not one life that does not have brought before it,
and into it, the opportunity of, and the invitation to, self-sacrifice,
and in a greater or lesser degree this is accepted and responded to by
all. There is far more soul-progress made by these grey-looking lives
than would appear on the surface: they accept self-sacrifice--they
accept Duty--all is well. Very much progress may not be made
during the one earth-period of life, but some is made: we drifted
away slowly from God; our return is slow.

XIII

Love is not the mere pleasant sentiment of the heart we are apt to
consider it: it is _the animating principle of the soul,_ it is the reason
and cause of her existence: it is a God-Force. When a soul does not
love God she has ceased to respond to this Force; she is no longer a
"sensitive" or _living_ soul: when she becomes insensitive, she has
become what flesh is when it is "callous."

This insensitiveness is the one great predominating disease of the
soul: it is the cause of the darkness in which the soul finds herself in
this world: it is this which causes our unawareness of God and of
Celestial-living. How can we commence to remedy this disastrous
state? We can act nobly, we can be generous, doing what we do as
though it were for love, although it is merely Duty which animates
us. This will be more or less joyless, because love alone can make
acts joyful; but though it may be joyless it will advance the soul
immensely: it will advance her to the highest degrees required by
God in order that He shall Retouch her. When He Retouches her she
becomes reanimated, she once again commences to live for and
because of love: she becomes "sensitive" to God. This Retouching
may occur only after the soul is free of the body--but the body is the
house in which our examination must be passed, in which we must
prepare and qualify for this Retouching. Hence the importance of
continuing to make every effort _in this life._ The soul which takes
Christ into herself, loves Him, obeys Him, tries to copy Him,
qualifies fully for this Retouching.

XIV

In early youth life may be, and often is, a joyous adventure: little by
little we grow aghast at the amount of suffering which life really
stands for--our own sufferings and those of others, of which, owing
to our own pains, we gradually take more and more note. Why all
this suffering? It appals, it frightens, it makes upon many hearts and
minds a sinister impression: how is this suffer