Chapter V - Animal Magnetism Unmasked
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When Christian Science and animal magnetism are
When Christian Science and animal magnetism are
both comprehended, as they will be at no distant date,
it will be seen why the author of this book has been
so unjustly persecuted and belied by wolves in sheep's
clothing.
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Agassiz, the celebrated naturalist and author, has
Agassiz, the celebrated naturalist and author, has
wisely said: "Every great scientific truth goes through
three stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible.
Next, they say it has been discovered before. Lastly,
they say they have always believed it."
Perfection of divine government
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Christian Science goes to the bottom of mental action,
Christian Science goes to the bottom of mental action,
and reveals the theodicy which indicates the rightness of
all divine action, as the emanation of divine
Mind, and the consequent wrongness of the
opposite so-called action, – evil, occultism,
necromancy, mesmerism, animal magnetism, hypnotism.
Adulteration of Truth
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The medicine of Science is divine Mind; and dishonesty,
The medicine of Science is divine Mind; and dishonesty,
sensuality, falsehood, revenge, malice, are animal pro-
pensities and by no means the mental quali-
ties which heal the sick. The hypnotizer
employs one error to destroy another. If he heals sick-
ness through a belief, and a belief originally caused the
sickness, it is a case of the greater error overcoming the
lesser. This greater error thereafter occupies the ground,
leaving the case worse than before it was grasped by the
stronger error.
Motives considered
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Our courts recognize evidence to prove the motive as
Our courts recognize evidence to prove the motive as
well as the commission of a crime. Is it not
clear that the human mind must move the
body to a wicked act? Is not mortal mind the mur-
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derer? The hands, without mortal mind to direct them,
derer? The hands, without mortal mind to direct them,
could not commit a murder.
Mental crimes
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Courts and juries judge and sentence mortals in order
Courts and juries judge and sentence mortals in order
to restrain crime, to prevent deeds of violence or to punish
them. To say that these tribunals have no
jurisdiction over the carnal or mortal mind,
would be to contradict precedent and to admit that the
power of human law is restricted to matter, while mortal
mind, evil, which is the real outlaw, defies justice and is
recommended to mercy. Can matter commit a crime?
Can matter be punished? Can you separate the men-
tality from the body over which courts hold jurisdiction?
Mortal mind, not matter, is the criminal in every case;
and human law rightly estimates crime, and courts rea-
sonably pass sentence, according to the motive.
Important decision
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When our laws eventually take cognizance of mental
When our laws eventually take cognizance of mental
crime and no longer apply legal rulings wholly to physical
offences, these words of Judge Parmenter of
Boston will become historic: "I see no reason
why metaphysics is not as important to medicine as to
mechanics or mathematics."
Evil let loose
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Whoever uses his developed mental powers like an es-
Whoever uses his developed mental powers like an es-
caped felon to commit fresh atrocities as opportunity oc-
curs is never safe. God will arrest him. Di-
vine justice will manacle him. His sins will
be millstones about his neck, weighing him down to the
depths of ignominy and death. The aggravation of er-
ror foretells its doom, and confirms the ancient axiom:
"Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."
The misuse of mental power
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The distance from ordinary medical prac-
The distance from ordinary medical prac-
tice to Christian Science is full many a league
in the line of light; but to go in healing from the use of