The Ascent of the Soul | Page 8

kind of big human beast who, when half awake, steals
a loaf of bread to save others from starving, but who is startled into
fullness of manhood by the sympathy and consideration of the good
Bishop whose silver he had also stolen.
Hawthorne, in Donatello, has pictured a beautiful creature fully
equipped with affections, emotions, passions, but with little
consciousness of responsibility, until the fatal moment in which a crime
illuminates his soul like a flash of lightning.
Such experiences are not to be compared with those of the prodigal son
or of Saul. Before the one was reduced to husks, or the light blazed
upon the other, they felt the obligation to do right. The prodigal chose
pleasure with his eyes wide open and Saul was, mistakenly but truly,
trying to do God's will even when he assisted in the stoning of Stephen.
Hugo, Goethe, and Hawthorne have accurately delineated single steps
in the growth of the soul. They have shown how the process of the
soul's awakening may be, and often has been, hastened. It may be
hindered by false ideals and a vicious environment, and it may be
hastened by lofty ideals and a holy environment.
Dr. Bushnell, in his lectures on Christian Nurture, has said that the
formative years of every man's life are the first three. Is he correct? I
am not sure, but there can be no doubt but what with a good
environment the consciousness of moral obligation will be very early
developed.
The soul cannot long be imprisoned. The consciousness of "ought" and
"ought not" will break all barriers as a growing seed will split a rock;
and, when that stage of growth appears, the soul knows itself.
When the soul is finally awakened, when it realizes that it is
indissolubly bound to a larger personality in the unseen sphere; when it
finds that it is tied to other souls, and that it cannot escape from its

responsibility for itself and them,--what then? Then the struggle of life
begins. The awakening is to a realization of conflict with the seen and
unseen environment, with forces within and fascinations without. When
Paul speaks of the law as the minister of death, he simply means that
law introduces an ideal, and ideals always start struggles. Law is
something to be obeyed. It is sure to antagonize the animal in man.
When our possibilities dawn upon us, in that moment there comes the
feeling that they should be our masters. Then the lower nature resists
and becomes clamorous. Duty calls in one direction and inclination
impels in another. The period of ignorance has passed. Weakness and
imperfection remain, but not ignorance. There is a conflict in the soul.
The law in the members wars against the law in the mind. We feel that
we ought to move upward, but unseen weights press heavily upon us,
and to rise seems impossible.
Between God calling from above and animalism from below the poor
soul has a hard time of it. The morally great in all ages have become
strong by overcoming their fleshly natures. They have risen on their
dead selves to higher things. The vision of God has reached them even
in their prison-houses; and it has broken their chains and they have
begun to move toward Him. To the end of the chapter they have had a
long fight, and not seldom have been sadly worsted. Goethe and
Augustine, Pascal and Coleridge, DeQuincey and Webster--how the list
of those who have had to fight bitter battles for spiritual liberty might
be extended I and many have not been victorious before the shadows
have lengthened and the day closed. Should they be blamed or pitied?
Pitied, surely, and for the rest let us leave them to Him who knoweth all
things. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." Men have
nothing to do with judgment; the final word concerning any soul will
be spoken only by Him whose vision is perfect. "Steep and craggy is
the pathway of the gods," and steep and craggy is the path by which
men rise to spiritual heights.
He who is sensitive to life can hardly survey this universal human
struggle with undimmed eye or with unquestioning faith. The young
are driven here and there by heartless and, sometimes, almost furious
passions; some are weak and fall because they are blind, and others

because they love and trust; and many who desire to do good mistake
and choose evil. The strong often try to run away from themselves but
can find no solitude in which to hide; and all the time right and truth
shine in the darkness like stars. What shall we say of these confusing
conditions? To ignore them is foolish; to insist that the struggle is but