Phineas Parkhurst Quimby

PRAYER II:

HOW DOES DR. QUIMBY LOOK ON PRAYER?

March 1860

I answer, “As I do on all other errors that have been invented to govern mankind and keep the people in ignorance of themselves and God (or Science).

You may ask if I would destroy prayer.
No more than I would the law for murder or theft.
 
But I would put into man a higher law that would teach him to worship God as a God of Science and Knowledge - and this law would put the law of man (or ignorance) to death.

For prayer is the law of man - not of God - and makes God nothing but a mere sorcerer (or magician) to frighten the ignorant and superstitious. It puts Christ on a level with all the "jugglers" of His day.

The construction upon the parables shows the state of intelligence of the church. It makes Christ's mission here of little consequence to the world of Science - but puts Christ on a level with the sorcerers of His day.

Take, for instance, the parable of the wedding. The turning of water into wine is quoted as some great thing - as though God took this way to convince men of His power!

But if there could not be a better explanation of this parable than the church gives them - Christ is merely a magician!

The church's explanation has been the means of making more sickness and death than all the evils flesh is heir to.

Why should the explanation of Christ's mission, which was to "heal the sick... destroy death... and bring life and immortality to light” be left to a set of persons who have no sympathy with the sick - but who by their interpretation of Christ - keep man in sickness and ignorance of himself?

Of what advantage has Christ been to the sick, according to the common opinions of mankind? Do the priests relieve them of any burdens? If not - where is the benefit of the church prayer?

It is right in contradiction to Christ's own teaching!

What was Christ's idea of prayer?

He called it "hypocrisy" and a "blind guide to lead the blind."

He warned the people against those who prayed in the streets, told them to obey all the laws - but not to believe in the doctrines - "for they laid burdens upon the people, grievous to be borne."

Now if these burdens were their belief - Jesus must have explained them away in order to relieve them.

Jesus' explanation was His religion.
But their belief was their religion.

His religion was not of this world
and the world knows Him not.

This tells the rules of action.

Who art thou - oh man
that shall say to the poor and sick...
lame and blind...
that the person who can help you
is a “humbug”
or acting under the direction
of the "devil?"

If the devil will take your aches and pains
and relieve you -
cling to him.

And at the end of your disease,
you will see that the “devil”
 is the same one
who was crucified
eighteen-hundred years ago,
by just such enemies to the sick
as they have now.

I - for one
am willing to be called
a "humbug"
by all such people.

I have the same class to uphold me
that Jesus had -
which is the sick.

The well opposed Him -
and the well oppose me.

I do not set myself up as an equal to Jesus
or any other man,
but I do profess to believe
in that principle
that Jesus taught,
which I call
“Christ.”

That I believe in
and try to put into practice,
as far as I understand it.

And the sick are my judges
- not the well -
for as the well need no physician
they cannot judge me.

Neither am I willing to be judged by the church creeds,
till they can show me that their power (or belief)
is above their natural power.

I shall not take their opinions
of what they know nothing about.

I will draw a line
between the professor of Christ and myself
and leave the sick to pass judgment.

As I have the Bible
I have the same means of judging as anyone -
for we all have the same Bible
and everyone has a right to his opinion concerning it.

Yet his opinion is nothing but an opinion
and only valuable in indicating
the source from which it comes.

There is no truth in it,
unless it can be put into practice
as Christ put His into practice.

Then it becomes a fact.

What does Jesus, Himself, say of this power?

He admitted it,
for He says,
"Of myself,
I can do nothing,"
thus admitting a power superior to Himself.

And also, when asked a question by His disciples,
He said, "No man knoweth,
not the angels in heaven
- neither the Son -
but my Father only."

At another time,
when asked by a scribe
who had been listening to Jesus
while he reasoned with a Sadducee,
"What is the first commandment of all?"

Jesus answered,
"The first commandment is
'Hear, O, Israel,
the Lord our God
is one Lord.'"

Here He admits a supreme power and says,
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart -
and thy neighbor as thyself."

The young man said unto Him,
"Well, Master
thou hast said truly,
for there is one God
and there is none other than He
and to love Him
with all thy heart and soul
is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

These questions and answers were given before the whole multitude, and I see no reason for disputing Jesus' own words by putting a mixed misconstruction on some passage, and making Jesus something that neither He - nor anyone else - ever thought of.

He was accused of making Himself equal with God - but that was their ignorance which gave that construction. And if I had not been accused of the same thing a hundred times - I might put the same construction on Jesus as others do.

But I can see and show to the sick - beyond a doubt - the difference between Jesus and Christ. And the difference between the two words gives a very different meaning to religion.

The church construction makes our acts and lives one thing - and our religion another.

Jesus made our acts the effect of our knowledge of Christ (or Truth) (or Science), and in proportion as we understand Science, we understand God - and acknowledge Him in Science and in Truth.

This Science separates us from this world of sin and death and brings Life and Science to light - and this Life (or Science) was in Christ (or was Christ) and was what Jesus taught.

The ignorance of Christ (or Science) (or Truth) put "Jesus" and "Christ" together - and called it "Jesus Christ."

For ignorance and superstition could not account for any of the cures that Jesus made - except it be from heaven. And although Jesus tried all in His power to convince them to the contrary - He could not.

The religious people of Jesus' day - like the Christians of this day - made heaven and hell places independent of man. And although some may deny it - their acts give the lie to their professions.

All persons pray to a being independent of themselves, acknowledging a state (or place) where God is - independent of themselves. And when they pray - supposing that He listens - they ask Him to hear their prayers and relieve their wants.

This is precisely what the heathens did - and Jesus called them "hypocrites" - and condemned it. For He said this offering up of prayer and sacrifice, year after year, could never take away sin (or error) - so that the world could be benefited by such forms.

But once in the end of this world of superstition,
Jesus sacrificed His own of all superstition
and embraced Christ (or Truth),
and laid down His own life
for the happiness of mankind.

Before this,
the world knew not Christ
(or Truth).

This truth Jesus taught,
and His teaching was the healing of the nations
- and if this truth had not been misconstrued -
the world at this time
would have been rid of thousands of errors it now has.

This was Christ's truth
(or belief)
for a truth to a person
who cannot understand it -
is a belief.

So Jesus' truth
(or Christ)
was to the people
a mystery
and of course embraced a belief.

But to Jesus
this was Science
and He labored to convince the people that it was...
that the fruits of it were seen in His practice...
and that it could be taught.

For He made a difference between His cures
and His disciples' cures
and the cures of the rest of the world.

The magicians and sorcerers
cured by their belief.

They thought their power
came from a spirit world,
and they acted upon this belief.

They believed that sickness
was sent into the world
to torment mankind.

The priests had the same belief.
Each one's prayer was to his own God,
to keep him clear of his enemy.

This doctrine kept the people in ignorance of themselves and made them nervous - giving rise to a sort of “belief in evil spirits.”

As mankind are all the time inventing ideas for their own interests - it finally led to the introduction of the medical faculty.

Now it seemed to cover all the ground that ignorance and superstition wanted. It put the masses into the power of the two classes - the priests and the doctors.

The priests would offer up prayers to their God for the salvation of souls - and the doctors would offer up prayers for their business.

The people are, in the meantime, in the condition that the prophet told of when he said,

Now it is just so with the clergy and the profession.

Both are an evil - and Jesus opposed both by destroying all their ideas.

This He did - or tried to do - but they destroyed Him before He established the Science so that it could be taught.

Jesus wanted to introduce this Science which He called “Christ.” This Science gave the lie to all the old opinions of Jesus' day.

He had no heaven or hell outside of man -
no happiness or misery outside of us.

His God was in Him and us
and His prayers were in Him
and in us -
and His life and ours
was in this Christ
(or belief) -
and this belief was the law
which He put in all of us.

If this law could be understood
it would rid us of all the evils
that are bound on mankind.

It would not keep man in ignorance of himself
but would exalt him in the natural world.

It would rid him of the superstition of the world ,
would make men worship God
- not as a man who could be flattered by our hypocrisy -
but as a God of knowledge,
as a Science
that gives to every man
just what he learns.

Those who seek Him in prayer
desiring to learn His laws
will be rewarded
just in proportion
to their labor.

He asks no prayers for His good,
and a prayer made up of words is all lost
- unless accompanied by some good to someone -
and if we do good to one another,
our prayer is in the act.

When Jesus said to the righteous,
"Come, ye blessed
for I was naked
and you clothed me"
they were not aware
that they had done any good.

But He said,
"Inasmuch as you did it
unto the least of these,
my brethren,
you did it unto me,"
(or God).

And in His answer to the wicked, -
"Inasmuch as you did it not to them,
ye did it not to me,"
He put the good and bad in the acts -
and not in the words.

So true prayer is in our acts
- false prayer is in our words -
and by their fruits ye shall know them.

For He said,
"Not all those who say,
'Lord, Lord,'
shall enter into the
Kingdom of Heaven
(or Science)"

Not those who say,
"I understand it"
but those who put it into practice
so that the world shall be the wiser for the knowledge.

Now, you see,
that
if this is so,
"It is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle,
than for a rich man
(or one learned in the world's knowledge)
to embrace this Truth
(or Christ).”