he primitive Christians. We may peer into the arcana of science and
boldly question the theories of the learned of all ages. We may exhaust
our mental powers upon points of political economy and the science of
government; and even the domain of ethics may be fearlessly invaded and
crowded with doubt. But into the unpretending pathway that leads to the
secret nooks of the soul, to the foundations of all spiritual
excellence, few feet may stray, and even those only to follow the beaten
track worn by the feet of those olden thinkers whose very names have
long since passed into oblivion, lest by their deviations they should
outrage some of those universal prejudices, whose only claim to
consideration is their traditionary origin.

And this path is but little trodden in our day, for two reasons; first,
because, to the careless eye, it possesses few attractions, and its
claims are lost in those of a more exciting and more eminently practical
course of thought; secondly, because it seems to have been so thoroughly
explored that we have only to read the writings of those who have gone
before, and listen to traditionary speculations, to learn all that can
be known about that which is our very existence, and, indeed, the only
_true_ existence.

Two great mistakes. The dying philosopher, one of the wisest the world
has ever known, declared that all the knowledge he had gained was but as
a grain of sand upon the seashore. So all that is known to-day about the
soul is but a drop in the ocean of that great revealing which shall one
day dawn upon man's spiritual existence. There is an infinite field yet
unexplored--a very _terra incognita_ to even those who pride themselves
upon being learned in the mysteries of the soul. And to him who ventures
upon this seemingly lowly path, so far from proving unattractive, it
becomes a very Eden of thought. Unlooked-for beauties spring to light on
every side; the very essence of music and poesy float around him as he
advances; while above, around, and through all, sounds the magnificent
diapason of everlasting truth.

True, there may be little of practical benefit--as the world defines
practicality--in searching out the causes of the myriad emotions that
sweep with lightning rapidity across the soul, now raising us to the
summit of bliss, now plunging us into the depths of despair--little of
practical benefit in endeavoring to analyze the soul itself into its
constituent elements, and to bring o