Christian Science does not deny the existence of man and the universe, but maintains that these are not material as they seem to be, and its mission is to purify and spiritualize the consciousness of mankind, so that they may see things in their spiritual perfection as God sees them.
No Christian Scientist is complaining because our critic believes in and contends for the actual existence of a personal devil; and if Christian Scientist have outgrown some of the dogma and superstition of the past, they should not be called "deluded folk who talk about him [the devil] as an influence of mortal mind.
It would be well and profitable, we think, if this critic would bear in mind that all, or nearly all, of the Christian Scientists have been members or attendants of the churches of the land, many of them very intelligent people; and after years of this experience have chosen the Christian Science method of "searching to find out God.
May I be allowed to say a word with reference to the letter of the editor of the British Medical Journal in your last issue—of course without any wish to reopen the controversy, but simply in explanation?
A stone-carver
who made his home with us one summer, occupied his spare moments in carving the frame of a clock from stone, and on the top of this frame he had designed the figure of an Egyptian slave.
When
a child, I used often to hear the saying, "Honesty is the best policy;" but nearly everything I saw seemed to teach the contrary, for dishonesty allied with cleverness was generally seen to succeed where what seemed to be honesty often apparently resulted in loss to the one who practised it.
