THE EPOCH OF FAITH n 



succeeded by a still more advanced minority, and so on till the 

 perfect majority should at last be formed which would obtain 

 mankind his final reward of Immortality. As in each of the 

 three cases of progression some new form of evolution is pro- 

 duced as some additional attribute gives birth to a new and 

 more advanced evolution, so the world is made up of good and 

 bad, or to be more correct, of perfect and imperfect evolutions. 



We must therefore realise that sin is good vice only is 

 bad, or more accurately, all folly is bad, and wisdom alone 

 is good. The reader must also realise that any force which 

 tends to improvement is good ; only that is bad which deterio- 

 rates. If he fails to understand this he cannot distinguish 

 between Goodness and Virtue. To be good and only to do no 

 wrong because you do not wish to do wrong is not being truly 

 good : to make the best use of your time for the good of others 

 and overcome evil is what constitutes real virtue. To be 

 virtuous is to overcome vice by transforming sin into virtue, 

 by creating success out of failure, and by controlling our acts 

 so that our sins and defects injure no one. As infants we are 

 all fools and sinners ; Virtue and Vice are later acquirements. 



Virtue is the result .of sin or folly converted into wis- 

 dom and use, and sin may therefore in some cases be a 

 good quality, but vice is always a bad one because it results 

 from loss of desire to improve. Not so with sin, because it is 

 often only by falling into sin that we are able to learn our 

 faults, and by correcting them to form virtues. And it is 

 only by overcoming our sins that we are likely to gain the 

 reward of self -improvement. For he deserves the most reward 

 who brings his faults within the limits of moderation. I would 

 remind the reader here to take this illustration to heart. Tem- 

 perance is a virtue, but total abstinence may be as great a vice 

 as intemperance, for if we never had ill-health we would never 

 learn to value health and we would never aim at living with 

 care, moderation and abstinence, and by so doing acquiring 

 perfect strength. Also if we never sinned we would be God's 

 equal as soon as we became perfect, and would thus create two 

 Gods and justify idolatry. Therefore sin is a necessity of 

 immortality, but man must learn to sin wisely, and to sin in 

 moderation, hence the object of man's creation is to perfect 

 himself in all ways until he can be a perfect sinner. Animals 

 failed in this respect because they could not be perfect devils 



