The book begins by locating human restlessness and inner discomfort not in external circumstances but in the presence of sin and separation from God within the self. George MacDonald argues that the common search for relief through comfort or forgiveness alone fails to address the true root of the problem. He insists that Christ’s mission was not merely to cancel guilt but to liberate humanity from the very nature and power of sin through inner transformation. The opening thus defines true repentance as a decisive reorientation of life toward obedience to God’s will, establishing the foundation for the work’s theological argument.