● ● ●  these backwoods thinkers, and a curious blend of idealism and materialism is to be found in most of them; but when they use the words “spirit” and “spiritual” it is usually with a far from Christian meaning. The fruits of the spirit are more likely to be regarded as electricity and magnetism than those qualities of heart and mind enumerated by Paul.

Despite his elaborate and arresting biblical interpretations, Davis has generally been considered to be an essentially irreligious man. In Quimby’s case opinion has differed.⁴¹ His son George, writing in 1901 regarding his father’s formulation of “a theory whereby he claimed to cure disease through the mind,” added that “there was no religion connected with it.”⁴² Yet he was certainly not without religious feeling, though highly critical of the Christian churches and prone to use the word “Christian” as a term of opprobrium. While in Belfast he frequently attended the Unitarian church, in Bangor the Universalist, and either in Portland or earlier became “interested in Swedenborg’s ideas.”⁴³

Back in the days when he was giving mesmeric exhibitions Quimby had made an important discovery: “I found that my own opinion could have but little effect upon the mind of the audience. Their religious opinions would govern in most all cases.”⁴⁴ So with his healing practice he found it necessary on occasion to relate his philosophy of mind-cure to the Bible in order to reach the minds of his devout, Bible-reading patients.

Gradually he developed some pungent, highly original interpretations of the Scriptures to support his own views, as Davis had done before him, the chief difference being that Davis’s interests were metaphysical and cosmological while Quimby’s were primarily psychological. The influence of Swedenborg, with his spiritual interpretation of the “inner” meaning of the Scriptures, doubtless accentuated this tendency.