The Ascent of the Soul | Page 9

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delusion is nonsense. The only sane course is to face facts and adjust
our theories to them.
The battle between duty and inclination, between the ideal and the
actual, will continue as long as life in the body endures. It is not an
unmixed evil. In the end right is never worsted. The way that leads to
holiness is long and sometimes bloody; but it always develops strength
and courage. The fight, for each individual, will be ended only by the
full and perfect choice of truth and virtue, which are always the will of
God. The victory will be secure long before it is fully won. Enough for
us to know that conformity to the will of God at last will be the end of
strife.
It is not well to be overmuch troubled when we see those whom we
love fighting a hard battle against inherited tendencies and an evil
environment, for the fight, however fierce, is a good sign. Those alone
are to be pitied who are drifting, and not resisting. Progress is ever by a
steep and spiral pathway. Sometimes the face of the ascending soul is
toward the sun and sometimes it is toward the darkness. No man can
deliver his friend from the forces which oppose him. Each must
conquer for himself and none can evade the conflict. From the hour
when the soul awakens to a consciousness of its powers and
possibilities, its movement, in spite of all hindrances and difficulties,
must be to the heights. Those only need cause anxiety who are not yet
awake; or who, having been awake, have turned backward instead of
pressing onward.
We are now face to face with a momentous inquiry. When the soul is
awake, when it realizes something of its descent from God and of its
relation to Him and to other souls, what should be its environment?
Intelligent and otherwise sane people at this point have been strangely
insane and blind. We are always affected by influence more than by

teaching. Education by atmosphere is quite as effective as education by
study. Involuntarily all become like their ideals. Personalities absorb
characteristics from surroundings as flowers absorb colors from the
light. The awakened soul, therefore, from the first should have a
spiritual environment. Parents and friends should be helps, not
hindrances, to its progress. I once read a letter from one who had
changed an old for a new home. The letter was full of aspiration for the
best things, of thoughts about God and the spiritual verities. It was not
difficult to see that the new home in its reverence for truth, its loyalty
to right, its reaching for reality, was providing the same good influence
as the old one. If, in the environment, truth and duty are honored, virtue
reverenced, God worshipped sincerely and devoutly, manhood held to
be as sacred as deity, the unseen and spiritual never spoken of
unadvisedly or lightly, courage always found hand in hand with
character, the soul will never long fight a losing battle.
The home should be organized to promote, as swiftly as possible, the
awakening of the souls of the children; and, from the moment of this
awakening, everything should be planned to help their growth. The
books on the tables should tell the life-stories of those who have
bravely fought and never faltered. Biographies of men like Wilberforce
and Howard who have lived to help their fellow-men; and of women
like Florence Nightingale and Lady Stanley, who have regarded their
social gifts and ample wealth as calls to service; histories of charities,
intellectual development and noble achievement, pictures like Sir
Galahad and The Light of the World are potent forces in the formation
of character. The ideal side of life should ever be presented in its most
attractive form to the awakened soul in its near environment. Because
the ideal culminates in the religious, and the feeling of moral obligation
rests at last upon the conviction that God is, and that He is not far from
any one, Jesus, in all the beauty and pathos of His earthly career, in all
the tragic grandeur of His death and glory of His Resurrection, in all
the nearness and helpfulness of His continuing ministry, should be the
subject of frequent, earnest, honest, sane, and sympathetic
conversation.
The awakened soul needs first of all an environment which will be

favorable to its growth. Its development then will usually be steadily
and swiftly toward God and conformity to His will. There ought to be
no need of any re-awakening. If the soul opens its eyes among those
who reverence truth and righteousness, who guard virtue and revere
love, to whom God is the nearest and most blessed of realities, and
Jesus is Master, Saviour, and daily Friend, its