Page:The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Wilbur).djvu/130

92 this idea, the glory of it, and vaguely conceived the renown of it. He stumbled, however, in his first step to the pedestal of a greatness which he knew was not his.

“I see what you mean,” he said musingly, “that Christ has come into the world again; but in that case I must be John and you Jesus.”

Delicate religious apprehension and clear mental acumen developed by years of prayer, study, and discussion had fitted Mary Baker’s mind to meet such a statement. She took instant umbrage at the startling irreverence.

“That is blasphemy,” she declared quietly, and Quimby’s eyes, already half whimsical over his tentative remark, dropped before hers. He became instantly serious, and said:

“I didn’t mean it so; I don’t understand the way you explain your cure. No one before ever believed it was divine truth that operated through me. They have said I healed through some mysterious force in myself. I have told them it was healthy electrical currents together with my ‘Wisdom’ that I imparted which effected the cure. But the faith in Christ which you declare enables me to heal I have not. It makes me think it is your faith in Christ that heals you, and all I can do is to acknowledge it. If the spirit of Christ is with you and I acknowledge it, then I bear the relation to you of John to Jesus.”

As is very well known to-day the subject under hypnosis reveals the inner recesses of his mind and gives up to the hypnotizer the thoughts of years. Mrs. Patterson remained for three weeks in Port-