John Paterson Smyth was an Anglican priest, academic and author. Paterson Smyth was born in Killarney on 2 February 1852. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was ordained deacon in 1880; and priest in 1881. He served curacies at Lisburn Cathedral and Harold's Cross.

Foreword: The Lord is risen, but the people do not know it. There is no death, but the people do not believe it. Human life is the most exciting romantic adventure in the Universe, going on stage after stage till we are older than Methuselah and then on again through the infinite eternities--and yet men pass into the Unseen as stupidly as the caterpillar on the cabbage-leaf, without curiosity or joy or wonder or excitement at the boundless career ahead.