Excerpt from The Problem of Evil
A preface is supposed to be a key to what the author has attempted to do in his work, or a kind of private chat between the reader and the writer. And as in our case the reader will hardly understand the object and the tenor of our production except through an explanation of its intent; therefore, to all who may chance to read this little volume, we desire to whisper before they begin, that it was not written with the expectation of pleasing those who are exacting and scrupulous in the arrangement of sentences, or in the showy combination of words and phrases. Neither was it written to satisfy the demands of the cold critic in mere artistic beauty, or simple mechanical book finish and completeness; but written for those who earnestly and anxiously wish to pry into the dark problem of human sorrow, and earthly disorder, with all the anxiety and perseverance with which a lost child seeks the homeward way, or seeks a road through the thick brambles which may hedge its path or hinder its journey home.
And, as with this child, it is the end in view that fills the entire thought and that binds and holds the heart captive - as with this child it is not the time requisite in attaining the end - not so much the labor of attaining it that demands special attention or especial anxiety, but the certainty of attaining it; so we in tins earnest search for a path over the mountains of moral mystery and through the brambles of difficulty surrounding the subject of moral evil, will have done well if we may find (by this route) the way to our Great Father"s loving arms, and also arrive at a clear and a satisfactory solution of our knotty question, in any manner whatever, or by any method, however clumsy and commonplace.
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