The Soul Its Sorrows And Its Aspirations

Excerpt from The Soul, Its Sorrows and Its Aspirations: An Essay Towards the Natural History of the Soul I have been at a loss for a title to this Essay, which, while short enough, would fairly warn the reader of its character. I at first entitled it, an Essay on the Positive Foundations of Practical Religion; and afterwards, On the Directness of Knowledge in Things Spiritual: but gradually found that it was necessary to go into such details concerning the Pathology of the spiritual organ, that I might possibly seem to have entrapped the reader into a more experimental discussion than he could have calculated on. My present title, I think, gives fair warning to those who dislike such books; and at the same time sufficiently well explains the end in view. By the Soul we understand that side of human nature upon which we are in contact with the Infinite, and with God, the Infinite Personality: in the Soul therefore alone is it possible to know God; and the correctness of our knowledge must depend eminently on the healthy, active and fully developed condition of our organ. While the well-being of Man is the chief reason for coveting a knowledge of God, and all sound theology must aim ultimately at a practical end, the direct object of this Essay is nevertheless more scientific than practical. A Natural History of the Soul demands some notice of its diseased as well as its healthy state, and of its growth from infancy towards maturity. How this is a basis for Theology will appear of itself. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III.. THE SENSE OF SIN. Where the traditionary impure influences of early crude religion have been happily worked off', to such a degree that the new elements are allowed to display their proper tendencies; no sooner does it become distinctly conceived that the God of nature is the God of our consciences, and that all wrong doing is frowned on by Him, than the two new terms Hohness and Sin are needed. To murder or to betray, are no longer merely offences against man, ?which we call crime; they also offend God, and are sins. In this state were the Hebrews from even an early period; and God, as abhorring sin, was entitled by them a Holy God. Where Polytheism and its degenerate deities were honoured, such phrases could not enter the common language even of philosophers; yet, in Greece for instance, philosophers of a religious turn undoubtedly held the fundamental notion involved in them. We cannot pretend to sound the mystery, whence come the new oirths in certain souls. To reply, The Spirit bloweth where He listeth, confesses the mystery, and declines to explain it. But it is evident that individuals in Greece, in the third century before the Christian era, were already moving towards an intelligent heart-worship, or had even begun to practise it. The most eminent extant proof of this, is in the beautiful hymn of Clean- thes to Jupiter. Even in old Herodotus we see the cordial response of his conscience to the sentiment which he emphatically approves, ?that the Gods hate and punish the desire of sin, as itself a sin: and this is the germ of all spirituality. Thus God for the first time is acknowledged as Lord of the conscience, and is conceived of as a God who searches the heart. Thus, if the See Note 1 to this Chapter. thought be legitimately unravelled, ...