The ready objection, that both can perhaps be combined, may well be disputed. Unless one purposely closes his eyes, his experience will rather show that this is not the case; and any proof other than experience will convince no one on this point. Nor can we yet really believe in any transformation and elevation of the _whole_ of Christendom through anything that may happen in the future. Christendom, at least at first, can be regenerated only by the gradual formation once more of such a band of volunteers within it as will earnestly and literally accept the demands of the Christian faith--more earnestly than (in a purely practical sense) is possible to the majority of the souls comprising Christendom, or than, at least for the present, can be expected of them. The danger lurking therein, that a new Pharisaism might spring from it, is a real one; but the danger is lessened because this conception of life could remain on a purely individual basis, without taking any outward or organized form. It appears in general to be a characteristic mark of the present evolution of Christianity that, apart from all essential improvements in its outward form, it is going first to develop again from within into an “invisible church,” into a kingdom that truly is not of this world. To explain this, however, is not the purpose of this chapter; it would rather contradict this chapter’s leading thought, that it is first of all a duty for the individual to proceed to his own transformation. The question for us here, therefore, is only this: What are the necessary characteristics of a truly noble soul? What are the chief obstacles that stand in the way of this extraordinary guidance of the spirit? And finally, is it possible in our day, and is it worth the trouble, to strive after this goal? What will they, who do thus, receive?