The Washington herald., 1910-07-24
The Human Soul.


In an age that seems TO glorify mate
rial things and to judge of men largely
by what they have acquired, little thought
is given 10 the qualities OF the soul. We
seem to be inclined to leave thoughts on
such subject to the poets; our material
tasks and interests, near at hand. seem
so much more important It requires
for most Of us a sharp twinge of suf-
fering or sorrow before we even realize
that spiritual hurts are more keen than
physical ones. Then. perhaps, we may
pause long enough in our BUSINESS to
ask ourselves whittier it all tends and
We may perchance bring TO mind once
more the old Scriptural query: For what
shall it profit man II he shall gain the
whole world and lose his own soul?"
There are some who would deny. even
to themselves, the possession OF a soul
content to believe that all that is begins
and ends with this petty life of ours. To
such. a passage from Young's Might
Thoughts" might be commended:
Who tells ne he denies his SOULS immortal.
Nhate'er his boast has told NE he's hnave:
his duty It's TO love himself alone,
Nor care though mankind perish. If he smiles
Who thinks ere long the man shah wholly die
Is dead already; nought but brute survives.
In all nature there is uothing SO Won
derful and awe-inspiring as the thought
OF the human soul. There is more of God
IN 1t than in anything we are permitted
TO grasp; it is through the soul alone
that We may be Convinced that beyond
this vale Of wrath and tears inhnity
stretches before US, filled with shining
hope. Henry Ward Beecher said: THE
soul is temple and God is silently build
ing it by night and by day. Precious
thoughts are building it; disinterested
love is building it. All penetrating faith
is building it."
To recognize the sublimity. the force. |
the majesty. the capacity for tenderness
of the human soul is to love and appre- |
ciate life the more; to know that life is |
so adjusted that the body is meant TO be
the servant of the soul; subordinate to It
always. Dana, in his Thoughts on the |
Soul" wrote:
1t Is the souls prerogative. its fate
To shape the outward 10 its own estate
II night itself, then ali around is well;
II wrong. it makes Of all without a hell
So multpies the soul It's joys OF rain.
Gives out itself, itself takes back again.
It was the poets. first. who held the |
theory that the character of the soul
was writ large in the human face. Her
soul shone through her eyes'-how MANY
poets have written that thought I'm vari-
Gus forms, and how veritable it is. It
Is the poets who have had the clearer
vision in such matters; they are prophets
as well as poets. and bit by bit the scien-
lists have been coming to the poets view.
and the Psychologist has come to know
that by the aspect Of the face something
OF the character Of the soul may be read.
The light Of love. the purity Of srace.
Tie mind the music breathing from her face
The heart whose softness hamonized the whole
And OH the eye was in itself a soui.
The faculties of our souls differ as
widely as the features of our faces and
the forms of our bodies, but these faeul-
ties of the soul depend upon ourselves to
a much greater degree than we are usuaI-
ly willing to acknowledge. Even the
ancients. who recognized no relation be-
tween the soul and Christian doctrine
yet felt that the spirit within the breast
was mighty influence for good or III.
Epictetus said; "A soul which is con-
versant with virtue is like an overflow
ing source, for it is pure and Tranquil
and potable and sweet and social and
rich and harmless and free from mis-
chief" and that other pagan phiIoso-
pher' Marcus Aurelins. spoke often of the
soul: as, too, did Omar the Tent-maker
whose quatrain:
Why If the soul can fling this dust aside. ,
and naked on the sir Of heaven ride;
Vert not shame. vert not shame
Ia this clay carcass. crippled TO abide9
Later philosophy does not agree with I
Omar. It is not for US to free the soul I
FROM the flesh limitations that hold it /
back from its highest development. even
If We could. It is part of the task Of
life so to bear ourselves that the burden :
OF the flesh shall be as little hindranee :
to the soul as may be. That burden we T