The purpose of the following chapters will be evident to all who may
care to peruse them. I have endeavored simply to read the soul of man
with something of the care that one reads a book containing a message
which he believes to be of importance.
While one class of scientists are seeking to explore the physical
universe, another class, with equal care, are studying the human spirit,
and, already, startling discoveries have been made. My work is in no
sense new in kind, but it is such as one whose whole time is devoted to
dealing with the inner life would naturally give to such a subject. It
hardly needs to be added that my method is practical rather than
speculative. I am more interested in helping the ascent of the soul
than in accounting for its origin. In carrying out my plan I have
considered the following subjects: The nature and genesis of the soul,
its awakening to a consciousness of responsibility, the steps which it
first takes on its upward pathway, the experience of moral failure, its
second awakening, which is to an appreciation that the universe is on
its side, the part of Christ in promoting its awakening, the sense of
spiritual companionship by which it is ever attended, the discipline of
struggle, and the nurture and culture best fitted to promote its growth.
I have also sought to read some of the prophecies of the soul, and have
found them all pointing toward a continuance of its being beyond the
event called death, and toward the fullness of Christ as the goal of
humanity. I have found a place for prayers for the departed even among
Protestants of the strictest sects.
A study of the soul, like a study of history, inspires optimism. It is
hard to believe that it could have been intended first for perfection
and then for extinction. It is equally difficult to believe that any
soul will, in the end, be "cast as rubbish to the void."
In these studies I have tried ever to be mindful of my own limitations,
and not to forget that a fraction of humanity can never hope to
comprehend the fullness of truth. Of that side of the spiritual sphere
which has been turned toward me, and of that alone, have I presumed to
write. All that I claim for this book is that it is the contribution of
one, anxious to know what is true, toward a better understanding of a
subject which is daily receiving wider recognition and more thorough
consideration.