Preface

[Note: Quimby is known as the father of the "New Thought" movement. From Wikipedia: "The New Thought movement is a philosophical movement which developed in the United States in the 19th century, following the teachings of Phineas Quimby. The concept of New Thought promotes the ideas that Infinite Intelligence, or God, is everywhere, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and 'right thinking' has a healing effect."]

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Publisher's Note

The book as a whole contains an adequate statement of Quimby's original theory as found in his manuscripts, 1846-65. The volume also contains the writings, hitherto inaccessible, which Mrs. Eddy borrowed during her stay in Portland as Quimby's patient. The editor is a son of Mrs. Julius A. Dresser, who was the most active of Quimby's followers at the time Mrs. Eddy was under treatment, and who loaned Mrs. Eddy the copybooks which made her acquainted with the Quimby manuscripts.

Editor's Preface to the Second Edition

For many years a mass of documents of interest to Christian Scientists and to their critics as well, has been withheld from publication, although earnestly sought. These documents were written by Dr. P. P. Quimby, of Portland, Maine, and contain his views regarding mental and spiritual healing. They became familiar to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy when she visited Dr. Quimby as a patient, and it has been charged by her critics that many of the ideas later promulgated in her teachings were born of the Quimby theories.

In order to set this controversy at rest, many attempts have been made to gain access to the Quimby manuscripts, but heretofore without success except in piecemeal or disjointed form. The present editor, however, has been fortunate in securing from Mrs. George A. Quimby, owner of the manuscripts, permission to print the documents in full. Many of them now see the light of the printed page for the first time. Others give a full and authentic version of material from which only short extracts have previously appeared.

The editor's point of view is that of the expositor, never critical save as the author of the manuscripts might have criticized his own work. All subject matter in brackets is by the editor, also all footnotes. Italics and quotation marks have been introduced to a slight extent. Scriptural quotations have not been corrected, because Dr. Quimby was in the habit of paraphrasing in order to show how he interpreted the Bible. Some of the articles have been condensed to avoid repetition, but no material changes have been made. The terms Science, Truth, Wisdom, have been capitalized throughout in conformity with the usage in some of the articles in which these words are synonyms for Christ, or God. The same is true of the general terms for Quimby's theory, the Science of Health, the Science of Life and Happiness. The term Christian Science is used with reference to the growth of the original teaching of Jesus.

In this edition several errors have been corrected and Chapter twelve has been rewritten. –H. W. DRESSER

 

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