The Destiny of the Soul | Page 3

but conceive of existence as a
boundless problem, perhaps an inevitable darkness between the
limitations of man and the incomprehensibility of God. A nature that so
reflects, that carries into this sublime and boundless obscurity 'the large
discourse of Reason,' will not narrow its concern in the solution of the
problem to its own petty safety, but will brood over it with an anxiety
which throbs for the whole of humanity. Such a nature must needs be
serious; but never will it be arrogant: it will regard all men with an
embracing pity. Strange it should ever be otherwise in respect to
inquiries which belong to infinite relations, that mean enmities, bitter
hatreds, should come into play in these fathomless searchings of the
soul! Bring what solution we may to this problem of measureless
alternatives, whether by Reason, Scripture, or the Church, faith will
never stand for fact, nor the firmest confidence for actual consciousness.
The man of great and thoughtful nature, therefore, who grapples in real
earnest with this problem, however satisfied he may be with his own
solution of it, however implicit may be his trust, however assured his
convictions, will yet often bow down before the awful veil that shrouds
the endless future, put his finger on his lips, and weep in silence."
The present work is in a sense, an epitome of the thought of mankind
on the destiny of man. I have striven to add value to it by
comprehensiveness of plan, not confining myself, as most of my

predecessors have confined themselves, to one province or a few
narrow provinces of the subject, but including the entire subject in one
volume; by carefulness of arrangement, not piling the material together
or presenting it in a chaos of facts and dreams, but grouping it all in its
proper relations; by clearness of explanation, not leaving the curious
problems presented wholly in the dark with a mere statement of them,
but as far as possible tracing the phenomena to their origin and
unveiling their purport; by poetic life of treatment, not handling the
different topics dryly and coldly, but infusing warmth and color into
them; by copiousness of information, not leaving the reader to hunt up
every thing for himself, but referring him to the best sources for the
facts, reasonings, and hints which he may wish; and by persevering
patience of toil, not hastily skimming here and there and hurrying the
task off, but searching and researching in every available direction,
examining and re examining each mooted point, by the devotion of
twelve years of anxious labor. How far my efforts in these particulars
have been successful is submitted to the public.
To avoid the appearance of pedantry in the multiplication of foot notes,
I have inserted many authorities incidentally in the text itself, and have
omitted all except such as I thought would be desired by the reader.
Every scholar knows how easy it is to increase the number of
references almost indefinitely, and also how deceptive such an
ostensible evidence of wide reading may be.
When the printing of this volume was nearly completed, and I had in
some instances made more references than may now seem needful, the
thought occurred to me that a full list of the books published up to the
present time on the subject of a future life, arranged according to their
definite topics and in chronological order, would greatly enrich the
work and could not fail often to be of vast service. Accordingly, upon
solicitation, a valued friend Mr. Ezra Abbot, Jr., a gentleman
remarkable for his varied and accurate scholarship undertook that
laborious task for me; and he has accomplished it in the most admirable
manner. No reader, however learned, but may find much important
information in the bibliographical appendix which I am thus enabled to
add to this volume. Every student who henceforth wishes to investigate

any branch of the historical or philosophical doctrine of the immortality
of the soul, or of a future life in general, may thank Mr. Abbot for an
invaluable aid.
As I now close this long labor and send forth the result, the oppressive
sense of responsibility which fills me is relieved by the consciousness
that I have herein written nothing as a bigoted partisan, nothing in a
petty spirit of opinionativeness, but have intended every thought for the
furtherance of truth, the honor of God, the good of man.
The majestic theme of our immortality allures yet baffles us. No fleshly
implement of logic or cunning tact of brain can reach to the solution.
That secret lies in a tissueless realm whereof no nerve can report
beforehand. We must wait a little. Soon we shall grope and guess no
more, but grasp and know. Meanwhile, shall we not be magnanimous
to