Page:The Quimby Manuscripts.djvu/159

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MRS. EDDY: 1862-1875
155

times to have exceeded her understanding, for some of her letters indicate that she made ventures beyond her returning strength. She was nervously susceptible in type, easily took on the feelings or mental atmospheres of the sick. Hence the problem in her case was not merely that of the recovery of her health; it was to find a way to temperamental control so that she could apply the new “Science” and yet keep free.

After her return from Portland to Sanbornton Bridge (1863) she was not sure of herself in all respects and found it necessary to send for absent treatment on occasion, but she had begun to care for the sick by Quimby's method. Later, at Warren, Maine, (1864) she accpnred the power to detect others' feelings and atmospheres, had become accustomed to the feeling of Quimby's presence during absent treatments and had advanced to knowledge of that presence when there was no apparent reason for his coming.

It was at Warren that Mrs. Eddy gave her first public lectures expounding Quimby's views. She felt impelled to give these lectures because she found herself classified as a spiritualist and a public denial seemed necessary—she disclaimed any connection with phenomena involving rappings, trances, or any agency in healing the sick said to come from the dead, and contrasted Quimby's science of healing with Rochester rappings, spiritualism and deism in general. Her remarks attracted attention and a newspaper editor asked her for a communication on the subject.

Throughout this period, from the time of her acquaintance with Dr. Quimby by reputation and then as her healer in Portland and by means of “angel visits,” Mrs. Eddy looked up to Quimby as the great discoverer and healer of the day, the one whose privilege it was to rediscover the truth which Jesus taught. She felt and expressed the profound gratitude and loyalty of one who had been marvellously restored to health. She made no claims for herself. She did not make light of Quimby's teaching or identify it with either mesmerism, magnetism or any other of the isms of the day, as we shall soon see more plainly, in her communication to a Portland paper. In fact, she showed herself more than an ardent disciple; she was eager to come to Quimby's defense, lest he should be misunderstood and classed with the isms and humbugs then current.

In order to depreciate Mrs. Eddy's indebtedness to Dr.