METAPHYSICS, AMERICAN. 



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to be laid forever whenever man enters into a 

 knowledge of his own powers, his birthright. He 

 discovers these powers, not by cringing and beg- 

 ging for them, but by demanding them in accord- 

 ance with Divine law. Made in God's likeness, 

 man is godlike in possibilities. Ignorance is the 

 only original sin the sin of low desires. All sin 

 is ignorance of law. Thought is a living thing; 

 it is all the life there is. Every existing thing is a 

 thought of God, and thought makes man what he 

 is. In control of his own mind, he can control the 

 things around him. Without this spirit force he 

 may succumb to circumstance and become the 

 slave of passing effects; he loses vitality, meets with 

 sickness and death. The truly poised mind can 

 not be overcome by anything on the outside. 

 Nothing can harm man but himself. Spirit force, 

 the influx from God, builds up, expands, fills all 

 space, drives out negations, removes what would 

 appear mountains to the unawakened mind ; hence 

 those feats which the world has called miracle. 

 There is no miracle; the things so called are but 

 the liarrp'-y of higher law taking v ; ~ible expres- 

 sion. Thought, life, intelligence, can become one 

 with God, and God is all in all ! 



This is but a brief summary of the tenets of 

 Modern Metaphysics, whose vocabulary is as varied 

 as is the quality and culture of the disciples who 

 express it, and who come from every walk of life. 

 Latterly, however, the growth of the movement is 

 notably larger among the cultured classes; and, 

 according to information recently gathered from 

 leading workers in the cult, it is meeting with 

 friendly favor from several of the " advanced " 

 clergy within the evangelical churches, while, 

 oddly enough, the clergy of the liberal churches 

 still regard it in the main with coldness or aver- 

 sion. Moreover, it is affirmed that the interest of 

 the clergy is due to the reports brought to them by 

 parishioners and members who proclaim the gospel 



iof cure from various ailments and distempers. 

 Owing to indifference to organization or any- 

 thing like a cohesive policy, it is not easy for the 

 leaders of the movement to count their followers. 

 Interfering in no wise with the established order 

 of things, the disciples of The New Thought are 

 to be found mainly within the churches, and a 

 noticeably large number are within the Episcopal 

 Church. According to recent information and es- 

 timates, the movement, all told, in this country 

 and others, would count somewhat more than a 

 million interested followers and more or less firm 

 believers, while the people who do not confess 

 belief, and yet seek aid for their ills and misfor- 

 tunes, can not, of course, be counted. 



Although this doctrine was quietly working and 

 gaining ground as early as 1860, the first visible 

 attempt at anything approaching organization 

 took place only about fifteen years ago, when the 

 Metaphysical Club was founded in Boston. This 

 club has several hundred members, and is constant- 

 ly increasing in outside membership. It is also the 

 headquarters to which people at a distance are 

 wont to send for information. Lately an Inter- 

 national Metaphysical League has been formed, the 

 first meeting of which was held in October, 1899, 

 in Boston, and lasted several days. In October, 

 1900, this same league held its second meeting in 

 Madison Square Garden Concert Hall, New York, 

 where crowded houses were addressed for nearly a 

 week. Many prominent speakers took part, 

 among them the Rev. Heber Newton, D. D., of 

 New York; Prof. George D. Herron, of Grinnell, 

 Iowa; Dr. Lewis G. Janes, of Cambridge, Mass.: 

 John Brooks Leavitt, LL. D., of New York ; Prof. 

 J. M. Tyler, of Amherst; Swami Ahedananda, of 

 India who traced a kinship between much in mod- 



ern metaphysics and the ancient Vedanta philoso- 

 phy of India; also other medical men and clergy. 

 The league will meet in 1901 in Chicago. The 

 movement is still strongest in New England, espe- 

 cially in Massachusetts, while Rhode Island and 

 Maine seem to stand next in numbers and interest. 

 Next to Boston, its strongest hold is Chicago, New 

 York comes third, after which it seems to be 

 fairly disseminated throughout the Middle and 

 Western States and cities, and is quite active in 

 Canada, In England it is said to be growing sur- 

 prisingly, especially among the upper class and in 

 the Church. Some among the English clergy have 

 written for information concerning its origin and 

 history from this side of the Atlantic. Not long 

 ago the foremost metaphysical magazine of New 

 York published in full a sermon entitled God is 

 Love, delivered by Canon Basil Wilberforce in 

 Westminster Abbey, and listened to by the editor, 

 who looked upon it as so strong an exposition of 

 much of the best in The New Thought that he 

 obtained the noted divine's permission to pub- 

 lish it. 



The growth of the movement is noticeable in 

 Switzerland and France, and more especially in 

 Australia. In all newer settlements to which peo- 

 ple of English speech betake themselves, there 

 appears an active desire to found clubs for its 

 dissemination. Letters come to the centers at 

 Boston and New Y'ork, especially, from New Zea- 

 land, New South Wales, and settlements in Africa 

 and elsewhere, asking advice concerning this phi- 

 losophy of living. Among people of leisure in the 

 large cities in America coteries are found, where 

 interested persons meet and discuss New Thought 

 tenets and relate experiences among friends and 

 acquaintances. Several such coteries exist in New 

 York, and there are at least three places where the 

 public in general are welcomed to listen to exposi- 

 tions of this philosophy. Similar ones flourish in 

 other cities. The spread of the cult is doubtless 

 due in a measure to its literature, which is plen- 

 teous, ever increasing, and in great variety. No 

 embargo is laid on thought, and a vast amount of 

 vagary sees the light in print. But the cult can 

 claim also some fine and subtle writers. Two 

 magazines devoted to its interests have long flour- 

 ished in New York. 



The question has arisen from time to time in 

 regard to the real origin of this whole modern 

 metaphysical movement. Doubtless much of its 

 loftier thought might trace its inspiration to Em- 

 erson's utterances concerning the Immanent God 

 in all things and the glory of living according to 

 one's visions; but when it comes to the practical 

 workings that interest humanity in general the 

 healing of physical ills and the restoration of dis- 

 ordered mentality there is room for no dispute 

 that the obscure and almost unknown Quimby 

 was first in the field. Phineas Parkhurst Quimby 

 was born in Lebanon, N. H., Feb. 16, 1802. He 

 was the son of a blacksmith, and was one of a fam- 

 ily of seven. When he was two years old his 

 parents removed to Belfast, Me. His opportunities 

 for education were scanty. He is said to have ac- 

 quired a knowledge of the rudimentary branches 

 and supplemented these with as much reading as 

 he could obtain. His son, George A. Quimby (still 

 living at Belfast), furnished a sketch of his father's 

 life to the New England Magazine in 1888. Some 

 time later Mrs. Annetta Gertrude Dresser, one of 

 Mr. Quimby 's earliest patients in Portland (to 

 which place he removed in 1859, as his fame grew), 

 compiled a little volume on his life and philosophy. 

 A mass of manuscript is also in the possession of 

 his son. This was penned by the Misses Ware, of 

 Portland, Me., daughters of the late Judge Ashur 



