To The Editors of The Outlook.

I desire to review some points in an article on Christian Science which appeared in The Outlook of July 6.

This essay seems to have been kindly intended, but true to the thought expressed in its first sentence, "It is difficult for any one, not a votary of Christian Science, to understand what it is," it manifests only a superficial view of this Science. This is indeed a Science, and should have been so treated by our worthy editor; then would he have waited until he had become a practical Christian Scientist, and had healed successfully through its teaching, to prove, even to himself, that he understood it, before attempting its explanation to others.

Complaint is made that Mrs. Eddy does not give a clear definition of God, yet hundreds of thousands of people have been able to destroy troubles for themselves and others through the clear understanding of God which they have gained from Mrs. Eddy's book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." It is too bad that our critic did not give his own definition of the personality of God. I have read a number of criticisms in this same strain within the past few weeks wherein the authors have complained of the Christian Science definition of God, and yet have failed to give their own. Those who are dissatisfied with Christian Science should give us a better way of producing the same results.

Our critic seems to understand Mrs. Eddy's definition of evil as a nonentity; that it bears the same relation to God which darkness bears to light; but in his criticism thereof does not continue to reason consistently therewith. He fails to apply the same remedy to evil which he would apply to darkness, and therefore fails utterly to define the Christian Scientists' method of destroying evil. He admits that darkness is nothing more than the want of light; that it is a nonentity. Does he attempt to be rid of darkness by simply saying that it is nothing? He recongnizes that the only way to be rid of darkness is to bring in the light. Now, consistent with his own proposition and his own interpretation of Christian Science, he should recognize that evil can only be overcome with good. This is the method which our great Master advocated, and just what Christian Scientists practise. When God has the ascendency in human consciousness and in the life of the individual, evil of necessity, finds no place. If God be to us infinitely great, evil must become to us infinitesimal. Herein is the superiority of the Christian Science method of overcoming evil—the sinner is given strength and courage to master evil because of his understanding of the omnipotence of good and the consequent impotency of evil. No class of people know better than Christian Scientists that evil must be grappled with and mastered, and that the sinner will never be rid of his wickedness nor its just penalties until he ceases sinning. To say that sin is an illusion and continue sinning is not consistent, for the evildoer is making it real by his indulgence. Christian Science does not incorporate sin under the name of good and allow it place and power, but draws the line emphatically between right and wrong, and declares that wrong must cease and right must prevail to the utmost.

The Christian Scientist does believe there is an enormous amount of sin in the world, and why? Because he has not through spiritual growth unbelieved this.

When Paul said, "So fight I not as one who beateth the air," he meant that his fighting was done intelligently, not by striking out in an indefinite, ineffectual manner. This same Paul referred to evil as the power of darkness. Darkness has no power except to hide the truth and is always destroyed when the light appears.

I like the definition of sin which our critic quotes from the Westminster Catechism: "Any violation of, or want of conformity to the law of God." In the light of this definition all mistakes as well as wilful wrongs should be included under the name, sin. John said, "All unrighteousness is sin." All unriht-wis-ness (all unright-wise-ness) is sin. All wisdom or knowledge which is not right is sin, and all conduct which is allowed or indulged by reason of this wrong or false knowledge is sin. It is error, or unriht-wis-ness, to believe that sin, which is not of God, is an entity. Hence the truth of Mrs. Eddy's statement, "To believe sin is real is itself sin." Indeed, this is the original sin, and the proof that we believe it to be real is our indulgence in it. When we are ready to admit that there is nothing in it, having lost all pleasure therein, we are ready to let go of it and cease sinning. No harm can come to the sinner nor any perpetuity of his sin from the knowledge of its unreality. It is because he believes there is something in it that he uses it. It is said that Jesus did not teach the unreality of sin. Will our critic kindly explain what Jesus meant when he said of the devil. "He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it"? It is the vocation of a liar to express lies, and a liar in the strict sense of that word produces nothing else but lies. A lie is utterly devoid of truth, hence altogether untrue and unreal—a mere negation. Here we have the plain declaration that the devil's "own," or offspring, sin and disease, are lies.

We are taught that all evil is the work of the devil; in other words, the work of deception. Believing and acting that which is false constitute the sum total of sin, and this definition is in perfect accord with the one which we have quoted from John, "All unrighteousness is sin."

The Christian Scientist does not wink at sin, does not simply ignore it, but, filled with the understanding of the omnipotence of God and the utter powerlessness of sin, he grapples with it and crushes it out of existence. If all Christians knew and practised what Christian Science teaches concerning sin, the world would rapidly be regenerated and evil would be speedily annihilated. If evil is as real as good, will our critic explain how the power of God destroys evil in the human heart? Is it not true that the wrongs which are mountains to their victims weigh nothing in the sight of God? And is this not why the divine power so easily annihilates sin.

Alfred Farlow. Office of the Publication Committee of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston. Mass.

[We print this letter, selecting it from many received on the same subject, because its authorship makes it really an authoritative statement of the position of Christian Scientists on the point involved.

The Editors of The Outlook.]