Chapter VII - Physiology
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by Soul and not sense, Spirit and not matter. If the
by Soul and not sense, Spirit and not matter. If the
law of Truth, Life and Love, produced sickness, no law
of matter could destroy it, and it were morally wrong
to employ means acting against this government; the
law of God is the only admissible authority in the uni-
verse, but this law pertains to mind and not matter.
What, then, is left to physiology but crossbones and
skulls? Man will never be learned in harmony and
immortality until the error of physiology is destroyed
by Spirit triumphing over matter.
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Because the muscles of a blacksmith's arm are strongly
Because the muscles of a blacksmith's arm are strongly
developed, it does not follow that exercise did this, or
that he whose habits are sedentary must be fragile. If
matter was the cause of action, and muscles without
mind used the anvil and smote the nail, such an infer-
ence might be true; but muscles act in obedience to
man, hence the fact that mind and not matter enlarges
and strengthens them only through the demand man
makes on them, and the corresponding power he sup-
plies, and not because of exercise or muscles, but the
blacksmith is the strength of his arm.
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Man moves his own body and develops it in whatever
Man moves his own body and develops it in whatever
direction mind determines; whether consciously or
unconsciously, it matters not. The feats of the gymnast
are proofs that the latent powers of man are unknown
to him; mind fixing on some achievement, makes its
accomplishment easy. Had Blondin believed he could
not walk a rope over Niagara's abyss of waters, to ac-
complish that feat would have been impossible; but,
understanding it could be done, he lost his fear and
gave his muscles flexibility and power that was attrib-
uted, perhaps, to a lubricating oil. When Homer sang
367:1
of Grecian gods, how dark was Olympus compared
of Grecian gods, how dark was Olympus compared
with Sinai. David expressed the science of being when
he said, "Thou madest man to have dominion over the
works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under
his feet."