Article March 7, 1901 Issue

A Letter from a Christian Scientist to a College Friend

J. B. W.

My dear Professor:—Knowning your sincerity as a Truth seeker, I am sure that your every criticism of Christian Science is the result of simple misapprehension, and I shall be glad indeed if I may throw some light upon the subject, in answer to your inquiries.

I am well aware, however, that the Truth cannot be taught; it is seen, apprehended in the quiet of the inner sanctuary through that individual enlightenment which is the essential fact of revelation; and all I can hope to do is to remove some of the occasions of stumbling, the grounds of that misunderstanding which lead to misjudgment.

You ask me to explain the act of faith, the "Science" which is so eventful and beneficent in its results. This question trenches upon a domain concerning which I express my own thought with ever-increasing modesty and hesitation. We know not the Philosophy of Being, and the how, the modus of the spiritual life is one of the many secrets embosomed in the Infinite. It may be said, however, that Science emphasizes the distinction between that faith which accepts as true some statement because of confidence in the one stating it, or because of satisfactory corroborating evidence, and that faith which is an apprehension, immediate and direct, of the truth stated. This last Science declares to be demonstrable, the knowledge of the Truth which is the door to freedom, the understanding of God which is life eternal.

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