From the Introduction.
The question as to what kind of reading shall yield us the most exquisite enjoyment, largely depends upon our ability for self-development. Taste in reading, as in eating, is often an educated faculty. The relish that we now have for many kinds of food, we had to acquire. We all have faculties for intellectual, moral and spiritual enjoyment, in lines of thought corresponding. These must be developed by use. Reader, you have the ability, if you will allow it to be developed, of enjoying a perusal of this sublime subject. Mere sensational reading like emotional religion has its field of enjoyment, its rills of happiness; but it is changeable and uncertain. Songs of praise and devotional reading have a higher place in the human soul, lasting in their nature.
Observation and historical research open another 8field of enjoyment. Language and location of places may become a passion in the mind. The study of causes in nature, at best but secondary, may hold the mind in a sweet revery of delight; but these are mere rills of comfort compared to an open sea, to the ability of reading and comprehending first causes, in the light of prophetic declarations.
