iBKammasB^mm^mmm^m tLiviwium aEBEBSBtm LIBRARY OF. CONGRESS. J ft UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. J ■ t> THE GOSPEL OF NATURE BY M. L. SHEKMAN and WM. F. LYO^, AUTHORS OF THE HOLLOW GLOBE.' T* - CHICAGO: HAZLITT & REED, 172 and 174 CLARK STREET. 1877. ^ Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by- M. L. SHERMAN and WM. P. LYON, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. PREFACE These chapters were written in the city of Chicago during the summer of 1871. The ideas were given in a series of lectures through the organism of M. L. Sherman, and written in the same manner as the Hollow Globe, which has been before the public since that time, and of which this work is a sort of sequel. It is not pretended that this volume will solve the great problem of living conscious existence; but the authors indulge a hope that a perusal of these pages may reflect a flood of light upon very numerous vexed questions concerning man's earlier history, and his relationship not only to the planet which gave him birth, but to the boundless universe. It may properly be considered a search after foundations — a sort of delving down to the substratum of existing things — an inquiry after the secret springs, or the very fountain head of evolutionary forces — an investigation of the hidden wheel works of nature's wondrous machinery; thus clearing the way to a better understanding of the divine records found everywhere in the economy of the universe. The bungling record which forms a part of the theology of the present period presents the inquiring mind a very lame and unsatisfactory solution of such a mighty problem as the genesis of conscious existence; and as yet the theory of evolution, as presented by the materialist, is in an exceedingly crude and undigested condition. (3) 4: PREFACE. Mr. Darwin is compelled to suppose there was some sort of an animal organization existing as a starter, or basis, upon which might be built his wonderful system of natural selection and variation. Mr. Huxley finds his protoplasm, or basis of life, a regular organized being, possessing certain powers and performing various functions incident to living existences; and as micro- scopic discoveries do not at present extend much further into the realms of the infinitesimal, he leaves the whole subject shrouded in the darkness of those forbidden fields termed the unknowable. Mr. Tynclall, after all his extended researches, has simply arrived at the conclusion that the "promise and potency of every form and quality of life exists in matter." Thus far he goes, and no further. As regards the working processes in the great laboratory of nature by which these innumerable forms are differentiated, or eliminated from the universal matrix where all substance or matter must at some time have resided, he maintains a profound silence. The great mass of people, including the devout believer in the divinity of book revelation, scarce give these difficult sub- jects a thought. The paramount question for consideration just at the present period would seem to be — did some supreme intelligent Being produce by his own power this mighty universe? or did the universe itself exist from all past eternities, and unfold by virtue of its own inherent powers every grade of intelligent beings it contains? Biological science has repudiated the long-cherished doctrine of spontaneous generation, and emphatically declares that the minutest individual form of living existence must have had its progenitor equally with the greatest. A very eminent modern lecturer, who has had every oppor- PREFACE. 5 tunity, and is abundantly capable of investigating this matter from a material standpoint, so far indorses the doctrine of evolution as to say that he believes we came up from the lower animals, but is not quite sure. However, upon this subject he says "he stands about eight to seven." It is at just this period of the earth's history, and in this condition of human development, that we send our book into the world, hoping it may fill to a certain extent a vacuum, and partially supply the present needs of humanity in this respect. We cherish a hope that these pages, over which we have labored so assiduously, may serve to illuminate, and per- haps enlarge, the intellects of many persons who are famishing for the want of knowledge of this character. We are aware that the ideas presented, or at least a large portion of them, are radical almost to the last extreme; still we think there are many minds prepared for their reception even now, and we modestly predict that another, and perhaps still other, generations will very largely increase the numbers who will appreciate these thoughts, which have come to us from the spirit abodes. We are fully aware that somewhere in the amplitude of nature's mighty volume is inscribed the whole history of the advent of our earth and all its appertainings, together with their unfoldment up to the present status ; and if, in the event, it shall prove that we have succeeded in reading some of these divine pages correctly, and in transcribing their contents truth- fully into this our book, we shall be amply compensated for all our labor and anxiety. The indulgent reader will doubtless leniently pass over any- seeming repetitions either in language or ideas which may occur, as our whole repertory of words have been many times insuflicient to express the idea we wished to convey; and per- haps in some instances we have made a second or even more 6 PREFACE. attempts. It is not that this work possesses superior literary merits that we give it publication, but that it explores many new fields of thought, and reflects, as we think, many illumi- nating rays upon numerous unsolved problems which are of such vital importance to the modern thinker. THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. CHAPTER I. THE SOUL OF THINGS. There are evidently substratum principles underlying the mighty fabric of nature, which when properly understood will guide the student in his researches, and prevent him from straying far into the regions of doubt and obscurity. At the beginning of this work we present a few condensed fundamental ideas, which we think almost all independent thinkers will be compelled, to adopt as a basis upon which they may safely build superstruc- tures of thought. It is unwise to extend our researches after truth beyond, the limits of the universe; first, because there is ample scope inside its realms for the exercise of the loftiest intellect during endless eternities; and, second, because universal nature is boundless, containing every- thing of which the human intellect can entertain any conception, whether of a spiritual or material nature. There can be nothing above, beyond, outside, or in any manner independent of nature; hence the idea of a supernatural realm is mythical, and a vain delusion. (7) 8 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. All nature must be perfectly natural and sufficiently extensive to afford ample scope for every possible con- dition of existence, from the lowest or crudest material to the most refined and progressed spiritual. Laws which are self-existing — eternally immutable — pervade every department of universal nature, so there can be no condition of existence independent of corresponding natural law which renders such exist- ence possible. The human mind cannot conceive that something can be produced from nothing, or that something which actually exists can be changed into nothing, because it can entertain no conception of a law in nature pro- ductive of such results. All existing, objective things, whether worlds or atoms, Gods or infinitesimal animalculse, together with laws and forces by which all activities are produced, are simply a part and parcel of nature's mighty uni- verse; each one links in the chain of being, none can be dispensed with — the absence of one link would destroy the harmony and completeness of the great machine. All intellectual personal beings, high or low, are the result of organic evolution, and are possessed of cer- tain powers and faculties of mind consonant with their condition of development. No intellectual personality could have been unfolded independent of the forces and laws which render such a process possible; hence the most exalted personal being cannot by any possibility abrogate, change, or in any manner interfere with the operation of forces or natural laws in consonance with which they exist. THE SOUL OF THINGS. 9 Natural forces or laws cannot be self-existing or immutable if there is any personal being who" is able to exercise a power which will either produce, destroy or modify their status in any manner whatsoever. Hence a God of infinite power cannot be in the same universe with dominating forces and unchangeable laws, because one of these powers must annihilate the other. No accidents or mishaps can occur in the machinery of the universe; for, if so, all would some time termi- nate in utter confusion and destruction. Absolute truth, if such is found, must be equally true everywhere as far as the universe extends. There could have been no beginning to the natural universe, for then its duration would be a fragment of a more lengthy period of time; and, if it had a begin- ning, it certainly must have a termination. That which has one end must have another. There could have been no first cause; for effects or the facts which are a product are of eternal duration, and the human mind cannot entertain a conception of a date prior to eternity. We are persuaded that the above formulas approxi- mate so nearly to self-evident truths, that we propose to write the following chapters in harmony with their teachings, and hence we say: There can be nothing newly created or produced; all things which exist to- day have been from the infinite past, and will be again and again during the infinite future. Yet nature never repeats herself — she never produces two things alike. Still, all forms, whether expressed by spiritual or more materialized particles, which are appreciable 10 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. to human vision or not, are of infinite or unlimited existence — such ever have been, they will be ever; yet change, continuous change, seems to be, by some omnipotent force, indelibly impressed upon all things^ 7 visible and invisible in the natural realms. Material forms seem to pass through changes by aggregation and disintegration of atoms, while spirit- ualized forms, being more plastic, may change by com- pression or expansion, thus accommodating themselves to the various material organizations they are destined to inhabit. It has been said that not a sparrow falls to the ground without notice, and the very hairs of our heads are numbered; if so, it may be quite possible that every living entity, nay, every infinitesimal particle, embracing those which enter into the composition of the most spiritualized beings, may also be enumerated. There seems to be an open question among the savans of the present day concerning the sublimation or divisibility of material substance," as to whether such divisibility is infinite or limited. However this may be, we are quite sure the ultimate atom, if such a thing can exist, must be almost infinitely beyond human conception in point of sublimation. "What is not substantially something must be void of any existence — we express the idea as nearly as possible by the term nothing. There would seem to be a sort of imaginary boundary between something and nothing — a supposed line of distinction, if we are permitted to use this figure — that would divide the condition of real existence, of atoms or particled substance, from that which is entirely negative, blank or void. THE SOUL OF THINGS. 11 We are evidently more interested in the something condition, where objective realities may be found, than in any other; and in the consideration of this and all other subjects we must confine ourselves to the realm where entities have an existence. However, it might seem possible for the human mind to conceive that in the realm of objective substance or particled matter there might be found atoms so superlatively sublimated as to arrive at the limit of divisibility, because there may not be forces brought into activity which are capable of producing any further sublimation. Yet to all human perceptions the divisibility of matter must be infinite, because we are entirely unable to perceive how far this divisibility may extend, or to take cognizance of a particle of substance so infini- tesimal as not to be composed of others almost infi- nitely finer. All this may possibly arise from our limited perceptions or imperfectly developed mental powers; and for aught we can know at present there may be intelligent beings who are unfolded to a state in which they may clearly perceive the ultimate atom or the most interior soul essence of the most ethereal substance. If the divisibility of matter is infinite to our perceptions, the progressive development of intel- lectual powers is equally so; the one must be commen- surate with the other. If we may venture the conclu- sion that intelligent beings have an existence in the universe who are now possessed of such exalted endow- ments as to be capable of penetrating into the very quintessence of the most refined material things, and thus take a comprehensive view of knowledge which seems infinite to us, then we may surely follow in 12 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. their footsteps; for the royal road that leads to this exaltation and glory must be as open to us as it was to them. , We cannot conceive of material substance of any description which is not composed of atomic particles ; hence we are compelled to admit that where there is no atom which may enter into the composition of sub- stance or matter there is nothing. The human intel- lect may perhaps take cognizance of the real existence of the most attenuated or spiritualized substance, although it is entirely incapable of comprehending how etherealized or sublimated such may become. Yet, if it is conceded that all of substance must be par tided, and no such thing as unparticled matter can exist, then it inevitably follows that however attenuated these may be, they must have/brm and relative size. Form and relative size because no objective things can exist destitute of these two qualities. That which has neither size or form would be nothing. It may be possible that right upon the very verge or margin of objective existence, where things or real- ities cease to be, because no law has been found which can produce anything finer or more spiritualized, there may be found the ultimate atom — the very soul essence which may permeate and infill all other things of a less sublimated character. It will be found, also, that these ultimate particles are, as regards form and size, entirely unchangeable, for they cannot be subdi- vided; and if you add to them, they only enter into copartnership with other atoms, preserving intact their own particular unitary status of form and size. It will be perceived also that each one of these THE SOUL OF THINGS. 13 unitary particles must differ from every other in form, for nature has not produced two individual things alike. "When nature is compelled to repeat itself in any particular, its resources will be exhausted, and its labors will begin to terminate. If the atoms or any considerable portion of them were of one form, then aggregations of them might be of one form also, which fact has never occurred. The infinitesimal or most sublimated soul essence of all things is so far removed from our gross material visions, or any perceptions with which we are endowed, that our researches into its true nature may be quite obscure; yet some of the qualities or characteristics attached to this ultimatum of all existence seem to be self-evident. Although it may be unchangeable in point of form or size, yet this entity must necessarily change its status in other respects by change of condi- tion, that is, by different associations, or by entering into and dwelling within various organizations or aggregations of particled substance. We may plainly discover the great fact that inside the natural universe there exists nothing but infini- tesimal molecules, modified into all the different forms and various conditions which can come within the reach of human vision, or of which the most highly endowed intellect can entertain the least conception. There is evidently a large number of very intelligent persons who claim to know much concerning a so-called infinitely complex personal being, said to be the origi- nal cause of all causes, and who existed before there was a beginning; while they know nothing of the ethereal atom which enters into the composition of all 14 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. things they ever beheld. They have been looking upward to this imaginary infinite personality for the solution of the mighty problem of human existence; whereas the human has evidently come upward — exactly from the other direction; and it becomes apparent that their researches would have been more successful if they had inquired of that which has entered into man's organism, and of which he is wholly composed. If it is conceded that all real objective things or organized personal beings within the limits of the universe are composed of real particles, and there is a divine or supreme Personality who superintends all within those limits, then he must have been produced from such also, else he could have no existence. All beings must be produced from atoms, for outside of them there is nothing; and a being produced from nothing would be nothing when completed which could be recognized by the human or any other intel- lect. If man has a spiritual individuality within the material form which may and will live when the mate- rial decays, the spiritual form or individuality must be composed of particles also, else it would be nothing, and there could be no such objective existence. The one, to be a living, conscious being, capable of per- forming its proper functions, must be as real and tangible to itself as the other; only in order to per- meate and live within a materialized form it must be composed of elements very much more etherealized. There are animalcule so minute that an aggregation of thousands, or perhaps a million, would hardly be THE SOUL OF THIXGS. 15 discernable by human eyes; how inconceivably far beneath our vision, then, would be the molecules of which the various organs of these infinitesimal crea- tures are composed? What must be the fineness of the substance which is required to produce an eye for the minutest living being which has come within the reach of microscopic observation? and yet former experience with microscopic lenses leads us to believe that we are only approximating the utmost limit of living organisms, for when we increase the power of the lenses we only increase our power of beholding newer, more minute forms of organic life. We must evidently extend our researches very far into the invisible and ethereal realms in pursuit of the least or indivisible atomic particle; and unless we approximate such etherealization we surely cannot expect to find the spiritual essence cr the soul of things, for such essence it is that exists within or per- meates the grosser forms which come within the reach of our physical vision. Yet this essence must be sub- stantially something, or it would be nothing. The soul of all visible objects is simply composed of more sublimated particles capable of permeating those objective forms, and which may be eliminated entire when a dissolution of the gross material of such form takes place. All materialized forms must of course be an aggre- gation of such substances as are a part of universal nature, having existed in some condition coeval with nature itself. A dissolution of such forms is by no means destructive of any constituent element which entered into their composition; it simply destroys the 16 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. copartnership, and reduces the mass to separate parti- cles once more — not however without results, for every atom has been somewhat improved or evolved by its residence in such materialized form. The house or tree may be dissolved by that destructive element, fire, and their distinctive forms rendered entirely invisible. Yet not a single particle of the house or tree has been destroyed or put out of existence; very far from it. We have only in this instance produced a dissolution of the relation heretofore entered into and existing between the several molecules composing such materialized forms; and of course they have passed beyond the reach of our vision. However, none could have been destroyed; the same number still survives, and will, though subjected to the influ- ences of a thousand fires. Fire may change visible forms, but it cannot destroy the elements which com- pose them. Particled substance may be found existing in two widely different states, the one quite in opposition to the other; the one positive, or active; the other nega- tive, or inactive. In one condition the atoms seem to possess life and motion, while in the other they seem to exhibit little but death and inertia, or quiescence. Yet one in a state of apparent death or inertia must be quite as good and valuable in the universe as one in a state of life or activity. One condition seems to be just as necessary as the other; for " all are but parts of one stupendous whole.". The infinitesimal atom or living entity which is bound in chains of everlasting darkness, and enjoying its repose appar- ently in the embrace of eternal death in the midst of THE SOUL OF THINGS. 17 the indurate granite, is quite as important and valuable as the one now pursuing its merry dance in the undu- lations of the atmosphere, kissing the blushing cheek of the rose or the fair maiden, or the one who sits as the ruling 'monarch in the intellect of the imperial sovereign who sways the destiny of nations. Each one of all these is an absolute entity, existing under different conditions, each, high and low, a part and parcel of the mighty universe; and as they are in point of etherealization somewhat beyond the reach of our conceptions, they must be spirit entities. It cannot require any given number of indivisible particles to constitute the individual spirit entity, for if so, we might very properly inquire what number? two, ten, ten thousand, or millions? There must be untold billions of such entities in the material and spiritual structure of an ordinary human being, and we call him an individual or a structural unit; but as such he is simply a vast multiple of all the units which have entered into and make up his entire organ- ism. We think we shall be driven to the conclusion that it requires a single entity to express unity in the strongest sense of that term — not a plurality or any numerical accumulation of things — the entity of course being entirely indivisible. Then the real entity is unity in the strictest sense of the term, because it is the most sublimated of all material substance — the finest point — indivisible, unchangeable in form or size, eternally the same. It is the soul essence, because it can permeate and dwell in all things of a grosser character. In this we shall find an epitome or micro- 2 18 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. cosm of all there is in the broad universe, because the entire universe is composed of such indivisible living entities. Aggregations of material substance composed of innumerable particles must be continually* subject to mutations, because the atoms may separate, and thus forms are changed. This wonderful process in nature, unceasing in its activities, is ever producing that pleas- ing variety of materialized forms so agreeable to our senses. Were it not so all would be one dull, satiating monotony. Although this entit} 7 may exist tempora- rily, in unison with others, yet as such it can never lose its individuality; it had no beginning, it can have no end — it is part and parcel of the infinite universe, uncreated, indestructible. If there has been a creative power or energy at any time, that power, whatever its characteristics may have been, was something, and that something, to be such, must have been substance, which is necessarily parti- cled, if not it would have been nothing; hence no creative energy, whether personal or general, could have existed previous to the atoms, as no such energy could exist independent of them, for without or out- side of these particles there is nothing. We may conceive of at least two modes by which the subdivision of material substance may be obtained — one by an ordinary dividing of the mass into sepa- rate parts; another by chemical processes — by subli- mation or distillation. The former is very simple; we may divide and subdivide any given amount of material substance until we bring the mass to an impalpable powder, so that human vision fails to THE SOUL OF THINGS. 19 detect a single one of the parts, and we maj think our task finished. But not so; for if we bring to bear a very powerful microscopic lens, we may increase the magnitude of these separate atoms perhaps some millions of times, then we may go on again with our subdivisions. How long this process may be continued by bringing to bear more and still more powerful lenses, is quite beyond our comprehension. However, it is quite evident there must be somewhere in the universal realms a possibility of producing lenses through which the indivisible point of substance may be discerned. Those intelligent beings, then, who are capable of producing and applying to their own prac- tical use lenses of such an exalted character, must become familiarized with the very soul essence of all things in the universe of nature. The soul essence must be the most spiritualized element, and that which would require the most powerful lenses or vision for its discernment; it would not only be invisible to us, but at the furthest possible extent beyond the reach of our vision. Yet the soul essence of all things must have a real, substantial existence, as much as the materialized particles which we behold, and quite as tangible to those spiritualized beings who may be in the possession of a suitable vision as the grosser matter is to ours. Another method of obtaining a subdivision of solids is by sublimation or distillation, and may be accom- plished by the use of solvents, thus producing a disso- lution of particles. Fire seems to be a very powerful solvent, especially for all matter that is of a combusti- ble nature. We say it burns or destroys it; but 20 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. doubtless the better term would be, it dissolves the intimate relationship existing between the particles composing such substance, and they become invisible to us. JSTot a single atom has been destroyed by any conflagration; nature contains no less than it did before the fire; there is no power which can exclude a single one from nature's realms. Yet there are many forces which can disintegrate or dissolve their accumu- lation, not only rendering them invisible, but permit- ting the escape of still more etherealized elements, which always exist in all grosser substances. Nature seems to produce that which may be very properly termed spiritual as well as material. Yet they are so intimately connected — so nearly allied — that it is extremely difficult for us to determine if a boundary line exists between the two. In fact, they seem to glide into each other so imperceptibly, that we are fully persuaded no distinct line of demarkation exists between them; but on the contrary, they are nearly one and the same thing — what we call material may properly be termed grosser spirit, and what we call spirit may with equal propriety be termed finer or more sublimated substance or matter. It is the soul essence existing in all materialized forms which give them their true characteristics, for spirit in all cases may exercise authority over grosser material. Perhaps it may not be generally understood that every form of material substance, whether organic or inorganic, so-called, has a corresponding spiritual essence or soul; yea, the indivisible atom must be composed of spirit or matter, and possesses latent within itself the "promise and potency" which is THE SOUL OF THINGS. 21 found in all materialized forms, else how many must we combine before we obtain such promise and potency? We have said this entity is a microcosm of all there can be in nature; and it certainly must be such, if all nature in all its marvelous differentiations is produced by infinitely varied combinations of these self same atoms. How can we introduce any peculiarities into an organized structure which did not originally exist in the finest elements of which the structure is entirely composed? If we could by any possibility approxi- mate the infinitesimal particle, we should doubtless find that each one is possessed of certain qualities peculiar to itself, although each must have within itself all possibilities of unfoldment, and thus be an epitome or microcosm of universal nature, because all forms and conditions of material substance are com- posed of these particles, hence all qualities and possi- bilities must be in them productive of this endless variety in nature. We have said that fire is a solvent; but caloric, or the matter of heat, a more spiritualized essence, is a still better solvent, for it enters into and decomposes those fluids which would extinguish the grosser element called fire. Caloric dissolves the globules of water, thus permitting the escape of the finer vesicles of vapor or steam, which are so etherealized that they rise and float upon the atmosphere. A fluid element still finer than caloric, called magnetism, which is its spiritual- ized essence, is entirely capable of entering into and dissolving the vesicles of vapor, thus eliminating elec- tricity; and here we find the three great positive and negative forces in nature rising one above another in 22 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. power as they increase in sublimation. The relative difference between fire, caloric and magnetism is one of fineness or sublimation. Water, vapor and elec- tricity sustain the same relation to each other. It is simply "wheel within wheel" — spirit within spirit. Fire and water are antagonistic, spiritual, fluid ele- ments, both proceeding from the mineral kingdom. From these the superior powers caloric and vapor, magnetism and electricity, are eliminated; and these latter are superior, simply because they are more refined or sublimated. Finer, more spiritualized essences seem to be pos- sessed of two remarkable qualities — the one increased celerity of motion; the other powers of expansion. For instance, steam, which is a combination of caloric and vapor, demands eighteen hundred times the room that it did when these elements were cramped and confined in the grosser fluids, fire and water; and the velocity which it has attained is truly wonderful. All the force we can obtain from steam as a motor seems to depend entirely upon these two qualities — expan- sion and velocity. The same holds good concerning that most potent element, electro-magnetism, which is a combination of the two fluids. The increase of its expansive prop- erties, and its velocity over that of steam, defies all our powers of conception. We know, however, that this combined fluid can enter into the trunk of the mighty oak, or into the solid rock, and shiver them to fragments instantaneously; and it is perfectly clear that all this inconceivable force depends entirely upon these two properties — velocity and expansion. THE SOTJL OF THINGS. 23 Whatever we may call the etherealized element which is eliminated upon the ignition of gunpowder or other still more powerful explosives, we may be sure that expansion and velocity are the properties which render that element so potent in producing its results. It has been ascertained that the spiritual essence which is set free upon the ignition of gun- powder, demands 2,500 times the space it did when confined within the grains of that explosive material. This proves conclusively that this element must be so extremely elastic as to be confined within this limited space, and would also corroborate the theory that each particle of substance or gross matter lies cushioned in a soft envelop of etherealized element, which is held in durance until a dissolution of the particles takes place. We claim that the real force produced in all such explosions is electro-magnetism, the velocity and expan- sive power of which is such that no amount of solid iron can hold it in durance when in full activity or in the exercise of all its wondrous potency. We ascertain, then, the astounding fact that potency is thus far increased as we approximate the infinitesi- mal; that expansion and rapidity of motion, those wonderful elements of force, are found to exist with that which is exceeding small, instead of the exceeding great. Were it not for this principle in nature steam would have no power, and this marvelous force which propels our locomotives and manufacturing establish- ments could not be thus utilized. Electro-magnetism, which is at the present simply foreshadowing what it is destined to do in the future for humanity, could never produce any of its overwhelming results. 24 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. We must, however, bear in mind that there is one essential requisite in the generation of these ethereal- ized forces, which is the commingling of antagonistic elements. These wonderful manifestations of power are produced by the inharmonies in nature; by dis- agreements; by an inherent disposition which one element has to fight, and if possible destroy another; by the bitter hatred which seems to exist down in the very soul of things. Were it not for the mingling together of the positive and negative elements — these extremely subtile antagonisms which exist down in the infinitesimal realms — we could arouse no activi- ties; all would result in quiet, harmonious sleep, inactivity and apparent death. So we find that humanity, where these inharmonies seem to manifest themselves so conspicuously, have come honestly by their fighting propensities. Man is simply the highest organic unfoldment upon our planet, produced entirely, body and soul, from elements in nature less developed than himself; hence he must incorporate all these antagonisms, somewhat refined, into his own nature. Thus we find him this perfect bundle of incongruities, loving and hating, praying and cursing, alternately; fighting with the ferocity of a tiger, and again extend- ing the kindliest sympathies toward the victim of his wrath. Doubtless the spiritual selfhood of the human will at some time become so refined as to draw to itself elements which are more elaborate and harmonized, and then perhaps he may not exhibit so much of an antagonistic character, for most surely, unless nature provides some method by which the more advanced THE SOUL OF THINGS. 25 intellectual beings can obtain sustenance divested of such antagonisms, there can be no harmonious condi- tions of intelligent existence in all the universal realms. If the foregoing view is correct, there must be some process in nature's extended laboratory by which her elemental substances may be refined and elaborated to an extent of purification which is beyond the reach of all antagonisms, where all conflicting elements may be harmoniously blended into a perfect unity. We have found that electro-magnetism is composed of a positive and negative, or two directly opposing elemental fluids; which fluids, when properly com- mingled, in consequence of their exceeding sublimation, become a force in nature entirely irresistible. As we have thus far increased our velocity and power of expansion by sublimation, and as the quantum of force seems to depend upon these two qualities, it might be supposed that a continued sublimation of material substance would be attended by still more powerful explosive properties. Such, however, does not appear to be the case. TTe have a more spiritual- ized fluid substance than electro-magnetism, which is called "aura," or the aural element, and we find not in its composition two separate fluids — one positive, the other negative — which are liable to explode when they come together, but a harmonious blending of both these properties in one elemental substance — harmonious, or they could not both exist together in quietness and peace. It would appear, then, that substance, when elabo- rated to this wonderful condition of sublimation, had parted with all its antagonisms, and come into that 2D THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. concordant relation with nature itself to which all things are tending. We can look out upon the most magnificent displays of the aural element without any emotion of terror or dread, such as we feel when we behold the erratic shaft of electro-magnetism, perhaps because we consider the one harmless, while the other may prove terribly destructive; but this harmlessness must depend upon the fact that no discordant qualities can be found in this marvelously etherealized fluid substance. Aura is simply the spiritual element eliminated from electro -magnetism; but, very strange to say at this particular point of sublimation, the result has been a single fluid, containing both positive and negative, existing in perfect accord. Although we have found a point of sublimation where antagonisms are all beautifully blended, we have by no means found the ultimate soul essence. There is a fluid substance far more evanescent than aura, which for want of a better name we have been instructed to call empyria. In this we not only find an accordant blending of all inharmonies, but we find color, for this is really the coloring matter existing in the white light well known to the philosopher. "We behold wonderful displays of this most attenuated sub- stance in the rainbow, also by the use of the prism. We usually call this inconceivably sublimated fluid the primary or prismatic colors; but our invisible friends, who are possessed of visions capable of pene- trating far down into the infinitesimal, are pleased to term it the very essence of life. It is that essential element which we must continually inhale in order to sustain life; and it is that which is first inhaled by the THE SOUL OF THINGS. 27 new born infant, thus rendering it an independent living- being. Each atomic particle of this most spir- itualized element is simply a living entity, and being such, it is capable of entering into and sustaining the life of a physical organization. We are apprehensive still that we have not explored the entire infinitesimal realm; there is evidently a broad domain which we have not as yet entered, and that is the domain of thought. Thoughts must either be something or nothing. If thoughts are not sub- stantially something, why do we talk of them as such, and express their various qualities? Can we properly express the quality of nothing, and say that it is a great or small, high or low, good or bad, profound or shal- low nothing? Yet with great propriety we say all this and much more concerning the thoughts enter- tained by different persons; hence they must be real objective somethings, or they would admit of no qualitative adjectives nor possess any distinguishing properties. Thoughts seem to be the soul essence of all things which have existence in nature. ]N"o matter what page you read in her mighty volume, each one is full of thoughts; and the person who is best cultured can find the most and best thoughts by a perusal of these sacred pages. Some people appear to pass through the whole journey of life and find their pathway to be but a barren desert, while others find everywhere beautiful gardens blooming with rich thought flowers. They are capable of perusing whole volumes in a single morning's ramble, and their minds become stored with an extensive treasury of knowledge they 28 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. have gleaned from the simple objects with which they have thus formed an acquaintance. The thoughts making up this whole sum of intelligence were evi- dently in the various objects themselves, else they could not have been read so plainly. All the intelligence we can possibly obtain concern- ing any and every subject must come to us in the form of thoughts, some of which are evidently vastly more refined than others. Then, thoughts may be, and doubtless are, graded, like all other things, from the very gross unspiritnalized, suited to coarse, unculti- vated mentalities, up to the most refined and ethereal- ized, which can only be entertained or grasped by the highly exalted celestial being. The horse or the dog very evidently entertain thoughts concerning their food and many other sub- jects of great interest to them; but the thoughts which they are. capable of entertaining are compara- tively gross in quality. Still, these thoughts, such as they are, must enter into and find a brief residence in their undeveloped intellects in the same manner as more refined thoughts can be entertained by a highly cultured human mind. It is not supposed that the lower animals can by any means entertain some thoughts which may dwell in the mind even of the untutored savage, for his intellect has been unfolded to a greater extent, and thus made capable of grasping more refined and complex ideas, or those of a higher character; in other words, the thought particles he is capable of grasping may reach out further, because more refined or attenuated. Still the thoughts which may dwell in the mentality THE SOUL OF THINGS. 29 of the savage are limited in their scope, and in quality vastly more gross than those entertained by the ordi- nary Caucasian, to say nothing of the accomplished philosopher or poet, whose minds may revel in the inexhaustible treasure house of beauties which are so abundant everywhere in nature's domain. We shall also find that the most brilliant conceptions or the rarest gems of thought that may glow in the loftiest intellect upon this earth, are limited in their powers; they by no means reach universal nature's furthest bounds. "There is more beyond, more evermore," because their thoughts are not sufficiently spiritualized; as yet they can survey but a very small portion of the vast infinitude. We may well suppose that the exalted intelligent beings who have passed through thousands of ages in the continuous unfoldment of their powers, and who have been thus refined by their residence in the ethe- real realms, may entertain thoughts and conceptions almost infinitely finer than those which can be grasped by our comparatively feeble intellectual organisms. They may go out further, descend down deeper, and ascend higher into • the vast arcanum, because the thought atoms which they can master are so incon- ceivably more ethereal than any reached by us in this rudimental sphere. We very clearly discover, then, that we can never entertain any proper conceptions of all there may be in the universal immensity until we can command thought atoms which are sufficiently etherealized to extend to all, and to penetrate all that can have an existence. When, if ever, we arrive at an unfolded 30 THE GOSPEL OF NATCJKE. condition, where we can in our own persons command such resources, we may scan the great whole, and be independent of any other being for knowledge of every character; then we may perhaps fully compre- hend the very soul essence of all things. There can be no doubt but the substantial material of which all that appertains to our earth and every other planetary body, was at some time diffused throughout the great elemental ocean of space, in the form of infinitesimal atoms, and all these have been wakened into partial activity and manipulated into the forms of worlds by intellectual beings who possessed a perfect knowledge of the forces necessary to bring to bear in order to produce such grand results. The planetary worlds are but so many diminutive islands in the illimitable undivided ocean which occupies the immensity of the boundless universe. It will be obvi- ous to the reader that there are inconceivable portions of this infinite expanse which are at present entirely unoccupied by any active, moving worlds, and all entities therein existing, of which future worlds may be composed, are now lying in a perfectly quiescent condition, or in the state we call death, in the strongest sense of that term. Before active motion can by any means be introduced into these vast regions of frigid, electrical silence, darkness and death, it is very evident that some intelligent power must produce the neces- sary action that will arouse all the so-called primeval, ethereal entities into newness of life and motion. That which is under the influence of perfect, or the most profound sleep, must be awakened by some out- THE SO OX OF THINGS. 31 side influence, as it has no power in that condition to produce a state of wakefulness and activity. It will be perceived that notwithstanding the mate- rial particles in this boundless elementary ocean are so etherealized and diffusive, yet each one must contain within itself all the elements and properties of all the others, or that each one must be a microcosm of the whole. If we perfectly analyze one drop of the water of the ocean, we shall find that drop to contain a part of all that every other drop contains, because the elements composing these drops are precisely the same, and unless invaded by foreign substances all are alike. Thus we find every molecule in the vast elemental ocean of space to possess every property and capability of every other, so that one may commence its unend- ing progressive journey with the same prospect of a successful arrival at the most exalted conditions as the other. We clearly see, then, that all are from one grand source in the great elemental sea of entities; that all in process of time must pass through similar conditions, in accordance with natural laws, the one equally with the other, in order to attain to that pro- gressive development to which each one is entitled. It is not that the original particle differs in quali- ties or properties that such a wonderful variet} r of substances are produced upon the earth, but because they are constantly passing through such an incon- ceivable variety of conditions. The atom must neces- sarily contain within itself latent all the properties and capabilities that will enable it to unfold through all possible conditions, and hence each one must be in every sense fully equal with the other; it is change or 32 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. unfold m en t that presents them in all this infinite variety of forms that we behold upon the earth. They must be quite simple in their original quiescent con- dition ; but in passing through all the various degrees of change and development they present themselves in all these wondrous complications exhibited every- where in the realms of nature. These diversified states are all necessary, not only for the unfoldment of the spiritual entities, but for the production of worlds in all their sublimity and grandeur. If there is life there must be death; life comes out of death; it is nourished by death; some must die that others may live. The cattle upon a thousand hills suffer death that man may subsist and prolong his life. Yet the molecules composing the cattle are just as good as those existing in the man; for if not, why does man wish to incorporate them into his own organization? and why does he ruthlessly destroy the cattle in order to possess himself of those which he finds in them? He simply appropriates the proto- plasm he found in the lower organizations to his own private use, and thus supplies elements that will build up and restore his exhausted resources, and also com- plete his own organism. We discover that one colony or association of atoms can only subsist or maintain their activities by encroach- ments upon the rights of others. Some are apparently destroyed, or yield up their lives that others may con- tinue their existence in their peculiar forms; and such must necessarily be the case, else all things would cease to exist, and all animate forms would exchange their active condition for one of repose and death. THE SOUL OF THINGS. 33 One entity can only commence its career of activities at the expense of the individual rights of another. It must make such encroachments, and obtain control over its fellow, or else remain eternally in its unde- veloped state. It can only enter upon its career of experiences and commence its active history by acquir- ing in some manner control or authority over its fel- lows, and thus accumulate to itself the elements it requires to aid it in passing through various changes where living experiences may be obtained. If the I^go — the I Am — the soul essence, or spirit entity within man, which permeates the entire body politic, is but the indivisible point of matter, and if this entity sits upon the throne of power and holds in subjection all others of which the individualized man is composed, both material and spiritual, then this one usurps authority and encroaches upon the rights of all the others which exist within the organization. Nevertheless, such must be the case, in order that all spirit entities may pass through all possible mutations, and thus be introduced to all manner of experiences. If there are monarchs there must be subjects; but it becomes necessary in this case, as it should in all others, that the ruling monarch should have passed through all the conditions and experiences below in order that he might be rendered capable of occupying his higher position as ruler. Before pursuing this subject further it might be well to ascertain more definitely what we understand by the spirit entity, and how much of the universal whole it may require to constitute an entity or an individualized being — an esse, or a conscious existence. If we can 3 34 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. ascertain this fact we may be enabled to get a partial glimpse of the very soul essence of all things. We have said, and again reiterate, that it can require but one indivisible particle to constitute the spiritual existence or entity; hence there must be just as many entities as there are_atoms, and each one is as capable of enjoying life and consequent experiences as the other, although they cannot all enjoy life and activities at one and the same time, for some must die that others may survive. Entities must exist in all possible conditions, in order that there may be a world with all its beauty and glory. How can we produce the plant or the tree unless some of the atoms compose the soil in which the plant or the tree is produced? Those in the one condition are certainly just as necessary as in the other, and contain latent the same elements, for the plant obtains from the soil precisely those which are required to- enter into its own composition. Then, which are best, those in the earth beneath or those which seem so charmingly sweet and beautiful in the full blown rose? The particles that compose the aroma of the rose never could have been elaborated had there been no soil in which the rose tree could have vegetated. The one, then, is just as important as the other, only they for the present occupy very different places. Further, it is very clear that some atoms in the soil beneath must have entered into the aroma of the rose, else there would have been no necessity of having a soil in which the rose tree might vegetate and procure its required nourishment. Has the human mind ever yet entertained the THE SOUL OF THINGS. 35 remotest conception with regard to the number of individual entities that may be attached to this our globe? All ideas concerning that matter seem to have been shrouded in the darkness of an eternal night, because men have not seemed to possess the remotest conception of the soul essence, or that which consti- tutes a real entity — an Ego — an indivisible particle, which was capable of expanding and diffusing itself through the entire human or any other form that has an existence. Then we shall find the solution of this numerical proposition to be simply this: the number of entities equal the number of indivisible atoms; each atom is an entity, and each entity is an atom. Each one has a separate existence and a different his- tory, which had no commencement, because it dates from the undefined eternities of the past. If so, then they could not have been produced by any pre-existing cause; for, if there was a pre-existing power who had ability to produce the atom, that power must have created them from nothing, as they are the finest particles of matter, and of course there was nothing finer from which they could have been formed. The intelligent mind cannot for a moment admit that something can be made from nothing; and if we did we should not relieve ourselves from our difficulties, because we must immediately inquire how the power was produced who had the ability to create this some- thing from nothing. If the power which is said to be infinite found nothing in the universe from which He could produce what exists, then He must have sprung from nothing also; and suppose we should continually add nothing to nothing, we should merely have noth- 36 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. ing as the result. But we find the universe filled with somethings — with untold millions of real things or entities — and we are compelled to conclude that all these real things are but an accumulation of real particles, and that all things, no matter how ethereal - ized they may happen to be, must be composed of real infinitesimal somethings, else they would be nothing. The great and perhaps only difference there can be between inorganic material and active ethereal aggre- gations of substance, is one of condition — the one is quiescent and apparently dead, while the other is full of life ; and the only reason why the ethereal particles do not become appreciable to us in our gross condition is that all our senses are too coarse and too material- ized to come in contact with them. We indulge a hope that we have been able to carry the mind of the reader down, or rather upward, to an approximation of the very soul essence of all things, and opened to his view some of the pages of that great volume in nature that has not been extensively perused by mortal man. There seems to be a considerable portion of our own existence that has been overshadowed by dense clouds, and the great question what are we, and of what are we composed, has been to most minds a hidden mystery. The very brilliant intellects that grace our modern pulpits, and who attract crowds of earnest listeners, are wandering in a maze of doubts, uncertainties and shadows, because they have no proper conception of the soul essence of things. When this divine knowledge bursts upon the mass of human minds with all its illuminating power, it is not too much to say that the world of thought will be THE SOTTL OF THINGS. 37 revolutionized, and that man will throw off the shackles which have so long held him in abject durance. When men and women discover that the divine essence exists in them, and that they are composed of as good mate- rial as can be found in the broad realms of the universal worlds, and that all they require is experience in the various conditions through which an intelligent being may pass, then they will stand forth in all the dignity of their real man and womanhood. When they discover the astounding fact that they possess within themselves that which shall carry them person- ally to the most exalted position in the spiritual spheres that can possibly be occupied by any being, no matter what name we give them, then they may escape from that servile, cringing bondage which has been endured during all time wherever any of the varied religions have predominated. If these entities have existed from all eternity, then there could have been no previous cause which brought them into existence. The idea of a first cause must be a delusive myth, as there could have been no cause for that which had no commencement. So we may learn that the atomic entities from which all aggre- gated things are formed had an infinite existence entirely independent of all cause. However, the pro- gressive development of these entities must have had a preceding cause, as the atoms themselves must have been by some means brought into proper conditions where such development could take place. The atoms found in the grain of sand or pebble have evidently ultimated to that state by some pre-existing causes. Yet these causes only extend to the evolutionary pro- 38 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. cesses the atoms have passed through, not to any original production. "We have remarked that we find the entities differ- entiated into every conceivable form and status by processes of evolution. We find some of them full of life and activity, while others are apparently devoid of these two properties, and seem to be in the cold embrace of inactivity and death. Those which now lie locked in the strong embrace of what we might appropriately term eternal death, in the midst of the granite mountain, are no less entities, and must possess latent all the powers of the one that occupies the highest position in the organization of the most brilliant intellect. The one is manifesting exceeding activity, and seems to be endowed with life energies in a very exalted sense of that term, while the other is enjoying what so many persons earnestly crave — a quiet sleep; a rest which would seem to be never ending; it slumbers apparently in the arms of an eternal death. Yet this death is not everlasting, for in the mutations of time the day will surely come when the solid granite of the lofty mountain must be disintegrated, and the entity which has slept for such an inconceivable period shall awake to newness of life, and commence its career of activities after its pro- tracted night of repose and quiet. All things require rest. The positive elements by their activities are constantly exhausting their own resources and becoming negative; thus they require rest. All nature must sleep a portion of the time. Day must sleep in the arms of night; life must ulti- mately rest in death ; there is doubtless as much of the THE SOUL OF THINGS. 39 one as the other. Yegetation requires her winter of repose as much as her summer of activities. Every animal sleeps perhaps more than half its time; and man courts the quiet enjoyment of rest or sleep with as much earnestness as he does those which are dependent upon activity. Perhaps nearly one-half the time of every individual man or woman is spent in unconscious sleep; and we crave this sleep quite as much as we do a condition of wakefulness, and this rest seems to be quite as necessary to our continued existence. Then may we not suppose that individual entities, after they have passed through an active experience for billions of ages, or for eternal cycles, may desire to rest in unconsciousness a period of time that would equal that of their activities and conscious- ness? Do we not clearly discover that nature every- where demands this alternation of activity and rest, of life and death, of positive and negative conditions; and that a portion of the atomic particles must be dead that the others may survive? They must, as we have said, exist in all possible conditions, that each may assist the other, else it would not be a world with all its working machinery. How very natural it is for the weary soul to sigh for rest, to ask that they might sleep and be relieved of all this turmoil, care and anxiety incident to a living active existence. Then, after they had lived eternal ages, and passed through every experience that can be comprehended by the highest intellect and the longest possible period of wakefulness, it would be very natural to seek repose. If this principle is admitted, then it is quite pos- sible that an infinite number of these entities should 40 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. seek their coveted repose, and ask to be placed in that condition where their rest could continue the longest possible period of time. Would there be any place of which the human mind can conceive that would be so likely to continue in a state of quiescence as in the midst of the granite of the rock-ribbed mountain, or in the fastnesses of earth's remotest depths? If not, then that would be the very condition those would choose who were desirous of resting for the longest possible period. While others might wish a repose of shorter duration, and could find it in something less permanent, where change would sooner take place, and where they might sooner be aroused from their slumbers, and recommence their new career of activi- ties. Thus we discover that it is by no means impos- sible that sufficient spirit entities should exist in a quiescent state to constitute all the solidified materials composing our globe; not only ours, but all the globes that may be found in the vast universe; and that every one of these entities may have passed through count- less eternities of active existence before entering upon another state of equally enduring sleep in this their present belizma. Is the human mind startled at this idea, or at this page which the opening book of nature's great volume reveals? It is no more startling than every other page, if we can so read them as to discover the soul essence which they contain. The reason why we have not been startled and astonished with the great facts that the inexhaustible pages of nature's divine volume dis- close to the illuminated vision, is simply because we have not perused it with an eye that has penetrated to THE SOUL OF THIN OS. 41 its depths, and which has revealed to our minds its wondrous machinery. If all the profound mysteries of the great volume had been opened to our vision, there would be no propriety in any further research, and little use of saying or writing more upon any department of her works. When we look about us upon the surface of this somber old planet of ours, and behold ourselves amidst such a multiplicity of different objects, all composed of accumulations of infinitesimal atoms or individual- ities, each of which are equally good and equally capable of development, we may well wonder why and how they happen to be placed in such widely different positions. Why one is locked up in eternal darkness, another under our feet in the filth and mire, and still another blazing forth in the brilliant intellect of the statesman, the orator, or the poet. Why one of these entities, all of which are equally good and great, forms food for the worm in the dark recesses of the earth, and another impinges with all its glories upon the retina of the eye in the vibrations of the noonday light. Why one should be found in the envenomed poison of the viper or belladonna, while another exists in the odoriferous balm or in the grateful aroma of the flower-clad vale. We may simply answer that all these conditions are good and necessary and proper, and all experiences must be passed through in order to prepare the entity for the higher and more important phases of existence. That which is trodden in the mire under our feet to- day may be found in the flower and transported by the bee at some other time to his home of industry; and 42 THE GOSPEL OF NATUHE. all these various entities are changing places as time rolls onward. Among all the countless billions of individual entities that compose our physical and spiritual bodies, how is it that one of all these should exercise supreme authority and hold entire control? We discover very clearly that somewhere in this human as well as other organizations there must be a controlling power; there must be an I Am — an individuality or entity who has usurped authority, or who has obtained it in some manner, and maintains universal sway, issuing his mandates to all his fellows, who meekly yield the most implicit obedience without question. The hand labors industriously, the feet plod along, although wearied with their continued exertions, in obedience to com- mands issued by some ruling monarch who controls and governs all. An imperious power — sometimes called the will — seems to dwell somewhere in the human organism, and exercise all this supreme authority over the entire domain. When any of its dominions are invaded, or any portion of its territory is dissevered by the loss of any member of the body, as an arm or a leg, this power seems to continue in its stronghold, and exerts its authority over what remains. How large a portion of the organism would it require to constitute this ruling monarch? How many of the spirit entities of which the whole is composed would be necessary to establish the living power that seems to occupy the throne somewhere within us? If there was any given number it might become necessary to deliberate in council upon all the questions that might arise before THE SODL OF THINGS. 43 commands could be issued; and this would cause unnecessary delay. Again, they might disagree, so they could not act in concert, and there would be no action taken and no mandates issued. Even if it required but three or two entities to compose the ruling power within us, there might be divisions, and much that requires to be done upon the instant would be so long delayed that the safety of the organism or kingdom would many times be placed in great jeop- ardy, while prompt action would avoid all dangers. We find, then, that the ruling power must exist in a single individual entity, and that one must exercise supreme control over all others in the organism. Perhaps the query may again occur in regard to the manner which this entity obtained authority over all the countless myriads contained in the vvhole organism. We think if we answer this query satisfactorily we must go back to some earlier experiences in the his- tory of the ruling entity, and we shall probably learn that there must have been a time when its dominions were very much smaller, and that its authority was extremely limited. However, the very moment one gains ascendancy over any of its fellows, and takes it under his control, then its career of progress com- mences, for its power has doubled; it has the power of two instead of one. It may then go on increasing and accumulating until it passes through all possible mutations incident to existence, taking on those ele- ments it requires and throwing off those that have subserved its purposes. How did General Grant accumulate the power he has wielded in this nation as President, and did wield 44 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. as General-in-Chief of all the armies during the great rebellion, while every individual citizen had an equal right to occupy the same position? The power he has possessed evidently has taken away a portion of their power, which they have resigned, in the one case for the purpose of maintaining governmental protection, and in the other for the sake of carrying out the great purposes of an army, which only can be done when strict military discipline is maintained. We should doubtless, if we undertook to follow to their source all the different streams of power that meander through a vast army, find that they culminate in the General commanding; all important orders must issue from him. If we search still further for this source of authority, we might find it in an indivisible point of matter, or a single spirit entity existing in and con- trolling the General-in-Chief, and that here was the real fountain head of all the power that radiates in every direction, thus diffusing itself throughout and holding in subjection the entire army. This conclu- sion is unavoidable, for, if you examine this matter ever so closely, you will find this power to be a unity; that it does not exist in the man's hair, or eyes, nose or ears, or any of the members of the organism; that it did not emanate from any given number of entities, but came direct from that divine, spiritual God-head within the man which controlled and governed all. Nevertheless, this power could not have manifested itself in such a manner unless it had passed through all previous conditions, and became qualified by its past experiences; neither could it have acted except in conjunction with all the entities in the person over THE SOUL OF THINGS. 45 which it seemed to exercise this supreme control. We do not claim that the individual entity within the General which seems to control the whole army is any more divine than the one controlling the organism of the meanest soldier in the ranks. And we mid this controlling power just as dependent upon them as they are upon him. Each and all must work in harmony, that the grand purposes may be carried out and the ultimate objects realized. A spirit entity or a spiritual being can be no more divine in consequence of having passed through long and countless ages of experience, than the one who has little or none of all this experience and knowledge; the one is only in advance of the other; and although it may seem to be almost infinitely beyond in point of attainments, it may be to a certain extent dependent upon the other for the exalted position it enjoys. If this spirit individuality occupies a position in the higher realms far beyond our comprehensions, he arrived there by and through the aid of others who were below him in exaltation, and hence the obliga- tions are mutual; and there can be no more real pro- priety for the lower ones to debase and prostrate themselves in worship before the higher than there is for the higher to prostrate himself before the lower. The only possible difference is that one is in advance of the other; his active experiences commenced earlier, and he has accumulated more of them. Both and all are equally sacred and equally divine, and the one is just as much entitled to worship or adoration as the other. All in the grand economy of universal nature are occupying the precise positions assigned them, and 46 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. filling the exact stations for which they have been fitted from the eternal past. Then we clearly discover that if there are those who are qualified to receive the exalted and distinguishing title of a God, they must have arrived to that position by virtue of the multitudinous experiences through which they have passed, and that they could not have passed all these varied experiences and accumulated all this inconceivable fund of knowledge without the aid of others below; hence in their advancement they have been dependent upon those below themselves for their exalted position even as Gods. Which now of these beings should oner the greatest amount of thanks and gratitude? Certainly the one who has received the most; the one who is above has surely obtained more than those below, and should in justice express the larger amount of gratefulness. For where the benefits bestowed are mutual, and both parties are dependent upon each other, the one that gets the most is certainly under the greatest obligations, and should be the more deeply penetrated with a sense of grateful emotions. The Indian in the forest is evidently more deeply indebted for his continued existence to the deer, the antelope, and the various animals and fish upon which he subsists, and which prolong his existence, than they are to him ; for they might live without him, but with- out them he would perish of starvation. Which, then, should offer the thanks, the animal or the Indian? Certainly the burden of obligations rests upon the higher, and his gratitude should be directed to the source from whence he has received his benefits. The THE SOUL OF THINGS. 47 cattle upon a thousand hills are surely not so much indebted to man for their existence as man is to them. He may perform a little manual labor to furnish them with pasturage or provide them with sustenance during the winter season; but they offer up their lives that he may continue his existence, and so do all of the animal race, the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air. Then in our seasons of devotion and thank- fulness we should very evidently turn our attention in this direction, from whence we have received our benefits. Those spiritual beings who have ultimated in this sphere, thrown off their materialized garments, and passed on to more etherealized conditions in the spir- itual abodes, surely cannot furnish us with sustenance here upon the earth, because the elements of which they are composed are too line — too sublimated for our use. We cannot subsist upon them; we must obtain the elements we need from that which is beneath; we must go down to the gross organizations found in the animal or vegetable kingdom for the sustenance we require. Hence there is very little pro- priety in thanking the higher beings for our existence, which they certainly did not bestow, or for that sub- sistence necessary for its continuation. As they did not furnish us with life, they surely have nothing in their refined and spiritualized organisms which can in any manner contribute to the continued support and consequent prolongation of life here upon this earth. Then let us see to it as intelligent, or rather as intel- lectual men and women, that we offer our thanks and gratitude to those to whom such properly belong, as 48 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. we should certainly offer them to the parties from whom we receive the benefits. It becomes quite evident that we are traveling upon a similar pathway with those who are in advance, and during all the varied experiences of this journey we are more dependent for the elements needed in our various conditions upon those below us than upon those above. Yet there is a strong probability, nay, even a certainty, that those above us may impart to us such as they have, if not of the coarser elements, they may give us the finer; if it is not such nourishment as will build up the muscular fiber of the physical system through which our spirit individualities mani- fest themselves, they may bestow upon us the thought particles, of which they doubtless have larger and rarer accumulations than ourselves. They may very easily suggest to our minds an idea which will give us the needed instruction, thus enabling us to procure the requisite sustenance; and in that manner we may incur obligations to them, and they should receive our respectful gratitude. But we have no occasion to abase and degrade our- selves in the presence of superior beings because they have conferred upon us a favor, or manifest any abject cringing servitude because they have advanced to a higher condition than ourselves. We may be fully satisfied of the encouraging fact that we have within us as good material as that of which they are composed, and that we are traveling upon a highway as broad as the one that led them to all their eminent spiritual excellence. We may be assured that no being has yet realized attainments which we are not capable of THE SOUL OF THINGS. 49 achieving; that no celestial inhabitant of the supernal realms of glory occupies a position so high that we may not reach it by virtue of the immutable laws of progressive development. Then we may address our superiors — those who have been developed to a higher condition than ourselves, and have become capable of filling more elevated positions — with respectful sub- mission to their station and authority, such as we might have good reason to expect from those below us when we come to fill the same station and act in the same capacity. Can we suppose that those beings who are developed to the highest possible conditions of knowledge and consequent superiority, so that they may have acquired all the needed ability to administer the affairs of the government of a world like ours, really desire the abject, cringing homage or worship of those who are very far beneath them in acquirements and experience. How can all this soulless mummery that is enacted in our popular churches afreet such a being, except it be with ineffable disgust and loathing? We are not surprised, in the contemplation of this subject, that the Hebrew God, through his prophet, declared that their incense was an abomination unto him, and that his soul hated their Sabbaths and their new moons, and that he could not away with the calling of their solemn assemblies. There can be no doubt that such gross elements as were found in the sacred offerings of the Hebrews must have been a stench in the nostrils of any advanced spiritual Being, whatever opinions we may entertain of that particular individual God who is. supposed to have revealed him- 4 50 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. self to Moses and the Prophets. The so-called Hebrew God gave utterance to very many sensible remarks, for which He is entitled to great credit, and should receive the corresponding thanks of the world; and no doubt His reputation among thinking minds would have stood higher to-day if so much had not been put into His mouth which He most probably never sug- gested or uttered. Spiritual communications were surely as uncertain in the days of Moses and Joshua, David and the Prophets, as they are to-day; and doubtless many others communicated besides this par- ticular personage who styled Himself the I Am, not wishing to reveal at that time anything definite con- cerning His earlier history or personality. For this Being, who ever He was, must have had a history and earlier experiences in order to accomplish what he did in regard to the management of the affairs of the Hebrews. The foregoing cursory glance at the soul essence which must exist in all visible things, may illuminate the mind of the candid thinker concerning the vague and delusive character of those religious teachings which have been promulgated so extensively in the world, and which have exerted such an overwhelming influence over so large a portion of the human race. It will doubtless be discovered that this essence con- tains all power within itself, either latent or active, and that this power molds and modifies all outward or visible forms in which it temporarily resides, to suit its own present status and purposes. It will also be ascertained that absolute truth can only be found here, and that all external visible forms are but the shadow THE SOUL OF THINGS. 51 or semblance of truth; only being such to the condi- tion in which they are found. We are sojourning while in these physical organisms in the valley, and under the shadows of deception, because the soul within us manifests itself in and looks out through this gross material organism; hence so much darkness and uncertainty. However, the most careless observer must readily discover that if we could obtain a comprehensive knowledge of the soul of things, we could arrive more directly at real truth, and that the grand reason why men at this present age of advancement are so overwhelmed by doubts and difficulties lies in their almost entire destitution of this knowledge. We trust this subject may be elaborated to a much greater extent in the succeeding chapters; and we close this with the simple suggestion that absolute truth can never be comprehended by the intellect until it forms an intimate acquaintance with the soul essence of the thing concerning which it would desire to obtain a knowledge. CHAPTEE II. INTELLIGENCE. Intelligence seems to convey about the same idea as information or knowledge. We usually term an indi- vidual who is well informed, or one possessed of a large fund of knowledge, an intelligent person. If intelligence is really something, it must exist some- where; and if men gather and retain it, they must gather it in those places where it may be found. It would be worse than idle to search for it where it is not. It is quite generally supposed we may find its dwelling place in the mentalities of reasoning beings, or such as have intellectual faculties sufficiently unfolded to grasp and entertain ideas. It is barely possible, however, that intelligence may exist to a cer- tain extent in what we term unreasoning beiugs, or those who do not seem to be possessed of powers suffi- ciently acute to grasp any series of thoughts or ideas. We might very properly institute an inquiry con- cerning the great source or fountain of intelligence to which thinking men have ever resorted in order to gather their varied stores of truth or knowledge. Has every one who during earth life seemed to accumulate a large amount of information or an extended stock of knowledge, and thus become what we term very intel- ligent, received all he has obtained from his neighbor or his predecessor? If so, his neighbor or his ancestor (52) INTELLIGENCE. 53 must have obtained their intelligence from other parties also; and in that case it would be extremely difficult for us to discover how knowledge could so increase in our world, or how men could have received from their ancestors what was evidently not in their possession. As facts demonstrate that our fathers were not in pos- session of all the intelligence known to the present age, they could not by any possibility have imparted to their children what was not their own. Where, then, is the great treasure house in which may be found all this vast store of intelligence held in reserve for the children of men, ready for their use whenever they are prepared to avail themselves of its benefits? It must have its existence somewhere, and there must also be some machinery by which this vast fund of knowledge is communicated to the compre- hension of the human mind. There must be in some accessible portion of nature's vast domain an unwritten volume, whose broad illuminated pages are all opened for human inspection. Where can this divine work be found? Shall we travel to some distant portion of our own globe, or to some neighboring planet, in search of this sacred book? Shall we extend our researches into the musty worm-eaten tomes or revelations of past ages, or commence our inquiries right where we are, at home? We certainly need not go into any " far country" or supernatural region; but right here in our father's house, inside of nature's precincts, we shall find of this "bread enough and to spare" — an entire sufficiency of that intelligence we require to satisfy the most exorbitant demands. Doubtless the naturalist in his researches has sue- 54 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. ceeded in unfolding some of- the wonderful pages of this exhaustless volume. He has evidently obtained from this source all his extended knowledge of the vegetable aud other kingdoms or departments in nature. Of whom has he inquired concerning the classification, the orders, the genus and species of the several plants, their virtues, uses and properties, if he did not interrogate the plants themselves? How could he have ascertained all the important and interesting facts in relation to this department of nature if he had not consulted the various inhabitants residing within its jurisdiction? How would he have been able to distinguish the apple from the plum, or the rose from the tulip, if he had not formed their acquaintance and held a sort of silent converse with all, and learned from each their individual structures and peculiar properties. We perceive, then, what the science of botany must have been drawn from, because it exists in the great multitude of plants constituting the vegetable kingdom ; and the accomplished naturalist is indebted to them, collectively and individually, for all he knows concern- ing their peculiarities. Had no one communicated with them, nothing would have been known about them. Do they not contain within their own circum- scribed limits all the intelligence there can be apper- taining to themselves? If not, where shall we apply for a more extended knowledge than they individually can offer? There can be no person in the world, however great his attainments, who is capable of gathering more intelligence or information concerning the herb of the field or the flowers that bloom in the garden than they INTELLIGENCE. 55 contain within their own organisms; for here, and here alone, is the source and fountain of all knowledge men can possibly obtain in relation to this portion of nature's beautiful workmanship. If we gain any information from written books upon this subject, we are compelled, before we are certain of its truthfulness, to compare it with the pages which are unfolded in the great volume of nature in order to ascertain if the written book is a correct transcript of the unwritten one that is open before the eyes of every individual. We must try the language of the written book by the language we find inscribed upon the various leaves or pages in the vegetable kingdom before we know it to be truth. "We may extend our inquiries into the various departments of nature, and if possible ascertain where this wonderful stock of knowledge exists which has been transcribed upon all the scientific and philosophic works underneath which the shelves in our various libraries are groaning. Can it be there is a fountain head somewhere from which all this great array of learning has emanated — a vast receptacle, in whicli it is all contained, and so guarded that it is only accessible to a favored few who are graciously per- mitted to drink of these perennial waters? Such can- not be the case; for there is evidently an inexhaustible, an overwhelmingly capacious reservoir of truth and knowledge, whose copious waters have ever flowed, with all their invigorating and refreshing sweetness, and they have been alike free for all who would partake. There has ever been an open volume whose illumi- nated pages have never been contaminated by the 56 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. slimy, mercenary teachings of monk or priest. It has come down to us from all past eternities without a single letter in its universal alphabet being obliterated, defaced or changed to the least possible extent. This volume reads to-day precisely as it did when the morn- ing stars sang together and the first born sons of God, or any other being, shouted for joy at the advent of a new born world. What we learn from this sacred volume will be as enduring as the infinite cycles of existence. The simplest passage transcribed from this book upon our inner organisms shall abide with us, though we die a thousand deaths and pass through innumerable changes; though we may be transported to the remotest portions of nature's mighty universe, and exist for countless cycles of ages; still that passage shall abide with us always, aiding in the upbuilding of our interior selfhood. The divine truths contained in this sacred book are of universal application. They must be as valuable to the inhabitants of Jupiter, Saturn or Neptune, or any of the fixed stars, as they are to us. They are as admirably adapted to meet the wants of the highest seraph, or the gloriously illuminated spirit who occu- pies the most exalted throne in the celestial world, as they are for theVeakest of the sons of earth; and but for the intelligence gained from these sacred pages, no one of all these beings could occupy their lofty positions. This volume will be perused with undyiug interest when Yedas and Shastas, Korans and Bibles, and all the so-called sacred writings of to-day, shall have passed away like so many waifs upon the ocean of time. It contains in all its innumerable pages not a doctrine INTELLIGENCE. 57 or a faith, not a dogma or a belief; nothing but pure unadulterated intelligence, which has existed during all those antecedent eternities which knew no begin- ning, and must so continue to exist during all those of the future, which can know no termination. Reader, if you and I are elevated above the worm that crawls, or the meanest object in nature, it is because we have been permitted to read and under- stand a few of the countless pages in this mighty volume; and if we would rise higher we must continue to read and comprehend what this book contains. Ignorance is damnation ; and all the beliefs and faiths in the world will never save a single soul from that damnation. Nothing but intelligence can remove the curse; there is no power in the broad universe that can bring salvation, or save us from the fearful curse of ignorance and consequent folly, except experience and knowledge. Then we may as well draw nigh at once to the open fountain where intelligence may be found, and hold converse with those beings who have it in their possession. We have spoken to the inhab- itants of the vegetable kingdom, and have found them ready to respond to our earnest appeals for knowledge; they are willing to give us all they possess. Has not the geologist held silent communion with the rocks that compose the everlasting hills? If not, how has he obtained the intelligence that lies within them? He has studied them, says my friend. Ah! that will do! He has learned their language, the same as we do when we study books, and precisely what we do when we study or converse with men. We learn their language by listening to the sound of their vocal 58 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. organs, and thus ascertain the idea they wish to convey. But there is a silent language impressed upon and existing in every object in nature which has never been " confounded," which always speaks truthfully to those who can understand its import. Men, when they talk, are at times exceedingly unreliable; they may tell us the truth, and they may not. There are a multitude of reasons why men do not in all cases speak the truth; and the prominent one is because they do not always comprehend what the truth may be, for comparatively few have read it correctly upon the broad tablets where native truth is found inscribed. Could men familiarize themselves with all there is in nature, and become per- fectly acquainted with the silent language existing in all things, and acquire the intelligence found within them, there would be little difficulty in arriving at knowledge. One of the prominent difficulties which seems to operate very disadvantageously to the people of the present age, as well as the ages that have gone by, is that they have quite generally rejected this mode of obtaining intelligence, and placed implicit reliance upon a written volume, which originated in the ruder periods of man's history, amid the dense clouds of darkness and superstition which overshadowed the earlier inhabitants of the world. Hence the real intel- ligence drawn from the true fountain where it exists unadulterated has been made subordinate to the so- called written word or divine revelation. The intelligence which man might have obtained by holding converse with all the various objects in the natural universe, has been deemed of little importance INTELLIGENCE. 59 compared to that which could be gleaned from the written volume. The one was supposed to appertain only to this life, while the other they claimed reached out and took hold of those conditions in the spiritual abodes which would open up to our view when this life had drawn to a close. The one has been called temporal, as being attached to time upon the earth, while the other was called spiritual and eternal, because this knowledge was supposed to look toward a spiritual or eternal state of existence. There are untold thousands, if not millions, of some- what intelligent people living in the world to-day who entertain a sort of abomination for all that is natural ; who, under the instructions of an apparently intel- lectual priesthood, are vainly endeavoring to live out- side of nature, and get into the so-called supernatural; and thus they pass their lives in a maze of shadows and uncertainties. We quite frequently hear very good, well-meaning people remark, in an excess of devoutness, that they want nothing save Jesus and him crucified; and yet they eat and drink, dwell in houses and sleep in their beds; they read books, and enjoy the society of their companions and children, and are surrounded by innu- merable comforts which they appreciate very highly. They probably do not intend to be guilty of telling an untruth when they say this; but they are evidently telling what is far from correct, for if they will stop and reflect a little they may discover they want almost everything else, and Jesus is the very last thing they really need. There is not a man or woman living to- day who can solemnly affirm of their own knowledge 60 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. that this Jesus has ever, at any time, supplied any single one of the numerous wants that have occurred during their history, or that he ever will supply any of their accruing wants during all the ages to come. Then we may ascertain that there is very much in this world of immense value to the human family entirely independent of Jesus or the Apostles or Prophets, and that these personages have never made one hair white or black in regard to all this array of intelligence which exists in nature's vast arcanum. If Jesus, or those who wrote his history, had a more extended knowledge than we enjoy, they too must have read the great unwritten volume; they must have held converse with nature in her varied departments in order to have obtained that knowledge; they must have gone to the fountain where intelligence exists in all its regal glory, or else obtained it second hand from some one who had been there. If the so-called divine revelation conveys to the mind one jot of real knowl- edge, that knowledge must be drawn from the source of all intelligence; it must have existed originally in the living molecules or spirit entities of which all things in the natural and spiritual universe are com- posed, and that intelligence must have been elaborated by the continual change and unfoldment of these before it could have been communicated to the parties who gave this revelation. All of truth which divine revelation can possibly contain exists to-day some- where in the different departments of the natural universe, and is only a transcript from the great volume which contains all; and those sayings are no more truthful for having been transcribed. The truths INTELLIGENCE. 61 found in the so-called divine revelation (if it contains any truth) may be read to-day somewhere upon nature's inexhaustible tablets, where all intelligence is inscribed, as well as upon the day in which they were written. Hence, if they cannot be found there they are spurious — not genuine; they are mere fallacies, and unworthy the attention of cultivated minds. The real intelligent idea that first enters the mind of the child and begins to exert its expanding influ- ence, is evidently a portion of the knowledge of a God, or of the most developed beings who exist, or those beings could not possess all knowledge. Hence, the simple ideas which can be entertained by the child are quite as important as any others in the whole range of intelligent thought, for they are required to prepare the intellect for the reception of higher and still higher intelligence, which may be gleaned from the bright and glowing fields found in the spiritual domain. It was very natural, then, for us as children to be placed in this rudimental or more materialized condition first, that we might gain our early experiences amidst material objects of a comparatively simple character. And in order to accomplish this more successfully, we have been provided with the organs of sense; we can see these objects in nature with our eyes, handle them with our hands, hear with our ears any sounds which may proceed from them, taste of their fruits, or smell any of the various odors which they may produce. We have been provided with perceptive faculties that may discriminate and combine and compare one with another, and gain intelligence from all these various objects in a thousand different ways. 62 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. And yet, in direct contrast with this appropriate method which nature has introduced, the Christian teacher and the devout parent introduces to the mind of the child the most complex and difficult ideas which they do not claim to have seen, handled, smelt, heard, tasted, or even comprehended in the least degree. They talk to their children all about an omnipotent God, who dwells somewhere in the ethereal worlds, who had an only begotten son born of a virgin. They talk also of the Holy Ghost and the devil, and that terra incognita, the Garden of Eden; the first man, and the woman who was made from one of his ribs, and the apple she ate from the forbidden tree at the instigation of the serpent, and a thousand other vague, incomprehensible ideas. They teach the child to read from this so-called divine revelation the history of that barbarous race, the early Hebrews, and call them God's chosen people, and to regard the absurd stories which have accumulated in their writings as profitable and sacred. They indoctrinate the older child into a firm belief in the benefits of a vicarious atonement, and the infallibility of those ancient records which teach this and a hundred dogmas and beliefs equally absurd and visionary; and they call this the very quintessence of a Christian education — an education, they say, which is calculated to elevate and glorify the human char- acter, and raise man from a condition of ignorance and heathenism up to a blessed state of Christian intelli- gence and religious enlightenment worthy the highest admiration. We simply remark that there never was a religion adopted by any people upon the face of this mundane INTELLIGENCE. 63 sphere that has contained one particle of intelligence within all its beliefs and ceremonials; that every one of them have been adopted in consequence of a lack of intelligence — for the want of that knowledge which is of the most substantial, enduring and elevating character. There never was a dogma, a faith, or a belief attached to any of the numerous religions that ever had the least tendency to expand the intellect or increase the intelligence of a single person since men have existed as conscious individuals. There never was a form of worship or a ceremonial introduced into any of these various religions which ever added a single valuable thought to his stock of real knowledge, or that had the least tendency to illuminate the under- standing in any proper sense of the term. Intelligence comes from an entirely different direc- tion. Does the geologist who would acquaint himself with all the information connected with his department of science obtain his intelligence by attending to any of the ceremonials of religion, or first confessing his sins, and adopting a blind faith? Would his best plan be to first unite with one of the popular churches, and attend religiously to all the duties they would pre- scribe? There are very many thousands who have been in these various churches for a long time, and enjoyed all their practical benefits, who never read a single intelligent sentence inscribed upon the rocky tablets of universal nature, and whose minds upon such subjects are still overclouded by the murky shadows of night, having hardly commenced that educational school, which is to continue through the eternal ages of their future existence. 64 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. The geologist evidently does not look in this direc- tion for his intelligence; he must go where he can find what he requires — to the pebble, or the grain of sand — and ask of them what secrets they have to unfold. He must inquire of the ever enduring rocks, whose brows seem frosted o'er with the accumulations of countless winters. He must ask of the solid granite himself for its true characteristics, its nature and properties, for no one but the granite can relate its history. If he fails to elicit intelligence from his hoary majesty, as he sits enthroned the ancient king of the everlasting mountain, he must fail to receive the required infor- mation. The limestone, the slate, the sandstone, or the chalk formations can only speak for themselves. They evidently have a shorter history than the granite, and are quite incompetent to speak for this aged sire, or tell from whence he came. The only possible intelligence we can gain, then, concerning the various geologic formations, is by listen- ing to their silent converse and permitting them to tell their own stories, or reading upon their well-inscribed pages an exact account of their true natures and prop- erties. By so doing the granite has already revealed a fund of knowledge concerning himself which has been transcribed into the various books that treat upon the subject. Men quite generally, in order to obtain a knowledge of this matter, as well as any other science, resort to the books which have been written by those who have attained some proficiency in their several professions. But long before they complete their education they must resort to the various departments of nature, and INTELLIGENCE. 65 ascertain if what they have read in the books is there corroborated. It was because Euclid made a discovery in the natural universe concerning cubes, triangles and circles, and transcribed the intelligence he had gained upon the pages of a book or a roll of parchment, so that this intelligence could be more easily acquired by other men, that we call this science at the present day Euclid's geometry. Did this old Greek monopolize and take into his immediate possession the facts and principles connected with geometrical figures? All these figures and forms, together with the principles upon which all the problems concerning them are solved, are as eternal as the universe of matter, and certainly existed independent of any being who ever walked the earth or dwelt in the celestial spheres. All that a Euclid or a God could have done in relation to this matter was to hold silent communion or con- verse with these forms, and learn what they had to unfold concerning the grand principles by which they were and always will be governed. We may read with great care and attention all that ancient and modern geometricians may have said, and solve all their problems with great mathematical pre- cision; yet, before we can learn all that is to be learned upon this sublime subject, we must go to the fountain head, and read the inscription which nature has made upon her own divine tablets; we must go to the same source from whence these eminent men gained their intelligence. TTe shall surely find in nature all that they have found ; and if we have the required intel- lectual powers we may find more, for we may not suppose that all intelligence concerning this science 5 t>b THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. has yet been revealed to man, or that the various forms in nature have told all the story they have to unfold. The revealment and solution of the celebrated problem of the square of the hypotenuse by Pythagoras, has been of more real practical benefit to humanity than all that has been told in connection with their religion by all the Popes and Christian fathers from Peter down to the would-be infallible Pius IX.; and the name of this philosopher shall flourish in perpetual greenness. The memory of such men, who have gleaned from the unexplored fields of nature some intelligent thought which had hitherto lain buried, will live and be hallowed by the minds of those suc- ceeding ages, who will only remember the religious devotee as having been connected with the ceremonials and idle superstitions of a dark age and a semi-barbar- ous people. Men have erected institutions of learning in which the principal branches taught were a knowledge of the languages made use of by the Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, Chaldees and Arabs. All this was very proper, providing the pupils could thereby arrive at the intelligence those ancient people had treasured up; otherwise, a knowledge of the language they used in conveying their ideas could not have been of the least importance to the student who was in pursuit of intel- ligence. As all these different languages were but so many vocal sounds, or written characters expressive of certain ideas or particles of thought, and not one of those mere sounds or characters have retained any of the particles they conveyed when they were used for that purpose any more than the farmer's wagon INTELLIGENCE. 67 still retains the produce it conveyed to market ten years ago. "We might as well expect to make bread from the wagon or car wheels which transport the wheat, as to gain intelligence from a dead language which was formerly the vehicle used in conveying the ideas of a people from one to the other. There is no intelligence locked up in a dead language. If these several languages ever conveyed any knowledge to or from those who used them, that intelligence is still living in all its pristine glory upon the broad open pages of universal nature. Can intelligence or knowledge or truths exist in a book? By no means; they can only exist in the ever- living fountain, and all the book can possibly do is to give us some incomplete information concerning the intelligence the author may have found in his researches through some of nature's broad and pleasant fields. Audubon traveled far and wide for years through the vast forests of the American continent before he presented to the world his book, called the Birds of America. Can it be supposed that he conveys to the mind of the reader in that book all he learned in his extended travels? Certainly not; yet all he learned remains upon the pages of nature still, and may be read again by any one who wishes to take the trouble; and much more still remains than ever was conceived of by this distinguished naturalist. The only possible way this enterprising traveler could obtain any knowl- edge concerning the birds which he has painted so beautifully, was to make their acquaintance; and all the intelligence he could possibly glean concerning them he obtained from this feathered race. Had he 00 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. not done so, he would have known nothing concerning them. Then, very evidently, the intelligence must have been within the bird itself; and somehow it was conveyed by a silent language to the mentality of the naturalist. An enterprising captain, who had for a long period of time navigated a steamer between San Francisco and Portland, in Oregon, became so ver} T familiar with the character of the dSris that was washed from the mouth of the Columbia river, and also that which flowed from the Golden Gate, that he could go with safety into either harbor in the most dense fog or the darkest night, by simply examining the sands brought up by the lead in sounding. Thus he gained intelli- gence from this sand brought from the bottom of the ocean, concerning his whereabouts, sufficient to secure the safety of his ship and passengers. He held silent converse with these minute grains of sand; and they told him from whence they came, and that they only were found in the channels that would conduct him to those harbors of safety. Had there been no grains of sand found, he could have gained no such information. A certain jehu, whose official position was that of conducting the stage from Boston to the White Hills, related to one of his passengers, with great glee, a story concerning a lot of fellows who rode with him a few days previous, and who it appeared had chartered his vehicle for their own especial accommodation. He said they were pretty good looking and wore good clothes, but they had with them canvas bags, stone hammers, and some other tools, and they were fre- quently stopping to gather up little pebbles by the INTELLIGENCE. 69 roadside. When they came to a rock or pile of stones they would stop the coach, get out, and hammer away, breaking off small pieces and jabbering over them some language he could not understand; and he said they continued this all the way to their destination. Really, they acted like a parcel of fools; and he never could comprehend what they intended, or what they were in search of, or what they wanted of the pieces of rock with which they filled their satchels. The reader will discover that they were a party of gentle- men who were students of nature; and eager to become more familiarized with this particular department, they were conversing with the various rocks they discov- ered, and thus gaining intelligence which cannot be found in our college halls, because it is only obtained from this natural fountain head of intelligence. The anatomist, if he would get a clear and compre- hensive view of the different portions of the physical system of either man or beast, must dissect, and inquire of the various organs in relation to their several uses and their peculiar properties. He must ask of the muscles and bones, the arteries and veins, the sinews and nerves, concerning the particular duties they perform in the animal economy; he must read upon the pages which they unfold, and he finds here an unerring guide to that intelligence he requires. Here is the grand revelation which nature has made con- cerning this portion of her handicraft; and without holding this silent converse with all the different organs in the whole machinery of the human system, the anatomist and physiologist would remain forever ignorant of their appropriate uses. 70 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. We find, then, very conclusive testimony establish- ing the great fact that all real substantial intelligence absolutely exists in, and is a component part of, the object in nature of which we may obtain a knowledge; and that the only possible method of obtaining the intelligence inherent in all tilings is by a consultation with the objects themselves. Intelligence, it is obvious, must be a concomitant of something — it cannot exist in nothing; therefore, it will always be found in the company of real essences or material things. Some- thing, in order to be such, must be composed of the atomic particles which were originally, and may be again, infinitesimally etherealized. Then we shall learn that all intelligence must have had its origin in this infinitesimal entity of which all is formed; for if this wonderful element did not exist in the least par- ticle of material substance from which all things are produced, how could it have been introduced into the various accumulations which have resolved themselves into all the different real, substantial objects we find in nature? We now learn that we must go downward to the most etherealized atom before we can find the original abiding place — the grand reservoir or fountain head from whence all intelligence comes to the human intel- lect. Thus we arrive at the conclusion that intelligence has absolutely resided and found its home, from all the eternities which have ever rolled onward in their ceaseless rounds, with the smallest particle of material substance; here has been its abiding place, and here may be found the infinite reservoir — the living fount- ain — from whence has come all the intelligent thought INTELLIGENCE. 71 that beautifies the most intellectual beings in either the material or spiritual abodes. There can be no doubt but an inconceivable extent of unoccupied territory must still remain in the infi- nite realms of space, where no suns or planets have as yet been wakened into activity and life. Neither can it be doubted that those unoccupied regions contain all the material substance or atomic particles necessary for the ultimate construction of all the worlds, which may be considered requisite by those exalted spiritual beings who may control their erection and manage their affairs. No one can suppose, who gives this subject a thought, that the worlds are all built or that this universe is finished; but we are compelled to conclude that new worlds and systems of worlds will spring into existence, or be constructed by the same means used in the production of those which are now per- forming their revolutions, and which are teeming with active living beings in all stages of unfold ment. "We must also conclude, that as these stupendous enter- prises have been carried out during all past eternities, they will continue to be accomplished during all those of the future. Where, then, shall be found all the intelligence that shall constitute a part and parcel of these new formed worlds? Shall it be imported to them from some far off region, and thus bestowed upon their inhabitants, or shall it be manufactured to order expressly for their benefit? We discover at once that all of intelligence they will ever enjoy must have existed in the atomic particles or etherealized essences from which these new formed worlds must be com- 72 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. posed; for it certainly could not be introduced at a subsequent period into these particles, or into the various forms which are produced from their aggrega- tions. It cannot be that in the construction of a world any element can be introduced from some other portion of the universe which does not exist in a latent condition in the original matter from which the world is pro- duced, as no good reason can be assigned why elements should exist in one portion of the infinite ocean which do not exist in every other portion. Then all worlds must be dependent upon their own resources for all the forces and elementary possibilities they contain, and must unfold in all their departments without any foreign aid, simply by evolving the inherent latent qualities and properties contained in the material sub- stances of which they are formed ; and all these elements of unfoldment must come up from the original soul essence, else it could not exist in the ultimate world. If the primeval atoms are in a state of repose or sleep, they must convey very little intelligence; but if they are in a state of activity, they certainly may exhibit much more. The grain of sand evidently con- veys a less amount of information than the living animalcule or infusoria; but each offers up willingly to the student of nature all they possess. The grain of sand has revealed all that is known concerning its constituent elements, and has informed the naturalist how much of silicon, oxygen, or any other element, it may contain; and by the aid of the requisite lenses it may inform him of its exact form, and relate a very considerable portion of its previous history. INTELLIGENCE. 73 The animalcule can say very much more concerning itself, or very much more may be learned by listening to its silent language. It may tell a wondrous tale concerning its physical organization, its sense or power of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling; and it may converse at great length in relation to the com- plicated machinery introduced into its structure. It may startle us by endeavoring to give an idea of the infinitesimal fineness of the particles which compose its organs of vision — the cornea, the retina, and pupil of its eye, and the delicate nerves that convey this sense of vision to the brain. It might, perhaps, in its silent language, talk learnedly of its digestive organs, and the peculiar character of the food best suited to its appetites and tastes. Very many volumes have been, and many more doubtless will be, written from this vast fund of intel- ligence in the possession of the animalcuhe, which is entirely beyond the reach of human vision, and which can only be discovered by the aid of powerful micro- scopic lenses. This knowledge was all retained by them in their own possession until the introduction of the microscope permitted men to form their acquaintance, and opened to our astonished vision this new world of wonders. Men may learn, then, in process of time, that they have looked altogether in the wrong direction for the great source of intelligence. They have been peering out into the realms of space, expecting to find some infinite personality who contained within himself the vast accumulation, the fountain head of all knowledge, and they have looked in vain ; they have never found 74 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. it existing in any such personality. All the reveal- men ts which men claim come to us from that direction, show most conclusively upon their own face their spurious and fallacious character; and these written revelations, by their utter deficiency in real substantial knowledge, prove conclusively they did not come from the fountain where intelligence finds a dwelling place. Which can we suppose will be the most enduring, the system of geometry compiled by Euclid, or the Mosaic history of the creation of the world? Which contains the greater amount of intelligence, and which is best sustained and substantiated by evidences inscribed upon the walls of the natural universe? There is not a solitary man who has a sufficiently expanded intellect to comprehend the principles taught by Euclid that ever entertains a shadow of doubt concerning their truthfulness. Neither is there one who has any com- prehensive knowledge of the nature and capabilities of the human intellect, but will readily recommend him who desires to expand and improve his faculties and powers of thinking and reasoning to acquaint himself with the principles of geometry, as presented by this so-called heathen author, who never heard of a bible. And why all this? Simply because these principles are found in nature, and their value and truthfulness is being better comprehended as man pro- gresses onward to his higher destination. But what of the Mosaic account of the world's crea- tion — this so-called divine revelation contained in the first three chapters of Genesis, and which is said to have come to us directly from an infinite personal intelligence, in order to instruct us in relation to that INTELLIGENCE. 75 important passage in the world's history? Is it quite generally accepted by intellectual thinking men as a truthful history of events that have really transpired? Can we look out upon the inscribed tablets of nature anywhere and read what would in any sense of the word corroborate a single line related in that history? So far from this, there is not an honest, unprejudiced man, who has made any considerable attainments in scientific knowledge, who dare lay his hand upon his heart and affirm that the human mind is capable of gathering the least particle of intelligence from this history concerning the origin of the earth, of man who dwells upon the earth, of the sun, moon, or any of the hosts of planetary worlds by which we are surrounded. Every intelligent man must admit that we might peruse and obtain a knowledge of every word of that history, and still remain as ignorant of the various processes by which the earth assumed its present form, and by which man and the animals made their appear- ance as inhabitants upon its surface, as the chair upon which we sit or the desk upon which we write. What absurdity and incongruity is presented in the idea that this infinitely wise and powerful personal Being should create from nothing another intelligent being, precisely in accordance with His own infinite conceptions and ability, pronounce him not only good, but very good, and then in a few days turn him out of the garden prepared for him, because he proved bad, and very bad. Is there any real intelligence in this story, or does it look reliable upon its face? Neither; nor does it convey to the mind of the reader oue expanding, ennobling thought, or one that is 76 THE GOSPEL OF NATUKE. established by any evidences that we can find graven in nature's universal volume. And yet this simple, unnatural story is as well established by the facts found in nature as most of the stories or dogmas and teachings that comprise the pages of this so-called infallible word of divine truth, which is said to have come to us from the infinite personal God. Is there anything contained in the sentence which reads, " and He made the stars also," that is calculated to throw one ray of light upon the interesting subject of the formation or production of all this vast display of twinkling luminaries which constitute the sideral heavens, each one of which is proven by the most undoubted evidence to be a fully developed sun, per- haps in the midst of a solar system? Is it not proven most conclusively upon the face of this ancient legend, that somehow found a place in the sacred writings of the Jews, that ■ the author, who ever he might have been, supposed that the sun, moon and stars were simple adjuncts to this little planet we inhabit, merely placed out in the realms of space for its accommodation and convenience? The author has appropriated five entire days of the memorable week in which the creative energies of that omniscient and immutable personal being was brought to bear in the production of this little, comparatively insignificant planet of ours, while but a portion of a single day was devoted to the manufacture of the sun and moon, and the remnant of that single day in bringing into existence all the infinite host of planetary bodies — the inconceivable and uncomprehended multi- tude of suns that shine forth in all their glory and INTELLIGENCE. 77 magnificence in the sideral heavens. Does this passage, which claims to have been written for the purpose of conveying to the human mind some information con- cerning the beginning of all material existence, bring with it a single raj of intelligence? Every well informed person must answer in the negative; because you can find nothing in nature that corroborates or in any way tends to establish the truth of this statement. On the contrary, every particle of intelligence which has come to us from the stars, the sun and the moon, plainly and flatly contradicts the statement made in the text. Is there any lineament or feature in the sun's bright and expanded face that would inform us that he was made in a fractional part of a day, or that he was formed or created since our earth came into existence, and as a sort of adjunct or necessary append- age to this planet? Certainly all the intelligence we can gain respecting the sun has come to us directly from the sun itself. There can be no exalted intellect in the celestial spheres who can convey to our minds any intelligence concerning this central orb in our solar system, unless some one had first gained it from the orb itself; for all the intelligence that is immediately connected with the sun exists in itself, and how shall it be obtained unless from that particular source? A very cursory glance at the sun by an astronomer informs him beyond a doubt that it is very many hundred thousand times larger than our earth; that it is placed in the center of the solar system to which the earth is attached; that it exerts a controlling influence to a certain extent over this entire solar system; and that 78 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. the earth is comparatively a trifling appendage to this great central orb. And further, that instead of being produced upon any fourth day of creation, it must have had a planetary history that dated untold billions of years before our little planet earth was materialized. If we look out upon the moon, whose experience and intelligence is enfolded within itself, we shall learn from its pale face that it must have had a material history of far shorter duration; that it is really an appendage of the earth, and is to an extent dependent upon it for a part of its evolutions; and being so, it must have made its appearance in the heavens at a subsequent period. Its inferior comparative size, its small distance from the planet around which it revolves, the short period of its orbital revolution, and the fact that it revolves around one of the smaller planets in the solar system, all prove its comparative youthfulness. The very fact that the moon revolves around the earth, and is dependent upon it for the focal center of its orbital revolution, establishes beyond contradiction that the moon is far younger than the natural parent from whence it has drawn its proper sustenance; as this fact is proven in every instance of a similar char- acter in the whole universe. Let us go out and hold silent converse with any one of the shining orbs among the thousands of millions that constitute that portion of the sideral heavens which has come within the range of astronomical observation, and inquire if he, with all the twinkling host, were created from nothing, rather late in the afternoon of the fourth day, as described by Moses, at the beck of an imaginary infinite personal being who INTELLIGENCE. 79 afterwards figured so extensively as the God of the Hebrews. Ask any one of these apparent twinkling- gems that aid in beautifying and adorning the brow of night, but which is in reality a vast sun, with a retinue of worlds revolving around him as a grand center, and who with his system is wheeling through the regions of space in an orbit of such vast dimen- sions as to. bewilder the mathematician in his boldest computations. Ask that star if he, with all the innu- merable company which constitute the incomprehen- sible framework, as well as the materialized moving machinery of the universe, if they were all spoken into existence as appendages to this little earth by this Hebrew God whom the Christians now worship as the maker of all things in the heavens and upon the earth. If we get any intelligence from the stars, some one must certainly apply to them for what is obtained; not one particle of knowledge concerning them has ever come to any living being but must have come from that source. Every one of these orbs will flatly contradict the Mosaic account of their production, and tell us in language too plain to be misunderstood that they have been rolling on in their ceaseless journeys untold millions of ages before Moses or his God was ever thought of by man or any other being attached to our earth. It is quite frequently remarked that the so-called Word of God does not claim to give intelligence to the world upon any scientific subject; hence it could not be supposed that it would enlighten the inquiring mind in relation to astronomical questions. We simply say in reply that the bible conveys just as 80 THE GOSPEL OF NATUKE. nmch intelligence in relation to the creation of the earth, the sun and moon and other heavenly bodies, as it does upon any portion of nature's universal domain, which surely embraces all there can be found in the material and spiritual entirety of existence. If this revelation does not convey any intelligence upon any scientific or philosophical subject, we may very prop- erly inquire what kind of intelligence or knowledge it does convey to the world ? For, we aver, without any fear of contradiction, that there is no fact or principle in all the broad universal dominions that is not within the range of science and philosophy. No aggregation of atoms can be found without such existence is in perfect accordance with universal eternal law; and when you have found all the atomic particles, in their various forms, conditions and modifications, and all the varied laws and forces by which these conditions and modifications are governed, you have found all there is inside of nature's realms. Science and philosophy, as far as they extend, or as far as they are comprehended by men, are connected with these various modifications of atomic particles from the grosser to the most ethereal — from the coarser parts of the mineral kingdom to the finest spiritualized essences known to men, or that can exist in the spirit spheres. One reason why men do not attain to a scientific knowledge of all things in heaven and earth, or in the spiritual and material realms, is because their organs of sense and perception are too obtuse, and their time too limited, to obtain a knowl- edge of the finer essences. Men's scientific and philo- sophic researches cannot close up with their earthly INTELLIGENCE. 81 career. It is not because science and philosophy do not embrace all there is to be learned in the material and spiritual worlds that learned men understand so little, but because they comprehend so little of the infinite extent of science and philosophy. If the bible does not claim to convey to men any of that kind of intelligence which may be found inside of the material or spiritual universe, and all intelligence is contained within these boundaries, then it really conveys no intelligence at all. It claims to have commenced with all other such like revelations, out in the supernatural, or outside the limits of nature or beyond the confines of the material and ethereal domain, and there it ends. It commenced in darkness and chaos, and will probably end in smoke, or something less substantial. It has brought strong delusion that its votaries and the worshipers at its shrine "might believe a lie, that they all might be damned," that they might all suffer the damnation of their ignorance, folly and superstition. The idea of the Hebrew God, like all the other gods that have ever been adored by men in their various conditions, together with all the instructions that Moses claimed to have received from that source, have had no higher origin than the intellects of the men or finite beings who have presented this kind of teaching. It becomes very clear that all kinds of revelations proceeding from a so-called supernatural realm, are mythical and delusive to the last extreme, because no such realm can by any possibility have an existence. Therefore, in all our researches after intelligence, it will be absolutely necessary that we should confine 6 82 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. ourselves within the limits of the natural universe, where real, substantial entities may be found passing through their varied evolutions, and where universal law regulates and modifies the movement of all things, from the least atom to the most ponderous globe. It is also clear that the universe of nature affords ample scope for the exercise of the loftiest intellects for interminable ages or cycles; and still the domain of intelligent thought shall not be explored, but newer wonders and newer beauties shall present themselves to the astonished beholder at every step in advance. Then why should not all these wanderers return to their Father's house, where the bread of life abounds, enough and to spare. OHAPTEE III. INTELLECT. Intellect is usually denominated that faculty or power existing within physical organisms which seems to be capable of grasping and comprehending intelli- gent ideas. This power seems to bear the same rela- tion to thoughts or intelligence as the physical system does to the food of which it partakes. The system is evidently composed of the molecules it has gathered from the sustenance which by certain processes within are elaborated and take their respective places in its different members as they are required. The intellect, then, must be composed and built up by those finer thought essences it gathers from the various forms of intelligence upon which it subsists, and which it may be able to digest or comprehend, and thus make a part of itself. The intellect must be as much supe- rior to the intelligent thought which affords nutriment as the physical body is superior to the food consumed and by which such body is sustained. Both are alike subject to change, or growth and development; both may evidently advance from a lower to a higher con- dition, and both may doubtless experience their infancy and proximate maturity. The intellect of the matured person seems quite a different affair from that of the child or mere youth; the one has surely unfolded to a higher status than the other, and if so, it must have (83) 84 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. received into its organism the nutriment it required in order to produce this growth or development. There can be no other element in nature which can possibly afford nutrition for the intellectual organism except that intelligence which it receives in the form of thoughts. We are persuaded the human mind is entirely unable to conceive of any other method of intellectual unfoldment, except by furnishing this organization with the kind of sustenance to which we have already referred. It also follows that the intelli- gence which serves as nutriment, and which produces a healthy growth, must be of a genuine character — not degenerated by any taint of untruthfulness, or any quality which renders it unfit for the high purpose of building up and unfolding the intellect properly. No shams, guesses, or beliefs or undigested opinions of other persons, will supply the proper aliment for the growth or enlargement of a healthy intellectual organ- ism. If intellect is a real, absolute existence — a power within man or any other organized form of life possess- ing great activities — it must of necessity be supplied with real, absolute food, adapted to its wants, capacities and general conditions; for, any independent organism possessing real, absolute, positive power and activity, cannot continue its active exertions without being recuperated by the natural elements upon which it subsists, and the elements upon which it subsists must necessarily assimilate with itself. The physical system cannot pursue its activities and perform its proper functions unless it has a continual supply of food, from which it is furnished with those INTELLECT. 85 powers that have been exhausted by its labors. It is also required that the elements should be suitable, or of a similar character, to those of which the system was originally constructed, that they may enter into and become a component part of itself, thus supplying its continuous wants. So the intellectual organism, which is a thousand times more active than the cum- brous physical, also needs to be the constant recipient of appropriate elements to supply the waste, as well as to aid in its growth and development. If intellects may grow and expand, then, there may have been a period when the most exalted one upon our planet of which we have any knowledge or can entertain any conception, may have been in a very feeble condition, nay, there may have been a time when all its powers which are now so pre-eminent were entirely latent or germinal. Again, the intellects can only grow and unfold by personal experiences. They must receive and appropriate the intelligence necessary to promote growth in their own individual capacity, and by virtue of powers of unfoldment existing within themselves; for, without such interior powers or capa- bilities of unfoldment, it is very obvious none could be produced. If such is the case, w r e may safely conclude that whatever thing is capable of passing through an expe- rience of any character, and is possessed of this won- derful element of development, must be endowed to that limited extent with an intellect or an individual soul which is therefore susceptible to growth and expansion. The individual soul or spirit in man or any other animal must be that most spiritualized 86 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. power which is capable of entertaining a thought or grasping an idea; and this most interior essential thing can be no other than the intellect, so we may hereafter consider these terms very nearly synonymous. Then, if the expanded individual intellect or soul of the highly cultured human can possibly contain the intelligence of all beings below him, he can only be enabled to do so by having had an experience in all the various conditions there may be below his own. He must have passed through all those various states in order to partake of their nature and incorporate their intelligence into his own organism; and this can only be done by observation. If man knows all that is known by one of the lower forms of organized life, he must have had a similar experience, else the lower being has passed through that and derived a conse- quent intelligence which man never can attain until he passes through the same character of experiences. How can we claim to be advanced beyond the dog unless we have within our organisms all the dog may possess and still more, having passed through more changes and accumulated more intelligence or knowl- edge by our more varied observation in higher and still higher conditions? If man's experience builds up his intellect and assists in the attainment of knowledge, or that nutri- tion upon which it seems to subsist and grow, then the experience of the dog or other animal must perform the same office for them ; and it must be admitted that these animals possess intellects, else individually they could have no such thing as experience. If the lower animals are not in possession of an intellect which can INTELLECT. 87 to a certain extent grasp thought or ideas, we may properly inquire what that peculiar thing in them may be which we educate? We shall very readily admit that when we educate the child it is the intellect which is improved or cultivated. Then, if we find some power in the animal which may be educated in a similar manner, it must be a power very similar to that of the child — an interior, essential, spiritual something, which must be an intellect, or what is usually termed a mind or soul, possessing powers exactly commensurate with its unfoldment, differing from that we find in the human in degree and not in kind. That in the animal is inferior or less developed, having passed through less changes; that in man is higher, having passed through more changes and consequent experiences, and attained to a broader unfoldment. Evidently, the reason why man has a greater intellect, or one endowed with more powers and faculties, is, because having passed through all the changes of condition below himself, he has therefore accumulated and holds within his own organism the combined experiences of all states of unfoldment below; hence, he is enabled to exercise his power and authority over the whole. If knowledge is power, then that which is capable of grasping, retaining and appropriating knowledge or intelligence must be still more powerful, so the real absolute power must inhere in the individual intellect; and this must be of precisely the same character, whether found in the human or in the lower animal who is capable of being educated, and who has had his experiences also. The difference can only be in the 05 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. greater amount and variety of experiences under more favorable circumstances. If this reasoning is correct, there can be no organi- zation destitute of intellect in some sense of the word ; all must have this power, either active and positive or latent and negative, for if it is susceptible to progressive growth, where could it have commenced its career of progress except at the lowest extreme, if such point can be found, and where can it terminate except at the extreme of exaltation, if the mind can entertain such a, conception? It would be extremely difficult for us to conceive how we could amass to ourselves all the powers of all beings below ourselves unless we have had every opportunity to accumulate the requisite knowledge; and we may very properly ask how we could have acquired the knowledge which has been obtained by the experience of the lower organized beings unless we have passed through the self same conditions, and unless we incorporate into our intellectual organisms that knowledge and intelligence which comes from such experiences, our education is incomplete. We cannot go forward in a proper manner if we do not carry with us all that is below; and some time in our history, in order to complete our education, we must pass through and learn all that is known to all other beings. We shall find, then, by a careful analysis of this matter, that all beings are endowed with intellects, and by virtue of this endowment they are passing through experiences which are as valuable to them as ours can be to us, because every being is preparing to pass on, INTELLECT. 89 the same as ourselves, to a higher status. "We should by no means have been prepared to take up our tem- porary abode in the organisms of the Anglo-Saxon had we not passed through such as are below, any more than we can be prepared for the condition in advance, unless we had passed through our varied experiences in this. "We must have come up through all the various phases of living existence below this, step by step, preparing in the one for the next just in advance; and that is the very thing we are doing here — just preparing by the experimental knowledge we gain to take another step beyond. TTe can take but one step forward at a time. We have been taking those steps slowly, yet nevertheless surely, during all past eterni- ties, and shall continue to take them through all those in the future; each one preparing and giving us power to take the one in advance. If we find upon examination that we could not have reached our present condition without coming up the ladder step by step, and that we now are in possession of an intellect, it would be very unphilosophical for us to say that a good while ago, when in a lower con- dition, and when we had taken less steps, we had no such power at all ; because, in that case, we should be compelled to acknowledge that some time in our his- tory an intellect must have been given us, developed to the condition in which we were when it was pre- sented, and that it must have been either manufactured from raw material or produced from nothing. Then the only rational conclusion we can adopt is that this power within every organized being must have had not only an existence commensurate with the being 90 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. itself, but must have been prepared to take possession of that organization by unfolding in the gradations below, and that it must have existed without begin- ning. Although an intellect may not manifest itself to any great extent in the lower inorganic and organic forms of existence, yet all must be endowed with such; and we are compelled to conclude that all forms that contain within them the soul essence and intelligence, also contain intellect either in an active or latent con- dition. We cannot now possess the abilities of a spiritual being who has been accumulating intelligence for unnumbered ages in the higher realms and under more favorable conditions than we ever experienced; yet we are superior to those who have had less experience than ourselves, and that under less favorable circumstances. We ascertain that the mental organism of a human being, in order to be such, must be constituted and endowed with organs, else how could it be an organi- zation. If human beings were destitute of the several organs which compose these mental structures, they certainly could not act in all their varied capacities. No person can succeed in any vocation unless he possesses the requisite organs, and unless they are developed to a certain extent. We can find no good mechanics unless they are endowed with constructive- ness; devoid of combativeness, no person could be induced to fight; and destitute of the group of affec- tional organs, those who are now parents could not be induced to propagate and rear up their young with all the care and solicitude they manifest toward them. It is well understood that all this wondrous variety of INTELLECT. 91 human character and qualities depends upon the almost infinite variety of organic conformations and endow- ments. Were it not for these faculties, men could certainly have but a limited experience and knowledge, because they could not exercise the functions of these several faculties through which the experience and knowledge are conveyed to the intellect. If there had been no such organs as time and tune, music could not have been cultivated, and man would have possessed no knowledge of any combination of harmonious sounds. Those persons who are destitute to a great extent of these powers, or in whom they are feebly developed, have very little knowledge of or enjoyment in the best musical performances. The facts concerning man's phrenological organiza- tion are quite well understood at the present time by all cultivated minds; and we only present the few in this connection to show their ciose relation to the intellect, and that this ruling monarch in man's higher nature could not be successfully unfolded without these various powers and faculties. As we shah very plainly discover, the intellect is exclusively dependent upon the organ of amativeness for all experience and knowl- edge it may obtain concerning love. Almost all per- sons who have arrived at a mature age have had some little experience of this character; and we think they will readily admit that they would have had no idea whatever of the matter had they not obtained their knowledge by actual experiment. The enthusiastic young person who has but recently been introduced to a knowledge of this passion, by forming an early 92 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. attachment, will boldly declare that language is entirely incompetent to express or convey any adequate knowl- edge of their experience; and they are doubtless very correct. The sculptor or painter will find it impos- sible to convey in any language the varied processes, and the powers within him, by which he is enabled to attain to his masterly skill in the art he pursues. Yet both must have organs well adapted to their pursuits, or they could have no successful experience, neither could they attain the required skill. In addition to all these various organs, man is in possession of the five senses, whose office it is to convey that intelligence which comes through these several avenues; and he could certainly have no experimental knowledge of that which comes to him through these channels if he was devoid of these several sensuous organs. There can be no descriptive language that is able to convey an intelligent idea concerning the peculiar taste of the various fruits, such as the apple, the peach, pear or plum, or to give any adequate description of the aroma of the different flowers. In order to obtain any intelligence of this character, we must possess the organic machinery which will convey it to the intellect within. This, and this alone, will subserve that high purpose. But when both parties possess the gustatory and olfactory organs, they may talk intelligently con- cerning these several tastes and smells, and each will understand the other. Blind Tom, although in other respects almost an idiot, must possess the nicest possible perception con- cerning harmonious sounds. The peculiar organs INTELLECT. 93 necessary to this result seem to have been developed in a wonderful manner, at the expense of nearly all the rest. Mature, by instructing him in her silent lan- guage, has made a prodigy of him as regards music, while she seems to have been extremely parsimonious in every other particular. Nature has a silent language of her own that has never been confounded at the upbuilding of any earthly Babel, by which she conveys to the intellect unnum- bered truths, of immense value to all who receive them. The avenues of communication between the broad fields of the natural universe and the intellect, consist in the more external sensient powers, together with the various phrenological organs which seem to find their residence in the brain. These are the natural channels of communication between the outer world and the innermost ruling monarch that sits upon the throne of his power, and which with all these assistants con- stitute man a reasoning being. It is through these that an intercourse is opened up, and he is enabled to hold communion with the grand panorama by which he is surrounded. It is through these that he gathers from the open volume of nature all the actual knowl- edge with which his intellect is endowed. There can be no spoken language, neither any written book, which can convey to him any real intelligence, unless he has received already through these channels of com- munication a stock of ideas that will enable him to appreciate the verbal or book intelligence, and establish its truth in his own mentality. It is a common saying, as well as a very truthful one, with many persons, that "what they know they 94 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. know as well as the priest." The untutored Indian is in possession of a large fund of real knowledge, which has come to his intellect through the various avenues in his organism. He knows as well the peculiar taste of the venison, the antelope, the buffalo, and of all the different kinds of food of which he partakes, as the most polished epicure in civilized life. His olfactories are quite as acute, and he comprehends as well the peculiar aroma arising from the flowers of his native forests or prairies, as the accomplished perfumer who caters for the gratification of the most fastidious taste of the refined people who inhale their odors in the salons of fashion. Does not his piercing glance extend out and take in all the landscape? And does he not behold the marked outlines of the mountain cliff, the rushing torrent or placid river, and the pleasing variety of hill and dale, the same as his more civilized neigh- bor, although they may not convey to his intellect the same exalted ideas of grandeur and magnificence? Yet his well trained eye may trace the footsteps of an enemy, or of the game he pursues, where the eye of civilization would behold nothing. He loves and he hates, he constructs and he destroys, and he acts in all his varied capacities by precisely the same interior energies as his white brother; and the knowledge con- veyed to his intellect through these channels, though it may be more limited, nevertheless is more real and substantial — what he has acquired comes direct from the great volume. He has less of shams, deceptions and vain show, because he has less of that education which that volume does not contain. We find, then, the intellectual machinery which constitutes the untu- INTELLECT. 95 tored son of the forest an intelligent being, to be identical with that contained in the more advanced or civilized races of men. The only difference is, in the one case it is not used so extensively as in the other. This grand piece of mental machinery, which is capable of digesting and appropriating intelligent thoughts to its own especial use, evidently comprises very many different powers or organs in its complex arrangement, harmoniously joined together, all acting in concert with themselves and with the universe of nature, of which they are a part. We can but wonder how man came in possession of such an intricate intellectual organization, which he is capable of wielding with such power and effect in the varied departments of life. By what secret pro- cesses has he been endowed with these remarkable faculties attached to his selfhood which enable him to work out such marvelous results? There must in the great laboratory of nature be some modus operandi, some divine method, by which, or in accord with which, this mighty achievement has been wrought out and man has been furnished with these rare powers that give him such elevated rank in the scale of being. It cannot be rationally supposed that nature has accomplished this grandest and most intricate portion of all her workmanship at a single blow of the mighty hammer, or that the Anglo-Saxon could have jumped into possession of his superior intellectual abilities independent of all the races of men below himself; for somehow in this age of progress, when so many men are beginning to think independently, the idea of evolution will obtrude itself upon the mind, and 96 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. suggest that these lower races, and perhaps the whole animal economy, might have each one afforded resting places in the unceasing journey of unfoldment; that possibly we might have gathered these faculties we now possess, and which shine out so brilliantly in some minds, one by one by the wayside where conditions were favorable for their bursting forth, thus adding another member to the body politic. Our interior selfhood or personal intellect must be eternally existent — a part and parcel of nature itself — else it must have been produced by some superior power at some particular time; thus having a begin- ning, it has no guaranty of an eternal existence in the future, because only a fragment of time is allotted to its share in any event. This selfhood being a part and parcel of nature, must necessarily enter into inti- mate relations with any and every other portion during the varied stages of its progressive evolutions, and hence we find ourselves so closely allied to the entire animal economy in point of mental and physical acquirements, as we shall endeavor to set forth in these pages. All the lower animals possess the power of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling, and all possess a portion of the interior organs in accordance with their varied conditions of unfoldment. It is doubtless quite as impossible to find any of these powers of sense or perception without the intellect, as it would be to find what is termed an intellect devoid of such powers. They seem to be mutually dependent upon each other, and can by no possibility exist separate any more than the head can perform its functions without INTELLECT. 97 the body, or the body without the head. The intellect cannot be furnished with its appropriate nutriment except by use of these avenues. The intelligence can- not be conveyed and appropriated in any other manner. No being can love or hate destitute of those powers. No one can realize and appreciate any sound, sight, taste, smell or feeling, devoid of the physical arrange- ment through which these several sensations are con- veyed to the inner consciousness or intellect, and surely no being can appreciate any of these sensations desti- tute of the inner perception; so, where the exterior senses are developed, they must be accompanied by inner faculties to an extent sufficient to make the outer of any service. In short, that being who sees, hears, tastes, smells or feels, must know the fact by virtue of intellectual capabilities, or else he cannot by any pos- sibility experience any such sensations. Again, no organ of sense or perception can be used for other than the legitimate purpose for which it was designed and to which it is applied. Hence, when these may be found they must be accompanied by the other portions of the mental machinery, and as a sequence we must find an intellect either in an active or a latent condition. If this reasoning is correct, and we are fully per- suaded it cannot be controverted, then we may expect to find intellects even below the uncultivated savage, because we find both the sensuous and perceptive organs in very many of the forms of animated nature. We may pass below all the ape family, and go down to our favorite animal, the dog, and ascertain what we find in him. We choose him for our illustration because he is so universally known. He has, in the 7 98 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. first place, the five senses, and that of smell in a very- high state of development; and, as we have said, these several organs or senses can only be used to convey to a higher power within that intelligence which passes upon these avenues. He smells the track of the game or his master, and through this avenue the intelligence passes to the intellect precisely the same as in the Indian, only the dog in this respect is the more sensi- tive of the two. He sees his master or friend, and rushes to their sides with expressions of enthusiastic delight. He tastes his food, and thus discriminates in regard to what is suited to his appetites and what is not. He hears the sound of the voice, and acts in obedience to his master's will. He feels pain when inflicted upon him as sensibly as any other being, and gives full expression to any misery he endures. The dog certainly uses these sensuous powers precisely in the same manner as those beings who are in advance of him in point of development. They serve to carry intelligence to the ruling power within him the same as they do in man ; and that ruling power must be the intellect or the spirit individuality. But this animal has still higher endowments; he has faculties of a nobler character, that enable him to enter into experiences superior to those obtained through the five senses. If we should look over the catalogue of phrenological organs, we might be somewhat puzzled to select those he does not possess in a partially devel- oped condition, perhaps even more so than to designate those which he clearly exhibits in a state of activity. He certainly possesses amativeness, love of offspring, inhabitiveness, combativeness and destructiveness, ali- INTELLECT. 99 mentiveness, and a host of others, all in successful operation. And do not these faculties or powers per- form their legitimate offices in his organization the same as in the human being? If not, why do we find them there, and what can be their uses? They are evidently placed there for precisely the same purposes that they are in the human — to convey to his intellect that intelligence and those experiences required to build up and unfold it in his peculiar condition, and prepare it to take another step in advance. If, then, we find in these lower animal organizations most of the working machinery that comprises what is termed an intellectual being, we may readily dis- cover that, as the progressive element or principle is as much attached to them as to any other beings, they may also unfold or grow into higher intellectual indi- vidualities, or they may accumulate in that particular state or phase of existence — the power of going for- ward into one that is higher. If we find in the dog or other animal organism an array of powers and faculties such as are found in the human, entirely sufficient to constitute him an indi- vidualized intellectual being, and we do not permit them to unfold into more exalted conditions by pro- gressive development, what shall we do with such individualities? An individuality is really something, and those we are contemplating are very complex somethings. How, then, shall we dispose of them and change them into nothings? They really exist within the universe of nature; how can we contrive to get them outside, or in what dark recess can they be 100 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. hidden, that they shall never more appear and assert their rights to a continued existence and unfoldment? It would surely be as difficult to reduce the unfolded organs of an individualized being possessed of an intellect to nothing, however low they might be in the scale of existence, as to produce such a being from nothing; and no person with a single grain of common intelligence can suppose that there is any power capable of accomplishing either of these results. Then, as we must in some manner dispose of the intellects that are less unfolded than the human, the only thing we can do is to allow them to go forward in this evolutionary process the same as all things else in nature. It would certainly be very much easier to produce a highly cultivated intellect, adapted to our most exalted ideal of a man or woman, from that which we really find to be occupying the organism of this or some other animal, than it would to manufacture one from nothing, or even from the raw material. Men and women evidently possess intellects, which seem to be very complicated in their nature; and they must have been the result of processes equally complex in their character. We cannot suppose by any means that this wonderful piece of machinery, which is capable of grasping intricate subjects, discriminating between the true and the false, and adjudicating upon the most difficult matters, could itself have been produced in a moment or a day from nothing. If we roam over the broad fields of the material and spiritual realms, we shall find everywhere that the grandest achievements have required the greatest amount of time in their production, and that they are INTELLECT. 101 the most enduring when culminated. And where shall we find in all the wide domain that man has yet surveyed, by all the powers which he can bring to bear, anything so grand in its varied characteristics and sublime in its appointments as the human intellect. It seems to be the culmination of all the efforts that universal nature has ever put forth — her triumphal achievement; the consummation of her boldest and most exalted thought. The complex elaboration of all there is below it in magnificence and importance, and nothing less than the eternities of the past, would have been sufficient for its production ; and nothing short of those in the future will afford it ample scope for its activities. The intellect, then, is a part and parcel of the universe in which it is found. In some form it must have existed, without any beginning, during all the changes and modifications which have transpired; and in some form it must exist, without any termination, during all the cycles that shall roll on in their ceaseless rounds. Materialized nature, in all her multitudinous forms of beauty and excellence, is grand and glorious beyond conception ; but how much more so is that mysterious power in the human organism which can silently scan and appreciate, as well as appropriate to itself, so much of this infinitude of excellence and grandeur. Science, in all her varied departments, is complex and intricate; but how much more complex the human intellect, which can grasp and handle the difficult principles of science and philosophy, and find amuse- ment from them, as the child is amused with a toy! How eternally varied and complex, then, must have 102 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. been the character of those processes by which the human intellect has been brought to its unfolded con- dition, as we behold it exhibited in man. Could this crowning gem among all nature's grand productions have been hidden during all the past eternal cycles in some dark cave, and lain in the embrace of inactive repose? or must it necessarily have been exercising its activity in all the multitudinous conditions below or interior to itself, in order to exhibit its present superior powers? We are apprehensive that the thinking mind, upon a careful analysis of this matter, will necessarily arrive at this only conclusion — that the human soul or intel- lect must have had an eternal existence, and that it has exercised its activities in every possible circle or sphere below itself, in order to accumulate all those elements and powers which enable it to act in this superior capacity. and perform the achievements of highly endowed intellectual men and women. Then it follows that if our soul powers have been in all those varied conditions, in order to gain their present unfoldment all organized beings below us must possess those powers which are passing through to the conditions we have attained. If we have satis- factorily proven that some lower animals have in their possession the working machinery which can belong only to soul entities, and that they, too, must be endowed with this interior power unfolded to their condition, then this fatal barrier which has been erected in the minds of our predecessors, closing effect- ually the door to the continued advancement of the lower spiritual beings, is entirely destroyed. And INTELLECT. 103 when this barrier is taken down, and the door thrown open as regards the ape or the dog, where shall it again be erected? Where shall we draw a line of demarkation, and say this animal organization has in his possession the working powers of an intellect, in a certain state of unfold ment, but the one just below has not? If we discover the great fact, and we think we most certainly shall, that a very large portion of that which constitutes an absolute human soul really exists in some forms below man, then we shall be compelled to admit that such souls in a certain state of unfold- ment may exist in all forms and organizations. Shall we admit that matter, and the multitudinous laws by which it is governed in all its various modifications, are eternal, and that human intellects had a commence- ment? We cannot for a moment entertain such an idea; the soul essence must be quite as enduring as grosser material substance, and certainly less liable to dissolution. Then, if matter has existed eternally, the soul essence must have borne it company during the whole of its varied changes; and perhaps we may ascertain the soul essence, or the spirit entity, may be the very thing which has had this eternal existence, and that certain conditions of this self same soul essence, or these spirit entities, may constitute what we term gross, as well as refined, matter. We have learned in a previous chapter that the spirit entity was the supposed indivisible atomic particle; that if it had an eternal existence it could be nothing else; and that what was not composed of atomic particles was nothing. Hence, as gross matter is all composed of such particles, in whatever form or state we find it, we are compelled 104 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. to admit that it is but a mass of spirit entities, or intellectual germs, lying in repose or being used for the benefit of others who are advancing through their higher, ever changing forms of existence. Then we arrive at the grand conclusion that every indivisible particle is an entity, a soul germ or a latent intellect — all equally susceptible of advancement and growth; but the one cannot pass through the neces- sary experiences that may ultimate in its growth and maturity only at the expense of the others whom it may control. The single I Am cannot possibly con- trol the particles that enter into and form the most infinitesimal animalcule unless those particles take their respective places in this minute organization and become subject to his will. Thus we see this entity that ruled over this diminutive creature could not have had this experience unless all the other entities had been his subjects, and moved in obedience to his com- mands; he occupied his conspicuous position at their expense. It may appear to some minds a very small matter to either think or write concerning a living organism that would require to be multiplied by a million in order to be appreciable to the vision of man. But we can assure them that this little animal is one link in the universal chain, and without this link the grand chain would be broken; and, further, that we are indebted to these links or steps in the ladder of pro- gression for the more elevated positions we occupy to-day, as well as for those still more exalted which we aspire to occupy in the ages of the future. The grand reason why we think so little of the infinitesimally INTELLECT. 105 small, is because our visions and perceptions are too gross and unrefined to behold their importance. When men understand that the intellects or soul entities of all forms and organizations, even to the most minute, are plodding along in their journey upon the very highway which their own have traveled, and upon which others are now traveling, who will at some time far outshine them in excellence and attainments, they may give more of their attention to this portion of the natural universe, and learn something of the import- ance of the infinitesimal realms. For in them exists a portion of their own experience and history; and from those conditions has come a part of the intelli- gence of the most intellectual personality who. may be found either upon the earth or in the celestial spheres. We shall assuredly conclude, then, that intellect must be an eternal existence, and that if we trace it to its source or its latent, germinal abiding place, we shall find it in the soul essence of all things, and that the soul essence is the indivisible particle, or the smallest point of material substance — that which is sublimated to the last extremity. After descending down to this point we may fancy we have found a beginning; but such is by no means the case, for no beginning has ever been revealed to the most ardent explorer into the depths of nature's vast arcanum. The beginning or the commencement of the operations of nature has ever been a sort of philosopher's stone, that has eluded the grasp of human intellect in its most inspired moods, simply because no beginning has had an exist- ence. It is extremely difficult in our explorations to find that which never was, that which was by no means 106 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. eternal, and which there was no conceivable power to produce. For if there was a beginning to all things, then nothing could have existed previous to that begin- ning; and there would have been just nothing to have made the commencement. However many nothings we might have accumulated, we should have had exactly nothing as the final result. This idea of the necessity of a beginning has hung like an obscure pall over the minds of men during all the ages of the dark past; and is still overclouding the brightest intellects of the present day. We have heard intelligent men remark that no matter at what period Grod created the heavens and the earth, it must have been in accordance with the divine record of this fact in the beginning. But could it have been in the beginning, when there was a personal intelligent being so far ultimated that he had ability to construct a world, together with all the host of heavenly bodies? Could this being have jumped into his infinite knowl- edge at a single bound just previous to this creation, or did he exist from all eternity? In either case it could not have been the beginning, when, according to Moses, the Hebrew God created the world, because He must have existed previous to the time of that creation. The man who is successful in eradicating from the public mind this long cherished idea of a beginning to all terrestrial and celestial things, and thus provides room in the understanding for the illuminating rays of a diviner light, will doubtless be the recipient of the grateful memories of a disenthralled people. For this single step in advance would place their feet in the highway that leads to the broader fields of INTELLECT. 107 ■universal truth. May the happy day soon arrive when the civilized world shall recognize the grand truth that all nature has existed, and has been in active opera- tion, from all the inconceivable eternities in the past, and will so continue through the unending cycles in the future. Men have seemed almost to entertain the idea that the unbounded universe sprang into existence for the accommodation of themselves and perhaps a few of their brethren belonging to their particular church or persuasion, and that it will soon cease its operations after they and their friends are provided with all they require for their happiness. They have scarcely con- ceived the idea that unnumbered billions of ages in the past there was just as good a time as to-day for the successful and active operation of all the work- ing machinery of a grand universe, and that these varied activities must have been transpiring through all those eternal cycles. When the human mind shall become so expanded as to accept such more enlarged and rational views concerning those sublime depart- ments of nature alluded to in the preceding pages, how trivial and contemptible will appear the insig- nificant dogmatic teachings of the various churches! How unsatisfying all their ridiculous beliefs, and how worse than useless their idle ceremonials and puerile formalities! All these have originated within a few short years or centuries at most, and all will pass away, scarcely leaving a footprint upon the ever changing sands of time. And when we recognize the astounding fact that we have had a personal existence for untold millions of ages before these silly faiths and incon- 108 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. gruous teachings were instituted, and that we shall continue in the accumulation of experiences during lengthened cycles after they have passed away, the native dignity of humanity rises conspicuously to our view. We involuntarily exclaim: 'Tis glorious, past all conception, to enjoy a conscious life, and to find ourselves thus far upon our continuous progressive pathway, which can have no termination — an exist- ence which shall finally open into the broad, expansive fields of universal knowledge and delight. In our cursory examination of this subject, we seem to arrive at some important conclusions which are quite irresistible: First, The human intellect must have existed eternally, and hence could not have been formed from nothing. Second, It must have pro- gressed from the lowest possible condition, and it may go onward to the most exalted state which can possibly be occupied by an individualized being. Third, It may have existed either separately or in conjunction with any of the material forms or organizations below man, always rinding such dwelling place according with its condition of unfoldment. Fourth, It is the supreme ruling power, or the inmost soul essence of that form or organism in which it finds a temporary dwelling place. Fifth, Being susceptible to pro- gressive growth, it must receive appropriate nutriment, together with varied experiences, during all the condi- tions it may pass through, making some advancement at each step it has taken. Sixth, The only proper nourishment that can be received by this interior soul essence must come from an experimental knowledge, or a comprehending of that intelligence which is below INTELLECT. 109 itself. Hence, like the physical organism, it feeds upon that which is inferior to itself. It expands by absorbing intelligence, as the physical form expands by absorbing its appropriate food. We are led to think that the ordinary mind, by reasoning from these several self-evident propositions, may form a tolerably clear estimate of the human intellect, or that ruling monarch which seems to occupy the imperial throne of the spiritual being, and which must have passed through all possible conditions below itself in order to arrive at its present dignity and honor, and which is now preparing for a still higher and more dignified phase of conscious existence. If our first proposition is correct, the intellect cannot be indebted to any superior power for its existence; hence no such power can claim to exercise any con- tinuous absolute authority over those below itself. The human mentality having come up through all these lengthy and complicated processes, and being by virtue of these varied experiences supereminently above all other beings upon the earth, must necessarily be engaged in the performance of duties comparatively higher in importance. It must act in its legitimate sphere in accordance with its capacity; and thus this power appears to establish a sort of imperial govern- ment over the individual kingdoms which by their less advanced condition are subject to control. However, the only possible difference there can be in all the various intellects is that of experience and unfoldment, so that all authorities exerted by one over the other must be exceedingly temporary. The individualized living entity who now occupies a latent quiescent con- 110 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. - dition out in the vast elemental ocean of space, or lies deeply imprisoned in the solid granite, widely differs from the one who shines out and blazes in the celestial spheres, and who is competent to take the supervision of a solar system and manage the whole institution with the required wisdom and discretion. The latter has passed through all the experiences, and acquired the knowledge which renders him capable of filling his exalted vocation, while the former only waits his turn to gather a similar accumulation of wisdom and power by passing through similar processes, or by an occu- pancy of all the various organisms found upon the great highway between the lower and the higher, aggregating something to himself at every step he takes upon the great ladder of universal progress, or at every temporary sojourn he makes in this inter- minable journey of existence. Then there is really nothing in the wide universe but that which is capable of being ultimated; nothing but what is quite competent to rise to higher condi- tions, and still higher through all the gradations of the ascending scale. That which serves as our food to-day has fed on something below itself in order that it might become suitable for us. It takes one step by being eaten; and thus it ever travels onward. The particle which enters into the organic structure of the human eye to-day may become so improved and spirit- ualized by its existence there, and by the active per- formance of its duties in that position, as to become a portion of that which is the next step in advance; and thus it may go onward until it occupies the highest throne in a spiritual organism. The progressive INTELLECT. Ill element, in order to pervade so universally all things in nature, must exist in and pervade the indivisible atomic particle from which all visible and invisible objects in nature are constructed, or of which every inorganic and organic form is composed. Then, if we follow progressive unfoldment to its source, or fountain head, we shall find that source in the very soul essence of all things where we may surely expect to find the origin of all other forces, properties or qualities attached to particled substance, and which seem so generally diffused through nature's wide domain. Hence the continual changes that are unremittingly taking place in this vast workshop, from the lowest to the highest, because this leaven of progression pervades the minutest particle of which all things are composed. "Were it not for this element of activity we call pro- gression or unfoldment, all things would remain in a quiescent or static condition to all eternity. No bud would form and expand, no leaf would put forth, and no flower would open its petals to drink in the fresh- ness of the morning light, or exhale its odors to gratify and cheer the organs of sense. Thus we learn that this progressive element ever has been, and ever will be, attached to all conditions of intellect, whether in the germinal essence or in its more advanced develop- ment; and the human mind is unable to conceive of one so exalted as to be superior to this inherent element of progression, or one so low as to be beneath its all-pervading influence. It becomes evident, now, that during all this lengthy progressive experience the intellect must be precisely adapted to the condition in which it is found; that its experiences below have 112 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. rendered it competent to subserve its purposes wher- ever it temporarily exists. We think a critical examination will teach us that instinct, as applied to the animal race, is a misnomer, and does not specially belong to them ; and that the power in them which we have been pleased to term instinct should really be denominated intellect, less developed, or in that state of unfoldment adapted to their particular wants. The various birds build or construct their nests suited to their several circum- stances; and those nests admirably subserve their purposes, and enable them to rear their young with comparative ease and comfort. The bee manifests remarkable constructive skill in the building of its curiously contrived cells, which seem to be precisely adapted to its wants, not only as a temporary residence for its young, but as a suitable storehouse for its food. The ants labor in a social capacity with great industry in building a residence suited to the wants of their community, and which subserves their highest purpose. Man, in his various conditions of civilization, can do no more; he can only construct a residence suited to his highest wants, and he can only construct one in accordance with his ability or acquirements. AVhy, then, should we make this marked distinction between man and the lower animal, and say that man is endowed with an intellect, while the bird, the bee and ant only possess an instinct? All have manifested the operations of the organ of constructiveuess; and all have furnished themselves with dwelling places in accordance with their several wants and requirements — the one just as much as the other — and each one INTELLECT. 113 has accomplished that which would be extremely diffi- cult, if not quite impossible, for the other to perform. Why, then, should it be said that this organ of con- struetiveness, which has enabled the man to erect his dwelling, is attached to an intellect, while the same organ that subserves the self-same purpose in the inferior animal is only attached to an undefined some- thing they call an instinct? This organ has certainly carried out its legitimate design as faithfully and properly in the ant, the bee or beaver, and has adapted itself to their several conditions, and proved as success- ful in accomplishing its purposes in those conditions as it does in man. Why, theu, should this organ change its allegiance when it comes up to man, and then enter the service of a ruling monarch it never knew in all its previous experiences? We must give an intelligent answer to this query, or else acknowledge the fact that constructiveness, as well as all other organs, in whatever organism they have manifested themselves, or wherever they may have found a tem- porary dwelling place, were always attached to and under the control of this ruling power called intellect. This is assuredly the only philosophical solution of this difficult problem, and hence we shall be driven to the conclusion that wherever any of the organs are found, there intellect exists also; and, as a sequence, all the animal races must be endowed with such an interior soul power adapted to their several conditions. Each one possesses an intellect, which is an eternal soul entity, and one capable of unfold men t to the furthest possible extent. Then it may be said, with great propriety, that each animal organization is pos- 8 114 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. sessed of a living spirit, which takes its departure coeval with the life of the material organism. But as the inferior animal forms are not the culmination of material or earthly organisms, the intellect or soul entity exists in one form preparatory to its entrance into the one higher, as we have already stated. It by no means follows that the intellectual or spirit entity existing in these various forms is obliged to pass directly from one material body to another, one grade higher, because spirits in all the various condi- tions are abundantly capable of existing separate and distinct from gross material organizations. Thus we perceive very clearly such spirit entities may remain in their appropriate spiritual kingdoms until another material body is prepared for them, in which they may obtain and pass through another life of more advanced experiences; and thus onward until they have passed the culmination of all gross materialized forms, and commenced their new career of a higher, more spirit- ualized existence. The intellect, or interior selfhood, cannot be begotten by parents; no reproductive power can bring it into existence, because it was from all eternity. It is quite as old as the parent; has existed independently of the parent, and consequently it cannot be reproduced by either physical or other means. Parents may repro- duce an image or likeness of themselves physically, and in all the various forms of organized life; they may prepare an organism of the same character as their own for the reception of this intellectual soul entity; but the physical animal or man is perfectly powerless as regards the production of the intellect. They can INTELLECT. 115 only bring forth physical beings. The soul entity which enters into and takes possession of this new organization must have been fitted for this official position by passing through all the conditions before having performed its required duties in all these various situations; it comes up preparer] to enter into this new relationship and assume the duties and responsibilities that may occur in this new field of intellectual or soul experience. Can we suppose, by any process of reasoning, that the combativeness, the destructiveness, and the mirth- fulness or playfulness, with all the other active organs we see exhibited in the kitten of three months old, have been manufactured from the raw material in that short space of time especially for this little animal by two parent cats? Or can we suppose that all the various powers which have been exhibited in the cat in such a remarkable manner will go out of existence when the physical organization ceases to live? AVe cannot philosophically conclude that one particle of the physical organism of the cat is lost, only that it changes its form and condition; how then can we think for a moment that all the spiritual activities which were of a thousand fold more value than the physical, should have been confined to that particular animal alone, and perished forever at its death? The cat evidently possessed and exhibited not only the organs above named, but still more, as amativeness, philopro- genitiveness, secretiveness, inhabitiveness, cautiousness, and many others — and all these subserved her purpose during her existence here upon the earth; and it must be admitted that those organs or powers in this animal 116 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. are identical with the same organs in any other animal or in man. Combativeness in the cat, the dog, or in man is productive of the same results — all of them fight with such weapons as are provided for their use, and they all alike fight for victory. These organs, as we have said, are a part of that which we may call the mental machinery, or a part of the soul entity; would it then be policy, if it were possible, to manufacture this entire machine for each separate animal that exists at the time it is ushered into life? Or shall we not rationally conclude that this soul entity or mental machine, which may be properly called the intellect, and which we are com- pelled to admit does exist in the animal as well as in man, survives the physical organism to which it may be temporarily attached, equally with the human. "We may learn the great fact that we are dependent for our intellectual powers upon that which is below, instead of some great being which is above. That the very soul powers we have within us, by which we reason and discriminate between the truth and false- hood of all matters that come before us for adjudica- tion, have all come to us from below; they are all but the accumulations of those intelligent experiences that have been gained in the lower conditions, instead of coming from the highest. We have doubtless obtained one of these so-called organs or mental faculties at a time, or we have acquired the unfoldment of each one in the particular organism where nature ordains that such particular faculty shall be unfolded; for if we find combativeness and destructiveness in full activity in the lowest INTELLECT. 117 animal forms, or even in the infusoria, it would be quite unnecessary to provide means to unfold those organs in the higher forms. But the higher forms of life are evidently adapted to the unfoldment of higher faculties; each one being added in its appropriate sphere until the intellect is fully endowed with all the required machinery for a human being. The Ethiopian is surely in a lower condition of unfoldment than the Mongolian, and there must be a reason. Each one of the five races seem to be an essential portion of the higher productions of our earth, and must have been unfolded by powers inherent in this planet. Each one seems to be a grade below the other, simply because they possess less and less intellectual power. The prominent difference between the Ethiopian and the Anglo-Saxon is that the one possesses powers of mind which are evidently not unfolded in the other. The only reason why this inferior race cannot accomplish what is done with perfect ease by the higher races, is simply because those higher faculties are not yet unfolded in their organisms, and cannot be until they by natural pro- cesses find a home in outer forms of a higher race, where the superior organ or mental power may be evolved or awakened to activity. "We have probably unfolded some faculty of mind or some particular function attached to the intellect, in every organism where we may have had a temporary residence; and that is doubtless part of our business in this, so that we enter into the next, or more spirit- ualized state, in possession of one more faculty devel- oped for use than when we entered this. Such has it 118 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. been, and such must it be through all the interminable changes that an individual can pass from the lowest to the highest. So we may perceive that instead of descending from an infinite personal being who is inconceivably above us in power, knowledge, goodness and excellence, we have come precisely from the opposite direction, and have been ascending from the lowest toward this highest ideal of individualized exaltation. Most certainly, if we had been the direct offspring of a great personal being, who was possessed of the infinite attributes of wisdom, power and good- ness, we should have inherited from this parent those peculiar characteristics; for he could not have trans- mitted to his children that which he did not possess. If he is a personal being, possessed of unmixed good- ness and purity, and he is our only parent, then we as his children must be possessed of unmixed goodness and purity also;, if not, we are not the offspring of any such parent. For if we are, and have received all we possess from this parent, and if in him we live, move, and have our^ being, we most assuredly can possess nothing which was not in him to bestow upon us as his legitimate offspring. If we are the children of this great parent, and did not receive all we have inherent within us directly from him, from whence did we gather that portion which he did not bestow? The worse than ridiculous farce concerning the serpent, the forbidden tree and the fatal apple, utterly fails at this day and age of the world to present to an intelligent mind any satisfactory reply to these important queries. Here is a wonderful problem to be solved — one of INTELLECT. 119 the highest interest to humanity — a query of the last importance, and one upon which seems to hang the future destiny of the race. This problem requires a solution, and this query an intelligent reply. We ask again how all this bundle of antagonisms and discords, this commixture of good and bad, of purity and filth, of virtue and vice, of noble qualities and contemptible meanness, of large charities and despicable niggardli- ness, with all the long catalogue of contradictions in human nature, could have originated in one pure divine being, and in him alone. Humanity to-day demands an intelligent reply from the great volume that is written upon the broad universe, which all her children may read and understand. The period has arrived when men require to know something of their origin and their future destiny; and no fictitious tales written by Arab, Hindoo or Hebrew seem to give us the required information in respect to these weighty inquiries. The universal alphabet composing the language which was never confounded, and which is inscribed everywhere upon nature's tablets, in every instance most emphatically declares that very much of this ancient legendary lore found in the various sacred books is largely permeated with the vain imaginings of their several authors; and so far from being infal- libly true, very much that these books contain is undeniably false and untruthful, and only calculated to delude the unwary. That silent language which is so deeply imprinted upon all the pages of nature, teaches most unmistakably that man never was the offspring of any such infinite 120 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. indiyidualized parent; and that if any such ideal per- sonality exists within the limits of this universe, he too must have been subject to universal law, and have passed through all conditions below him, in order to occupy any such transcendantly exalted position. He, too, must have received all within him from below; for, if he is the highest, how could he have received what is in his possession from above? The intellect, or that ethereal soul power which exists in man and all things else, could never have been propagated upon any principle of reproduction. It claims no parentage, because it has eternally existed, and could have had no original producing cause. Short lived physical beings who assume these various forms live out their brief existence, culminate, then wither and die. Such may be propagated; they may have a parentage. But who shall reproduce the ever- living, self-existing God within us — the ruling mon- arch that sits upon the high throne of our individ- ualized spiritual and physical kingdom? "Who shall claim the parentage over that which had no birthright, but which has existed through the eternal ages of the past, and which must have passed through and lived in all possible forms and conditions in order to acquire the ability to pursue its activities in its present sphere? The oak produces the acorn, which is a culmination of itself, a reproduction of the life essences contained in the parent tree; the bird produces the egg, which may ultimate in another bird, a perfect type of itself, and containing within it all its own peculiarities; the animal or man may generate that which under proper conditions will result in another of similar form, pos- INTELLECT. 121 sessed of all the peculiar attributes of the parent; but what other God is there in the broad universe that could have borne the seed or have lain the egg, or in any manner have generated that which has ultimated in the God within himself, or in the human, who must have also had an existence in some of the various con- ditions during all those eternal cycles which had no beginning, or else have been produced from nothing by some superior being? The parent must certainly precede the child; where, then, can any superior power have lived to generate that which has existed during all the eternal ages? One is evidently just as old as the other; neither can claim precedence in point of time, only their condi- tions previous to the present may have been more conducive to growth and development. Doubtless untold billions of individualized soul entities are almost infinitely in advance of ours in point of unfold - ment; but not one can claim any authority over ours by virtue of parentage, or that we have inherited any- thing belonging to ourselves directly from them, for we have most certainly obtained all we have and are from the same source they obtained what they had when in our condition. If superior beings have at any time acted in our behalf, or served us in the capacity of instructors, all they could possibly do for us was to offer or suggest to the mind ideas or thoughts. Before we could be in the least benefited, we must grasp or digest and com- prehend such thoughts by the powers of intellect we have within ourselves. The intelligence they have given us was not a part of themselves, but was drawn 122 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. from the great reservoir; and in order to become suitable sustenance for our intellects, it must have been inferior to them, or they would have had no power to receive and appropriate it to their use, and hence it could not have been conducive to their growth and expansion. The soul entity or intellectual being can in no possible manner obtain nourishment from supe- rior intellectual beings, as the child partakes of susten- ance from its maternal parent, because the superior beings are composed of finer essences, such as the lower can by no means receive and appropriate. The teacher does not by any means give off a part of him- self to the pupils, he only introduces the young minds to that portion of nature's teachings in which they can find suitable intellectual nourishment, such as they are capable of digesting. The pupil must gather it for himself, and appropriate it by his own individual powers. The person who cultivates and trains the dog or other animal in such a manner that they are rendered capable of executing such wonderfully intelligent per- formances, must address the feebly developed intellects of the animals in a way that enables them to grasp and comprehend his idea; and just to that extent the soul powers of these animals are unfolded. The great marvel lies in the fact that they may be unfolded to such an extent by any possible means in those lower conditions. That which is unfolded must be intellect, for there is no idea connected with the term instinct which presupposes any possibility of unfoldment or expansion. "We have perhaps illustrated this subject to an extent INTELLECT. 123 that tlie reader may easily comprehend, that superior intellectual beings can by no means impart or dispense to those below anything of their own ; neither do they possess any monopoly of that intelligence which may contribute to the sustenance of those who are not as far advanced. The utmost they can do is to offer us hints and suggestions, and direct our attention to the grand reservoir of all knowledge, which abounds every- where in the broad realms of the natural universe, so that we may partake of the same food and drink at the same fountain of wisdom with themselves. How extremely ludicrous and gravely ridiculous, then, all those ancient and modern ideas connected with reli- gious worship! How very absurd all the stately formalities and ceremonials, the solemn gymnastic genuflections, the laudations and glorifications which are perpetrated from week to week in our modern fashionable places of so-called divine worship! How mirth-provoking, and yet saddening, must all this appear to those advanced intellectual beings who, after having passed through such varied experiences, are now capable of beholding all this dumb show in its true and proper light! Can the human mind conceive of any exalted being who could possibly be gratified with such servile, cringing homage, or senseless adula- tion, proceeding from those who are so vastly inferior as these parties represent themselves? It seems quite probable that a company of dogs or mice, or even fleas, might be taught to perform cere- monials similar to those practiced in some of the popular churches. Can we conceive that any intelli- gent man would be delighted to witness demonstrations 124 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. of that character addressed to himself from such a source? How, then, can we suppose a supreme intel- ligent being, whom they declare to be a thousand fold more remote from us than we are from the dog, would be affected by such silly demonstrations and idle flummery as are enacted by many devout congrega- tions, and which is called the religious worship of God? Somebody connected with these ridiculous, farcical arrangements must be terribly fooled ; and we leave the parties concerned to judge who they are, and whether it may be the worshipers or the Holy Three whom they ignorantly worship. We think the intelligent reader who has carefully perused the preceding pages must arrive at the conclu- sion that the intellect, together with the various organs which convey intelligence to this ruling monarch, is not only identical with that power which we call the soul entity, but that this is precisely what remains after the physical form has been dissolved by death. That this, with its working machinery, or its percep- tive, reflective and sensuous apparatus, is the spiritual entity or individuality that continues to exist and progress in the spiritual spheres, and that it could not properly commence and continue in its everlasting round of progress unless it had first passed through all lower experiences, and accumulated all the knowledge appertaining to the grosser materealized conditions, He will also have learned that the most unfolded being who can exist in the celestial spheres must have passed through the same various experiences, in order to have acquired his knowledge and arrived at his exaltation. No matter whether you bestow this title or that upon INTELLECT. 125 this being — whether you call him judge, or king, or Immanuel, or God, or God of Gods — he never can become eligible to any one of those positions, or acquire a right to any of these distinctive titles, until he has first accumulated the experiences and acquired the knowledge which will enable him to act in these different capacities and properly perform the duties of these official stations. Experience is considered by theologians a very important item in the qualifications of Jesus Christ, and his brief residence here upon the earth in mortal form is triumphantly set forth as the grand prerequisite to his entrance upon the judicial throne. For they say he has felt our sorrows, he has borne our burdens, and experienced our woes, and he is thus qualified to sit in the judgment seat. This would more than intimate that his reputed Father was not competent to fill that office for the want of the required experi- ence; and he certainly could not have acquired the knowledge that human beings acquire unless he has passed through like conditions, however high or super- eminently glorious that which he may happen to occupy at the present. He cannot know what pain and suffering we endure, or the peculiar sensation it produces, unless he has realized the same under like circumstances. He must have had an experimental knowledge of similar suffering, else he would be devoid of a part of that wisdom which would constitute the knowledge of a God. Such an one might be qualified to sit on Mount Sinai and talk with Moses, and be persuaded and cajoled out of his purposes, and write out a code of laws which would subsequently be abro- 126 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. gated by his successor; He might institute a peculiar form of ceremonial worship, with which He would like to be honored, and do that to-day which he would repent of to-morrow; but such a God would surely, from lack of the requisite experience, be quite incom- petent to take charge of the affairs of a world, much less to build one with all its complicated working machinery. If we are bound to fall down in the dust and worship some superior being, it certainly could not be one who has manifested incompetence and want of experience in every move he has made, and whose designs have been thwarted at every turn by his own offspring, who has been vainly endeavoring to patch up this portion of his workmanship from its creation to the present time, and signally failed in the end. A Being who was compelled to resort to such a shiftless subterfuge as the vicarious atonement, in order to rescue a mere fraction of his own self-begotten children from that eternal hell of torments which he had estab- lished by his own power and wisdom, is most assuredly entitled to the unmitigated contempt of every intelli- gent mind, instead of their adoration and suppliant worship. Then, if we really worship any superior being, it must be some one who, having passed through all experiences, could not be guilty of any such ridicu- lous blunders as are ascribed to the Hebrew God in that record which is said to be his own production. But those beings who are from their exalted attain- ments in wisdom and power really entitled to this high admiration and veneration, do not wish any servile worship, for it cannot be of the least avail to them to INTELLECT. 127 receive from those who are now in conditions they long since passed through, any kind of cringing homage or adulation, for they are elevated entirely beyond its reach. Then let us, as men and women possessed of intellects endowed with reasoning powers, if we desire any favor from those who by their multiplied experi- ences have passed on to higher conditions, stand up in all the dignity of our man and womanhood, and respectfully make our requests known in a sensible and dignified manner, without any cringing servility; and, doubtless, if consistent and it is in their power, our requests will receive proper attention and be granted. It may be said, very justly, that we possess within us an organ of veneration, and that it is quite natural for humanity in most of its conditions to offer some sort of worship or homage to a superior Being; how- ever, it must be admitted that most of these forms of worship are extremely unintelligent. And upon examination we shall find that the so-called organ of veneration might with great propriety be termed admiration; for we certainly cannot really esteem and venerate and adore that which never called out or excited our admiration. Then we must behold or experience something to admire first, before we can possibly indulge in these higher sentiments of venera- tion and adoration; and all this is as involuntary upon the part of the worshiper as the pulsations of the heart, or the gentle aspirations of the inmost soul. All established forms of worship, directed toward an incomprehensible being who never was admired because he never was known, are evidently forced and perfectly unnatural. Men debase themselves by assum- 128 THE GOSPEL OF NATUKE. ing cringing and obsequious attitudes, both physically and mentally, because their timidity — their fearful dread and apprehension of evil — has been aroused, and still holds possession of their natures, or else for the selfish purpose of obtaining some especial favor they could acquire in no other manner. When humanity shall become acquainted with the important fact that all individualized organisms are possessed of intellects, and that the only reason why the most exalted beings in the celestial spheres are superior to themselves, is because theirs are more expanded by wisdom gained from experiences in higher conditions, and that they have attained to a purity by laying off their gross material forms, the debasing influences of the present popular modes of worship will no more delude the race. Then the expensive modern temples erected for the worship of an unknown God may be appropriated to the more sensible purpose of dispensing real intelligent nourishment for the intellects of the human race, thus preparing them to take the next step in advance, or to enter the more spiritual condition unfettered and unburdened by the superstitions, the fogs and darkness that have origi- nated only upon the earth. We heard, not long since, a popular minister of one of the so-called liberal churches beseech the God he worshiped, in an excessively imploring and obsequious manner, for purity; as if it was a commodity that was transferable from one intellectual being to another, and as if the superior being he addressed had a super- abundance of the article he requested, and could easily bestow upon him and his audience all they required. INTELLECT. 129 Had this learned and quite eloquent minister, who really ought to understand something of the nature of spiritual things, possessed any proper conception of the intellect, or the individualized soul entity, he might have learned that the only possible way of attaining to a state of purity is to lay aside the grosser elements, by passing through the various conditions, or by experiencing the dissolution of the various materialized forms in which this soul entity may temporarily exist — thus leaving the finer and purer soul elements to pass on to higher phases of more spiritualized existence. It is thus that intelligent people are continually applying to outside parties — to some imaginary beings — for that which they possess in their own organisms, and that which they will certainly acquire by processes of evolution; for surely no individual in all the broad realms has any more of the higher quali- ties inherent in his organism than we have in ours, or the least progressive child of nature has in his. The only possible difference there can be is that one has passed on to a higher state of intellectual develop- ment; nevertheless, he has only developed the very same faculties which inhere in the very lowest, either latent or in a state of activity. Then we discover that salvation comes from the interior of each selfhood, and cannot come to us from any outside party — it works outward; 'tis evolution, not involution; 'tis self- purification; and each indi- vidual intellect must obtain this and all other graces and qualities by virtue of those potencies found within itself, for each is a microcosm, an epitome of all there is in the universal world. CHAPTEK IV. DISCORDS. Mankind evidently very long since commenced, and they have continued industriously until the present, waging an open warfare against about one-half this elementary universe. That portion of the great whole they have esteemed and which met their approval, they have admired, cherished, and held in great respect. They have ardently desired to embrace and take pos- session of all this, pronouncing it good, while that portion they did not esteem and admire, but which they have despised and hated, they have on the con- traiw called bad or evil, and their untiring efforts have been put forth in lauding and sustaining the one, or in vain endeavors to malign and destroy the other. Thus we have been taught by those who were called good, great and learned, that human life should be a continual conflict and warfare, and that it should be our main business to fight and contend against powers and principalities usually called evil. They also confidently assert, strange as this absurdity may appear, that all this, both the good and the evil, was produced, and is at present sustained, by an infinite being, whose chief attributes are wisdom and goodness; and that he is endowed with all those divine harmonies which constitute him the most exalted being in the broad universe — the supreme ruler and gov- aso) DISCORDS. 131 ernor of all. Xotwith standing all this, they are con- tinually urging people to wage a persistent onslaught against a large portion of this infinitely wise and good Father's productions. This unnatural and very ridiculous fight evidently can never cease until men shall learn to entertain greater respect for the other half of the universe; until they become penetrated with the grand truth that all these opposing elements are absolutely necessary; that they are all equally good, and designed alike to carry out the lofty purposes of that power and wisdom that has stood at the helm, governing and directing all with unerring precision. When we say this part or the other is bad, discordant and improper, we simply call in question that divine wisdom and power that contrived and brought into existence all this complex machinery. For if these apparent discords and inharmonies are really bad, who is responsible? The parties who from time to time awake to consciousness, and are endowed with sufficient intelligence to comprehend this fact, or the parties who possessed the wisdom and power to manipulate elements which would unfold a world like this, with all its necessary concomitants? Is it for us who have just opened our eyes upon the vast panorama that is passing before them, and who are entirely incompetent to comprehend the beginning and ending, or to take in the whole scope of what is thus presented, to say with authority this portion is good and to be commended, while the other is bad and to be condemned? Is there, we ask, any person upon the earth to-day who has advanced to that superior 132 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. condition of wisdom as to understand all the workings of the complicated machinery of this universe, and who can with certainty scan and discriminate in such a manner as to usurp authority upon this subject? Who can say intelligently this part of nature is to be esteemed and cherished because it is very good, while another is barely to be tolerated, and still some other portion is bad, abominally bad — it should be crushed out, and if possible destroyed? The confession and acknowledgment that all things originated with a being possessed of supreme goodness would certainly be an acknowledgment that all things must be good; and if we adopted this hypothesis, we should certainly be compelled to adopt the doctrine that "whatever is, is right" — that is, good and right in the condition to which they properly belong. If men took this view of the subject they would not be dealing damnation around the land upon those they believe to be the enemies of goodness; but with a broader charity they would be more willing to assist all who belong to the race, and use their best endeavors to improve and elevate them, regardless of any super- ficial distinctions. If men better understood the working processes of the material and spiritual worlds — the mingling and commingling, the blending and interblending of con- flicting elements, and all the varied means used in order to accomplish certain purposes — they would be more natural, less clanish and exclusive, and regard with greater favor all portions of themselves, as well as all portions of the human race. They would not deem their fellows who are perhaps more unfortunate DISCORDS. 133 as their inferiors, looking upon themselves as heaven's peculiar favorites, and others vicious enemies to the powers that rule in the universe. If they could only see all things with a vision sufficiently clear and expanded, they would soon discover that all conditions are equally good — all are upon the highway which leads upward — and that very many they esteem so much beneatli themselves are really far in advance. We think by looking around us a little we may find conflicting elements everywhere; and those upon the one side are doubtless just as important and good as those upon the other. We may also find that opposing forces were absolutely required in order to constitute a world. If these antagonistic elements had not come into conflict, there would have been no dispute con- cerning what was good and what was evil, because there would have been no disputants and no world on which to have held the controversy. All would have been one inconceivable blank. Then it follows, in order to produce a world and people it with intellectual beings, there must necessarily be discordant powers brought into activity and con- tinual conflict, else such great purposes could not be accomplished. Hence, look where we will, we find one power arrayed against another with belligerent purpose, yet working out the grandest and most har- monious results. If there is life there must be death, and one is continually warring against the other, each one putting forth strenuous exertions to make encroach- ments upon the other's dominions. Have we as men either the right or the ability to decide which of these two discordant powers is good and which is bad; to 134 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. pronounce the one a friend and the other a foe to humanity? Can we say with any authority that the one is a blessing and the other only a calamity to be deplored? Do they not both come to us from the same high source? And by what right do we call in ques- tion the wisdom and the power that has made us subject to both these conditions? If we have no such right or authority, then it becomes our duty to teach that both are alike blessings to humanity, the one just as much as the other in all cases where either occurs. Why do sensible men and women array themselves in mourning apparel and call deatli a judgment for sins, clothing it with horror, while they acknowledge it to have been instituted by an infinite being who had the best good of his children near his heart? If he was the originator and insti tutor of death, and said that " not a sparrow falls to the ground without notice," he certainly would not allow men, women and children to die without receiving his particular attention; for they are of more value than many sparrows. Even in this case, then, we should be driven to the conclusion that death was as much a- divine institution as life, and that it never could occur unless it came to the party as a blessing and benefit, equal in value with life. Why should not humanity then cease this howl of woe, and why should a soul- stricken world endure such anguish and terror con- cerning a beneficent arrangement by which human as well as all other organized beings are removed from this trouble-laden earthly sphere? There must cer- tainly be some very good reason why all are alike taken from this and carried onward to a higher condition. DISCORDS. 135 Suppose, now, for a moment life, or the positive state, had existed here exclusively, and there had been no negative one called death, where would have been all the higher hopes and aspirations of the human race? And what would have been the condition of the larger portion of earth's inhabitants at the present day? They would most assuredly have been old, worn out, miserable relics of antiquity, shriveled to the last extent by . the accumulations of centuries, enduring unspeakable wretchedness from this forced existence — a wearisome and useless trouble to themselves and every one else. They would exist without enjoyment at the present or hope in the future, dragging on for- ever and forever a compulsory life a thousand fold worse than annihilation or the terrible damnation invented by the Christian fathers. Then let us be grateful for death as well as life, and instead of calling him a grim monster and the king of terrors, let us recognize in him a kindly benefactor, and crown him with flowers as a welcome deliverer and a very gracious friend. If there is love there must also be hatred. Are we prepared to say that one is good and the other bad, or that one is in any way better than the other, or that one might with propriety be placed in the human organism while the other should be excluded? We find one group of organs that would seem to dispose us to act very kindly and with great affection toward some of our fellow beings, and another group that might lead us under certain conditions to plot their downfall and total destruction. Now, which of these organs are we to suppose the best, if there can be any 136 THE GOSPEL OF NATUKE. difference in point of goodness, or are not all placed there for the wisest purposes? It becomes quite evident that an intellectual being could not have been properly constituted without the introduction of the entire group of conflicting, discordant elements we find incorporated into his nature, and that each one is quite as essential and indispensable in the construction of the whole organism as another. All the antagonisms in nature were required in the construction of the highly ultimated human physical and intellectual fabric before a harmonious piece of machinery could be produced. Yet people are constantly questioning the wisdom that placed this complicated arrangement in man's nature; and they declare that certain portions should not be brought into active exercise. They, in defiance of the plain, unmistakable language that is written upon every intellectuality, undertake to estab- lish rules and regulations that would partially destroy a portion of these organs and entirely prevent their healthy growth and maturity. They pursue day by day a deadly warfare against some of the fairest por- tion of nature's handiwork in the production of them- selves. They pronounce their own dictums, flatly telling the projecting and ruling powers who govern and control this universe, in their teeth, which part of their workmanship is good and beautiful and which part is bad and to be condemned and repudiated. They have and still continue to write out and establish conventional rules for the government of human society, in utter disregard and contravention to the laws which are plainly written by the divine hand of nature upon all portions of her works. DISCORDS. 13? The religious world have been for a long time actively engaged in a vain endeavor to patch up and mend that which they have supposed their God left in an unfinished, disjointed condition; and a slight glance at human society, where their manipulations have exerted the strongest influence, will expose to view their wonderful success. We need not go beyond the limits of the city in which we write, or any other populous city, to witness the unhappy effects of this vain struggle to overcome and subdue nature, and make her conform to the popular idea. We may behold this incessant struggle with nature everywhere; the parents have left the mark upon the brow of the children deeply impressed, and you may read in the crowded thoroughfare — in the cars, upon the sidewalk, in the public parks, in the churches, theaters, and in all places where men and women are found — you may read in their features, in every linea- ment, some wide departure from the simple rules that nature has established upon the part of their progeni- tors. How few of nature's noblemen or noblewomen do we meet in all our intercourse with the world? To a penetrating gaze almost every one we see carries the mark of Cain, or some other erring mortal, deeply stamped upon them. Is there no possibility of im- proving the human race — of producing a more highly developed breed of men and women? Must we adopt the conclusion that the utmost skill and ingenuity of the human mind in this respect is to be exhausted in raising superior horses, cattle and pigs? Men have accomplished all they have yet done in this department by a study of nature's laws. We think it will be 138 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. admitted that religion has in no way interfered in this matter of breeding improved stock; and we are appre- hensive that the simple rules nature has inscribed upon her universal tablets must be called into requisi- tion if the human race is improved or unfolded, either physically or mentally, to a higher condition, entirely regardless of any and all the religions that exist. A very considerable portion of humanity are discovering this handwriting upon the broad face of the natural universe; they are beginning to read and interpret for themselves; they are throwing off old traditions and authorities. These people are waking up to a newness of life, and receiving teachings which can only be found in the great volume where all facts and principles are in perfect harmony and accord with universal nature. There can be no breaks, discords and conflicts in the ultimate — but one grand harmonious chain of being from the low r est atom to the infinite w T hole. If men would learn concerning nature, they must certainly inquire of nature, who is abundantly qualified to impart the desired information; if they would learn concerning themselves, they should inquire of them- selves — they should apply to that source from whence the desired knowledge comes — for in no other place can it be found. If they would write books of any value, it becomes necessary to first peruse carefully nature's great unwritten volume, which is alike open for all; and none, until they have turned over many of these pages, can write successfully. Books, to be of any real value, must be transcripts from nature's ample pages. Most people have contented themselves with the knowledge picked up by their ancestors, and DISCORDS. 139 seemed to suppose the fountain might be exhausted. But we cannot conclude such to be the case, for it cer- tainly contains all our fathers discovered for their purposes, and doubtless an inexhaustible supply for all coming generations. The vast reservoir of undiscovered truth is evidently still full to the brim, and all the kindreds of the earth are invited to come and satisfy their cravings. Those who have been out in a strange country, and have wasted their living with seducing harlots, and are reduced down to the husks of the dead past, may return to their father's house — to the beautiful realms where nature's children sport in all their glory, where none but the purest and simplest truths are taught, and where all are alike free, to the poor as well as to the rich. They may roam through nature's halls, partake of her bounties, dance with the brothers and sisters of their own parents' household, and commence learn- ing the great lessons in which all must be instructed before they can come to a knowledge of their own beings — before they may know the exalted purposes for which they were designed. We trust now, if we look around us into those realms where dwells the great mother from whence all have proceeded, we shall find little but conflicting elements, both positive and negative, male and female, and that all the forces in nature are antagonistic. Without these discordant powers nothing in nature could be produced; no organizations or materialized forms could be brought into existence. We are indebted entirely to these antagonisms for this earth upon which we live, for its unfoldment up to its 140 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. present condition, and for all its appertainings which render it a suitable habitation for intelligent beings. Devoid of them, it would have had no revolutions, no motion, no life; all would have been quiet, stillness and eternal death. Had not these conflicting elements existed, it never would have been said, " let us make man;" because man, with all his wondrous activities, could not have been made. Activity conflicts with rest; and if this element had not existed in nature also, it could not have been introduced into man's organism, and then he would have remained in eternal repose, and never put in an appearance. No other element could have entered into his constitution unless it had first been found in nature; and we certainly never should have found him to be such a complicated being unless all the elements of which he is composed had first belonged to the natural universe. Man, they tell us, is a microcosm, a part and parcel of the whole. It took a part of all the elements in nature to construct this wonderful fabric — a something of all entered into its composition. This, perhaps, may be the cause of complaint. Here it may be is where he needs mending; either nature has too many elements, or else too large a portion of them have been introduced into the human organism. One thing, at least, we ascertain : If there is too much or too little, or if the structure is in any other way faulty, man certainly is not responsible, for he had no choice in the matter. We may, however, take it for granted that every discordant element- in nature has entered into his constitution, and that they are all placed there for the highest purposes. All require his care and atten- DISCOKDS. 141 tion, and a judicious cultivation; for, destitute of the least one of these, he could not unfold to a proper manhood. Without embracing all this in the mental and physical structure, it would be utterly impossible to obtain all those experiences which would prepare him for entering the higher circles and spheres of con- scious existence. In order to produce an intellectual individuality in the proper sense of that term, all the resources of nature have been put into requisition; and unless all these vast resources had been drawn upon, it would have been impossible to have organized such a complex piece of machinery. Then there is not an element within man's organization to spare; none can be missing, and none should be deranged by neglect or improper cultivation. This subject must in time be better understood, and this warfare against a portion of ourselves must cease to harass and vex mankind. Are there forces in and upon the earth which pro- duce the fearful tornado that rushes across the conti- nent and across the ocean in all its fury, regardless of the utter destruction that marks its pathway? The stately ships are dashed in pieces and buried beneath the waves of the sea, and thousands of brave men sink to rise no more upon the earth, that these elements may exercise their activities and assist in working out their mighty problems. There are also those that produce the heavings, the quakings and terrible shocks of the devastating earthquake. Cities, with all their inhabitants, are swallowed up, while portions of the country are laid waste and rendered desolate by these wonderful convulsions. Such forces exist in nature; 142 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. they are carrying out their grand purposes and per- forming their legitimate duties, regardless of the solemn petitions of men or of the fearful destruction that results from their activities. The thunder's deafening clangor rolls along the heavens, and the lightning's vivid shafts flash amid the clouds, while the proud ship, the stately dwelling, or perhaps unfortunate traveler or resident is destroyed. Does any one say that these elements should be crushed out and overcome — that nature or the earth is at fault for suffering their active exercise and per- mitting such antagonisms to exhibit their fearful and destructive powers? All these elements must exist in the human organ- ism, whatever may be the results; and no individual can be constructed without something of that which causes so much devastation upon the earth. Shall we inquire of nature who is culpable, who is guilty of a wrong or a misdeed, when any of its com- ponent elements enter into active conflict, when the gathering clouds of the approaching storm are rolling onward with threatening rapidity, when the forked electric shafts are setting the heavens ablaze, when the furious blasts are rending the forests and scattering desolation in their pathway, when the whirlwind or fiercer tornado is leveling our tenements with the earth, while destruction and ruin is everywhere stalk- ing abroad? The sweeping flood comes down upon our fairest landscapes and habitations, and with its wasting deluge swallows up what has been left by the other powers, enveloping all in its watery covering; and then DISCORDS. 143 remains until the teeming orchard, the well tilled field and the beautiful garden, with their foliage, flowers and fruits, are all swept away, and the labor perhaps of years presents one wide scene of blight and death. Men stand by and witness all this conflict, and with, solemn and almost speechless awe call it a visitation of God, whose wrath has been kindled against them for their numerous sins. Destructive fires come and enter into the contest; they wage a warfare against man's best energies to build up and beautify the earth. With their raging fury they lick up and devour whole cities to satiate their craving appetites. In their fierce wrath they destroy the most elaborately built mansion of the rich with as little apparent compunction as the humble cottage of the poor; and all alike bow with meek sub- mission, patiently build up their dwellings once more, and bear the great calamity with becoming fortitude. Who thinks of complaining that nature is out of joint in this respect, or that their God was unjust for intro- ducing this terrible enemy into his works? If we look into the various departments of organic life below the human, we may find there excessively jarring and discordant elements exercising all their furious activities. Confine our microscopic vision within the limits of a single drop of water, and we may get a peep at terrible antagonisms — see one little sprite pursuing its neighbor with tiger-like ferocity, destroying the lives of those that are inferior in strength, and feasting upon their dead bodies. How strange, that these little fellows should possess an innate love of life, hastening from their pursuers, and 144 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. evading by all means in their power the clutches of their enemies, or else turning and giving them valiant light; exhibiting the great fact that combativeness and destructiveness have come up from the infinitesimal realms. The large fish devour the smaller without the least apparent remorse; they seem to enjoy the feast, and fatten upon the death and destruction of their inferiors. We believe that thus far the most pious religionists have never attempted to prohibit their followers from eating these murderous cannibal fishes, and thus incor- porating these elements into their inmost constitutional organisms. The serpent swallows the toad, and no one seems to tell us which is in fault — the snake for swallowing in obedience to the provisions of nature, or the toad for quietly submitting to this seemingly unnatural process of deglutition. .One fact is apparent upon the face of this transaction, and that is the two natures are won- derfully antagonistic; but we think it would be quite impossible for our wisest clergymen to tell us which is the best of the two, or which is good and which is evil. It would appear to be a great evil to the toad to be swallowed in such a manner; and it might be an evil to the snake to thus overload his stomach by taking so much toad at a single meal. But, unless nature is at fault, both parties must be benefited by this operation — -the one has obtained the elements required for sustenance, and the spiritual element within the other has been set free by a dissolution of the physical form, so it may rise to superior conditions. The eagle soars aloft, and with its far-seeing eye DISCORDS. 145 descries some innocent victim in the distance; and pouncing down with fell purpose of death in his heart, seizes his lawful prey and conveys it in triumph to his aerie upon the dizzy heights of the mountain cliff. The fox roams stealthily over field and forest, or sneaks into the neighboring farm yard during the dark hours of the night, in pursuit of that food that nature has provided. There seems to be a terrible clashing of interests in all this matter — wonderful elemental dis- cords; but which of them all can we pronounce good, and w r hich dare we say is bad? These jarring, conflicting conditions seem to exist conspicuously throughout the entire range of organized life, from the least animalcule up to that crowning effort of nature, the human — the most exalted animal the earth has produced; and here, as we might have anticipated, we find the culmination of all antagonisms. Man assumes the prerogative to wage a perpetual war- fare upon all below himself, and deals out destruction and death with an unsparing hand, either to satisfy the cravings of his appetites or to supply his passional gratifications and wanton pleasures. He hesitates not in the least to subject all to the controlling influence of his will; nothing must interfere with the promotion of his interests, however much they may come in con- tact with the interests of those beings less advanced than himself. They must succumb; for man rules with an iron hand, which, if necessary to promote his ends, is raised against everything possessed of less power. Not only his " riot," but his continued exist- ence, " dooms the lamb to bleed," as well as the cattle upon a thousand hills, and a large portion of the 10 146 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. animal race. His life is at war with their lives; he subsists upon their death; the conflict must still be waged, and these universal battles must continue to be fought, or man must die for want of sustenance. Can all this be in accordance with premeditated arrangement, or has it happened bj the merest chance — by an oversight of the supereminent wisdom that laid the foundations of the earth; by a lack of ability in those who are said to have listened to the glad symphonies when the morning stars sang together? Did some huge blunder, or some great mistake, occur at that early period in the world's history, or does all this seeming or real discord exist in the very soul essence of nature's elements, fully comprehended by those supervising powers who have watched over and scanned all nature's works with a wisdom quite suffi- cient for every emergency, and who must in every period of its progressive history pronounce it " good, very good"? If we take a peep into nature's laboratory, we shall doubtless find she has some very curious processes by which she works out her problems and performs her arduous labors, and that in the accomplishment of her high purposes she is continually bringing to bear very discordant elemental forces. Nature is constantly tearing down and reconstructing upon improved prin- ciples; she dissolves material substances, and again reunites the particles in a higher form ; and, in fact, it is quite possible that we may find disintegration and reunion of atoms a very conspicuous part of her busi- ness. All this necessarily involves one continuous scene of conflict. One belligerent power must wage DISCORDS. 147 war against another before dissolution and reunion can by any possibility occur; and unless it had occurred, nature could not have changed from a static condition — she could by no means have made this steady advance from the lower to a higher phase of existence. If all was originally granite, then a portion of that solid substance must be called upon to subserve a higher purpose; which could not be done unless it passed through certain changes — unless it was dis- solved. In order to accomplish this — in order to change it into soil suitable to produce vegetable life — powerful enemies must have been brought to bear in the shape of solvents; they must attack this solid rock in such a manner as to crumble it to ruins; they must oppose their powers against its cohesive nature, and grind it to powder. The resultant particles may again reunite in the form of some other rock, and again be submitted to a similar process, until by these terrible manipulations they may be impregnated with the elements of vegetable life sufficient to produce lichens or some of the inferior orders of that kingdom. The vegetables in their turn must die, and mingle up with the sterile soil, until finally, by this continued life and death, the lofty pine and sturdy oak have made their appearance. Had all things been harmonious from the earlier periods, and had no enemies been found in nature capable of dissolving the solid granite — had its parti- cles remained intact, and peace and quietness continued over all until the present day — then all would have still been one wide spread scene of desolation and death, and no living active organized forms would have 148 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. existed upon all the earth. Suppose, again, this con- flicting scene of discordant activities could have been arrested at any period in the earth's history; then all nature must have necessarily stopped, and all things would have remained in that condition. But, fortu- nately, all things have their enemies — all enter into the mighty conflict, all are subject to dissolution. All the particles must again commingle with the soil and other portions of elemental nature, fertilizing and ren- dering them capable of producing higher forms of vegetable and animal life, and thus onward through all the gradations of progressive existence. Universal peace and harmony means exactly universal negative- ness, coldness and death; and if, as we have said, this state had been introduced at any period of this advan- cing history, then all must have stopped there, and remained in that precise condition until the general conflict could have been once more inaugurated. Thus we perceive all conditions have been built up and established upon the ruins of that which preceded; and such must necessarily be the case until nature shall have accomplished her ultimate purposes, if such can be possible. Suppose all conflicts in human society could cease their operations to-day, and all that is abominable, vile and wicked, or opposed to virtue and the enlightened Christianity of the present age, should be swept out of existence; and suppose all things were rendered quiet, peaceable and harmonious, in accordance with the most fervent petition of the devout Quaker; sup- pose all the discordant elements in the natural universe should suspend their influences upon humanity, and DISCORDS. 149 sickness and sorrow, pain and death, should be felt and feared no more in all the world. Can we conclude that such would be a better or more desirable state of things, and that society would be in a happier or more advantageous condition? If we inquire into the result we shall inevitably find that all hopes and aspirations that animate our breasts with such glorious promise in the future, would be swept away also. The last page of human history would have been recorded; for all in the future would necessarily be but one dead standstill, or at the most one lethargic, monotonous round, and for all time to come there could be nothing to look or hope for but that which had been already experienced ; no problem to work out, for all would have been solved; no agree- able expectations to be realized, tor all has been already accomplished; no felicitous changes to be hoped for, as there is no conflicting element in activity that could produce any change whatsoever. Such a kind of negative happiness would inevitably become loathsome, and the stagnant peace and quietness induced by this negative harmony sickening to the soul. The unthink- ing Christian world, who had so long earnestly prayed and agonized for just this state of things, would pray more fervently to be set back, that they might take the world as it now is, with all its turmoils and strifes, its wickedness and abominations; and they would hail these discordant elements which appear to be pro- ductive of such great evils as the most cherished bless- ing that could be conferred upon humanity. Then mankind had better cease their whining and their manifest dissatisfaction, and kiss the chastening 150 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. rod which seems to inflict the severest blows, accept of nature as they find it, and with true and brave hearts be willing to work out their own salvation with the means provided; not using vain endeavors to shirk the responsibility, with the idle expectation that some one else will bear the burdens that properly belong to themselves. Each back is fitted for its own, and each should bear it manfully, without a sneaking recourse to vicarious sufferings endured by some one else. If there is suffering to be endured by the human race, why should we not bear that suffering for our- selves, rather than to permit some one else to endure their own share and ours also? By these ever living active conflicts the world is moving onward to a higher condition of unfoldment and magnificence; and we may go onward also, if we choose to get aboard of the cars that are going forward to a higher destination. But, if we choose to take a seat in the old, rickety, worn-out, conservative mud wagon, whose drivers and conductors are desirous of keeping quiet or remaining in the same old condition under the ancient, moss-covered, apostolic shed forever, we may do so; there is no one to hinder. However, our personal interest and a wise policy would seem to dictate that we take passage upon the train that is moving upon the great railroad of progressive unfold- ment — the one that is going on to higher and still higher achievements — working out grander and still grander results, by entering into and grappling with this universal conflict that none should seek to avoid. We discover that all things in our world are in a very unfinished condition, and that important work is DISCORDS. 151 still to be done; everywhere instrumentalities must be brought into activity for very many ages to come if we would have this wonderful machine approximate a state of completion. The physical globe is evidently in a very imperfect state; it seems to require touching and retouching in a thousand places, in order to bring it up to that more elaborated condition in which it may subserve the stupendous purposes designed by the original architects, by whom its very foundations seem to have been established. If we peruse the volume of nature carefully, we shall readily perceive that life has in every instance pro- ceeded from the opposing element, death, in all the various forms in which life has manifested itself in its progressive existence, from the most diminutive vege- table up to its noblest representative, man, the crown- ing glory of living forms upon the earth. The higher in all these gradations have grown out of, and are compelled to subsist upon, the death and dissolution of the lower, and conflicting elements must be brought to bear in order to accomplish this object. Although our Puritan fathers chastised the cat for killing mice upon the Sabbath, they were forced to admit that the carniverous propensities of this animal were such that she must destroy life in order to satisfy the cravings of those appetites placed within her by divine power and wisdom. They graciously permitted poor puss to roam abroad during the less holy days of the week upon the war path, in pursuit of her innocent victims, carrying dismay and death in her stealthy tread, as she seized and throttled her helpless prey. They also acquiesced in that fiend-like enjoyment with which she 152 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. tantalized and tortured those who fell into her clutches, during their last lingering moments of agony and dis- tress; and notwithstanding all these terribly discordant, ferocious and destructive elements were exhibited by this domestic animal, yet she was tolerated by the stern, ascetic Puritan, and also by the more peace- loving Quaker. The cat, although possessed of all these relentless and barbarous traits of character, is admitted as a favored and cherished inmate of the household of the most pious and peace-loving people, and is the petted companion of their children. "When we behold her in her gambols frisking playfully upon the carpet, or pillowed upon the lap of the child, pur- ring forth her quiet and satisfaction, we involuntarily pronounce her the very impersonation of peace and harmony. Now, we may inquire very properly which of these two counter elements, that seem to exist in this animal so conspicuously, is good and which is bad, or whether one is better than the other, and if both are not equally useful in their place? If the cat manifested this fero- city and destructiveness among our little ones, we could not allow her a place upon the premises ; but these savage traits of character are very much needed in the barns, storehouses and fields, that the stock of vegetables and cereals which have been provided with so much care and labor may not be destroyed by those marauding little fellows, the rats and mice. Thus we find a two-fold nature entirely discordant in this humble domestic creature, from which we may learn some valuable lessons. Both must be alike good and equally important in their place. She blesses the DISCORDS. 153 children as a kindly, affectionate and playful friend; and she blesses the proprietors of the household while acting in the capacity of a stealthy foe and ferocious, bloody monster, destroying those enemies who might otherwise make serious depredations upon the living of the household. Wherever we may look, through all the gradations of vegetable and animal existence, we discover one universal warfare, one destructive conflict; all life subsisting by the death of something else. Vegetation cannot be successfully produced unless the earth has been fertilized by the destruction of something which has preceded. The entire animal race are compelled to wage a perpetual warfare against the lives of some- thing else m order to sustain their own existence. They must in every instance take life in order to sus- tain life; and usually the life of the higher is built upon the death of that which is below. All the different species — the herbivorous as well as carniver- ous animals — are pursuing this deadly warfare in order to subsist; all destroying some organic form of life. AVe may trace step by step, throughout all the gradations and ramifications of organized beings, this universal and unending discordant conflict; every one gorging and feasting themselves upon the life of their inferiors, in order to sustain and perpetuate their own. We need not stop here; for after an extended can- vass of the terrible antagonisms that are inherent in the whole range of animal existence, we may rise to the ultimatum of physical organisms, and there we find a culmination of all the discords, the grand 154 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. climax of the various conflicting elements which can be found in every department of nature below. If we have found anything bad in our researches through the lower organisms, we shall doubtless find all these, bad as well as good characteristics, concen- trated in man ; for he is the microcosm of all that is below — he is the ultimate of all that is inferior to himself. All have been ushered into existence that man, the crowning glory of every other form, might have a being; and man possesses within himself inher- ently all this complicity of discordant elements that exist in all inferior things which nature has produced. We cannot say this has been the result of accident or some mishap, or that this state of affairs was brought about by the wicked machinations of some adversary; but we discover plainly that the true nature of man is the direct and legitimate result of all the life organisms below him, who have been work- ing out and preparing for interminable ages in the past these very conflicting elements which have entered into and constitute him a man. All those forces have evidently been directed by inconceivable wisdom and power toward a certain well understood and definite purpose; and this grand object could never have been lost to view by the pre-eminent supervising intellects for a single moment. Man, as he is and as he was, being the grand finishing touch of all organic forma- tions — the solution of all the problems that had been worked up in the natural realms, and containing within his own nature something of all that had been produced previously — could not be the result of some careless, mistaken blunder; but he is evidently the DISCOEDS. 155 product of that wisdom which is abundantly able to accomplish the work undertaken in its own peculiar manner, and has done so in this instance, as well as in everything inferior to the human organization. Can we suppose that some supreme architect, endowed with the requisite wisdom and power, con- structed this world, and carried out his plans success- fully until that particular juncture when it was necessary to bring man upon the stage, and that right here he was nonplussed, foiled, and quite defeated in his purposes; that he here met with difficulties entirely unforeseen and unanticipated? Can we suppose that he became so dissatisfied with this part of his own work that he owned up a miserable failure; and although he had fitted up a beautiful garden residence in a very tasteful manner for the accommodation of his first pair, was forced to turn them out and cause the earth to bring forth briers and thorns, whereas it might otherwise have been a lovely, wide extended and fruitful landscape. What respect and veneration can we entertain for a Being who could undertake such an important task and manifest such incompetency; who could whine and waste useless regrets, be sorry and repent that he had ever undertaken this portion of his workmanship; and who could finally, in a most reckless manner, destroy nearly all that he had produced from the face of the earth by a deluge? And yet such have been the highest teachings which men have received from those who claim to exercise authority, and who seem to entertain unbounded reverence and veneration for the 156 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. beings whom they declare were guilty of these terrible blunders and mistakes. They acknowledge their infinitely wise God or Gods could manufacture crickets and grasshoppers most admirably; that He could produce the birds of the air, the turtle dove, the sparrow and the eagle, and that such are marvelously adapted to their condition. He could even produce the cat, the dog, the horse, or the ape, and that all these are supereminent manifestations of skill and wisdom ; that they are most ingeniously fitted to that part of the fabric to which they severally belong. They do not pretend to suggest any improve- ments upon this portion of His workmanship; and they express the utmost satisfaction with the exquisite manner in which all this has been performed. But when we come up to man — the crowning effort, the masterpiece of the entire work — then comes in the fault finding; then we begin to hear of dissatisfactions and disagreements, of mystifications all obscured in darkness, of complicated uncertainties and multitu- dinous theological teachings and explanations. Here comes in the thousand contradictory opinions, and all the doctrines, the credenda and ceremonial machinery, the twi stings, turnings and windings of all the various denominations. Here arises the denunciations of each sect against all others and against the world, with the prejudices, bickerings, coldness and ill-feelings which have marked the history of these differing persuasions since they have had an existence upon the earth. Here has originated in days gone by the whole sicken- ing history of persecutions and martyrdoms during the long years that religious superstition has predomi- DISCORDS. 157 nated so extensively in the world. Even at the present time, where so much intelligence prevails, we find mankind as much befogged as ever, all because they have conceived the idea that something was wrong — some screw loose in the machine — and that man was ushered upon the stage of existence as a faulty and very incomplete piece of mechanism. It has been supposed that man in no way answered the designs of Him who projected and brought him into existence; and yet they constantly affirm that the party or parties who said "let us make man in our image" were infinite in knowledge and power, although they made such a signal failure in this part of the grand produc- tion. Infinite in power and wisdom, and still made a grand failure exactly where the finest opportunity was presented to make an exhibition of infinite ability, where it was most needed, and where it would have reflected the greatest possible honor! If man could have been created as perfect of his kind as the horse or the ox, and made to subserve his purpose as admirably, had he been no more of a failure, then it would have saved all this miserable subsequent patchwork; these feeble and vain endeavors to mend a bad matter by concocting schemes and instituting atonements. It would have saved those vile aspersions that seem to rest against the supposed creators of man, as no such horrible ideas could have been entertained which bears upon their face such fiendish imbecility, and contem- plates the meanness, as well as cruelty, of casting man into eternal torment because they themselves failed to construct him properly. 158 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. If humanity could become fully apprised of the great and important fact that man has been evolved, and that he is organized in perfect accordance with the highest wishes and the original design of those super- eminent powers under whose influence he was un- folded, all this trouble might at once cease to exist. If they could discover there was a wisdom somewhere in the universe as fully competent to produce men and women, in accordance with universal immutable law, as cats, dogs, donkeys or apes, then the public mind would be disabused of many of their stupid errors, and about sixty thousand idle clergymen could go to work like other men and earn an honest livelihood. When all shall learn that there has been no more blunders committed in the production of the human than in lower forms of organized life, and that all are working out their high destinies in obedience to the original design, then man will make another stride forward in the high road of his progressive history; a new epoch will dawn upon the world, and human intellects will occupy a more elevated plane than at present. Then they will know of a truth that no par- ticular portion of the entire machinery of this world has been neglected, but that every part has received attention, and will ultimately attain to the highest possible condition ; and that all the conflicting elements everywhere will finally be productive of universal har- mony. Now, if men have accepted and taught such unnat- ural and incongruous ideas concerning their own interior conformations — ideas so far at variance with the true nature of the case, as any one may discover at DISCORDS. 159 a glance, when divested of prejudice, they stop to can- vass this matter — it is by no means surprising that they should have formed equally unnatural and inco- herent ideas concerning the interior formation of this physical globe. If they have filled up human organ- isms with such a mass of useless rubbish, or placed within them the internal fires of damnation, what wonder that they should seek to fill up this earthly globe in a similar unnatural manner, either with a confused mass of rocks and useless debris a thousand times worse than nothing, or else with the equally absurd incandescent fires of the modern philosopher? To have created or produced man in accordance with the teachings of theology, or to have brought into existence a world as the eminent scientists of the day have imagined concerning this one, would presuppose that such creators or manufacturers were mere charla- tans or empyrics, and barely trying experiments; and that they had in both cases most essentially failed in accomplishing their full purposes. There is not an intelligent man who walks the earth can give a sub- stantial reason why humanity should have been brought into existence in conformity with the views of the theologian of the old school — " a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction " — or why this physical globe should have been filled brimming full of useless material or incandescent molten lava. Both these fabulous ideas will at no distant period belong to the dead past; and men will wonder with great astonishment that their ancestors could have entertained opinions so frivolous and chimerical, and so entirely opposed to a sound philosophy. 160 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. But, in the conflict of the ages, the demonstrable truths and established principles of the present have been reared upon the chimeras and extravagant fancies of a more ignorant period; so in all the future con- tinuous changes must take place in every department of progressive knowledge. The history of science, philosophy, and perhaps theology, will, as in past ages, continue to be the building up of new and better estab- lished verities upon the ruins of old opinions which were not clearly and definitely understood, thus laying the foundations deeper and broader as man goes onward in his researches, and his means of information are increased and extended. > A cursory examination will satisfy the candid thinker that not one of all the multitudinous religions that men have adopted in the various ages of the world, have had any real tendency to quell the discordant elements existing in human nature; but, on the con- trary, they have rather aggravated and increased the general disturbance. The very first gleam of a reli- gious thought in the minds of men existing in the rudest condition of the earlier times, contemplated the idea of wrath, conflict, and possible destruction; and such in an eminent degree have been incorporated into all forms of faith that have been instituted in the world. The central idea of every religion, from the earliest, crudest forms to the present gorgeous displays that are made in our popular churches, has been that two conflicting powers are arrayed against each other — the one weak and small, the other strong and great; and that it becomes necessary for the weak to offer DISCORDS. 161 sacrifices to the stronger in order to placate his wrath, and thus prevent their utter destruction. The conflicting elements of combativeness and destructiveness have been the most important ingre- dients that have entered into not only the outward forms and ceremonials of all the various religions, but their spiritual essence have been impregnated with these inseparable antagonisms from the earlier ages till the present. Men of all religions have uniformly endowed the supreme objects of their adoration and worship with faculties and characteristics similar to themselves ; they have looked upon them as belligerant, intolerant and exacting in their requirements, and that it was really necessary that something should be destroyed, or that blood should be spilled and life sacrificed, in order to satisfy their carniverous demands. All religions alike have reared their altars, slain their victims, and offered their bloody sacrifices to placate the vindictive wrath of some dreadful monster God ; and the peaceable religion of Jesus boldly declares, as a fundamental principle, that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. Then it becomes quite evident that religion, in its elemental structure, recognizes the great fact of uni- versal discords and inharmonies existing everywhere, from the throne of that supreme God that is worshiped by the zealous devotee, down to the most despicable human being found upon the earth. We also trust their general history will show most conclusively, by the terrible conflicts that have been inaugurated under their influence, and by the torrents of human blood that have been shed in their defense, that religious 11 162 THE GOSPEL OF NAT ORE. institutions have never as yet practically brought peace on earth and good will to the children of men. Can we entertain such an idea when we find a great Christian nation engaged in a bloody civil contest, and each party praying most fervently to their God to bring destruction and death upon their enemies? The great founder of the Jewish religion commenced his public career by slaying an Egyptian with his own hands; and after a series of conflicts this people escaped from bondage by a well arranged plan that overthrew and destroyed a great number of their enemies in the Red Sea; and it was thus that this religious enterprise was baptised in the blood of their fellow men. Strange as it may appear, this great massacre seems to have been perpetrated almost exclusively by the God whom the Hebrews and the Christians both claim to worship as the supreme ruler and author of the universe — the great center and object of all religious adoration. We can scarcely glance at the history of the Jewish people, from the time of their departure from Egypt up to the last day of their national existence, but we find them engaged in the most bloody and murderous wars, either among themselves or against the neigh- boring people upon whose natural rights they had encroached. How could this be otherwise, when it was a prime article in their established creed that the God they worshiped brought them out of Egypt with His powerful and destructive arm; that he ordered and assisted in fighting their bloody battles, and com- manded them to put to death the innocent victims that fell into their hands? What could we expect from a people who were taught these sentiments in their DISCORDS. 163 infancy, and also that they were a chosen race, the especial favorites of the only true God, entirely supe- rior in every sense of the word to the other nations of the earth, whom they were taught to look upon as the enemies of their God as well as themselves. Such ideas incorporated into their religion, and promulgated among this entire people, were eminently calculated to bring them into collision and open conflict with all the surrounding nations; especially those who occupied the territory they so much coveted, and which they claimed as their own by the promise of their God. It is quite unnecessary for our purpose to recall the details of the destructive conflicts that marked the history of this people from the days of Moses until the destruction of Jerusalem and their general disper- sion. Suffice it to say, that this chosen people fully equalled, if they did not exceed, in atrocity and cruelty, any other nation upon the earth; and that all the power they had was actively exerted in a war of exter- mination against those nations who happened to be in peaceable possession of the country they chose to divide among the tribes as an inheritance. The Christian world have exultingly quoted very many of these terrible conflicts in which the Jews were engaged in the different wars which they waged against the neighboring nations, as eminent instances where divine interference was brought to bear, where the Hebrew God entered personally into the contest, and assisted His people in gaining their signal victories. They also claim that most of these wars were inaugu- rated by the immediate direction of this divine power; thus acknowledging the doctrine that the only true 164 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. religion of that period was established by a war-making Jehovah, and that all this continued scene of barbarous conflicts was promoted and sustained by this great God of battles. We may very properly inquire by what authority another personage, who claims to be only an heir to that divine universal Father who fought the battles of the Jews, should come in and repudiate his proceedings, proclaiming peace on earth and good will to all men, unless the Father who had been ordering and assisting in the perpetration of so much violence and bloodshed had retired from the government and given up his authority entirely. If the infinite Being who it is claimed established the Jewish religion and fought their battles, still reigns, and is the same God "yesterday, to-day and forever, without any variableness or shadow of turning," how could some other personage, whether he be His son or not, arise up and establish a government upon entirely different principles, introducing universal peace and love instead of universal war and conflict? Doubtless a partial solution of this difficult problem, and the best reply that can be made to the query, may be found in a careful perusal of the historic results of this new government, or new religion, as found upon the records of the times from that day to the present. We shall find by examination that the Christian religion, as well as the Jewish, which is represented to be but a prologue to its successor, is based upon the same character of antagonisms. First we find an offended God, and then an offending manhood — exactly two parties, who have somehow entered into this con- flict — and this religion proposes a plan by which a DISCORDS. 165 reconciliation can be made between the two antago- nistic parties; and it appears this cannot be effected without a very general disturbance. The old Jewish religion, established by God himself, must be super- seded and destroyed; and an innocent being must be provided, in a miraculous manner, who is to be bar- barously massacred as a sacrificial offering, and then somebody says the vindictive wrath of this Father, who had been engaged in fighting the battles of the Jews for several hundred years past, would be appeased. It is a very curious fact, in connection with this strange and ridiculous proceeding, that the Jews, the former favorite people of this infinite God, are to be made instrumental in the production as well as in the assas- sination of this victim, in order that a suitable sacrifice may be made and offered in a proper manner, so that the bloodthirsty appetite and infinite anger of the Father might be partially placated. This infinite God is made to abandon his warlike government, that he established with so much flourish of trumpets amid the thunders and lightnings of Mount Sinai, and one is set up in direct antagonism to the general principles promulgated in the first. The genius of the latter institution was to be entirely at variance with that of the former; and yet it is claimed that the unchange- able Jehovah of the Hebrews still exercises all his original authority over the entire human family, and that He does not permit so much as a " sparrow to fall to the ground without his notice." Again, this peaceable religion could not be estab- lished without the shedding of blood; thus saith the great Apostle to the Gentiles, some one must be 166 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. slain ; as if the elder Hebrew God, who had been so long managing the bloody battles of his chosen people, must gratify his insatiable appetite with one more victim, as a sort of compromise; and that victim, unnatural as it may appear, must be his only begotten son. We venture to say that no system of religion has ever been reared upon the earth so replete with glaring antagonisms, so discordant in its elemental structure, so at variance with every harmonious prin- ciple, and so ruinously destructive in its results, as the popular religion of the present day, adopted in the most civilized portions of the globe. This religion claims to have been baptized in blood, in order to satisfy the anger of a revengeful God, who (if we are to accept earthly records concerning His character- istics) had ever manifested a sort of fiend-like cruelty toward a large portion of His own children, brought into existence by himself, as the natural production of His own genius and power. How can men stand up and declare that the Hebrew God is love, when all the history we have concerning Him represents Him as cruel and vindictive? This history gives an authentic narrative of His utter destruction of the entire race by drowning, except one favorite family, and after that of His entering into the most sanguinary wars against the posterity of this favored family; and finally sums up all by terming Him emphatically the God of battles. This warlike Being was to be conciliated in the establishment of a new religion, antagonistic in every feature to the one ordained by Himself upon Mount Sinai. His was warlike in every sense of that term; but the new one DISCORDS. 167 was to inculcate the principles of peace, love and non- resistance, even to enemies. The former taught the doctrines of slaughter, with unmitigated wrath, and destruction to enemies; the latter teaches love and affection for all, enemies as well as friends. The former revelled in fierce and bloody Avars; the latter proclaims universal peace to the children of men. The one is entirely contradictory and antagonistic to the other; and it remains to be ascertained by subsequent history if the new religion set up in opposition to the old ever changed the natural elements which enter into and constitute the mental and physical organisms of the human race. Have mankind been more peaceful, kind and loving, or less combative and warlike, since the establishment of this religion upon the earth? Have the votaries of this religion manifested any less dispo- sition to fight and contend with their enemies than others who pay no regard whatever to its ceremonials and beliefs? A very slight glance at church history will show us that not only wars and contentions of the most san- guinary character have marked its footsteps since Christianity gained any power and influence in the world, but that it has added to this an unrelenting, fiend-like cruelty, still more desperate than the religion of the Hebrews or any other people upon the earth. Notwithstanding all the peaceful teachings of a Jesus, and those who fall down and worship him, claiming to be his followers, they have proved them- selves to be the most bloodthirsty, warlike, unrelenting monsters that ever disgraced the name of humanity. In confirmation of this fact, we need quote but a few 168 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. passages of history; and that we may not be charged with referring to infidel authority, we choose to select from an eminent Christian author, who has collated from different works very much more than is required for our purpose. We may learn from these lessons that the various powers and faculties found in man's mental organism — the antagonistic elements incor- porated into his nature — have in no sense of the word been changed or improved by the religion they have adopted; but, on the other hand, under the pretense of promoting religious principles, these conflicting elements have been prostituted to the vilest and most barbarous purposes. We may learn that benevolence, conscientiousness and veneration exist in the human character quite independent of all religious beliefs; that they did form a component part of the mental structure before religion had an existence, and long before the idea of a vicarious atonement entered the mind of a single human being. We may also learn that no religion ever yet invented has divested the intellectual organism in man of combativeness, destruct- iveness, acquisitiveness, or any of those powers of mind which seem to some persons to be discordant, and opposed to the promotion of virtuous and pure principles. When we take a partial survey of nature's realms, and find all things in the universe composed of antag- onistic elements, that no living organization can be brought into existence unless all the various ingredients in nature are introduced into its structure, and that man, the grand crowning effort, could by no means have been produced unless he had been a microcosm DISCORDS. 169 of all things, we may well wonder at the frivolous, unnatural teachings which come to us from some of the most eminent minds the world has ever known. We may well wonder that the great Christian philoso- pher, Doctor Dick, could have had his superior mental powers so warped by the religion he adopted as to make use of the following language: " Man was origi- nally formed after the moral image of his Maker. His understanding was quick and vigorous in its percep- tions; his will subject to the divine law, and to the dictates of his reason; his passions serene and uncon- taminated with evil; his affections dignified and pure; his love supremely fixed upon his Creator, and his joy unmingled with those sorrows which have so long been the bitter portion of the race. But the primogenitor of the human race did not long continue in the holy and dignified station in which he was placed. Though he was placed in a garden of delights, surrounded with everything that was delicious to the taste and pleasant to the eye, yet he dares to violate a positive command of his Maker, and stretched forth his hand to pluck and taste the fruit of the forbidden tree. The dismal effects of the depraved dispositions thus introduced among the human species soon became apparent. Cain, the first born son of Adam, had no sooner reached the years of maturity than he gave vent to his revenge- ful passions, and imbued his hands in his brother's blood. And ever since the perpetration of this horrid and unnatural deed the earth has been drenched with blood of thousands and millions of human beings; the stream of corruption has flowed without intermission in every direction around the globe." 170 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. How is it possible that the man who could peer so far into the broad realms of universal nature, and behold so clearly the conflicting elements necessary to give motion to all the heavenly bodies in the perform- ance of their extended evolutions, and who discovered that there were antagonistic powers sufficient to destroy worlds and bring others into existence to supply their places, could not as easily discover that all these con- flicting forces must of necessity be introduced into man's organism in order to constitute him a human being? How could a mind with such endowments have given credence to an ancient legend, and enter- tained the idea, that man's complicated organism, as he found it, with all its curiously contrived working machinery, was the result of eating one particular apple instead of some other? When we take a rational view of this subject, and learn that man is the grand ultimatum of all that can be found in nature below him, then it becomes no marvel that Cain (if there was such a person) slew his brother, or that man has in all ages of the world been a warlike, combative being, and that none of the forms of religion — not even Christianity, with its peaceable, non-resistant doctrines — should put a check upon a general exhibition of all these discordant elements so thoroughly incorporated into man's nature. Neither need we marvel that the various religions have rather increased these disturbances and aggravated these natural characteristics; and that wars have been more fierce and bloody where men's peculiar religious beliefs have been made the issue, or any way connected with their belligerent contests. DISCORDS. 171 Our author says that " Millot justly remarks of the church in the days of Constantine and succeediug Emperors : New sects sprung up incessantly and coin- batted each other. Each boasted its Apostles, gave its sophisms for divine oracles, pretended to be the deposi- tory of the faith, and used every effort to draw the multitude to its standard. The church was filled with discords; bishops anathematized bishops; violence was called into the aid of argument, and the folly of princes fanned the flame that spread with such destructive rage. They played the theologists, attempted to com- mand opinions, and punished those whom they could not convince. The laws against idolators were soon extended to heretics; but what one emperor proclaimed as heretical was to another sound doctrine. The pop- ular ferments being heightened by the animosity of the clergy, prince, country, law and duty were no longer regarded. Men were arians, nestorians, etc., but no longer citizens; or, rather, every man became the mortal enemy of those citizens he condemned. This unheard-of madness for irreconcilable quarrels never abated amidst the most dreadful disasters. Every sect formed a different party in the state, and their mutual animosities conspired to sap its founda- tions. " It is supposed by competent historians who have given this subject attention, that over fourteen thou- sand million human beings have in one way and another fallen victims to the ravages of war, which may possibly be a number sufficient to populate four- teen worlds of the magnitude and conformation of the earth as densely as the one we inhabit." 172 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. We cannot suppose that all this fearful amount of bloodshed, and the terrible barbarity connected with its details, have been mishaps, or in any manner unforeseen by the controlling powers who projected our world, and have so successfully managed its affairs since it had an existence. If there has been any mis- takes of this character made, then these powers were certainly incompetent to undertake the management of an enterprise so stupendous as that of building and peopling a world with intelligent beings. And yet our Christian author exclaims, with great apparent emotion and much dissatisfaction, "What a horrible and tre- mendous consideration, to reflect that fourteen billion beings, endowed with intellectual faculties and fur- nished with bodies curiously organized by divine wisdom, that the inhabitants of fourteen worlds should have been massacred, mangled, and cut to pieces by those who were partakers of the same common nature, as if they had been created merely for this work of destruction! Language is destitute of words suffi- ciently strong to express the emotions of the mind when it contemplates the horrible scene. And how melancholy is it to reflect that in the present age, which boasts of its improvements in science, in civili- zation, and in religion, neither reason, nor benevolence, nor humanity, nor Christianity, has yet availed to arrest the progress of destroying armies, and setr a mark of ignominy on the people who delight in war." The learned doctor with great feeling acknowledges himself nonplussed, and that no means has as yet been provided or remedy found which seems to exert the least influence in correcting this woful mistake that DISCORDS. 173 has occurred somewhere in the oversight and direction of the affairs of this earth and its inhabitants. Truly we may say that even " Christianity has not yet availed to arrest the progress of destroying armies," and it would seem, from the present condition of human society and the prospects which loom up in the future, that the time is very remote when the Christian religion will exert any such influence. The conflicting elements in human nature are too deeply implanted to be removed by any of the forms of religion. All the religions that ever existed had their begin- ning — they must consummate their purpose, and cease to exist; and they will be remembered only as waifs upon the great ocean of time, while the eternal inwrought elements, embracing all the antagonisms in nature which enter into man's organism and constitute him the complex being he is, will continue to manifest the same round of activities they ever have and are exhibiting at the present day. Man is the product of just such material as nature afforded; he is endowed with his natural, unavoidable characteristics, without which he would not be man in any proper sense, and no kind of religion can make any absolute change in the elements incorporated into his inmost nature, as is fully established by the history of the nations of the world. The most fatally destructive implements of warfare which have been introduced into modern combats are all the work of Christian people. All the thousand inventions that facilitate the destruction of human life, and enable men to slay their brothers by scores and hundreds instead of singly, are the production of 174 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. enlightened Christian brains. The repeating rifles, the chassepot, needle guns and mitralleuse, the Armstrong, the columbiad, and all the different patterns of enor- mous and long ranging artillery, are the result of a Christian civilization. And if there is any other terribly destructive engines calculated to render wars more horridly brutal, and destroy human life in a more wholesale manner, we are indebted to some enlightened Christian of civilized Europe or America for their production. No wars have at any period in the world's history been as fierce, bloody and destruc- tive of human life as the late civil war in the United States and the Franco-Prussian war upon the continent of Europe. We have not space that would permit us to recount even a few of the horrid cruelties and butcheries that have been instigated by the Christian church from the days of Constantine to the present time; the fearful array of martyrs who in one way and another have fallen victims to the bigotry and superstitions of a fanatical Christianity. We cannot enter into the cells of the inquisition, overhaul and bring to light the various instruments of torture invented by the votaries of a religious infatuation; neither can we rake up the ashes and dry bones of the martyrs who have suffered the most agonizing deaths, inflicted by those who claimed to be disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus. We are not permitted to recall the terrible slaughter of the crusades, and all the other brutal wars instigated by this same Christian barbarity and ferocity. We must pass by the sickening scenes that occurred at St. Bartholomew's, and other Christian massacres quite DISCORDS. 175 as fierce and bloody. The pages of church history are filled with these atrocities ; and but for a higher civil- ization, entirely disconnected with religious prejudices, scenes of a like character would be perpetrated in our midst to-day. The religious element was so mingled up with the late civil war in the United States that we may term it emphatically a Christian war. Long before open hostilities were inaugurated the church had divided themselves off into sectional parties; those south of a certain geographical line promoting the interests of slavery with a zeal worthy a better cause; while those north were generally quite as strenuously engaged in its opposition, showing the very plastic nature of the religions they professed, and how easily and pliably they yielded to the circumstances in which their exponents happened to be placed. The Metho- dist church entirely dissevered their connection long before any serious difficulties were apprehended; the Southern wing taking up the gauntlet, and advocating openly the cause of human slavery, while the North remained pretty much neutral upon the subject, con- ceiving it to be disconnected with their great mission of saving the souls of men from the damnation of an eternal hell. The other churches, if they came to no open disruption, were practically as much divided upon this subject as the Methodist. Thus the slaveholders of the South were receiving during all this long contest, that finally terminated in by far the most terribly brutal and destructive civil conflict known to the world, the moral support and encouragement of all the clergymen who officiated in that capacity within their borders, while the opposite 176 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. doctrines were generally promulgated by the same class of men in the North. The people of the South were taught by those who were supposed to hold in their possession the oracles of divine truth, that human slavery was in exact accordance with the instructions which had been given to men by God in the Holy Scriptures. They were continually impressed with the idea by these teachers that the white man had within himself an inherent right, bestowed by the Supreme Author of his existence, to hold in bondage the black man, and convert to his own use the avails of his labor; while the people of the North were quite generally taught that all men were free and equal, both black and white. It was thus that these feuds and animosi- ties were augmented by Christian ministerial influence until they culminated in the fierce civil conflict in which the ministers and professed followers of Christ of both parties took such a conspicuous part from its commencement until its close. Flags were flying upon most of the churches, clergymen harangued the people of both parties upon the necessity of engaging in the fight, and became general recruiting agents in a certain sense, using unremittingly their influence in filling up the ranks as they were thinned out by the ravages of the most terrific battles known to human warfare. All this is but another proof that the conflicting elements in man productive of strife and destructive wars are indellibly written upon his nature, and inwrought into his inmost soul essence; and that they cannot be obliterated or removed by any or all the religious systems that have been invented by men or Gods. DISCOEDS. 177 To suppose that a time will come when the lion and the lamb will lie down together, literally or figuratively, is to suppose that a time will arrive when the lion will not be himself, and that the lamb will not be suitable food to gratify his bloodthirsty appetite. It is to con- elude the natures of both these animals will be radically changed, and that the autho^ of their existence did not form them in accordance with his ultimate design, but that he intends to reproduce them with entirely differ- ent propensities and characteristics. The nature of the lion is entirely antagonistic to the lamb; he licks his blood and eats his flesh with great gusto, and smacks his lips with undoubted satisfaction when he has finished his repast; and when hunger again returns he industriously searches for other lambs, or such like aliment, in order to gratify his appetites and sustain his own life. The hawk sustains precisely the same relationship to the dove, and is always ready when hunger presses to make a meal of his innocent neighbor. He has within him the combativeness and destructiveness that enables him to do this thing; but the dove is entirely unable to eat the hawk — as much so as the lamb is unable to make a meal of the lordly lion. Can it be that the primogenitors of these carniver- ous animals and birds of prey were once in a beautiful garden, and eat apples contrary to the command of God; that they have become so much more wicked and abominable in their practices than the innocent victims they slay and devour with so little apparent compunction? No person would be so foolish as to entertain such an idea; then those powers that pro- 12 178 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. duced them with these elements in their nature must be responsible if there is anything wrong, or that requires changing in the least degree. The lion or the hawk had no more to do with their original organiza- tion than the lamb or the dove; neither bespoke their organisms; all were ushered into existence without any previous knowledge of what they should be; and if there is any just cause of complaint, it rests entirely upon those who originated them with their peculiar en- dowments. " Can the leopard change his spots, or the Ethiopian his skin," or can any beast or bird change in any degree their natural characteristics? We shall find that all these are a part of the natural universe; and that there is no single sentence in any written page of the unfolded volume of nature that would indicate that they are not in perfect conformity with the designs of that wisdom: and power which was able to bring them into being. If this is the case with this and every other department of nature's productions, how can we suppose that this superior being, man, who is endowed in a supereminent degree with the self same elements, should be an exception to this uniform rule? How can we suppose that the organs placed within his structure by an intelligence compe- tent to produce him, have been remodeled or generally disorganized by some subsequent contingency that has transpired? Scrutinize him as closely as we please, and we can find no such handwriting upon the outer or inner walls of his entire organism. There is no record in man's nature indicating that he has in any period of human history been subjected to any such vicissitude; that he has passed any such transforma- DISCOEDS. 1T9 tion since he came upon the stage of existence any- more than the lower forms of organized life. Have we any respect or veneration for that wisdom which was sufficient to plan and project a world as beautiful as this, and people it with such multitudes of curiously contrived living organisms, and that power which was fully competent to execute all the plans in accordance with the original design? If we have, how can we charge the highly endowed intellectual being or beings possessing such marvelous wisdom and power with the extreme folly of making such signal blunders in regard to the production of man? The idea that organs were placed within him which, when brought into activity and used for the purposes designed by their author, immediately resulted in the general demoralization and almost total destruction of the entire fabric, has become too puerile and ridiculous to be any longer endorsed by an enlightened people. Whatever views we may entertain concerning the supreme powers which have modified and supervised all things thus far in the universe and upon the earth we inhabit, it is certainly mean and contemptible in the extreme to charge those powers with the incom- petency, folly and imbecility of ushering humanity into existence in the manner contemplated by the Christian's bible, as interpreted by the theology of the past and present age. Can we rationally entertain the idea that the human race was produced by an infinite being, endowed in an infinite manner with the attri- butes of knowledge, power, goodness, justice, love, mercy, and all things else that constitute Him a Supreme God, and that He of His own choice consti- 180 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. tuted them with weak and feeble organisms, very easily tempted and allured ; that He then placed the allure- men t before them, commanding them not to eat, when He well knew all the time they would eat? Can we further suppose this good, just Being cursed His inno- cent victims with the most horrible maledictions for falling into the trap He had in His infinite wisdom set for them, well knowing they would be caught? Oh, shame! where is thy blush that intelligent men of the present age can entertain such miserably vile and abominable ideas of the God they worship and adore? How long! oh, how long! shall such ignor- ance, folly and superstition maintain their supremacy over the civilized portion of the world? How long shall reason be stilled and common sense used only in commercial transactions, judging the value of horses, cattle and other commodities? For reason is most certainly entirely ruled out and put to silence by the professed Christian when more exalted subjects are under consideration; when many things which are to be investigated become too spiritualized to come within the range of physical vision. The strange medley of conflicting absurdities and ridiculous antagonisms introduced into the Jewish history of man's origin, which is universally accepted by the Christian world, proves most conclusively that elements of a similar discordant nature must have existed in the minds of the authors and publishers of this incongruous legend, as well as in all those who can adopt it as of divine authority. There is a \ery singular appendage to this superlatively inharmonious story, for we find that as a prelude it was absolutely DISCORDS. 181 necessary to inaugurate a disastrous civil war in that peaceful and quiet abode of rest, the Orthodox heaven, where the Christian's God and Jesus, the Holy Ghost and all the holy angels, had enjoyed an everlasting residence. It is represented, and the idea is quite generally adopted, that a very high archangel, who exercised great power and influence in this delectable habitation among the bright effulgent spirits who sur- rounded the throne of the most high God, possessed within his soul nature aspirations for higher attain- ments — to be more like the God that all worshiped, and to extend that power and influence he already enjoyed. It has also been taught that this aspiration upon the part of the archangel resulted in serious jealousies, and finally culminated in a general fight, in which the aggressive party commanded about one- third of the heavenly host. After a series of skirmishes, which are supposed to have taken place within the peaceful preludes of this spotless domain, the conflict resulted, as might have been expected, in favor of the supreme power; and this rebel, together with all his followers, were cast out of the joyful realms of eternal beatific repose, down into a hideous locality which it appears had been prepared and appointed for their future residence in exile. Our Christian friends are pleased in their great wisdom to term this place hell; and here was to be the home of all the unfortunate beings who had vainly endeavored to aid the weaker party in those terrible conflicts, in which the pure angels entered into mortal or immortal combat with such a fury as to shake the very throne of the eternal Gods. 182 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. However, it appears that this crowd of vanquished angels, who were now transformed into devils, were left after being placed in their new quarters pretty much to themselves. We do not learn that any vigi- lant watch was set over them, but that they were free to go and come when they chose, and exert all the damaging influence upon the schemes of their old enemy, the Supreme God and his party, which experi- ence and ingenuity could possibly invent and bring to bear. It was said that the commanding General of this rebellious host, who, being out upon a kind of marauding expedition, came to the beautiful garden, that had been prepared with so much care and atten- tion for the reception of this innocent pair of turtle doves, soon after the fatal command was given that ultimated so disastrously to the entire human family. He quite dexterously (although he is represented to have come in a very "questionable shape") insinuated himself into the good graces of this amiable couple, and accomplished his hellish purpose with scarcely an effort; and as good as destroyed in a few moments, by a few seducing, oily sentences, what had required six hard days' labor of the infinite God to construct. What a terrible oversight upon the part of the con- querors in that heavenly conflict, that these individuals, who after long experience in a celestial paradise where they had access to the very fountain of knowledge, should now, in their transformed condition of devils, be permitted to roam abroad through the domain of the Almighty Sovereign, committing tragic depreda- tions of this heinous character upon his handiwork. If ordinary common sense had been brought to bear DISCORDS. 183 in this case, the whole crew, together with " Old Nick or Clootie," would have been confined — "closed under hatches" — and then the human family might to-day have been reveling in all the enjoyments of lovely gardens, bountifully supplied, not only with the choicest fruits, but all that could in any way gratify every innocent and undepraved appetite and desire. There would have been no fearful foreboding of firey indignation and wrath, because if this fabulous story contains any shadow of truth, man would not have sinned, and would not have been damned, temporarily or eternally. This fight, however, in accordance with the general Christian teachings, between these two belligerent parties, God and the devil, has continued through all the ages since its first inception until the present day; and, as far as our world and its inhabitants are con- cerned, it must be admitted that this devil has had by far the best of the contest in every battle up to this time, with a sure prospect of gaining an overwhelming victory at the final termination of all earthly affairs. In taking a general survey of this entire matter — in traveling analytically over the whole ground — we seem to be forced to the conclusion that all this mighty array of antagonisms, which are so conspicuously dis- played everywhere in nature's works, are inherently incorporated into the eternal substance which compose all forms of existence, from the least to the greatest — from the crudest, most unevolved, to the purest and most spiritualized entity that the universe has pro- duced. We shall also learn that all activities in nature — 184 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. that every blow of her ponderous hammer, every revo- lution of her eternal wheels, every movement of her untiring mills which are grinding out all things of a visible and invisible character — are entirely dependent upon the elements of discord which inheres together with all other potencies in every particle of matter or indivisible atom of substance from which all things are produced. It will also be confessed that no organized person- ality, whatever may be his state of unfoldment, but who must be dependent upon similar atoms for his existence as an individual, can by any possibility infuse into a single particle of substance this original disposi- tion to enter into conflict with some other particle, but that this characteristic must have been coeval with the atom itself. Neither can he divest any portion of substance of that which is inherently incorporated in its own nature. So we learn that antagonisms are a part and parcel of the universe — a necessary existing element, pro- ductive of all motion — and that we are indebted to this bountiful arrangement for all of progressive unfoldment, for every experience of any character through which we have passed, and consequently for every species of knowledge which has illuminated our intellects thus far in our journey upward. Divested of this wonderful element in nature, the throbbing pulsations of the whole machinery would cease; the mighty pendulum of the universe would stop its vibrations, the echoes of unceasing activity would no more resound through our broad, extended vales, but all would resolve itself into the stillness and quiescence of sleep and death. CHAPTEK V. PROGRESSION. It is quite generally conceded that there is an element of progress intimately connected with all material and spiritual things; that nature everywhere exhibits this fact, and that in all her varied departments she ulti- mates her designs by progressive development. But the philosophy of this matter is not so clearly under- stood as the fact of its existence. We behold the seed germinating, the shoot springing upward, and the root downward, leaf after leaf and fiber after fiber being added to the plant, until it becomes a stately tree, and produces its fruit or furnishes an agreeable shade; and yet it is extremely difficult for us to learn how all this remarkable work has been accomplished. If we examine this matter in its minutest particulars, and watch the sap flowing upward from the delicate points of the fibrous roots, and distributing itself through the entire fabric, furnishing' material for every portion of the structure, we obtain but little light upon the subject. We simply witness the facts, and are quite left in the dark concerning the primal causes productive of these grand results. We may witness the unfoldment of the animal from its germinal condition with no better success. We may learn much about the minute pro- cesses of progressive development, but its philosophy still appears to be obscure. It seems extremely diffi- (185) 186 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. cult to trace this principle of eternal progress to its secret springs, its fountain Lead, and find the original causes productive of these marvelous and orderly activities throughout all the realms of nature. It would appear that progress or change is an element or principle inherent in matter, and that through all its modifications and various conditions this element manifests itself in the production of the marvelous results that we behold scattered around us so profusely. If this element did not exist in material substance, it would be worse than useless for the hus- bandman to consign his seed to the earth with any expectation of a bountiful harvest, because the seed wonld remain in the same condition throughout all time. It would be equally vain to plant a tree or make any attempt at the production of anything belonging to the vegetable or animal kingdom, for the utmost that man can do is to plant the seed and make conditions as favorable as possible, and then leave nature to accomplish all the rest. The principle of growth or progressive development must be an element contained in the material evolved, as this jDrinciple cannot manifest itself independent of material substance. Matter is evidently capable of passing through all the variety of modifications, from the finest, most sublimated essence, to the gross par- ticles of the granite rock, and of being changed into all the million forms of vegetable and animal life, until it culminates in the " human form divine; " and all this capability must arise from the fact of inherent powers existing within the material particle or the PROGRESSION. 187 infinitesimal atom, of which all the aggregations of material substance are composed. We find ourselves existing upon a huge accretion of matter we call a globe, floating in the interminable regions of space; that we are surrounded by material forms of every possible shape, and an inconceivable variety of conditions and dimensions, and that change, or the element of progressive unfoldment, is indellibly stamped upon every particle of matter we behold in all these varied forms and conditions. We find, also, that material substance is capable, by some law or element inherent in itself, of changing from the coarser to the finer or from the finer to the coarser; that the grosser material particles may be dissolved, and the finest essences eliminated therefrom, and that the finest essences may be solidified and assume various visible forms. The observer of nature may continually behold these processes taking place all around him. He may see everywhere solid substances subjected to the processes of decay and dissolution, while others are being built up from the most etherealized essences. The bravest ship that floats may be changed by the destructive element we call fire to invisible essences, while nature is continually converting similar invisible essences into the forests and other materials from which more ships can be constructed ; and material substance, in one way or another, is constantly undergoing all these modifications and changes, else how could all these thousand different forms be constructed? How could material be molded into the form of the horse or the majestic tree unless it was first reduced to an ethereal- 188 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. ized condition, so that the various particles could take their respective places by virtue of the potencies inher- ently attached to the particles themselves? It appears quite strange that nature has a process by which she is converting various elements in the mineral kingdom into wheat, corn and other vegetable productions; and that she also has a process by which she again converts the finer elements of these vege- tables into the bones, muscles and various filaments that compose the superstructure of the horse or other animal. Yet all this is constantly taking place before our eyes, and we become so familiar with the fact of these continual changes and evolutions of material substances, that they attract scarcely the least atten- tion ; yet they are positive proof that there has been from all eternity a principle or element connected with the infinitesimal atoms of which all matter is composed, productive of all these changes and all this evolution. Then we may very readily conceive that the entire material of which the globe is constructed may, and even must, have passed through multitudinous trans- formations, and that the solidified portion must have been in an extremely etherealized or a rarefied condi- tion in order to be molded into its present form ; and this idea is very generally adopted by the philosophers of the present day. As the globe in its present solid- ified form occupies a well defined amount of space, the material of which it is composed in that etherealized condition must have diffused itself through a very much larger extent of this space ocean. The earth now being in a progressed condition, the material having passed through various evolutions in order to assume TEOGKESSION. 189 its present form, this same material must at some time have been in a very crude, unprogressed state. In fact, if the term progression means anything, and it is found to be an element inseparably blended with all material substance, then it extends from the very lowest possible condition in which matter may be found to the most exalted position it can possibly occupy — from the deepest darkness of chaotic confu- sion to the most brilliant displays of supernal glory of which the loftiest intelligent being can entertain the least conception. What mind shall be able to penetrate into the mid- night darkness of this illimitable space ocean in which all of matter has existed from the eternities which have preceded? Who shall venture out into the depths of this eternal night of death and coldness, and awake the echoes which have never yet resounded? Is the uni- verse finished, or is all the crude inactive material in the interminable elemental ocean exhausted, or in an advanced state of evolution? Is there no more work of this character to be done, or is there no more unoc- cupied territory upon which worlds and systems of worlds shall be erected and shine forth in all their beauty and glory? We trust that it is quite obvious that the ever- rolling cycles of the future shall present the same busy scenes of activity as those which have unfolded uni- versal nature up to its present magnificence; that matter will be still undergoing all its various changes and progressive evolutions, and that the field of opera- tions is sufficiently broad to last through all the unceasing ages that must yet transpire. 190 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. The material from which all the vast retinue of worlds that constitute the innumerable planetary sys- tems of the sideral heavens, once existed in this vast elemental ocean of space; and it evidently has been as diffusive, and far more evanescent, than the atmosphere we breathe; and yet these crude rarefied material atoms, after having existed in a state of inactivity and slumbering death for myriads of eternities, have been wakened into newness of life. This cold, lifeless, ethe- real matter must have contained within itself the element of progress in a latent condition, so that the power of unfoldment was innate in the most infinitesi- mal particle. Thus through all the innumerable metamorphoses to which matter is subjected, this progressive element manifests itself, until the indi- visible particle is ultimated to the highest possible throne of glory. There evidently is no wisdom or power in the universe that could have produced one of this vast multitude of worlds that adorn the over-arched canopy, and seem to be teeming with life and animation, and which are doubtless subserving the highest purposes for which worlds are projected and ultimated, unless every minute particle of which they are composed had been impregnated or permeated by this same progres- sive element or force; and this force must have been as eternal as the matter itself. The human mind is entirely incapable of entertain- ing any rational conception of the unfoldment or ultimation of an organized intelligent being, possessing wisdom and power sufficient to endow these primal particles with all the elements which they necessarily PROGRESSION. 191 possess, previous to the existence of the particles. But we ma j very clearly perceive that no such organi- zation could have existed previously, because what is not composed of the elementary particles is nothing. Then such being must have been dependent upon this etherealized atomic substance for his organic existence; and he could not possibly have attained to the least degree of intelligence unless the particles to which he was indebted for that which constituted him an intelli- gent being were permeated with this principle of pro- gressive unfoldment. There is evidently one universal law by which an intellectual individualized being can be produced, no .natter what the character of that being, or at what [ eriod in the ever rolling eternities he came into exist- ence; and no one individualized being could have had any more control over the elemental constituents of the particles upon which he has depended for his con- tinued existence than another. All have been subjected to the same law; all have been organized upon the same principle. They have changed from one condi- tion to another by precisely similar processes; traveled up the same road; and all have been dependent upon the peculiar character of the infinitesimal atoms which have existed in their crude undeveloped state in the vast elemental ocean of space. It is then clear that no mineral, plant, animal, man, or any higher order of intelligent beings, could have been produced unless the constituent elements necessary to their production had previously existed in every particle of the substance of which they are composed, or which may enter into their composition during all their future changes and 192 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. transformations. We discover that a progressed intel- lect is an ultimate, not a primate; that it is in every instance a production, and that there can be no excep- tions. "We cannot conceive of an infinite mind, or any order of mind, unless it was unfolded — unless it was preceded by causes that might ultimate in such a com- plicated piece of machinery; but we may very readily conceive that a crude particle, with all the powers latent in itself by which all things are worked, might have eternally existed, and must have preceded all or- ganizations, whether they may appear to be material or spiritual; and that both spirit and matter (as both are one) have existed without any commencement and must so exist in some of their varied forms with- out end. If all things are eternal, then there was no period when nature's problems commenced being solved, or when crude material was not ultimated into higher organizations, and when some portions of the machi- nery of the universe was not in active operation the same as other portions are to-day, because there can be no commencement to eternity. If there was a begin- ning it would not be eternity, but simply a fragment of time.* One period in the illimitable cycles of time can only differ from another from the fact that matter which is now quiescent and apparently not living will at some time assume its life and activities, and some portion of that which is active or living will become inert, and take the place of that which awakes to newness of life. Thus these changes from the positive to the negative, and vice versa, must continually take place; for if PROGRESSION. 193 all was death there could be no life, and if all was life that certainly could not subsist, because life can only be sustained by death. The atomic particles which constitute a world must be in all possible conditions, else none could progress; some must be lower in order to sustain those which are higher. If matter is thus diffusive, and may have existed in a vast elemental ocean, and is composed of indivisible particles, then this mass must be homoge- neous, and each particle must be an epitome or micro- cosm of the whole, or each indivisible atom must possess within itself capabilities of ultimating as high as any other. Hence, we discover that all elements or properties which exist in the whole must exist in the least, that all the antagonisms and other peculiarities that are found in the whole must exist to a certain extent in the atom, and that each one is a part and parcel — a miniature — of the whole universe. It con- tains within itself the positive and negative, the male and female, the principles of life and death, of darkness and light, and all other elements exhibited in nature. Hence it becomes so susceptible to the laws of pro- gressive unfoldment, because these laws are embodied within itself, and are inseparably connected with it through all its innumerable changes of condition. If the smallest particle of the Pacific, or any other ocean, contains the same elements as the whole, because it is all one homogeneous mass, how much more should this be the case with the great elemental ocean found in the illimitable extent of space, where matter is so much more diffusive and rarefied than the globules of water? If, then, every particle of material substance is 13 194: THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. so thoroughly impregnated with all the elements we behold exhibited in the universe, the wonderful phe- nomena which are constantly taking place around us becomes more simplified. If life and death both exist as a principle or element in every particle of substance of which we are composed, it is not a matter of so much surprise that our physical systems manifest all the activities of life to-day, and that they should lie in the quiet repose of death to-morrow. If all the varied powers really exist in the minute particles, it is no marvel that they should exhibit themselves in such an infinite variety of phases, take on such multitudinous forms, and display such supereminent mechanism in their varied productions. If life and death, and all other elements in nature, exist in every minute particle of the seed, it is not surprising that it may be cast into that great womb of nature, the earth, pass through the shadows of death, and awake to newness of life in a form that shall reproduce of its own kind a hundred fold. There are evidently powers in the infinitesimal atoms com- posing the seed capable of unfolding in this manner, and producing these grand results; yet they are but the ultimate of those atoms which once existed in the universal ocean of crude material, without being elab- orated to the least possible extent, and only possessed those powers in a perfectly latent condition. What an infinitude of processes must these seed particles have passed through from their crudest, most unde- veloped condition in the great sea, or " deep," before they could exhibit the wonderful reproductive elements contained in the kernel of wheat or corn; and where PROGRESSION. 195 shall this unfoldment or this progression terminate except in the most elevated conditions? The seed particles under proper conditions can surely perform evolutions, by virtue of powers within them, that can- not be performed by those of granite rock or of any other portion of the mineral kingdom. How could they have obtained such powers except by progression, since all particles once existed alike in the crudest possible state? And how could they have progressed unless such powers had been inherent within jfchem ? The particles contained in these kernels being in the vegetable kingdom, must necessarily have progressed entirely through the mineral ; they must have passed through a great variety of modifications in the king- dom below in order to have ultimated in their present more advanced status — in order to obtain the powers they possess of germinating and reproducing their own kind in such a marvelous manner. There must relatively be a very great distance between the crudest molecule and that which has ultimated in the seed of the tree or plant; and it is impossible to conceive that matter has taken all this stride at a single bound. We are forcibly impressed with the idea — nay, it is established beyond a doubt ■ — that those which, the tree or plant aggregates to itself must have been prepared for this condition by innumerable changes before they could possibly ulti- mate in the fruit or the seed. The tree has no power to manufacture apples from the unelaborated granite, although that may have ultimated from atoms in an inconceivably lower state of unfoldment; yet without doubt the particles of granite have within them 196 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. elements in a latent condition that may at some time be elaborated into suitable food, both for the tree and the fruit it produces. What almost interminable ages must have passed before the mineral kingdom could have arrived to that condition in which matter was sufficiently progressed or evolved to produce the vege- table! Nevertheless, the period arrived when the necessary elements were ultimated in the mineral, and they naturally sought a higher evolution into the vegetable, and it then became as natural for a plant to shoot forth as it previously had been for any mineral production to take form. It would not appear to be necessary that the entire mineral kingdom should ultimate to its highest state of perfection before vegetation could have made its appearance, only that it should so far evolve as to furnish the required nutrition upon which the plants could subsist; and those plants, of course, must have been of the crudest character. Neither was it neces- sary for the vegetable kingdom to ultimate to a high state before there were found elements from which the lower orders of the animal kingdom might be unfolded; but whenever material was so elaborated as to contain elements suitable, then animal life must be the neces- sary result, and such formations were evolved from the vegetable as naturally as the vegetable was evolved from the mineral. Each must have appeared in regular succession, and by the easiest possible gradations, the higher constantly developed from and subsisting upon the- lower — the vegetable drawing nutriment from the mineral, and the animal from the vegetable. Animal life could not have been sustained from elements drawn PROGRESSION. 197 directly from the mineral; they must first have been elaborated by passing through or into the vegetable before they could have become nutriment for this higher order of existence. All organizations must proceed from and subsist upon that which is below them, but they cannot obtain the elements of subsist- ence only in that which assimilates to their own natures; hence there is a limit beyond which neither plant or animal can obtain the required nutriment. The plant may extend its fibrous roots into the earth and find sustenance, which, being elaborated, sustains the animal, which may afford exceedingly nutritions food for the man; and thus all are supplied by this process of elaboration, and all this has been extracted from the mineral. All atomic particles have been wonderfully progressed by passing through these varied processes, as they are thus prepared to enter into still higher phases of existence. It cannot be doubted, then, that the elements contained in the food we eat have passed through innumerable processes, and that they have been eaten very many times before they come to us, else they would not be adapted to our tastes or suited to our wants. The food must be as much benefited as the organization that appropriates it to itself as sustenance. The small fish which is eaten by the larger doubtless receives more benefit than the larger one who has regaled himself and satiated his appetite upon his less bulky neighbor, because the spiritual element in the smaller has been set free, and thus permitted to take another step in the interminable ladder of progression. All material substance that has come into a condi- 198 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. tion that it may subserve the purposes of sustenance for any portion of the vegetable or animal kingdoms, is evidently elaborated and progressed by being used in that manner. The ethereal substance that passes from the mineral kingdom into the tree and becomes solidified into the libers of the indurate oak, are cer- tainly advanced by this transformation. The elements contained in the insect or worm that was eaten by the chicken are very much improved by this change, for they now become suitable food for man, while in their former condition he turned from them with loathing. And we discover the curious fact that the party who was eaten was the recipient of far more than the one who eat, because the eater was only benefited physi- cally, while the other has been permitted to advance spiritually, and the material particles composing its body have been further elaborated also. We say the spirit of the tree, the bird or insect, or any other materialized form that has an existence, because it is impossible for any such form to exist independent of the corresponding spiritual essence. If this point is not sufficiently established, we may inquire what that power is in these things which give to them all their peculiarities and capabilities; what that force which permeates the tree and renders it capable of extracting from the earth the sustenance upon which it feeds, and of distributing that susten- ance into the several parts where it is most needed. How does the tree seem to possess the ability of dis- criminating between the material suited to go down to the roots and that adapted to the formation of the branches and leaves, or that prepared to ultimate into PROGRESSION. 199 flowers, fruit and seed? There is a power here that evidently controls all this matter the same as in man or the animal; and although in all these cases its activities may be involuntary, who shall say that these are not the powers put forth by the spirit of the tree. There is no more power in the horse or in the man to distribute the particles of which they are composed in an orderly and proper manner than there is in the tree. Then we must admit that the same divinity exists in one as in the other, only not so far progressed. There must inevitably be a spirit in the tree endowed with all the functions necessary for the growth, preservation and well being of the fabric, just adapted to that con- dition of unfoldment, the same as in all things else; and that spirit is ultimating in the tree preparatory to taking one step higher when it is yielded up by this materialized form. All the material of which the tree is formed is evidently progressed to a state very far in advance of the coarse particles contained in the limestone or the granite; and all these materials, from the inmost soul essence of the tree to the gross particles of the bark, are prepared to go forward in the vast round of evolu- tion. As nothing can be lost — and it must be far easier to produce something higher from material in this state than from that which is more gross and unprogressed — we cannot doubt but the spiritual power in the tree rises to a higher manifestation of itself in some superior form. All there is, both of spiritual and material character, comes from the great elemental ocean of substance, for what is not substance is nothing. There being no law which will produce 200 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. something from nothing, then all things, everywhere, must have been unfolded from something; and as all things are composed of infinitesimal particles, that which is not so composed is nothing. The infinitesimal particle, then, must be the base of all spiritual, as well as material, existence under- lying the foundations of all human philosophy; and if life, motion, and all other elements or potencies and possibilities, are found existing in the whole, then the same qualities exist in the least separate parts, as such qualities cannot at any time during the varied pro- cesses of unfoldment be introduced by any extraneous power whatsoever. AVe have found that intellects were progressive, and if so, they must progress from the extreme lowest to the extreme highest, and that the lowest must exist in the least or most infinitesimal point of material sub- stance in the crudest state, as there could be nothing lower. We also find that the source of independent life and motion can only be found in individualized entities; that where these two properties exist in such entity or being they must inhere in every separate atom of which such being is composed, as it would be utterly impossible to produce a being possessed of those elements from substance or atoms which possess no such properties of motion or life within them. Most assuredly whatever being is produced from dead matter will be dead to all intents, and any motion or ap£>arent life that is infused into any of its parts must proceed from exterior forces. Then it becomes very clear that every minute particle of which independent, PROGRESSION. 201 living, moving beings are composed must be inde- pendent, living, moving entities; for these properties could by no means be infused into the being which has been produced unless they pre-existed in the infini- tesimal atoms that have entered into the composition of this self-moving, living being, which is but an aggregation of other entities extremely minute in their proportions. We arrive, then, at this grand conclu- sion, that all particles which are indivisible are entities endowed with the principles or properties of inde- pendent life and motion; that they are positive or negative, active or inactive, as the case may be; and that they are spiritual entities in consequence of their infinitesimal character or their superlative fineness; that the only possible difference between material and spiritual is that the one is an aggregation of minute particles or entities in a negative or inactive condition, the other a sublimation, or the essential element, of the same particles in a state of positive activity. It seems quite evident that the more inactive or negative, the more gross and materialized these entities or minute particles may become in their aggregations; and that the more positive or active, the more refined and spiritualized they may become. So that the spir- itualized or sublimated essences are capable of great velocity and expansion, while the gross substances are apparently inert, and subjected to the most extreme immobility. However, there can be no such thing as absolute death to any entity, as that would be equiva- lent to destruction; and, as no such thing can occur with any single particle, this state of repose or inac- tivity must some time be succeeded by a positive or 202 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. active state. Thus this death is as valuable as life, for out of it comes a higher life — the dissolution called death permitting the finer or more spiritualized essence to escape. We may now discover that the only possible method of elaborating these crude entities, and passing them on to higher conditions, is through this materializing process; they must first, after being attracted from the vast elemental space ocean, pass into the lowest condi- tion of materialization, as they are only adapted to that purpose. The substances which exist in the universal ocean must necessarily be in a state of darkness, cold- ness, inactivity and apparent death; they are negative to the last degree, and whatever powers they have within them are in an entirely latent condition. Of course whatever is produced directly from them must correspond with the character of that which enters into the composition. If granite rock is the most unevolved form of materialization, then we may say these crude entities are only suited to produce that substance; and by certain processes they are associated into this form, and thus remain until by a dissolution of the granite the finer essences or entities are permitted to escape and rise into higher conditions, while the residue may enter into some of the later formations or sedimentary rocks. We have said in the Hollow Globe that these unde- veloped, crude, negative particles or entities were assembled in the form of a hollow sphere or shell, and that the portion of the shell midway between the two surfaces was still in this cold negative condition, or that it existed in the form of solidified electricity in a PROGRESSION. 203 perfectly inactive state. We have used the term Belisma to express this condition of the great mass of entities which are there passing their long night of repose, preparatory to a higher development; and we may safely conclude that we find these entities in every possible condition of advancement, from this to the most exalted of which the human mind can form the least conception. Then it may appear that the great business of worlds, and the grand object for which they are constructed, is the nnfoldment of the entities which are the infinitesimal particles of which the worlds are composed; for we may very easily discover that all things of an objective character attached to the worlds, whether we call them material or spiritual, are con- stituted and formed by an association of these particles in some of their conditions of unfoldment. And in every instance we shall find the more spiritual per- meating the grosser or more materialized, thus becom- ing a force, and producing activities which manifest themselves in accordance with the nature of the material organization. Human ingenuity has produced telescopes that enable men to peer out into the broad universe incon- ceivably further than the unaided vision; and still they behold orb beyond orb and sun beyond sun, and by analogy it may well be supposed that no amount of telescopic power could carry the vision beyond the nearer of these systems of worlds. They have also prepared lenses of immense microscopic power, through which may be discovered animalculse many thousand times smaller than can be discerned by the natural eye, and yet they find no termination to living organ- 204 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. ized entities. The more powerful the lens, the more of minute animal life it brings to view. Who is pre- pared to say, then, that anything less than the culmi- nation of all telescopic power would be able to reach the boundaries of the universal worlds, or that the same character of microscopic power would not be required to discern the most infinitesimal living entity? And who can doubt the ultimatum of all magnifying lenses might reach the indivisible point of material substance, which would be the most infinitesimal entity, and which is the only thing in nature contain- ing within itself an idea of absolute unity and primeval life essence. We do not conclude that physical man will be enabled to produce telescopic lenses which may extend our vision to the remotest boundaries of congregated worlds, or microscopic lenses possessing similar powers; but that there- may be somewhere in the universe lenses of such power, composed of finer essences and manipulated by more advanced genius, we can scarcely entertain a doubt. We have remarked that motion, life, and all other elements manifested in an aggrega- tion of material particles, must exist in the particles themselves; for we cannot conceive it possible that a live organism can be produced from dead matter, and there must be visions somewhere sufficiently intensified to behold, scan, and scrutinizingly inspect the most infinitesimal particle in order to learn its real nature. For how shall intellectual beings progress to a knowl- edge of the nature of all organisms unless they are possessed of a vision that will enable them to discover PROGRESSION. 205 the true character of the least particle which enters into the composition of such organic structure? The paramount difficulty in the way of our investi- gation of subjects of this character is the limited range of our vision. The gross nature of the material of which the physical eye is composed renders it impos- sible for human vision to extend beyond a compara- tively narrow range; it only reaches to a very small compass of what constitutes the great universe; it is precisely adapted to our limited capacities and sphere of action, and no doubt subserves our purposes far better in this our condition than one of greater power. Still we may readily discover that a more intensified vision, or one that would enable us to discern the least atom, and see clearly the true character of the remotest heavenly bodies, would very greatly facilitate the solu- tion of many problems in nature which now remain exceedingly obscure and enigmatical. We cannot doubt that vision, like all other things in nature, is progressive; that there must be those which are almost infinitely in advance of our own in power and comprehension, and that the power of the particular vision would depend upon the unfoldment or spiritualization of the person who has it in posses- sion. A spiritual vision, or the eye of a harmoniously progressed spiritual being, must be far superior to a physical eye, because the material of which it is com- posed is more sublimated ; hence their advantages over our own in the investigation of the more abstruse problems. The admission of the possibility of a vision vastly superior to our own, is but an admission that there is a vast universe entirely beyond our reach 206 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. that requires such an eye to behold its beauties and grandeur. If we concede the possibility of an interchange of thought between the more spiritualized being who may be endowed with the superior vision, and physical man, who is not, we shall readily conclude that they might unfold to our view an approximate nature of those objects beyond our reach; and such is doubtless the case. Still it would be necessary that the mind should be educated in the philosophy of what is revealed before it can become receptive of any new truth, or be able to comprehend its nature. It will be of little use, then, for spiritual beings to present this or any other theory to man until his ability to discover from the analogies in nature that the theory presented is well sustained by substantial evidence. It is quite impossible for human vision to penetrate the infinitesimal realms, even by any factitious aids they may bring to bear, sufficiently to determine the nature of the most sublimated particle; and it would seem quite possible that some orders of spiritual beings may have that power; nay, we cannot doubt their ability to scan the last point of substance and to comprehend its true character. Then it would appear evident that if we obtain any accurate knowl- edge of what lies in this direction beyond the reach of all the arts human ingenuity can bring to bear, we must obtain it from this source, or we must remain in ignorance. Here seems to be an extended field of research, where philosophers have only penetrated to find uncer- tainty and darkness. Here lies the confines between PROGRESSION. 207 the real and the unreal of Schelling, Herbert Spencer's region of the unknowable; it is the great fountain where all that is knowable has originated — the vast department of nature where philosophy gropes in darkness, and from whence science brings unsatisfac- tory conclusions. Here is where they have placed forces and materials in one homogeneous mass, and each has separated them as best he could. Here in this region of the infinitesimal the elements entering into the protoplasm of Huxley existed before it was organized, and took its place in the interior cells of the nettle's sting; and here is where may be gathered the particles sufficiently minute to compose the retina of the least animalcule's eye. This is the realm where the materialist has found nothing, and directly beyond this the religious, bible and Jesus worshiping philoso- pher discovers his immaterial substance from which he manufactures the souls of men, a few of whom are going up to sit upon immaterial seats in the Orthodox heaven, and play forever upon harps made without hands from nothing, performing all the functions of living organized beings, while they and all their sur- roundings* are but the most shadowy, unsubstantial unrealities. This immaterial matter is evidently the very article from which they have imagined all things of a spiritual character were manufactured ; of which their God and devil, heaven and hell, angels and ghosts, holy and unholy, are all composed. Doubtless some such elementary nothing was that to which the churchmen allude in the creed, when they say the " Father, Son and Holy Ghost are all of one substance," and that 208 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. they are all " without body or parts." Notwithstanding the religions world have considered all spiritual things so perfectly unreal, yet from all time, and even to the present, they have provided spiritual organizations with enormous and unsightly wings, as if to buoy them upon an atmosphere less dense than themselves; and finally, to cap the climax of all absurdities, they pro- pose to resurrect the material bodies of all that have lived, and reunite them with the unreal, ^inappreciable spirit that was severed when death transpired, and then they propose to sustain this materialized body, after being restored to activity, in an unreal, unmate- rialized heaven or hell, to all eternity, upon nothing. These religious savans, with all their pretended knowl- edge in regard to spiritual affairs, with all their learn- ing and research and boasted acquirements in this direction, have evidently been wandering in a maze of darkness in regard to this whole subject, to which they have turned their special attention. The epicurean philosophers who indorsed the atomic theory nearly three hundred years before Christ, and who ascertained the great fact that all, both spiritual and physical, must be composed of distinct particles, only inferred from this that all would return into the great realm of atoms again; and that the best we could do with life was to make the most of it, and enjoy it in accord- ance with our highest wisdom while it lasted. It is quite evident that no class of thinkers have ever yet penetrated this realm of the infinitesimal, and came back laden with those truths which would solve the great problem of our origin and ultimate destiny. It is also evident that a little beyond the realm of the PROGRESSION. 209 so-called material lies a vast open field of research, hitherto quite unexplored; but that the time must come when human intellects shall be permitted to enter there and gather that which will elucidate the earlier portions of our eternal history, and show us something more definite concerning the innumerable gradations through which we have progressed in order to obtain the experiences of which we are now pos- sessed. In this age of universal inquiry we evidently stand more in need of a knowledge of what this realm con- tains than at any previous period; and we cannot doubt that the needs of humanity must be supplied in this respect. Ideas or thoughts have always, in all ages of the world, found some minds in which they could be entertained at the precise time when they were required or could be appreciated, and when they could render efficient aid to the human family by their progressive tendency. This is a part of the philosophy of progression; and this is why men can appreciate many thousand ideas to-day that were not compre- hended in the least degree fifty years in the past, and why they will appreciate many thousand more fifty years in the future, now entirely unknown to the most highly cultivated intellect. The time arrived in the history of civilization when men desired to travel more rapidly than the old lum- bering stage coach was wont to move; in fact, the increasing demands of business made it a necessity, and some mind who was prepared received a few thoughts concerning a locomotive engine and an iron track upon which it might run. Thus from these 14 210 THE GO PEL OF NATURE. crude, partially digested ideas which entered the intel- lect of the first individual whose attention was directed into this unknown mechanical field, has ultiniated all the facilities for traveling over a net-work of railroads which have extended themselves throughout nearly all civilized countries. The same demand existed for a more speedy transmission of intelligence, and the intellect of a Morse was prepared to entertain the thought of sending it upon the electric wire; and thus these great powers — caloric, vapor, magnetism and electricity — are subjected to human control, and made to do man's bidding in a manner that was not con- ceived of by those who lived a hundred years ago ; and yet every thought in connection with these forces and their application we well know have existed from the eternities which had no commencement. The time has arrived in the history of human pro- gression when great multitudes of men and women demand to know more of the true character of their own previous history than was ever taught by the priest or the philosopher. They demand that this page in the great volume of nature should be opened, so that they may behold the record inscribed thereon, and learn for themselves something of their antece- dents. They demand that knowledge which will bring emancipation from church, creed and priest. Multi- tudes are looking in this as well as other directions for light — a light that will bring freedom from the servile bondage they have so long endured. Men have traced themselves back to immateriality, or back to an infinite God ; or they have learned that mentally and physically they have been developed PROGRESSION. 211 from a very small beginning, and there the research has ended; they have left the whole matter in the hands of the minister, or else in the dark gulf of oblivion. But we trust the time has arrived when men are to know from whence they have been thus unfolded, and to understand the philosophy of that progression which has attended them during their eternal journey upward, and which has ultimated them to their present condition. That by a simple process of ratiocination they may learn the different steps in the ladder through which they have come to be men, and acquire some knowledge of those conditions they may enter when they lay down the physical. We may safely assert that if we adopt the hypo- thesis that all indivisible or atomic particles are living entities, capable of unfoldment, and passing through infinite experiences, we shall throw a flood of light upon innumerable phenomena which are now dark and perfectly inexplicable. We cannot tell, upon any principle of philosophy now known, what makes the grass grow or the wind blow; why one tree in the same soil should grow into a beech, and the other into a maple or a pine; why one rose should be red and another white, or how material can possibly form itself into a rose or an apple; only we say it is done by a law of nature. We cannot tell why oxygen or either of the gasses are what they appear, or where they came from, or in what they may finally ultimate; neither has philosophy informed us why and how any of the simple substances have ultimated and become such, or from what they originated. Science is but a classified array of demon- 212 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. strable facts respecting all those things upon which it treats, and which are known to exist in the various departments of nature; it gives us no information con- cerning their remotest origin. But when the mind is permitted to scan the great sea — the vast elemental ocean of entities — we may obtain a gleam of light; when we find here are entities quite sufficient to enter into the composition of all worlds, and that this is what they require in order to be unfolded or developed, we begin to arrive at something tangible, we begin to get a foothold — a starting point — a place where we may commence to look around us. The nebulous theory — the most popular idea of the day concerning the structure of the globe— contem- plates that all the matter of our world was at some remote period in an extremely unevolved, rarefied state; that by processes of condensation it became intensely heated, and finally assumed the form of molten lava, which at that period was the only element the earth contained. The exterior of this immense ball of lava finally cooling, solidified into the substance known as granite, which is termed a primary igneous rock. Consequently, nature at that period (if this theory is correct) could have contained nothing but this uniform igneous rock spread out smoothly over the entire surface of the globe. There could have been neither oxygen, hydrogen or nitrogen, for these subli- mated essences are certainly the product of unfoldment, and could only have been eliminated by a dissolution of the particles of granite. Thus we discover, if we rely upon the nebular hypothesis, we could have had neither atmosphere or water until they were let loose PROGRESSION. 213 from the granite formation ; and it becomes extremely difficult to conceive what power dissolved the granite, when there was nothing else upon the earth except the unevolved molten lava within the solidified crust, or what element could have existed in this supposed dead matter which could have produced all the living forms and organizations that have been found upon the sur- face of the earth during all time past. If we adopt the above theory we must find that all elements of life, motion, intelligence, and all else appertaining to material organisms, existed in this rarefied, unevolved mass — were transferred to the incandescent molten lava, from thence to the solidified granite rock, and were afterwards eliminated from that; else those elements came from some other source, or were brought into existence subsequently, and attached to the organized forms which manifest life, motion and intelligence. It is extremely difficult, nay, impos- sible, to conceive the propriety of passing those parti- cles which are to ultimate in intelligent organizations through such a terrible ordeal, and leave them all for millions of ages to endure the extreme scorchings of this incandescent molten lava before they could be permitted to pursue their progressive journey to higher conditions. No superintending intelligent beings could by any means have changed the nature of the elements they have found in the great sea of atoms, and from which our world and all other worlds are constructed. They must have made use of them exactly as they found them; and all the manipulations the most exalted intellects could have brought into use would only have 214 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. made conditions such that the entities could have entered upon their eternal round of progression ; and thus have thej unfolded their latent powers by passing through all the requisite changes. We prepare the ground and plant the corn in the earth, thus making it possible for the particles in the kernels to afhnitize with other particles which aid the germinating pro- cess; and by a constant accession of the peculiar elements the roots, the blade, the stalk, the ears, and all the separate portions, are formed, while every entity has been progressed by passing through these several phases, and prepared for another step upon the great highway of eternal progression. If the granite rock is formed of particles, which is a known fact, then this formation is not only pro- ductive of such a particular rock, but also benefits or elaborates the particles that helped to compose this rock; so that when it is dissolved it has passed through an evolution, and is now prepared to go a step higher, and enter into the secondary or other formation; and so of every condition through which this entity may pass. Here is one curious and suggestive fact: The disintegrated particles of granite never enter into that formation again; they may help to build up limestone, slate, sandstone, or some other, but they never return. It is by no means probable that we breathe the same atmospheric particles that were breathed by our ances- tors, or that they inhaled the same as the mastodon and the early Saurian tribes; all those then existing must have long since passed on to higher conditions! Oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen have been needed to supply the wants of the vegetable and animal race, and PROGRESSION. 215 innumerable organizations have been built up from these particles or entities, as they are all composed very largely of those gases. We cannot suppose that the particles of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen which enter the vegetable can ever return the same as when they were absorbed. The associated or affinitized entities which take pos- session of the oak evidently possess all the distinctive qualities that renders this tree an oak, while the maple or the beech is inhabited by an entirely different class, that give character to the different trees they inhabit. There are some portions of the country which seem spontaneously to give birth to some particular kinds of trees or vegetables; and this must necessarily arise from the fact that the peculiar elements or entities are there which would be productive of such species. There is also an adaptation existing between some of the vegetable and animal races, and the one becomes extremely suitable and nutritious food for the other, simply because the one contains entities that may serve to build up the animal organization, and those which would be improved by occupying such a home. How strange these entities or atoms should all go with such precision where they properly belong, and that each should find its proper locality in the tree or animal; some in the roots and others in the branches, each one occupying its own proper position in perfect harmony with all the rest — none saying they have no need of the others. If it is not living entities that produce living organ- isms, we should like to have some philosopher tell us how they could be formed from dead ones. If it is 216 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. not this element of life in all things that produces or originates all the wondrous activities in nature, from whence do the activities proceed? If there is no latent element of life and activity in the infinitesimal atom, from whence, then, this principle of progressive unfold- ment which pervades all things? Can aggregations of particles exhibit what did not exist latent in each individual particle when in its crudest condition? Then it follows that the elements of progression existed in the vast elemental ocean of atoms from whence the materials were gathered for the construction of worlds, and that it is wrought out by evolution or change of condition — by aggregation and dissolution, and all the different modes of elaboration which nature employs in her universal workshop. It also follows that pro- gression is but change from one condition to another; it is the experiences obtained by passing through all the various states possible. In order to possess all knowledge, the intellect must have been through all possible changes, and experienced all that could have been realized by all other entities from the remotest eternities. We may then learn that we are indebted to this process of changing the condition of the entities for all the wonderful modifications and endless variety of organizations of a material and spiritual character that can by any possibility be found in nature. It is that each atom can have the opportunity of passing through all these inconceivably varied experiences. We are aware that it is extremely difficult to con- ceive that every fluid particle of the atmosphere, or of electricity or magnetism, is absolutely a living entity. Yet if such is not the case, we may well inquire from PROGRESSION. 217 whence these elements obtain their life and activity. Let some of the learned men of the day inform us by what power the tornado rushes forward with such terrible velocity, carrying destruction and desolation in its pathway; why all this variableness of the winds; why they sometimes blow in gentle zephyrs, and then increase in their power and velocity until man and beast are glad to escape from their fearful influence. Let them tell us, if the life element does not exist in the fluid particles of the atmosphere, how these parti- cles are put in motion, enabled to carry on all their important labors, and cut up their curious antics. If by our ingenuity we could contrive a microscopic lens that would magnify one of the particles of this lower, denser strata of atmosphere up to the size of an orange, so that we could examine it in all its minute particulars, and understand it in its true character by becoming familiar with its capabilities, what a flood of light would burst upon the human mind in regard to this vast realm of atoms, where all is now so inex- plicable and dark. We cannot doubt but somewhere in this universe there must be beings possessing lenses quite capable of beholding and scrutinizing the minut- est atmospheric or electric particle, and of compre- hending their true character and knowing why in their associated capacity they are able to manifest such wonderful power; and we doubt not that such beings can communicate such knowledge to men whenever persons are found prepared to receive and appreciate the ideas. Not a single idea has ever been appropriated by any child of earth until the mind was prepared to appre- 218 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. ciate such thought; and of course the only reason why men have been so tardy in obtaining new thoughts and exploring new fields of inquiry, is because of their unprogressed intellects they were entirely unable to entertain or comprehend the thought. The fallow ground had not been sufficiently cultivated, so that such seed could germinate, come forth and bear fruit; and we apprehend that few individual minds are pre- pared to-day to receive and accept the startling thought that every indivisible atom is a living entity, endowed with all the latent energies that would render it capable of entering into eyery condition, and rising through them all to the most exalted. There are doubtless few minds prepared to concede that the philosophy of pro- gression occupies so extensive a field as to embrace within its limits every crude particle of matter, and that each one is capable of ultimating to the highest point of intellectual development; but if it does not cover all this ground, it commences at some interme- diate starting point, and terminates before its journey is finished. Progression contemplates every possible change and every form of experience; each one of these changes preparing the entity to occupy other and higher conditions. Persons may object to this view, from the fact that no individual has any knowledge of what has trans- pired in connection with their own history, only in their present life; and they are entirely oblivious to the earlier portions of their personal experience, even in this state of existence. How, then, can they be profited, or in any manner progressed, by experiences that occurred before they were born? And we may PROGRESSION. 219 inquire how they could have been born or entered upon this state of existence unless every particle, both of the physical and spiritual, had been unfolded and prepared by passing through all the changes below; and how the organ of memory could have been so elaborated as to take in so large a scope of their present history, unless it had been brought up to this state of development by previous preparation and experience? We are aware that by the power of memory persons may travel back upon their antecedent history, and profit by the experiences of the past; and that in this manner they are continually increasing their stores of knowledge concerning themselves and surrounding objects. We are aware, also, that memory, as well as all other organs, manifests itself in the present forms through gross material, and only partially subserves those high purposes for which it appears to be designed. We do not remember the earlier portions of our earthly life; so, many of the most beautiful pages of our mun- dane existence are blotted out forever; much of the innocent experience of our early childhood is concealed from our view in the darkness of eternal oblivion, unless the organ of memory, together with all other organs, is so expanded and unfolded that it may be enabled to recall every incident in that interesting portion of our personal history. If all the organs which constitute the individual mentality of an intel- lectual being are not elaborated and progressed by passing through this earth life, so as to prepare them for a more advanced condition in the spiritual abodes, earth life would seem to be of little practical service. The grand object of man's physical existence is not so 220 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. much to sustain the body, which soon falls to decay, as to promote the general interests of that which sur- vives the dissolution of the earthly form; to elaborate and unfold all that appertains to the intellectual or spiritual personality, so that all the organs belonging to the individuality may be more intensified and enlarged. Hence, we may well suppose in the after life an individual may be perfectly competent, by the aid of his spiritualized and intensified memory and other faculties, to travel back upon his entire life line, and recall not only the incidents of extreme childhood, but all that has occurred during the multitudinous changes through which he has traveled' from the remotest periods of his eternal existence. It becomes, then, a matter of great importance to every being who has passed on to a higher life, and who is dwelling in a more spiritual condition, and who is now in possession of more refined and enlarged intellectual organs, and whose memory may reach back to all possible incidents in their past history, that they should have had an experience in all these endlessly varied modes of being; for in this consists their knowl- edge of what those various conditions are, or of their true nature. These varied experiences are a part of the sum of all knowledge. If the highly cultivated and endowed spiritual being has never been in the organization of the cat or dog, and his spiritually intensified memory does not reveal to his intellect the recorded experience he personally had while in those organisms, then he is evidently deficient in a knowl- edge of all that is below himself; for the cat and dog PROGRESSION. 221 Lave had an experience that he has not, and they cer- tainly know something of which he is ignorant. "We now discover that this being is unprepared to go forward in the accumulation of all knowledge, for he has left a blank in those experiences by which he has attained his knowledge, far below himself; and he never, in all the eternities, can fill up such blank unless he obtains such particular experience. This is a part of the philosophy of progression ; and thus we see the importance of passing through all the changes and entering into all conditions as we pursue our journey upward. Each entity was as good as the other when back in the great elemental sea, before entering into the composition of a world, and each one has been as good as the other through all the varied modes of being, though one might seem to have occupied a position supereminently above the other; the one might have been apparently dead, while the other was full of life and activity; the one might have been seated upon a throne, while the other was wallowing in the mire and dirt. It is this endless variety of conditions and modifications in which individualized entities can be placed that constitute all there is to excite our admiration and wonder in this world and in all worlds. It is the experience we obtain in, and what we learn of, this endless variety of modifications that will constitute the sum of all knowledge with us and with every individual. For what can we learn outside of the atoms or entities that compose all of material substance? All else is nothing; and all we can learn of nothing will very poorly compensate us for the time devoted to that object. 222 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. It will no doubt be extremely difficult for the human mind to comprehend the mode of operations by which a crude particle may unfold or progress through all this infinite variety of changes until it becomes an exalted individuality in the so-called spiritual realms, endowed with supreme wisdom and power, beyond all of which we can entertain the faintest possible idea. All the conceptions that have ever entered the devout Christian's mind concerning the Hebrew God, whom they claim to worship with so much reverence, is doubtless but an approximation toward the exaltation of real finite spiritual beings, who have progressed through all the lower phases of active life, and earned their lofty supereminence by individual exertions. We must first remember that our ideas of size are governed entirely by the limited nature of our visions, and that what might seem to be, when viewed through this medium, inconceivably minute, may to other visions possessed of a million -fold power swell to very respectable dimensions; and, hence, that the so-called infinitesimal atom, after all, is not absolutely so dimin- utive as it may appear. We must recollect that size is relative, and that it depends exactly upon the nature of the vision through which it is beheld; and that it is quite possible, nay, an absolute fact, that objects entirely beneath the reach of the unaided human eye may swell to the size of globes when subjected to the inspection of visions that are ultimated in higher spheres of intellectual existence. We discover, then, that our visions are like all things else appertaining to this physical condition, extremely imperfect, limited and contracted, and do not by any means render abso- PROGRESSION. 223 lute this matter of size; and that it is only such as we behold it, because of the peculiarity of the lenses through which it is beheld. If the lenses are increased in magnifying power, of course the object beheld will be proportionately larger; and when we take it into consideration that superior beings must be possessed of superior or more powerful sensuous and perceptive faculties, then it becomes obvious that objects beheld through their lenses, or by their vision, must be immensely magnified, because their visions, like them- selves, have progressed to higher states of existence. Then it becomes quite possible that those atoms which seem to us infinitesimally small as beheld through physical organs, may swell to proud dimensions when beheld through the organs of advanced spiritual beings. When these individualized entities are relieved of their minute infinitesimality, and we realize the exist- ence of visions that can behold them as we behold an orange or a horse, then the great difficulties in regard to this subject seem to be to a certain extent removed. When we realize that there must be visions that can behold the minutest point of material substance, scru- tinize it in all its characteristics, discern all the elements it contains within itself, and become familiar- ized with all its operations while passing through its innumerable changes, this whole matter becomes far more tangible, and does not appear shrouded in such impenetrable darkness. We very clearly perceive that no intellectual being can obtain an absolute knowledge of all forms of organized life contained in the universal realms, unless they acquire a comprehensive knowledge of the true 224: THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. nature of the minutest particles which enter into the constitution of these various organisms; hence, there must be powers by which the infinitesimal can be clearly discerned and comprehended, for this is a part of the sum of all knowledge. "We may accustom our- selves to think of the minutest entity as if possessed of these enlarged visions, and then conceive it quite possible that all this matter may be clearly understood, and that all the evolutions of these entities are in per- fect harmony or accord with universal law; for the least one must act in unison and upon similar princi- ples with larger aggregations or affinitized associations of the same. If birds of a feather flock together, or large particles of matter affinitize, then the minutest of that which the bird or the larger mass is composed will flock together or affinitize also; else this power would not have existed in the bird or in any organiza- tion composed of material substance. There is another peculiarity that seems to attend almost all things that come together in an associated capacity, and that is, some one individual either assumes or somehow comes to act in the capacity of leader. If there is an army, there must be a general- in-chief; if there is a nation, there must be a head or chief ruler of some description. The wild geese have their leader; the bees have their queen. The herd of cattle or band of horses upon the plains have one that assumes power and authority over the rest. All organ- isms have their high and low, their head and feet, and entities within them which seem to exercise authority over the balance. If this tendency is found in aggre- gations of material particles, it must certainly exist in PROGRESSION. 225 each one separately. Again we find in the materali world that the finer essences or entities may penetrate the coarser, and become within them a power. Caloric or steam may permeate materialized substances, and produce their results. The atoms composing magnet- ism and electricity may enter into all solid bodies, and become a power in those bodies. So may all spiritual essences enter into grosser materials, and produce results corresponding with the nature of the essence or the entities. Now, if we may give to etherealized entities these three wonderful powers — that of association or affini- tization, that of coming under a leadership, and that of entering into grosser forms of matter — we shall find no difficulty in ascertaining how they may be pro- gressed through all possible forms of existence. We shall now, since we ascertain that the finest, most spiritualized entity really has size sufficient to be comprehended by advanced intellects, and that they are possessed of all these varied powers, very naturally conclude that an individual entity might take the leadership of an association, and enter into grosser forms of matter, and thus become a living organization, and exist there until such organization should be sub- jected to a dissolution of its grosser particles. The power that the ruling entity possessed would be just so much drawn or stolen from the others, because each one is entitled to rule as well as the others; neverthe- less, in all associations, whether of atoms or men, it is absolutely necessary that "there should be something like leadership, and that some individuals should act in a more prominent capacity than others. 15 226 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. In the human organism there must be inconceivable billions of entities, all occupying their various posi- tions — some at the crown of the head, and some at the soles of the feet; all supplying the wants of the differ- ent parts of the organism, each one acting in its own individual capacity, and each one preparing to ascend or progress to a higher state — the grosser becoming more spiritualized or liner, and the more spiritual por- tions unfolding to more advanced conditions. We need scarcely remark that the human organism is far more elaborately and symmetrically arranged than any other below it in all the animal kingdom; that it possesses a superior cerebral development, and a greatly enlarged element of spirituality; or, in other words, it contains a larger community or association of spiritual or progressed entities. Again it will appear that there are a greater number of sub-commu- nities, or so-called organs, which seem to be associated in different portions of the human cerebrum. The animal races all possess less brain capacity, and less of the subdivisions; nevertheless, each animal is endowed with some brains, and all are evidently endowed with some one or more of the organs which have culminated in the human. We shall find that this brain capacity and subdi- vision into departments or organs commences at the lowest possible grade, where there is but a single organ, and the brain is the merest point, ascending the ladder of progression by the smallest possible steps, and that the changes from lower to higher are almost imperceptible through all this graduated scale of being. If we could scrutinize this department of PROGRESSION. 227 nature carefully, we should doubtless ascertain that below man there may be found circles and spheres of spiritual existence, and that innumerable hosts of indi- vidualized spirits, beyond all arithmetical computation, are traveling onward through these circles, adding organ after organ as they progress upward toward humanity. For what purpose are the lower animal forms endowed with a brain, if it is not used for the self same purposes as the brain in the human organism, and it is not the abiding place of the spirit personality in them, where that spirit may display its activities, through which it may come in contact with the objective world, and in which it may by its experiences progress or prepare to change to some other organism? "If there is nothing in nature that can be lost, and there is evidently a spiritual element in all forms of life, which is subject to change and unfoldment, and which may accumulate to itself more of similar elements, then nothing can hinder that spirit from passing into other and higher forms, and thus unfold- ing through all possible organisms, aggregating to itself the elements of which it stands in need through all conditions, continually taking on and throwing off, yet ever remaining the same individual through all its multitudinous changes. If this is the philosophy of progression, and all things in nature have proceeded from this vast sea of elemental substances — and all entities must necessarily pass through all possible changes in order to obtain experience and unfoldment — we need not so much wonder at the instability and metamorphic character of all terrestrial affairs. We need not be surprised 228 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. that old things are continually passing away, and that all things are becoming new ; that we behold such an infinite variety of forms and conditions of matter around us; and that all earthly things appear so fleet- ing and transitory. Nature is evidently working out a mighty problem ; she is unfolding herself by her own silent processes, unceasingly operating her huge mills, grinding every entity over and over again, slowly but surely, thus affording them those experiences they required in their onward progressive march through the eternal ages. All shall assist in grinding, and all shall be ground to powder in their turn ; the grand wheels shall ever roll onward, and as all have com- menced their career of activities in the universal ocean of undeveloped matter, all shall be alike progressed through all possible changes, and ultimate in a similar condition of exaltation and glory. There shall be no high or no low in the absolute, for all possible changes are required that all may be ultimated. ~No one being shall be able to say thou art small and mean and despicable, for the great must' become small and low in order that he who was so should become great and glorious. Eternal justice rules all with an equal balance, and in enforcing her rigid demands she requires that all should endure equivalent sufferings, in order that they may be qualified for their equal share of the enjoyments. The element of progressive unfoldment having been intimately connected with every particle of substance, or all entities in their initiative existence, it must diffuse itself into all conditions where such particles may be found in any of their varied forms; and thus PROGRESSION. 229 this element diffuses itself throughout all the avenues of human society, and from its earliest periods to the present continuous changes have taken place, from the most savage or barbarous to the more civilized and refined. Constant evolutions and changes have attended all grades and classes of humanity in an associated as well as in an individual capacity. Much has already been said and written upon this phase of progression; and we only make the allusion to show the necessity of passing through the lower stratas of human life in order to prepare the people of a community or country for a more advanced civilization. The foundations of national glory have ever been laid deep down in the earth, and the ascent has been toilsome in the extreme; nevertheless, the inherent element pervading all things has produced its influence, and the most conservative people have moved forward, however imperceptible their changes. Every change through which they have passed lias prepared them for the one in advance, and in many instances they have reluctantly accepted the situation, as of necessity rather than choice. There is perhaps no element in any manner con- nected with human existence, more conservative and obstinately fixed in its character and tendency than that of religion ; yet every form of religion has been compelled to yield, and steadily march onward in obedience to the all-pervading influence of progression. Although nearly all forms of religion are firmly based on the dead past, and intimately connected with the doings and teachings of some one or more individuals long since dead; although forms of religion may be handed down from past generations, and seem to have 230 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. been immovably fixed and established by irrevocable decrees, which are not susceptible of repeal or annul- ment, still they succumb to the mutations of time and this undying element of change. In view of the religious history of the past, it requires but little sagacity to discover that all the religions of the present must yield to these self same eternal influences, and be subjected to modifications and manipulations until no vestige of their earlier forms shall remain extant among the children of men. The crude religious forms and ceremonials of the early Hebrews claim and are acknowledged to have origi- nated with the Infinite God whom the Christians worship and adore, and they were given as a perpetual statute unto His people forever — an everlasting cov- enant, to continue unto all generations. There is no record in our world giving reliable information that these enactments have ever been repealed, or their cov- enants abrogated, by the party who established them upon Mount Sinai ; and yet every vestige of the forms and ceremonials of this Jewish religion, as given to Moses, has been swept away and buried beneath the rubbish of succeeding ages. If a religion taught to men by the acknowledged Infinite Sovereign of the uni- verse cannot withstand the mutations of time, and the influences of that change and evolution which seems to be so indellibly impressed upon all terrestrial things, what may we expect of one established upon its ruins by those who avowed themselves to be men in the proper sense of that term ; by those who were born and nurtured, ate and drank, walked and talked, performed all the functions of other men, and finally yielded PROGRESSION. 231 themselves up to that fell destroyer, death, and disap- peared from the world forever? Can we suppose for a moment that the popular religion of our day, which made its appearance under comparatively unfavorable circumstances, will not share the fate of its predecessor? We dare predict that the day is not very remote when not one stone shall be left upon another of all this huge temple, and that long before the two thousand years of the coming era shall have elapsed every single vestige of the so-called Protestant religion will be swept from the face of the earth. We need go no further than the religious history of the present century to prove conclusively that the popular religions of the present day contain all the elements of change and dissolution which must pro- duce that result long before the time specified. The tendency of most popular theological teachings to-day is somewhat in the direction of independence and free- dom of thought; and no greater solvent can be brought to bear for church organizations than independent thinking. An individualized thinker becomes the poorest possible material to be used in the construction of a religious institution, for such always have pre- supposed the introduction of ecclesiastical rules, creeds and ceremonials, which must be observed; and the more people think, the less regard they have for these concomitants of the religious schools. A progressive religion must prove a contradiction in terms, because the two elements are directly antag- onistic; there can be no coincidence between them. Progression would go forward; religion would remain stationary, or look backward into the past. The one 232 THE GOSPEL OP NATURE. expects to attain to a higher excellence by receiving newer and grander ideas; the other only by acting upon those that have been received in the past. The one hopes for the good time coming; the other mourns for the good time which has gone. But, notwithstand- ing every human effort to the contrary, all religions must succumb to this universal element of evolution, which pervades all things that exist, and which will triumph in the grand conflict of the ages. The natural principles of progressive development which have been eternally impressed upon all material entities, and which ever have been, and still are, in active operation, are in direct opposition to the con- servatism of religion; and there can be little doubt which will be victorious in this unequal contest. The Christianity of the Puritans has passed away, and that of a later date seems to be equally fleeting. Fifty years ago the acknowledged sentiments of Plymouth church would have been infidelity. Then Universalism and Unitarian! sin were a stench in the pious Christian's nostrils; now they take rank among the most ardent followers of Jesus; and all the distinction noted is a little difference of opinion concerning his paternal ancestor and some other non-essentials. Thus pro- gression has permeated with its metamorphosing influ- ences the sacred teachings of the bible, and ever since Moses came down from .the mount, although all devotees have proclaimed their religion as enduring as time; yet all have changed, and all are still changing, and surely will do so until no fragment of the present forms shall be left upon the earth. Every form has been necessary, as a sort of way mark to distinguish PROGRESSION. 233 the peculiar characteristics of all conditions of people living 'in all the different ages of the world. How extremely dull and monotonous would it have been had the world afforded but a single form of religion; and we may discover at a glance the great importance to the human race that religions, like all things else in nature, should commence down in the very substratum of intellectuality, and by a process of evolution ramify themselves into every conceivable variety of form, from the crudest and most barbarous up to those curiously wrought and elaborately arranged creeds and ceremo- nials which are suited to the tastes of the most polished and refined society of the present or some future age. If there had been but a single religion, where would have been all those glorious polemic discussions which have adorned the pages of theological literature for so many ages in the past, and where would have been all those eloquent, controversial discourses which have emanated from the various popular pulpits? All these have imparted a kind of zest, and added an increasing interest, to their peculiar creeds, ceremonials and modes of worship. All forms of religion that ever existed have served to fill up blanks in that particular depart- ment of nature; each one was necessary in its place, and each one exactly adapted to the condition in which it appeared; none could have been spared, and all have been equally good, subserving their purposes to the greatest possible extent, no matter by whom they have been adopted. All thoughts and ideas in any way connected with the various forms of belief or doctrines or ceremonials embraced in all religions, have been in existence from 234 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. the eternal past, and the individuals who have adopted them have done so, because of their adaptation; and they have no doubt chosen the one suited to their peculiar status, and the only one which would answer their purpose at the time. When by the changes of progression these same parties have assumed a different status, they inevitably come into relationship with a different form of religion, and thus onward until they rise superior to all creeds and ceremonials of any character. We have no use whatever for the Jewish forms of worship, because we are not in their condition of mental development. Yet these are the only forms that come to us with the sanction of an acknowledged infinite God — the only forms upon which His seal of perpetuity has ever been impressed ; and if vouchers of this supreme character cannot insure the permanency of a religion, we may well expect that all its successors will be swept from the shores of mundane existence by the never ceasing tide of progression. All the elements of life and death, of aggregation and dissolution, are as indellibly impressed upon the various forms of religion that have existed upon the earth as they are upon the more materialized forms in nature; then, if they have lived, like all things else they must die; if they have been aggressive, they must tend toward dissolution, and perish from the face of the earth, when something of a higher character will proceed from their ruins. How supremely ridiculous, then, for men of intelli- gence to become wedded to any of these various forms of religion, for the least glance into the soul essence of things will show that they are transitory, and pass- PROGRESSION. 235 ing away upon the receding waves of time; and that in their present phase they can be of no service to future generations, because those generations neces- sarily will have outgrown the conditions that render them acceptable to us, the same as we have outgrown that which did render cruder forms acceptable to our ancestry. Although the philosophy of progression is so inti- mately connected with life and motion, with change and evolution, nevertheless, by a careful observation of the matter, we shall find that the whole super- structure is based upon death and inertia, upon statics and inactivity. For all things must inevitably die in order to live in a higher condition; so they are as much dependent upon death for their growth and advancement as they are upon life for their present existence. Living entities can only pass through all conditions, from the lowest to the highest, by dying all the deaths which intervene between the lowest and highest. They can by no means climb up any other way; they must enter through these open but much dreaded gate- ways, and who or whatever would ascend from their present state must die to that state. By so doing they may assume new relations, and in no other manner. So we perceive that death and inactivity are quite as important elements as life and activity; that before change can take place the former must come into use, in order that the latter may be realized. The cater- pillar can only assume the form of the butterfly by passing through this condition of death and inactivity; there is as much of the negative as there is of the 236 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. positive — as much of death as there is of life in the universe — and sure each are alike essential to the other. Unless there was life there could be no death; unless there was death there could be no life; and evolution or progression is equally dependent upon both, and were it not for both conditions these opera- tions could not be successfully carried forward. Living entities can only exist in one condition at a time, and the only way they can pass to another is through the gates of death. The human system is said to change all its particles once in seven years, so that we have nothing to-day that we possessed seven years ago — every atom has passed off as effete or dead matter; and as nothing can be lost, these atoms have simply changed their forms, and must exist in some other. All inorganic material forms are subject to dissolution, and all organized bodies are equally subject to death; and by this beautiful process nature has produced all that is grand, beautiful and worthy of admiration. If this be the case, then worlds themselves may be dissolved; for if the elements of dissolution and death are in all the material particles of which they are com- posed, what shall prevent their utter dissolution, when they have subserved their purposes, and when all the material by the processes of evolution is prepared to enter into the constitution of a world in every sense of the word vastly superior? Where we find all things progressive, we can hardly suppose the art of world building has been stationary from all eternity, and that all have been constructed after the same pattern or upon exactly the same plan; and we may well conclude that worlds may be built PROGRESSION. 237 far superior to the one we inhabit, in all their minute particulars. When it becomes necessary, it can be no greater calamity for the shell of a world to be dissolved and reconstructed upon enlarged and improved princi- ples, than for objects in nature far more diminutive. We can scarcely doubt that worlds have been con- structed in manner and form corresponding to all ideas ever entertained concerning this one; neither can we doubt but this may be somewhat imperfect when com- pared with others which may be now in course of construction, or which may hereafter be erected. World building must as necessarily keep pace with progressive intelligence as the building of smaller fabrics, for the same elements exist in the material of which all are constructed; and if one is progressive, the other must be also. Again, if intelligence is brought to bear in the formation of worlds, progressive variety must be a marked feature in their elaboration. If intelligent minds have been at any time capable of conceiving this world to be flat, and that was their highest idea, then some intelligent minds may at some period have been capable of constructing worlds upon that principle, else where did the idea originate. If the science of mechanics is like all things else progressive in its tendency, if forces and powers may be brought to bear upon material substance, directed and manipulated by intelligence in forming structures of all possible dimensions, from the smallest aggrega- tion of particles to the largest, why should not variety and improvement be introduced into those immense fabrics that are wheeling and performing their evolu- tions upon so grand a scale, as well as into the diminu- 238 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. tive affairs that are produced by inferior, less developed mentalities? The philosophy of progression is so diffusive that it extends its influence to every department of the natural universe. Its operations have been coeval with the eternities which have preceded, and must continue through all those which shall succeed. Its silent pro- cesses are as intimately connected with the doings of the most exalted intellects, who are able to manipulate forces in such a manner as to result in the construction of worlds and systems of worlds, as with the infinitesi- mal point of material substance that has just waked from its primitive repose, and is but commencing its interminable career of life, activity and change. How broad, then, this field, and how ennobling this conception, and how beautiful this progressive phil- osophy, that extends its kindly hand to every entity in every possible condition, even to the lowest, with the cheering hope that some more revolutions of the wheel shall bring them to the top. It teaches every intelli- gent being that not one is entitled to more of the good things that earth or heaven can afford than themselves, and that every living entity or individuality, although they are enduring intense suffering and privations to-day, in the aggregate they shall suffer no more than is for their benefit, and no more than has been experi- enced by that celestial being who enjoys all his regal splendor upon the loftiest throne in the supernal realms. "Were there no progression there would be no change, and hope could never have found an abiding place in human mentalities; this welcome messenger of peace, which comes from happier climes, never PROGRESSION-. 239 could enter the deep recesses of the down-trodden and sorrow-stricken heart, or bring one ray of bright anti- cipation to those who are but enduring an existence of wretchedness and despair. I would that a knowl- edge of the philosophy of progression could enter every prison cell, every den of infamy and degradation, and enlighten the brutalized intellects of those who scarcely seem caj^able of entertaining hopes of higher and nobler attainments; and happy will it be for humanity when the dark corners of the earth are illuminated with the scintillations of this glorious philosophy. It will evidently be a brighter day for the human race when the intellectual and cultivated portion are more deeply impressed with the idea that we are indebted to the universal principles of progressive unfoldment for our world, and all that it contains, both of a material and spiritual character; and but for this all-pervading principle we could not possibly change from one condition to another, although a God might have sent a thousand sons into the world to perish by any system of torture that could have been invented. How can man's soul nature be regenerated or changed unless there is a law existing in universal nature which renders such a fact possible; and if there is such a universal law, by which we may pass through any and all conceivable changes, what more do we require? As Jesus could add nothing to the law, neither could he take anything from its power and efficiency. Then all hail the eternal universal principles of pro- gression, of change and unfoldment which have been in successful operation upon all worlds throughout all the preceding cycles of existence, and which must con- 240 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. tinue their unceasing labors through all the unending eternities to come. They have manifested their power in all conditions of material substance, whether in the minutest atom or in the most stupendous planet or sun. If there is a particle of atmosphere or vesicle of vapor that are basking in the sunshine, a worm that crawls upon the earth, or a bird that nits in the air, they have become such by virtue of this grand principle of progressive unfoldment which permeates all nature. If kings, princes and valiant conquerers have risen and fallen, if a Jesus lived and died, or if there is a supreme God who sways the destinies of universal worlds, all alike have been indebted to this progressive element for their power; and none could have accom- plished* their lofty purposes except by the influence of this ever-living, all-pervading principle in nature. CHAPTEK YI. JUSTICE. The principles of universal, even-handed, eternal justice must exist somewhere in the natural realms, and justice itself must be an actual, objective reality, which permeates all constituent elements or entities that enter into every form of existence; each one having arisen from the vast elemental ocean, and having existed there upon a perfect level with all its fellows, is inherently entitled to an equal amount of everything of value the universe contains. The indi- vidualized rights of one entity are exactly the same as those of every other, and universal justice demands that the rights of each one, at some period in their history, should be respected, and that they should enjoy all that properly belongs to themselves. If universal justice and the equality of individual rights were not eternal principles existing in the natural realms, men never could have gathered the imperfect ideas concerning these elements they now entertain. They must have an actual existence, and be written upon nature's tablets, in order to impress themselves so forcibly upon human mentalities. If exact justice is so universal in its operations as to pervade all nature's elements, it must necessarily guarantee the equal rights of every individual entity or atom to the largest possible extent. Hence, every 16 (241) 242 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. encroachment upon the rights of every other one must at some time be followed by an entire restoration of all to which they are inherently entitled before the demands of justice can be properly satisfied. Each having commenced their career of activities in a perfect condition of equality, and each one in that condition having an equal right to their portion of the broad universe, it follows that when each one has had a similar experience in all possible phases of conscious existence, even-handed justice will again assume her prerogative, and each one shall alike have all to which they are entitled, and all must be equal. It is quite evident, however, that this condition of equality cannot be enjoyed during any period of their transitional history, for all this wonderful variety of experiences depends upon the very fact that the rights of some individuals are invaded by others. If each one enjoyed all they are inherently entitled to enjoy, then there would be just one phase of experience with all, instead of this endless variety. One individual is evidently as much entitled to wealth, rank and power as another by natural inheritance; but all cannot be equal in these respects during this transition existence, for equality would entirely neutralize all ideas of those conditions, and utterly destroy all experiences arising from them. If all were kings there could be no subjects; if all were rich there could be no poverty; if all were intelligent and virtuous there could be no ignorance and vice, and no consequent knowledge arising from all these various phases of active life. There can be no such thing as an administration of even-handed justice while living individuals are pass- JUSTICE. 243 ing through these varied scenes incident to life, for in that case all experiences would be the same, and an absolute knowledge of every character of conscious existence could not be obtained. When we take a superficial view of human affairs, justice would seem to be extremely tardy in measuring out to each their several deserts. "We have learned that there are all possible grada- tions of conscious existence, and that the soul entity only tarries in any one a sufficient length of time to obtain the requisite intelligence attached to that par- ticular sphere. The living soul entity or spirit, then, only tarries in the human organism for the same important purpose; and there must of course be con- stant arrivals at this stopping place in the grand cycle of eternal life from the spheres below, as well as departures for those which are beyond. Therefore, we can have no absolute equality in this or any other changeable condition, because in order to keep the entire machinery in active operation some must necessarily have greater knowledge than others, and be prepared to assume positions that others cannot occupy. "When each individual has passed through all the experiences of every other individual, and each one is in possession of all the knowledge of every other one, then justice shall have accomplished her perfect work, and her demands will be fully satisfied. It is quite evident, however, that the human race has not culminated to any such perfection, if they have even arrived at the half-way house in their progressive cycle; and it is idle to suppose that the time will ever arrive, upon this or any other planet, when there will 244 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. not be high and low, rich and poor, and all the possible conditions that must occur, or are necessarily attached to a transitory state of existence. The different races of men upon our earth were doubtless produced by virtue of potencies and possi- bilities found in material substance, and they have unfolded as naturally as the least plant or animalcule — all is working outward, evolving. The substance in the egg is not metamorphosed into the chicken by virtue of any exterior force; the potency is in the sub- stance of the egg itself, all that is required is the proper temperature. So, when all was prepared, it was as easy for our planet to bring forth an Ethiopian or an Anglo-Saxon, and required no more throes than the production of the minutest lichen that clings to the rock, or the least infusoria that sports in the rain drop, for that which ultimated in the man was just as much inherent in the substance composing the earth as that which ultimated in the lichen. This marvelous process could not have occurred as a casualty, or from mere accident, as no such things transpired in nature. And now who can say that life and experience is not as valuable to the Ethiopian as it is to the Caucassian ; and who can say that the indi- vidual Ethiopian has not an inherent right to be a Caucassian, if he is prepared by former experience to assume that position in the scale of being; and who can say that he will not become such at the proper time, when he is fully prepared? Most certainly, if it is a step in advance, and a great privilege, to be a Caucassian, and the Ethiopian is inherently entitled to be such, justice cannot be satisfied unless nature has justice. 245 provided a means by which he may enter into that condition and enjoy all to which the higher race is entitled. If this is true concerning the Ethiopian, it must be equally true of every soul entity in existence. Each one is justly entitled to its personal share of the bless- ings contained in the mighty universe. If we could by any arithmetical computation arrive at the number of soul entities, and also the amount of good things contained in the whole, and then make an equitable distribution of all this to every individual, so that each might enjoy his appropriate share, then the demands of justice might be satisfied; and never can they be until this distribution is completed. It has been generally taught that all we receive in the form of good or valuable things come to us from some personal being in the form of a gift extended in mercy or pity, and that we are not justly entitled to anything but curses and misery. We have, however, come to look upon this matter very differently. We have ascertained that each individual is an integer — a whole number — not the fractional part of some other being, but an integral part and parcel of all of universal nature, and as such must possess equal inherent rights to a particular share with all others; and we cannot see by what authority any power or principality can disinherit a single person of his natural rights, only at their own peril; what is taken must ultimately be restored, else the great scales of justice cannot be evenly balanced. So that whatever the earth affords us we take as our share of what properly belongs to us by virtue of our inheritance, without cringingly imploring 246 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. some supposed infinite being to bestow these good things upon us in mercy. It is low and abject to ask for mercy, and the idea originated in a degraded and servile condition of humanity. We ask nothing but justice. If we obtain an equitable share it will prove an abundant supply for all possible wants. The universe contains enough for all, enough for evermore. The God worshiped by the Christian either does bestow upon us that which we need to satisfy our wants, or He does not. If He actually bestows in answer to our earnest petitions what our requirements demand, why should we be compelled to labor almost incessantly for their procurement? If we may obtain all necessary supplies from Him — from that source which is so infinitely above us — why, then, should we be continually digging and delving in the earth that is beneath us? If we may look to Him to fill our baskets and replenish our stores, why should we look to the cattle, the pigs, the sheep and the hen ; why look to the wheat, the corn, and the various fruits of the earth? Why look to your own strong arm to labor, and your own improved intellect to plan and devise means, that you may labor successfully? If all things come directly from this source, and He is ever ready to answer our petitions, why need the prayerful poor man go hungry; why does not this Being supply his numerous wants, and make him and his family com- fortable? We certainly obtain the very large portion of those things we require to supply our wants from the conditions below ourselves, by the use of our own energies — by means of well directed, intelligent labor. justice. 247 Where, then, can the distinctive line be drawn between those things we receive from sources which are beneath and those which come to us from above, or from the Jewish or Christian's ideal God? We doubt very much — in fact, we are fully per- suaded it cannot be proven — that the entire history of the world will reveal a single instance where there is the least evidence that any one of all the petitions which have been offered up by all the devotees in ancient or modern times, ever was met by any response from the God of the Hebrew or of the Christian; not only because the imaginary being they claim to wor- ship is a myth, but because no superior being existing in the celestial spheres has any of tiie numerous things to offer for which application is made in the prayers of these devout worshipers. We bid defiance to any and all of them who to-day, or at any time previous, have existed upon the earth, to point us to a single petition which they can swear solemnly has been answered by an infinite God or a Christ. It is quite probable, nay,- there can be no doubt, but untold thousands have received a kind of relief in response to their earnest petitions; but the great difficulty is to ascertain with any degree of cer- tainty from whence or from whom this response has proceeded. There are untold billions of finite intelli- gent beings in the spiritual world who are abundantly qualified to administer relief to the care-worn and over- burdened soul, and who would doubtless be happy to do so when the opportunity offers; and we cannot suppose an individual exists who has not many friends in the spiritual spheres who have a direct personal 248 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. interest in their welfare, and who would gladly do them all the good in their power. But none of these spiritual beings can proffer to the children of men what they do not possess themselves. They do not own the cattle upon a thousand hills, nor the hills upon which they graze; the money in bank is not theirs, neither any earthly thing which we require for our subsistence, hence they can bestow none of these things upon us. There is no superior intellectual being in all the spiritual spheres, however exalted he may be, whatever power and wisdom he may possess, who can say the earth is his, or exercise any such acts of ownership; he must have relinquished all of earth w T hen he laid down this gross materialized form of existence. Hence, we cannot receive our food and raiment from any such source, and are not indebted to any such being for these numerous blessings of which we are daily made partakers. If .we eat the flesh of the ox, and thus sustain our own life, to whom are we indebted but to the ox himself? He laid down his individual life for us, and we live by his death and sufferings; and our obligations must be to the ox personally, for no other individual has died or made any sacrifice. The reputed owner of the ox has received his money value, and the ox alone, who having died that we might live, is worthy of our thanks, for he is the only party who has made any sacrifice, or endured any suffering, to sustain us and prolong our physical existence upon the earth. If our raiment is composed of wool, to whom are we indebted for this very important article? Had there been no sheep to produce the wool, we certainly could not have obtained the suit of clothing which is manu- justice. 249 factured from that material. The self-constituted owner of the sheep received an equivalent when he transferred his ownership to the fleece. The manu- facturer of the goods, the tailor and merchant, have all been compensated, and we have squared accounts with every party interested except the animals themselves. They have submitted to the sacrifice of their own coats in order to furnish this necessary article to the so-called lords of creation; and the sheep alone, if any parties, are entitled to our gratitude and thanks. Certainly no superior being has any wool with which he may supply our needs; neither can we suppose, at this more enlightened day, that he possesses wings, from which we might obtain a supply of feathers and quills. If we obtain any of these useful articles, we must find them in that portion of nature's realms which is less evolved than ourselves. "VYe cannot expect beings who have barely ultimated to our condition to supply us with these necessary commodities, much less look to those who have advanced such lengths beyond, and are composed of so much finer essences. The ox and the sheep crop the grass, that draws its nourish meut from the earth or mineral kingdom, and the grass sup- plies the materials which compose the flesh, the hides, and the wool of these animals, while men require all these several articles for their subsistence. Thus the higher forms and organizations draw their supplies from the lower in every instance, through all the gradations of living existence. These several animals must therefore be personally sacrificed; they must individually die, that we may live, and we are personally indebted to them, and not 250 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. to any superior beings, for our continuance upon the earth. The universe might be filled with beings who are superior to us in refinement and development, while if there were no organizations below us from which we could draw that nourishment we require, we should most certainly perish; for those in advance could not possibly sustain us, as they have not in their possession the peculiar sustenance required to prolong our earthly lives. We are fully persuaded that it is perfectly impossible for any intellectual being, high or low, to controvert this reasoning, or to show that we do not obtain every essence and element that constitutes our physical and spiritual beings from that which is below, and not from above. Then, from this more rational and enlarged view of this subject, we may obtain a clearer and more comprehensive view of real values, and be much better enabled to form a proper conception of those sentient beings or intellects which are both below and above us in point of unfold- ment. We shall doubtless bow less cringingly and obsequiously to those who have already passed to higher conditions, and treat with greater respect those who are still so far below us that we are entirely dependent upon them for that sustenance which pro- longs an existence in our present form. We shall be enabled to take an intelligent view of this matter, and look in a proper direction for the source of all the rich bounties we are daily receiving, and render our thanks to the real parties who have done us the service. If a thousandth part of the petitions which are being continually offered up by devout persons should receive a response from any such beings as these parties sup- JUSTICE. 25 1 pose they are addressing, humanity would very soon be annihilated from the face of the earth. Suppose, for instance, that some pure and intensely sublimated spiritual being should pour out of his spirit upon a congregation, in answer to the earnest petition of that learned ignoramus, who, clothed in clerical robes, is officiating in his priestly capacity, what sort of an element could he pour out upon the audience, if it was from his own individualized spirit? We ascertain that all elements increase in power as they are more subli- mated or refined, that magnetism is more powerful because it is still liner than caloric, that electricity bears the same relation to vapor, and that other elements, still finer, are still more powerful than electro-magnetism. How, then, would some of these elements operate when poured out upon the people from some superior being? Superior, because he is more spiritualized or sublimated; and all the material essences of which he is composed partakes of that penetrating, diffusive and expansive character which are destructive to gross material organisms. Superior spiritualized beings must be composed of something of the nature of atomic particles, else they are nothing, and could have no power; if so, they must be com- posed of the more spiritualized elements. This is why they are invisible to us, and exactly why we in our condition cannot come in contact with them in theirs; because the finer essences are too powerful for our physical organizations to endure. " No man can see God and live. Our God is a con- suming fire," saith the record which most of these men believe to be infallible; yet they implore the most 252 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. spiritualized essence which permeates this consuming fire to come into their midst and manifest itself to the extent of its consuming influences. They earnestly invoke the most sublimated, ethereal essences in all the universe — a million times more destructive in their tendencies when brought in contact with physical matter than the power which produces the lightning flash or the earthquake's devastation — to rest upon them and abide with them. The fact that these enthu- siastic shepherds, together with their flocks, are not consumed, is sufficient evidence that these most subli- mated spiritual beings do not come in answer to their petitions and pour out their spirits upon their congre- gations. The sentiment is quite generally endorsed at the present day by the Christian believer, that such power- ful essences as this consuming fire could have over- shadowed and impregnated the physical organism of the Virgin Mary, and thus produced a physical offspring. This idea, which has been so universally believed, and which has had so much to do in coloring the history and shaping the destiny of civilized human- ity, is a physiological absurdity of the grossest char- acter, and one so transparent that we can only wonder with profound astonishment at the credulity of our race. This fabulous virgin could have far more easily endured the effects of being permeated by electro- magnetism, because the exalted spiritual being who is supposed to be the father of Jesus Christ must have been composed of far more refined and sublimated elements. He could not have been a celestial being, and still possessed within his nature any of the grosser justice. 253 essences which might by any possibility fecundate the physical organism of the Yirgin Mary, and cause her to produce a physical offspring as the result. This sublime hoax has become too apparent to receive the credence and sanction of the intelligent people of the present day; and we are compelled to charge a very large number of the enlightened clergy, who proclaim this dogma, with hypocrisy — with a willful design, for the sake of lucre and position in society, to propa- gate that which they know in their inmost souls to be false. " Yerily, they shall have their reward." They shall take their places among the hypocrites. The same mete they have measured unto others shall be measured back to them, shaken down and pressed together. They must be tried, every one by their own teachings. If they have taught men to love their enemies, and to yield passive obedience, and do the greatest good to those who have despitefully used them and persecuted them, and have not in their daily history acted in obedience to the teachings they have given to others, they must suffer the penalties of their own disobedience to the laws which they have pre- scribed for others observance. If a man devoutly believes it to be his duty to love his worst enemies and do good unto them, he must carry out this principle to the letter, or else he must be in his own estimation a wicked man, and must of course suffer the consequences of his wickedness. He must learn this lesson by his own experience, and then his intellect will be illuminated and so expanded that he can comprehend the subject better. He will, after such experience, understand this matter for himself, 254 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. without the aid of any so-called divine revelation. And he will probably learn, to his utter astonishment, that no man ever did love his enemies; for before he could see anything in them to admire, esteem and love, they would become his friends. ~No devout Christian has ever manifested much love and sincere affection for so-called Infidels; they have not regarded with much love and tenderness such avowed enemies to the church as Thomas Paine or the devil; and yet these are the very beings included more especially in the command, and such are the very personages who will rise up in judgment against them, and condemn them for disregarding the injunctions of that law to which they were bound by their own professions of faith and by their own personal teachings. By such a law, and by any other law which men devoutly believe and inculcate, must they be judged; and they must cer- tainly experience all the penal sufferings incident to the transgression of any and all laws in which they fully believe, and which they teach others, until from experience they have learned the fact that no such laws can exist within the limits of that universe of which they are inhabitants, and perhaps until they have accomplished what they could to correct the evils that may have accrued to others in consequence of the pro- pagation of such false and unnatural dogmas and beliefs. Men who bind burdens upon their fellows which they do not touch with one of their fingers, had better learn that they must be judged by the laws they inculcate, and that the pie they have so elaborately prepared for others they themselves must surely swal- low, that the eternal scales of justice may be balanced justice. 255 to a hair. Justice seems to be, of all things, that which the Christian world would studiously avoid. It was from an idea of the existence of justice somewhere in these wide realms that scapegoats and sacrifices were invented by the Hebrews; and this is the grand reason why a suffering Jesus and a vicarious atonement is so acceptable to the Christian. Stern, unyielding justice seems to be clothed with terror, as beheld by all these parties ; and any 'plan that could be devised, however ridiculous, that will divest her of her power, comes as a God-send to these cringing worshipers of an unknown, incomprehensible God. Nevertheless, the eternal scales still hang suspended. Can there be any less justice in the universe to-day than there was before Moses went up amid the rattling thunder of Mount Sinai, and learned how to cheat her of her legitimate demands by an offering of sheep and goats? Or has any offerings or ceremonials or plans or atonements ever been devised that would render her powerless, and deprive her of her high official station, and prevent the proper exaction of all her legitimate demands. The great and eternal principles of justice, which are broad as the universe of mind and matter, are as sovereign and powerful to-day upon and above the earth, in all their influences and operations, as they have been during any of the eternities of the past; and that man who expects to escape any of her imperial mandates, must be a stupid, arrant fool, and he will pronounce himself such when his intellect is illumi- nated upon this subject. Justice must be universal in her prerogatives — identically the same in every portion of the vast domain 256 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. where intelligent beings may happen to exist, and where she holds her high courts and sits upon her judgment seat, whether upon this or any other planet within the limits of this solar system or some other in the far realms of space. How, then, can men foolishly suppose that anything could transpire upon our little globe which would rob justice of her power, and pro- tect us from suffering the penalties universally awarded to transgressors in every portion of the natural realms? If we would escape justice, we can only do so by get- ting beyond its jurisdiction; and if we can find no dark hole to hide outside the boundless limits of revolving worlds or existing matter, where we may slink away and be shielded from its divine operations, then we may be sure that justice will find us; and. whether Christian or Infidel, we shall certainly be weighed in the balance. What intellect upon the earth to-day fully compre- hends the wide extended signification of the term justice? Who has ever beheld it in its broadest sense, and comprehended all the imperial demands of this stern, unyielding ruler? Who that hath not fathomed the depths and penetrated to the soul essence of all things can understand a tithe of that which is embraced in this simple word? Shall justice be meted out to every being, high as well as low? If there is such a principle, that does universally, and has eternally existed, it most assuredly will reach every individual case, and there can be no escape; no possible devices of men or Gods can prevent its universal application; and it is worse than folly to suppose that we may triumph over its power and shield ourselves from its justice. 257 strong arm by a reliance upon the meritorious acts of some other intellectual being. Ever-living justice must not only extend to every individual case, but it must embrace and take cogni- tion, in order that the adjudication should be fair and impartial, of every incident in the eternal history of each particular case. It must also take into consider- ation all collateral cases, and all the incidents which occurred in them, and their particular influences. All must be brought into the account before impartial justice can be administered in any one particular case. Now, w T e may inquire, with great propriety, which one of all the intellects or soul entities who have risen out of the depths below has become competent, or could be induced to sit in judgment upon one of his fellows, and meet out exact and impartial justice to them? We shall ascertain, no doubt, the important fact that no one can serve in this capacity for another. No individual intellect in the wide universe is able to pro- nounce judgment upon his fellow, because he has not had precisely the same experience. Every particular life line in all the universal worlds must have been somewhat different, and each individual history is the personal property of the owner, and none can be admit- ted to a share unless by his consent. There is no one, then, to pass and execute judgment upon us but ourselves. Each individual intellect must perform this solemn duty for himself. This seems to be the very darkest feature in our case. Were it some one else we might invoke their clemency — we might possibly conceal something of our inherent, contempt- ible meanness; but, alas! now it will all be exposed, IT 258 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. and no expiations can be made available. No sprink- ling priest can pronounce any absolution for us where our illuminated intellects in the spiritual sphere will enable us to penetrate at a single glance into the very depths of our own natures, where we shall behold all our vile selfishness, as well as the thousand ridiculous attitudes in which we have placed ourselves during our career upon the earth. There is no other judge who could give sentence upon us with that severity that we shall both pronounce and execute upon ourselves, when we come to know ourselves to the fullest extent, when justice assumes the prerogative, and shame and confusion throws her dark mantle around us, and when it comes our turn to suffer that which we have inflicted upon others. We may think to-day we are happy that we can subsist in ease and comfort upon the toil and sweat of other men; that we can profit by their low condition, and fatten upon the avails of their labors. But will even-handed justice permit all this? Will she permit others to do the labor necessary to produce all the food and raiment for the human family, and allow me to pass my days in splendid idleness, and never bring me to a strict account? Why am I better than any of my fellows? Why should they toil and struggle for a mere pittance, and I be feasted upon their struggles, and know no hardship and want? Will stern, uncom- promising justice be satisfied with this unequal arrangement, and never demand that her scales be balanced, when the other parties have originated in the same great fountain of soul entities with myself? We may rest assured of this great self-evident fact that justice. 259 even-handed, well balanced justice will overtake us sooner or later. If in this world we have had our good things and Lazarus his evil things, Lazarus must also have his good things and we must have our evil things. If the rich man's kingdom has been in this world, and Lazarus had none, he must have his king- dom also; not that Lazarus was better than the rich man, but that he was entitled to equal enjoyment, and justice demanded that each one should experience the same amount of suffering. There is no pretension even in this history that one of these persons was any more a favorite of the Jewish God than the other, only that the one had enjoyed his good things in this world, while the other had not. This view of the subject is perfectly natural and philosophical, that each individual intellect or soul entity having originated from the same source, traveled up through the various condi- tions in a similar manner, should be entitled to an equal amount of enjoyment, and that they must in justice endure an equal amount of suffering. One atomic particle or soul entity is equally as good as the other — there can be no difference; but in their progressive history it is impossible that all should be in the same state at the same time; there must be every possible variety of conditions in order to make a world. Yet the eternal principles of justice demands that each one of these soul entities should, during his lengthened history, experience his full equivalent of all the various blessings and curses. Each one must have the same amount of labor and rest, of joy and sorrow, of pleasure and pain, of light and darkness, of life and death, and all else that appertains to universal 260 THE GKbPEL OF NATUKE. knowledge, else how shall they acquire that education which will prepare them for the most exalted celestial spheres ? So, rejoice, all ye rich men. Ye lawyers and judges, and ye clergymen who are enjoying fat salaries and easy positions in society, let your hearts cheer you, take and appropriate what you can obtain of the sub- stance of the laboring man; but know ye, for all these things eternal justice will sit in judgment upon you — the scales shall be evenly balanced, and you shall pay the uttermost farthing. When your intellects are illuminated by the light of a diviner truth than you can now behold, when you have passed into higher and purer conditions, and all the fogs and mists you have accumulated upon the earth are swept from your vision, when you have a clear view of the real facts in the case, your own souls can never be satisfied until you have restored all, and discharged all your obligations to your fellows, and contributed as much to their enjoy- ment as they have to yours. You can have no peace until your debts are all cancelled, and the great scales of justice are evenly balanced; until every party with whom you have been connected during all your past career are abundantly satisfied; until you have made up all your delinquencies, and stand acquitted from every obligation, and have worked out to the uttermost your own salvation. It cannot be supposed that any individual intellect can be fully unfolded, and embrace within itself a knowledge of all the universe contains, until they have acquired and incorporated into their nature every minutia of the principles of justice, in their broadest possible extent. This certainly must be a very import- JUSTICE. 261 ant part of the education of superior beings, because there can be no entity in any possible condition, whether high or low, that is not entitled, and who may not properly claim exact justice, with the fullest assur- ance that during some period of its history his claims shall be respected, the scales shall be balanced, and he shall receive his due, even to the uttermost farthing. Libra — the balance, the eternal scales — is engraven upon every atomic particle that composes all of uni- versal matter and spirit. Each one is entitled to equal rights. This law and these principles diffuse them- selves throughout all of nature to that extent that they never can be eradicated in the least degree. Not a single soul entity can exist, no matter what its condi- tion, but it has equal rights with every other; and it demands justice at the hands of all others who have encroached upon its rights in any sense of the word. Were this not the case,^where would be our safety? If our individual rights could be encroached upon with impunity, and the aggressor by any device retain what he has robbed from us, what guaranty have we that some one else will not have all the good things during the eternal ages, and that we may drag out an exist- ence as their bond slaves, without the least shadow of hope? If there is no universal principle of justice which shall ultimately restore to every soul entity its full equivalent of all the enjoyment there is, then all hope may prove a delusion, all aspirations an idle phantom, all intellectual unfoldment a grand failure, and conscious existence an unmitigated curse. If some one is to be robbed eternally of their rights — of that which in justice belongs to them — how can we know 262 THE GOSPEL OF NAT ORE. but that somebody may be ourselves ; and what security could we have that we might not endure the misery belonging to others, while they were enjoying the happiness belonging to ourselves? The Arab, the Patagonian, the Hottentot, the Tartar, or the Coman- che, are entitled to the same amount of happiness with the Christian. They must also endure an equal amount of suffering. It is inscribed upon the walls of their inner beings, in language that has never been confounded, that they all originated from the same source; that they possess inherent in their natures a divine patent, which gives them an absolute claim to their individual share of all that nature has provided so bountifully for each and all of her children. There is no power or principality in this broad universe that can deprive them of their equal rights, or who dare withhold from them one jot or tittle of that to which they are properly entitled. Is it their fault because they have come into this world in that condition of barbarism? Did they of their own choice bespeak their own nationalities? By no means. The Tartar was awakened to consciousness, and found himself upon his fleet courser, balancing his lance and pur- suing his enemies; the Australian aroused, and found himself chewing worms; and who was to blame that they did not awake in the midst of civilization, and under the influences of refined associations? Surely not themselves; for if blame is attached to any one, it must be to those powers who brought them into being and placed them in these unfavorable conditions. This fact certainly could not deprive them of one particle of their inherent rights, or prevent them from ulti- justice. 263 mating in the highest possible knowledge and glory. Is it of choice that people find themselves in that unhappy condition that they are compelled to beg their bread from door to door, or that the slums of our cities are filled with a degraded population, who are wallowing in their filth and enduring all their wretchedness? Did all these poor people, from a pre- vious personal knowledge of the various phases of life, select the miserable one in which we find them? Then, if not, the fault can assuredly not rest upon their shoulders that they are surrounded b} 7 influences which render them vile and wretched. The poor persons who do the drudgery of those who are in more affluent circumstances — those who are obliged to toil and labor continually in order to eke out a precarious subsistence — certainly did not take this position because they chose it in preference to that enjoyed by those for whom they toil. They have taken it because dire necessity has compelled them to act in this capacity, or suffer for the common necessities of life. They or some one must take these menial or subordinate stations, that all the machinery of the world may continue in successful operation. No man can say that the laborer is not justly entitled to the position of the more wealthy employer, although it seems quite impossible for him to attain to any such easy independence; but both conditions are necessary, and some one must fill each particular one, from the lowest to the highest. If so, then each individual, during some portion of his eternal career, must pass through all the varied phases of existence, and bestow upon others that servitude he has received. 264 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. This is precisely what justice demands, not only that every individual may obtain his equal rights, but also in order that every one may be qualified by practical experience, which alone confers absolute knowledge, to occupy prominent and important stations, or even to sit in the judgment seat and administer fairly and impartially upon all cases which are presented. If there are governments, there must be subjects as well as rulers, servants as well as masters, children as well as fathers, and all the possible conditions of life that may be found among a great people or upon a huge planet. There must be rich and poor, high and low, learned and ignorant, old and young, the living and the dead. Every condition has its opposite, and every one must be filled, else this would not be a world in the proper sense of the term. So no one need repine, knowing eternal justice reigns supreme, and that it will ultimately right all seeming wrongs and award to each individual entity every particle of their rightful inheritance, so that one shall be exactly equal with the other, and all shall be abundantly satisfied. Queen Victoria sits upon a throne to-day; her kingdom is of this world; her fortune gave her that lofty position. She may be administering her govern- ment with great prudence, and wearing her crown with becoming dignity, and perhaps filling her station to the entire satisfaction of her people; nevertheless, she has no more inherent right to a crown than the mean- est one of her subjects. There is no law upon the eternal statute books of nature that says she shall be queen, and retain this queenly dignity to all eternity, while they shall toil in servitude to contribute to her justice. 265 support. But the paramount law, founded in justice, declares emphatically that each one is entitled to a crown as well, and that it is incumbent upon her to become a subject, giving her service and labor likewise to some one else who is equally entitled to a position such as she now occupies. Is it any worse for this queen to labor for the sup- port of some one else than it has been for them to labor for hers? Not one jot; and justice demands that she should, and never will be satisfied until she per- forms her full share of the necessary drudgery attached to this condition — until she endures her part of the sufferings, as well as enjoys her share of the blessings of living existence. Justice will not be satisfied, because this queen, when her mind is illuminated in respect to these prin- ciples, will not; for she cannot be satisfied with herself until she has discharged every obligation, until she has paid all her indebtedness, even to the uttermost far- thing. She has received all she ever had from her people; it has all come out of the products of their labors, and she is indebted to them for every farthing. She had no inherent right to the results of their toil any more than any one of her subjects had such a right to the results of her labors; so we perceive that justice requires the debt she has incurred to be cancelled, and the parties who enjoyed this benefit must certainly work it out, until the scales balance to a hair. These principles, when properly understood, may not be so encouraging for so-called royal families, and for persons who are born and nurtured with golden spoons in their mouths, who live and die in affluent ease; but they are 266 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. extremely encouraging for the toiling sons of earth — those who have suffered cold, hunger and want, and who have been compelled to labor unceasingly to con- tribute to the accumulations of others. There has been a certain amount of food and raiment and other necessaries required to sustain every person who has lived, proportioned to the duration of earth life. Justice demands that each individual should perform an amount of useful labor sufficient to produce what they require for their support; but it so happens in this world that those who perform the least amount of labor enjoy the larger share of that which is pro- duced. They obtain the richest food, the finest and most expensive clothing, and by far the most comfort- able and commodious residences; in fact, they have their good things in abundance, while the other class endure their evil things; and justice can never be sat- isfied until the .scales are evenly balanced, until each one has worked out his own personal salvation, and done his equal share of the labor. If men of the world had learned less of vicarious atonements, and more of the diviner principles of eternal justice, there would be less scrambling after the riches and power that are not unfrequently gained by depriving other men of their inherent rights, and appropriating such ill-gotten gains to their own per- sonal aggrandizement. If our youths could be tutored so as to properly understand these principles, and realize as a truth that every farthing obtained by dishonesty of any character must be restored to the proper owner at some time, else the demands of justice cannot be satisfied, there justice. 267 would not be the overwhelming amount of peculation and stealing that we now find in all grades of our highly civilized society. We are living under the influences of a Christian civilization, where the divine efficacy of the vicarious atonement is promulgated to the widest possible extent among all classes. This doctrine has permeated every avenue of social life. All our laws and civil institu- tions are so framed as to promote this gospel teaching and extend its influences. With some exceptions, our entire literature is surcharged with the idea of forgive- ness of sins of the blackest dye, and the most hardened criminals fall back upon this expectation, as a final resort to obtain expiation for all their crimes. They do not seem to entertain the remotest idea that universal justice still holds its prerogative, or that their crimes must necessarily produce their legitimate consequences, and that they must be held accountable to the parties whom they have outraged and injured for the least encroachment upon personal rights, in accordance with universal law. This system offers a direct premium to the criminal, and assures him that he may revel for a life time upon his ill-gotten gains, or steep his whole interior soul- nature in the blackest, foulest deeds, and finally, by the simple act of contrition and belief, ascend the golden stairs and enjoy the felicities and glories of the Christian's heaven forever, while his victims may be scorching in endless torments. It is from this prevailing sentiment that such soul sickening, though ludicrous, exhibitions take place at our public executions. Our authorities deem it proper 268 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. to execute the strict demands of justice under our gov- ernment upon certain classes of criminals by depriving them of life; and it is here that we may behold scenes which might cause an angel or a devil to blush. Just behold this criminal, the principal hero and honored personage of the occasion; he alone is permitted to escape from all the toils, vexations and miseries of an earthly life, and enter at once into the joys held in reserve for the pure and holy. He has been labored with by the clergy, and he has availed himself of the benefits of atoning grace; and he is fully prepared to meet death, not only with a cheering hope, but a triumphant knowledge of the pardon of all his sins and iniquities, and he swings from the gallows into the arms of the ever-blessed Jesus. And I suppose Jesus has got to receive him, no matter how degraded, how low and miserably steeped in depravity, or how much time it might require, in accordance with natural law, to unfold and redeem him from his wretched condition of interior filthiness. Jesus must clasp this murdering villain in his loving arms, and introduce him to the delectable society of the New Jerusalem as a genial associate and loving companion for the highest and holiest inhabitant of the Christian's home in glory. He must be furnished with a brand-new harp and an entire outfit — palms of victory, crowns of glory, and spotless robes of beauty— and he commences his new career of singing praises and shouting hallelujahs under as favorable auspices as the most devout Christian who ever wore out his life in working for his God. And now, while this blood -washed imp of darkness is tuning his harp and singing his songs of redeeming justice. 269 love and partaking of angels' food, what can we sup- pose has become of the victims of his brutal, blood- thirsty passions, whom he has basely murdered, together with all who were depending upon them for protection and sustenance? Were they not a part of this universe also; had they no natural inherent claims upon justice; could their rights be invaded and sac- rificed by any cold-blooded scoundrel with perfect impunity, without any shadow of a chance to obtain redress? This scoundrel has sent perhaps numerous human souls into the spirit spheres, unanointed by the purifying blood of any Savior, with all their sins upon their heads, without time or space for repentance, or the needed preparation, and an eternal hell must be their portions; and justice demands that these, as well as all other wrongs consequent upon his act, should be righted. What does the Christian religion propose to do in this case? Nothing; only let the poor victim burn and burn beneath the angry frown of an infinite Jehovah during eternal ages, dragging on an unspeakably hor- rible existence, while the foul fiend who perpetrated all these enormities is reveling in the enjoyments that Jesus has provided for all those who believe in this most abominable vicarious atonement. Such is the very genius of that Christianity which has been handed down to us through the dark ages of the past; and these Christian teachers have never con- templated that justice is a universal element in nature, permeating with its purifying influences the entire fabric, both material and spiritual. If such a principle as justice is supposed to exist 270 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. here in our materialized condition, and we appeal to its divine precepts in adjudicating in our earthly courts, how much more shall we find it in all its regal glory in the higher, more spiritual spheres; and how much more may we expect to find all the affairs of those spheres arranged in accordance with its imperi- ous demands? But the Christian religion makes no provisions in any of its complex and mystified machinery by which exact justice may be dealt to every individual, so that each may obtain an equitable share of enjoyment as well as of endurance. It never contemplated any such thing; it only proposed to bestow its favors on a chosen few — upon a very limited class — and for all others it affords nothing but anathemas and curses. It is based upon the principle that this impoverished universe contains only a very meagre supply of good things ; that by some unfortunate mishap almost all that was really worth having was destroyed, so that the whole stock in trade of happiness or enjoyment would not be sufficient to supply the needs of a hundredth part of the human race, while the quantity of evil things is unbounded. There is an ample supply for all; in fact, there is an overwhelming surplus, so that however great may be the demand, the Christian's God will always, during all eternities, be enabled to meet every emergency. Hence it is that this marvelous plan of salvation, by virtue of a vicarious atonement, has made provisions for so limited a number, by making the terms such that no honorable, high-minded person, whose mind is illuminated by the divine prin- ciples of even-handed justice, can possibly accept. JUSTICE. 271 Could any individual who is endowed with an honor- able self-respect enter into a dastardly scheme of so- called salvation, which is devoid of every principle of equity, and which finally ultimates in furnishing a few chosen ones with all the good and glorious things that the universe provides, while the great mass are not only deprived of these enjoyments, but forced to endure excruciating torments during endless periods of time? When the contemptible meanness and abominable rascality that permeates this system of robbery called the plan of redemption through the vicarious atone- ment, is fully understood and appreciated, and when the human race have a realizing sense of the great fact that the diviner elements of justice pervade and must govern all with unfailing precision, we may expect to behold a complete revolution in the affairs of human society. Let us wait with serenity and comparative patience until the processes of evolution unfold our planet to that higher and happier period in her history. She has thus far been plodding her way slowly yet surely along from the cruder to the more refined and purified; and we find humanity in a corresponding state of unfoldment. Neither are finished, or approxi- mate a state of completion ; for long, very long before any such result can take place the pure principles of undying justice shall assume their prerogative, and hold universal sway. CHAPTEE VII. THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. Death, when fully understood in all its connections, will no doubt present such a collection of facts and principles as to be very appropriately termed a science, and one, too, of vital interest to the inquiring mind. We find ourselves surrounded upon all sides, and our pathway is every moment beset and strewn by the influences of that which we call death; and it would seem to have quite as much to do with our existence as life, if not more, for out of death has come all life, and unto death all life returns; so it seems to be the beginning as well as the end, the alpha as well as the omega of all things. Death is, evidently, but a state of rest and quietude — an absence of all consciousness, a release from all suffering and pain, and an entire cessation of all activities. The death of an organized form seems to be attended by a dissolution of the particles of which such form was composed; but it certainly cannot destroy or annihilate these particles — it simply separates and changes them. Death has been considered by most men a curse rather than a blessing; it has been called a monster, tyrant, and fell destroyer; and we have been taught to look upon it with a sort of dread and unnatural horror; we have shrunk from its approach as if it was an enemy designing to deprive us of all our possessions (272) THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 273 of every description. It lias been looked npon by a large portion of the Christian world as not properly belonging to the natural universe, but that it came into existence as a sort of after-thought of the creator, in consequence of a certain contingency. They have represented that the being who produced this and all other worlds was not exactly aware that death would be required in the whole programme, and that its introduction was made entirely dependent upon the course which should be pursued by a certain female in reference to some very nice looking fruit which grew in a garden then occupied by herself and husband. The most intelligent clergymen and believers in the Christian faith have for centuries taught, and are still teaching, that this whole matter concerning the intro- duction of death into the natural universe, or this world in particular, was in the hands of a simple, inexj)erienced couple of individuals, who lived upon a small plot of ground called Eden, somewhere near the river Euphrates, or some distance eastward from the so-called Holy Land. They have taught us authorita- tively that this extensive department of nature was brought into existence solely because this innocent pair was over-persuaded to eat an apple which was inter- dicted by the great Being to whom they attribute the creation of the earth; and this mythical story has gained such general credence among men in the most civilized portions of the world, that persons are denounced as Infidels, and called even worse names, who do not accept it as an infallible truth. However, we are of opinion that a little inquiry concerning the science of death will convince most 18 274 THE GOSPEL OF NATDKE. minds that it is an element so all-pervading, so inter- woven into all conditions of material existence, that it could not by any means have had the least dependence upon eating an apple, even if God himself had eaten it instead of the woman. The very elemental principle of death, like that of life and progression, is most evidently inherently con- nected with all particles of material substance, and must accompany them through all their changes and modifications ; and there can be no order of intelligent beings who could possibly prevent the introduction of death into this or any other world, because each intel- ligent being has been as much dependent upon death as upon life for all his experiences and all the conse- quent intelligence in his possession. Death, then, is as natural as life, and quite as necessary to the well being and unfoldment of all living entities. It is not an enemy, and should not by any means be looked upon as a curse, but cherished as one of the richest blessings which nature has in reserve for us in her great storehouse. It can hardly be supposed that the very large class of humanity who are really of the opinion that death came into the world in consequence of sin or trans- gression, have ever given much attention to the science of death, or have ever entered into any extended investigations in regard to its real origin or the rela- tion it sustains to all things upon the earth; for we trust a cursory inquiry into the real nature of this universal element called death would disabuse their minds of any such shallow, unphilosophical ideas. The grand question, so far as bible believers are concerned, THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 275 is, did death commence its career upon this earth after the creation of Adam, or is it an eternal principle or element which has existed coeval with all things, and which permeates every particle of matter or elemental principle in existence? Without particularly adverting to the chronological discrepancy that occurs concerning the production or creation of the man Adam, we simply notice that it is recorded that " The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." The question would seem to arise at this point whether all the forces and elements of nature were in full and active opera- tion previous to this event, or whether a universal revolution took place in her great laboratory during the time this first pair remained in the garden. Another question of importance seems to present itself for our consideration : Does the language quoted con- template that the body which the Lord God formed from the dust of the earth was dead before He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life? We must think it very clear that if man only became a living soul after the breathing process, he must have been dead to all intents previous to that very import- ant operation; and we may inquire, very properly, if this process was necessary in order to bestow life, what thing else but death could have existed in the absence of that life which was produced by this act of breathing into the nostrils of this lifeless lump of clay which he had formed? There were just two elements connected with this transaction — life and death. In the absence of death there was life, and in the absence of life there 276 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. must have been death; if not, why was it necessary to breathe into the nostrils of this thing in order to pro- duce life? Then it must be conceded that there was, upon that hypothesis, such a thing as death before life, its proper antagonism, was infused into the body which subsequently became the first man, Adam; and when this is admitted to be the case, the assumption of all the subsequent authors, who declare that death came by Adam, is an exceedingly shallow pretension, without the least shadow of foundation. Again, if this first man had a beginning, and there was a particular time when life came, or was brought to exist within him, previous to that time, all the material particles of which the man was composed must have been devoid of that life, or, in other words, they must have been locked in the embrace of death. We cannot avoid the conclusion that this first man, who was said, at a certain stage in the operation that resulted in his production, to have been a living soul, must have been eternally such, else there was a time when he was a dead soul. Our friends may take which horn of this dilemma they choose. If this man was a living soul from all eternity, then God did not make him such by his breath; and if he was not, then death did not come into the world by him, because it was in existence before he lived. If this special divine afflatus which was breathed into the nostrils, was necessary in order to produce life in this instance, from whence came that life which existed previously in the vegetable kingdom; in the great whale and those living things which inhabited THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 277 the water; also, in the cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth. The life existing in most of these organized forms, which were produced previous to the human, is so intimately related to that in man, that no philosopher can possibly show the distinction; and jet, we do not learn that it required any breathing to bring it all into existence from the lowest to the highest. We do not learn even that it required any kind of process to ultimate all those complicated organized structures, that seem to be but a step below the human; and which are evidently just as import- ant in the great scale of being as the human, or any other condition of living existence. However this may be, the record, if it teaches any thing, clearly presents to the mind the idea that previous to the existence of all this active, moving panorama of living organizations, there was nothing but one widespread scene of desolation and death; for, most assuredly, when the earth was without form, and it was void, and universal darkness was upon the face of the deep, Death must have reigned triumphantly over this wild scene of chaotic confusion. Then, was death a new thing that could be brought into exist- ence and used as a sort of penalty for disobedience, when it is shown by this record to have existed during all the eternal darkness that preceded that auspicious moment in which this God said let there be light and there was light, and when life and activity was said to have been brought out of this chaos and death, which could have had no beginning? If we could by any means suppose that human life originated in this breathing of the Hebrew God into 278 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. the nostrils of the first man, we should very naturally conclude that it would be continued in the same man- ner; for life being a positive element is exhaustive of its own resources, and is in constant need of recuper- ation. It is continually wasting its energies, and is incessantly requiring to be renewed by those elements from which it draws its support, and without which it could not continue to exist for a single hour. It may well seem strange to us, who do not understand this matter, why the breathing process did not con- tinue; for, if life originated in that element, and that alone, how can it be recuperated, constantly renewed and universally sustained by elements of such a dif- ferent character? How can this important element of life within us, which originated from a source so supereminently above man, be hourly reproduced and supplied from elements which are so far below him? If it required "the breath of an almighty, infinite God to produce life in a human being in that instance, how, in the name of all that is wonderful, has it been produced and sustained ever since by the use of a little meat and vegetables? How can two elements so inconceivably different in their character and prop- erties, be brought to bear and ultimate in the same grand result? Theology and philosophy both, in the contemplation of this interesting subject, are com- pelled to make a terrible acrobatic descent, from the inconceivably purified and sublimated breath of the ever living Jehovah down to the pork and cabbage found in the market, or in the culinary department of the domestic establishment. But, we leave this curious and troublesome enigma THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 279 for bible believers to grapple with as best they may, while we proceed to a consideration of other portions of this instructive science; and, in pursuing our researches, we doubt not we shall find that life in every instance can only be sustained or produced by the death of some organized forms found in nature; and that life essences and elements are in all cases gathered from that which is below instead of from that which is above. We may easily ascertain that the breath coming from a being so intensely spirit- ualized, and sublimated, as to have become capable of constructing all the spiritual as well as material machinery connected with this and all other worlds, would, in no sense of the word, be adapted to the gross physical forms found upon the earth. If he had been creating a race of young Gods designed purposely to exist in the spiritual abodes, his breath might have been better adapted to their condition, but it was said that he was creating from dust, which is a very gross substance indeed, merely coarse, physical beings, who were designed to dwell here upon this material earth and derive their subsistence and con- tinued life from the gross material things which must grow out of the earth. Common sense would tell us that if he understood his business, he would have infused into this gross physical body of the first man, that peculiar kind of element which would have sus- tained his life in after years, elements which no spirit- ual beings have in their possession ; because they have ultimated to higher conditions, so that the coarsest particle connected with an advanced spiritual organ- ism, would be far too etherealized to be endured by 280 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. physical beings. Man cannot endure the influences of electro magnetism to any great extent, because these elements are too sublimated and powerful in their character ; how then could he endure the breath of a spiritualized being who has no element in his nature but those far more etherealized than electro magnetism. Such a breath, instead of imparting life to a coarse physical organism, would have immedi- ately produced the opposite result; even if the body had been living, because the higher sublimated spirit- ual elements are so powerful in their character that they penetrate and dissolve coarser materials. We have remarked already that we obtain the element of life from that which is below, and not from that which is above and beyond us; because, more spiritualized beings have lain down that which would sustain physical life, and retain in possession only that which is adapted to a spiritual existence. Dominion was given unto the first pair from the outset over all the beasts of the field, the fish of the sea, and every green thing that grew upon the earth, and they were authorized to appropriate all those things in accordance with their various uses, as would suit their own convenience, and of course to eat that which was adapted to the appetite with which they had been provided. How singular! that it became necessary to destroy life, and thus produce death, before they could taste the first morsel of food of any description, or before that food could, by passing through the digestive process, become suitable nour- ishment for the physical system. If they plucked the green herb, they must destroy the life of that THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 281 herb; if they tasted fruit, it was the same. If they partook of the fish from the stream, the fowl from the air, or the fatling from the pasture, death must ensue before they could satisfy the cravings of their hunger. Thus, it becomes very palpable, that the lives of these individuals was entirely dependent upon the death of something that existed in a lower condition; for, they could not have remained in the garden comfortably a single day unless they had destroyed the life and thus caused the death of some member of either the animal or vegetable kingdom. It becomes, then, a self-evident fact that death was not an afterthought; that it did not originate in con- sequence of any transgression committed by our early ancestors, even if we depend entirely upon this record for all evidences in relation to the subject, as we are compelled to conclude that the same means which would take the life of an animal in order that it might be eaten, would take the life of the man also. If we admit the possibility of destroying life and thus producing death before the fall, we also admit that such a thing as death was an element in exist- ence, and how can it be said it was produced by any act upon the part of man? Then, how extremely childish was it at the first to promulgate an idea of this character, and how worse than puerile to con- tinue the propagation of such a silly dogma in this more enlightened nineteenth century? There are probably few sane persons at the present day who could be made to believe that it would have been an impossibility to have drawn all the life cur- rents from the veins and arteries of the man Adam 282 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. or the woman Eve previous to the nibbling of the wonderful apple, or that their abstraction would not have produced death the same as after. It cannot be denied by intelligent persons, that there were forces in nature at that day quite sufficient to have torn those persons to fragments, or crushed them to atoms, or burned them to ashes. Would not water have suf- focated them, fire burned them, electro magnetism have pierced them through, or corrosive sublimate poisoned them? Did not all these things exist? If not, what kind of a world was this that the all wise Creator called so very good before it was half fin- ished, before all the elemental forces which render the world such a magnificent piece of machinery at the present time were brought into existence? The book says, " the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them "; and, if that was the case, then all the elements appertaining to the earth must have been brought into full activity. There must have been inertia as well as activity, death as well as life, and all else belonging to a world in a state of completion must have been in full operation, else the world was unfinished, and the book proclaims an untruth. We trust we have said sufficient to render it per- fectly clear beyond all possible cavil, that physical death was an elemental principle in nature, which could not have been introduced into the world in consequence of any act performed by physical man, and as yet we have barely glanced at the subject principally from a bible stand point. We have not entered the vast reading room of nature, and opened THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 283 any of the pages which are so indelibly impressed with the elements of death, as well as of life and activity, which present undisputed evidence of their having existed in the natural realms from all the eternities of the past. We have not attempted to unfold the stratified leaves of the sedimentary rocks which are so profusely imprinted with mementos proving beyond any shadow of doubt, if such proof is needed, that death existed in every conceivable form for innumerable ages before man made his appearance in the world. We leave this broad and instructive field of research to those who are more intimately acquainted with the minutia of geological science, simply remarking that entirely sufficient has already been written upon that matter to utterly annihilate every vague and ridiculous idea presented in the Mosaic history of so-called creation. How long, oh how long! shall intelligent minds accept as infallible truth, the senseless twaddle con- tained in this visionary legend that constitutes the three first chapters of the Jewish and Christian Bible, and which is the foundation of all this vast super- structure — this huge fabric denominated the univer- sal Christian church, whose bloody Ishmaelitish arm has been raised against every man who has dared to oppose its triumphal march. But we are told that this transgression of our first parents produced a spiritual death, or the death of the spirit. If so, then we may inquire how the spirit can continue to have life and existence? if men all died spiritually in Adam, then how is it possible that all men should have possessed spirits during all the 284 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. ages since that period ? Well, we are answered, that is not exactly the thing, but the spirit died morally, or the moral nature of the spirit died; and thus men became dead in trespasses and sins. Let us inquire a little into this matter. We have learned that the spirit or soul existing in man must necessarily be composed of essences or etherealized atoms so fine that they are capable of permeating the physical organism; that unless it is composed of material sub- stance it is nothing, and has no existence; that this soul entity is an accumulation of powers and faculties which enables it to act in its particular capacity, and that its true character depends upon its condition of unfoldment. It has been alleged that some portion of this spiritual organism in man has been killed, or that it has died from the effects of the apple eaten by our ancestors; and that it can only be restored again to life and activity through the death of an individual called Jesus, who lived and died some four thousand years after the apple was eaten. It has been repre- sented that the most virtuous or moral portion of the spirit died, or was thus destroyed, and that the immoral or most sinful portion was left in its full vigor and activity; that from this cause men became exceedingly immoral and corrupt, and have so con- tinued till the present day, with the exception of that portion of the race who have believed this story, and also believed that the death of this individual, Jesus, was designed to correct, to the fullest extent, the fatal effects of the apple eaten by the first pair. It is asserted that this pair were produced, body and soul, by an infinite and unchangeable God, and that THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 285 he looked upon thein when they were finished, and pronounced them not only good, but "very good"; he was well pleased with the work, and pronounced his self-gratulations upon the subject in an emphatic manner. There can be no doubt, if we judge from a careful reading of the text, he done his best to make this crowning effort of all his six days' labor a model of perfection; for, to say the least, he had it all in his own hands, with infinite wisdom to design and power to construct, and after it was finished he exultingly expressed his perfect satisfaction with the achievement. How very strange, then, that we should find this wonderful machine that is said to have called into requisition all the united wisdom and power of the entire Godhead in its construction, within a few days from the time of its completion, like a rickety old clock, all out of repair, its compli- cated wheel- work all in confusion, and the very best and grandest portion of the whole concern lying in the cold embrace of death. After taking a single glance at the ridiculous aspect of this case, it would seem quite unnecessary to pur- sue the subject any further, but the obstinate conser- vatism of mankind is such that they cling with an undying tenacity to old fossilized ideas, without regard to their improbability or absurdity, and it becomes necessary to show them up in all their hideous deformity before they can be persuaded to release their unyielding grasp. We have already shown, and we challenge contra- diction, that the intellect, the soul or the inmost spiritual nature of man — that which permeates and 286 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. controls his physical organism — is endowed with certain organs or faculties which are all required in order to constitute man an intelligent being in the proper sense of the term. We now simply remark that it is utterly impossible for any or all the theo- logians in existence to prove that any single one of the organs which are attached to the human intellect have ever, at any time, ceased their activities since they have been unfolded in the mentalities of individ- ualized humanity. If any such wonderful revolution had ever taken place in respect to the human spiritual organization — if any portion of individualized men- tality had ceased its active operations, or died, and then at a subsequent period had been restored to activity and life again — most assuredly some one would have known something about such a remark- able event, and the pages of history would certainly have recorded such a marvelous era connected with human existence. But all history is silent upon any subject of this character — it reveals nothing which would indicate that such might have been the case. In fact the first pair are represented to have con- ducted themselves in a very becoming and sensible manner after this apple transaction occurred, whereas at that time, while in a state of purity, they are said to have committed the terrible sin against God which involved their entire posterity in its unhappy conse- quences. With great confidence we bid defiance to any or all theologians to bring the least evidence tending to prove that man has universally lost any part of his spiritual nature by an act of any one or two individuals, or that he has regained that which THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 287 was so lost at any subsequent period, by the suffering or death of any other individual. We also challenge them to show in any manner that those who profess to enjoy all the benefits of this restoration through Christ from the spiritual death entailed upon the children of man in consequence of Adam's trans- gression, are in any way superior mentally, or that they possess any greater spiritual activities and life elements than those who make no such profession. On the contrary, it can very easily be shown that the more sprightly, vigorous and really live intellects of the present time are outside the pale of the church; and that the independently active, thinking minds are getting out as fast as possible. Again, we are told that this original sin was pro- ductive of an eternal death; which, of course, must imply the entire death of the spiritual nature, or what is still worse, they say it will result in the eternal misery of all those who do not make strenuous endeavors to escape the consequences of that death, by an application of the only remedy, which may be found in another death that occurred about four thousand years subsequent to the first. It would be impossible to find in all Pagan literature any ideas connected with subjects of this character more ridic- ulous and absurd, or more devoid of every vestige of common sense, than the ideas generally received and adopted by the Christian world in regard to the fall or death of mankind, by this so-called original sin of Adam and his consort in the mythical garden of Eden. There are other dogmas which have been connected with the religious opinions of various ages and races 288 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. of men, that would seem to have some commingling shadow of natural truth interwoven among their gen- eral incongruities; but this one concerning the origin of death is so entirely destitute of any scintillation of intelligence, that it may well challenge comparison in this respect, and yet that superficial reasoner, Paul, discovered in this what he supposed to be an astound- ing fact, and announced this strange enigma to the churches of his time, " As in Adam we all die, so in Christ shall we all be made alive"; and the teachers and believers in this curious doctrine, parrot like, have reiterated this saying of Paul during all the ages from that day to the present. But why did not Paul, and why do not his followers, look out into the great universe and find some analogous truth, or introduce some process of reasoning that may throw some ray of light upon this mysterious subject? All those things, if they took place, were enacted inside the natural realms; they were performed after the world with all its active, moving machinery was in successful operation, and if this wonderful event took place, there was a law by which it was accomplished; for no event can transpire inside the natural universe, unless there is a law which renders the doing of that thing possible. Why did not this wonderfully sagacious epistolary reasoner, Paul, show us the natural process by which death was introduced, instead of making the bare assertion, thus leaving the problem to be solved by minds in after ages? And why do not the profound thinkers of the present time show how such a thing could have been possible in accordance with eternal THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 289 laws that universally prevail? For, if eternal death of any character made its first appearance in this world at that particular period, then all before that time must have been eternal life, as either one or the other, or both, must have existed in all possible con- ditions. If none of the deaths of which man is said to have died in consequence of the fall of Adam were in existence previous to that time, let some one inform us how all the moving machinery of this planet could perform its evolutions and proceed with its activities entirely independent of the changes which can only be produced by death. It becomes necessary, then, to understand to a cer- tain extent the science of death, to obtain a clear and comprehensive view of this subject; and we trust, when we obtain a tolerable knowledge of that science, we may discover that humanity have followed, in this instance, one of the most stupid delusions ever intro- duced into this lower world. It is an unmitigated humbug, of that peculiar completeness as not to con- tain the least scintillation or faintest shadowing of truth, entirely manufactured from wild vagaries existing in the brain of some enthusiastic indi- vidual who lived in the earlier ages of the world. Upon underground mudsills of this character have been built up all the ideas connected with a vicarious atonement for sin, and a restoration from these several deaths. And upon this vicarious atonement has been erected the huge mythical fabric known as the Chris- tian church, which has swelled into such enormous proportions, and but for its increasing divisions would sway the destinies of the entire human race at the 19 290 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. present time. It still remains, then, for many por- tions of the vast arcana of the natural realms to bo explored, that delusions of this character which have so long overshadowed men, hung about their necks, and lain upon the breasts of the multitudes like a frightful nightmare, should be dispelled. It would seem to be time that the human mind should be illu- minated in regard to subjects of this nature; high time for them to learn that no such universal element as death could have been introduced into this world in an y such manner; but that death, like life, in all its possible forms, constitutes a part, and is a par- cel of the same, as all other departments of nature's extended realms. Death, then, is a scientific fact, which underlies the philosophy of progression; and but for the changes produced by death, which is but another name for change, the ceaseless wheels of progressive unfold- ment could not move forward. It is by this con- tinual dying to one condition, and merging into another, which prevails so universally in nature, that she has unfolded herself in this wonderful manner. It is by this process that all things have been fash- ioned into their varied forms; and how many untold billions of deaths must have occurred before the human organism could have been constructed. Man has not inhaled a breath of atmosphere, but it was attended by the death of myriads of living beings; he never drank a cup of water, without swallowing unnumbered multitudes of infusoria who yielded up their lives in order to quench his thirst; he never tasted a morsel of food, but death ensued to those THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 291 living entities which composed the food he had eaten. Thus every animal has only continued his existence in life by the death of all the elements which have contributed to the support of that life which he enjoyed; his life has been supported by the living element which existed in those substances he has con- sumed; and he could not have availed himself of the benefit of that living element, unless that which was eaten or drank was deprived of it, and in this manner suffered death. When we trace living forms and organisms through their innumerable changes back to their primitive condition where all the material of which our world is composed was inconceivably diffusive, existing in the vast elemental ocean of space, we shall find that one universal death had controlled all, until this entire quiet and inactivity was disturbed by some power possessing ability to produce motion. All life is based upon, and proceeds from death, and active life can only be sustained by the death of that upon which it feeds. There cannot be a doubt but death and inac- tivity reign supreme out in the boundless regions of space, where no planetary influence extends, and where nothing but coldness and darkness hold universal sway. The believers in the Christian dogma of which we have been speaking, must admit that all the chaotic material from which our world was formed, existed in the quiet condition of darkness and death previous to its formation; else they accept the impossible theory of making something out of nothing, which very few would like to acknowledge. Then we find it necessary to awaken the element of life and activity, instead 292 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. of death and inactivity, into all material particles, because those infinitesimal atoms must have been in the quiet embrace of death before they were aroused into newness of life, and thus prepared to enter upon their eternal career. The infallible testimony of the entire range of Paleozoic rocks unfold a most instructive lesson concerning the science of death, as well as the phi- losophy of progression; this testimony also flatly contradicts the assertion of Paul and the modern clergy, that death came into the world by man's transgression; as it clearly proves that death had been an inhabitant of the earth from the remotest period of its history. The language inscribed upon these truthful pages of nature's A r olume emphatically declares that life and death went hand in hand in the great work of elaborating a world and unfolding it to that condition in which it would be possible for the higher order of organized beings to find suitable elementary sustenance, and a proper field in which to exercise their varied powers. The mineral king- dom has unfolded and graduated into the vegetable by such easy and diminutive steps, that it is quite impossible to say exactly where the one left off and the other commenced ; and all this was done by the death of the lower forms, and by a gradual merging into those which were somewhat higher. There are certain departments in these two different kingdoms which approximate so nearly to each other that it is quite impossible to discriminate between the inor- ganic and the organic. It is conceded that vegetable life must have preceded animal existence, because the THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 293 animal could only have subsisted upon the vegetable, although it is extremely difficult to determine this question from any fossiliferous remains exhibited in the early formations. It is supposed also that marine vegetables preceded any terrestrial plants, and how nearly allied to the mineral kingdom must have been that vegetable food that supplied the wants of the radiata, the Crustacea and the marine shells of the early Devonian period; and in fact how gross must be the 'character of that sustenance that enters into the composition of the oyster shell of the present period. The dividing line between the vegetable and animal organisms is extremely vague, uncertain, and difficult of detection, as the order of zoophytes seem to extend far beyond the boundaries in either direction, and bind these two kingdoms together by an unbroken link, which makes them inseparable. Thus it becomes clear that those elements of life and death have existed side by side in every conceivable form, rising one above the other in almost imperceptible gradations, and that it was perfectly impossible for an individualized life to exist in but one of these conditions at a time. When it was alive in one it was dead to all others. There is upon nature's records abundant evidence that the very lowest orders of individualized life existed anterior to the higher order, and that progressive unfoldment has marked the pathway of these ascending grades during all the inconceivable ages of the past. It is quite unnecessary for us to repeat the technical names of all these different species or races of organized living beings, with their chronological period of existence upon the earth, as delineated throughout the various 294 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. strata of the paleozoic rocks. This information is scattered profusely through the pages of most of the standard geological works which have been so oppor- tunely presented to the world in this age of general inquiry and research; and quite sufficient has been ascertained and written to prove conclusively that death in every possible form has been working out its evolutionary problems for interminable ages upon our own earth, however youthful it may be represented in bible history. The Christian world has been exceedingly anxious to prove that the extended geologic periods were a myth, and that all the occurrences which are so graph- ically unfolded upon the indurate pages of the rocks might have transpired within a few hundred or thou- sand years at most, as if nature had been niggardly of time, and had performed her vast operations in a hurried manner. There are very many men, even at the present time, who really suppose all the innumerable labors per- formed in the great universe have been crowded into the past six thousand years; as if all the time antece- dent to these few years had been of no value, and that the preceding eternities were not conducive to those evolutions which have been in activity without com- mencement. Yet, sedimentary deposits, which are composed of infinitesimal particles that sometimes form in layers of the thickness of paper, have accumu- lated, it is said, to the depth of nearly ten. miles, all strewn with the remains of individualized life and death. There may be found accumulations of a micro- scopic crustaceous animal, called the cypris, occurring THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 295 in immense quantities, and forming stratas from seven hundred to one thousand feet in thickness; and yet these shells are so extremely minute as to require 41,000,000,000 to make a cubic inch. How many untold millions of ages must have been required for nature to have performed all her vast labors of every description upon our planet! Let us stop and reflect that our written historic period has marked no appre- ciable geologic change upon the earth; for no mind is capable of approximating toward an estimate of the length of time required to form one foot of alluvial deposit over the surface of the entire globe. What, then, must have been the amount of time which has elapsed since organized forms of vegetable and animal life, and consequent death, made their appearance in the lower silurian formation? All human attempts at computation are vain, and the mind is only bewildered in their contemplation. The universe of nature has certainly existed from all the countless eternities which have preceded; and what has she been doing, if not working out these mighty problems? It cannot be a more favorable time now for her operations than it ever lias been; and why should she not have been performing her wonders millions of ages in the past as well as at the present? If huge mountains have been built by the coral polyps, or the microscopic animalcules, it was only done through their death. If higher forms of organic life existed in one geologic period than did in the pre- ceding, the change was only effected by innumerable deaths, as every individualized form of life must die to one condition before it can enter into another. It THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. is the same with man; we cannot possibly go higher until we die to the state we now occupy. Thus, with every other form of life, both above and below man, nothing can go higher until it dies to the condition in which it now exists. Then how ridiculous to suppose that death was introduced into the world as a curse or a punishment for sin, when it is unmistakably a part of the machinery of the planet, and so essential in its nature that all its wheel work would directly cease in its operations without this important element. How superlatively beautiful this whole arrangement, from its apparent beginning in the vast elemental ocean of infinitesimal particles up to the ultimatum, if there is such a thing, or to the most exalted spiritual power and wisdom; each atom possessing within itself, in a latent or inactive state, every element necessary for its final unfoldment, and by this continued process of living and d} 7 ing, or changing forms, passing up through all possible intervening conditions, from the lowest to the highest, living all the lives and dying all the deaths, and thus obtaining all the experiences found in this interminable journey of existence. We challenge all the philosophers in the civilized world to find any other material except the atomic particle from which anything can be constructed or in any manner formed, whether it be a world or an organized being, either material or spiritual. We further challenge them to devise any practical method by which such atoms or essences can be elaborated and unfolded into living organizations except by this process of death, or change from one form or state to another. Here we find a sufficiency of material in one dark abyss, filled THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 297 with chaos and night, as the theologians say we are taught by Moses, or one great space ocean of atomic particles, nebulous matter, or primal elemental princi- ples, as taught by the philosopher. Resulting from this sea of death we now behold a living, moving world, peopled with all the forms of vegetable and animal life, together with this seeming grand ulti- matum, a highly endowed, intellectual being we call man. How has this wonderful metamorphosis been accomplished? How has this curious elaboration taken place, except by the aid of the marvelous phe- nomenon called death, or by this peculiar process of change? In further explanation of the science of death, it becomes necessary, the same as with all things else connected with spiritual and material existence, to follow it back to the soul essence of all material sub- stance found in the great elemental sea from whence all forms have originated, and thus to show more definitely that this negative element having existed in the smallest atom of which all things are composed, it must inevitably exhibit itself in all aggregations of atoms. We have said, and we may repeat it again, that all of nature may be dissolved, and thus be reduced to its original infinitesimal particles, and so exist in the most inconceivably rarefied condition; and like the waters of the ocean, each atom will be a microcosm of the whole, or contain in miniature all the properties of the largest or most solidified accretion of atoms. If this be so — and it cannot be otherwise, for the careful observer will see at a glance that attributes or 298 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. elements found in an accumulation of atoms taken from a homogeneous mass must exist in the individual atom, else they could by no means exhibit themselves in the various forms or accumulations — then, as we have already noted, the various modifications, and endless variety of phases and conditions, in which sub- stance may be found upon the earth, has all depended upon evolution, or continued change of condition; and this continued change is but another name for death, as all things must die to one state before they can possibly enter another. Now, if we find that certain accumulations of mate- rial substance, or certain organized forms, contain within them a spiritual essence or nature, we shall discover that each atomic particle of which the organ- ized form is composed must have contained a spiritual nature also, else the thing called spiritual would be simply impossible, unless the spirit was manufactured from nothing, which idea cannot be admitted by thinking minds. Philosophers have discovered that all atoms are accompanied or enveloped in an atmos- phere, and that no two particles, however dense the substance in which they are found, may appear to our vision — come into absolute contact; but that each lies wrapped in an etherealized covering of its own, which atmosphere or envelop is subject to compression, in accordance with the greater or less density of the material in which the atoms may exist. Microscopic vision has exposed to a certain extent this wonderful fact in nature, and made it apparent to our senses; but we may be compelled to wait for another change, and for a far more spiritualized vision, with vastly THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 29$ enhanced magnifying powers, before we can behold this and a thousand other facts in nature's busy labora- tory in all their beauty and magnificence. Somehow, in consequence of our extremely material- ized and limited visions, we have found ourselves in a world full of deceptions; we have been able only to comprehend the outlines or glimmering shadows of truth, and a power unknown to us, which some have called God, has seemed "to bring upon us strong delusion that we might believe a lie, that we might all be damned," and if so, that is doubtless the very thing we most needed ; for if damnation lias been brought into existence and made possible by an all-wise infinite power, it is doubtless intended to subserve some high purpose, and its experience must assuredly prove beneficial. If eternal justice prevails, which no one can doubt, every one of us will be entitled to an equal share of the advantages arising from this beneficent arrangement. We are told that the infinite, unchangeable God is no respecter of persons, and Paul says that this strong delusion was sent that they might all be damned; and we find ourselves in a condition where we are liable to be deluded every moment, in consequence of the obtusely gross and uncertain character of our physical senses, so we may as well accept the situation, and quietly pass through the experiences; then we may learn something of the uses and philosophy of damna- tion. If there is such an element in existence, and we doubt not there is, this philosophy will be a part of the sum of all knowledge, and no individualized being can graduate until he has acquired this experience. 300 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. But to return: As we have shown, the spiritual as well as the material nature is found to exist in the atom, and consequently must permeate all forms and organisms composed of them, whether in the mineral, the vegetable, or animal kingdoms; and here the inquiring mind may enter into the vestibule of nature's wonderful laboratory, and obtain a glimpse of the working processes by which atoms are ultimated into all the marvelous productions which have swelled into such vast proportions, and embrace all the complicated machinery of a universe. We ascertain that all mate- rial accretions are subject to decay, to dissolution, or to an entire change of form, but that the spirit attached to those forms is more enduring, and its decay and dissolution does not follow that of the more materialized body with which it existed; it is not lost, but simply leaves that form, as the death or decay of the material particles renders it impossible to remain longer. The spiritual element is of course indebted to this death for the privilege of realizing its higher aspirations. It is acknowledged that the primary rock formations contained within them in their original state, and before their dissolution or death, all elemental sub- stances which can be found upon the earth; and if so, a dissolution of the particles of those formations were necessary before the more spiritualized elements could be eliminated. The entire supply of oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen has been produced very evidently from this source. These spiritual essences, which bear the same relation to the primitive rocks that man's spirit does to his body, have only been permitted to escape by this death or dissolution of the particles of the THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 301 original granite, and these essences or gases were pre- pared to subserve their purposes by their existence in the granite. Hence it is that we may properly say that water and atmosphere, which are composed of those gases, are essentially the spirits of the mineral kingdom, and they were eliminated from that kingdom by a death or dissolution which is perfectly analogous to all other deaths known in our world. We learn, then, our indebtedness to this beautiful phenomenon for the air we breathe and the various fluids we drink, as well as for all else that sustains our physical systems and prolongs their existence. "Water, which sustains this spiritual relation to the mineral, and which is known to be composed of hydro- gen and oxygen in certain proportions, evidently con- sists of globules enveloped in a more spiritualized element, and which is rendered thus dense by natural compression. We discover this fact by the peculiar expansive character of vapor, which seeks as soon as eliminated to occupy many hundred times the space required by the original water previous to the disso- lution of its particles. Steam or vapor, which may be very properly termed the spirit of the water, can only be obtained by bringing to bear a sufficient amount of caloric to dissolve the globules, thus permittiug these finer vesicles of vapor to escape. The effect of this is the letting loose the compressed atmospheric or more etherealized envelopes which surround these globules when in the condition of water, and it is then this wonderful expansion takes place. Science informs us that the pressure of steam " arises from the elasticity of the fluid, and depends upon a 302 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. mutual repulsion of the particles, which gives them a tendency to fly asunder;" but we may learn that its power depends solely upon the greater activity, as well as expansive force, of the minute vesicles found in the compressed atmosphere of the water, which vesicles have been set free, and permitted to expand to their full volume by this death or dissolution of the denser globules. If there is not a spiritualized essence or atmosphere accompanying every separate globule of water which may be set free by this death induced by caloric, then let science explain what it is in the water that becomes so enormously expansive, and produces all this wonder- ful power. Yet this spiritual essence is so etherealized that a quantity of steam may part with it all, and be again condensed, without the least perceptible diminu- tion either in weight or volume of the water from which the steam was produced. Another remarkable exhibition of this wonderful science of death may be found in the explosion of gun- powder, and other elements of that character; also another evidence of the astonishingly expansive nature of the spiritual atmosphere or essence within which all particles are enclosed. When this spiritualized element is set free by the ignition and burning of the powder, it immediately demands near three thousand times the room that it occupied when locked up in the embrace of this granulated substance; and but for the dissolu- tion, change or death of those particles, that spiritual element would have remained locked up in those grains forever, as far as human observation extends. Again, we find that this spiritual element exhibited THE SCIEXCE OF DEATH. 303 in the powder is of such a sublimated character that it may be parted with, and yet no perceptible diminution of the material can be discovered by human observa- tion. Thus we learn that we can enter into an inves- tigation of no department of nature but we find death, as an integral portion, performing the most wonderful exploits. But for this universal element we cannot successfully carry on the arts of civilized life, either in peace or war. We must call upon death to aid us in feeding the multitude, in manufacturing their clothing and all the necessaries of life, as well as in the destruc- tion of our enemies. We cannot deny that a spiritual essence permeates all substances, and may be set free by this process of change of form or dissolution; and we must admit that all organic forms in which either vegetable or animal life exists are possessed of a distinct or individualized spirit, whether such may or may not be the case in relation to forms in the mineral kingdom. Then, as nothing can be lost, these several spirits must continue their life when the physical form decays; and what shall be done with them, unless they are permitted to enter into some other structure of a superior character, having been prepared for this advance by their experi- ence in the form below? We have treated upon this subject in a previous chapter, and present it in this connection to show that the spirit is entirely dependent upon death or change of form for any advance it may make, or for the least progressive development during its eternal career. Somewhere in nature there must be correct and truth- ful ideas in relation to all organized forms of life. 304 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. The j either are accompanied by a spiritual individu- ality or not; and if not, their endowments are inferior to inorganic substances, as we have learned that par- ticles in such a condition are in possession of spiritual essences which produce astounding results. We have also learned that unless the spirit was connected with the atom it could not possibly permeate any accumu- lation of such; then we must conclude that all organ- isms are endowed with a spiritual as well as a physical being. Again, we discover that the spiritual being cannot possibly be lost, and that it must remain eternally stationary unless it becomes subject to the laws of unfold men t or progression. It then becomes very plain that this unfoldment is entirely dependent upon the death of the physical form in which it may happen to exist temporarily. If no death occurred there could be no such thing as continuous growth or development in the universe. By this beautiful process we, who boast of considerable knowledge and power of spiritual discernment, have been brought up to our present state of enlightenment, and by this process we must go on through all the gradations of spiritual existence which is beyond, in the brighter spheres toward which we seem to be rapidly hastening. We must have died all possible deaths there is below us in order to have passed through all possible experiences; and we must continue to die all possible deaths there may be above, in order to obtain those experiences and that knowl- edge which will prepare us for the more exalted conditions which must necessarily follow. Then immortality, as generally taught, is but a myth and THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 305 a delusion, as appertaining to the spiritual abodes, and there can be no more immortality in those realms than in this. However, essences of which the spiritual bodies must be composed are finer and more enduring, and we may reasonably expect to remain in one condi- tion correspondingly longer as we progress forward, the same as we have in all the gradations of animated existence below. All of immortality that we can ever experience we have within us to-day, and have brought it with us through all the death changes we have passed since being waked into life and activity. Immortality signifies exemption from all death or change — a perpetually unchanging condition; one that must drag on its dull, monotonous rounds through the ceaseless cycles of eternal ages, without one single shadowing probability of escape; a state where every variety of employment that could possibly afford the least pleasure or satisfaction must recur countless millions of times, and until every conscious element in a sentient being would sicken with disgust at the everlasting repetition. It would be the most terrible curse that could possibly be inflicted upon an intelli- gent being, no matter how exalted and glorious the condition in which they might be placed. All that could afford enjoyment in that state, call it what you please, heaven or paradise, would finally pall upon the senses, and become so extremely vapid that this heaven would finally change to the fiercest kind of torture. Sentient beings must have change. This element is stamped upon every lineament and fibre of their whole constitutional organization, spiritual as well as physical. The entire soul, with all its powers of aspi- 20 306 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. ration, reaches forward to a higher and better con- dition, regardless of its present surroundings and enjoyments. All this arises not from an absolute knowledge that more happiness would be experienced in the condition desired so ardently, but from the fact that this element of aspiration, this interior demand for change, is a component part of their nature; this element has come up with them from the lowest, and is so intimately connected with the soul essence that it must continue through every possible phase of conscious existence. Then of course immortality or an unchangeable state would become the most excru- ciating torment, and no hell w T e can imagine would be its equal. There is no power but death able to pass us onwards from one state to another; no other power which can relieve us from such a frightful and horri- fying condition of immobility or fixedness as is con- templated by the term immortality; and happy is it for humanity that this idea cannot possibly be realized, but that death, the universal liberator, stands ready with his beneficent arm to release us, when existence becomes no longer endurable in any one sphere. How strange that Christianity has taught men so earnestly to seek that which if they could find would only prove an unmitigated curse instead of a blessing; but this is but one of the fatal delusions into which they have fallen by following after myths and shad- ows, and seeking after truth in the records of our ancestors, instead of upon the pages of that universal Volume which is alike open to all, and which is sus- ceptible to no misprints or interpolations, but has ever been an unerring guide to knowledge. It is but THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 307 another evidence of the strong delusion that every- where prevails, that almost all things are somewhat deceptive, and that mankind manifest a general incli- nation to believe a lie rather than a truth; because it is much easier and requires far less study and research; thus it is that the damnation of ignorance is so marked a feature in the civilization of the present day. Almost all people have worldly hopes and aspira- tions; they can conceive of a condition in life which they would think to be superlatively happy, in which they could enter into every possible character of enjoyment, and where they might fancy it would be a pleasure to remain to all eternity. It is quite pos- sible for individuals, by pursuing a proper course, to arrive at the very culminating point of their highest ambition; but, alas! how fleeting and transitory seems the enjoyment, simply because the aspiration has kept pace with the change of condition, and something is beheld a little beyond quite as inviting; so we perceive that immortality in that state, would only be another name for unending damnation. Then it becomes evident that the human mind is entirely unable to conceive any possible state of existence in which immortality would not prove a curse instead of a blessing, because it can conceive of none so exalted that aspirations would not be peering out into the beyond, and where hopes would not be in the exercise of their fullest activities. Death, then, must be quite as important an element in the future as it has been in the past; it has brought us up safely through all the countless changes of our earlier individual history in the eternities which have 308 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. rolled away, and it must still act as our staunch friend carrying us through all the innumerable changes that must occur during the eternal cycles of our more spiritualized career. A cursory glance at this sub- ject, as we find it expressed upon nature's unerring tablets, will convince the thinking mind that Paul was laboring under one of his numerous mistakes, when he uttered or wrote his Second Epistle to Tim- othy, wherein is declared that Jesus Christ had " abol- ished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel"; for he certainly neither did the one or the other. We may challenge the wisdom of the entire religious world to show in what manner death has been abolished in any sense of the term, or to prove that it does not reign as triumphantly and make as conspicuous exhibitions of its power, as an important element in nature, as it has done at any period anterior to the present time. We also deny the fact that any more immortality exists to-day than could have been found always, from ail eternity; and we call upon Paul, or the modern theologian, to show when or where any such principle in nature has been brought to light by the death and sufferings of any particular individual. We state, without any fear of successful contradiction, that the only thing in the natural universe which is unchangeable, or immortal, is the indivisible point of material substance, or that which is so infinitesimal that no law can be found by which it can be changed or divided and made smaller. Any accumulation of particles whatever is capable of subdivision and consequent change, and no matter what the form may be, or in what condition it may THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 309 be found, such form is liable to take on or throw off, it is subject to accretion or disintegration; so that no state of existence can be immortal, or exempt from death, except the smallest atom which is indivisible by any law in nature. All else are atoms in an asso- ciated capacity, and hence dissolution, which is death, becomes possible, and must take place in order to pro- duce all the multitudinous variety of forms and organizations found in nature. The physical organ- ization is capable of enduring an inconceivable amount of pain and torture, but, happily, there is a point beyond which endurance cannot go; a point where death steps in, as a kind deliverer, takes the victim of suffering in his beneficent arms, and transports him to a place of repose and security from the persecutions of his former enemies. Ob, thou blessed angel of death! thou, who art glorious in thy majesty! and who comest with thy stately tread, when all other powers have been unable to bring relief to the wretched and despairing; then, at the opportune moment, thou art there to dry up the fountains of suffering and anguish, and quench the burning flames that torture the soul. Thou art constantly seeking out those cases of intensified misery which are beyond the reach of temporary cure, and administering to the wants of those who are suffering past all endurance; and, but for thy timely aid, conscious existence would be only a curse. What, if the aged, the decrepid, and those whose lives have become a burden in conse- quence of their length of years, could have no hopes of release, but were compelled to drag on an unhappy and profitless existence through succeeding ages? 310 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. Would the j not hail a delivering angel with trans- ports of delight, who would come and release them from all their sufferings and sorrow? What a fearful world, then, this would have been had no such angel of death existed. Go down into the abodes of wretch- edness, where no cheering beam of hope can enter, where poverty, want, and degradation are the daily companions of the squalid inmates — where no cheer- ing ray of earthly hope can gain admittance — how excruciatingly horrible the idea that such a condition would be of endless duration, and that no kind hand would ever come to bring deliverance. Go down into the dimly lighted prison cell which encloses but a single occupant, confined for life within its narrow, slime-covered walls — ask that miserable, lonely indi- vidual if he considers death a penalty which was sent into the world in consequence of transgression com- mitted by a single pair of ignorant persons, or whether life to him is not a thousand-fold the greater curse. How truly horrible would be the condition of such, if there was no hope of escape through this friendly portal; the prison door may never unclose to them during their stay in the world, but there is a gateway that must sometime open; and this only friend is their last hope, who, with his gracious smile, comes to them in their last extremity. Death finally opens the prison door and permits the oppressed in every condition to escape; it unlocks the fetters of the bondman, destroys the pain and suffering of the wounded and bruised, and overcomes all the terrible afflictions incident to physical existence. It has been our firm friend and deliverer during all the conditions THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 311 through which we have passed, and must remain such whenever change becomes necessary in pursuing our future career. We learn, then, after taking this more enlarged view of this subject, and acquainting ourselves to some extent with the more scientific aspect of death, that it was stupid ignorance of the nature of the whole thing, that led our forefathers to suppose that death, in any sense of the word, was introduced into our world at a period subsequent to its formation. And if so, it must be considered willful blindness in this more enlightened age, for intelligent men to reiterate, and continue to teach such ideas, in the face of all the grand truths that are so indelibly etched upon nature's universal pages. For death has made his divine record upon every leaf, in letters so plain that the fool need not fail to read these characters, and the period must soon arrive when this record will be read and interpreted correctly by the multitudes. Then, we may expect that many of the ridiculous cus- toms of the present age will pass away and give place to usages more in accordance with the plainest dictates of common sense. Then all those expensive mourn- ing habiliments, and grand funeral corteges, will be deemed quite unnecessary, and we shall learn that our accustomed apparel is entirely appropriate for occa- sions of that character; and that expensive displays which are many times inconvenient for the surviving friends, are by no means satisfactory to the departed. We may also learn that a long-continued indulgence of an inordinate grief is quite reprehensible, as it not only destroys the happiness of the survivor but also 312 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. of the departed, who may happen to be the sole cause of so much and such excessive mourning and wretch- edness as many seem to suffer. It seems to be perfectly natural for the departed spirit to remain for some length of time in and around its old home and among its former associates and friends, and it is the general custom to do the very thing which is calculated to make them uncom- fortable and wretched. If this matter was better understood, we would strive to render ourselves and our homes as cheerful and pleasant as possible after the recent death of any member of the family circle, as all manifestations of sorrow and mourning exert a repellant influence upon the departed, who now becomes an invisible guest of the household. If we have a visible guest, we endeavor to make things as cheerful and pleasant for them as possible, and no doubt when this subject is better understood, we shall pursue a very different course toward those we look upon as gone to return no more. There is nothing which has a more saddening and depressing effect upon a new born spirit, who can see no reason why they should not be cheerful and happy, than the continued sighs and groans, together with the sombre mourning apparel of those they have left behind. We earnestly entreat people to consider that it may be possible, for aught they know, that their loved ones, though invisible, may still be constant visitors at the house, and to deport themselves in a manner that they think would be agreeable to them, and conduce to their greatest happiness. If they have left photo- graphs, which is very generally the case at the present THE SCIENCE OF DEATH. 313 day, be sure and let them be exposed in the most fre- quented part of the house, and not laid away in some private drawer or album. These photographs contain a portion of their own personal magnetism, and become the mediums through which they may at any time behold their earth-friends and any one that may happen to be present. In short, we would urge people to remember that nature never makes any mistakes, nor does she in any sense get out of joint; if your friends die, it must surely result in their benefit, like every other great change which all must pass through, and it becomes intelligent men and women to pursue the even tenor of their way, and not be guilty of a course which is calculated to render these friends exceedingly unhappy and drive them from their own accustomed firesides. We have, at the request and under the direction of our invisible friends, written seven chapters of this work, and elucidated, to a certain extent, as many different subjects, and we have ascertained by this writing very many facts and principles in nature of which we had not the least conception at the outset. We certainly had not the remotest idea, when we commenced these chapters, that intelligence, intellect, progression, antagonisms, justice and death were just so many attributes of the soul of all things, or the least particle of substance; but such and much more have we found to be the case, and we trust the candid, unprejudiced reader, who looks over these pages with care, may arrive at similar conclusions. CHAPTEE VIII. THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. Language is designed to convey intelligence or thoughts from one intellectual being to another. It seems in a certain sense to be the vehicle upon which intelligent thought is transported; and it may consist of vocal sounds or expressed signs, either written or presented in any other manner, through any one of the five senses. All that is required to constitute a language is to have the sounds or signs mutually agreed upon, so that all the parties who propose to use it may compre- hend what they severally mean, no matter what sound or sign is used to convey to others the idea of any object in nature, provided all the parties interested understand what the sound or sign is intended to convey. The paramount use of language is doubtless to convey intelligence, and thus enlighten and improve the human intellect. There seems to be a language written or engraved upon every object in nature which reveals itself to the human intellect, and these various revelations are sometimes called science, as they teach us the true character, the nature and properties of the objects which are thus engraved, or upon which these commu- nications are found. Nature, in her divine revelations, has evidently never committed any blunders or made (314) THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 315 any misprints or mistranslations, but uses the same language to-day she did during untold ages in the past. Whosoever reads in this volume may be sure of obtaining unadulterated truth, and such as will be invigorating and afford sustenance for his inmost soul. We have a so-called written revelation, which pur- ports to come from a higher source than nature. It is said to be a revealment from the very author of nature — from Him who existed before the realms of nature were established, before the morning stars had taken their places, and had commenced their tuneful songs. Notwithstanding the language of this revela- tion seems strangely distorted and wonderfully con- founded, yet very many of the children of men have neglected the plain, simple revealments written upon nature's tablets as unworthy of their respect or notice, and turned their attention almost exclusively to an examination and study of this marvelous book which seems to be the united production of a number of authors who lived many years in the past, and who were said to have written by God's immediate direction. It appears from this record that the Hebrew God, its so-called divine author, upon a certain occasion, lest the people whom He said "is one" should take some undue advantage of Him, and prevent the full accomplishment of His purposes, conceived it necessary to confound their language, so they might not under- stand each other, and of course so they could not so easily combine together in perpetrating some unlawful design. And it seems very difficult for us, at this remote period, to comprehend how, after this confusion of tongues, He could give men a revelation in written 316 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. language which they could by any means properly understand. If all language was confounded, then it would appear very strange how this Almighty Being could reveal Himself, and present the children of men with reliable teachings and infallible instructions in this confounded language. If language was the only vehicle by which ideas or thoughts could be conveyed from one intellect to another, and that vehicle was so damaged that it did not subserve its purpose, or trans- port the thought in its pure original form, in an unadulterated condition, to the intellects for whom it was designed, how then could this uncertain, con- founded mode of conveyance be used with any certainty in transmitting divine intelligence to the inhabitants of the earth? The record says emphatically, " The whole earth was of one language and one speech;" and that language was confounded, or it was rendered incapable of cor- rectly conveying ideas, by the power of the so-called Omnipotent God. If so, how could any other language originate from this grand Parent without inheriting the same confusion originally inaugurated and impreg- nated by this Omnipotent Being? If this was the one primitive language — the only speech used by all the children of men — it must have been the progenitor of all the forms of speech or different languages used by all succeeding generations of the earth. Then, all succeeding languages must have partaken of the nature of this progenitor, and have been confounded also, else the prime object of this act upon the part of its divine author could not have been perpetuated or carried out to any considerable extent. THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 317 If this transaction ever occurred, the evident design, in accordance with the record, was that men should be scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth. How, then, could this design be carried out to its fullest extent unless all succeeding languages were confounded also? If at any time some subsequent language should have been adopted by some great people, which was in no way affected by this general confusion of all tongues which occurred at this period iu the world's history, and which was produced by the Omnipotent God of the bible, then certainly such people would have been, as regards language, in the same condition as those who lived before it was confounded. They would have understood one another's speech, and perhaps built Babels, and nothing would have been " restrained from them which they imagined to do." They might not have scattered upon all the face of the earth, and the grand purposes of this Infinite God in this respect might have been entirely thwarted, and His infinite designs defeated in a short period of time. Hence, we see very clearly that this confounding of the only language spoken upon " the whole earth " at that time, by the Eternal God, was no transitory, evanescent affair. If it means anything, it means that all the languages that ever should be spoken or written by any people upon the whole face of the earth should be confounded; that this kind of language should fail to convey to the human intellect the exact intent and meaning designed. It conveys a further signification to the Christian believer in the infallibility of the bible, and declares most emphatically to him that this revelation has come to men in this confounded, con- 318 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. fused language; for his God had confounded the lan- guage before he gave the revelation, and he had no other in which it could be written. We present this train of reasoning for the especial benefit of those who fully endorse the idea of an infal- lible written revelation, although the book to which we have referred is so replete with contradictions and incongruities, so unnatural and unphilosophical in many of its statements and conclusions, and so utterly devoid of meaning in others, that we might almost be justified in the assumption that its language had been submitted to some such process before being intro- duced into this work. But aside from any such van- dalism upon the part of this Almighty Being, every intelligent man well knows that it is utterly impossible to adopt any form of spoken or written language which will convey exactly the same ideas to a large number of intellects. Again, there are thousands of ideas that cannot be expressed by any written or spoken language, so that it required no special act upon the part of this Being to confound and render imperfect this or any other so- called infallible revelation. Hence the endless variety of interpretations and the innumerable number of priests required to arrive at the true meaning and intent of these scriptures, and the utter impossibility of any concord or agreement in relation to the ideas which were originally designed to be conveyed by the several authors. A slight examination of the volume in question will show most conclusively that the language of its numer- ous authors is not only terribly confounded, but very THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 319 much of it quite unmeaning and frivolous; whether from any act of a Supreme Jehovah or not, we leave those most interested to judge. There is certainly not an intellectual mind in exist- ence to-day who is competent to present a single idea contained in the three first chapters of Genesis that is in consonance with any known fact existing in the natural universe. And we may further remark, with great assurance, that it is quite impossible to form a rational, intelligent conception of any natural ideas the author intended to convey, if he was capable of pre- senting an infallible revelation. It may be very easy to discover what he was driving at, if he was an ordi- nary mortal; but when we view it as a divine revela- tion, coming from an infinite source, the whole thing is confounded, and becomes perfectly inexplicable; it then becomes utterly impossible to comprehend the true nature of the ideas, or the true meaning the language was intended to convey. Who can tell what is meant by the term beginning, or who has any reli- able evidence that there was a beginning? Who is able to say what is intended by the word God, when all say it is perfectly incomprehensible? Who can form an opinion in relation to the real meaning of the word created in this connection, when it is quite impossible to prove the earth or anything else was created at all? We hesitate not to say that no man living can form an intelligent idea of the exact meaning, if it has any, of the second verse, which says that the " earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the face 320 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. of the waters." If it was an earth, how could it be without form or void, and what deep was it that dark- ness rested upon? What was the spirit of the incom- prehensible God that moved upon the face of these waters, and where was the waters when the earth had no form and was nowhere, because it was void, and how, under this condition, could these waters have had any face to be moved upon by this spirit? Again, can any one tell how this being could have produced light, and divided it from the darkness, and had an evening and morning three days before He made any sun, which appears to have so much to do in producing those results? This language is evidently most shockingly confounded, and, as an infallible record, fails to convey any intelligence to the human mind. How can we suppose this infinite being would have labored assiduously nearly the entire six days in constructing this little earth, which is but a grain of sand upon the sea shore as compared to the whole, and then spoke all the unnumbered worlds and systems of worlds that constitute the starry heavens into existence in a moment of time. The language which conveys such an idea to an intelligent mind is a thousand times worse than confounded, for it carries the mark of falsehood indelibly impressed upon its own face. There can be no definite meaning to language which represents an infinitely wise and powerful being as creating a man and a woman in such an awkward and unscientific manner, pronouncing it not only a good, but very good job when finished, and then having it turn out very badly in so short a period. If infinite wisdom and power produced them in the manner THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 321 spoken of, and called them very good, then they must have been good to the furthest possible extent, else there was something about them that infinite wisdom had not discovered. If there was any defects in them or anything about them which would render them liable to turn out badly, then this infinite wisdom could not have discovered those defects when he pro- nounced them very good. Again, this infinitely wise and powerful being could not possibly have desired that the product of his labors should have turned out badly. Hence, he must not only have been terribly disappointed in the result, but he and every other intelligent being must have learned the fact that he was incompetent to accomplish his purposes, and that he was not an infinite personality, as represented, and that the language is unmeaning and confused. " And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth ; and it grieved Him to His heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have cre- ated, from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air." Where is the intelligent man of the present day who dare lay his hand upon his heart, and solemnly affirm in the presence of his own soul, that he absolutely and unreservedly believes that this language ever proceeded from an infinite being who may properly lay claim to the attribute of immutability, as well as omnipotence and omniscience? This language either conveys no meaning at all, or else the meaning is confounded, and not a single living person can tell what the author intended to convey, if he knew himself. Can it be 21 322 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. possible that there are minds so bewildered as to sup- pose that an unchangeable God can change; that an infinitely wise being can repent of his past acts, or destroy the products of his own labor? The idea is so absurd that we need not waste another word upon its consideration. The only solution the inquiring bible believer can possibly obtain concerning this problem, is that Moses introduced here some of that confounded language that remained after the general wreck which occurred at the Tower of Babel. "And God spake unto Noah, and his sons with him, saying: And I, behold I, establish my covenant with you. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud." Now, if this language is not confounded, and means anything, it must mean that this God did not create rainbows when He created the universal worlds, but that He reserved this important part of His works until this particular period, and that He created the rainbow for an especial purpose; that this bow might be "a token of a covenant," which he says "I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations." It is not supposed that we have any history to prove that rainbows existed previous to this time, and if we had, it would be perfectly impossible to prove that the history was authentic, quite as much so as it is to prove that this history of a universal flood was an absolute fact that really transpired. But we know what is far more conclusive than history; that is, the undeviating laws existing in nature were inscribed upon the pages of the great universe; and THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 323 we find recorded here, that rainbows are produced by eternal causes, and that all the causes productive of such results have been in successful operation as long as the sun has shone and the rains have fallen ; and no person who makes the least pretensions to intelli- gence will dispute this fact. Hence, all this language concerning this covenant and the placing this bow in the clouds as a token by which he might hold it in remembrance, is just so much "confounded" non- sense. Further, it proves most conclusively, if any such proof is needed, that the whole story is unrelia- ble and fallacious; and that it is utterly preposterous to suppose that it was dictated or written by any per- son who had any scientific knowledge, much less by a being endowed with infinite wisdom. One of the more remarkable instances of this general confounding of language, may be found in connection with that curious production, the deca- logue, which, it was said, was engraved by this God with his finger upon two tables of stone prepared for that purpose. This, it appears, was done upon two different occasions; for Moses, who had the charge of the first two tables, and was bringing them clown from the mountain to the camp, upon hearing some unfavorable report concerning the doings of his fol- lowers, irreverently dashed the two tables, that had required so much of the valuable time and labor of God, upon the ground at the foot of the mountain and utterly destroyed them. It appears that Aaron, his brother, who had been commanded to go up with Moses upon Mount Sinai and remain there during this conference with the Jewish God, had somehow stolen 324 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. away and returned to the camp, and that he as well as the multitude, became entirely oblivious as to the business then being transacted between God and Moses on top of the mountain. Notwithstanding the short period that had elapsed since Aaron himself came down, the close proximity of the camp, the thick darkness that veiled the mountain top, the forked shafts of lightning that were continually vis- ible upon its crest, and the rattling thunders which were resounding amid its craggy steeps, yet this chosen people had forgotten all about Moses; "they wot not where he was"; and Aaron, he who was con- sidered competent to act as high priest for this whole nation, was entirely incapable of giving them any information upon the subject. This villainous Aaron, instead of being upon the mountain top, in obedience to the command of God, assisting in codifying the laws which were to govern the people, and arranging concerning the tabernacle, the altar, and all the appointments of that worship which was being instituted by supreme authority, was loafing about the camp ready to engage in any species of deviltry that might present itself. So, in his ignorance of the whereabouts of Moses, and the peculiar business that was engaging his attention upon the mountain, he consented to manufacture from their stolen jewels a God for the people, in the form of a calf, and set it up for them to worship. It appears that God heard the singing and shouts that occurred in this peculiar kind of worship upon the mountain top, and called the attention of Moses to the subject, and became very angry, and says, "Now therefore let me alone TUB CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 325 that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them and make a great nation of thee." Moses, however, saw the subject in a different light, and after much persuasion, he prevailed with God to compromise the matter and spare the people. It will be admitted that Moses really seemed to manifest more discretion and good sound judgment in this case than the Hebrew God himself, who, acknowledg- ing the fact, acceded to a great extent to his very rational propositions, "and repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people." After this relenting God seems to have given this matter entirely into the hands of Moses, who taking the two tables of stone upon which the decalogue was inscribed, went down the mountain in order to take such action as the case required, bound, as a matter of course, to yield implicit obedience to the laws which he had been receiving from the infinite Jeho- vah. The fact of his having, in a fit of anger, broken the two tables of stone when he first heard the sounds of revelry in the camp, could not by any means abro- gate or destroy the full force of the commands written thereon. Yet Moses, notwithstanding he had per- suaded God to withhold his hands, immediately took measures to inaugurate an unparalleled scene of butchery in direct violation of one of the prominent commands in the decalogue, which had been so recently inscribed by his God, and which he had so sacrilegiously destroyed. "Thou shalt not kill," saith the law. "Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every 326 THE GOSPEL OF NAT DEE. man his brother, and every K man his companion, and every man his neighbor," saith Moses; and it was done. Three thousand men were massacred that day, and butcheries of a most atrocious character were continually indulged in by this people from that day until they crucified Jesus, and were in turn butchered themselves by the Romans, notwithstand- ing the commandment said, in so many words, " Thou shalt not kill." They believed this command came directly from the infinite God, and that its observance was binding upon them. Why, then, its continual violation? Why has it not been regarded by Jew and Christian both? Evidently because it had no definite meaning. Men could interpret this language to suit their own purposes, just as they can any other portion of this book; the language has no particular mean- ing — it is confounded, as well as the whole story concerning its origin. No intelligent person at the present day can form any rational idea of the real intent and meaning of any of the language made use of in this entire narrative. Is there a word written any where upon the broad tablets of universal nature, or does any thing exist in all the material and spiritual realms, which affords the least evidence that such a transaction as the one narrated really took place as described by Moses. We defy any person to find a single memorial upon the earth that would in the least degree corroborate the story of this lengthened interview with an infinite Jehovah upon Mount Sinai, or any fact now in exist- ence which would faintly indicate that such an event ever occurred, or that an infinite God ever had any THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 327 communication with Moses in any manner whatever. The language is all uncertain, and can convey no definite idea to the intelligent, independent, thinking mind of the present age about this matter. "Thou shalt not steal." Can this language be understood by a people who were taught to borrow the jewelry and raiment of their neighbors upon the eve of their departure from Egypt, with an intent to defraud the lender, by special order of the same party who wrote this command? Can this language mean any thing, when given to a marauding people who are on their journey to a country of which they do not own a single foot, and who cannot obtain any portion of it except by driving out and destroying the lawful possessors? The Hebrews were on their way from Egypt to Canaan for the express purpose of driving out the owners of the soil, and taking unlawful pos- session of their homes, and stealing their property, which this record says they accomplished by the assistance of that Almighty Being who chiseled this command upon the stone table with his finger fur their observance. What could this people have thought of either of these commands, or how could they have been interpreted, when they were told, " Ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you, and quite pluck down all their high places; ye shall divide the land among your families for an inheritance "? Stealing is taking what belongs to another with intent to convert it to one's own use. That was precisely what the Hebrews were instructed to do by the party who gave this commandment. He in one case says thou shalt not steal, and in another 328 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. says, thou shalt steal from all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. It might be interesting to notice both these laws found in the decalogue in connection with that little unpleasant affair that occurred with the Midianites. After this people was subdued and all the adult males put to the sword, Moses — this supereminent pattern of meekness — was wroth with the general officers for having exercised too much leniency, and taken too many captives. So, with his remarkable forbearance, he issued the following order: "Now, therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him; but all the women-children that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." It would appear that in the age when this peculiar chosen people nourished, and when this great Jehovah who is recognized as the infinite God by the Chris- tians of to-day, held daily converse with the elders, and gave them personal instruction, he exacted for his own individual use and behoof a specified propor- tion of the spoils of war. And, whether the " booty" consisted of oxen, asses, sheep, goats, or virgins, he demanded that a certain proportion should be set apart for himself. In this particular case the num- ber of the latter class of persons whom the Hebrew leader, in his great clemency, saw fit to reserve from the general slaughter, was thirty-two thousand; and, the Lord's portion being exactly one to every thou- sand, was " thirty and two persons." Reader, this delectable narrative, which may be found in full in the Christian bible, is a part of the THE COMPOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 329 so-called infallible word of God, which is believed to have been dictated by the supreme ruler of the uni- verse, and which is recognized to-day by the Christian church as the only sure guide to eternal truth and happiness. Let us in charity draw a veil over the atrocities that were committed in the earlier ages of the world by the so-called chosen people of the Lord, and leniently suppose that the language that reveals such unnatural horrors to our view, has been con- founded, and that we cannot, by any means, arrive at its true interpretation. The nature of our work will only permit us to devote a very few pages to a consideration of this part of the subject, yet quite enough, we trust, to show the candid reader the entire impossibility of arriving at any proper conclusion concerning the true intent and meaning of the language intro- duced into a very considerable portion of this so-called sacred volume. And, the multitudinous interpretations given by men who have made this book their study in various ages of the world, are also the strongest evidences of the complete folly of wasting time in a vain endeavor to comprehend the true meaning of the language introduced. Again, the various influences that are emanating from all the different church organizations, are all serving to make this confusion worse confounded. The Cath- olic, the Episcopal, the Presbyterian, the Baptist, the Methodist, the Quaker, and the hundred other differ- ent sects, who base their hopes and beliefs upon this volume, all have their peculiar interpretations, their commentators and authorities; they contend for 330 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. their own distinct views against the world, and they transmit them to their children and to their suc- cessors. Thus they build up powerful organizations established upon different interpretations of the lan- guage of this volume, each one exerting an influence over human intellects in proportion to their numbers and extent. These various ecclesiastical establish- ments have ever been extremely arbitrary and exact- ing in their requirements concerning a strict adherence to their own peculiar interpretations of the written language of the sacred book; for, indeed, in this and nothing else consisted the distinctive features of their particular organization, and any laxity in this matter would prove entirely fatal to its existence. Should the ardent close communion Baptist yield one jot or tittle of his peculiar meaning to the word baptism, he would be no longer a Baptist. With him it means plunge, or complete immersion, and nothing else; with the Presbyterian it means sprinkling; with the Methodist it means pouring, sprinkling, or plunging, as each one chooses; with the Quaker it means neither, in a physical sense, but some indefinite operation connected with the spiritual nature of man. Who can say this language is not confounded ; and that it is made to mean one thing or another ; just in accordance with the prejudices or precon- ceived notions of the individual who attaches the signification; and who can say this, after an exam- ination of the matter concerning most other language used in this so-called holy book? Hence, all this confusion, this conflict of opinion, these continued persecutions and martyrdoms, this exclusiveness, the THE CONFOUNDING- OF LANGUAGE. 331 many bitter denunciations, and this immense accu- mulation of obsolete theological literature, which is not to-day worth the paper that was used in its publication. "We return to a consideration of a few more pas- sages in this work that are of vital interest, and which are or seem to be connected with the basic principles that the firm believers in the infallibility of this work are endeavoring to establish: "I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other Gods before me." If this language, together with its connections, means any thing, who is there upon the earth that comprehends its meaning, when all acknowl- edge the being to whom it seems to allude to be perfectly incomprehensible? Where does this being dwell, of whom it was declared that he spake all these words, and a great deal more, unto Moses? What kind of a being is he, or of what is he com- posed? We may safely affirm, without any fear of contradiction, that there is not a living person upon the face of this earth who can form any intelligent conception, or who possesses within himself the least inkling of knowledge concerning this God who is said to have talked with Moses so repeatedly, and who is referred to upon this occasion. The innu- merable variety of opinions entertained by different minds who nourished in different ages of the world, as well as at the present time, prove most conclu- sively, that no person can know any thing definite in relation to the matter. And again, if this fact really transpired, and Moses did really talk with a God as represented upon the Mount, then there has 332 THE GO:PEL OF NATUKE. been no intellect but his who can entertain any proper or definite conception of what this man experienced, or understand what he did concerning the being with whom he talked, because there is no language in the universe which will convey his experience to another intellect. Hence, no man can entertain the 6ame con- ception of that being as did Moses; neither can any two intellects entertain precisely the same conceptions from any hearsay testimony. No two intelligent individuals can entertain precisely the same concep- tions concerning Moses himself from any description we have of his person, much less of the Infinite God with whom Moses claimed to have held these lengthy conversations. If Moses had these several experiences and received these revelations as spoken of, they were doubtless very good for him; and, if people choose to take them second hand, and are pleased to think they can subsist upon the experimental knowledge of some other individual, they may do so to their entire satis- faction; no intelligent mind will begrudge them all they obtain by this process. If one man is satisfied to stand by, and let another eat the dinner, and simply be told in human language how the oysters, roast beef and strawberries and cream tasted, he will doubtless be quite welcome to all the sustenance or other ben- efits he can obtain in such a manner. Moses could not convey to the human intellect any real, absolute knowledge concerning the matters connected with his experience (if he had any) upon Mount Sinai, by human language, any more than the man who has tasted strawberries or any other fruit can convey an idea of their peculiar flavor to one who has never THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 333 tasted. Thus we very plainly discover that all the knowledge we claim to have received from this direc- tion is vague, indefinite and unmeaning, carrying with it no certain idea of what he would describe; he him- self declaring that he only saw him at a disadvan- tage, as he was only permitted to behold his " back parts" instead of his face. And, what of all the ceremonials and peculiar forms of worship which this infinite, unchangeable God is said to have personally taught Moses to establish for the observance of all future generations; for, as a matter of course, if he was unchangeable, and he established this mode of worship through Moses, it must have been designed to be perpetuated? If he, as an immutable God, required those peculiar modes of worship which he is said to have taught with so much precision, then he certainly would have required the same forms as long as his immutability continued, and if he does not require them to-day from his people, then he must have changed. It is a signifi- cant fact that not a single vestige of those ceremouials or forms of worship that were claimed to have been taught Moses by this infinite being are now in use even by the Jews. All their ceremonials have been instituted since the destruction of the temple, by some other intelligent being or beings, besides the one who taught Moses upon the Mount, and the last remaining relics of the instructions which are said to have come from the Supreme God in regard to cer- emonial worship, have been abrogated and superseded by those invented by men. What, then, was the meaning of all this language which was given to 334 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. Moses from this infinite source? It evidently has no meaning at all, which is entitled to the respect or consideration of any class of intelligent persons of the present age. " Thou shalt not commit adultery." What did this mean in the minds of such conservators of the public morals as David, or Solomon, or any of the elders of Israel who were permitted to monopolize any where from five to five hundred or a thousand women? What did this term mean with that being, whoever it might have been, who is said to have ravished the virgin who was the betrothed wife of the young car- penter in order to produce a Savior for the human race? Can it be possible that no other method could be devised for the accomplishment of so important a purpose, except by the transgression of a law estab- lished by the Infinite Jehovah? Adultery evidently meant, in ancient times, as it does to-day, a great deal for the woman and but very little if anything for the man. Who thought about stoning the man when the woman was brought to Jesus, caught in the very act? What had become of him? Who talks anything about the men connected with the great social evil? They move about in the ordinary walks of life with no brand of infamy upon their brows. They are not ostracised, or shut out from the pale of so-called respectable society. That is only for the poor female. This word was evidently coined for them, and this command written for their government; as far as the man is concerned this lan- guage has no particular signification, or else it is terribly confounded. THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 335 " Kemember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." This language admits of such a diversity of interpre- tations, and is made to mean so many different things that it is perfectly impossible to arrive at any just conclusion in regard to what was the true intent of the author. Most certainly he had not the slightest idea of the present condition of human society, or how men could contrive to render the Sabbath day holy, when all the ceremonial institutions, the customs and usages introduced for this purpose should have passed away forever; neither has there been any record of time kept so accurately as to render it certain to which particular day he referred. To say the least of this matter, it is quite clear that the language has no particular meaning, and almost every intelligent man feels at liberty to construe it as best pleases himself; and when they learn to do that in regard to the whole book, it will be a happier day for the human family. It may be proper to notice that among the length- ened code of ceremonial or even civil laws, said to have originated with this divine being, and which were introduced into the governmental economy of the Hebrews, not one of all the number are consid- ered of the least value in regulating the religious or civil affairs of human society at the present day. All the language employed in their construction and cod- ification is of no authority; it is entirely unmeaning, and has no significance or utility, except as a histori- cal land-mark that points to the religious and political condition of a rude people who existed upon the verge of barbarism. We boldly assert, and defy successful contradiction, that there is not a passage in the whole 336 THE GOSPEL OF NATCJEE. book which is not subject to this character of criti- cism — which is not of very doubtful interpretation, and may be made or construed to mean one thing or another, according to the preconceived ideas of the reader. If we examine the language which purports to have emanated from the prophets or the reputed son of this so-called Supreme God, we shall find it open to the same kind of criticism, and subject to a variety of interpretations. Jesus, in very many instances, spoke in language entirely contradictory to that which came directly from his Father. And it must of necessity have been so; for if he came to establish a new dis- pensation, he must first have torn down the one his Father had built, in order to erect another upon its ruins. If he came to establish Christianity in the place of Judaism, then it was his first business to show the fallacy and impropriety of Judaism, and use his best endeavors to supplant and drive it from the face of the earth, and build up Christianity in its stead. We believe it must be conceded by all parties that Jesus, together with his Apostles, notwithstanding he said " he came not to destroy, but fulfill the law," yet they did pursue the very course, to the best of their abilities, to destroy Judaism, root and branch, and build up Christianity upon its ruins, and that all their followers, from that day to the present, have persist- ently acted in conformity with their example and instructions. We may very properly, then, institute some inquiries in relation to the authority possessed by these persons, or by what right they commenced THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 337 an assault upon the divine institutions established by the Infinite God in His own proper person. If Judaism, as taught by Moses, was a truth, which emanated, as is supposed, from the infinite Ruler of the universe — if it was a revelation of His divine will to the children of men, concerning all the subjects spoken upon in that revelation, and He did establish a govern- ment for His chosen people — then any attempt to controvert His teachings, dispute His authority, or overturn His established institutions by any of His subjects, was a rebellion against that government; and this Jesus, whether he was miraculously conceived or not, was a rebel, and of course incurred the penalty of the Jewish law. In order to establish a new dispensation upon the ruins of an old one, it would first become necessary to show the old one to be defective, and that it does not in a proper manner subserve the purposes for which it was designed. This it would be entirely impossible to do if the old one had emanated from an infinite being; for infinite wisdom and power can produce nothing but what partakes of that character, and what- ever proceeds from such a source must be perfect, and therefore perpetual. A religious institution cannot be superseded by anything better, if it was inaugurated by infinite wisdom, or established by such power. And what being, we ask, in all the wide universe, had any authority to make the attempt to overthrow Judaism, and build up some other superstructure upon its ruins, if it proceeded directly, as the modern Chris- tian believes, from the Infinite God? Whatever men may think of this matter to-day, it is 22 338 THE GOSPEL OF NATUKE. evident that Christ and his Apostles considered this Jewish dispensation entirely defective, and that it was in no way calculated to promote the best interests of society, either in this world or in the future; and they manifested this view of the subject by their strong endeavors to destroy it and continual labors to super- sede it, by the establishment of another dispensation in its place. Therefore, if they were capable of reason- ing, it was very strange for them to suppose the old was a direct emanation from the Supreme God of the universe, or that they should have stultified themselves with a vain endeavor to destroy what they believed an infinite being had labored to establish. When Jesus Christ, in his discourse upon the Mount, called in question the propriety of any of the language used by his reputed Father, or repudiated any of His instructions given to Moses, he virtually denied His divine authority to teach. By so doing he openly declared that a portion at least of the teachings which came from the Father were fallacious, and opposed to universal principles, and that such erroneous senti- ments should no longer be promulgated among human- ity. When he made such utterances as " it hath been said an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth ; but I say unto you resist not evil," he treated the author of the foregoing words with a sort of disregard, if not w 7 ith real contempt. Jesus, so far from intimating that this language had proceeded from an infinitely wise being, represented that such false sentiments were unworthy of respect or consideration, and were to be superseded by those of a higher character. He gave his followers to understand that the personage who THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 339 taught Moses the doctrines contained in such language as " eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe," or, in other words, the principles of even-handed justice, was so deficient in a knowledge of universal law as to dictate sentiments which would not answer the purpose of future generations. Hence, he could not have conceived Him to have been endowed with infinite wisdom, or he certainly would not have repudiated one syllable of His teachings. It hath been said " thou shalt love thy neighbor (or intimate friend), and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, that ye may be the chil- dren of your Father," who formerly said love your friends and hate your enemies. In all the instructions which purport to have come from the God of the Hebrews, not one word had ever been offered which would indicate that it was His desire His chosen people should love either His or their enemies; but in every instance they were taught to hate and destroy their enemies. But Jesus now inculcates a new doctrine, in direct opposition; and the reason assigned was that they might assume the relationship of children to the God who had instructed them so very differently. It is quite immaterial which of these basic principles, that seem to underlie the very foundation of human associations, is the correct one; it is sufficient for our purpose to know that they are diametrically opposed to each other, while it is claimed by the so-called infallible book that both the one and the other emanated from the same infinite source. 340 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. The former continually taught that the true principle for the government of human social relations was love for your friends and hatred for your enemies, which seems to be very natural; while the latter taught that love for your friends was a matter of no importance, that it entitled a person to no reward, because anybody, even the publicans, do as much. Jesus, this new teacher, contended most strenuously that the great virtue consisted in loving your enemies, and bestowing all your salutations, good offices and kindness upon those who hate you, and would despite- fully use you and persecute you. This being very unnatural, was esteemed by him very desirable; and the person who, under the new dispensation, should be able to look with indifference upon those whom he naturally considered lovely and admirable, and who could so far overcome his own nature as to esteem and love those who were hateful or would do him an injury, would be entitled to very great reward from his Heav- enly Father. There may be something very beautiful in this arrangement in the eyes of the Christian world ; but to us, viewing it from our standpoint, the language and the apparent ideas it was intended to convey seem terribly mixed and discordant. The old dispensation, established by the Father, taught men to deal out exact justice to those who had violated legal enact- ments or infringed upon individual rights, to respect and love our friends, and treat them with acts of courtesy and kindness, and what was perfectly natural, to hate our enemies. But the new dispensation teaches that there is no propriety or "no reward" for the THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 341 person who returns love for love; that in order to become perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, it would be necessary to love those we hate and despise, while we treat those we love with indifference, if not with scorn; for this would be a pious act of virtue and 6elf-sacrifice that the common people — the sinners — do not often perform. In order to carry out this teaching practically and to the letter, it would be quite proper for all followers of Jesus to marry those persons whom they hate, and who are their enemies, instead of those whom they sincerely and ardently love — such as publicans and sinners would naturally choose; for in that case they would have an opportunity continually of loving the individual they hate by nature, and carrying out the principles of the new dispensation, thus introducing them into the domestic circle, and into the every day affairs of life. If these sentiments taught by Jesus, which abrogate the old law established by his Father, mean anything, and were intended to be observed by his followers, they are certainly worthy of being intro- duced practically into the common walks of every day life. For, if we are his followers, and believe in the divine authority of his teachings, we are culpable when we do not observe them in such a manner; for if not, we do precisely as the publicans and the sinners, and are entitled to no reward, but rather to their con- demnation. Laws instituted for the government of a people must have originated from powers vested in the acknowl- edged governmental authority acting in a legislative capacity, and such laws cannot be abrogated or repealed 342 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. by any or all the members of that government, at any subsequent period, except by an appeal to the same governmental powers, and by a legal enactment of the same authority acting in a similar capacity. Hence, no person who ever lived could have had any authority to assume that the laws of an acknowledged Infinite God, which were given upon Mount Sinai, were abro- gated, unless he could first prove that such enactments had been repealed legally, at some subsequent time, by some act upon the part of this same infinite power. For, most assuredly, if it is an absolute fact that this Mosaic law was established by this God, and He was the supreme ruler of this universe, and it cannot be proven that at any subsequent period this same God, in His proper person, and in this same legislative capacity, has annulled that law, then it stands to-day with all its original force, virtue and effect, and is binding upon every man who acknowledges the author- ity of this law-giver. The fact that Jesus, upon the little Mount up in Galilee, or that Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, or that all the Catholic and Protestant priesthood from that day to this have claimed that this law has been abolished by some competent authority, proves nothing, until they show when and where and how it was done, by some act upon the part, or some edict emanating from the same infinite being who established the law. And when this being annuls His own law, which He established amid such a flourish of trumpets, such commotion of the elements, such thunder and light- nings, smoke and darkness, then He stultifies Himself and proves He was not infinite in wisdom and power, THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 343 and that He was incapable of organizing a government for His people which was worthy of being perpetuated. When Jesus undertook to build up a new dispensa- tion by destroying the old, and claimed that he was the only direct male offspring of the being who estab- lished the old one, then he destroyed his own divine authority, and proved himself incapable of producing anything indestructible; because he certainly could do nothing greater than his Father had done, from whom he must have inherited every power in his possession. If the Father utterly failed in this respect, and barely produced an institution which was limited in its extent to one small nation of people, and was only temporary in its continuance, how could the son expect to accom- plish anything greater, unless he had in his possession power and wisdom he did not receive or inherit from the Father? "We are told that the son, Jesus, established a reli- gious system, or a Gospel dispensation, which shall be perpetuated through all time to come, and extend its influences over all the nations of the earth. We are also told that this system is entirely superior to the one devised by the Father, because in this is found the only possible salvation of the souls of the human race from eternal damnation. Now, if he accomplished all this during his short sojourn here upon our planet, he performed not only more than the Father did in the four thousand years previous, but a thousand-fold more than was ever contemplated in the religious system He established upon the earth. This Jesus never claimed to be any more than the direct descendant of the Infinite Father; from whence, 344 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. then, did he obtain all this superior power and ability? From whence did he obtain the authority to abrogate the laws published upon Mount Sinai, before they had been legally repealed by their Author? And from whence did Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles, obtain his authority to say the old covenant was not faultless, and therefore it ought to be replaced by one which was new and better? When Paul says that Jesus was a mediator of a better covenant, and that the old one was not without faults, he denies the infinite wisdom of the Author of the old covenant; for, assuredly, nothing imperfect or faulty could proceed from a being possessed of infinite wisdom and power. When he disputes the authority of the old one produced by the Father, and then says Jesus has produced a better one, and that he only acts as mediator or intercessor under the Father, he talks like a fool. Jesus, as an individual, was a person who came into existence but a few short years previous, was born of a woman, and, far as any human observation could go, performed all the functions of a man; was subject to death, and to the pains and sufferings inci- dent to humanity in all particulars; an individual who groaned and sweat and shed tears and endured indig- nities from the rabble. And now, to suppose that he who was only preparing to act in a subordinate capa- city was capable of producing a better covenant than the Eternal Father, whom he acknowledged to be infinite, is one of the most stupid and unmeaning ideal pretenses ever presented to intelligent minds, even by Paul. God had made a covenant with Israel, and estab- THE CONFOUNDING- OF LANGUAGE. 345 lished a law, and gave instructions in regard to cere- monials, sacrificial offerings and atonement for sins; and there is not one syllable in all this record stating that He ever annulled one sentence of that law, or changed one of the ceremonials of His divine worship. Yet Paul comes in and says the covenant was faulty, that the ceremonials were improper, and that the sacrifices and offerings instituted by this God were inefficient, and did not answer the purposes designed by their Infinite Author. For, " it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins," says Paul. " For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord," said the Infinite Father. Paul represents that the old covenant established by God not only had its faults and imperfections, but that it was decayed, that it " waxeth old," and was ready to vanish away. God said this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the chil- dren of Israel for all their sins. Thus we discover that the language is confounded, and that whatever the Supreme God might have said, Paul or some one else could ignore and contradict His language with perfect impunity, and build up entire new systems upon the " old decayed " ruins of that which they acknowledged was established by the Supreme God, and which they do not say was ever subsequently abrogated by the same authority. If we had space to examine the whole series of pro- phetic declarations that are said to have had direct reference to the coming Messiah, we should find every 346 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. one of them vague and uncertain, and that there is not one particle of absolute evidence that any one of the prophets made the least allusion to any particular person who lived, or was to live, about the commence- ment of the first century. The wonderful statement in the ninth chapter of Isaiah, which is so generally supposed to have direct reference to the man Jesus, carries nothing upon its face that will prove any such fact. We ask if any government was ever placed upon his shoulders; has he at any time, in any proper sense of the term, ever received the title of " Wonderful," Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, or the Prince of Peace? The reader will pardon us if we quote the single succeeding passage of this confounded language: " Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this." In this very lucid passage, we have a specimen brick, an admirable representative of nineteen-twen- tieths of all that was written by all the prophets of the Old Testament, from the first word spoken by Isaiah to the last one uttered by Malachi, which have been preserved with so much care and veneration, and which constitute so large and important a part of this infallible record. In these numerous proph- ecies, written by all this large number of prophets, there is not one word which would indicate that the Hebrew God ever had a thought of abolishing the ceremonial law given to Moses, and establishing any THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 347 other in its stead. The reasoning of Paul upon this subject, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, is of the most flimsy character. Admitting all that Jeremiah said upon this subject to have come directly from this God, the covenant spoken of was to be made with the house of Israel. It says nothing about offering himself a sacrifice to himself to appease his own wrath, neither does it make the least allusion to any other atonement except the one established in the law. It simply pre- dicts that he would make a covenant with the house of Israel at some future time; that he would put his law in their inward parts and write it upon their hearts; that he would be unto them a God, and they should be unto him a people. That there should be no necessity of teaching any more, saying know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest. There are said to be at the present time sixty-one thousand ministers of this new gospel in the United States, and doubtless every one would testify that the people have great need of their services in teaching; and that but very few indeed could be found, even at this late age, either small or great, who know much about the Lord who spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. Yet this man Paul, who wrote nearly eighteen hundred years since, would have us sup- pose that this prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled at his day, in his vain endeavor to prove the validity of the new system of religion. If God ever made any such covenant as the one spoken of by Jeremiah and quoted by Paul, we certainly have no evidence that it is yet established upon the earth; for, as far as 348 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. human observation goes concerning this matter, there seems to be comparatively few who claim to have become a law unto themselves, and those, if any, are not particularly confined to God's chosen people, the Israelites. Paul utterly fails in the attempt to prove that any of the prophets had predicted that a new plan should be devised at any time by which sins can be washed away, or atoned for with greater facility than the one taught by God to Moses, and he himself is alone entitled to the credit of originating the whole institution, and then bringing, by a confounding of language, a few of those prophetic declarations as arguments in support of his theory. But they are spread on so very thin and become so transparent that their fallacy may be easily discovered by any ordinary mind who will give the subject his atten- tion, and who can bring a candid, unprejudiced judg- ment to bear in its consideration. Before leaving this subject, we wish to say a few more words in relation to the important doctrine of loving our enemies, inculcated by Jesus, in opposition to the sentiments taught by his Father. This subject of love and hatred seems to lie underneath the foun- dations of the whole superstructure of human asso- ciations, and the conditions of all society depend very much upon what they love and what they hate. Upon this matter of loving God and thy neighbor, said Jesus, hangs all the law and the prophets. If love and hatred are of such vast importance, then it becomes a matter of great interest to humanity to know in what manner these two opposing sentiments should be directed. When a moral teacher proposes THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 349 to overthrow the instructions so entirely of an infi- nitely wise predecessor, upon a point so vital and of such great import, it becomes us who are to be gov- erned by these instructions to inquire into their true nature and the grounds upon which his conclusion concerning them are based. We may also inquire whether it is within the bounds of possibility for man to obey the new injunctions which are meant to supersede the old. If this founder of the new system which he proposes to erect upon the ruins of the old, starts out with an idea as a basic element introduced into the new structure, which controverts the teachings of his Infinite Father, and which was never practiced by God or man up to the present time, and which cannot by any possibility be adopted, then we ought to understand this matter. " Love your enemies" is the governing principle. How beautifully this idea has been carried out by the professed followers of Jesus since this doctrine was uttered, and how beautifully it is interwoven into the whole gospel system. How grandly this doctrine of love to enemies is presented to the mind in a great variety of Scripture passages, said to be the utter- ances of the very person who would make this kind of love the basic element of the religion he taught. Such language as " Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels"; " He that believeth not shall be damned"; "Ye serpents, ye vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell," to say the least, is rather harsh in its character to be addressed to those we love; and, if it means any- thing, so far from expressing any love, it manifests 350 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. the most profound hatred. The persons addressed are evidently the enemies of Jesus and his gospel — the very beings of all others he has taught us to love — and he has, notwithstanding his own teachings to the contrary, cursed and damned them to the extent of his ability, and he proposes to do all that the most malignant hatred can perform to render them mis- erable to all eternity. Unless the language of this gospel is wonderfully confounded, and can be made to mean anything to suit the interpreter's precon- ceived notions, which we do not deny, it contemplates nothing but punishment for those who do not accept its provisions, or for those who continue to the end enemies to Christ and his teachings; and all the rewards that are offered, are to be granted exclusively to the favorites — to those who are friends and not enemies to Christ. "The smoke of their torment shall ascend up forever and ever. They shall be pun- ished with everlasting destruction from the presence of God and the glory of his power." This is all cer- tainly meant for the enemies of Christ. What, then, does all this nourish of trumpets in the outset about loving your enemies amount to, but so much wind? If he taught men to love their enemies, and to bless them who should curse and despitefully use them, and had the power and authority to annul the old statute, why is not this principle carried out? and why, if he has all power in heaven and upon earth, does he not love his enemies to the end, and make them happy and comfortable with his blessings? His worst enemies never did much worse than to curse him and treat him despitefully, and very few of this THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 351 vast crowd who are placed upon the left hand, among the goats, have ever offered him the least indignity, but have, as far as they were able, treated him and his friends with generosity and kindness. The very worst offense they have ever committed is their unbelief; they have been so organized that they found it impos- sible, in their nature, to give credence to the general sentiments contained in this or any other so-called gospel, and for this alone, they have been and are to be cursed, and it is said of them, " Yengeance is mine, and I will repay, saith the Lord." This and the fore- going, and a great deal more of this character, is gos- pel, and if the language is not confounded and means anything, what can it all mean? It either means that Jesus had no power to annul the old statute, or if he had, that he was establishing a rule for the observance of his followers, that he never intended to carry out himself; for, if he has the power, and ever intended to be governed by the rule, he is under every obliga- tion to love his enemies to the last, aud to bless them with those benefits he can confer. Now if he does this, whether he had died upon the cross or not, he never would behold his worst enemies scorching to all eternity in excruciating torments. Such are the fundamental principles that were to be established under the gospel dispensation. " I say unto you, love your enemies; resist not evil, but overcome evil with good. If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink." Now, unless the author carries out these sentiments in every particular toward the chil- dren of men, he stultifies himself, and demolishes the fabric he is endeavoring to construct; or, he proves he 352 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. had no authority or power to destroy the old in order to build upon its ruins; and, that the whole scheme has failed to accomplish those results for which it was originally designed. We think the most cursory glance at subsequent church history will prove that the gospel dispensa- tion was not designed to bring peace on earth and good will to men, or establish the doctrine of non- resistance and love to enemies; for, if it was, there is nothing more evident than that its projectors were entirely incompetent to carry out their purposes in the least possible degree. To prove this it is quite unnecessary to recount the soul-sickening tale of horrors, the blood-red persecutions and martyrdoms, the Christian wars that have been inaugurated, and the rivers of human gore that have been poured out to appease the wrath of incarnate fiends in human form; and, for the maintenance and support of this gospel since its adherents have gained ascendency and power in the world. We need scarcely allude to the terribly destructive wars of the Crusades, which embraced a part of three centuries, and in which millions of human beings were sacrificed with intent upon the part of the perpetrators of those inhuman cruelties to perpetuate a gospel whose basic principle claimed to be non-resistance and love to enemies. It is sufficient to say, that the entire Christian church have, with the most trifling exceptions, from the days of Jesus to the present, always cultivated the arts of war, and ever engaged in mortal combat with their enemies without the least hesitation, and THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 353 have been as ready to shoot and stab him to the heart, as the most open Infidel. They have never mani- fested a particle more love for their enemies than the most profane sinner. Neither does any one of them pretend that his future hopes of happiness depend upon any such condition, but nearly all of them acknowledge that self-defense is the first law of nature and of God; and, that it is laudable and proper to practice the manly art of war. There is not one of them to-day, in all the land, who will not, in their daily walk and conversation with their fellow-men, if occasion should require, give the direct lie to this teaching of Jesus, and prove to a demonstration, that they do not and never did love their enemies. It is a notable fact that there is scarcely to be found a devout and zealous Christian who will preserve his equanimity when his peculiar tenets are vigorously assailed. They almost universally manifest not only impatience, and a want of love for their opponents, but real anger, not unfrequently accompanied by bitter denunciations. They have ever exhibited this open enmity, accompanied by the most violent threat- enings as well as base calumny and vituperation, against all Infidels and unbelievers. So far from exercising love toward these individuals, they have extended toward them no shadow of mercy, but always consigned them to the depths of intermina- ble woe. We discover, then, that the language con- tained in the teachings of Jesus, must be terribly confounded and unmeaning, or else his followers will- fully disregard his instructions; and that he himself, as well as they, destroy the fabric by an entire repu- 23 354 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. diation of the very foundation upon which it claims to be erected. We shall discover, however, that the grand reason why these non-resisting and enemy-loving principles have not been carried out by either Jesus or his Chris- tian followers, is, because it is perfectly impossible, in the nature of things. Men have not the organs in their constitutional development which will enable them to love what they hate, or to turn the other cheek after the one has been smitten, or to give the miserable thief his cloak after he has stolen his coat; or to perform any such unnatural freaks. And, if Jesus or any other man ever did promulgate any such doctrines, it simply proves that he or they had never perused the unerring language written upon the unchangeable pages of the natural universe; and that they were destitute of the knowledge and com- mon sense required in order to qualify men to arrive at truth. It would not seem to require much thought to sat- isfy any candid person that both love and hatred are perfectly involuntary affections or operations of the human mind, which arise and are promoted by sur- sounding conditions; and that the individual has no control whatever over these peculiar emotions. No person can love what he hates, or hate what he loves from any sense of duty; neither can they cease at will to love that which has called out their admiration, and excited this passion, nor cease to hate, by any effort of their own, that which has excited their dis- gust and detestation. We must unavoidably love that which is admirable and lovely to us; and we must THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 355 just as certainly hate that which is hateful, and at enmity with our natures; and there is no power within us by which we can avoid this result. It is perfectly impossible for any human organization to carry out the instructions of Jesus, in this respect, to the least possible extent. We might as well change light into darkness, or darkness into light, or exert a control by the powers of the will over any of the involuntary operations in the interior of the physical organism. If Jesus and Paul assumed the authority of over- turning and destroying Judaism, an institution which they acknowledged was established by the Supreme Jehovah, and building another to suit their own ideas upon its ruins, how much more may we claim the right to reject what they produced who were simply men, both born of woman in the ordinary manner. They themselves acknowledged that the Levitical law, with all its ceremonials and offerings and atonements, originated with an Infinite God, and yet they rejected the whole institution as of no practical utility; what shall we, then, say of this unnatural fabric erected by them, who were but men in every sense of the word, who did not bear in their persons, either mentally or physically, the least indication that they were, consti- tuted differently from ordinary mortals. We cannot but discover, by a careful, unprejudiced perusal of this book, that this so-called Gospel comes to us in a confounded language; that it has no kind of authority; that it is entirely the invention of finite minds, and a very weak, lame, incongruous, unnatural 356 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. invention at that, notwithstanding the fact that it has exerted so extended an influence in the world. There is a language which has never been con- founded ; it has never suffered from the mutations of time, or been corrupted bj a self-constituted priesthood, or perverted in order to subserve the vile purposes of selfish and depraved men, in any age of the world. This is that language that is penciled by the divine hand of nature upon every object, and which is written upon the very soul of all things. It speaks to the soul of man, and invites him to read those open pages that teach the same truths yesterday, to-day and for- ever, in order that he may obtain wisdom. There is no source of wisdom except in the soul essence of all tilings. There is no infallible book except the one that is inscribed upon nature's tablets. There are no truths but those found in the natural universe. Then those who would write books must first peruse this great volume, and draw his inspirations from its sacred pages; he must come into unison with the soul of those things of which he would write, else he is sure to go wide from the truth, and build up fabrics which are frail and unenduring, and Avhich are ever liable to be destroyed by succeeding generations. Whatever is not drawm from this universal fountain of all wisdom, and does not accord and harmonize with this language written upon the soul of all things in nature, contains the very elements of dissolution within itself; and there will always be found an iconoclastic Jesus or Paul to demolish these structures, and put forth their endeavors to build new ones upon the ruins of the old. They will always find that such covenants are THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 357 encumbered with faults, that they decay and wax old like a garment, and require to be replaced with those which are new and better, and that institutions estab- lished without any regard to the plain teachings found in the infallible language of nature, which are only written in a confounded language inscribed upon parch- ment, are liable to decay and destruction, although they originated with a so-called Infinite God. Had the Levitical law, together with all that apper- tained to the instructions which are said to have been given by God to Moses upon Mount Sinai, harmonized and accorded with the grand principles and laws which pervade the universe of nature, had all this which is said to have proceeded directly from the God of nature been really natural, neither Jesus nor Paul, nor all the popes and priests who have been their successors, could have destroyed or abrogated one single syllable of that production any more than they could have abolished the geometry compiled by Euclid. The reason why it waxed old and was abolished and superseded was because it had no soul. It was not connected with and drawn from the soul essence of anything in nature — there was no enduring permanency attached to the institution; it was subject to decay, and could not be perpetuated, and the superstructure erected upon its ruins with so much apparent skill and ingenuity must share the same inevitable fate. It is marked most palpably with all the elements of decay and dissolution, and its utter destruction only awaits the general eman- cipation and illumination of the human mind, so they dare investigate without prejudice its real character- istics in order to understand its true merits. 358 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. If the simple-hearted Jesus had possessed any proper understanding of the philosophy of human nature, he never would have founded a government exclusively upon the principle of love. Had he known that love and hatred were two antagonistic principles, both inseperably connected with his inner being, the one as necessary and important as the other; that they were a part of his organization, and that a human being would not be complete without the one as well as the other, he doubtless would not have made the foolish remarks he did concerning this matter. If he had understood that these antagonizing elements were required in the human organism — that combativeness was as important as the affectional group or the love organs, that destructiveness was as essential as veneration — that all the different organs had their uses, and each one was as necessary as the other, and that he himself, in order to be a man, must be in possession of all these various intellectual powers and faculties, he would doubtless have taken a very different view of this whole subject. His whole life and teachings prove conclusively the activities of the various organs — sometimes the one predominating, then again the other. When he twisted up the cords and made a whip, and slashed round and drove the money changers out of the temple and overturned their tables, he acted very much as other people do when their anger is aroused ; and he was no doubt under the influence of combativeness. He certainly did not manifest much love for the parties who, as he declared, had profaned the Lord's house. In these degenerate days a man would have been arrested and brought THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 359 before the police court for a similar outrage; but those old Shylocks and dove peddlers seem to have endured this infringement upon their inherent and acknowledged rights very meekly, and without a single word of reply. This transaction, if it really occurred, did not come with an excellent grace from the author of the doctrine of "love your enemies," for it is not shown that these quiet traders were even enemies of any one, or that they had offered him any indignity or lain a single straw in his path, but that they were peaceably pur- suing their legitimate avocations, in order to obtain sustenance for themselves and families. If these citizens were in the temple attending to their various callings, they must have been there by permission of the authorities, else they could not have remained there; and by what authority did this man take the matter into his own hands, and in a lawless and violent manner overturn their tables, destroy their property, as w T ell as maltreat and beat their persons? If this was a fact — which we leave bible and Jesus worshipers to decide — then he was highly culpable under the law of justice, much more by this law of love he had been endeavoring to inaugurate. When he accepted the invitation to dine with the Pharisee, common propriety would have taught him conformity to the customs of the people whose hospi- tality he was enjoying, and common decency might have taught him to wash his hands and face before dining, and common sense should have withheld him from manifesting his impatience and combativeness under such circumstances. It was not only extremely 360 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. rude and boorish, but a direct violation of his own fundamental principles, to pronounce such bitter denunciations upon this Pharisee and the other guests, and then call them fools to their faces. His peculiar manner of pronouncing his woes and his maledictions and curses was certainly anything but charitable or proper, even if the whole party had been his enemies under the Jewish law; but how much more culpable does he make himself when he is judged by his own teachings. It must be admitted by every candid per- son that there was not a single particle of the love element mingled in this whole transaction; but, on the contrary, that every word uttered upon this occa- sion was prompted by combativeness and hatred. He says, in so many words, "I am come to send fire on the earth. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you nay, but rather division. Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Is there any love for enemies in all this, or anything but carrying out the principles of downright hatred? We very clearly perceive that this person did not understand this matter at all, or that he never intended to be governed by his own teachings, or by the prin- ciples he promulgated for the observance of others. We also learn that it is perfectly impossible to estab- lish any governmental authority upon the exclusive principle of love; and the idea that a ruler could sit upon a judgment seat and judge the world, after estab- lishing fundamental principles of this character, is perfectly preposterous. What could he do with those who had disobeyed his laws and become his enemies? Why love them and THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 361 do good unto them and make them happy? How should he treat those who had cursed him and used him despitefully? Pray for them and confer any bene- fits upon them in his power; and if he does not, he is a transgressor of his own law and a hypocrite. Among the numerous vague and incongruous ideas men have gathered from this record, written in a lan- guage which was said to have been confounded by its reputed author, perhaps none have been productive of more mischievous results than the one concerning the mystic origin of Jesus Christ. Upon this single absurd and unnatural idea that the virgin was impreg- nated by an overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, or some spiritual being devoid of a physical organism, and that this man Jesus was the direct result of such impregna- tion, has been reared the whole fabric of Christian faith in a vicarious atonement for sin through his death, together with all that has appertained to all forms of Christian worship from that day to the present. Upon the mystic character of a seemingly trifling event that transpired about nine months pre- vious to the birth of the infant Jesus, with which an obscure young Jewish female named Mary, together with some unknown male, were most intimately con- nected, has been reared, and thus far perpetuated, the most stupendous religious fabric ever known to the world, and one that has for fifteen hundred years exerted an overwhelming influence over all conditions and grades of the most civilized society upon the earth. Were it not that this tremendous institution has been broken into very numerous fragments and subdivisions, it would sway the destinies of the world to-day, deprive 362 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. its people of their inherent rights, and rule humanity with a rod of iron. Mankind is indebted at the present time for the civil liberties they enjoy to the elements of disunion that exist in this gigantic superstructure; for just so long as it was held intact no such liberties were enjoyed, neither could they be obtained until the huge beast was crippled, and shorn of his terrible power. But the monstrous animal is not dead; it is still rear- ing its deformed head, and pushing this way and that with its broken horns, and earnestly striving to gain ascendancy, although divided against itself; and our only safety from its encroachments depends entirely upon these divisions. How strange that all this unwieldy ])ower, and all this unbounded influence which has been exerted over the most civilized portions of the world for nearly sixteen hundred years in the past, should have been built upon so small a point and balanced upon such a slender pedestal. Had not this mystification over- clouded the real facts in relation to the conception of Mary, the Christian church never could have been erected upon the ruins of Judaism ; its strong battle- ments and lofty towers never could have presented their bold fronts to the civilized world. This covert and well concealed fact being so entangled and over- clouded by the obscurities of the confounded language of the bible, a selfish and designing priesthood have been enabled to take advantage of the ignorance and credulity of the people, while others have in great sincerity promulgated the doctrines of the various sects. Thus untold millions have been held in servile bondage THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 363 to these various creeds during all this lengthy period, without the least hope of escape. And all this has occurred because no person knew, or could know from any recorded testimony, precisely the facts in relation to this particular conception of this young Jewess. It would seem, viewing this matter from our stand-point, that there was no occasion for doctors to disagree, and most probably not a case of this kind has occurred in modern times where there has been the least disagree- ment or doubt; but wherever conception has taken place, it has been universally conceded that there must have been a male physical organization connected with the transaction, however many visions or dreams any or all the parties might have been favored with. In support of the theory of an immaculate or spir- itual conception of a physical child, its advocates first ignore many of the immutable laws of universal nature, and regard them as of no kind of importance, although one moment after the conception took place they admit that such laws came into active operation. No one ever denied that the entire processes of gestation and parturition in this particular case was governed and controlled entirely by the same natural law which governs every other similar case, from the very moment that the conception had taken place. Then the question is narrowed down to this single point: Did the conception take place in accordance with universal natural law; and if not, what kind of law did control this operation? It cannot be said that this tiling was done without any law, for no act was ever performed unless there was a way in which, and a law by which it could be performed. This woman 364 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. conceived, and brought forth a child. The question to be answered is, how was this conception brought about? If she conceived in accordance with the universal law of reproduction, which has been applied in every other instance in which conception has taken place since this or any other world had an existence, then this whole plan of salvation through Christ is a miserable fabri- cation, instituted by men, because he would have been an ordinary man, and could by no means have atoned for sins, if he had died a thousand deaths. Now, there being not one particle of evidence of a substantial character proving that this was an exceptional case, either upon the written records or upon the broad tablets of nature, how marvelous is it that men have been able to build up such a huge superstructure from such slender materials, or rather without any real sub- stantial materials at all. No matter how good or wise or pure this man might have been, or how eminent in any sense of the word ; no matter what he done or did not do, or how he died or what occurred after his death; the simple question comes right back to the character of the con- ception; was that natural? For every motion that he or the mother made from that moment, are admitted to be in perfect accordance with natural law. It is also admitted that the mother, on her part, conceived in a natural manner; and all that could possibly have been unnatural was simply the male impregnation. It would, in view of this reasoning, become imper- ative upon the part of those who place implicit reliance upon the especial divinity of Jesus and the consequent validity of the vicarious atonement, THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 365 together with the divine appointment of the church of Christ, to show that there is some law by which a male spirit, destitute of a physical organism, can over- shadow or embrace a female form in such a manner as to result in conception, and the production of a phys- ical offspring. For certainly if there is no law, or no way in which it may be done, then it surely cannot be done, and it is very foolish and an utter confounding of language, to say it was done in this particular instance. "We are very gravely told that this was a miracle, and was done by the power of God, without any regard to natural law. Let us see. Whoever performs a miracle, must first know how it is done, and there must be a modus operandi in its perform- ance, or a law by which it is done, and if it is done inside the natural realms, it must be a natural law. So, if we admit it to have been a miracle, and it was performed inside the natural universe, then the law by which it was performed must also have been nat- ural, although individuals might have called it mirac- ulous. Could the transaction have occurred outside the natural universe, then it possibly might have been done in some different manner, though we should have had no interest whatever in the affair. But, it is fur- ther said, that the reputed father of Jesus was an Infinite God, and that he was the author of universal natural law; and that by virtue of his power over the law, he could change, repeal, annul, or suspend its operations at pleasure. Not exactly so, for the very moment he found it necessary to change one iota of his own law, he would prove most conclusively he was not infinite; that the law being changeable would be THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. imperfect, and that it could not be established by infi- nite wisdom, if any contingency could possibly arise rendering it necessary to change a single one of its provisions to the least possible extent. Neither has it ever been proven that any spiritual being exists who has power to change, or in any way interfere in the least degree w T ith any single law in active opera- tion in all the universal realms. So far from this, it is quite easy to show, that no intellectual power in existence can change in any manner the operations of any law of nature, however trivial it may appear. Is there any God who has power to change the order of the multiplication table, and make any alteration in the numerical relations connected with this depart- ment of arithmetical calculations, or change any math- ematical or geometrical law? Certainly not, because these and all other laws are eternal — they are a part and parcel of the universe itself — they have existed from all eternity, and no God could have existed any longer to have produced them. Those are natural laws, and all must admit that they are eternally fixed in their character ; they are a part of nature, and nature is infinite. It is indisputable, that all laws governing in every department of the infinite universe constitute a part of nature; hence, they must be as self-existent as nature itself; and by their operation all organized intellectual beings must have been unfolded to their particular status. Where, then, shall w r e find any spiritual being who can be any more than eternal, or who existed before the natural universe? If there is any being who is more infinite in duration than all the eternal cycles THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 367 of the past, and had an existence when there was no time — no universe and no law — where could he have been found, and by what law could he have existed ? We may readily discover, without further reasoning, that there can be no individualized spiritual being, with an intellectual organism, who is more eternal than natural law; for, they could not have been pro- duced without a law by which such productions are made possible. It is plain, that it would be perfectly impossible for any being, no matter what his charac- ter, or the extent of his exaltation, to interfere in the least degree with the full operation of any law in any of nature's various departments, unless he existed previous and assisted in the production of the law. As we find such cannot be the case, then it becomes a self-evident fact that natural law must have governed the male impregnation of this young female before the fact of conception could possibly have taken place, precisely as it has in every other instance since the first child was born, or the first animal brought forth its young; and this extremely frail, slender, and uncer- tain foundation is removed from under the whole affair. Thus we find the Christian religion stands in the same category in which they have placed all other religions which have originated among men; this, too, is a waif upon the ocean of time. It has had its origin and exerted its influence; it will live out its appointed time and pass away, the same as any other religion that has ever been established, and be remem- bered as a historic wonder by some future generations. Yes, the time is probably not far distant when the great mass of the civilized world will marvel that 368 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. their fathers could have been so deluded as to give credence to a system of beliefs resting upon such a frail foundation, and one, too, diametrically opposed to every natural principle in the universe. Did not this faith in the unnatural conception of Jesus, the divine character of his teachings, and his miraculous power of remitting sins by virtue of his own death, exert such a widespread influence in the world at the present time, it would be quite needless to waste so many words in relation to the subject. But many millions of innocent and ignorant men and women are held in servile bondage, and compelled to supply the wants of an indolent priesthood, and contribute to the support of the various churches, simply because they do not understand the fallacy of this institution, and the true nature of the foundation upon which the whole superstructure has been erected. When they can understand this matter in its true light, they may not only be relieved from all these burdens, but may be permitted to acquaint themselves with the divinity of laws and principles existing all around them, and may become untrammelled and unfettered by the creeds and prejudices which originated in a ruder age. They may become free, and assert the dignity of their own independent manhood, and no more inquire, cringingly, of some ignoramus of a priest, what they may think or what they may speak. It is for this reason, and this alone, that we make any further inquiry into the confounded language of the written record for its testimony concerning this spiritual conception of a physical child. It is simply said by Matthew, that the mother of THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 369 Jesus was found with child by the Holy Ghost, after having been espoused by Joseph, but before they had come together. That Joseph, being dissatisfied with this state of affairs, and being a proper kind of a man, and not desirous of making disturbance that would reach the ears of the public, "was minded to put her away privily." But his mind dwelling intently upon these things, he had a dream, in which he supposed a spiritual being, or as he termed it, an angel appeared unto him, and said, " Joseph, take Mary thy wife; she's all right. It was the Holy Ghost, a spiritual somebody, that is the author of the impregnation, and it is from this source that the conception has taken place." Now, says Matthew, this was done that a prophecy might be fulfilled; saying, "Behold, a virgin shall be with child and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." And thus this apostle and biographer makes his case respecting the spiritual character of this conception. It might be well, if possible, to make some inquiry concerning this mystical being, or thing, so often spoken of by the New Testament writers, and called the Holy Ghost. Who or what was it? A spiritual entity or individuality, having an intellect and all the functions of a living, spiritual being, or was it a principle, or an essence, or what? Let echo answer, for if echo does not, there is no other thing that can. It is sometimes called the spirit, the comforter, the third person in the trinity, and a very great many things are ascribed to this mythical some- thing besides overshadowing virgins and begetting 24 370 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. physical children. All, however, is vague, indefinite, cloud j and intangible; so that it is perfectly impos- sible for an ordinary mind to comprehend what is really meant by this term Holy Ghost, any more than it is a ghost which is holy; presupposing there may be some ghosts that are not holy. We hesitate not to say, that there is not at present, nor ever was, an intel- ligent beiug upon the earth who had any rational con- ception of what was meant by this term Holy Ghost. "We bid defiance to all the clergymen in Christendom to offer any explanation upon the subject which will convey to the human mind an intelligent idea con- cerning this thing called the Holy Ghost, showing what it is, or was, what it does, and how or in what manner it does it, or where and when it has ever done anything, or whether there is any such being or thing in existence, or anything about it, more than a shad- owy, mythical idea. And this is what Matthew, who got acquainted with Jesus after he was thirty years old says, the Father dreamed concerning this concep- tion, and the dream was satisfactory as far as the simple young carpenter wa6 concerned. But is this dream to satisfy the intelligent, thinking minds of the present and future centuries upon this subject? In further proof of this subject, Matthew refers to a prophecy of Iasiah, but does not quote it correctly. The prophet said, " Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bare a son." There is nothing particularly remarka- ble about this prophecy, as he does not say she should conceive by any other than the ordinary method; and she should call her son's name Emmanuel. This prophecy could not have referred to this case at all, THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 371 for this son was called Jesus, and never was known by any such name as Immanuel. This prophecy of Isaiah is understood by all biblical scholars to have been completely fulfilled within a few short years from the time of its utterance, and here is all that can be gathered from this author in relation to this matter. Luke changes the dream of Joseph into a vision experienced by Mary. He says (but he does not tell upon wdiat authority), that the angel Gabriel was sent irom God to this virgin to inform her that she should be overshadowed by this shadowy Holy Ghost, and that she should conceive and bare a son. As Mary had this vision all alone by herself, probably many years before Luke was born, he must have obtained his information from her. In this day and age of the world, the story of such a vision, coming from such a source, under such circumstances, would be rather thin, and would go very little ways toward establish- ing even the paternity of a so-called illegitimate off- spring; much less would it prove such offspring to be the immediate son of an Infinite God, and that she had been impregnated by the overshadowing of some- thing which a few men in that day were pleased to call the Holy Ghost. This is about the sum and sub- stance of Scripture testimony in relation to this vital point; vital, because if it cannot be proven by sub- stantial evidence that this conception was produced by other than a physical being, and that this girl was absolutely impregnated, not by an imaginary Holy Ghost, but by the Christian God himself personally, and not by proxy, then the vicarious atonement can- 372 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. not be worth a straw, and the whole institution falls to the ground. If it was absolutely necessary that the Jewish God should send a part of himself into this world, in any such manner, in order that he might die to satisfy his own wrath and render himself more placable, why was it done in such a bungling manner? Why was he indebted solely to natural laws for almost the entire mode by which the son was introduced into the world, barely exerting his own infinite power at a point where positive proof could not possibly be obtained? It is not to be supposed that this young Jewess would have admitted witnesses to the only event which could decide this question, neither is it supposed that- her personal testimony would have been good, whatever she might have said in relation to the affair. But she simply says, as we learn from Luke, that she had a vision, and leaves her friends to draw their own con- clusions from the vision she related, without making any allusion whatever to the real event that caused the impregnation and consequent conception. We cannot discover in all this one particle of testimony that could have been of the least weight in any civil court where the legitimacy of an heir was called in question, and if not, how supremely absurd for intel- ligent men in this more advanced age of the world, to promulgate doctrines destitute of any shadow of foun- dation, or to base their highest hopes of future hap- piness upon a mythical scheme so utterly devoid of common sense or common honesty. It is said in this age of scientific investigation that both the silk worm and the bee are capable of repro- THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 373 ducing of their own kind without the aid of the male. Whether this is an absolute fact in the economy of nature or not, our religious doctors have seized upon the idea with great avidity, and blazon it forth with an air of triumph, as positive evidence that a child might have been conceived in the womb of a virgin who had not known man. But there appears to be some diffi- culties to be removed before these cases become parallel. It is not claimed that the virgin did not require the assistance of a male in order to produce conception, but the record emphatically declares there was a male connected with the transaction; and to make it a miraculous affair, it simply represents that the male party was a ghost. And now, in order to render the honey bee and silk worm phenomena evidence in this case, it will be necessary to show by the demonstrations of science that each separate bee and worm has been overshadowed by a holy ghost of that description ; also the existence of a law in nature which renders such a fact possible. When this is fairly done, and it is proven beyond a doubt that a silk worm ghost and a honey bee ghost, holy or unholy, may overshadow and impregnate these respective females in accordance with natural law, in a way and manner similar to the overshadowing of the Blessed Virgin, then these facts in nature may be received as evidence in support of the immaculate conception. The introduction of such specious though flimsy arguments as these in support of the vicarious atone- ment — the most vital element of Christianity by the popular clergymen of the day — shows conclusively the existence of two conspicuous facts. The one is, that 374 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. the intelligent, thinking portion of the ministry have discovered, and are compelled to acknowledge, that natural law is a prime factor, which seems to be so intimately connected with, and has so much to do in regulating the affairs of this universe, that it cannot be ignored, even in matters of religion. The other is, that a cause that requires bolstering up and supporting by such far-fetched and idle subterfuges as the one presented, is exceedingly weak, and evidently totter- ing to its fall. " How are the mighty fallen," wheu the central idea of the great fabric of Christianity that has wielded for so many centuries such an extended influence over the civilization of humanity, must stand or fall upon the process by which drone bees and silk worms are gen- erated! Sometimes even very eminent scientific men have labored under serious errors, and particularly upon this subject of generation. For quite a lengthy period spontaneous generation was the generally accepted theory among the savans; now it is wholly repudiated. But as the matter now stands, we shall be compelled to submit the question of the validity and efficacy of the atoning blood of Christ to a committee of scientists, whose duty it will be to enter into an exhaustive investigation of the entire matter of the generation of silk worms and honey bees; and what if those gentle- men should finally stand eight to seven, and thus jeopardize the eternal salvation of untold millions of the generations to come? While questions of such a character are agitating the public mind, the universal elements of progressive THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 375 unfoldment are carrying us forward; and but for this no one would have looked out into the broad fields of nature for evidences in support of an old fossilized religion, which exhibits so many symptoms of decay. A few years since no one pretended to inquire whether the dogmas he had adopted and professed to believe were in consonance with natural law or not. It was not supposed such a thing was necessary, for the God they worshiped was able to make it truthful law or no law. It is a happy omen that some of these devotees have discovered that the machinery of nature is in active operation, and moves steadily forward regardless of sectarian creeds, and that henceforth it will be imperatively necessary to square all religious beliefs by her dictum, if they would even approximate truth. It is quite generally supposed that this person to whom we have referred not only made his entry into our world in this unheard-of manner, but that he was endowed with capability, and had the divine authority to institute and establish a code of morals or individual and social ethics for the observance of all peoples, of whatsoever name or nature, during all time to come. If such was the fact, he either possessed this ability and authority inherent in his own personality, or he must have received it from some other party who had it to bestow. But in our ignorance we cannot dis- cover any arrangement in a universe where all are possessed of equal inherent rights, by which such power may be given to one without the consent of at least a majority of the whole. I think we may with great propriety query how this individual came to be vested with authority to establish a law for the observ- 376 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. ance of the entire people, while they are deprived of all right to even inquire into the expediency or justice of such enactments. In these days of republican insti- tutions it would certainly appear more democratic to have some show of popular representation, and to establish laws for the government of intelligent men and women, as near as may be by the consent of the governed. It has been said that suitable laws for our individual government should at some time be written on men's "inward parts; " and it is strongly hoped by all lovers of humanity that the people may so unfold as to be a law unto themselves. If so, then each individual must establish his own code, and govern himself in accord- ance with its provisions. All enactments for the proper government of every class of intelligent beings may be found in the natural universe, without any resort to supernatural revela- tions; and we may discover such as are appropriate to our needs as rapidly as we unfold and are capable of their just appreciation. No person, whether in a private or social capacity, ever adopted any rule for the regulation of his conduct that he did not find some- where inside of nature; and it is quite impossible for any man or set of men to adopt a system of moral ethics beyond their powers of appreciation. We can by no means suppose that the people of to-day are entertaining the same views concerning their own well-being, and the well-being of the multitude, that they will one thousand, or even one hundred, years from to-day; and hence the rules and regulations adopted for the promotion of the highest interests of THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 377 individuals, as well as of society, must continually change. No written code of moral or civil laws can be perpetuated unless they are a faithful transcript from nature's divine pages. The least deviation from a true copy introduces the seeds of dissolution; and this appears to be the paramount reason why human and so-called divine statutes are exhibiting these unmistakable signs of decay. The Mosaic law, with all its ceremonials, which, as it is claimed, have come to men direct from the Omniscient and Immutable God, and which are declared to be a correct transcript of His will concern- ing the forms of worship with which He desired to be honored, as given through His chosen prophet, have all become a dead letter upon the statute book. Has this Immutable God changed, that He no longer requires this kind of service; or is this silent abroga- tion of this lengthy code of laws an indubitable evidence of their mundane origin? Most certainly the latter; for if the Unchangeable God required at the hands of men roast beef and mutton at that day, He must require it to-day, else He is a changeable being, and not such a God as represented. But then, says the bible worshiper, the ten com- mandments, which come to us through Moses as the oracles of God, will be as enduring as time. Here we have a basis of all moral ethics — a system of juris- prudence that never can be superseded or disregarded by the good and the virtuous. We inquire the reason why some of these so-called commands are so enduring? Is it because they claim to have been published to the world upon two tables of stone, and engraved by the 378 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. finger of the Hebrew God? Far from it; but because such laws are written upon the walls of nature, they were eternally graven upon the broad tablets of universal matter, and they were as well understood by the ancestors of Moses as by him. Can it be said, with any kind of propriety, that God revealed to Moses what was perfectly comprehended previously and aside from such revelation? If it was understood and comprehended previously, how could it have been a revelation at that particular time? This revelation certainly taught nothing more concerning adultery than was perfectly understood by Joseph several hundred years before, when so severely tempted by the beautiful Mrs. Potiphar. It surely taught nothing more about the worship of the Hebrew God than was well understood by Abraham when he pro- posed to sacrifice his only son in His honor; and the whole decalogue could have revealed nothing but what must have been well understood and practiced by Enoch, who, it is said, walked with God three hundred years, and was His special favorite, and finally taken up bodily into the Jewish heaven. All these parties lived and died long before Moses, and never heard or had a thought of the two tables of stone; and yet they must have been well versed in all the moral sentiments contained upon them. Confu- cius lived and died, and probably never heard of Moses; and if he had he would have cared nothing for him or his God either, and yet he published to the world a system of moral ethics as eminently calculated to produce honesty, integrity and virtue among men as did Moses or any of his successors. What is still THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 379 more concerning the Chinese philosopher, he was never known to deviate in his practice from the teach- ings he promulgated. But Moses, who taught his followers the decalogue saying thou shalt not kill, commenced his public career by murdering an Egyptian and secreting his dead body in the sand. He went down from the mountain with this very commandment under his arm, and issued the imperative order, as coming from God, that "every man should slay his brother, and every man his com- panion, and every man his neighbor," until the children of Levi, in accordance with this mandate, massacred three thousand of the people upon that day. This brilliant achievement was performed, it is said, that "every man might consecrate himself unto the Lord; upon his son and upon his brother, that the Lord might bestow a blessing upon them." And that peculiar mode of consecration has been practiced extensively by the devotees of the bible and the blood- thirsty Hebrew God from that day almost until the present, and would have been practiced to-day had not the advancing tide of civilization prevented its con- tinuance. It was this bloody consecration to God that has caused those mighty torrents of blood to now recounted in almost every page of the history of the church, until the soul sickens with their contemplation. It has burned its thousands of innocent victims at the stake; boiled others in cauldrons of oil; broiled them upon gridirons constructed for the purpose; torn their limbs asunder upon racks, and introduced every species of torture that human ingenuity and malignity could 380 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. invent, that the perpetrators of these horrid murderous outrages might consecrate themselves to the God of Moses. It was this kind of consecration that slaugh- tered the innocent and amiable Ulrich Zwingle and his followers in the valley of Lucerne. It hunted and persecuted and destroyed the Huguenots; it produced the horrid massacre of St. Bartholomew; aided John Calvin to kill Servetus; and has drenched the soil of Europe with the innocent blood of untold millions of victims. How much real intelligence, then, can be gained by a careful perusal of all the sickening details of this entire church history, from the day that Moses came down from Mount Sinai, broke in pieces the two tables of stone that Grod had engraved with so much care, and issued this order to the Levites that resulted in the slaughter of three thousand of this ignorant wandering tribe? Can we say that in all this religious history, in the abstract, with all its dogmatic teachings, its fightings, its bickerings, and controversies, ceremonials and beliefs, that any intelligence has been presented to the human mind of an elevating character; any that was calculated to raise him above the fountain head from whence all these religious ideas proceeded? In order to elevate and improve humanity you must have progressive knowledge; for how can you raise one generation of people above their predecessors unless you give them new thoughts — unless they gain an intelligence in advance of the past? Religion never claimed to be progressive. It was always conservative and retrogressive; it always carried its votaries back to the time of its origin. The religion of the Jews, as THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 381 well as that established by Jesus and his Apostles, looks backward still to Mount Sinai and the Prophets; but ours more particularly to the hallowed days and holy land where miracles occurred — to the superemi- nent qualifications of the chosen Apostles, and the divinity of the meek and suffering Jesus. The Mohammedan turns his face toward Mecca; all turn backward for their highest ideal, their grandest con- ceptions of truth. Then, if humanity is to-day occupying a position any higher than were our forefathers in the days of Moses, we are by no means indebted to the religion of any age for the improvement. If we have made any advancement in point of intelligence, we have gained it in spite of the religious teaching that fain would have governed us and held us back. Religion has ever had a holy horror of new ideas, and a solemn reverence for all those which originated with its founders. It was the religion of the Jewish sanhedrim that sent a Jesus to the cross for announcing thoughts that mili- tated against their old fossilized opinions which came to them from the fathers. Jesus propagated a more advanced sentiment amid their anathemas and curses. Martin Luther brought down the ire of the church upon his devoted head for publishing his dissent from the prevailing opinions; and every individual who has taken one step toward universal freedom of thought has been denounced by the church, whether Catholic or Protestant. Even the sacred soil of the American continent, that asylum for the oppressed of all nations, has been desecrated by the blood of her martyrs who have fallen in the name of a cruel, unrelenting religion. 382 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. And to-day, in this free and enlightened age, every liberal man proclaims his honest convictions under the perils of denunciation and perpetual ostracism from all the popular churches. These devotees to the religions of a past age are still dealing in anathemas and curses, and consigning those who do not bow at their shrines to torments that will never terminate, to a darkness that will know no light. Has all this been produced from any valuable intel- ligence that ever existed in their religion? Far from it. Had there been anything of that character attached to the religions of the past, they would not have shocked us with their horrid details, and stained the bloody hands of their devotees in the reeking gore of their innumerable victims. All this has been for the want of intelligence. It is the increasing knowledge of the present day that saves humanity from the horrid butcheries of the darker ages, when religion reigned supreme over the so-called civilized world; and it is the advancing intelligence of these later periods which is and will be read from the illuminated pages of nature's universal volume, that will finally triumph and eradicate the damning influence of such blood- stained superstitions, and banish them from the face of the earth. The tendency is evidently in that direc- tion. Ignorance and dogmatic arrogant bigotry have been the hand- maids of religion in all ages and among all people where its votaries have been found. It has ever regarded with distrust and jealousy an advancing intelligence that would enable the masses to think for themselves. It has always reserved the right to do THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 383 the thinking, and bestowed it upon a chosen priest- hood. It does the same to-day; and a universal intel- ligence that would make an independent thinker of every man and woman would not only augur badly for religious interests, but would strike a death blow, and prove its final overthrow. It can never stand the clear, glowing illuminations of universal free thought. It has walked in all the bloody history of the past hand in hand with ignorance and human degradation, and had its fungus growth in the midst of darkness, bigotry and intolerance, and will retire before the light of that advancing intelligence that seems now to be brilliantly dawning upon our world. It is not a part of the real genius of even modern religious institutions to unfold and elevate the intel- lectual powers of mankind here in this life. It only proposes to save their miserable, wretched, sin-sick souls from the clutches of a mythical devil and the eternal torments of an imaginary hell. For this pur- pose, and this alone, did Jesus love and die; for this purpose was the vicarious atonement, with all its pre- ceding types and shadows, established upon the earth, that a chosen few might be saved to experience the delights of a Christian heaven, and chant the praises of the Hebrew God, where they might witness the sublime entertainment of that enchanted place, and behold the four and twenty elders forever crying holy, holy, and casting their golden crowns before the throne, without so much as deigning to pick them up in all the time; and where they can also see the "four beasts with eyes within and without, before and behind. " Oh! glorious and inspiring hopes! How admirably 384 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. adapted to meet the intelligent aspirations of a culti- vated intellect! How beneficent must have been that being who has kindly prepared all this magnificent spiritual entertainment for His Christian followers! How exhilerating the thought that we may be made partakers in all this grand, raree-show, that so tran- scendantly eclipses the finest circus or menagerie ever exhibited upon the earth, by simply believing all the ridiculous dogmas presented in some one of the creeds, and attending to a few idle ceremonials! How utterly devoid are all these various concomi- tants of the religions of the ages gone by of that intelligence which tends to enlarge man's mental capacity or improve his capabilities! So far from it, that as a rule the most ignorant persons are the most devotedly religious, because they can believe the most. Strong faith in the unknown and unknowable is entirely incompatible with a cultivated intellectuality with an individual who has ability to trace effects back to their legitimate causes, and by intelligent analysis dis- criminate between the false and the true. Such per- sons must have a reason. Religion and reason never enjoyed any amicable relationship; they have always been at war, and the contest will continue until reason is entirely dethroned, and man becomes an abject slave, or until it assumes the prerogative, and all religions are banished from the earth. And happy for a strug- gling humanity will be the day when the numerous churches are converted into halls of science and lecture rooms, where natural knowledge, based upon some- thing real and substantial, shall be promulgated to a soul-starved people; where sickly fanaticism, idle THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 385 superstitions, and a cringing homage to an imaginary being, shall give place to nobler and grander teachings, such as may convey to the mind real absolute knowl- edge. For no mentality has ever been improved or expanded or strengthened by any fallacious idea. It requires real truth — absolute, substantial, intellectual thought — to subserve the purposes of mental aliment. Beliefs and dogmas never yet answered that high pur- pose. The soul of man is as much in need of its appro- priate food as the body, and the food for the soul must not only be adapted to its nature, but must be of a real substantial or essential character, else the soul is dwarfed, and becomes sickly, the same as the body. If the physical system, which is gross and materialized, requires appropriate material food for its sustenance and growth, then the soul, which is but the spiritual essential element of the physical, requires real essential nourishment adapted to its peculiar wants; and it can no more be sustained and grow upon spiritual chaff than the body can be nourished upon material chaff. The soul is nourished and fattens upon the soul essence of that which it grasps, comprehends and digests, pre- cisely the same as the physical body. In both cases that which serves as food must be below that which is fed and sustained. Man lives upon those elements which are beneath him in point of development; he is sustained and enabled to perform his labors by par- taking of the animal and vegetable kingdom, and incorporating into his own being certain essences he obtains from them. Then the spirit within man being a real substantial thing, or that which is indebted to 25 386 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. atomic particles for its individuality, must subsist upon the soul essence of that which is less unfolded than itself. It cannot incorporate into its nature that which is above itself, or that which is finer, because that is beyond its powers of assimilation, and too fine to answer the purposes of aliment or food. The physical body of man or the animal seems to possess an intuitive power of discrimination, and selects with great care and certainty those various elements existing in the food of which they partake, which are absolutely required to impart strength and vigor, while the remainder is thrown off as unnecessary for its use, and would only prove injurious if it was retained within the system. The spiritual individuality should then be permitted to possess quite as important intuitive powers, and be abundantly supplied with capabilities, enabling it to select from the aliment it receives that which assimilates to itself and conduces to its growth and development, while it rejects the remainder as not only unsuited to its condition, but absolutely injurious in its tendency. Then we see it becomes as absolutely necessary that every spiritual individuality should digest and select its own spiritual aliment which it incorporates into its own nature, as it is for the physical body to digest individually the food of which it partakes. Hence, the priest can no more do my thinking than he can do my eating; he can no more digest my spiritual aliment or soul food than he can the food which nourishes my body. Neither has he any more ability to direct me in regard to my spiritual tastes, wants and requirements than he THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGE. 387 has in regard to my physical tastes, wants and neces- sities. Each individual partakes of both physical and mental or spiritual ailment for himself. Each one must digest their various kinds of food for them- selves, and that is all they can possibly do whether they be priest or layman, teacher or pupil. My phys- ical expands by virtue of that food and nourishment of which I individually partake and digest. My soul must expand by virtue of the soul essences which I individually gather and comprehend or digest, and both must gather all they obtain from below them. If there is a Jesus, or a Holy Ghost, or a God that is above us, we cannot partake of them, for in order to be above us, to be more exalted than we are, they must be composed of finer essences, such as can by no means come under the control of our spiritual digestion. We cannot partake of them; they are beyond our reach; entirely too etherealized to afford us any sustenance, and they, like us, if they obtain sustenance for themselves, must find it in that which is beneath, or in those elements that are not developed to their condition. The power that digests must be superior to the clement digested. The intellect that grasps and comprehends, must be superior to the intelligence appropriated; hence the nourishment it receives must be inferior to itself, and not from above. If superior intellectual beings give us intelligence, they must, having a clearer perception of the soul- essence of those things below us, present them to our mentalities in such a manner that we may appreciate them, and make them onr own. They cannot give us 388 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. a comprehensive knowledge of those things which are entirely beyond our reach, and that we cannot grasp by any powers of intellect which we may possess. So that whatever we may hear or receive of such a nature cannot, by any means, contribute to our spir- itual growth, because it cannot become soul nourish- ment unless it may be digested or comprehended and made a part of ourselves. Hence it is that all dark, mystified book revelation, which is supposed to have come to us from supernat- ural beings existing in a realm beyond the boundaries of the universe, cannot be of any real value to the human soul, because practically the language in which it comes is confounded, and does not convey intellec- tual nutriment to the hungry soul. It is to be hoped that the time is not far distant when all books of so-called revelation will be estimated at their real value, considered merely as the productions of men w T ho have lived upon the earth, and entirely divested of all attributes of sacredness or holiness which dis- tinguishes them from other works and adds so vastly to their importance. Truth is no more than truth, though uttered by an angel; and that one which is appreciated and expressed by the simplest child is just as sacred as that which taxes the utmost energies of a God to grasp and comprehend. CHAPTEE IX. THE SPIRIT ABODES. The oft-repeated inquiry where do spirits dwell after having left the physical form, has probably not been fully answered; and it is hardly to be sup- posed that we can obtain more than an approximation toward an intelligent appreciation of so-called spirit- life with its appertainings, until we enter those more etherealized dwelling places, and realize their true nature for ourselves. Perhaps it might be more dif- ficult to ascertain where spirits do not dwell than to find the localities in which they might rear their pleasant homes, and surround themselves with all that is beautiful to their visions, and to the highest extent grateful to all their senses and perceptions. When we learn that spiritual beings exist in all pos- sible conditions, that all matter is spirit, and that all spirit is material, and that all masses of material sub- stance is but a congeries of spirit entities, that they exist in every conceivable state of development, and in every possible form, then the problem may not be quite as difficult of solution. Human intellects in search of suitable abodes for advanced spiritual beings have been quite generally directed to some remote portion of the universe. They seem disposed to think that the further they can get from our little planet, the purer, more serene and genial would be the surroundings; and that away off somewhere in the immensity, all of nature is (389) 390 THE GOSPEL OF NATUEE. supereminently calculated and designed to furnish spiritual homes for the denizens of this world; or, at least, that portion of them who have earned a title to such homes by their scrupulous conduct while in the body. We are led to believe, indeed we consider it a truth so palpable that most persons will accept it without controversy, that there is no better materials in all the broad realms of nature than the atomic particles which are incorporated into our own earth; that no sun or planet in the sidereal heavens rolls in its onward march through any portions of infinite space, which is superior to the pathway our little world has made and will continue to make in all her future revolutions. Why, then, should we wander so far from our home, in order to find dwelling places that will furnish us that felicity we so much desire and expect to obtain? We are apprehensive that the very wide contrast between physical and spiritual vision has led many persons who are gifted with clairvoyance, which is but another name for spirit-seeing, into very serious blunders. We have reason to believe that many of these gifted individuals have supposed they were look- ing abroad into the great over-arched vault of the distant universe, and that they were taking an actual visual survey of realms far beyond the milky way, when really the furthest extent of all they saw would not reach beyond the limits of our own atmosphere. It would be well, before we attempt to obtain a knowledge of spiritual existence, to take into consid- eration that the physical eye through which we behold all objects, is extremely limited in its capacities; and THE SPIRIT ABODES. 391 that as we rise to a more spiritualized state, the visual lenses increase wonderfully in power and capabilities. We find this eye composed of gross materials, and although very curiously contrived, and wonderfully well adapted to the physical organism, it can by no means be supposed to possess the power of an eye which is manufactured from substances inconceivably finer and superior. We have already shown that both size and distance are not absolute, but they only sustain a relationship to the peculiar character of the vision by which cer- tain objects are beheld, so that we cannot determine how large a minute particle may appear to a more spiritualized vision, only by beholding the particle with such an eye. We may conceive it quite possible from our experience with microscopic lenses, that our limited visions may be exceeded in magnifying power by others of a superior character, to an almost unlim- ited extent; so that the diminutive particles of atmos- phere, which are entirely invisible to us, may swell to the huge dimensions of a globe, and seem to revolve in the unlimited regions of space. To a spiritual being whose outward body is composed of substance a thousand-fold finer than the particles of atmosphere, each one of these would certainly become a solid globe as dense and materealized to them as the earth is to ourselves. Then, when we take into consideration that every minute particle of substance is a micro- cosm, or contains in miniature something of all that exists in nature's broadest realms, why would not one of these globes make a suitable habitation for a spir- itual being, or for a great multitude of such beings? 392 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. Suppose we should take a cubic mile of our atmos- phere and commence to enumerate the particles by sextillions, we might probably live a very long time and then not be able to count in this manner the utterly incomputable sum. Then suppose we change our limited vision and place within the eye a lens which would magnify many thousand billions of diameters, we have probably not in our imaginations even now exceeded the bounds of possibility, yet we have swelled this cubic mile of space out until it passes our comprehensions, and we may find within its limits untold billions of revolving worlds, all pur- suing their courses with the exact precision of this or any other solar system. From whence came all these orderly movements and periodical revolutions among planetary systems, if the elements did not exist in the minutest particles of which all planets are composed? "We may very properly conceive that material sub- stane in a condition so diffusive, and so free to operate in obedience to universal law, as the fluid particles of atmosphere, may perform evolutions similar to a col- lection of worlds. For worlds and systems of worlds are but accumulations of the same kind of particles, and cannot manifest the operation of any law which did not exist in the single particle, and which would not necessarily be exhibited under similar conditions. Then it becomes very clear, that if the vision could be rendered sufficiently microscopic, we might behold all the evolutions, taking place with the infinitesimal particles which can possibly take place with planetary systems, and perhaps far more than have yet been recognized by the inhabitants of the earth. THE SPIRIT ABODES. 393 It becomes a question of some importance whether the particles of atmosphere are moved bj a power within themselves or by some force that is entirely extraneous, and if they are not self-moving, perhaps science can teach us what that power may be which causes their activities, and produces the general circu- lation, as well as the violent tornado. However, we are apprehensive that science has as yet most signally failed in explaining all the phenomena of the winds, that the causes of their various activities are not alto- gether clear, but involved in no little mystery; and they may remain entirely obscured until it is better understood, that such fluid particles are living entities awaked to activity; and that they perform their move- ments, to a great extent, by their own volition. There are no doubt fixed laws which govern all the movements of the winds, and all their various activ- ities are evidently designed for the accomplishment of some high purpose, but the great difficulty is to understand the origin of the force that propels them at times with such velocity, or why they not unfre- quently assume a rotatory motion. Says Professor Maury: "The circulating channels of electricity are as yet hidden in the deepest night. Neither do we know what influence the land and the warm currents have thereon; even less than we know, what opera- tions are appointed for the hurricanes in the economy of nature." But we apprehend the time must come upon the earth when some knowledge of this matter shall be ascertained by men of science, and then it will be understood that the power which produces all these 394 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. wonders exists and originates in the infinitesimal fluid particles of which these elements are composed. They must, therefore, sweep onward in their tremendous orbital journeys by a force inherent in themselves, regardless of the consequences that might occur, either to ships or men, who may happen to be in their track. It is of the utmost importance that the atmospheric particles should manifest this life and motion, else all things would become torpid and die. Then we inquire, how this life and motion can be produced unless in the individual particles themselves? If they were dead, certainly they could not collectively exhibit any thing but death. How much that is dark and mysterious is constantly taking place in the more spiritualized departments of nature's realms! simply because we understand so little of the true nature of these more etherealized elements. If our visions could by any possibility be opened to a perception of the real characteristics of the atoms, we should not be compelled to grope in such darkness; but we might arrive at a comprehension of the spir- itual more directly; as it is, we have been many long ages obtaining the glimmerings of light we now pos- sess in relation to subjects of this character. Our philosophy extends but little ways beyond the visible, and our theology is a mass of unnatural and unscien- tific delusions, only calculated to bewilder and render the darkness more obscure. But, as man is now, in this condition, to all intents a spiritual being, simply dwelling temporarily in a physical form, it becomes a necessity that he should THE SPIEIT ABODES. 395 sometime awake to the real character of his spiritual surroundings, and become cognizant of both the facts and the philosophy of his whole nature. For, if he is to have a continuous objective existence, it must be real and tangible, and there must be as much philos- ophy, and as numerous facts connected with that existence as with the present, and, as we are person- ally interested in the matter, it would seem that an investigation of spirit life would be of intense inter- est to every inquiring mind. This would indeed seem a subject of great importance, when we take into con- sideration the senseless twaddle which is emanating from the lips of the most popular clergymen of this nineteenth century. They talk of souls entering the little Christian's heaven, as an angel with its wings held over its face, because it is ashamed of having done so little to merit reward; of casting their crowns down before the throne, and then looking around for their friends; of the resurrection of the physical bodies of all the hosts of individuals who have fallen in battle, or been eaten by cannibals or worms, and thus incorporated into other living forms, ad infini- tum. They continually reiterate the same ideas of spirit existence, only dressed in a fresher garb, that satisfied our semi-barbarous ancestors from two to four thousand years in the past, and for this sickly nonsense, the ignorant multitudes are willing to pay extortionate prices. We are compelled to acknowledge that every idea gathered from the Hebrew or Christian bible, concerning spiritual existence, is vague, unmean- ing, and puerile to the last extent; and that no con- ception is contained therein worthy of the least atten- 396 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. tion from an intellectual mind of the present age. Every species of enjoyment to which any reference is made in all these scriptures in connection with the spiritual existence of the chosen few, are of the most fleeting and transitory character, and they are pre- sented to the mind entirely regardless of philosophy or common sense, or of the peculiar characteristics of those organisms which are to be the recipients of such pleasures. There is, perhaps, nothing that has been given to the world, even by the most barbarous people, in con- nection with a spiritual existence for man, that equals in absurdity, ridiculous puerility, as well as fiendish cruelty, the heaven and hell of the Christian bible. It inflicts eternal tortures, without any ray of hope or mitigation for non-compliance with its behests, and offers nothing that would be calculated to divert or amuse an intelligent mind for a single week, as a reward for a strict compliance with all its requirements. If man is a spiritual being or organization endowed with certain powers and faculties, and as such destined to occupy a spiritual condition where he may find enjoyment, that enjoyment, in order to be such, must certainly be compatible with his nature; it must be precisely adapted to his organs, or those powers with which he is endowed. It certainly would not answer to prepare one kind of happiness for all the endless variety of organisms which have come into existence; for if so, they would require to be so modified and worked over as to be adapted to that peculiar kind of enjoyment, and then the parties would be quite at a THE SPIRIT ABODES. 397 loss to recognize themselves, and might be compelled to inquire concerning their own individualities. A spiritual realm too cramped and diminutive to furnish a realization of the highest hopes and aspirations that originate in every conceivable variety of intellectual organism, would be but a mean and miserable affair, and a God that would prepare such an one as an eternal dwelling place for a race of beings like those residing upon the earth, would make a grand failure and be entitled to the utmost contempt of all intelli- gent spirits. A spiritual existence, then, must be perfectly natural, and if so, it would seem quite prob- able that ancient Christian institution goose wings, together with all their feathers and quills, might be dispensed with, and no serious inconvenience result. It is also thought that sensible persons could get along without the four-and-twenty elders with their wonderful crowns, and the four marvelous beasts which are furnished with the six wings each, and eyes scattered about them in all sorts of places and in such marvelous profusion. Can any thing be more supremely ridiculous, or more distasteful to a culti- vated intellect? And yet the entire Christian world, at the present day, are pleased to call the place where this broad farce is said to be enacted, a heaven of hap- piness, adapted to their peculiar natures, and amply adequate to supply all the rational wants that can arise in their complicated soul organisms during an eternity. We can but express a willingness that parties who are seeking a heaven of that character, should have the opportunity of enjoying it to their heart's con- 398 THE GOSPEL OF NATUBE. tent; but, viewing the matter from our present stand- point, we are quite willing to take our chances outside, where we trust we shall find all the machinery of the universe in active operation, and where we may pursue our researches and acquire that knowledge we could not obtain in this rudimental sphere. Where, then, is the spiritual realm, and where the homes of those who have passed the friendly portal of death, and live in a world invisible to physical eyes? Before going out into the far distant heavens, among the fixed stars, to look for some supereminently pleas- ant abodes, it might be well to take some further survey of this earthly domain. Let us, if possible, ascertain if very large numbers may not find suitable accommodations within its precincts, and if they might not devote many long ages, both agreeably and profitably, relatively near the homes of their childhood. Since neither science or theology have given us one ray of light upon this subject, if we gain any knowl- edge we must do it for ourselves independent of their assistance; and we may well rejoice to know that our invisible friends can come to our relief, and teach us as far as we are able to appreciate, concerning their present and our own future surroundings. But we must remember that we are now and ever have been spiritual beings, and any teachings upon this subject must perfectly harmonize with our present spiritual nature. It is the spiritual organism within us which seeks the home; and that home, if it is in any sense of the word a happy one, must be perfectly adapted to the wants of the spirit. The intimate relation between THE SPIRIT ABODES. 399 the spirit here and the spirit there cannot be severed or broken in the least degree. We know the kind of home it requires in this condition, and we may be per- mitted to judge what kind of home it may require in a more ethereal ized state. The spirit cannot be changed materially by leaving the physical form — it is only set free, and changes its condition and exterior surroundings; therefore, if we are permitted to know the wants of the spirit while in the form, we may arrive at some proper conclusions concerning this matter after it has passed away. We have frequently made allusion to the fact that so-called matter and spirit were one and indivisible; that spirit was but a finer article of material substance, or that it was by a process of elaboration divested of the crudities attached to grosser matter. Hence, a spiritual organism composed of this finer material must necessarily find its dwelling place in the midst of material of a corresponding character. If it rears a building for a residence, the stone or bricks or wood of which it is constructed must be equally spiritualized; if it partakes of food, it must be the sublimated essence of such gross food as we consume, and all with which the spirit has to do must be of the same etherealized character; nevertheless, everything is just as sub- stantially tangible to them, and far more enduring than in this more crude and gross condition. All this is rendered somewhat dark and mysterious to us, in consequence of the feeble and gross character of those rather obscure windows of the human soul we are pleased to term the five senses, together with the various perceptive organs. "When we consider that 400 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. these will be correspondingly spiritualized and intensi- fied, so that all this sublimated matter will become perfectly appreciable and tangible, our pathway to a discovery of some of the real facts connected with spirit existence becomes more luminous, and the ascent to those realms far more easy and natural. We are led to believe that almost unlimited realms may be found without so much as leaving this mundane sphere, where untold billions of spiritual beings might, if they chose, dwell amidst all the luxurious grandeur and gorgeous splendors that their etherealized conditions require. We must remember that the five senses, or the ability to see, hear, feel, taste and smell, are attributes of the soul; they are part and parcel of the spiritual nature, and do not cease their activities with the dis- solution of the physical; they serve us but partially in this condition, for these windows, given us to light the interior, are now obscured by gross material. We now behold all things in nature through an eye whose cornea, retina and pupil are but a mass or con- glomeration of gelatin, which would be quite soluble in warm water. The wonderfully curious arrange- ments of the ear, which transport every character of sound to the inner consciousness, are but a complica- tion of little cartilages and bones, quite gross in their nature. The most exquisite sense of feeling we expe- rience is only produced by the approximation of a fibrous net- work of nerves to the cuticle or scarf skin which covers the physical form. Taste, from which we derive such untold gratification, is communicated to our consciousness through the outer coating of the THE SPIRIT ABODES. 401 tongue, and this, by a process of tanning, may be con- verted into a piece of leather; while the delightful aroma of the fragrant flower is transported and made appreciable to our inner beings through nasal organs that are often beslimed with disgusting mucus. These obscured portals are the windows of the soul while living in the physical form; these are the grand avenues that open up a passage way between the inner spirit and the outer material world; and through these come to us a very important share of the pleasures of existence. Suppose, now, we brush away all this accumulation of dust and cobwebs, this gross and earthy material, that obscures these fenestral openings through which the soul gains access to the outer universe; and sup- pose we re-glaze these windows with the pure elements which are found only in the celestial spheres, where all is transparent as unsullied crystal, and none of this gross, opaque, corruptible matter to becloud our visions or stupefy our other senses. Our spiritual bodies being composed of the subli- mated essences emanating from material that enters into the composition of the physical organism, of course all these sensuous powers will necessarily be intensified, and we shall come more directly in contact with the universe of nature, and behold more nearly the real facts, whereas we are now only made familiar with their semblance. We now behold the seven pri- mary colors only under very peculiar conditions; yet these gorgeous rainbow tints are incorporated into the very elements of nature, and exist everywhere; and when our visions are spiritualized, or when we look 26 402 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. through spiritual lenses, unclouded by gross matter, we may behold all the splendors of these and every shade of coloring as they really exist in the atomic particle. We see the stupendous mountain towering to the skies, and admire its gray and sombre outlines, and are deeply impressed with an idea of vastness and sub- limity ; but how narrow and feeble are our conceptions of the real character of such an apparently massive pile of solid granite! How little do we know of the gorgeous splendors, of the incessant activities taking place in the deep recesses, in the hidden chambers, of these inaccessible mountain cliffs! How vague, shad- owy and superficial are all our perceptions concerning the real nature of all things, when only scrutinized through these physical organs ! Let us just bring to bear the intensified powers of spiritual vision, and each particle of this solid granite swells and expands to its proper dimensions, exhibit- ing when examined by lenses of this character those unexplored fields in nature's realms which gross physical visions have never beheld. If each of these particles is a microcosm of all, then each one must contain something of all, and this powerfully magnify- ing spirit vision may be able to behold this wonderful reality. Each one is surrounded by its own atmos- phere; and although to our visions they seem densely packed together, yet the spirit power may expand that atmosphere to immense proportions, so that the solid rock vanishes away, and they behold in its midst one moving panorama of the busy scenes of active life. " In our Father's house there are many mansions," THE SPIRIT ABODES. 403 and the spirit may find some of them in the depth of those huge towering mountain fastnesses, which seem so perfectly impenetrable to human vision. The doc- trine of the impenetrability of matter, which seems so well established in physics, may not be so clearly defined after all; for we must conceive it possible for the finer essences to penetrate the grosser particles, or pass between them. The indurate steel interposes no obstructions in the way of electro-magnetism. These fluid particles pass right along in their march as readily as if nothing was in the way; then why may not spiritual organizations composed of this and still finer materials enter and dwell in those vast corridors found amid the atoms composing the hugest mount- ain? The density is all in the eye, and our feeble visions are only a standard for us; they are weak and deceptive — they can reveal no absolute truths for con- ditions superior to our own. Spiritual vision may be so intensely microscopic as to separate the particles of cr/stal so they would be quite too far distant for neighbors, to use a common phrase. They may dwell in the sublimated atmos- phere surrounding these atoms, and amid all the over- whelming glories of their prismatic coloring; they may erect their elaborately decorated palaces, cultivate their fields, gardens and orchards, and pursue all the activities of their etherealized existence within the limits of a single grain of sand. Shall we be at a loss, then, to find a home for the spirit; and need we follow A. J. Davis to his stellar heaven, Kandolph to his Aiden, or Dick, the Christian philosopher, to the Pleiades, to find the grand center of the universe, 404 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. where his God might possibly find a suitable dwelling place, and where His special favorites might be gath- ered around Him? Or shall we patiently wait for the arrival of the box-shaped New Jerusalem of St. John, whose walls are as high as they are long, and which is at some time to come down to our earth for the accom- modation of the saints? It is to be hoped this cubical heaven will be launched at the proper moment, and correctly aimed, so that in its descent it may strike the mark, for the velocity of this earth in its orbit and upon its axis is such that the delay of a single minute would cause it to land nearly twelve hundred miles distant from its destined locality. A miscalculation of a very few minutes would send this ponderous pro- phetic Jerusalem, with all its foundations, its walls and costly gates, together with our modern Christian's hopes, whirling through the realms of space, to bring up where chance might direct it; for the earth would be many thousand miles away, pursuing its regular journey. If the earth moves onward in its orbit, in accordance with eternal laws, it is by no means possible that those laws should be suspended, although a John might have predicted so important an arrival from some far distant and unknown realm. Again, if a four square inclosure or pen of such a description is needed here upon our earth, for the delectation of the few who shall be counted worthy to obtain admittance, why not build it from the jaspar and emeralds and other precious stones found upon this globe? Why run the hazard of launching the institution, and making a safe landing, while everything is moving with such terrible volocity? THE SPIRIT ABODES. 405 We are told that the Christian's God spent over live days of hard labor in the construction of this world, and scarcely time enough to wink his eye upon all the rest. Why, then, should any of the distant worlds contain auy better material from which to manufacture a heaven than can be found upon this one, which received so large a share of His attention, and upon which was devoted so much infinite genius and skill. We are led to believe that a gross deception has been practiced upon the too credulous Christian world concerning this enormous box of the revelator, for there never was, and never will be, the least necessity of importing any of the material from which it is to be constructed from a distance. The precious stones introduced into its walls, its foundations and gates, and in fact from which the whole concern is to be built, are mostly composed of silica, alumina and some of the oxides, with perhaps a little coloring matter introduced; and we have a great sufficiency of such substances within the confines of our own earth to con- struct a thousand such New Jerusalem s, if they should be required. Thus far in our researches, then, we shall find it entirely unnecessary to go abroad in order to build ourselves a desirable heaven. But our mundane resources are not yet exhausted, when all the particles of atmosphere are inhabited, when the deep solitudes of all the mountains are occu- pied by the infinite hosts, when all the crystal sands of the vast deserts are peopled with their multitudes, we then have the globules of water covering nearly three-fourths of the entire surface of this globe. What, then, are these globules? They are said to be com- 406 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. posed of oxygen, hydrogen and electricity — elements as much grosser than those which enter into the com- position of spiritual organizations as the various rocks and alluvial deposits of the earth are grosser than our physical bodies. Thus these fluid globules may each one become a most admirable spirit habitation, in which may be contained all that is not only grand and sublime, but beautiful beyond any of our powers of description, when beheld by spirit vision and appre- ciated by spirit perceptions. We trust a careful perusal of the preceding pages will make this matter obvious, without entering into any further explanations concerning spiritual lenses, only to remark that they contain within themselves all the complicated powers of our lenses. Our magni- fying glasses may be so arranged as to enlarge the object when beheld through one end, and diminish it proportionally by reversing the instrument. Spiritual lenses are thus arranged to suit their own convenience in every possible manner; they magnify the atom, while they may behold themselves the very reverse, and thus they behold the infinitesimal particle swelled to the dimensions of a globe, while their own persons are by no means enlarged. The reader will have learned long ere this that size and distance are only absolute to the condition in which they are beheld; hence, we can form no proper idea concerning either in any other state by the use of our physical organs, as they simply determine these properties of matter for the one condition, and no other. "We know that the microscope reveals to our vision animalculas far beyond the reach of the unaided eye; THE SPIRIT ABODES. 407 but we cannot say that the microscope determines the size of the living form which it reveals, for its appar- ent size depends entirely upon the power of the instru- ment. Then it is clear that the size is only relative to the vision through which it is beheld — that it depends entirely upon the magnifying power of the lenses brought to bear. If so, it requires no great stretch of the imagination to discover that a globule of water, a particle of atmosphere, or a grain of sand, might, by lenses of sufficient power, be expanded to the size of a planet. This being a simple philosophical fact in nature, we trust that it will in the mind of the reader obviate all necessity of importing new or old Jerusalems from the far off heavens; for we may find ample accommoda- tions, without resorting to such a ridiculous and hazardous experiment, for all the spiritual beings who may be unfolded for many millions of ages to come. We trust that it will also be understood that there will be little necessity of following our friends into the distant sideral heavens in order to procure a proper locality to construct a dwelling place for any character of spiritual intelligent beings, although we by no means conceive it impossible that such, when prepared, if they desired might wander even to the furthest verge of universal nature. But if they should, no better facilities could be found, nor any better material from which to construct spirit abodes, and all the necessary appertainings of any of the diversified con- ditions of spirit existence, than we have at home. We must remember, however, that it is not all enjoyment in the spiritual realms; all classes of per- 408 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. sons live, and they all die, or lay down the physical, and so far are introduced into a spiritual state; some may be qualified to enjoy that condition, and some too gross and undeveloped to enjoy or appreciate anything of a spiritual character. It is not supposed that the dissolution of the physical form produces any elevat- ing effect upon its former occupant; this occurs simply of necessity, because, either from decay or accident, it can no longer remain a suitable residence for the spirit and a removal is compulsory. The house falls to pieces, and the tenant must vacate the premises regardless of any preparation for future enjoyment in the new sphere of existence into which he may be, perhaps, suddenly ushered. If the spirit is gross, dark, earthy, and so to speak, unspiritualized, it must of course remain so until means are provided for its illumination and unfoldment, and it may be aroused to a realization of the actualities of this new phase of conscious existence, the processes of unfoldment being as natural and as much in accordance with immutable law in that sphere as in this. Yery many persons remain for a long period in an unconscious or comitose state, and among this class may be found those religionists who were very devout and enthusiastic, and fully believed in the resurrection of the body, or that they should at once be received in the arms of a loving Jesus. Not finding Jesus, they may go to sleep again and wait for his arrival, or they may sleep on, expecting in their few waking moments they will be, ere long, aroused by Gabriel's trump, and take their allotted place with the blood- washed throng at the right hand of their heavenly THE SPIKIT ABODES. 409 Father, and thus they sleep on, perhaps, for many centuries. There seems to be a natural law connected with the development of the human intellect which permits individuals to realize the semblance and what to them is the actuality of their superstitious beliefs for the time being. Perhaps this may be the best method of instruction, as it gives them an experience which corresponds to their particular dogmatic creeds, and then they are enabled to learn precisely how that arrangement would operate when practically carried out. As they could not experience this cardinal doc- trine, which is indorsed by so large a number, of a resurrection and a judgment seat without a somewhat lengthy repose, they are permitted to rest or sleep in order to enjoy the luxury of this much-vaunted resurrection to life, and they go to the judgment in accordance with their long cherished expectations, and usually retire, amid shame and confusion, in consequence of their short comings; for upon inquiry it is ascertained that no person in earth-life has squared their daily conduct by that law or those commands and precepts which were enunciated by Jesus Christ, whom these persons profess to adore and worship as a universal law-giver equal with the Supreme Jehovah. It seems to be a rule of court at the judgment seats before which this class of persons are summoned, that each one is tried by the statute he has adopted for his own observance, and he must stand or fall by that; and this would certainly appear to be a very equitable as well as favorable arrange- ment for the party who is put upon his trial. If he 410 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. is tried by the doctrines and precepts lie has chosen as a rule of faith and practice for himself, and if he chooses to promulgate them for the observance of others, and he is found guilty of their utter disregard, and has violated their plainest behests in almost every instance, he certainly can find no fault if he suffers the full penalty of their transgression. It would seem to be a great misfortune to become an enthusiastic religionist of any description, in con- sequence of the great difficulty of divesting the mind of well-settled and long-cherished religious opinions, whether they are Pagan, Mohammedan or Christian. We cannot say that, abstractly considered, one of these forms prepares the individual for a happy entrance and pleasant position in the spiritual spheres any better than the others. They are all, together with all others which have been adopted by the denizens of earth, alike factitious; all have been established by men in different ages of the world ; none of them can claim any divine origin, for none of them can be found inscribed on the sacred pages of that great volume whose language is the same not only during all ages and in all climes, but throughout universal worlds. If we can find a religion which might, with propriety, be adopted by all the inhabitants of our solar system — one that is adapted to the wants and might satisfy the aspirations of the incomputable numbers of intelligent beings who people the untold millions of suns scat- tered throughout the starry heavens — a religion so general and yet so comprehensive in its character as to be of such universal application, I think would THE SPIRIT ABODES. 411 stand the test in these higher courts — but any thing short of that, doubtless, would be found wanting. Nothing short of universal truth can endow the mind with universal knowledge; then, if religion is necessary to carry the individual to the highest pos- sible attainments, it must of course be a religion broad as the universe, and one that must finally be adopted by all the inhabitants of all worlds; and to accomplish this for Christianity, Jesus — the Alpha and Omega of that religion — must necessarily live and offer himself a sacrifice upon all other worlds as well as this. Such a state of things, we apprehend, has never been even contemplated by his most devout followers, for in point of fact the whole great fabric is at present a somewhat limited affair upon this dimin- utive planet. Surely if this system of religion contains nothing but unadulterated truth of an absolute nature, then it must be of universal application, and just as important to the inhabitants of Jupiter, or any and all the fixed stars, as those of the earth, and hence Jesus must die on all of them as well as here. In order to live and die on each, he must necessarily visit them and travel from one to the other, and tarry perhaps thirty-three years, as he did with us. If we take into consideration the inconceivable distances which sep- arate this infinitude of heavenly bodies, together with their incomputable number, and the length of time required to travel from one to another, even with the velocity of light, we shall readily ascertain that no such system can be made of universal application, and if not it can be of no value. When we realize the simple self-evident proposition that all truths 4:12 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. which are a part of nature must be true to the utmost limits of the universe, where similar conditions may be found, we shall discover the utter insignificance of this or any of the numerous religions which are thus circumscribed in their most extended operations to such exceedingly narrow limits. From a careful survey of this whole matter, we are forced to the conclusion that it is not religion that the individual requires to unfold his soul-nature and pre- pare it for a favorable reception in the spirit-homes, but it is knowledge, simple practical knowledge, which comes alone by personal experience and observation, and a certain amount of which is sure to come to every child of earth who occupies a physial form. Among the numerous inquiries which arise in the human mind concerning the spiritual abodes, is one intimately connected with our own personal identity. How much of our individual selves, and what portion of them, become inhabitants of the spiritual spheres? Are we to have a real, tangible, objective, conscious existence; and if so, how much of our present per- sonality will it require to constitute such existence? It seems quite impossible that we should carry any- thing of the physical organism with us, as all the elements which composed that seem at once disposed to dissolve their partnership relation, and we say it decays, as these gross particles go about their business and seek to affinitize with some other forms where they may find a genial home, and the human mind is unable to conceive any possible method by which these billions of entities can ever be brought together again in the same form. The law of evolution entirely for- THE SPIRIT ABODES. 413 bids any such arrangement as eacli one of these entities will utterly refuse to assume the same relation to all the others, or to enter into an experience which would be precisely the same as one already passed through; each one must take a step forward, attain to a higher p'osition and a newer field of operations. So it will readily be perceived that nature has made no provisions for a resurrection of the same identical bodies, for the living beings of which the bodies are composed manifest no disposition to remain intact or lie still long enough to be resurrected; and again they have a great deal of business of their own on hand that requires almost immediate attention; they have an eternity of unfoldment before them, the same as ourselves. We get up and walk off whichever way we are attracted, and they do the same. Notwithstanding there is not the least probability of uniting with the physical body again in any sense of the word, yet it is evident that the entire spiritual selfhood, with all its appertainings, will be required to constitute a real, tangible, spiritual existence. If any portion of our spiritual organizations are obliterated in spirit-life, then we shall certainly be only a part of ourselves, and we might experience some difficulty in ascertaining our real personality. This would also show that some portion of our spiritual organizations were only elaborated for temporary purposes; that some things which have required all the energies of nature to produce, may very easily be lost, or changed into nothing. This idea being entirely inadmissible, we cannot accept it, and therefore all that belongs in any manner to the spirit-individuality, must, of neces- 414 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. sity, be retained; else, this being would be entirely unable to perform all the proper functions necessarily attached to a spiritual condition. Can we suppose the spiritual realms to be less complex in their character than those we now occupy? Far from it; but. on the contrary, they are entirely superior to the physical, and hence must be more complicated. Then we may reasonably expect that the spirit-personality, in order to be adapted to such an existence, must become somewhat more complex also. In our previous researches into the nature and progressive unfoldment of the spiritual organism, we have discovered that the different faculties con- nected with the intellect or soul, had been gathered or accumulated during the spirit's residence in the various physical forms. We learned that the basic or lower organs were unfolded low down in the scale of animal life, and that each separate organ was wakened or brought into activity in some particular condition, or in that physical organism precisely adapted to its development. It has evidently been absolutely necessary that the spirit-personality should pass through all these interminable material forms, in order that all the various organs might be properly unfolded. It is also evident that each one has been unfolded in a particular sphere, which is the only possible condition where such organ can be aroused to activity. Then it becomes an indisputable fact, that we must have passed through as many spheres as we possess distinct organs, or mental faculties, which are attached to and form a part and parcel of the intellectual per- THE SPIRIT ABODES. 415 sonality. As the spirit passes along up the ladder of progressive unfoldment, step by step, it evidently requires a superior organism to occupy a higher phys- ical form than it did to occupy a lower. And we shall doubtless find the only way we can advance the 6pirit-being to a superior state is, to bring out and unfold an additional organ or faculty. I am entirely unable to say, and I think the most competent phrenologist, he who has made this subject a life-long study, will fail to inform us, precisely how many distinct organs or faculties there may be un- folded in a human organism when properly ultimated. One great fact, however, becomes self-evident — it requires them all to constitute a properly formed intellectual or spiritual personality in this condition of earth-life. Another prominent fact seems to stare us in the face; which is, the continued presence of organs of a similar character scattered all along down through the gradations of animal existence, until they lose themselves or become obscured in the realms of the infinitesimal. These organs are evidently identi- cally the same in the lower forms as in the human, but in these earlier individual beings they are less in number and more basic in their character, but pre- cisely adapted to that condition of animal life in which these personalities appear. Then we may go down, step by step, the gradations of individual existence, finding less and less organs attached to their beings until the animal is lost in the vegetable, the vegetable in the mineral and the mineral in the great elemental ocean of cold dead atoms. There certainly is very great beauty and harmony 416 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. in such a view of this very important department of the natural universe, and it appears to throw a flood of light upon many mysterious problems connected with our own personal existence. And it would seem quite possible that these easy gradations through which the spiritual being necessarily comes up, taking on or unfolding organs as they are required, might illuminate the mind to a certain extent in regard to further experiences in the spiritual abodes. Doubtless in our extended journey through all the various physical forms below us, we have been from time to time unfolding organs, but we have left none behind us; we have brought them all into this human organization, and we find that all are necessary for use in enabling us to enter into the varied activities connected with this life. Man has no capabilities aside from his organs or faculties of mind, and as man possesses more capabilities than can be found in any condition below, he evidently must be endowed with those which are not unfolded except in the human. It is quite possible that one very important portion of our business in this life is to unfold another and higher organ, prejoaratory to entering upon a superior, more spiritualized sphere of activities. If we have found this to be necessary during all our varied expe- riences in the past, that we could not have passed through the process of unfoldment without taking on a succession of new faculties, why shall we not find the same state of affairs to continue during our future history? If this has been the only mode by which the spirit could be sufficiently unfolded to enter the human organism, and we find the spirit has great THE SPIRIT ABODES. 417 room for further unfoldment, why shall not this same mode be adopted in the future? We very clearly see the absolute necessity of a larger number of faculties, and those of a higher order, if we still march up the ladder of progress ; because we find very extensive departments in nature we cannot explore for the want of the needed powers of intellect. Then it becomes evident that instead of laying down any of the organs we now hold in our possession, we shall find ourselves provided with another one, higher in character than any we now have, when we enter upon the active scenes of the next sphere. There cannot be a doubt but the room is entirely sufficient in the various spiritual spheres for the exer- cise of intellectual powers such as we have never dreamed of in the broadest extent of our philosophy. There can be no other mode of expanding and unfold- ing the intellect higher and still higher but by the accumulation or addition of new and more exalted organs, such as shall be adapted to all the possible conditions in which the most elevated spiritual being can be placed. By this method of progressive evolu- tion we can see no limit to the intellectual faculties and powers which may be obtained by a spirit person- ality. If such a being cannot become infinite, his capabilities may at some period extend entirely beyond our feeble comprehensions; so much so, indeed, that it would be quite impossible for us to understand in the least degree the true nature of his wisdom and power. But, as we have lain down no organ which has been unfolded in conditions below ourselves, all being required to fit us for this, so we can never, in all our 27 418 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. future accumulation of faculties, part with a single one that we have received, even while in the lowest physical form. All have been essential thus far, and all will be essential in an}' and every possible phase of existence we may pass through during the eternal ages of our future more spiritualized existence. If the intellectual individuality requires in its unfoldment this successive accumulation of powers, in order to prepare itself for the various phases of living existence it is ushered into during its progressive history, then there must be some particular manner in which these additions are made. Nature must provide a means by which she can accomplish this wonderful feat of supplying the intellect with an additional organ or faculty. In connection with this matter we learn that the higher forms possess more organs than a lower, that a death and a birth must have occurred between each of these different conditions; and we may reasonably conclude that these two facts, which must have trans- pired in order that the spirit might step from one 6tate to another, have been absolutely essential in the production of the new organ. In fact, then, we may take it for granted that there is no other mode by which we can obtain this enlargement of the soul or intellectual powers, or an additional faculty, except by dying and being born again. Then, " Marvel not that I saj^ unto you, ye must be born again; " that ye must be born into the spiritual sphere above you, in the same maimer that you have been born into this you now occupy. If it has been necessary every time previous to this 4 THE SPIEIT ABODES. 419 to have been born into a new outer organism, in order to obtain a new organ or faculty, why shall not this be the mode pursued in conditions entirely superior to the present? Man, as he exists here, is certainly a triune being; he is possessed of a three-fold nature — the outer, the inner, and the innermost. He has a physical body, a spiritual body, and an intellectual soul, which is capable of grasping a thought or of reasoning and solving difficult problems. When he came into this state, he or the spiritual body entered into the physical, which was prepared for its residence during his earthly career. His earthly parents did not beget the spiritual man, they only begat the physical tenement, in which the spirit was to reside. The reproductive energies in nature only extend to the outermost; they can only reproduce a physical organ- ism; the spirit having existed from all eternity, cannot proceed from any such source. This spirit occupying the form of the child, must have entered into innu- merable physical organisms previously, in order to prepare itself for the tenement it now inhabits. This birth into these earthly organisms we perceive has been absolutely necessary, that the spirit might be enabled to pursue its activities during its sojourn in these various stages of its upward career; not only so, but that it might have the opportunity to unfold the new organ whenever it was required. It will appear very evident to the careful thinker that thus far the normal condition for the spirit has been in an outward organ- ism during those periods while it was a triune instead of a dual being. When the spirit personality lays down the physical 420 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. form, it certainly becomes a dual instead of a triune being, or it passes out of its normal condition into one decidedly abnormal; and although it may exist in such a state, yet, as far as our perceptions extend, all of its previous active periods of unfoldment have been confined to the normal or triune state, or those seasons when it occupied an outward form. Then we are forced to the very natural conclusion that the spirit must again assume this trinity and pass out of its dualty before it can enter upon the real normal activities of the new sphere of which it has become an inhabitant. It must enter once more an outward organism more gross than the spiritual body which remained after it left the physical of this earth plane, before it will attain its normal condition and be prepared to engage in the more important duties of its new home. "We are fully persuaded that no person upon our earth who still occupies a physical body can fully com- prehend, much less accurately describe, the true nature of the spirit abodes in all their particulars. But still we seem to have a key in our possession which serves to a very great extent to unlock this mighty problem, and which divests the whole subject of the immense clouds of mystery with which it has been heretofore overshadowed. We have learned that our spirit per- sonalities, with all their appertaining^, with every organ. and faculty complete, endowed with the five senses of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling, is precisely what must be provided with a home in the spiritual realms. And w T e now discover that these abodes must be adapted to the nature of the spirit. THE SPIRIT ABODES. 421 This world has evidently been in consonance with the peculiar nature of man in this state; it was provided that man might have a suitable home, in which his numerous wants could be supplied. This world was brought into existence for the grand purpose of ulti- mating man's spirit up to the highest possible condi- tion attainable in physical organisms; the earth was formed for the use and convenience of man, and not man for the earth. If, then, every condition below the spiritual abodes through which the spirit individual has passed in its unfoldment has been exactly adapted to the nature and wants of the spirit, most assuredly the next, or more spiritualized, will be equally con- formable to his peculiar nature, and to the supply of its daily wants. Hence, we may expect to find the spirit abodes as natural as those we now occupy; and they must contain ample room and facilities for the fullest exercise of every power and faculty with which the human spirit is naturally endowed, as much and far more so than our present sphere of existence. All our aspirations for future enjoyment have arisen in the peculiar spiritual organization we now possess; if we can ever enter into a realization of the highest aspiration which can now originate within us, the con- dition in which it is realized must be perfectly anala- gous to this. Now, shall all the organs, faculties and powers which constitute an intellectual spirit in the superior abodes remain utterly useless through all eternity, or shall they be brought into active exercise, the same as they have been in all conditions below? As the spirit personality is entirely incapable of realizing any experience of enjoyment or suffering, 422 THE GOSPEL OF NATTTEE. except through these organs or powers, they must necessarily engage in all the activities connected with that sphere, the same as they have in past conditions. If, then, we find ourselves supplied with combativeness and destructiveness, what can we do with them? We must certainly use these faculties in an analagous manner — fight and overcome those things we find opposed to our highest ideal of what is proper, remove obstacles out of the way which would seem to hinder the realization of our highest wishes. Can we suppose the next sphere to be less complex than this? It cer- tainly must be far more so. Then we may reasonably expect more antagonisms instead of less; greater necessity for the fighting group of organs instead of none at all. We have ascertained that discord and conflicts are incorporated in the very soul essence of all things; how, then, can we escape them in the spheres just above? As long as the spirit or intellect is passing through processes of unfoldment, just so long will he require to bring into active exercise every organ that has been unfolded within him, and so long will he find obstacles and impediments in his pathway which will need the activities of the propelling powers to overcome. It is not claimed that we can comprehend all the minutia of spirit-existence, yet we surely have in our possess- ion a large amount of data, or existing facts, from which we may arrive at very intelligent conclusions aside from all the fund of information we are obtain- ing from those shores. We may very readily ascertain the traits of character, habits, manners, customs, dis- positions and general aspirations of men and women THE SPIRIT ABODES. 423 everywhere around us. These are the very persons, together with an inconceivable host organized upon the same principles, that constitute the inhabitants of the spiritual abodes. "We have learned exactly what those people have done in the earth-form — may we not arrive at some reasonable conclusion as regards what they would naturally do in the next sphere? If we have formed associations and governments for the the benefit and protection of the people in this sphere, shall we not, with precisely the same organisms, be very likely to do the same thing in the one beyond? The Christian teachers recognize a government in the spirit abodes, but it is one of the most tyrannical character — a government where the supreme author- ity is vested in a single individual, who rules, as it were, with a rod of iron. He demands the most ser- vile homage continually from his few favorites, and curses the balance with his direst wrath, consigning them to fierce torments of endless duration. In the best estate, the subjects of this ruler are but abject slaves, and in the lower, scorched and suffocating with fumes of burning brimstone. This is the highest ideal of a government in the spiritual realms entertained by the great host of religious zealots, who claim to be the salt of the earth, and confidently assert that but for them the world to-day would have no civilization; yet a cur- sory glance at this matter will satisfy the inquirer that the civilization of to-day is rapidly emancipating our best minds from such abominable doctrines, and replacing in their stead something more in accordance with plain common sense. Such sentiments origin- 424 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. ated when tyrannical governments were the order of the day, and before any extended ideas of the equality of human rights had been recognized by earth's inhab- itants. The marvel is that to-day, where democratic ideas are entirely in the ascendancy, these very pious people can consent to take stock in a heaven where all the people are to be in eternal bondage, and where the chief business must be to bow down and offer to one, two or three individuals eternal homage and adoration without the remotest prospect of ever receiving any- thing approximating to similar honors themselves. But this crude idea of a government in the spirit spheres may be considered as an evidence that some kind of institutions of this character do actually exist, and that most probably they are as varied in their forms, and perhaps much more so, than those of the earth, for, we may remember that our material realm is exceedingly limited compared with the spiritual; and further, that we should have no ideas whatever of governments or anything else, unless we had received them from those who inhabit the higher spheres. We may remember that all the unruly elements that constitute the slums of our cities, and the turbulent population every where, who are so organized and uncultured that restraining influences are absolutely essential, go directly into these spirit abodes, and if it requires police regulations, common councils and all the machinery of governmental institutions to hold these persons in check here, why will it not in the sphere just beyond? They are the same individuals who made the trouble here, and it is not known that the change from the material form has any effect or THE SPIEIT ABODES. 425 influence in improving their morals or elevating their soul natures — all this is done by active living expe- riences, not by dying; so that governments are not only a necessity, but a natural result, where large numbers of intelligent beings find themselves existing in close proximity. Whatever they have done about this matter in earth-life, that they will do when left to themselves in the spirit abodes, and there is no good reason to suppose there is not quite as much freedom and independence of thought and action as here, for where all have equal rights, who should assume to control, and who for any length of time would submit to control unless it is for the common weal? Again, there must be a much greater variety of states and conditions than can be found in earth-life, and as we have nothing here we do not find "over there " in greater perfection, there must necessarily be all the official positions, and each one must be occupied by some individual. There must be kings and princes, presidents and governors, judges and lawyers, generals and captains, and every grade of civil and military distinction that has ever occurred in earth, and perhaps a thousand times more, for the denizens of spirit-life have far more time and much greater facilities for carrying out their arrangements and gratifying their peculiar tastes. It is more than probable that large numbers of per- sons will not only doubt but entirely ignore these statements, as being frivolous and coming very far short of their exalted ideas of spirit existence; but this class will please remember that they are only men and women who inhabit these abodes, and most 426 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. of them very simple, uncultured persons at that. They certainly cannot appreciate any enjoyments, unless commensurate with their capabilities, or that is not compatible with their tastes and aspirations. We must be aware that untold millions die who have never been elected to the office of constable, or who have ever enjoyed the least political promotion, although their most ardent desires have been in that direction. That or some other official position has been the highest aspiration of their inmost souls, and they have left earth-life without partaking of any such enjoyment. If we look at this matter candidly, we must admit that it would be a poor apology for a universe that did not afford machinery or make provisions whereby every one who desires may at some time enjoy the luxury of being elected a justice of the peace. That is the very thing they desire more than any thing else at the time, it is the extent of their ambition. They have the requisite organs properly developed — they are admirably qualified, and they feel that this position would be a stepping-stone to something higher just as naturally as they -would have such an experience in the material form. If this is a fact, then it occurs through all the mul- titudinous ramifications of living existence in those realms wherever sentient beings may be found endowed with organs or mental faculties such as are vouchsafed to the human race. Perhaps I cannot sufficiently im- press the idea upon the mind of the reader that these are merely human beings who cannot partake of any character of enjoyments incompatible with their nat- THE SPIRIT ABODES. 427 ural endowments, that every species of pleasure must reach the inner selfhood through the appropriate organ, and the peculiar character of their gratifica- tions depends entirely upon the growth or unfoldraent of the faculties which constitute that inner selfhood. This part of the subject will be elaborated to a greater extent in the final chapter, which contains the personal spirit history of a number of individuals. It will be seen that a narration of these individual living experiences in the spiritual abodes convey to the human mind the realities or peculiarities of that condition of conscious existence in a clearer light than by any other method we can introduce. Most, assuredly, if intelligent beings survive the ravages of death and enjoy life and activity beyond the tomb, that life, to be worth any thing, must fur- nish them with experiences; and as we are compelled to conclude by evidences presented, with the requisite facilities for relating the incidents of that experience to their friends both in and out of the phyiscal form. CHAPTEK X. SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. AN AFRICAN SLA YE. Strange to say, modern Christianity has not only tolerated, but advocated for a long series of years that cursed institution known as African slavery, with all its attendant evils — an institution which was baptized in blood, and which has ever been attended by the groans and sufferings of vast numbers of human beings, who possessed inherently the same rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as their Christian task masters.' I listened with great interest to t the honest but heart-rending narrative of one of these sable sons of Afric's soil, who had for a long period been a partici- pator in the enjoyments of the spiritual abodes. He spoke with remarkable fluency through the media's organism, and displayed a very deep sense of the wrongs which had been inflicted upon him by a people who boasted of a knowledge of the Christian's bible, and paraded ostentatiously the advantages of a Chris- tian's faith; and he exultingly gloried in the fact that the benignant angel of death had finally released him from the tortures he had received from those who had been educated in a Christian's country. He relates that he awoke to earth consciousness amid the sunny vales of his own native land, where a (428) SPIKIT BIOGKAPHT. 429 tropical clime produced an exuberance of all that was required for the sustenance of life; and that he was surrounded by all that was to him in his condition beautiful and to be desired. His loves had been fostered, his attachments formed, and his hopes germi- nated; and he looked forward, with anticipations as blessed as his nature could make them, to an auspicious and happy career in his own fatherland. But in an unfortunate hour he was overcome by his enemies, bound, and dragged from all that his youthful heart had learned to cherish as near and dear, and the scenes of his happier childhood closed upon his vision forever. He says, "Though an uncultivated African, I" endured all the anguish of soul, all the intensity of suffering at being torn from every object for which I had nurtured all the affections of nature, that could be endured by those who had been reared in more civilized countries. I was speedily rushed on board a slave ship, where we were so closely packed by the cupidity and avarice of our Christian tormentors, that during our long and wearisome voyage no language can depict the tortures we endured. Those who had not sufficient physical strength fell quietly into the embrace of the death angel, and neither tongue or pen can describe the anxiety and yearning I felt to be one of that happy number; but I was destined to survive the fearful voyage — to be brought to the auction block, and exposed for sale, under the auspices of a Christian government. " I observed among those who had assembled for the purpose of purchasing this human commodity, a man with a benign countenance, and something whispered 430 THE GOSPEL OF NATURE. that he would be a kind master; and I earnestly prayed that he might become my purchaser, which happily proved to be the result. While with him I suffered no terrible hardships, except continual bondage and unrequited labor. I was kindly permitted to marry one I sincerely loved, and with whom I lived with much satisfaction until she had borne three children, as pledges of our mutual affections. But no language can describe the fearful anguish I subsequently experi- enced for this cause. The thought that I had con- sented, for my own personal gratification, to use means that would bring human beings into a condition of slavery, has at times brought an agony of soul upon me that seemed insupportable. " I could have endured the loss of freedom and this curse of a life-long bondage for the sake of my wife and children;, but the time came when my master was taken from the earth, and we were taken with the other such like movable property to the auction block, to be disposed of, soul and body, to the highest bidder. This time I saw among the number who came to pur- chase, a man who impressed me most unfavorably, and, as I somewhat expected, I fell into his hands; and I earnestly besought and prayed that he would also buy my wife and children. But such could not be; we were all separated, so that no further intercourse could be maintained. " With this man, or fiend in human form, I experi- enced all the agonizing tortures of slavery; and driven to desperation, in consequence of our abject condition, as well as the loss of wife and children, I, with the aid of the other slaves, planned an escape, which we might SPIRIT BIOGRAPHY. 431 have carried into effect but for our betrayal by one of the number. I was then taken, as the instigator and ringleader of this plot, and subjected to the most terrible flagellations that ever any human being could have suffered and still retained life; but being naturally strong, I survived. I was whipped till the blood flew in every direction at the oft repeated strokes, and until I was lacerated to the bones; and then, after an appli- cation of brine, or liquid fire, as it appeared to me, was left until the wounds had partially recovered, and were particularly sensitive, when the same process of scourging and brining was again repeated, until the terrible malignant wrath of this human fiend was appeased^ and his dire revenge satiated. Can any one suppose that the angel of death would have been looked upon as an unwelcome messenger, or a cursed monster, had he appeared during any stage of these proceedings and taken me to his kind embraces? If any person ever imagined him to be a king of terrors, let him pass through my experiences, and he will behold him as he then appeared, and since has been realized by myself, to be a pure angel of light, clothed in bright- ness, and surrounded by a halo of unclouded glory. " As if to add to my sufferings, and increase my tortures both of body and mind, I learned, by mere accident, that my wife and children had fallen into the hands of masters equally cruel, and that they, too, had been exposed to similar sufferings. Nevertheless, I now resolved to yield to circumstances, and if possible obtain the good will of this tyrant Christian, and so far was successful, that after thirty years of servile bondage he at his death was induced to grant iny 4