to be a genius. Her moral character too has stood very well the fierce fires of criticism, though there are some things in her history and some qualities in her disposition that are not flattering. These matters, however, weigh nothing as concerns the question before us in this discussion, namely, the original source of the principles of Christian Science.
[1]Mrs. Eddy's claim expressed in her own
language is as follows. She says: “It was in
Massachusetts in February, 1866, and after the
death of the magnetic doctor, Mr. P. P. Quimby,
whom Spiritualists would associate therewith, but
who was in no wise connected with this event, that
I discovered the Science of divine Metaphysical
Healing, which I afterwards named Christian
Science. The discovery came to pass in this way.
During twenty years prior to my discovery I had
been trying to trace all physical effects to a mental
cause; and in the latter part of 1866 I gained the
scientific certainty that all causation was Mind,
and every effect a mental phenomenon.”[2]
Continuing to explain she says: "“I then withdrew
from society about three years, — to ponder my
mission, to search the Scriptures, to find the
Science of Mind, that should take the things of
God and show them to the creature and reveal
the great curative Principle, — Deity.”[3] Speak-
- ↑ Note—The abbreviations, figures, etc., of the footnotes will be understood by an investigation of the Bibliography.
- ↑ Retros. and Intros. p. 38.
- ↑ Retros. and Intros. p. 39.
