Chapter III - Spirit and Matter
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through sense and steal, but it cannot through Soul, nor
through sense and steal, but it cannot through Soul, nor
take away joys that are spiritual. A sick, crippled, or
dying man is not the image of God, of Life, and Truth.
Nerves have nothing to do with pain or pleasure;
nerves may be destroyed, and pain be left. We suffer
physically in dreams, but nerves are not the occasion of
this pain. Sometimes a tooth that has been extracted,
aches again, in belief. After a limb has been amputated
a sense of pain is felt in the old spot; and we find a
limb lost, according to one belief, and aching accord-
ing to another; we have seen an unwitting attempt to
scratch the end of a finger that had been cut off for
months. When the nerve is gone that we say occa-
sioned pain, but the pain is left, we naturally conclude
sensation is mind and not matter; now reverse the case
and let mind be absent from the body, or lulled by an
opiate, and sensation is lost and nerves are of no avail.
The so-called pleasures, or pains, of personal sense, are
beliefs only, instead of nerves. Learning the nothing-
ness of personal sense, is the basis of science; this point
proved, was our scientific standpoint for healing the
sick through mind instead of matter; physical effects,
we learned, are not the result of physical causes; that
diseases are beliefs, that, ruled out of mind, are ruled
out of the body.
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Most forms, or stages of disease that the body mani-
Most forms, or stages of disease that the body mani-
fests, are remedied on this scientific mental basis; we
have tested this in too many instances to doubt it.
When medicine is taken and the sick recover, faith and
not the medicine, has done this, whereas the almost
universal belief is that medicine, or laws of health heal
the sick; and because doctor, nurse, patient, and people
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believe this, according to their faith so is it unto them.
believe this, according to their faith so is it unto them.
But take from this weight of mind and belief some
mental power, destroy some confidence in these means,
and they will do less for the sick, and destroy all faith,
and they are powerless. The cure wrought through
the science of being is not the result of faith, but un-
derstanding. I never found a quotient proving num-
bers divided according to the rule of mathematics, more
unquestionable than my tests of this science; but to
gain prominence for this Truth until it is understood,
is impossible; perfection, in the midst of imperfection,
is slow to be seen, and slower to be acknowledged.
The mental opposition to it at present, throws the great
weight of universal belief, (the only prop of materia
medica) against the science of Life: but notwithstand-
ing all this, it will live, because its Principle is Truth,
independent of belief. The Principle that made harm-
less the poison viper in the hands of Paul, and from the
boiling oil delivered the Evangelist unharmed, that
healed the sick, triumphed over sin and death, and
crowned the meek brow of Jesus, is immortal; there-
fore we need not fear what man can do unto it. Setting
aside personal sense, the error that so easily besets man,
let us strive to attain this demonstration that Jesus set
before us. Enough already has been accomplished, by
prophet and apostle, to shut all lips in regard to its
Truth; but one thing is sure, that whoso learns the
letter only of science, without possessing its Spirit, will
not be able to repeat their demonstrations. The age
will at length require demonstration, in place of doc-
trine and belief, and the Christian will at length preach
only what he practices. As mortal man, and the mist