Mesmerism, discovered by the famous Mesmer, about the year 1772,—which includes animal-magnetism and odylism, spirit-rapping, mediumship, clairvoyance, —has been practised by the various professors of the art, ever since. It was not however till 1866 that Mrs. Mary B. G. Eddy, now of Boston, Mass., discovered, published, and demonstrated that the power over evil spirits, sin, and sickness, exercised by Jesus Christ more than eighteen hundred years ago, still exists, and that all that is necessary to enable one to successfully apply this power, is an understanding of its Principle, together with that purity of life and conduct which its teachings demand. The Principle and method of cure, as practised by the Christian Scientists, are entirely different from those employed by the mesmerists, or magnetic healers. While the latter (whose methods are entirely mesmeric, pertaining to and extending no further than the world of sense, or the physical organism, over which they have control) can, and frequently do, exercise an influence for evil, the Christian Scientist does not employ either mesmerism or will-power, knowing that the moment he departs from the most strict morality and Truth, even in thought, he loses his power of healing the sick. Hence, it is as impossible for the two methods to be employed together, as for darkness to exist in the presence of light, the line separating the two methods being as distinct as that which distinguishes Truth from falsehood, Life from death, Good from evil, the Eternal from the temporal.
The remarkable cures made by the Christian Scientists, or Metaphysicians, have induced many mesmerists or magnetic healers to claim the title of Metaphysician, and so pretend to exercise methods of which they have but very little, if any, knowledge, thus deceiving many who trust them.
