Chapter V - Animal Magnetism Unmasked
Motives considered
105:1
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
105:3
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
105:22
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
105:30
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
106:1
inanimate drugs to the criminal misuse of human will‑
inanimate drugs to the criminal misuse of human will‑
power, is to drop from the platform of common manhood
into the very mire of iniquity, to work against the free
course of honesty and justice, and to push vainly against
the current running heavenward.
Proper self-government
106:6
Like our nation, Christian Science has its Declaration
Like our nation, Christian Science has its Declaration
of Independence. God has endowed man with inalien-
able rights, among which are self-government,
reason, and conscience. Man is properly self‑
governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by
his Maker, divine Truth and Love.
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Man's rights are invaded when the divine order is in-
Man's rights are invaded when the divine order is in-
terfered with, and the mental trespasser incurs the divine
penalty due this crime.
Right methods
106:15
Let this age, which sits in judgment on Christian
Let this age, which sits in judgment on Christian
Science, sanction only such methods as are demonstrable
in Truth and known by their fruit, and classify
all others as did St. Paul in his great epistle
to the Galatians, when he wrote as follows:
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"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are
these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revellings and such like: of the which I tell you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they which do
such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against
such there is no law."