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Topic: Quimby Wisdom Section: 32 - Chapter 13, Part 01 - Religion Table of Contents to this Topic |
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Part III Religion The effect of impressions made on me while sitting with the sick. Chapter 13 Talking About Religion My religion is in my acts It is easier to talk about religion than to talk it. To talk it is to put it into practice, and to put it into practice is to give it to those who ask. To give to every one that asks of you some spiritual food or knowledge is not so easy as to sit down and thank the Lord that you are not like other men. I have no religion independent of my acts. When I am not putting my religion into practice for the benefit of the sick and those I can help, then if I talk I am talking about something. There is a vast difference between talking a theory and talking about a theory. Talking about a theory is like talking about a science we do not understand. It contains no wisdom. As I have the Bible, I have the same means of judging as anyone, for every one has a right to his opinion concerning it. But there is no truth in an opinion unless it can be put into practice as Christ put His into practice, then it becomes a fact. One of Christ's followers made a remark like this in regard to the same distinction, only he called their talk or belief, Faith, which is religion put in practice. He said, I will show you my religion or faith by my works.* * Editor's note: the question of faith versus works has plagued the Christians down through the centuries. Paul taught justification through faith alone, but: "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, thou hast faith, and I have works; shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." James 2:17-18 in King James bible There is no such identity as goodness by itself. Goodness was considered by the priests as a sort of subjection to the rulers. A good person was like a good dog, ready to obey his master; then his master would pat him and call him a good dog, although he had just torn another dog to pieces, or had done something else to please his master. Religion is what it was before Christ and I think I know what that was. The religion that Christ opposed consisted in forms and ceremonies. Religion makes no compromise, it is rule or ruin. It sometimes takes to itself the name of reform, giving every man the liberty of speech, and then it subjects every one to its laws. this was the way with the Christian church: to be good was to persecute all who would not bow the knee to the leaders. You will see religion in its purest state under the most despotic form of government. The fact is that religious beliefs are founded in decep- tion and the leaders deceive the people into them. Does the priest call on the people to get understanding? No, that is what he fears. The priests want them to have religion, that is, to believe in the creeds which cramp the intellect and bind burdens upon them so that they can lead them. They fear investigation, for it is death to their craft. Editors note: Today in the America, "priest" usually implies Catholic. Quimby's use of the word "priest" refers to religious leaders of any church - in his New England, most were Protestant. As the priesthood was founded on superstition, it was necessary to keep the people superstitious, so all sorts of inventions were created to keep the people in ignorance. Whatever the prophets could make the people believe, they would create. So all they had to do was to start a storm of evil spirits, and the people's superstition would produce the phenomena wanted. This was proof that evil spirits did exist. The knowledge of man puts false constructions on his wisdom and gets up a sort of religion which has nothing to do with Jesus' truth. There is where the fault lies. If you do not believe the Bible as they explain it, then you are an infidel. So all who cannot believe it as it has been explained must throw it away. I do not throw the Bible away, but throw the explanations away, and apply Jesus' own words as He did and as He intended they should be applied, and let my works speak for themselves. My religion, like Jesus', is in my acts not in my beliefs. I will give you the trinity that I believe in, that is, P. P. Quimby's trinity. He believes in one living and true wisdom called God, in Jesus--flesh and blood--a medium of this truth, and in the Holy Ghost or explanation of God to man. Here is my trinity and the Holy Ghost is the Science that will lead you all into truth: it will break the bond of error and triumph over the opinion of the world. Sitting with the Sick All my writings are the effect of impressions made on me while sitting with the sick, so that my book is of the lives and sufferings of my patients, their trials and sorrows, and my arguments are in their behalf. It may seem strange to the well that I write upon so many subjects, but when you take into consideration the great variety of persons, and the peculiar state of literature, varying from the most cultivated to that of the lowest intellect, it would not be strange if my writings did not excite the curiosity of the reader. For instance, one is full of religious ideas and becomes almost insane, and some are entirely so. This excites me, and my thoughts run upon religion. Another will be almost insane upon spiritualism; then I have to battle that, or show the absurdity of that belief. Some are excited upon Millerism, and believe the world is coming to an end. this brings up arguments to refute their belief. Some upon witchcraft. Now their minds are continually dwelling on all these subjects and on the Bible. So to cure, I have to show by the Bible that they have been made to believe a false construction. My arguments change their minds and the cure comes. This is my excuse for what I have said upon the Scriptures. |
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