wisdom shall be given and unto him that
hath not wisdom but er-ror, that shall be taken away, or that which he
thinks he has, by wis-dom, and given to wisdom, and he shall have more
wisdom.
Now I will illustrate this in your case. Your wisdom was of this world
and was based on your religious opinions. They, being of man’s invention,
were false. But being acknowledged as true, the world has been deceived
by these false guides into a belief that really has been acknowledged as
true. So that every one that is afflicted by these blind guides makes themselves
a religion, that is according to the wisdom of man. Now your wisdom or
science, by being misled by these blind guides, disturbs your mind, and
the false direction given to it attaches it to a belief that you take for
a truth. You may say, If your wisdom is of God how can it be deceived.
Your wisdom is progression as well as science, so it may be misled as though
it was of this world of error. Your belief is made of that substance called
matter, and that to wisdom is called an idea and nothing more. For it can
be destroyed or changed into another belief.
I want you to understand what I mean by a belief and how it af-fects
you; so I will suppose myself your minister and I will com-mence by asking
you if you were ever affected by religious experience. You must listen
like a child, ready to receive instruction, so of course you have no mind
or opinion on the subject. Your wis-dom is excited and it wants to be developed,
so you listen and take it for granted that I have more wisdom than you.
And not being able or not knowing the mode of testing my wisdom, you, being
honest and simple, take me as a guide. I introduce my wisdom as a guide
or truth, and being ignorant of myself lead you into a belief that I may
believe myself or I may not.
If I am honest, I am more sincere and my sincerity affects you differently
from my hypocrisy. But let it be as it may; I commence by calling your
attention to another world and that to you is all Greek, but as I talk,
you become excited and you begin to condense my argument into a belief,
like a building, so that it looks clear to your little wisdom and you frame
a belief or building to agree with the plan I have introduced. As your
belief is condensed, it looks plainer and like a shadow till it becomes
so plain that you cease to have an opinion and it then becomes a truth.
Now all beliefs being the invention of man, they are of matter and liable
to be changed or disturbed. So restrictions, creeds or penalties are attached
to them and certain forms and ceremonies required of persons for their
hap-piness, and the neglect of them is the forfeiture of their happiness.
Your belief in your religion requires some sacrifice on your part,
but Jesus says in sacrifices he takes no delight. Science requires no sacrifice,
but all priesthoods. are made up of sacrifice or offerings. If you comply
with the creed or belief, then you shall be saved; if you see fit to doubt
their wisdom, then you are judged guilty of the law and are tried by the
creed, and being guilty, you are bound and cast into prison. In this state
of mind, your wisdom being deceived, you become the child of these blind
guides and in your trouble you call on the Lord, as you think. If you really
do call on science, it would answer you, but you cannot call on whom you
have never heard and receive an answer. So you receive the answer from
your false leader and in this way you are held in prison till Christ or
Science sets you free, as some revelation sets a criminal free by open-ing
the door of his prison.
Now your state of mind first commenced by some little excitement
that sent a flash to your head and this made you a little nervous. Then
the parson commenced his story; this affects you more and more and your
reason keeps you in a state of excitement. At last you see no way by which
you can be saved except through Christ and Christ is these blind guides’
belief. This you cannot understand. So in your trouble you think you are
not as good as you ought to be. This troubles you till at last you settle
down in a state of complete despair. This was the state of mankind when
Jesus introduced this wisdom, called Christ. This wisdom separated the
false Christ or the-ories from the true Christ or wisdom. One he called
the wisdom of this world and the other the wisdom of God; so when he explained
it, he used the parable of the talents. He who had the one talent, be-ing
young and not understanding, knew just enough not to be de-ceived but not
enough to put his theory into practice, sat still or hid it in the dust
of ignorance till the time came to render up to wisdom the things that
belong to God. You know how he thought wisdom had been a hard master etc.
But wisdom knew that it was error who talked, so he cast out his error,
gave him the wisdom of God or Science, and said unto him, Unto him that
hath shall be given and he shall have more abundant[ly] or unto him that
hath a little wis-dom shall be given more and unto the same person who
hath error that he takes for truth, it shall be taken away and truth shall
take its place.
Now this is your case. You have hidden your wisdom in the dust of ignorance
and used the reason of error, as error never had any truth but is the wisdom
of darkness. When the Christ or true wis-dom comes, it calls your error
to an account and as it cannot give any good account of itself, it is cast
into prison. Your wisdom be-ing attached to your error, you follow its
father and Christ knew [?] the Devil and of course your error becomes the
child of the devil. Jesus says Christ shall reign till he has put all things
under his feet and the last thing is death. See how near your teacher agrees
with this Christ; your Christ or teacher calls on you to prepare you for
the very thing that my Christ came to destroy. If you will stop and look
at your belief, it does not contain one single truth that Christ taught
but is directly in contradiction to all his teachings. So the very burdens
are put upon you by your false teachers who cry, Peace, peace when there
is no peace. Now you know as well as I do that your ministers cannot help
you at all, but they can torment you by
their creeds and leave you like the man going down to Jericho, who fell
among thieves. They have robbed you of all your comfort and have left you
to be devoured by wolves in men’s clothing who come prowling around, undertaking
to heal your wounds by tormenting you with their drugs. So at last, with
their smooth tongues and poi-son, they quiet you to sleep and like the
strong man who enters your house while asleep, poison you [and] destroy
your health.
Now this is your case: while you were quietly travelling along the
journey of life, young and happy, these blind guides decoyed you from your
father’s house or health and carried you off into a strange land or belief,
robbed you of your happiness and left you among strangers or physicians,
who come to you pretending to be your friends, offering you wine and opium
and drugs to soothe your wounded heart. Then robbing you of all your health,
they leave you on the ground. The priests and doctors come along and seeing
you as the one they have robbed, pass by. Now I come and find you lying
on the ground and taking you up, carry you into an inn or happier state
of mind, bind up your heart that the priests have broken, and pour into
your soul that they have wounded the oil of truth, leave a few pence or
ideas of value with your wisdom or landlord and go my way. When I come
again, if the debt of health is not paid, I will explain the balance. Now
who is your friend? I will now bring you before your enemies, that you
may be tried by the laws of God or Science. And as you are held in bondage
by man’s laws, the laws of science will set you free. I will read over
your indictment. Here you stand before the tribunal of man, accused of
sundry offenses which I shall read to the court, all of which you have
been made to believe. If true, they must cast you into prison, there to
live a mis-erable life. Here is the indictment:
You are accused of a heavy feeling over the eyes, so it is with difficulty
you keep them open; also shooting pains in the head, cold, neuralgia, pains
in the back of the neck, shooting across the chest, faintness at the stomach,
sudden palpitation of the heart, etc; a heav-iness about the hips causing
great pains in the small of the back; a bearing down of the lower part
of the abdomen, shortness of breath in walking, accompanied with a low
state of mind, feeling at time as though you were alone in the world. All
of the above are the feel-ings brought against you and you have pleaded
guilty to them. Now I have undertaken your case and in reading over the
indictment, I
see that all the offenses you stand indicted for are offenses against
the laws of man, not against God or Science. So that man’s laws or opinions
cannot hold the child of science in bondage, if she can be proved clear.
It is not incumbent on me to show that you are inno-cent of all you are
accused of, so I will state my defense to the court. In the first place,
God never made a law that man can show and in the next place if he did,
you never disobeyed it. And I am ready to have you tried by the laws of
truth. If you have offended against truth, let your accusers come forward
and show wherein. I will call the doctor to the stand and let him tell
his story. So Doctor, you may take the stand and state all you know about
this lady.
Doc. I was called to see her some six months ago and found her laboring
under a nervous excitement caused by congestion of the lungs. Well, what
else? I administered to her and found her the next morning laboring under
very severe pains in the head and across the eyes. Have you any name for
these feelings? The pains across the chest were congestion of the lungs
and the pains in the head and back were tic douloureux or neuralgia. The
pains in the back of the neck running down the spine were caused by a spinal
affection . After a day or two, the symptoms changed somewhat, assuming
another form, a weakness at the pit of the stomach, with a slight irritation
about the heart, causing great tenderness around the left side. These symptoms
I treated in the usual way. (Counsel) Are you a regular? (Doc.) I am. (C)
Go on. (Doc.) In a few days there was great sore-ness about the pit of
the stomach, and pains shooting around the waist, producing a feverish
state of the abdomen, with considerable swelling and a weight therein,
so that it was with difficulty she could walk. (C) What do you call that?
(Doc.) At first, I considered it a slight inflammation of the kidneys and
intestines, but on further ex-amination I came to the conclusion that it
must be an affection of the female organs and treated her for that. But
in spite of all my remedies, she sank till she became too weak to walk;
so she had to keep her bed most of the time. (C) How long since you have
been called to this lady? (Doc.) Some six months. (C) How was she when
you first saw her? (Doc.) As I have described, laboring under ner-vous
excitement and congestion of the lungs. (C) What course of treatment did
you use? (Doc.) I ordered a blister plaster over the chest and left medicine.
(C) Did you not give the blue pill?
(Doc.) Yes. (C) Did you not inform her or her parents of her state?
(Doc.) Indeed, as fast as it appeared. (C) Did you wait for the symptoms
to appear? (Doc.) Oh no. When I first saw her I told her the cause. (C)
Do you remember the cause? (Doc.) Yes, for she was very much disappointed
and said nothing ailed her. (C) Did you convince her you were right? (Doc.)
I did. (C) You consider it your duty as a physician to tell the patient
what disease he has? (Doc.) Yes sir. (C) Well sir, you say the bowels were
swollen after that? (Doc.) Yes. (C) Did you use any remedies? (Doc.) Yes,
I blistered them. (C) How did you treat the uterine trouble? (Doc.) I applied
caustic for ulceration, for such was the state of the organs.
(C) All this took place after you first saw her? (Doc.) Yes. (C) That
is all. Now will the mother step on the stand? Will you please state how
your daughter was attacked and also how she was when the doctor called.
(Mother) Shall I begin from the commencement of her sickness? (C) Yes,
if it is necessary to get the facts. (Mother) Well, some three years ago,
when Parson B was ordained, Mary attended the meetings and became very
much interested in the revival of religion that was subsequently awakened
in the church. I think she took some cold, for she would complain of her
head ach-ing and at last she became melancholy. (C) Did she read much?
(Mother) Nothing but the Bible. (C) Did you think that hurt her? (Mother)
No. Religion never hurt anyone, but the want of it hurts a great many.
Well, as I was saying, she grew melancholy and would sit alone for hours
and it seems as though all the comfort she took was when the parson came
in. Then she would rouse herself a lit-tle, but as soon as he was gone,
she would sink back into the same state of mind. (C) What did she complain
of? (Mother) She would sigh and often speak of her head being confused,
and feeling weak, till we were alarmed about her and sent for the doctor;
and when he came—(C) Stop here. Did she complain of any disease or only
her feelings? (Mother) Only her feelings. (C) Go on.
(Mother) When the doctor came, he examined her and treated her accordingly.
(C) Did you hear the doctor’s testimony? (Mother) Yes. (C) Did you ever
have such an opinion of her case till you were told so by the doctor? (Mother)
No. (C) Did you ever hear your daughter intimate that she had such a disease
before the doctor came? (Mother) No, and she went on from one disease to
another just as the doctor had said. (C) And you are satisfied that
the doctor understood her case? (Mother) Oh yes, for I remember when he
told her that her lungs were affected, she was much sur-prised and so was
I, for we never dreamed of such a thing. (C) How did it affect her? (Mother)
At first it shocked her very much so that she did not sleep that night,
but the parson came in the morning and prayed with her and she seemed more
calm. Religion is the only thing the poor child has to cling to, for her
disease went on so rapidly that it seemed as though we had all been blind
to her danger. I really believe if she had not seen the doctor as she did,
she would have been in her grave. (C) You need not give your opinion, only
tell what you know. (Mother) Well, that is what the doctor said—if we did
not send for him just as we did, she would have been in her grave. (C)
Then all you know is what the doctor said? (Mother) Yes, of course, for
I know nothing of disease myself. I have brought up six children and never
a doctor in the house before.
(C) Then you have a very good opinion of your doctor? (Mother) Why
should I not when he could foresee just how my daughter’s disease would
go on. I was very particular to listen to all he said, and remember how
he would tell how the disease would af-fect her. (C) You may retire.
Miss ______, will you please state to the judge how you were when the
doctor came to see you first. You need not rise, keep your seat. (Patient)
I do not remember my feelings as they were at that time well enough to
describe them now, but when the doctor stated them, I remembered them.
(C) Had you all the diseases that he said you had? (P) I do not know anything
except what he said. (C) How did it affect you? (P) It at first made me
very nervous. (Judge) Do you stop here? (C) Not quite yet. This is a case
of great importance, not only to the person accused but to the whole people
at large, for if a person is to be convinced on such testimony as that,
science is of no use. If opinion is law, then the wisdom of God is of no
effect. Now this young lady is accused of sundry and divers diseases, named
in the writ as offenses against the laws of God; and she has been ar-raigned
before you as a judge of truth and science, and it becomes necessary on
my part to prove to the court that the whole of the above testimony is
false, that it does not contain one word of science but is all the invention
of man, that she is not guilty of any of the diseases named, as arising
from any disobedience of God’s laws.
I must show to the court that she is innocent of all she is accused,
that all her symptoms, as they are called, are the effect of her be-lief,
that the witnesses here are the very ones who have betrayed and deceived
her into an acknowledgment of what she had never known anything before.
Being threatened with everlasting punishment, she became so nervous that
she was not in her right mind, and in this state she was made to confess
whatever she was requested to do, and then her deceivers turned against
her and here she is.
I will now show that all they have accused her of is false. I will
call on the parson and show that his wisdom is based on an opin-ion of
which he cannot show the first shadow of proof. You can state by what authority
you so deceived the lady. (Parson) By what authority do you call my profession
in question? (C) By the authority of God or wisdom. (Parson to the Judge)
Have you any jurisdiction over a minister of the Gospel of Christ? (Judge)
No. (Parson) Then why am I arraigned before you to answer for an offense
which, if true, would be a stain on my Christian character?
(C) I will state one thing which I stand ready to prove, that this
minister is not in fellowship with the character of Jesus, nor is he a
disciple of Christ, but is decidedly in opposition to all of Jesus’ teachings.
And that he is one of those blind guides spoken of by Je-sus and his disciples
who go about entering the houses of the mind, while the inmates are asleep
or ignorant of his character, bind them and then destroy their goods or
happiness.
This same minister entered her happy home or mind some three years
ago, and by the dim light of heathen superstition frightened her into a
confession that she had been guilty of disobeying the laws of God, and
unless she repented and acknowledged it, she must suffer eternal punishment.
This frightened her into a belief that made her nervous and in this state
of mind the doctor was sent for. I will call the doctor on the stand again.
If I remember rightly doc-tor, you said when you were called to see this
young lady, you found her under great nervous excitement. (Doc.) Yes. (C)
Did you make up your mind what was the cause? (Doc.) Not exactly, but supposed
it must have been from some over-excitement of the brain. (C) Did you know
that it was by religious excitement? (Doc.) In fact, I never thought of
that till now (further evidence objected to but overruled).
(C) Did you ever see a person laboring under excitement caused by attending
these religious meetings? (Doc.) Yes, frequently. (C) If
you should be particular to notice their talk and acts, could you not
tell whether it was by religious excitement or not? (Doc.) Yes.
(C) Well, please say whether or not you think this young lady’s first
excitement was caused by that. (Doc.) I am now certain of it and if this
court will let me state what I know, that will show my feel-ings at the
time. (C) Go on.
(Doc.) Some two or three weeks before the revival in which she was
very much interested, together with a number of other young ladies who
all experienced religion, I was at a ball where she was present, and in
the course of conversation with her, expressed my interest in her health
. She replied that as long as she could keep clear of doctors and priests
she should do well enough and in less than two weeks after that time, the
excitement commenced. (C) How long did it keep up? (Doc.) Some five or
six days.
(C) Then it was at one of these protracted meetings? (Doc.) Yes.
(C) How long ago was that? (Doc.) I don’t know, but think it must have
been some three years and a half ago. (C) You say that there were some
other young ladies that were affected? (Doc.) Yes.
(C) How have they come out? (Doc.) One is in an insane hospital and
another died of depression of the most horrid kind. In fact, I do not know
of anyone who was not affected. (C) Now you have heard the doctor’s opinion
of your meetings; what does the parson say to that? (Parson) I do not deny
that those that he named came to their death as he said, but it was not
by religion, for religion never makes any one crazy. (C) How do you know?
You give no proof. (Parson) I know that. (C) You have stated something
you cannot prove.
If it was necessary to prove that this man is a false teacher I could
do it, but I have shown enough to prove that all his knowledge is based
on an opinion of some one who is as ignorant as himself. So you may leave
and answer to wisdom for your inability to preach Christ. Now I think I
have the foundation for the medical doctor. I will show to the court that
the medical doctor is as ignorant of his profession as the priest. And
between them both they have kept this young lady in prison for three years.
I will now ask the medical doc-tor a few questions. What causes disease?
(Doc.) Disobeying the laws of God. (C) You are sure of that? (Doc.) Yes.
(Judge) Have you the laws of God in regard to health? (Doc.) I have not.
(Judge) Did you ever hear of such laws? (Doc.) Oh yes, often. (Judge)
Did you ever see any such laws? (Doc.) No. (Counsel against the prisoner)
You do not say that there are no such laws. (Judge) I never saw them. (Doc.)
Are there any laws in regard to health? (Judge) Oh, yes, there are many,
but who made them? (Doc.) Man I suppose, but are they not founded on the
laws of God? (Judge) I never saw such laws in the book of life. (Doc.)
Where are the laws that man disobeys? (Judge) The laws of their own make.
Every man is a book and is judged out of his own book, and he that is found
in the book of life or wisdom is not judged by the laws of man. (Counsel)
The patient is accused of cer-tain offenses committed against the laws
of God and by these laws she is to die. Here I stand ready to show that
she had been deceived by the medical doctor who is ignorant of his calling
and being ig-norant had made her believe a lie, that she may be damned
or die. So I will call the medical doctor to answer a few questions.
You say that when you first called on the patient you found that she
was laboring under nervous excitement caused by congestion of the lungs?
(Doc.) Yes. (C) How did you ascertain the fact that it was congestion of
the lungs? (Doc.) By sounding them and by respi-ration. (C) Are you sure
that you cannot be deceived? (Doc.) I think I am. (C) Do you on your oath,
before the judge of wisdom say that there was congestion of the lungs?
(Doc.) No, I won’t swear, for I might be mistaken. (C) Do not all medical
doctors get mistaken often? (Doc.) Oh, yes. (C) Then it is your opinion
that her lungs were affected? (Doc.) Yes. (C) You caused a blister-plaster
to be applied? (Doc.) Yes. I applied a blister-plaster all over the chest
to relieve the irritation. (C) Does not a blister-plaster ir-ritate? (Doc.)
Yes. (C) Does it not make some persons so nervous that it has to be removed?
(Doc.) Yes.
(C) Was it so in her case? (Doc.) She made a great deal of ob-jection
and wanted it to be removed. (C) Would not this of itself affect her whole
system and cause her head to ache? (Doc.) I sup-pose it might. (C) Well,
have you proof of any disease except your opinion? (Doc.) Yes. (C) What?
(Doc.) A great many things.
(C) Would you have known anything by your own feelings if you had been
blind and the lady dumb? (Doc.) No.
(C) Your wisdom was founded on your sight and her voice?
(Doc.) Yes. (C) Can you see pain? (Doc.) No. (C) Can you feel another’s
pain? (Doc.) No. (C) Then how do you know that any-thing ailed her, only
by her looks and what she said? (Doc.) That is the only way. (C) Are not
persons very nervous when they are not sick? (Doc.) Yes. (C) Well, that
is all. I suppose the Judge is satis-fied that the medical doctor’s opinion
is founded on circumstantial evidence and there is not one single particle
of wisdom in all his tes-timony. So she is not guilty of any disease by
man’s laws from the testimony of the medical doctor, only that she has
been frightened into an acknowledgement of something that she never knew
any-thing about. I propose to show in the first place that God never made
a law of any kind, and if he never made a law, then man could never transgress
what was never made. I will introduce the original book of God or nature
and see if the translation was right to make God responsible for man’s
laws. It reads in God’s book that man was created a little above the brutes.
Jesus said that the foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but the
son of man had nowhere to lay his head, so that Jesus was a fair specimen
of man in his origi-nal state, cast among brutes of all kinds. His life
was one of terror and bloodshed, and as might was right with brutes and
man, it be-came necessary for man to invent some way to protect himself
against the brute, so he invented laws and penalties to govern man.
God is not found in any law containing rewards and punishments. We
often hear the word science, but this is not found in God’s book—science
is the name of wisdom reduced to practice. We often hear of the laws of
God. When we ask for an illustration, we are told, if a person falls off
a building, it will kill him. Suppose it does, has he disobeyed any law?
I say no. All will admit that bodies are attracted to the earth. This is
a truth, and to reduce this wisdom to man’s senses so that he shall know
the fact, man calls it the effect of the science of God’s laws, or a knowledge
of God’s wisdom. Now if you let a rock fall from a building, it falls according
to the laws of God, but if man falls, he has disobeyed some of God’s laws.
And if by chance it does not kill him, he must be punished by God with
pains until he will cease from breaking that law. And God has just about
as much to do with the rock as with the man. It is impossi-ble to disobey
God in any one thing, for wisdom is not of this world of matter. For wisdom
is that which fills all space, so there cannot
be any real space occupied by matter. Matter as man calls it is only
a shadow of substance, so a shadow cannot fill space; it is a vacuum, ready
to be filled by wisdom when man arrives at the truth of the substance that
makes the shadow.
Opinions are by the wisdom of this world admitted to be true. These
opinions are condensed into a belief and pass off for sub-stance. In this
way matter has been introduced in this world by er-ror and out of this
error or matter man has been made. But the scientific man or wisdom came
from God, and like the mind that penetrates through the pores of all matter,
it was breathed into this shadow and it became a progressive being . This
wisdom sees through the error or earthly man. It will not be subject to
his will, but does not interfere with the natural man’s opinions; it only
sanctions what man agrees to. If man condenses his wisdom into any belief
that makes him liable to any law that he may make and it becomes a fixed
law, then he must be punished by that law. But if he seeks wisdom from
above and obtains it, then the laws of matter cannot bind him in bondage.
If I show by the wisdom of God that this young lady has not committed any
offense against the laws of God, then the Judge of Science will release
her from the laws of man. This is my defense: that disease is not self-existent
but is the invention of this world of error. To show that, it is necessary
to go back some ages and see how the ancient philosophers of Greece and
Rome enter-tained the same ideas that Jesus did. Both condemned religion
with the most vehement denunciation they could invent.
Lucretius condemns it as the greatest tyrant of man, holds that it
is directly against science and everything that tends to enlighten man.
He shows that mind is master, that there is nothing else than mind and
matter. He called them matter, and void or space, which is the same. For
matter is not seen by the natural man except by the effects. He shows that
the idea of weight, as it is called, is impos-sible; but people cannot
understand when they see a thing fall that it does not contain weight.
Let our philosophers discard the idea of weight and introduce the words
gravitation and attraction. These last are as false as the first, for there
cannot be such a thing in wis-dom as gravitation. Every one knows that
the air presses on all mat-ter so that it is filled with air or something
that makes a vacuum; so that when there is the most vacuum in matter, the
lighter it is.
The air penetrates like sound or matter, so that matter and mind are
all that there is to be seen even by the spiritual man. His idea is that
as all matter decomposes, it passes into void and out of sight to the natural
man. So if matter is matter when it is not visible, why does it not fall
to some center and there remain? (All wisdom shows that it does not act
in that way). Now as matter is dissolved by some solid which comes in contact
with it, I call this solid the essence of wis-dom. This essence breaks
in pieces all the matter or error. And as it fills all space, it holds
all matter in solution as it is in the very air. It is always dissolving
all bodies and as they dissolve, they pass off, not rise, for there is
no rise or fall, nor length or breadth, but vacuum or essence.
This essence is governed by wisdom and wisdom sees through all error
or matter. Matter is the name of that which we see and feel, and that which
we cannot see and can only feel is mind. This mind is what rises from the
idea matter and as the idea is destroyed, the particles are held in solution,
not destroyed but separated by this es-sence of wisdom. So that the word
or idea is not in existence as such, or as matter, but as a remembrance.
I will try to illustrate. The word disease contains an idea of disturbance
of the mind. As there is no identity, it is a mere sensation in this essence
where the mind is. Now the idea of a tumor is made or spoken into existence;
this matter set in motion by this essence, an idea is formed or belief
that there is such a thing as a tumor. This belief is the light of the
person that believes it; his body is lighted by it, being nothing but the
shadow of substance that can never be destroyed. This belief can enter
the shadow and set up its standard of wisdom and keep the wisdom of God
from developing itself, like a rock that defies the essence to dis-solve
it; but wisdom can break it in pieces by its power. Error gives direction,
and as this matter like electricity is set in motion, and as vacuum is
composed of vacuum and matter of error, error by ex-cluding all wisdom
or science from itself makes to itself a tumor as solid as its ignorance
can invent. This process has been carried to that perfection, that man
in his ignorance can almost turn his iden-tity into a pillar of salt.
The Explanation of Matter
[part of previous article]
The religion of the pagans and heathen was founded on the super-stition
of their leaders and their philosophy was to prove their religion. Their
religion affected the people, for the wiser men saw that there was no truth
nor sound logic in all their reasoning but the tendency of their religion
was to make man ignorant and supersti-tious . So to offset this a more
enlightened class of philosophers arose whose aim was to destroy the mythology.
To do this it was necessary to show the absurdity of their doc-trines.
As their doctrines purposed to commence at the beginning of time, it was
necessary that they should attack the very founda-tion of their theory.
As of course those philosophers commenced in matter, it was necessary for
the philosophers who wrote in op-position to their religion to show the
absurdity of their theory. So Lucretius, who stands among the first of
the pagan philosophers, struck at the pillar of their very foundations
by showing that there was no foundation for their beliefs.
All philosophers mention the existence of matter which being dis-solved
passes into space. And man being made of matter, as his body decomposes,
he also passes into space. And he, like all other mat-ter, comes to an
end. But as this theory would not cover the whole ground, it leaves man
in space like all other matter, a sort of spirit or soul or some living
principle that comes out of this matter and exists somewhere.
The locality of this soul or life was never defined by the religious
world. Philosophers have given different accounts of the soul, but at the
time that Lucretius wrote, the religious world had no idea of a world after
death, like the Christians of our day, but all their religion was confined
to this life. It is true that there were exceptions, but the large majority
of the people at the time of Lucretius, one-hundred years before Christ,
believed in a soul. So that by reading Lucretius you get a very good idea
of the opinion of that philosopher concerning the effect of religion on
the masses. He looked upon it
as the worst enemy of man and to destroy it, it was necessary to show
that the philosophy on which it was based was false.
So he commenced with matter and proved that matter is nothing but an
idea, that there was no such thing as matter with the First Cause. He reasons
man and matter into space and shows that all the philosophy of man is based
upon a false basis and religion does more harm than good. So he, like all
the rest, dissolves man and leaves him in space and all beyond is man’s
opinion, without any foundation .
His philosophy was to destroy the religion of his day, and mine is
to destroy the religion of my day and show that our religion is based on
our philosophy and claims the story of the Old Testament to prove it. So
I have to commence at the beginning and show that the philosophy of the
Old Testament had nothing to do with the cre-ation of the earth nor anything
in it nor on it. But those ideas were the beliefs of the ancients before
Moses was born. Moses is supposed to give a description of the commencement
of the world, when noth-ing can be more absurd. He only gave a theory of
the creation of man and showed that there was a power superior to man.
But the ignorant and superstitious supposed that Moses was writing about
the creation of the world. This led to superstition and priestcraft and
as these beliefs were accompanied with a philosophy to establish their
doctrines, they turned and twisted the Old Testament into a religious book,
teaching ideas that Moses never dreamed of.
Moses’ religion was his wisdom and his wisdom was far superior to the
religion of his day. His religion was his philosophy; so is every one’s,
and that philosophy which contains the most truth is the best religion.
Science had nothing to do with their religion and was op-posed to it. Religion,
or many s science or philosophy, bound bur-dens on the people and there
was no philosophy that could explain or lighten man of these burdens. For
the wisdom of man had not arrived at the point where there could be a philosophy
that would teach man that his happiness was the result of his wisdom and
his misery was the natural result of his belief.
Now the mistaken idea of what mind is has led man into trouble and
causes so much sickness and sorrow, and this is the origin of disease.
Convince man that mind is matter and wisdom is not, and he will no longer
be deceived by false guides, crying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.
This is the origin of disease and this is what the philosophers of Greece
and Rome, Lucretius and others wrote against. For they saw that the priests
by their false doctrines made men believe all sorts of stories. They knew
that their beliefs were matter or mind and they saw what their effect on
the people was. But as the priests in those days held the people in a slavery
sanctioned by their Gods, reformers found no favor with the people. Now
as the priests kept binding bur-dens of disease on the people, philosophers
would rise up and try to rid the people of their burdens. But the priests
held such sway over the people’s mind by phenomena that the masses could
not explain, that the wise could not put their wisdom into practice. So
the priests exercised full sway over the minds of the people. The philosophers
who knew that mind was matter could see through the hypocrisy of the priests.
Also they could see through the fact that any idea or be-lief could be
condensed so as to come within the senses of the masses and this would
be proof that the priests were right. So at the time these philosophers
wrote, their doctrines or wisdom could not be un-derstood. Nor is it understood
now by the masses, nor will it ever be, although it be true and can be
reduced to a science. Thus the masses have always been under the control
of the priests. So that this wisdom which would destroy all standards in
matter was not tried to be put into practice scientifically for some hundred
and fifty years, when Jesus called attention to the same theory.
There were persons who could change matter, move bodies and cure many
diseases and some had reduced it to a sort of belief which would counteract
the priests’ belief, but none but deceivers tried to sell the art. Even
in these days, you see certain persons undertak-ing to teach people to
psychologize, as though they knew something that others did not, while
they themselves are so ignorant of the way they produce phenomena as the
people were in the days of Jesus. The priests took advantage of every phenomena,
but they kept the knowledge for their own benefit and made the people believe
in su-perstition. Finally they formed a religious belief, attaching penal-ties
to the disobeying any laws that the priests set up. Now the science or
wisdom that shows that mind can be acted upon would leak out and it kept
the priests all the time inventing some new phenomena to keep the people
under. At the time of Jesus their craft had leaked out so that it had gotten
into the hands of the people and took the names of the inventions of men.
They were like the
mediums of our days, talking about a gift and communications from the
spirits of the dead. Many such pretended to do as Jesus did, thinking it
was a gift or art from God; they knew that theirs was not genuine, but
the people believed in them. In these days, I am set down with the same
class of people, who have a power or gift, by fools or the ignorant because
the superstition and religious creeds have closed up all avenues to wisdom.
They are in the fog and can-not see out and they think that every one else
is in the same place.
In Jesus’ day, if he undertook to expose the priests, they would accuse
him of making himself equal with God and would cry, Cru-cify him. So like
the leaders of any party, when they want to bear down on their game, they
set on the dogs. When Jesus began to teach this new truth, for although
it was old it had a place in the minds of the masses, he called the people
together, not to instruct them in religion but to show them that religion
was just what the wise philosophers had called it. So he denounced the
leaders, showed the people how their belief made them sick and being wiser
and hav-ing more courage than any who believed as he did, he tried to reduce
this wisdom to a science. To do this it was necessary to prove it by his
works, as the priests would cure by their deception. For the mind, like
potter’s clay, is under control of whoever gives direction, the works showing
whether they be of God or man. If of man, then man is under the law; if
of God or science, man is free from the law so that the law has no power
over him, for he that is dead to the law or alive in wisdom is free from
sin and death or error.
Jesus wanted everything in common, that is, if a person knows anything
that is for the happiness of man to know, let it be known. He said that
every truth should be given or taught to man. No one should say, Know you
this truth or science, but all should ac-knowledge it from the wisest and
it shall become the wisdom of the world. Perhaps it will be necessary to
say what there is to be known. It is this: Jesus wanted the people to understand
that religion, as they were taught it, was the blackest sort of hypocrisy,
only got up to keep a class of lazy thieves and robbers in power, who devour
houses of wood and houses of mind, carrying off and selling men and women
into slavery, for their own good. When Jesus applied these sayings to the
people, it melted down their heathen belief and by his words of wisdom,
they were cured.
Jesus never had any religious opinions. His works were his life and
his life was his Christ or theory. The people could not understand this
so they crucified him, and that ended the life of one of the best men that
ever lived, for his natural man became subject to his scien-tific man or
wisdom. This wisdom cannot help making mankind bet-ter any more than a
good man can help becoming narrow-minded and bigoted by belonging to a
church. Our beliefs are all there is of us and just as we measure out to
our neighbor, we measure out to ourselves, so action and reaction are equal.
If we make a person be-lieve anything that we have no proof of, except
as an opinion, we bind burdens on our friends that our wisdom cannot remove.
Wis-dom says that every idle word must be accounted for at the day of judgment
.
So here I stand as a mediator for this young lady and if I have shown
that her accusers are guilty of perjury against the laws of wis-dom, then
the court will give the verdict to the defendant and cast a wicked and
ungodly belief into the fire of science, where it shall be burned with
unquenchable truth.
I will stop here, for I believe that I have satisfied the court that
the priests bound on this young lady their hypocritical creeds which made
her nervous, and then the other part of the priesthood, the doctors, decoyed
her into the worst of all company where she was betrayed into all kinds
of misery. Then they turned their backs upon her after robbing her of her
money and character—for her belief is her character—and making her believe
she is one of the worst of characters. For to be sick is a disgrace and
if the superstition of the world had the power, they would kill the sick
for the safety of the well. These two classes, priests and doctors, have
so degraded men that sickness is the greatest evil in life. Jesus knew
this and he laid down his life or ran the risk that neither dared to do,
took their dis-eases upon himself, risking the danger of becoming sick
and dying as they would do.
In closing my argument, I will say to the court and multitude that
I knew that this girl had been deceived by these two blind guides. In the
first place, I never ask my patients anything but tell them all. This the
doctors do not pretend to do. I have no religious belief to teach as the
priests have. Something cannot come from nothing and as I have nothing
of myself, they get nothing from me that will af-fect them. The priests’
belief is a lie and is of matter; the believing of it changes the mind
or matter. The ignorance of the creeds is their
light and that being a false light makes a shadow and in the shadow
the patient puts his trust. As it is founded in ignorance and super-stition,
it contains all sorts of evil spirits and ghosts, etc. My wis-dom can see
through this veil of the priests. I see where the deception lies and as
I explain, the vacuum of their mind is lit up and the shadow disappears,
like the rays of the moonlight when the sun rises. As ignorance or religion
receives the truth or science it gives way to a higher priesthood not made
by man, but eternal in wisdom, that teaches man to do to another as he
would like that other should do to him. This is all; so I stop for the
verdict to be made up.
January 1861
Mind
Every truth is in a minority and is opposed by the majority. The principle
of this world is that the majority is right. So of course, as error is
always in the majority, it must be right. Now let us see if it does not
hold good. Is it not so in religion and politics? Truth is not acknowledged
at all as an opposite of error but a balance to weigh each man’s opinion.
Opinions are the substances that are weighed. Truth is nothing but the
balance; it has no existence in this world because it is a stranger to
matter. Now these two worlds or philosophies split up the world of matter,
for one reasons in it and the other out of it. One has laws, the other
has none; one has dis-ease, the other none; one has the wisdom of matter,
the other the wisdom of God, and each proves its science. Now man is made
up of the wisdom of matter and matter has its God. And all of its laws
are found in matter. As disease is a transgression of these laws of matter,
man is punished by these.
Now to punish a man for disobeying a law is to suppose the law
existed before the offense was committed, for where there is no law,
there is no transgression. So that this world’s God supposed that man would
do wrong and so made a law in advance. The disobey-ing of this law was
sin; so by the law came sin, and by sin came dis-ease, and by disease came
death. So every one is under the sentence of death, for all have sinned.
This is one of the majorities’ reports and to get clear is to do something
to get rid of nothing. The law is the enemy to get rid of and that is made
of nothing, for it con-tains nothing. The same majority says that where
there is no trans-gression, there is no law. Then if there is no act, there
is no law. This makes it just where the wisdom of God makes it.
Every act contains the law of action and reaction and that is all the
law that wisdom ever had. But the wisdom of man puts the other construction
on it, namely, that the effect comes before the cause. This holds good
in all of this world’s philosophy and I shall show that all of their philosophy
is based on phenomena that takes place in the spirit world or above the
natural man. And man in his ignor-ance gets up a philosophy to explain
his ignorance of the phenomena. This causes all the misery that human beings
suffer and is ignorance of themselves. Man invents his misery and lays
it to God. Being ignorant of God or Wisdom, he sets up a standard based
on an opinion.
For instance, how often we hear the saying, “Wrap up so you will not
take cold.” Now if there had ever been any more penalty at-tached to cold
than to heat, then man would not have any fear of cold than of heat. But
if you go out in the cold, you transgress one of God’s laws. I ask the
question if winter and summer, heat and cold were not made before man?
All will say, Yes. Will any person stand up and say that going out-of-doors
alters the weather? No. Then the cold does not forbid a person going out
or have anything to do about it. So if a man goes out, he goes according
to his be-lief and he is affected according to it.
Suppose there are two persons: one believes in taking cold, so his
fears excite him; the other is accustomed to the cold and never knew anything
bad about it. Now I ask anyone if he thinks these two per-sons go out under
the same feeling? You answer, No. Then the one that is always catching
cold would be the most likely to be affected? Yes. Now did God make a law
that if a person exposed himself to
the cold and he disobeyed this law of health, he must be punished? You
may say that the healthy man was not really exposed for he was not in feeble
health. Then the man in feeble health is the one to be punished or take
cold. Now see how absurd such a belief is. Accord-ing to this instance
and this holds good in every case, the Great Father of every good and perfect
gift is all wisdom and knows all things. He sees the effect before it happens,
governs all our acts and not a hair can fall without his knowledge. He
made all laws for the happiness of man and had such great love for us that
he exposed himself to his own laws and took the penalty to save us poor
sin-ners. All this is taught by the clergy.
Now listen to me a short time and I will set all this right. This law
it seems was not to embrace those that did not catch cold. They could not
have broken the laws, for if they disobeyed the law in the least, they
were guilty. So the law was for them that disobeyed it. So it is for the
sick—these poor weak creatures that cannot hardly get a breath of air without
transgressing a law that these benevolent Gods have made without punishing
all that broke them. Now strange as thi’s crazy idea is, it is the belief
of ninety-nine in a hundred. Oh, foolish man, how long will you be deceived
by false teachings? It is just as impossible to disobey God’s wisdom as
it is to cut yourself with a razor and say that you were ignorant that
a razor would cut, when you get it for that purpose. God cannot have a
law, ‘for a law supposes a disobedience. If God was not wise enough when
He made all things to know what would be the end of every act, then He
is not the God the Christians claim him to be. And is He dead? No. Then
certainly he has respect for persons and gives preference ‘to the well.
For the laws that are attached to God by the Christian world are to punish
the sick, for the well are not punished at all. So to keep clear of his
laws is to have nothing to do with them, for the weak flourish under this
government and the Christian finds it a hard way. And if it was not for
the leaders ex-citing and driving them on, they would all turn back and
become as bad as the rest of the world.
What infidelity ‘and hypocrisy there is in this nineteenth century,
and yet we boast of our religious wisdom. If any person can show me one
single idea in any creed that Jesus ever subscribed to, I should like to
see it. Religion now is just what it was two thousand
years ago. All the Grecian philosophers opposed it and some were imprisoned
and some killed. Jesus opposed it and they murdered him and destroyed his
theory and they kept up the same old theory, only as it has been broken
into by come-outers. It has always been opposed to science. It imprisoned
Copernicus and has persecuted all investigation ever since. The pagan philosophers
explained it and showed its hideous form and bloody bones. It is founded
in ignor-ance and superstition and is the greatest evil that ever invaded
the human mind. Were it not for science, the world would be at this time
a place of torment. All of this error is the effect of the philosophy of
minds.
The wise have never established their philosophy by experiments. Error
has, and so as one is established, the other becomes the sub-ject. Now
establish the true philosophy of goodness and happiness and then you have
a heaven on earth. Then Jesus’ words will come to pass, when he says, I
will create a new heaven or philosophy and a new earth or matter where
there shall not be any darkness but all light. This is the new heaven or
philosophy that was foretold in the days of the wise men and repeated by
Jesus eighteen-hundred years ago. Now I will show you the new philosophy
or Jerusalem that man is destined to enter; where there shall be no more
sickness or death; where all things are done away and all things become
new. This philosophy was for man alone, for he had wand’ered away in the
darkness and become so gross that he could not see anything but gross matter.
So Jesus said to such, Ye have eyes but cannot see, and ears but cannot
hear and hearts that cannot understand. Now I shall show that there is
a philosophy that has nothing to do with the common philosophy of the day
and that our philosophy and religion cause all the evils we now suffer.
If man knew the true philosophy, the shadow could do no harm, but man
worships the shadow and loses the substance. I shall prove it, for I do
not mean to give my opinions, when I have the truth on hand. My object
is the good of mankind, independent of all religious sects and creeds.
It is a philosophy which, if understood, will make man free and independent
of all creeds and laws of man, and sub-ject him to his own laws, he being
free from the laws of sin, sick-ness, and death. Being free myself, I know
how to teach others. So I must tell you what must follow this new science
and what it teaches
man and how far he is bound. His being bound is a free offering and
cannot be altered, but if he knows the truth or philosophy, he will not
enter blindfolded or retreat before he understands. I will give you my
experience as one that believes what he says and is ready to be judged
by his patients. And if the world finds fault, I will listen to them. And
if their philosophy does more good to the world than mine, I will consider
it and give it the preference. I will give mine or the philosophy of health,
so I will not ask any questions of the world. Are not words sound and is
not sound something? If it is not something, it could not produce something.
Then this something in the form of language is something. Now as two somethings
of the same kind cannot produce another something, so that one something
must act on another something and then a third something can be produced.
So if sound is something, it does not act upon itself. And if it acts at
all, it must act on something else.
Now one of these somethings, I call God or wisdom. As wisdom is a substance
that cannot be changed, it cannot fill any more space than all space. It
cannot act separate from itself. It is in all and a part of all. It knows
no bounds, nor time. It is eternal. Now as every substance throws a shadow,
the shadow must have a background of something and this something I call
mind or matter. As this some-thing acts on matter, it does not act on itself.
So of course that which acts is not the same as this substance that cannot
change, but is un-der two somethings that act upon the same something.
As it may confuse you to understand these somethings, I will classify them.
The substance acted upon is mind or matter—this I will call No. 1. This
substance that acts upon No. 1, I call: essence of God—this I will call
No. 2. Now the two somethings that govern and direct No. 2 I will call:
wisdom or error. Now as wisdom is all light, it knows no matter and as
error is made of matter or animal life, it acts upon itself. So as error
excites No . 1, its light produces a shadow and its shadow is its own making.
Now this world’s wisdom is No. i and the wisdom of God or essence is in
No. 2. Now there are two direc-tions: one the wisdom of God or essence,
the other the wisdom of animal life or matter. Animal life or matter is
always changing and science or wisdom’s essence or God is always progressing.
Man is in these two somethings.
Wisdom is the seed sown in matter or ignorance. And as matter is animal
life, it is disturbed by the child of wisdom and tries to get rid of it.
Therefore in its ignorance, it is excited and the excitement brings out
the child of error. So the children are conceived in the same matter and
grow like the two spoken of in the old testament— Jacob and Esau. Jacob
(or wisdom) have I loved but Esau (or er-ror) have I hated. The same characters
were in the parables of Cain and Abel. Cain was the error. Abel was the
wisdom. So all through the New and Old Testaments, you can trace the two
characters and know their generations from Adam and Eve down to the present
day. Error is the elder, science the younger. So the error is always before
the truth in this world of matter, but truth is eternal with the father
of wisdom. Jesus illustrated these two characters by himself, the flesh
and blood or mind and matter or animal life. The essence or child of wisdom
was Christ or God. So as the Christ grew in the language of its father
or wisdom, it threw off error or material man and became perfect in wisdom.
Yet the Christ used the servant or earthly body as a medium to communicate
to the natural man. But Jesus, the natural man, knew not Christ, only as
Christ made him-self manifest in his works.
These two characters were the mystery to the natural man, so the natural
man called the Christ a power. So it is now. People often ask me if I can
impart my power to anyone. When I tell them it is not a power in the sense
they mean, they cannot understand it, so I have to let it go. I have a
power and those that call it a power are in the same state that the people
were that were looking for a second coming of Christ. When Jesus said he
was near you, even in their very thoughts, they did not know it. When I
say I can teach this, I mean that there are a great many persons that can
learn this wis-dom. And when once learned, their wisdom is a power. And
to put the wisdom at the root of a tree or error hews it down, like the
axe that strikes at the root of the tree. This wisdom is to error or dis-ease
like fire; it burns up root and branch.
Superstitious Beliefs
Man, to understand himself, must know how he stands in soci-ety, for
public opinion is the standard of all our acts. Now to know ourselves is
to see where we, as one individual, stand to the sur-rounding influences
that act upon us. For we are mere machines in the world to be moved and
regulated by the wisdom of God or science or by the opinions of mankind.
These opinions are what cause all the misery in the world; so to know ourselves
is to know science which proves all things. I will show where every man
ought to stand and to show more clearly where I am, I must take the two
extremes of man’s belief. The first is the religious belief of another
world. This class embraces all those who are affected by it and all false
ideas based on phenomena that cannot be explained. Many of these ideas
purport to come from the dead or are opinions; so it takes in all the superstitious
who bow down and worship this belief. If a man believes that his power
comes from another world, then all who embrace this belief are ready to
acknowledge the standard. This standard of the priests had its full sway
in early ages when the priests cured all diseases. At last opposition arose,
as in all humbugs, and a more learned class of humbugs sprang up who led
the more sober part of the people. They admitted the religious error and
made a still more religious belief. So you may trace the grand scheme of
humbugs from Judaism down to the present day. When new phenomena appear
that affect one, they also affect the other. Just keep the two before your
eyes. You will find the same reform as it is called in these two humbugs.
The spirits of the dead and all kinds of superstition have been bat-tled
by science and their standard driven from the dark ages of heathen idolatry
step by step, sometimes appearing in various forms of assumed wisdom, again
splitting into parties and settling down into deception. This will always
be until man sees himself in the true light of reason, not of opinion.
To show the two extremes of hum-bug, I will take one that is established
and is as real to those who
believe it, as that the sun rises; this is the allopathy practice of
medi-cine. This is the very foundation of man’s belief and to give it a
character and standard, it must have a religious belief as erroneous as
its father, the old church. These two go hand in hand and their absurdities
have called out another class, the spiritualists, accom-panied by their
physicians. These are at war with each other and what looks absurd to one
of these parties is true to the other. Each has its standard of belief
to which it bows down and worships and which is as real to them as their
own existence. I will show that they are the two standards of the world.
The standard of science never goes back to precedents for its proof
but shows its science by its works. If it goes back, it is to show that
the world has progressed, not to rake up some wisdom but to show that the
world has progressed every day in science. The science of life contains
the two classes above mentioned. As I have said, the spiritualist goes
back into the dark ages of Judaism where the be-lief of heaven and hell
and spirits of the dead were invented, together with every kind of heathen
superstition, to seek wisdom by which to correct the errors of the age,
supposing that the world was wiser then than now. And showing that any
foreign intelligence purporting to come from abroad is worth more than
what they get at home. Now, does science go out of the way? No. Chemistry
is here just what it is everywhere and the chemist is always showing his
improve-ments and so it is with all sciences. But that science founded
on opinions is proved by referring to some one’s opinions. And when you
go to the opinions, you are sent to another and so on. It is like chasing
a jack o’lantern to find the basis independent of an opinion. The science
of health is in the hands of these blind guides. There is no difference
between them. They are the two extremes of humbug. One belongs to the upper
crust, the other to the lower. And if there chances to be a person not
under one of these two classes, directly or indirectly, I should like to
see where he stands.
Disease is one of the heathen inventions and has had as many names
as any political party ever had, but is always the same thing. The serpent
was its author or inventor when it made Eve eat the for-bidden fruit. As
that was a sin, it poisoned all the human family, as is believed. And as
sin is disease, all men became diseased, for all have sinned, the Bible
says. The apple that brought on the first
disease could not have been eaten by the inhabitants of the world, so
that they must have caught it from our first parents. Thus catch-ing diseases
originated, but Jesus condemned this idea when he said, The old proverb
was done away with, that the father had eaten sour grapes and the children’s
teeth were set on edge, showing that it was a lie. But the people believed
it. As the serpent was lost or metamor-phosized into the Devil and the
people were made to believe it, it became necessary to have a place for
him to dwell. So hell was in-vented as his dwelling place. And as he still
held his old grudge be-cause he was driven out of the garden, his whole
power was aimed against mankind. We next hear of him tormenting Job with
boils, so that disease was his invention. He used to send out young devils
or evil spirits, and sometimes the Lord employed them, as when he wanted
to deceive Ahab . These devils could enter man and make him do all kinds
of things. They tried it with Jesus but they could not deceive him, although
he recognized their existence, for he used to cast them out. These devils
had teeth and they could also talk. The Bible is full of accounts of their
tormenting man and if it is true or the Christian explanation of it, then
there were evil spirits at the time the Christian era commenced, eighteen-hundred
years ago.
Now, where are they? If man is not affected by them, who is the author
of our troubles? Man is affected more than he ever was. These same devils
reigned in the time of Jesus and he sent forth his disciples to cast them
out. He said that they would be destroyed at the end of the world, for
then the Devil and all his works shall be destroyed and death itself. Then
there should be no death nor hell. They were to be cast into the lake of
fire. Jesus put the power of destroying these evil spirits in the hands
of his disciples. Now let us see what they have done. First we find the
priests persecuting them, hanging them and casting them into prison till
all the disciples were destroyed and they got the power into their own
hands. If these devils were the priests that crucified Jesus and all his
disciples, then we can trace them along . But if they were evil spirits
which the Devil sent into the priests and prophets, we can also follow
them down. The people were divided on this point. The priests taught that
they were the chosen ones to put down the evil spirits, not that such were
in them. And here is where the war commenced. The priests, like the demagogues,
had power over the masses and as the people be-
lieved in these evil spirits, of course there would be different opin-ions
about: their power. The most superstitious were the easiest led and as
the priests had full possession of the minds of the masses, it was very
easy to interest them in their favor.
So all opposition came from a more liberal quarter, but yet governed
by the same belief in the spirits of the dead; so science had nothing to
do with the religious quarrel. The quarrel commenced about a false opinion,
existing only in the minds of political dema-gogues and science is as much
a stranger as in any political quar-rel. Still they hold out to the people
that they are their friends and thus they have got the world to admit their
wisdom. What do these parties propose to the people? To restore order and
happiness to man. I will give their platform. They have established the
fact that there is another world, which constitutes one plank. The return
of spirits to earth is another. Also the Devil leading the wicked into
trouble. These and a still larger number of grievances are laid down as
facts. What do the leaders propose? To get up an army and at-tack this
devil and in the name of goodness reform the world, drive the devil out
of existence and establish the kingdom of heaven on earth. This is the
appeal to the people and as this is a spiritual war against the devil’s
kingdom, it is necessary that the people should know what they are fighting
for and who are their leaders, etc. The priests like the demagogues have
made the people believe that they have been deceived and that it is necessary
that they should do some-thing to get out of their trouble, while the troubles
are the effects of their beliefs invented by man and all the warfare is
to fight down their own beliefs. So it is with the sick; the devils are
the priests’ opinions and the disease is the punishment of their belief.
So the people pay the priests for the opinions and get the reward thereof
in aches and pains.
These are the profits of the priests, for they know that the peo-ple
know not the author of their misery. They offer their services to fight
down the very evil they have created. In spiritual as well as in literal
wars, there must be opposition parties, some for the health and some for
the disease. As the war is in the minds of the people, the destruction
of life is what is aimed at. Health and happiness be-ing the land of science,
the destruction of either cripples both, so all their aim is at this land.
All will admit that this land is overrun
with every kind of devil in the form of disease. How to destroy them
is a matter of opinion, so parties spring up and make war in their peculiar
way. The priests are for driving them out by prayer, while every prayer
goes to create more devils. This is seen by another class called educated
or more scientific, the doctors. They calculate more scientifically for
their own benefit and have induced the people to give up to them all those
who are killed by these devils in order that they should examine and discover
the place of rendezvous.
Thus the people have given them this power over all who fall by disease.
So when a person is attacked by one of these children of their own make,
they commence war against it. If he attacks them in the side, the doctor
claps on a blister. If he flies to the head, he also follows him there.
If he goes to the stomach a dose of calomel is sent after him. This generally
starts the devil and ruins the man and his house being shattered to pieces,
he gives up the ghost and leaves. Then the doctor claims his prize; so
he cuts up the head like a vegetable, hanging up one part and preserving
the other in alco-hol. They contend this is all for the benefit of the
people and like the priests in Egyptian theology, instead of lessening
the evil, they create ten times as many more. Finally, the people in despair,
like Saul, have left their oracles and sought witches or those having familiar
spirits, to enquire how to get rid of these Philistines that are overspreading
the land and devouring their lives and substance . So in the darkness of
night, they disguise themselves and are seen making their way to some woman
having a familiar spirit to inquire of her how the battle is going on with
their friends, for the doctor is fighting the battle. In a trembling voice,
they ask if the spirit will respond; a faint rap is heard denoting yes.
Then the communication is open and the spirits have the field. Here is
war between the liv-ing and the dead. A revelation commences, but as both
are in the devil’s employ, it makes but little difference to the scientific
man which gets the day.
Government
What is the standard by which man is weighed? There is but one true
standard by which man is weighed, and that is by his acts. Men set up standards
to weigh others but the standard of wisdom is a balance, and sooner or
later man’s acts are tested by that, as in the case of Nebuchadnezzar.
With this balance man will know his true weight, for it never varies; but
man weighs his fellow man by the balance of public opinion; his weight
is his popularity, so he varies according to the atmosphere in which he
lives. To carry out the il-lustration of weighing men or mind (for mind
is matter) by the stan-dard of public opinion, the balance must rest on
the same substance as itself; therefore the atmosphere of the place is
the base on which the scale stands. And as each man is a world of himself,
he creates a scale to weigh himself, but sometimes circumstances change
the atmosphere and man finds himself weighed by another balance, then his
weight is used to fill up a vacuum made by the change of the mind of public
opinion.
For instance, you often see a man who feels as though he was of some
importance yet who never shows any wisdom above the circle in which he
moves; although active and aspiring, he evinces no su-perior intelligence,
and restless and uneasy, he attaches himself to a political wheel of fortune,
risking what he never really had but thought he had. The wheel revolves
and finally stops. Some fall off, others hold on, so a vacuum is formed.
He who held on did so from no merit of his wisdom but from desire to gain,
and he is received not for his worth but for his persistency to fill the
vacuum of the rotation of the wheel of public office. Now behold the change!
His own wisdom never made him anything above a third class lawyer or an
intriguing politician. Leaving his own home or the place where his talent
was balanced, he jumps on the political wheel and is landed on the judge’s
bench, there to appear in the presence of men who never heard of such an
individual.
How comes this metamorphosis of a man jumping ‘from the
lowest class of politicians into the highest scale of the legal profes-sion?
Is the profession of his class of wisdom or is there some mis-take in the
scales? Are judges weighed in the scale of their own wisdom or the political
scale? Here is something, if wrong, ought to be corrected; but if it is
right, destroy the barrier that separates the demagogue from the legal
world. If law is nothing but a bub-ble, like any political bubble, then
the world has been deceived, and it is not what all wise men have claimed
it to be. Where is the prin-ciple to weigh the differences “in these estimates”
so that the people may not be deceived by their own ignorance? This has
never been done, so political scales which determine all merit are the
standard of law.
This makes law arbitrary and if it is so, then law has no standard
but public opinion and political opinions are the standard of the laws
of nations. Therefore, a government or laws founded on public opinion must
sooner or later crumble, bringing anarchy, despotism and destruction. This
has always been the case and always will be where error holds sway. Let
us see if there cannot be some way by which man can see the scale of justice
that weighs every man by his acts. The world must be governed by laws and
the judge must be superior to the law, or he could not explain it.
So the judge is the law and the people are the parties, and when the
people make a contract to govern their acts, the judge is to listen to
their stories and decide according to contract and his decision be-comes
law. If it becomes necessary to have more than one judge, the question
comes, who shall appoint him? Must the candidate be weighed on the political
scale or on the legal scale? If the judge is a political judge or made
by a political party or any party at all out-side of the profession, then
have no judge at all, only a political demagogue. This holds true in all
classes of science. So long as the judges are taken from the people, the
government is in danger, for the wisdom of the political world is always
changing.
Every man is a standard and his wisdom is his weight; each man shows
his weight by his wisdom. If a man is wanted to work out a mathematical
problem, one who had never studied mathematics would not be selected; and
if in a school one of the teachers of that branch should die, no one would
expect the scholars to select another. It is so in all branches of arts
and sciences; politicians can
never select any man to any professional calling, science or legisla-tion.
The power to determine the scientific must be kept apart, as religion and
politics. Now man is a nation of himself and is governed precisely as a
nation and any principle that will promote the health and happiness and
prolong the life of a nation will apply to an individual .
There is a principle which if rightly understood would prolong the
lives and happiness of nations, but this principle has never been recognized
by the world in nations or individuals The standard of opinions has always
held sway and that is arbitrary. Yet there is an element in both individuals
and nations which is science, which has its secret influence and has always
governed the civilized world. It is not recognized by the wisdom of opinions
but is finally referred to after the opinions are exhausted by their own
weakness and their power is gone; then steps in this third power and settles
the trouble. Wisdom is supposed to be this last-named power, but true wisdom
is one thing and political wisdom is another. But if the former settles
the trouble there is an end of it.
Disease in man is the same as in nations. I will take our nation as
an individual and show how it gets diseased, is kept so, and is fi-nally
destroyed and killed; how it sometimes may rise again, as man is believed
to rise, and also how it becomes exterminated, as man is believed to be
annihilated, body and soul. The life of a nation, like that of an individual,
depends on its wisdom, and it is no evi-dence of wisdom to destroy life
in either individuals or nations. Ig-norance is nearer wisdom than error,
for error has to retrace her steps to get back to ignorance to receive
the truth. According to the judgment of error or opinion we are the wisest
nation on earth, but our acts must tell the story. If the acts of the last
administration had not been checked by a superior power than the executive,
our be-loved country would have been the scene of civil war and a final
an-nihilation of the republic of the United States, showing that with all
our boasted prosperity as a nation, we had hardly reached the age of some
individuals on earth.
Now where is the defect for there must be one somewhere? Is it in the
principle that wisdom cannot govern a nation or is it in the want of wisdom
in the rulers? As I have said, a nation born into ex-istence is like a
child born into the world; both are nursed until they
become old enough to help themselves. Now a nation that is born crippled
or diseased is harder to raise to a healthy nation than one born perfect
or ignorant. For instance, China is the oldest nation on the globe and
the most ignorant. The American nation is the most enlightened and advanced
in the arts and sciences, some pretend to say. Now see the difference.
China stands firm—America is on a pivot; time must determine her destiny—for
ruin or progress.
The wisdom of the American people has never been heard by the masses;
the only sound that has reached their ears is from political demagogues.
Tyranny has been the throne that the people have had to submit to and until
the power is wrenched from these political despots, liberty is a mere farce.
I will describe the growth of this young child, not quite eighty-six years
old. He was born in the year of our Lord 1775. His parents were driven
from their homes to find a place where they could carry out their own way
of worshipping God, and here they planted their free principles among a
savage race. As in all error they did not see the true law of justice and
their first Christian act was to make war with the natives and drive them
out of their land. Then the same error persecuted all religions op-posed
to their opinions. Finally the old world, finding her child growing too
strong, undertook to put it into subjection, and there-fore opened a war
between father and son. The latter, having the sympathy of strangers, fought
and finally gained his freedom. Then came a union of the North and South,
which resulted in the birth of a son called Uncle Sam. He, like his father,
was diseased for slav-ery had bound one side of him, paralyzing it so that
it was a dead-weight to the other side. Now it was for wisdom to bring
the diseased side to life.
As I speak of each, I will call them North and South. The South being
crippled by slavery, the North had pity for his brother and divided the
heritage with him and they formed a contract called the Constitution. The
North had the most political power; the South could not be heard in the
political scale, for her voice was in the minority, as she had slaves,
who according to their law, could not vote. So to make all things easy,
the North agreed to a basis of representation that should put the South
on an equal footing. The North gave five votes to three of the South. So
as the slave popu-lation grew faster in proportion than the whites, a basis
of represen-
tation was made so that five slaves should be equal to three whites.
This was made in good faith.
Now slavery was not known in the Constitution, although it was in the
minds of the framers. And it was a principle of honor which made the North
give the South this advantage of representation. The equivalent was that
in the territory to be acquired this equalization of power should not be
carried. So the Constitution said nothing about slavery but acknowledged
the right or representation as far as the states were concerned up to the
thirteen states. This right being acknowledged, the South forgot the honor
of their fathers not to trespass beyond their original states. And when
new territory came to be admitted, quoted the contract and claimed her
right of representation in free territory. Here was where the mistake was
made by the North in not seeing what was claimed by the South.
The South seeing where she had the advantage of the North have always
endeavored to hold it. But as the West grew up, the South seeing her power
passing from her cries out, Persecution! The North, being ignorant of the
true issue, have been made to attach their ideas to slavery instead of
representation. So the cry of slav-ery has been heard at the North, when
that has nothing to do with the question at issue.
The true question at issue is whether the North is willing to agree
to a one-sided bargain that deprives them of two-fifths of their votes
for no equivalent. This is the question. It takes two-thirds of Con-gress
to alter the Constitution, but it will not take a long time to con-vince
the North and West that they may stop the South from carrying their basis
of representation into free territory. This error arises from the fact
that when the wisdom of the political world makes political judges, the
scientific world is enslaved. This was the case in the Dred Scott decision;
the judges were political judges un-der the influence of political power;
therefore they decided according to their party.
Now I go back to the starting point. If judges have no more wis-dom
than the political demagogues or masses, their science is a sham and law
is a humbug. The health of a nation, like that of an in-dividual, depends
on the influences that govern it. Perhaps it may be better illustrated
by the case of a sick person. The sick are made so by the influences that
govern them; political quacks or doctors,
like political leaders, deceive the patient by false issues. The doctors
make their opinions the standard, create disease like politicians, and
deceive the people into a belief that makes them sick. They then offer
their services to get them out of the trouble they have got them into.
Now how can these evils be overcome? Only by teaching the peo-ple to
know the difference between an opinion and a truth. This I will try to
show. I will return to the political judge. If the people want to have
a healthy nation, they must have wise judges. Now can that be done? All
will admit that a law is not as wise as the lawgiver. For the lawgiver
would see a defect where the parties would over-look one. But if a decision
is made by a judge not fully acquainted with the law, then the people are
the losers. This was the case in the Dred Scott decision. If the judges
had been honest they would have seen that the law was not defined in the
case and therefore, to de-cide a question or principle embracing so much,
by giving an opinion upon what they could not decide was assuming a power
that showed that they were not judges of the law but party judges. They
were to decide the law, not give an opinion, for an opinion is not law.
The North had one opinion, the South another; each claimed to be right.
The Constitution being silent on the law of territory, each party might
speak with some show of truth and the judges, had they been independent
of party, must have agreed, provided there was no question. And if there
was a question, let the people decide that and when a similar case came
up, the judges would decide accord-ing to contract or law. These political
judges are the cause of all dis-ease. They make it by their own error and
the people take their opinions for reality or truth. This caused a dissension
among the people. It split up the North and untied the South and condensed
a political error into a party truth. The error, running into the North,
set fire there and turned the executive power into a political engine used
against the North, and instead of pumping water to put out the fire, it
turned its power towards upsetting the North.
As I sit, penning this article, the engine of government is in the
hands of the North, but not without a struggle, for all that Bucha-nan
and his party could do was done to destroy the government. If General Scott
has been a traitor, like the rest, we should at this time, April 26th,
1861, be in a bloody war. But fortunately their power
has departed, and Buchanan, like Nebuchadnezzar, is turned out to grass
and Abraham has assumed the throne. His first act is to de-cide what the
judges misrepresent. He says, Let the people decide what is not plain in
the Constitution. This is as it should be. Now his acts are to take effect
and what I now say is a prophecy, not yet fulfilled. It is based on a law,
not of opinion but of wisdom or on a chemical change taking place in the
political world which is governed by a wisdom superior to an opinion, although
to the masses it is an opinion. But it is based on a truth that must prove
true or the country is lost. The nation stands now like a man given over
by his friends. The political doctors stand around his couch dropping a
hypocritical tear for their lost father, but ready to devour his substance
as soon as he breathes his last. They have exhausted all their skill on
him till there is nothing left but the skeleton of Uncle Sam.
The people have got angry with these quacks and have taken the old
gentleman into their hands and have employed a new physician by name, Abraham
Lincoln. As soon as he comes to the old man-sion, his first act is to listen
to Uncle Sam’s story. Here it is: while the old gentleman was sleeping,
his son James, who had the whole care of him, was planning with the rest
of his brethren to rob the old gentleman of his money and arms and get
possession of his goods so that the kingdom would fall into their hands.
So when the old gentleman was roused by Abraham, he was nearly powerless;
out of thirty-four children, seven had stolen all they could. This roused
Abraham, and his decree has gone forth. Baltimore is to be the scene of
action and if the Northern troops do not pass, then the fight commences
there. But I think that the government will pass their troops through and
this ends the fighting at the North; but the principal fighting will be
in the border states.
A Prophecy concerning the Nation
It is based on the principle that mind is matter, also that nations
and individuals are governed by wisdom or error, and the effect shows which
power governs. Upon this wisdom I make this state-ment or what might be
called a prophecy. I admit the United States is a child or man not fully
grown with passions like all other chil-dren. The President is the servant
of the wisdom of the child or peo-ple, for the people are the body and
their wisdom is their strength. Now as foreigners come among us, their
ideas affect our government or mind; this creates imitation, for error
is uneasy and is never still in man or nation and it is always getting
up something to destroy itself, for its life is its own destruction. Slavery
is admitted by the people, for the Constitution says nothing about it and
they have it in their power, the Constitution neither admitting nor denying
it. The error is free to put such a construction upon it as they please,
and as error is never right, it always works out its own destruction.
I will take Jeff Davis as the head of this error or disease; for such
it is, and it must be treated accordingly. I give no medicine but I ex-plain
the truth which destroys the error and kills the disease. Jeff Davis is
the patient and Abraham Lincoln is the physician. His dis-ease is of the
head, brought on by over-excitement of the mind. His wisdom, not being
equal to his ambition, the excitement affects his body or the South. The
South is the body and Jeff is the brains. And in a fit of delirium tremens
he assumed the Government, and the people thinking him sane, listened to
his story. In a fit of rage he undertook to destroy himself and the government
or father; his pretended father, who was not in reality his father, got
frightened at his insanity and offered him the whole of his wealth. But
the rest of his brethren protested against it, so they commenced to check
his career. Now an insane man is a coward and Jefferson Davis is a mix-ture
of man and mule.
I will give his character, as he seems to me. He is a coward and a
fool. I will show you how he is a fool. He cannot see the end of
his schemes; his wisdom leads him to destruction and he thinks by his
error, to control the North and West. Here he shows his courage in his
ignorance. As soon as he sees his error his courage fails, for it was based
on ignorance and infused into the people; his error ex-panded to the surface
of the border states. But as in health or dis-ease, man is like a stream
running into the ocean. When the tide sets in, the stream rises; so as
the Northwest current sets towards the South, the tide of the border states
rises and the lowlands of the states are in danger of being overflowed
with their own steam.
Now you can see Jeff Davis paddling from one point to another to check
the tide. He will try to throw up a dam around the border states to prevent
the Northwest names from influencing the South. But when the Southeast
winds come with their ships and he sees nothing but death on one side and
the halter on his own, then his courage will prove sham. And he will, if
not destroyed, flee with all he can get, and leave the South to take care
of itself.
The Standard of Law
In my article of the standard of men’s acts, I showed the politi-cal
standard but did not give the true standard, from the fact that it is not
recognized as such. It is known as judgment; therefore, any man’s judgment
is a standard. If his judgment happens to be popu-lar with the masses,
then his standard is true, so it returns to the first idea that each man
is his own standard. Yet everyone knows and ac-knowledges that there is
a difference in deciding any problem, whether it is decided by a mathematical
standard or an opinion. All will say that the people are not wise in regard
to the standard of law. Law is one thing and the judges another and their
duty is to decide any troubles that parties get into which they cannot
decide them-selves. The people make the laws and agree to sustain them,
so the
judges listen to their stories and decide the case according to their
own laws.
Now as troubles often come up where the law is not defined, the judge
makes a decision, which is an opinion, not law, and the peo-ple are not
bound by it, as for instance, the Dred Scott case. The people are not bound
by that decision, for it is the opinion of a majority of judges and they
are not supreme law. The people are the law and the judges its expounders.
The expounding of the law is like the expounding of any other problem.
It is as necessary to have an expert for a judge as it is to have an expert
in a bank to de-tect the spurious coin. These persons must be selected
by the banks, not by the people. And as it is for their happiness to have
the law properly executed, the court, like the bank, ought to have the
right to select their own judges. The people must not have the power, for
in selecting a judge, they do not stand in the same relation to them-selves
as in making a law. In making a judge they make him by a party without
regard to his merits as an expert in law; while the law is made for the
whole people, the judge is made for the party. This defect makes trouble
and is felt in the whole country. It makes man act upon a political standard
and is the basis of men’s reasoning. The same error runs through all the
troubles in government and party opinions have been the ruin of nations
and statesmen.
As I have said, man is a nation and is his own judge and juror. A man,
ignorant, is like a nation in a savage state. As error enters a man, his
error commences, and the first law is self-preservation. Then arise opinions
as to how to preserve the peace and health. This brings up parties and
man, being a nation, governed by the same law of opinions, truth has never
been acknowledged by them. Opin-ions spring up in man, bringing everyone
into the field and each man is a government of himself, governed by the
opinions of his friends. Now political friends are one thing and friends
to the government or health are another . And when a person is in trouble,
it is hard to tell who is the cause of it. The sick or’ president makes
his grievances known to his friends, as he thinks. And if they are the
friends of the government or health, then no harm is done by their acts
or opinions. It is well to know the officers of man’s health, so we shall
know them in nations. The military are known by their dress. The priests
were formerly and so on down to the police. And
the officers of man’s health are under as good discipline as those of
the nation, the one being as corrupt as the other. I will analyze man as
I have nations, for he as a nation, is of all corrupt beings the worst.
There is no good in him that can be heard. His officers are deceptive,
[with] hypocrisy and all kinds of evil, and they are prowling round seeking
whom they may devour.
This makes up that element in man, corresponding to the lowest passions
of the masses in a nation. This party has their leaders and they are as
easily detected by their wisdom as they are in a nation. I will give the
foundation of each man as a nation and men’s acts as combined into a government,
as a nation. The child’s mind is a new territory not explored. An adult
is like an old world. The child’s mind or soil in a natural state brings
forth the fruits of its mother’s mind. As it is naturally rich but uncultivated,
it holds out great in-ducements for strangers. So strange ideas are sown
in the mind. And as its mind is under none but the first law of nature,
might is right and all kinds of ideas spring up in anarchy and confusion.
Each stranger wants to cultivate the mind according to the prejudices of
his father. This makes confusion and as in all governments, a con-vention
is called and a constitution is formed. Some concession is made to suit
the rabble and some to suit the more sober classes. But science is not
taken into the treaty at all, nor ever hinted ‘at in the constitution of
child’s mind.
Now health and happiness are the first articles in the constitution
of both the government of man as man and nation as a nation and of course
there must be leaders and teachers for each. So a certain set of men come
up as teachers for this young nation and a con-troversy springs up as to
what kind of laws best to keep this child in subjection till it shall get
large enough to take care of itself. Meet-ings are called, arguments are
brought forth and parties are formed. At last a set of laws are agreed
to by the majority but opposed by the minority. These laws are placed in
the hands of certain party leaders and the nation or child is to be governed
accordingly. And the first act is to bring the child into subjection to
these laws. These laws are based upon opinions that happen to arise in
the minds of the old world or people who wish to govern the young child
or na-tion according to the wisdom of their fathers. And to carry out the
design, men are appointed to instruct the young in all the religion
of their fathers. Here is almost the first false move, implanting in
the mind of the child our religious opinions. As they spring up, other
opinions also come forth and a discord ensues. This fills the mind or soil
with foul seed or opinions and the mind becomes disturbed and someone is
selected to settle the difficulty. Another set of po-litical guides is
selected to make peace with the religious or diseased opinions. This set
are office holders to the priests. For if they op-posed the priests’ opinions,
they would be unpopular. So it is for their advantage to acknowledge the
priests’ right and not lay the trouble to their opinions, but to disobeying
their laws.
This class is called doctors, who make their living as I have just
said. And thus the people are kept under by these blind guides. Their minds
are kept disturbed and the doctors call it disease. Their dis-eases or
troubles increase; their burdens are multiplied till rebellion springs
up. Then a war is started by the unbelievers of the two classes. A suspension
of hostilities takes place; judges are appointed through the influence
of these blind guides and they decide according to the party that is in
power. This makes more trouble, so it goes on from one generation to another
coming up and flourishing for a time, then followed by wars and rebellion
and death. This is the case with disease and nations are only the whole
people’s mind con-centrated into one body called nation, having its feature
and growth like a man. The health or disease of the people shows the health
of the nation, not the intelligence but the health. Wisdom is not health,
for if it was, the beast would be wiser than the human species and this
is not the case . So there must be some defect in our bringing up, for
if man’s life is limited to seventy or one-hundred years, then it may be
compared to a bubble. This is the world’s reasoning. But science is a kingdom
not of this world of opinions. it has no deal-ing with the opinions of
man but tests all things by a standard, not of man but of science, which
does not say, Believe this or that but shows its opinions by its works.
It does not ask you to believe what your fathers believed if it is false,
but proves all things so that the natural man will believe. This kingdom
has its government, its law and teachers. I will give you its form of government
and describe how it is establishing its power or wisdom on earth unobserved,
yet rising like the flood.
While the people of this world are eating and drinking, giving opinions
and marrying in parties, the kingdom of science will come
to sweep them all away into the death of eternal oblivion. You may ask
for a sign, that you may tell when these things will be. I will give you
the signs of the times. Take one individual as a fair specimen of a nation.
A diseased individual is like a diseased nation, each is under false leaders.
The sick are under the hands of the priests and doctors, just as the government
is in the hands of the politicians. Public opinion in politics is the opinion
of the leaders of the parties. And national disease is the effect of error
as is the disease of an in-dividual. The masses, in each case, are under
a silent influence that is not organized. So they think they are their
own judges and you will often hear this remark from them, “I have an opinion
of my-self,” as though they were the authors of their opinions . When ques-tioned
for proof, they refer you to some one’s opinion. To understand the signs
of the times so you may not be deceived by spe-cious appearances, you must
test each opinion by the standard of science. Ask how they know and you
will see them squirm and gnash their teeth. Then in a fit of rage they
will leave you and enter the swine or their old superstition and are lost
to the world.
As I have said, I will give you the foundation of the spiritual or
scientific kingdom. It is not built by man’s opinions, but it is a king-dom
of science—to test all the kingdoms of the earth. Unlike all other kingdoms,
it never commences war, nor meddles with men’s .opinions. It is the scale
or higher court to which all other kingdoms
refer their troubles. The court sits in the hearts of all the people
and just whatever parties agree to it, it obliges them to perform. It has
no parties or sects and no religious worship; it judges of all and measures
out to everyone just as they measure out to another. It has no laws but
judges man by his own laws. Its reasoning is to show the parties the folly
of their own reasoning. It asks questions to see if opinions can sustain
themselves. It never argues but always listens to hear the arguments of
opinions. It shows no matter. It is un-changeable. It is the same, today
and forever. You may ask how we shall know it when it comes—by its wisdom.
It judges no man but leaves all judgment to the reasoning of opinions.
Thus man judges himself and he must be punished according to his own laws.
For the punishment is in the law; the law is the will of the people and
the judge administers the law. I will give you one or two cases show-ing
how the judge decides in this kingdom. This kingdom is not mat-ter. But
the kingdom of opinions is matter. So when a subject of
the spiritual kingdom sets up his kingdom in the earthly man, he is
liable to be overpowered by the children of darkness or this world; and
if he is overpowered, his kingdom is let out to the kings of this world.
When a person is sick, he is in the hands of the children of dark-ness,
and his mind, like a nation, is taken possession of by the enemies of health.
He is in the same state as Job. His enemies are compassed about him and
he is denied assistance. Thus beaten and bruised till a reaction takes
place, he is left to die of his own accord. I will take such a one and
bring him before the tribunal that renders to everyone his due . This tribunal
is invisible to the natural man and cannot be seen by the natural sight.
But the other senses are awake to its power and it uses the natural organs
to influence the natural world. As you may not be acquainted with the inhabitants
of this other world, I will try to compare them to two persons conversing
about these two worlds and their beliefs respecting them . I will show
that the natural man is ignorant of the spiritual or scientific world and
to be born again is to get out of the world of opinions into the world
of science. Imagine yourself listening to two persons convers-ing about
religion. The natural man is religious, not scientific. The scientific
is not religious. The conversation is from the world of opinions or religion
to the scientific world; this is no easy thing. Both have their identity:
one in the world of opinions, the other in science, and to separate them
more plainly, I will call one matter and the other wisdom. The world of
matter is governed by opinion; that of science, by wisdom. So the thing
talked about must first start in the world of opinion, for wisdom never
starts anything. Every sensa-tion is made on the senses and if they are
attached to wisdom, a scientific answer comes. But if a sensation is made
on the senses at-tached to opinions, then disease and misery come.
These are the two worlds. The man of opinion asks the question, Do
you believe in death? The man of wisdom says, No. (Opin-ion) What do you
believe? (Wisdom) I have no belief. To bring these more clearly to your
belief, I will assume the character of the man of wisdom and you the reader,
the man of opinions. (0) Do you not believe that the soul leaves the body
at death? (U’) I have not said that I believe in death. (0) Of course you
believe that the body dies. (W) You say I do but I do not say so. (0) Well,
what
do you believe? (W) I have no belief about the other world; I know it.
(0) Then if you know it, do not men die before they get into the other
world? (W) Why do you wish me to admit death when I have told you that
I do not believe in it? (0) You do not believe that your body can go to
the other world? (W) Yes, I do, but not in the sense that you do. Each
world has the same ideas. The only difference be-tween us is that your
world is made by superstition and your ignor-ance is the matter. My wisdom
is in your matter or ignorance, and your error cannot see it, you being
blind cannot see the light of wis-dom or science, so that my world is to
your world a mystery. (0) I do not see any sense in what you say. (W) I
shall not quarrel with you on that score; it looks to me as though you
do not understand yourself. (0) I can make nothing out of your ideas. (W)
Can you make anything out of your own? (0) I think I can explain it bet-ter
than you have done. (W) I have not tried to explain at all; I can-not explain
what never had an existence. (0) You do not deny that man dies. (W) I do
not admit it, do you? (0) Yes. (W) Will you tell me how you know that a
dead thing has life? (0) I do not mean the soul, I mean the body. (W) Has
your soul senses? (0) Yes.
(W) Do you mean that your senses die? (0) No. (W) Then the body only
dies, as you say? (0) I do not know. (W) I agree with you in the last statement.
(0) Have you any proof that you will have any senses without a body? (W)
Yes. (0) What is it? (W) If you wish me to tell you what I know of myself,
I can do so, but if you believe in death, why do you not show it so that
I may have some idea of it? (0) I suppose that you do not deny that man
dies?
(W) You have asked that question a number of times . It seems as though
you never would know what I do believe, so I will ask you to explain your
belief about death. Do not tell me what I believe or disbelieve, but tell
me what you believe yourself. (0) Well I believe that this body dies and
that the soul or life or something lives in-dependently in another world,
or this world or somewhere. I can-not tell exactly Where, but I do not
believe that when man dies that is the end of him. (W) All this is a belief,
is it not? (0) Yes, I ad-mit that I have no positive proof of it. (W) How
can a man have proof that he is dead? (0) The living have the proof that
he is dead.
(W) Then the living are the judges of the dead? (0) Yes. (W) Then because
you say a man is dead, he is so? (0) Every one will admit
that he is dead. (W) I wish I could make you stick to one thing, that
is, what you mean by dead and not dead. (0) All the Christian world believe
in death. (W) Well, because all believe in death is that proof to any one
that does not believe it? (0) No, but the Bible teaches it. (W) Then because
the Bible, as you say, teaches it, it must be so, of course. I must take
an opinion of someone who knows nothing at all, for a truth. Just look
at the absurdity of your own belief; there is not one single idea of truth
in all your opinions. If you will listen to me, I will tell you facts,
demonstrable, that will explain all your error; for yours is an error,
arising from heathen superstition and I will show you where they lie.
(0) Well, I will listen, if you will not fly off from the point. (W)
I will try not to. (0) You are a clock-maker by profession? (W) Yes.
(0) Do you understand how to calculate the train of wheels and the
length of any pendulum to fit any case of a given length? (W) Yes, I do
not care what length of pendulum you give me, I can calculate the number
of vibrations in a minute and calculate a train of wheels to correspond
to the beats so the clock will keep correct time.
(0) Did you always have that power? (W) No, I do not call it a power.
(0) Why not? I do not have that gift or power. (W) It is because you will
not try to obtain it. (0) I have prayed and talked and used every means
to get it and have finally concluded that it is a gift or power which derives
from some higher power which you do not acknowledge. (W) How do you know?
Can you calculate a clock? (0) No, I have not the gift, but I know just
as much about it as you do, in fact no one knows. We see clocks run and
keep time and that is all we know about it. To talk about a science is
all non-sense, for it is mystery. (W) Then because you can not see there
is a science by which a clock can be calculated, all these clocks are made
and kept in order by a power or gift that a man knows noth-ing of? (0)
I will admit your power, but to admit that you know more about it than
all the rest of the world, I cannot. Because if it could be taught and
learned, every person could teach it; this shows it to be a power.
(W) Do you admit that I can make a clock and repair old ones?
(0) Yes, I know you can but I do not believe that you know any-thing
more about how you do it than I do. (W) What is your busi-ness? (0) I am
a musician, a violinist. (W) How long since you had
the gift or power? (0) It is not a gift. (W) What is it? (0) It is a
science. (W) You do not know any more then about the power than I do. (0)
Can you play? (W) No. (0) Then how do you know that I do not know any more
about it than you do? (W) I judge you by the same standard that you judge
me. (0) I do not judge you at all.
(W) You said you know as much about a clock as I did. So why should
I not know as much about music as you do? (0) Perhaps you do, but we cannot
agree and when doctors fall out, we must leave it to some person whom we
agree has more knowledge than either of us. And as we are sick or out of
tune, we will call a physi-cian to get his advice, for we both acknowledge
the medical skill.
A physician is called and, looking very wise, he listens attentively
to each story and after a careful investigation makes the following report
.
Man is like a machine or clock; his power is in the pendulum which
makes so many vibrations in a minute. The clock will keep good time, but
if it gets out of order, you must send for a scientific man to repair it,
not a quack. You are both right. There is no cor-rect rule to make a clock.
Careful investigation by scientific men show that it is impossible to make
any accurate calculation in regard to a science, from the fact that on
examining clocks, all lengths of pendulums are found [and] also, all sizes
of wheels with a differ-ent number of teeth in each wheel, and very few
are alike. There-fore, I have come to the conclusion that a clock-maker
cannot tell with accuracy about a clock any more than a physician can about
a man; they are both mysteries in the world.
It is true the world has given the medical faculty the credit of wis-dom
or power superior to the clock-maker or musician. But I am free to admit
that the medical men labor under the same trouble with the rest of the
world, that is: that there is no such thing as science. It is true that
men can play on musical instruments, but it is folly to say that there
is a science by which it can be taught and learned. Listen to the bird
that sings; there is no science about that. One bird learns from another
by sympathy. To set up a standard of science shows an amount of general
information that the common people lack.
Here is the trouble. The masses, like the brutes, have the power of
imitation. See the beavers, how perfectly they arrange their houses
and their young have the same imitation and so on. The clock-maker does
and the medical men too; only, medical men have been selected as teachers
to the masses. This gives them more power, for the power of the profession
is in the confidence of the people. If there had been any such thing as
science, the medical faculty could not have stood one year, from the fact
that all their power is in the position that the world has given them.
It does not come from wisdom in their profession but from their opinions
being acknowledged as superior to such men as you. You have given them
the charge of your lives and they are bound to preserve them to the best
of their ability. But so far as my wisdom is concerned in calculating any
theory to cure diseases by a science, it is just as erroneous as to undertake
to say that there is a science in music or in clock-making. In conclusion,
I will say to you both that all the science in our three cases lies in
making the masses believe that we have a science. But here is where we,
as medical men, have the advantage of you, as the common class. We do not
recognize anyone without a diploma. This all can-not get, from the fact
that the deception must be kept from the peo-ple, or the faculty is ruined.
No one has any respect for your mechanical power; it is too much among
the masses and your mu-sical power is in the same category. But we, when
a man undertakes to step in, cry out, Humbug, Quack, and the people are
so loyal that they put down all opposition so that all we have to do is
not to ap-pear to notice them.
(0) Do you not think there is some science in it? (PHY) Oh, yes. Or
that some men have more sagacity than others? This you see is the profession.
To be a good professional man is to keep aloof from the masses, for otherwise
he loses his dignity, and his wisdom will not sustain him. So popularity
and not wisdom is the medical science. Wisdom never was popular, for it
had no identity. So hop-ing I have settled your troubles I leave. (Clock-maker
and Musician alone)
(Clock-maker) What do you think of the doctor’s opinion? (Mu-sician)
He has shown that he knows nothing of music; what do you think of his opinion
in regard to your science? (CM) I have come to the conclusion that he knows
nothing about clock-making and we are in the same predicament that we were
before. If a man could be found who is a clock-maker, musician and doctor,
then I think
the gift or power? (0) It is not a gift. (W) What is it? (0) It is a
science. (W) You do not know any more then about the power than I do. (0)
Can you play? (W) No. (0) Then how do you know that I do not know any more
about it than you do? (W) I judge you by the same standard that you judge
me. (0) I do not judge you at all.
(W) You said you know as much about a clock as I did. So why should
I not know as much about music as you do? (0) Perhaps you do, but we cannot
agree and when doctors fall out, we must leave it to some person whom we
agree has more knowledge than either of us. And as we are sick or out of
tune, we will call a physi-cian to get his advice, for we both acknowledge
the medical skill.
A physician is called and, looking very wise, he listens attentively
to each story and after a careful investigation makes the following report
.
Man is like a machine or clock; his power is in the pendulum which
makes so many vibrations in a minute. The clock will keep good time, but
if it gets out of order, you must send for a scientific man to repair it,
not a quack. You are both right. There is no cor-rect rule to make a clock.
Careful investigation by scientific men show that it is impossible to make
any accurate calculation in regard to a science, from the fact that on
examining clocks, all lengths of pendulums are found [and] also, all sizes
of wheels with a differ-ent number of teeth in each wheel, and very few
are alike. There-fore, I have come to the conclusion that a clock-maker
cannot tell with accuracy about a clock any more than a physician can about
a man; they are both mysteries in the world.
It is true the world has given the medical faculty the credit of wis-dom
or power superior to the clock-maker or musician. But I am free to admit
that the medical men labor under the same trouble with the rest of the
world, that is: that there is no such thing as science. It is true that
men can play on musical instruments, but it is folly to say that there
is a science by which it can be taught and learned. Listen to the bird
that sings; there is no science about that. One bird learns from another
by sympathy. To set up a standard of science shows an amount of general
information that the common people lack.
Here is the trouble. The masses, like the brutes, have the power of
imitation. See the beavers, how perfectly they arrange their houses
and their young have the same imitation and so on. The clock-maker does
and the medical men too; only, medical men have been selected as teachers
to the masses . This gives them more power, for the power of the profession
is in the confidence of the people. If there had been any such thing as
science, the medical faculty could not have stood one year, from the fact
that all their power is in the position that the world has given them.
It does not come from wisdom in their profession but from their opinions
being acknowledged as superior to such men as you. You have given them
the charge of your lives and they are bound to preserve them to the best
of their ability. But so far as my wisdom is concerned in calculating any
theory to cure diseases by a science, it is just as erroneous as to undertake
to say that there is a science in music or in clock-making. In conclusion,
I will say to you both that all the science in our three cases lies in
making the masses believe that we have a science. But here is where we,
as medical men, have the advantage of you, as the common class. We do not
recognize anyone without a diploma. This all can-not get, from the fact
that the deception must be kept from the peo-ple, or the faculty is ruined.
No one has any respect for your mechanical power; it is too much among
the masses and your mu-sical power is in the same category. But we, when
a man undertakes to step in, cry out, Humbug, Quack, and the people are
so loyal that they put down all opposition so that all we have to do is
not to ap-pear to notice them.
(0) Do you not think there is some science in it? (PHY) Oh, yes. Or
that some men have more sagacity than others? This you see is the profession.
To be a good professional man is to keep aloof from the masses, for otherwise
he loses his dignity, and his wisdom will not sustain him. So popularity
and not wisdom is the medical science. Wisdom never was popular, for it
had no identity. So hop-ing I have settled your troubles I leave. (Clock-maker
and Musician alone)
(Clock-maker) What do you think of the doctor’s opinion? (Mu-sician)
He has shown that he knows nothing of music; what do you think of his opinion
in regard to your science? (CM) I have come to the conclusion that he knows
nothing about clock-making and we are in the same predicament that we were
before. If a man could be found who is a clock-maker, musician and doctor,
then I think
we could get at the right answer. (M) I think I know just the one, so
if you please we will have his opinion.
Here is introduced a third person. (CM) Have you read the doc-tor’s
report on our cases? (Wisdom) Yes, but I saw nothing in what he said, showing
that he knew anything about his own business or yours, for I happen to
be acquainted with all these powers as he calls them and he showed entire
ignorance in regard to them all. (0) Can you explain where the truth is
(W) Yes. The word science has never had life attached to it but has always
been looked upon as a power that never had life. So that when we speak
of science, we never have attached any of the senses to it. Therefore,
science is not known by the natural man, yet he has science but knows it
not and it has no place of respect in his heart or senses. I will try to
give it a founda-tion that you both will admit. Before you knew how to
calculate a clock, the calculation was a mystery; but as soon as you learned
it, the mystery was gone. Your senses left the mystery and attached themselves
to the wisdom you obtained. And the mystery to you was like an opinion
that never was true. So when the musician called it a mystery, you could
see where his senses were attached, also that he was in the dark. But your
senses being attached to the light or wisdom, you could see through his
darkness or error. The differ-ence between you was this: his senses were
in his error, and error’s light is a false light. Your senses, being attached
to the true light that lighteth everyone who is scientific, [were] a mystery
to his light, his senses not knowing the true light.
You both are right and neither knows it, from the fact that science
has never been acknowledged by opinion to have any wisdom, while science
is wisdom. And as fast as a person finds wisdom, he finds science, for
the word science is the name of the wisdom that sees through the opinions
of man. As far as the doctor’s science went in his explanation, you could
both see that his science was ignorance in regard to your cases. And as
far as the sick, his wisdom is just the same. Here is the mystery. Science,
as it is called, is something that the natural man worships. He looks upon
it as coming from some superior power, independent of himself, when his
own wis-dom is all the science he knows of. For to the fool who knows noth-ing,
there is no science.
Your wisdom in regard to making a clock is one thing, but if you
can calculate it and know by what principle you do it, that wisdom is
not of this world but of God or Science. It has never entered man’s senses
that his senses are his wisdom and his body is an idea that his senses
are attached to. He admits it himself, when the very senses are not recognized
by itself, but speaks of itself as a third person. This is the case in
sickness; the senses often speak of themselves as another person. I will
try to illustrate. Suppose we should differ in opinion on some subject,
for instance, about a certain man’s com-plexion. Suppose I said he had
black eyes, and you insisted that his eyes were hazel and we argued to
convince each other. We are both certain we are right, but ours is the
wisdom of opinion. We cannot agree, so we refer our differences to a person
who decides that his eyes are black, so the one in error gives it up. In
all this, no science or wisdom is displayed. Now suppose I am called to
decide their con-troversy. They do not tell me the thing in dispute, but
ask me to tell them what they are disputing about. I tell them they are
disputing about Mr. A. How do you know, they ask. Because I see him here
and the thing in question is his eyes. Turning to Mr. B, I say, You think
he has black eyes and Mr. C thinks they are hazel, but I know you both
are mistaken, for his eyes are blue. They are not bound to take my opinion
as such because I say so; but if I tell them what they think, and they
know that I have no knowledge of it through my natural senses, they believe.
This belief was founded on my tell-ing them what they thought. This to
them was stronger proof than they could give me, so they admitted it was
a truth although it was still to them a mystery.
I will try to give a stronger proof that I knew more than they did
and show that my power was wisdom. Their minds excited mine till I could
see the man in question. His eyes were blue. I also saw another man with
hazel eyes. The man with blue eyes was in har-mony with me, but the one
with hazel eyes was not; neither was the man with black. As I convinced
them of their wisdom, their error disappeared and at last there stood a
man with blue eyes. Now to the world of opinion, this is a mystery or power,
but to me it is wis-dom, just as much as it is to the clock-maker or musician.
Let science be looked upon as a character and opinion as a character, and
every man may be as these two principles. Then man can mea-sure himself
by his own wisdom, but now he is weighed by the scale of public opinion
which is not science. Every science that is ac-
knowledged is wisdom to those who understand it. Why should it be an
impossibility that a person might see and feel another’s feel-ings? Is
not this the case in every branch of wisdom? Does not the musician feel
the discord of his pupil, and does not his wisdom cor-rect it? If the mind
is not something that can be corrected, then there is no wisdom or science
to be applied. Now man is a machine, acted upon by one of the powers, opinion
or wisdom. The discord is made by a sensation on the mind. If the sensation
is rightly directed, then the effect is harmless, but if not, then it embraces
an opinion. For instance, take two persons. One knows the cry of murder;
the sen-sation following it depends on the wisdom or error of those who
hear it, for otherwise all would be affected alike by every sensation,
for it contains the basis of wisdom or error. Now if error is aroused,
discord and disease follow, but if wisdom feels or sees it, it amounts
to nothing.
May 1861
The Use of Language
[orig. language]
Language is the invention of man to convey some idea of a natural substance
that can be seen or described. It never entered the mind of the author
of language to describe another’s thoughts, so that to describe to a person
his own feelings by language which was never intended for that purpose
must confuse the learned. Everyone knows that as man is developed himself,
he becomes more sensitive to im-pressions. This makes him superior to the
beasts. If man is ignorant of all the influences that act upon him, he
is nothing but a subdued brute, but if his higher intellect is developed,
it needs a language to explain it. Sickness is the result of the animal
or natural man bind-ing burdens on the higher intelligence or scientific
mind. The bur-dens are the opinions of the so-called wise, and language
is for their
benefit. So the groans and griefs of the sick are heard by the well
only as a murmur or unknown tongue.
Having given my attention to their lamentations, I know that they have
a language not known by the learned or well, and this language I have been
trying to develop that I may bring before the wise the grievances of the
sick. So I am forced to use words that will con-vey the most correct idea
of their feelings. This is difficult; some words convey life and yet do
not mean anything. For instance, take the word mind. The ordinary definition
of that word covers all the wisdom of the natural man. The word death means
the annihilation of life. But as man developed himself, he discovered that
there was something in him that never had been brought out, and this some-thing
gave rise to speculative ideas. When phenomena occurred, the wise were
confused. So superstition and reason were introduced to explain the phenomena.
They must be explained by the language of the wise and that made confusion.
This theory explains all these ideas by applying words to sensations that
will convey to the sick that I take their feelings. When I tell them how
they feel, I tell them it is in their mind. This of course they do not
believe. So to make myself understood, I am obliged to illustrate by parables.
What Is a Clairvoyant Person?
It is a being conscious of his own existence as a living, thinking,
seeing, intelligent creature. All this is not seen by the natural man.
Then what is the natural man? He is the shadow of the clairvoyant; neither
is conscious of the existence of both at the same time. Why do you speak
of two when one is only a shadow? The clairvoyant is like a man who is
just where he thinks he is. The natural man is governed by a belief. Reason
does not enter into the combination of the clairvoyant for if he reasons,
he is not clairvoyant. Where is
my consciousness? I am conscious of my senses in both states at the
same time. I see the substance and shadow at the same time and change the
former. I do not see my own shadow, but I see myself as I really am to
myself and knowing that I am not as I ought to be, I change that knowledge
by comparing myself to health till I feel it. Health is the standard by
which we judge ourselves and just as a man deviates from this standard,
he is in the dark and makes shadows. These shadows are the feelings of
the sick and are called disease.
September 1861
True Wisdom
Let me give you an idea of true wisdom and how it acts on man. True
wisdom is like heat. Now you know that heat in the soil of the earth brings
forth vegetation. Vegetation is like ideas. Wisdom warms the heart of the
mind or matter. This puts vegetation or thought in action so the mind brings
forth food or ideas; these be-ing forced by the heat or activity of the
soil, they grow like a tree, and the root or fibers take root in the soil
or mind. As it grows, it derives its life from them and the mind being
fed by the wisdom of the world, the tree takes up the particles it receives.
The earth brings forth all creeping things, everything that has life as
well as all dis-eases. They grow in the mind like a tree. For instance
. . . [unfinished]
Origin of Political Parties
It is laughable to hear people talking about political parties and claiming
to belong to this or that party, just as though parties never change their
principles. This error arises from the fact that all par-ties spring up
in opposition to some measure or ambition of a few politicians. They get
up a false issue and talk about it till the people believe it; then a party
is started and the people attach themselves to it without the slightest
idea of the principles or whether there is any principle at all.
Let us go back to Washington. All parties claim Washington as the father
of our coun.try. Why do they, when the opposition to Washington by the
friends of Jefferson was so great that it was with difficulty Washington
could be prevailed on to become a candidate the second time? Here commenced
the two great political parties. The opposing party after Jefferson came
in had no sympathy for Washington, but when Adams and Jefferson, Hamilton
and Burr came up, then the Jeffersonians praised up Washington and denounced
all others as Federalists. The country was in debt from the war, and Jefferson
in reality was opposed to it, and the friends of Washington elected the
elder Adams.
The war debt must be paid and a spirit of revolution in the coun-try
was kept up by the opposers of Washington and Adams. All sorts of stories
were circulated about the latter, and as a direct tax would be unpopular,
the enemies of Adams elected Madison. Then came the war with England and
parties split up, but finally all set-tled down on Monroe; so that at his
second election there was no opposition. In all these changes, slavery
was never mentioned. Its extinction was never advocated. But as there must
be two great par-ties, they must have political food to live on.
When Jackson and Clay, Adams and Crawford came up, they were called
Republicans; being in favor of the war, they were said to have brought
it on. But be that as it may, the war was popular as all wars are after
they are over, and these men being all of one
stripe, for all other stripes had faded out, a new era in political
parties sprang up. Men had their preferences, some for Jackson and some
for Clay, but as Clay gave his influence for Adams, Jackson was defeated,
and Adams elected. Adams not making any changes for party preference displeased
his friends and they left him, so the next election Jackson came in. Here
is where the present dynasty commenced . It began with deception and lying
politicians and ended with that traitor Buchanan.
As soon as Jackson came in, commenced the war, founded on the proverb,
“To the victors belong the spoils.” The people identified their senses
with the party, never looking to measures, and the Jack-son party took
the name Democrat, while their opponents were called Federalists. Yet Jackson
never varied one particle from Adams till Calhoun nullified when he put
him down. The very next message recommended the reduction of duties on
tea, and then the Democrats engrafted free trade and direct tax. This free
trade was food for the people. It was sweet to the mouth, but bitter to
the belly or purses. But as it never came, it worked well to keep up the
steam. But when this died away, another element must be introduced to keep
up the party or name and as the North and West were gain-ing, the democracy
saw that they must lose political power so they must get up a false issue
to split up the North and South.
The blacks could be made a wedge to drive between the two parties,
but to do this it required a party so obnoxious to the Whig or Federal
party that they would not unite. So the South starts up a party of fire-eaters,
claiming that slavery, according to the Con-stitution, might spread all
over the land. Another party in the South did not want to carry slavery
into politics but leave it just as the state had made it and Congress must
have nothing to do with it. This hypocrisy of the South inflamed the North
and a set of men sprang up actuated by pure revenge for the wrongs heaped
upon the honesty of the North. They appealed to the Whigs or Federal party
for help, but as the Federal party never had anything to do with slavery,
as a party they got no sympathy. This fretted them and the democracy saw
this and hugged it like a twin brother’. So the Democratic party made a
wedge of the abolitionists to split up the Federal party. This gave them
the power and they have nourished a viper which has des-troyed the democratic
party and it will before long establish the old
party of North and South, which always held that slavery was a state
institution and the government never had any authority over it, out-side
the states where it existed.
August 1861
What Is the Relation of God to Man?
What proof is there of a God according to the popular opinion of the
day? Is there one single quality of wisdom in the God that man worships?
Is not all the worship confined to an intellect far in-ferior to the natural
man? And is not the true wisdom of justice, sympathy, love, good order
and intelligence set aside or looked upon as a secondary thing? Are we
not told that religion is something in-dependent of man? It is true there
is a wisdom higher than the natural man. For the natural man is superstitious,
bigoted, over-bearing, proud, vain, full of cunning deceit and all the
passions of the beast. He is very religious under some circumstances: fear
of death for instance; bold when there is no danger and only kept in check
by fear. This is the religious man, but this is not the religion or wisdom
of the wise. All religion is of man and the trouble lies not in the religion
or belief, but in the separation of opinions from the truth.
I will not quarrel with any man’s religion or opinions, but only see
if his religion or wisdom is of this world of opinions or of the wisdom
of God or Science. I will try to separate these two religions and to do
this, it is necessary to show to the religious man the ab-surdity of his
religion. This cannot be done except by a knowledge of the religion that
these vain men worship. They, being ignorant of the true wisdom, set up
a standard of worship and bow down and
worship an unknown God or wisdom. Now this unknown God or wisdom is
not in their worship at all. He is not in houses made with hands, nor in
temples made of stone, nor is he in the field of battle directing the opinions
of man. He requires no offering of silver or prayers and has no laws outside
of wisdom. In fact he is no man’s God but the God of all who admit him.
I will now try to explain to the natural or superstitious man the living
and true God whom he ignorantly worships. All admit this God is not a part
of themselves nor is his kingdom of this world of opinions. But it is in
the skies or clouds of their ignorance. They ad-mit that his coming must
be in the clouds of their ignorance. They admit that his coming must be
in the clouds, so of course he is not with them but is to come. The God
of wisdom says, You need not look for him in the clouds of your ignorance
nor in the foundations of your temples for he is near you, even in your
own hearts. But you know him not and crucify him every day by your vain
worship. Therefore I say, Repent of your vain worship and worship the true
and living God that is not made in the image of man’s identity of matter
but in wisdom that can be shown by his acts. I will give you the true God
that I worship and thousands of others who know him not and yet are a God
to themselves, who do not know that they worship any God, when they are
the very children and heirs of God. But being strangers in the world of
opinions, they are wandering alone in the world, like sheep without a shepherd,
subject to this world of opinion.
Let man become aware of these two principles of truth, [one] based
on mathematical fact and the other based on an opinion. Then he is ready
to test the Gods to see whether they are from man’s opin-ions or wisdom.
Each has its God and its world, but the natural man not knowing how to
account for the phenomena that often occur makes to himself a God like
himself. As the wisdom of truth progresses, it has no identity independent
of Science. As it contains no superstition, it contains no religion, for
it has no identity of God or man; it is either admitted as a science or
one of the laws of this God of opinions. This the scientific man will not
admit. So a warfare is kept up by the opinions of man trying to convince
the scientific man that all his wisdom is from their God of opinions. This
he will
not believe, so he is an infidel to the man of opinions. For he dis-believes
in his God and knows it is the invention of heathen super-stition and has
no wisdom above the natural man.
To which of these classes did Jesus belong? Let us examine the writings
of the New Testament and see if they will give any light on the subject.
Jesus called these two characters Law and Gospel. The law is the natural
man or opinions. The true science or wisdom is the gospel; there was where
he differed from the world. The new birth was to search into that Science
that would destroy opinions, so he called upon all men everywhere to repent
of their sins or be-lief and prove all things by Science. For their false
science or beliefs had deceived the people and bound burdens on them that
their mode of reasoning could not remove. So it was said that which the
law or their opinions had failed to explain, this truth in the form of
a science took upon itself that the errors might be explained. Opin-ions
knew not this Science, so it was a stranger and they said, Cru-cify it.
So they spit upon it, stoned it and finally made it so unpopular that it
ran out. Then the men of opinions stole the body or truth, parted it among
them and reported it was all a humbug. To this day, it is looked upon as
a humbug by the Jews. So Christ’s wisdom lost its identity at the crucifixion
of Jesus and has never been acknowledged by man’s opinion since.
False Christs have sprung up and deceived many and at this day all
mankind are worshipping these false gods who can never take away the sins
of their ignorance. But the true Christ or Science will come in the clouds
of their ignorance. Every eye shall see him. He shall sit on the throne
of wisdom and judge the world of opinions; then he will reward everyone
according to his truth. There are some standing in the high places, who
shall not see nor even believe till it comes. Then they will hide themselves
in the rocks of their opin-ions and creep into their beliefs or dens to
hide themselves from the great truth of scientific progression. Then Science
will take a God to itself and man shall worship it day and night. There
will be no darkness. For the light of wisdom will light up the dark dens
of superstition. The evil or ignorance will be cast out and the truth will
prevail. Then the truth will bind this old serpent, the opinions or devil,
and chain him to the earth or superstition, so that he shall not
deceive the child of wisdom by his smooth tongue and false doctrines
.
August 1861
Patriotism
Patriotism is the feeling which prompts man to respect the right of
his fellow man, also his obligation to his country and to his God. Every
man might say these are my sentiments, but as one opinion is as good as
another, we must find a higher principle than opinion to try them by. Now
what is that feeling that we call patriotism? This can only be proved by
the same scale that all other truths are proved. A nation is nothing but
a child; like any child, it contains its father and mother. The father
is of the earth or opinions; the mother is the warmth or sympathy of the
earth or opinion. Every person takes after his father or mother. George
Washington was like his mother; therefore his life was attached to his
country or mother. Opinion is the man, wisdom or science is the woman.
As each man contains these two characters, to know who is a patriot is
to know which rules in man, opinion or wisdom. Each rules its offspring
according to its character.
The man rules his child by arbitrary power, the mother by love. Just
so in a young nation. The opinion of man rules by arbitrary measures, the
higher principle rules by wisdom. I will give the plat-forms of both. The
nation like father and mother has offspring and the inhabitants of the
United States are the offspring of the Repub-lic. It is necessary that
some sort of an agreement must be entered into to unite the children who
contain the wisdom of the mother and the opinions of the father. As a nation
grows up, there must be some
kind of an organization, for all will acknowledge that the earth produces
neither nation nor individuals. Therefore all nations are the offspring
of other nations as men are the children of parents. So as a nation commences
its growth, it respects its parents just as long as it thinks itself
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