Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Herewith, with all humbleness, do 1 offer to the public an irregular bundle of fragmentary thoughts and essays, which were jotted down from time to time as the spirit moved me.<br><br>I would not have been so bold as to put these flitting thoughts into so permanent a form as a book, if it were not for the fact that my friend Mr. Sakurai had collected the Japanese translation into a volume, and if it had not been that requests came from several quarters for the English originals. I took occasion, in compiling them, to add several pieces, long and short, which did not appear in the translation. A great many of them having been written with the idea of their being perused by the young, the style may sometimes savor of pedantry. Some of the essays were written years ago – one in particular dates back about thirty years, when I was myself a student.<br><br>When presenting any of my efforts in English, I have not sufficient self-confidence to send them into print without first submitting them to the criticism of an English-speaking friend. In this case I under obligation to two friends – Miss Anna C. Hartshorne, whose suggestions I have ever found helpful, and to the Rev. Benjamin Chapell D.D.’