The Ascent of the Soul

inkers, are now common themes of thought and conversation. Psychology has been popula

ory of its genesis, there is no doubt of its presence. This, therefore, is a favorable time for a somewhat extended study of the stages through which we pass

ENT OF

ork, if any act of Providence is ever too soon, has made a clear distinction between evolution as applied to the body and as applied to the spirit. In lucid and luminous pages he has taught us that evolution, as a phys

ed to modern English thought the conception of the ascent of the

s of inquiry. I do not know of any writer who has, in a compact form, presented the results of such studies, although there have been illustrations, especially in literature, which indica

man, ignorant of the forces struggling within them and susceptible to malign influences from w

sion, but without academic culture, reflecting too much the crude and materialistic theology of his time and condition, follows the progress of a soul in its movement from the City of Destruction to the City Celestial. The City of Destruction is the state of animalism and selfishness from

n knowledge, the growth of the soul as it moves upward. At the outset I must make it plain that I am speaking of evolution since the time when man as

the other part is a mystery; it is known only by what it does. Man thinks, loves, chooses, and is conscious of himself as thinking, loving, choosing. The unity of this being who thinks, loves, chooses in a single self-con

pirit and body, so that the former shall never b

while we must die. We are two-fold beings in which there is war almost from the cradle to the grave,

from any quarter; indeed, it may be said no light except that of the Christ

al and we live in a world of matter, and it is comparatively easy to see that our bodies are from the earth which they inhabit. Our souls, however, are invisible, immaterial, ethereal. There is no evident ki

recall a few of the many answers wh

s the rays of light are flashed from the sun; and that, in time, all will return to Him again and be absorbed in the being from which they have come. Thus all spirits are supposed to have proceeded from one source-God. As al

called the Oriental theory, for almost the whole Orient holds this view. The substance of

but a sleep an

ises with us, o

lsewhere i

eth fro

hat she had had thoughts which she was sure were memories of events which had occurred in a previous life. This answer onl

ated by God whenever a body is in readiness to receive it-that when a bo

mites His h

out a soul

ganized glo

eeps of th

etheus is said to have made a human image from the dust of the ground, and

derived by heredity from that of Adam. This is a spe

pace like rays of light; and that when a body comes into being a soul is drawn into it with its first breath, or first nour

ies; that when a human being appears he is body and spirit; that both are born together, both grow together; and then, so

een otherwise? And what more convincing evidence of the spiritual nature of man could be desired than that he asks such questions? Would a figure of clay ask whether i

ed no light on causes, but ever endeavored to show how to make the best of things as they are. Whence came the soul? we may ask of Him, but He will tell us that

eaching of Jesus, but nowhere does there appear any

all addressed to intelligence and will. The presence of Jesus in history is an assertion of the spiritual nature of man. Various philosophers have tried to satisfy the desire for light on the question of the origin of personality; but Jesus has told us how, being here,

oose, love; we know that we are self-conscious; we feel that we have kinship with something higher than the ground on whi

s the goal of personality? By what path does man move from the bondage of his will, and the limitation of hi

in the development of souls? Is it necessary that any should fall in order that they may rise? Did John Bunyan truly picture the ascent of the sou

, sin, sorrow, and even death, angels of God sent forth to minister to the perfection of man? or a

cess" for unnumbered ages, until the appearance of man, is leading it still, that far more wonderful disclosures are waiting for the children of men as they shall be prepared to receive them, and that the glory of the

tations in conduct and history. One man is heroic and another tender, one a reformer and another a recluse, one conservative and another radical. The same Bible has passages as widely contrasted as the twenty-third and the fifty-eighth Psalms, and characters as unlike as Jacob and Jesus. Indeed, may it not be assumed that physical differences are but expressions of still more

out dwelling for a moment upon two thoughts

ir beauty or shame with their ugliness-does no suggestion come from it concerning its origin and destiny? Until they pass mid-life few men realize the terrible significance of the command of the oracle at Delphi, "Know Thyself." Who is not surprised every day at

ey choose one course and refuse another, would be willing to affirm that they are without the power of choice, and have no destiny but the grave. In other words, is not the fact that we are spirits all the proof that we need to have of the Father of Spirits? Is not a single ray of light all the evidence which any one needs of the rea

ughly it is studied the more convincing becomes the evidence that it must some time reach its perfected state. The perfect

crush him. A breath of air, a drop of water suffices to kill him. But were the universe to crush him, man would still be more n

t" as the final goal of humanity. We may not, for many milleniums, know all that is contained in that phrase "the fullness of Christ;" but no one ever attentively listened to the voices which speak in his own soul, no one has even asked himself the meaning of the fact that nothing earthly ever completel

tion which has never yet been realized on the earth and which will require eternity to complete. But all are not conscious of themselves as spiri

ENING OF

in Florence, the

watches it fr

of both do ou

o, a la

est window f

des by with t

me instant,

de past in

e like a swor

t her, as a

t him as one

a sleep, and

and the Bu