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The happy islands, or, Paradise restored. Evans, W. F..
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THE HAPPY ISLANDS; OR, PARADISE RESTORED.

BY

REV. W. F. EVANS.

BOSTON: H. V. DEGEN & SON, 22 CORNHILL.

1860.
page: 3[View Page 3]

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by WARREN F. EVANS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. ELECTROTYPED AT THE BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

PREFACE.

IT is the object of this little volume to analyze some of the higher forms of Christian experience, and to afford a ray of light to the thousands of God's dear children who are panting for a higher spiritual condition, and a fellowship with God which shall satisfy all the needs of their nature. The author has aimed to describe not only the interior blessedness of the higher degree of divine life in the soul, but also the influence which it has upon the appearance of the outward world. When the soul becomes united to Christ, and is restored to that page: 4-5[View Page 4-5] blissful intercourse and affectionate familiarity with God which was its original state, it then, from its lofty standing ground, and through a purer medium, sees the earth invested with new charms. To such a soul the world is not a howling wilderness, but is as the garden of the Lord. Then
  • "Earth's crammed with heaven,
  • And every common bush afire with God."

One of the fundamental ideas of the work is, that what we lost in the fall of our first parents has been restored in Christ. All the essential elements of Paradise, so far as it was a moral and spiritual state, may be now regained in him; and when Paradise is formed within, we find the outward world in harmony with our redeemed spiritual nature.

The plan of the work is different from other books on the subject of full salvation, but it is hoped that it will, on that account, be none the less acceptable or useful. The inward life which it unfolds is not impracticable to any one who has entered upon the incipient stage of redemption, and the author only desires that it may be reproduced in the heart of every one of his readers. Whatever of spiritual truth is found in the book is all of Christ, who is the uncreated Word and the self-existent Truth. If there is in it any thing contrary to the truth as it is in Jesus, it proceeds of course from the writer, who, though he loves truth as he loves God, yet sees only through a glass darkly. May the reader appropriate, to the progress of his soul in love and wisdom, all the truth contained in the volume. May all its error be rejected, as a healthy eye rejects a particle of earthy dust that falls into it. If it shall minister comfort to souls in distress, guide any to an all-satisfying communion with a present Deity, and assist one struggling spirit in its birth into a higher page: 6-7 (Table of Contents) [View Page 6-7 (Table of Contents) ] life, the end for which it was written will be gained. The work, such as it is, is humbly consecrated to God, and the good of his neighbor, by the author, whose highest ambition is to be a servant of the servants of his Lord.

CONTENTS.

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