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).
Jesus
-
hearing of John
and
knowing 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.
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 explain
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
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.
So he takes Man
and Woman
as
figures of
Truth and Error
and shows that the
Mind of Woman
is better calculated
to receive seed
(or
investigate)
than Man.
They have more endurance
and have more patience
to investigate
any new
Science
than
Man,
but their
Wisdom
is not of
this world
but of that
Higher Power
called "Science."
When they give their idea
to Man,
he then eats
(or understands)
and
then goes to work
to form the idea
that has been given to him
by the Woman.
It has always been the case
that all Spiritual Wisdom
has
been received
through the female.
The Oracle of Delphi was a Woman.
As men's minds are more brutal
and less scientific
(or
spiritual);
they never believe
till they can see
with the Natural Man's eyes.
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 birthright
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
doctors 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 garment,
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 enraged
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!"
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 politics,
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 simple and ignorant
till they are
ready to embrace
Christ's Truth
of
doing
to another
as you would
that another
should do to you.
As this is understood,
the religion of Man goes out of
fashion.
Now
at the time when Jesus was
put to death,
he had been teaching this Truth:
that the
senses of Man
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!
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.
I
have spoken of the senses
as
something that can exist
independent of
our natural body.
This is new
to the world...
or it has never been
admitted...
for all the senses are attached
to
and a part of
the
body...
and the idea
of their being separated
is something
which has not
dawned
upon the intelligence of the
world.
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 priesthood
that
can
take upon himself our infirmities,
can bear our burdens
and lay down
his life to save the sick.
Now
the idea
of Jesus' ideas
was
a new heaven
(or Wisdom)
and a new earth
(or belief).
The new
heaven,
under the direction of the
Wisdom of
God
(or Science)
could create a new
belief
wherein could be peace and happiness
that the old
heaven
(or wisdom)
knew nothing
of...
where there should be peace
and power
in the Holy Ghost
(or
explanation)
of this new
world...
where no errors
nor selfishness
nor strife
could dwell...
so
that
all ignorance
and superstition
should
be cast out
into outer darkness,
never to return.
So
when any new development
of Truth comes up,
this brutal intellect
catches the seed (or idea)
and puts a low
construction on the
acts.
This causes the
War of Error
to see which should
get the mastery.
Science comes
as a natural result of the
quarrel...
for the Truth never
makes war for anything.
All the fighting is done by
Ignorance
and Superstition.
To
hear a thing named and not
investigate it
is the wisdom of this
world -
but to think from the Wisdom of
Science
is to
investigate
and understand.
A
person cannot think
without having some curiosity to be gratified.
Thinking
mechanically,
so that the world can
be put in possession
of something new
requires labor -
and
the
person
who
puts another's thought
into
practice
is
an "operator" -
but to repeat another's thought
requires no thought,
but memory.
The
mocking bird or parrot can do that,
but
to build a belief from
another's thought
requires as much labor as to
discover a science.
Then
will arise a new heaven
(or
science)
and a new earth
(or man) -
free
from disease (or error),
for his old world (or belief)
shall be burnt
up with the fire of Science,
and the New Heaven (or Science) shall arise,
wherein shall not
be found all these old superstitions,
bigotry and disease -
but where there is no more
death nor
sighing
from some ache or pain
which arises from superstitions
of the old
world.
Then shall
come to pass that
saying,
"Oh! Death
(or error) where
is thy sting!
Oh!
Grave (or misery) where is
thy victory!"
For
the
sting (or belief) in death
was sin (or ignorance)
but the gift of Science is of
God -
which is Eternal Life.
All
men have gone out of the
way,
and no one reasons from Science.
So Wisdom classes them all in
the dark
that it may save the whole
by
introducing the Light
of a new
mode of reasoning
that will separate Error from Truth.
This
refers to the subject of Health and Happiness
and
not the Arts and Sciences.
The evils that affect
the body and mind are included.
Science
was acknowledged in
everything
that could be demonstrated by a
principle,
but that
Man's belief
should
be made by Science
was
something so new
that when
Christ came
to test their belief
by
Science
they said that their
craft was
in danger.
For
if a man's
thoughts could be felt
and the effects of their
thoughts on the
body explained,
the priests could see that their
acts would come
to naught.
So this Science of analyzing Mind
was a new idea
that the Natural Man
knew nothing of.
The
World of Opinions is the Old World,
that of Science is the New World,
and a separation must take place
and a battle must be
fought between them.
The World of Error and Opinions
has held Science
in bondage
ever since Man began to act
independently
of the Savage Life.
As
Thought is always changing,
so Man is always throwing off
particles
(or thoughts)
and receiving new
ones.
So Man is a progressive idea,
yet he is the same man,
although he is changing all the
time -
for
better or worse.
§
I
will now tell you where I am
and how I am leading you along.
You
are
in the Old World (or Testament).
I am in the New World (or Testament)
- not P. P. Quimby -
but this Truth.
It is the Light that
lighteth everyone
that cometh into this world
and to make you
understand it,
it
takes upon itself flesh and
blood.
So when it
speaks,
it speaks not as Man speaks
but it speaks the Truth -
not Opinions.
§
I
could show hundreds of cases
in our days
of men dying of "heart
disease,"
as it is called,
while it is all caused
by some mental
trouble -
but all this goes to show
that disease was made
by some
impression
on the Mind
under a belief
that it is God's wrath.
Those who
were affected
did not believe
that the priests could cure them
-
except the most superstitious -
but they all believed in the
disease,
so a warfare was kept up
between the priests and doctors
till
Jesus appeared.
Then a new
philosophy
(or priesthood)
sprang up
that asked no sacrifices,
and Jesus said that
Aaron's priesthood
was like an old garment,
and the world required
a more perfect
mode of
curing.
The people no longer laid
the disease to God
but to the
spirits of the dead
and to the devil
- who flourished about the
time of Jesus -
and these took away the credit of diseases
which had
been rendered to God.
The power of the priests was
waning;
it was
like an old garment
ready to drop to pieces,
for it was founded on
their doctrines
(or religious beliefs).
So
when they wanted to unite Jesus' doctrine
with their own,
he told
them that would be like
putting new
wine
into old bottles -
it
would ferment and break them.
So his precepts of happiness
would not be
confined
to their bottles
(or religion),
and as the people wanted
a new religion
that
would not lay so many burdens on them -
it must
be in opposition
to all their previous religion.
To
discover a Science
which will
teach Man
to be Master
of his own
Health and Happiness
is to find a
Truth
by which
Man's thoughts
can be tested
and
their character analyzed.
To do this
requires a new revelation of Wisdom,
for all tests heretofore tried
have failed,
and their foundation has
crumbled away.
I have waded
through the Mire of Ignorance,
crossed the River of
Superstition,
have walked on the water of my
belief
and at last
landed on the Shores of Wisdom
where I have found the Olive
Branch of Truth
that tells me that the water (or
error) has dried up
so
that the dry land of reason is
ready
to receive the seed of Wisdom
into the earth
(or Mind)
of Man.
As
I have passed
through the Fire of Superstition
and been baptized in the water
(or error)
and
belief,
I have come up out of the water,
and the Heavens (or Wisdom)
are open to me,
and I see the Wisdom
in the form
of a dove
(or
sympathy)
saying to everyone,
"Behold, the Truth hath
prevailed
to open
the Book of Superstition;
it hath broken the seal
and introduced
a new
form of
reasoning."
Then every theory of Man
based
on an opinion
shall fall,
and the
Son
of God
(or Science)
shall reign on the earth
as it does in Heaven;
then there will be a
New Heaven
(or Science)
and a new earth
(or
belief)
for the old theory
(or opinions)
shall be burned up by Science.
So
a New Heaven (or theory)
will
spring up
and a new earth
(or soil)
will
bring forth from the True Vine,
for this Science is the True Vine
and its believers are the
branches.
This Science is the Stone which
the builders rejected
that will become the cornerstone
of the New Jerusalem
that came down from Heaven and
established itself.
I
know that Man begins at his
birth
to develop this Life
(or Science),
and his body, like language,
is a medium for him
to communicate
through
till a Higher Life
(or Scientific Man)
comes forth.
Then a New Heaven
and a new earth
is formed,
and Man
lives in both
but does not
always know it.
To know this so as to put it into practice
is
reducing this Wisdom to a science.
When
this is done,
Man lives by
his Wisdom
and learns that his happiness
is in his Wisdom,
and his Wisdom
is attached
to the things he
knows -
and not to someone's
opinion.
The
Man of Opinion
is seen
through mediums
pretending to be wise;
the Man of Wisdom
is seen correcting
the errors
of
the Man of Opinion.
One's
labor is to make mischief and trouble -
the other's
is to establish
God's Kingdom (or Truth)
in the earth
(or Natural Man),
thus driving out the
Old Man of Opinion
and
introducing the
New Man of Science.
This was the
mission of Jesus
and all those that make war with
opinions
by the
introduction of Science.
This is my whole aim and what I
am
laboring for.
So I speak not as a Man of
Opinions
but from what I know.
§
. (There is a kind of food which grows spontaneously
and which feeds large multitudes;
it is the food of public opinion.
When this is put onto the
scales with Truth,
it sometimes outweighs the latter.
I will explain how it is done.
Public opinion supplies ideas to certain worthless minds,
a figure of whom can be found
in large cities
hanging about eating saloons
and eating the soups set for
the customers
who come to buy the Solid.
Such vermin
are always ready to bark at any
reform which comes up,
and when there is a breach
made in the World of Intelligence
by the advance of new
discoveries,
this class is always thrown in
like mortar
to fill up the breach.
Their ideas, being so offensive
and contemptible to Truth,
Truth - rather than parley - retires
and leaves them the field.
Eager for anything that will satisfy their craving appetites,
these birds of prey feed on
the Body of Truth which is left them.
After eating and drinking,
they lie down to sleep;
when they awake,
the Light of Truth
shines upon them
and being blind,
they cannot bear the Light,
and in the darkness
they lead the blind,
till they both fall into the ditch.
This illustrates Truth and Error
and where Error weighs the
most.)
§
Language
is a combination of
words
to express an idea,
and when a
person wishes
to express a new
idea,
he must make a language
that
will convey his idea to another.
I
fitted out my barque some
twenty years ago
and started without chart
or compass,
trusting to the wisdom of my own
experience,
determined to be guided
by the inhabitants of the land
where I
journeyed
and to make my way to the
passage
that led to the other world
(or to a new world on
this globe).
When
Science comes,
it makes an
end to all these deceptions
and
introduces a new mode
of reasoning
to all who will receive it.
The New Heaven
is this new mode of reasoning,
and to enter into it
is to be baptized
in the blood
(or belief)
of Jesus,
which
is Christ
(or Science)
and which will wash away
all opinions.
Different
opinions will arise
from the fact
that often the writer
is as
ignorant of the true meaning
of his ideas
as his readers are.
Not
but that he knows what he says,
but there is in each
person
a
"hidden meaning"
(or Truth)
that he, as a man,
does not know.
When one
hears or reads anything,
it awakens in him some new idea
which
perchance the author never thought of,
yet the author feels as
though
he had a similar idea of its
meaning.
It is the Christ in us
that is making itself known
through the senses,
and as the senses
are the only medium
the world acknowledges,
Wisdom uses
them
to destroy
the darkness
which
prevents
us
from
knowing ourselves.
Thus
it is when we read the works of
the old authors.
They
have been misrepresented
from the fact
that the readers' minds
have been so dull
that there was not sufficient
light
to penetrate through.
So the dark explanations which are
given
become true ones
till the world becomes educated
up to a
higher point
when it shall see that the authors
have been
misrepresented
and that even some truths
may have been conveyed
in the writings
which the author
himself
had no idea of.
Every new development of Truth
which comes to the senses
scientifically
is a new birth,
and its
life is dated from that time,
although it
had existed forever.
Everything I write is to either
lead or disturb the Mind,
so that the Truth can be seen, as it were;
for it is thus that I destroy
opinions
and introduce in their place
the Science of Health.
It
is a new mode of religious
reasoning
- for all belief is the effect of
our religious training -
the medical belief being a part of it
as
much as any church creed.
Now I stand as one
that has
risen from the dead
(or error)
into the Light
of Truth...
not that the dead
(or my error)
has risen with me -
but I
have shaken off the Old Man
(or my religious garment)
and put on
the
New Man
that is Christ
(or Science),
and I fight these errors
and
show that they are all the makings
of our own Mind.
Then there will arise a New Science
followed by a new
mode of
reasoning
which shall teach Man
that to be wise
is to unlearn
his errors.
I believe
now
that the time
has
nearly arrived
when the people
will be
prepared
to receive a Great Truth
that gives an impulse to their Mind
and sets them investigating a subject
which will open to
their Minds
new and
enlarged
ideas of themselves
and show Man what he
is
and how he makes himself
what he is.
It has been said that
to
know himself
is the greatest study of Man,
but I say
to know his error
is greater
than to
know himself -
for every person
is
to himself
just what he thinks he is;
but to
know his error
is what ought to
be his greatest study.
When
you are talking with a
person of opinions
and scientific subjects
are not named
the world that sits
listening
is as wise as it was
before.
They
may have some new
ideas,
but they are
like sounding
brass -
they contain
no Wisdom
that
the world is put in
possession of.
Ask for
proofs
you get an
opinion
or ask for
bread
and you get
a
stone.
So
far
the Higher
(or Scientific)
Man
has not arrived at an age
to bring
forth this New Kingdom,
so the Powers of Darkness
prevail
and will
until the time of
reformation
(or investigation)
comes.
Then Opinion will see
that
there is a Science
(or Wisdom)
superior to itself.
It is the Science
of analyzing
the errors
(or phenomena)
of Man.
The
Old World
(or beliefs)
are
passed away,
and a new
belief
(or Heaven)
is
set up in the hearts of men,
where all
beliefs
shall
be tested by
science
and the wicked
(or error)
shall be destroyed.
All
new sciences come
when they
are the least wanted by the wise,
for
they are disturbed in their position;
therefore, they must
expect to meet with opposition.
This is
as it should be,
for there
will arise false
lights that will
deceive,
so there
should be some way to
test them.
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.
Suppose someone should come and
dispute our belief.
Are
we bound to
believe them
because they contradict us
- giving no reasons -
only
that it is not
in harmony
with their ideas?
All
will say,
"No."
Now Minds are excited,
and the whole thing is agitated,
and it is found
that there is not
one single particle
of harmony
in our beliefs;
and in the
Chaos of Mind
a new
idea springs up...
and our theories are knocked all
to pieces.
Like
political parties,
we
all fall in
and embrace the new
idea
as Truth.
Now it
becomes our
duty to prove it,
and the
Science is the knowledge
of the old idea
and
the belief is the new.
To
put the New Science
(or belief)
into practice
so as to change the belief
is to establish harmony,
and to do
that
is to reason away
all the opinions
of the Old Theory.
And
this is done
by seeing the answer
to all the questions
and desires
of
the people
so as to satisfy them.
As
my mode of treating disease
is entirely new to the
world,
the
spiritualists claim me as a medium.
I deny this
but believe that
Mind acts upon Mind
and that it is the living
and not the dead -
so here is where we differ.
The
death of the body
is only
the removal
of the Soul's sphere of
action
from our natural view
and no doubt
gives a larger world
of Spiritual action
in its new
destination.
"Death,"
in the language of Dr.
Stewart,
"only lifts the veil
which
conceals from our eyes
the invisible world.
It annihilates
the
material universe
to our senses
and prepares our minds
for some new and
unknown
state
of being."
To be "born again"
is to unlearn
your errors
and embrace the Truth of
Christ;
this is the "new birth,"
and it cannot be learned
except by
desire for the Truth
of that
Wisdom
that can say to the winds
of error and superstition
"Be
still!"
and they obey.
The
New Birth
is to know the Wisdom
that makes Man sensible
that there
is a Higher Life of his identity
than that of the Natural Man or
brute.
The
New Birth
is to put
off the
Old Man
- that is Error -
with all his
belief,
and put on the
New Man
(or Christ).
It
is to destroy all the
old superstition
of the Old World
and enter into the World of Science
where opinion and belief
never come.
In this world
there is no more death or sighing,
for the old things are
explained away.
Death and hell
and he that hath the
power of
death
called Error
is cast into the
Lake of Fire
(or Science)
that will
burn up all the chaff
(or Error),
and the New Jerusalem
shall be
established
in the hearts of men.
Then
the Sun
(or Wisdom)
will
light up this New World;
there will be no more night
(or ignorance)
and
all will bow down
before the throne of Wisdom
and sing the Song
of Everlasting Life.
