of immortality. The time for thinkers has come; and the time for
revolutions, ecclesiastical and civil, must come. Truth, independent of
doctrines or time-honored systems, stands at the threshold of history.
Contentment with the past, or the cold conventionality of custom, may no
longer shut the door on science; though empires fall, "He whose right it
is shall reign." Ignorance of God should no longer be the stepping-stone
to faith; understanding Him, "whom to know aright is Life eternal," is
the only guaranty of obedience.

This volume may not open a new thought, and make it at once familiar. It
has the sturdy task of a pioneer, to hack away at the tall oaks and cut
the rough granite, leaving future ages to declare what it has done.
We made our first discovery of the adaptation of metaphysics to the
treatment of disease in the winter of 1866; since then we have tested
the Principle on ourselves and others, and never found it to fail to
prove the statements herein made of it. We must learn the science of
Life, to reach the perfection of man. To understand God as the Principle
of all being, and to live in accordance with this Principle, is the
Science of Life. But to reproduce this harmony of being, the error
of personal sense must yield to science, even as the science of music
corrects tones caught from the ear, and gives the sweet concord of
sound. There are many theories of physic and theology, and many calls in
each of their directions for the right way; but we propose to settle the
question of "What is Truth?" on the ground of proof, and let that method
of healing the sick and establishing Christianity be adopted that is
found to give the most health and to make the best Christians; science
will then have a fair field, in which case we are assured of its triumph
over all opinions and beliefs. Sickness and sin have ever had their
doctors; but the question is, Have they become less because of them? The
longevity of our antediluvians would say, No! and the criminal records
of today utter their voices little in favor of such a conclusion. Not
that we would deny to Caesar the things that are his, but that we
ask for the things that belong to Truth; and safely affirm, from the
demonstrations we have been able to make, that the science of man
understood would have eradicated sin, sickness, and death, in a less
period than six thousand years. We find great difficulties in starting
this work right. Some shockingly false clai