Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: A Battle for a Soul (1529-1534) ASTRANGK duel then took place between Ignatius and Xavier, a battle for a soul. There are no dramas like such a contest. Did Ignatius know clearly what was at stake? Did he realize that Xavier left to his worldly views meant a great soul lost to God, thousands of souls lost to Christ? By some Divine inspiration, did he realize that the soul of the Navarrese doctor absolutely dedicated to Christ, meant the lessons of the Gospel carried to India and Japan and the East? We cannot tell. But he felt that the soul of Xavier was worth fighting for. He must win and conquer it. And slowly the battle was being won. With that keen and practical psychological insight which was one of his greatest gifts, Ignatius read the character of his companion. Xavier was above the coarser temptations of youth. But he was ambitious. He dreamt of success and fame. Ignatius had himself felt the stings of ambition, " that last infirmity of noble mind." The hollowness of earth's baubles he had tested. But he saw that there was an ambition whose dreams would not deceive, whose pursuit would not debase, and whose rewards would satisfy the heart of its votary. If men could be ambitious for the perishable things of earth, why should they not labor for the things of eternity? The ambitious dreams of Xavier therefore must not be shattered; they must be directed to substance and reality. Skilled anatomist that he was, Ignatius applied the scalpel of truth very gently at first to the spiritual wounds of his companion. Francis was not averse to praise; Ignatius found plenty of occasions from the lectures of the young teacher openly to recognize his merit. Francis was ever free with his purse; his generosity soon emptied it. Ignatius, poor himself but not without some rich...